Click on the image to download the mixtape
DJ Matt Werner’s Mixtape Vol. 1 is now available for download. (19 tracks, 114 MB)
DJ Matt Werner Mix Tape Vol. 1
Interview with MC Lars
DJ Matt Werner’s interview and feature with post-punk laptop rapper MC Lars was recorded live at The Cathouse in Glasgow on April 15, 2009, and first aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on May 5, 2009.
In the interview, MC Lars and DJ Matt Werner discuss the songs Guitar Hero Hero, Download This Song, Hot Topic is Not Punk Rock, Hipster Girl, Twenty-Three, Hey There Ophelia, Signing Emo (feat. the Matches), and White Kids Aren’t Hyphy (DJ Khaled Remix).
Topics also discussed include MC Lars’s latest album This Gigantic Robot Kills, Jean Baudrillard’s notion of “hyperreality,” the rich traditions of punk and hip hop in the Northern California music scene, the suicide of MC Lars’s former Stanford roommate, which inspired the song Twenty-Three, and how MC Lars navigates the racial politics of being a white MC. This show features the voice-over talents of Ben Felsing, and also a surprise, but brief, visit from Queen Elizabeth II.
For more on MC Lars, please visit http://www.mclars.com/
You can download this podcast from iTunes by clicking here, or by visiting http://mattswriting.com
(Right click and select “Save Link As” to download the large, 129 MB mp3 audio file)
Click on the player to listen to the hour-long interview and feature on MC Lars.
Transcript for Talib Kweli Interview
Talib Kweli Interview
with DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative
http://freshair.org.uk, http://mattswriting.com
Phone interview recorded on March 3, 2009, show aired on March 10, 2009.
The full hour-long interview and feature can be downloaded here.
A PDF of this interview transcript can be downloaded here.
DJ MATT WERNER: This is DJ Matt Werner on Fresh Air: The Alternative. We’re coming at you from Edinburgh, Scotland, and we have Talib Kweli with us on a phone interview. And so Talib, you’ve been very active this last year, and I’ve read most of the interviews you’ve conducted this last year online: on everything from your song about Lauren Hill, J Dilla, MCEO, and other projects, so I don’t want to repeat questions that’ve already been asked in these other interviews. But my listeners here in Scotland have had two main questions for you. One is on…
TALIB KWELI: Black Star?
DJ MATT WERNER: Yeah, Black Star.
TALIB KWELI: [laughs]
Interview with hip hop artist Dahlak Brathwaite
DJ Matt Werner’s interview with hip hop artist Dahlak Brathwaite originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on November 18, 2008.
In this 40-minute interview and feature on Dahlak Brathwaite, Dahlak discusses his Kanye West tribute album Commencement, touring with Ill-Literacy (his group with Adriel Luis, Nico Cary and Ruby Veridiano-Ching), his views on race in the United States, life after graduating from UC Davis, and Barack Obama. The interview also features 6 of Dahlak’s tracks and poems, including A Peculiar Evolution, Take It Away, Black Genius, Fight! Fight! Fight! (with George Watsky), Do It, and Never Know.
For more on this dynamic MC and spoken-word performer, musician, writer, and theater actor Dahlak Brathwaite, please see his websites: http://www.thisisdahlak.com/ and http://www.ill-literacy.com/
(Right click and select “Save Link As” to download the large, 84 MB mp3 audio file)
Click on the player to listen to the 40-minute interview and feature on Dahlak Brathwaite.
Interview with beatboxer Kid Beyond
DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interview with beatboxer, singer, live-looper, and voice actor extraordinaire Kid Beyond originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on November 25, 2008.
In addition to playing his live cover of Wandering Star by Portishead and I Shall Be Free off of his album Amplivate, the interview also features his voice-overs for video games like Call of Duty, Sims (and how he improvised speaking Simlish), Guitar Hero and American Idol video games, and Nokia commercials. Kid Beyond also showcases his impersonations of Barack Obama, Don LaFontaine, Thurl Ravenscroft, and many more.
This in-depth interview covers many topics, ranging from Kid Beyond’s beginnings as a performer in an a cappella group at Brown University, to joining The House Jacks, being signed to Warner Brothers and almost being made into a boy band, to his solo touring, live looping gigs, to his exploration of Buddhism and the inspiration for his song I Shall Be Free, as well as his work fundraising for Barack Obama in 2008.
For more on Kid Beyond and his EP Amplivate, please visit http://www.kidbeyond.com
Note: All of the male voices and music performed in this 50-minute interview (besides DJ Matt Werner’s voice) including the commercials, are done by Kid Beyond using only his voice and live looping. This interview was also featured on Human Beatbox.com
(Right click and select “Save Link As” to download the large, 109 MB mp3 audio file)
Click on the player to listen to the 50-minute interview and feature on vocal artist Kid Beyond.
Interview with rock musician Dave Smallen
DJ Matt Werner’s exclusive interview with Dave Smallen, originally aired on Fresh Air: The Alternative on March 17, 2009.
Many topics are covered, including Dave’s time touring the U.S. with Street to Nowhere while signed with Capitol Records, and his latest singles America and Every Time I Leave (I Leave for Good). In addition to these new tracks, additional songs played in the hour are off of the Charmingly Awkward album: Georgia, Can You Hear Me?, You Can’t Go to Sleep, and Tipsy.
Check out Dave Smallen’s latest tracks from his forthcoming album “Everything Changes & Nothing Changes” at: http://www.davesmallen.com/
(Right click and select “Save Link As” to download the large, 140 MB mp3 audio file)
Click on the player to listen to the hour-long interview with alternative rock songwriter and musician Dave Smallen.
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