Episode 198 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Josh Malerman of Detroit power-pop band The High Strung. These prolific indie rock veterans have been active for two decades, and over the course of their storied career, they’ve released a ton of great music and toured at a frenetic pace, at times playing a whopping 250 gigs a year. Their most recent release, HannaH, takes listeners back to where it all started for the quintet, as it was originally recorded in 2002, just weeks prior to the studio sessions for their debut, These Are The Good Times. In the intervening decades, Malerman and his bandmates shelved the tapes for HannaH, but during the pandemic, a chance connection with producer Zach Shipps inspired them to dig them up and put the finishing touches on the tracks. The end product provides a glimpse of the band in its infancy and gives greater context to the work that followed it.

Dan Molad of Coco joins Tom for Episode 197 of Look At My Records! If you’re not familiar yet with Coco, get acquainted, as they just dropped one of our favorite records of the year in their self-titled debut. The project originally formed somewhat casually in 2019, when Molad met for some brief songwriting sessions with friends Maia Friedman (Dirty Projectors, Uni Ika Ai) and Oliver Hill (Pavo Pavo, Dustrider). These sessions, though short, proved to be quite fruitful, as the trio emerged with their first two songs. Over the course of the next year and a half, the band met sporadically to write and record, releasing a string of singles anonymously before revealing their identities this past summer in conjunction with their fourth single, “Knots.” Their efforts culminated with the release of their magnificent 10 song debut last week.

For Episode 196, Tom chatted with Joy Deyo and Brian Dishon of Long Beach, California quartet Sweet Nobody. This indie-pop outfit just released their second full-length, We’re Trying Our Best, last month. Recorded prior to the pandemic and shelved for almost two years, the album’s bright and jangly tunes are finally seeing the light of day. Though they may sound sonically pleasing in the vein of bands like Alvvays and the Go-Betweens, the album’s thematic content focuses on the struggles and challenges of life, including Deyo’s own experiences dealing with undiagnosed chronic pain.

Episode 195 features an interview with Warren LaSota and Nick Louis of Brooklyn’s Almost Sex. Born during the early stages of the pandemic, this duo, who met on Hinge, initially began collaborating and dating remotely, before finally meeting up in person to conclude work on their first few singles. In September of 2020, LaSota and Louis released their first single, “Knockoff,” and subsequently shared another seven tracks over the course of the last year, including the groove-laced “Lie Heartfelt” and the more folk-leaning “Rest Up.”

Episode 194 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Kasey Heisler, Patrick Porter, and Chayse Schutter of Brooklyn noise trio A Very Special Episode. The band just released their long-awaited first full-length, Fix Your Hearts Or Die, on Tuesday via Hidden Home Records and EWEL Records. Described by the band as a record centered on self-reflection and introspection, Fix Your Hearts Or Die sees the trio unleashing their adventurous sound with little restraint, piecing together a series of songs with noise vignettes and sonic interludes shaped by feeling. Though the band had written and performed these songs live many times prior to the pandemic, the halt in production stemming from COVID lockdown allowed them to make further tweaks to the finished product. The resulting 11 songs are a journey that ebbs and flows in intensity and morphs stylistically.

Episode 193 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Alex Dezen and Amber Bollinger of Los Angeles’ Broken Baby. The duo entered the tail end of 2021 by sharing their great sophomore full-length, Late Stage Optimism, a fiery and hard-charging record that unleashes a torrent of biting hooks and an in-your-face attitude across its 11 tracks. The band released the album on their own imprint, Poor Man Records, which is also home to some of our favorite Los Angeles bands, including Young Winona and Human Barbie.

Episode 192 of Look At My Records! features an interview with musician, actor, and podcaster Parker Wierling. The Atlanta-based multidisciplinary artist has an eclectic background, as in addition to writing his own music, he’s dabbled in acting, and last year, he launched a podcast called On That Note, where he interviews other musicians about their creative processes. Today, he dropped a brand new single called “With A Little Love,” which marks a shift in style for Wierling from more synth-driven compositions to Beatles-esque sounding guitar numbers. Over the summer, Wierling also traveled to Philadelphia to record an EP with Kevin Basko (Foxygen, Ribber Band Gun), which is scheduled for release in 2022.

Episode 191 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Lowell Hobbs of Asheville, North Carolina-based post-punk band Tongues of Fire. The four-piece just released an ambitious EP entitled Burn My Body Clean, which takes listeners through Hobbs’ mourning process following the tragic death of his mother. As a concept EP of sorts, each of the five tracks represents a different stage of his grieving process, from the initial shock to the attempts to move forward. The music is energetic and pummeling, drawing influence from the sounds of both Steve Albini and David Yow.

Episode 190 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Ben Hoffman and Caroline Davis of Brooklyn neo-soul outfit My Tree. The duo, who just recently rebranded from “Maitri,” released their second full-length album, Where The Grace Is, in late July. The expansive and densely textured record explores the more experimental side of R&B, soul, jazz, and funk, while simultaneously tackling a variety of social issues, including the Pulse nightclub tragedy the murder of Ahmad Arbury, and also features some dynamite collaborations from artists like Rico Sisney.

Episode 189 of Look At My Records features an interview with Mark Anderson and Gabe Perry of Jersey City indie rock group Sleepers Union. The quartet just released a brand new record called Numbers Station and their backstory is definitely an interesting one. Sleepers Union was originally formed by Anderson in his home country of New Zealand, but the group took on a new form when he relocated to the states a few years ago. With the permission of his Kiwi bandmates, Anderson recruited Perry (guitar, vocals), Matt Poppe (bass, vocals), and Todd Campisi (drums) for an American version of the lineup, and the quartet has been gigging steadily around New York City ever since.

Episode 188 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Matt Sklar and Federica Tassano of Brooklyn indie-pop outfit Phantom Handshakes. The story of this relatively new band is quite unique to our times. After serving as a reliable supporting cast member of several great New York City bands like The Planes and Parrot Dream, Sklar found himself with a significant amount of time on his hands during the early days of the pandemic. He began revisiting some of his own old song ideas and experimenting with new ones, recording demos at home while in isolation. In need of a vocalist, he reached out to Tassano, who is the front person of Brooklyn shoegaze outfit Sooner. She laid down some vocals immediately, and the project released their debut EP, Be Estranged, in July of last year. Sklar and Tassano kept plugging away in 2020 and early 2021, and they followed up their debut EP with their first full-length, No More Summer Songs, in April.

For Episode 187 of Look At My Records!, Tom spoke with the prolific California-based songwriter Austin Leonard Jones. For the last decade-plus, Jones has released a string of great albums and EPs, exploring lo-fi pop, psychedelia, surf rock, and country. His songwriting journey is chronicled through his most recent release, The Wonder Years of Austin Leonard Jones Vol. 1 & 2, a double cassette retrospective that compiles some of his standout tracks from 2010 to 2018. Release via the Perpetual Doom label, the compilation showcases Jones’ evolution as a lyricist and musician, as the characters in his songs gradually take on greater depth, while his music becomes more textured and varied in style as it progresses.

Episode 186 marks the first in-person interview in over a year on Look At My Records! That’s right, Chris Fox of New Jersey’s Ruby Bones stopped by Tom’s apartment for a stimulating conversation over some adult beverages and Chris got to physically LOOK AT TOM’S RECORDS. Ruby Bones released their excellent second full-length, Laser Tooth Tiger, back in April on Mint 400 Records, and the two chatted about this slick and solid indie rock record.

Episode 185 of Look At My Records! features an interview with multidisciplinary artist Jon Bernson. The San Francisco-based songwriter has a long and fascinating history of writing eclectic, narrative-driven songs that incorporate several other means of expression, including sound design, dance, and tableau vivant, to name a few. Berson began experimenting beyond the traditional confines of songwriting in the late 1990s as the frontman of Ray's Vast Basement, developing a multimedia approach that is frequently referred to as 'musical fiction'. He’s continued his expansive and interdisciplinary approach through other musical projects, including Exray’s and Window Twins. He’s also written plays, such as When Lighting The Voids, and is a founding member of the Howells Transmitter arts collaborative and record label. Most recently, Bernson shared a new album called Higher Lows, which was heavily inspired by Leonard Cohen's 1984 album, Various Positions.

For Episode 184, Zach Romano joins Tom as co-host for an interview with Brooklyn-based author Mandy Brownholtz. Brownholtz just released her debut novel, Rotten, which tells the story of a young twenty-something named Viv Taylor, as she navigates the seedy underbelly of the DIY scene in Washington D.C. The plot sees Viv confronting past traumas experienced through the scene and reckons with issues of consent and millennial sexual politics, particularly in the context of tight-knit music communities.

Episode 183 of Look At My Records! features an interview with John Russell of Richmond, Virginia power trio Gnawing! We chatted with the band on paper earlier this year, but since then, they’ve released their debut full-length, You Freak Me Out. It dropped last week via Refresh Records and it’s an eclectic mix of big riffs, power-pop hooks, and a bit of far-out cosmic country twang.

Episode 182 of Look At My Records! features an interview with Rafferty Swink of Evolfo. The band just released their long-awaited second album, Site out of Mind, on Royal Potato Family. It’s an epic 12 song collection of colorful, noodly psych-rock gems that touches on themes of spirituality and the afterlife, and was partially inspired by science-fiction concepts and one group psychedelic drug trip. This album saw Swink assume a larger role in producing the record and unlike their last record, Last of the Acid Cowboys, most of the tracking occurred in a more intimate setting, guitarist Matt Gib’s Ditmas Park home studio.

Johnny Dynamite joins Tom for Episode 181 of Look At My Records! The Brooklyn synth-pop king just released his second solo album, Sleeveless, on Born Losers Records, and it builds off of the dark and dreamy sound of his 2020 debut, Heartbroken. Like that record, Sleeveless sees Dynamite leaning heavily into synth-driven arrangements and electronic production to create songs that tell vivid stories, both based in reality and fiction.

Episode 180 of Look At My Records! Features an interview with Aaron Martin and Jeremy Clark of Nashville’s Okey Dokey. Since the project’s inception back in the mid-2010s, Okey Dokey has released a string of great albums and developed a creative ethos that builds off of the principle tenet of collaboration. Over the years, their records have featured contributions from Ron Gallo, Caleb Hickman, and Desert Noises, among others. For their latest album, Once Upon One Time, they took this collaborative-centric approach even further, enlisting an array of different artists, like Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, Dave Harrington, and members of The Shins and My Morning Jacket, to independently mix individual tracks. More recently, the band released a new EP called Leaky Sealing, which includes a remix of their song “Delicious” by the band Generationals, a raw cover of the Roger Miller classic, “Where Have All The Average People Gone,” a stripped-down version of “Wine Friends,” and two new original tracks.

Kris Anaya, Joseph Davancens, and Fernando Oliva of Sacramento California’s Best Move are my guests for Episode 179 of Look At My Records! This new Northern California trio came together in 2019 seeking a new outlet to explore different creative inclinations and inspirations. On their debut EP, Mirror Image Twins, their songs take direction from the stylings of 1960s and ’70s troubadours like Randy Newman, Van Dyke Parks, Brian Wilson, and Harry Nilsson and the “visual scoring” of indie-pop song placement in 21st-century TV shows and films.