Michael Gira

Steven Bernstein is a trumpeter/composer/arranger who founded the band Sex Mob in the mid 1990s. Steven joins Free Association to talk about his new record with Sex Mob and his decades-long work with Scott Harding, Hal Willner, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, and John Lurie.

Michael Gira speaks with Brian on the subject of the new Swans record The Beggar, and on the cusp of a worldwide tour. Gira formed Swans in 1982 in New York City. After a long hiatus, the band reformed in 2010 with the record My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. Since then the band has become known for their compelling live performances and as one of the most uncompromising bands in new music. The wide-ranging conversation ranges from writing to recording to artists such as Nina Simone, Charlemagne Palestine, and Scott Walker.

Composer J.G. Thirlwell is a man of many interests and talents, with wide-ranging projects including the decades-running Foetus, the large ensemble Steroid Maximus, chamber ensemble Manorexia, collaborations and compositions for Kronos Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, and Bang on a Can, and his scores for the TV series Venture Brothers and Archer. His new record Dystonia (Cantaloupe Music) features riveting and ground-breaking string quartet pieces performed by Mivos Quartet. J.G. sat down to talk with Brian about composing, rehearsing, collaboration, how his Foetus project evolved, composing for film and TV, and much more.

NYC-based guitarist Stephen Ulrich is best known for his work with the "guitar-noir" trio Big Lazy. His new record Music for This American Life chronicles his compositions for the show of the same name. Stephen joins Brian to talk about writing for radio and TV, the history of Big Lazy, and much more.

Guitarist/composer Brandon Seabrook joins the show to talk about his new record brutalovechamp in a wide-ranging conversation with long-time collaborator Brian Carpenter on composing, arranging, recording, and much more.

Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi) stops by the show to discuss her new documentary film Never Be a Punching Bag For Nobody and the unique soundtrack she created for it.

This episode’s guest is David Harrington, founder of Kronos Quartet, the legendary string quartet at the vanguard of contemporary music for nearly 50 years. In this episode the subject is "Black Angels", the startling George Crumb composition which sparked the formation of Kronos in 1973, and the quartet’s recording of the piece nearly 15 years later. George Crumb (b. 1929) is an American modern classical and avant-garde composer who formed his distinct style, featuring unusual timbres and innovative sonorities, in the early 1960s. By the time he finished “Black Angels” on March 13, 1970, Crumb had already won a Pulitzer Prize (1968) and established himself as the creator of a highly spiritual and poetic sound world.

Alan Licht is a writer, musician, and curator based in NYC. He is known for his solo guitar work and long-time collaboration with guitarist Loren Connors and rock bands Run On and Love Child and the experimental group Text of Light. He is also the author of several books, including his new book Common Tones: Selected interviews with artists and musicians from 1995-2020. In this in-depth and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his interview with Lou Reed, the new Velvet Underground documentary by Todd Haynes, Alan's work at the seminal NYC venue Tonic, his collaboration with Loren Connors, and his interviews with Christian Marclay, Michael Snow, Milford Graves, and the late writer/musician Greg Tate., who passed away the day after our conversation.

Joan Wasser is a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist based in Brooklyn. She started out studying violin and playing in bands like The Dambuilders and Antony & the Johnsons before starting her own band Joan As Police Woman. Her new record is called The Solution Is Restless, a collaboration with legendary drummer Tony Allen and guitarist/bassist Dave Okumo of The Invisible. We talk about her early days studying violin, transitioning into singing and songwriting, meeting Tony Allen, the unique production of her new record, and her long friendship with producer Hal Willner.

Marissa Nadler returns to Free Association to talk about her new record The Path of the Clouds, her ninth record recorded with engineer Seth Manchester in Rhode Island. We talk about her relocation from Boston to Nashville, remote collaboration, harpist Mary Lattimore, writing lyrics, and our fascination with true crime and the TV show Unsolved Mysteries, which directly inspired at least one of the songs on her new record.