DoT Christmas Special - The Nutcracker for Novices
The Department of Tangents Podcast
I know I haven't dropped a new episode in a long time, but it's the holidays, and I love the holidays, so I wanted to present an audio version of my reaction to seeing The Nutcracker for the first time. This is my assessment of the story, using only the visual cues from the ballet as it was presented. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
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S2EP6 - Comedian and Late Night Writer Jon Rineman
The Department of Tangents Podcast
Jon Rineman started his career with as tumultuous and triumphant a 15-year run as a comic could envision for themselves. We address that, but we also talk about his new comedy card game, Anti-Social Skills, his post-Tonight Show gig teaching at Emerson College in Boston, and what he learned about the future of late night from his students.
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S2EP5 - Stay Scary Podcast Hosts Lisa and Yinh
The Department of Tangents Podcast
The Stay Scary Podcast is a silly podcast about serious horror, as described by host Lisa McGolgan. Every episode, Lisa and co-host Yinh Kiefer take a theme in horror films or horror lore, everything from insects to puberty, serial killers to doll parts, and have a ripsnorting good time going wherever that topic takes them. The show is as much fun to listen to as it is to be on, and taping this episode was the most fun I had in an interview this season.
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S2EP4 - Musician Rob Kovacs
The Department of Tangents Podcast
At first glance, Rob Kovacs seems to have wildly divergent interests in music. Let Go is lush and rhythmic piano pop, organic and melancholy, and tells a very human story. Look again, and you see his alter-ego, 88Bit, who orchestrates the mechanical soundtracks of throwback video games for piano. Keep listening, and you’ll hear how they blend together, how they merge in Kovac’s particular style.
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S2EP3 - Author Paul Tremblay
The Department of Tangents Podcast
Last spring, I read a Tweet from author Paul Tremblay apologizing for his upcoming horror novel, Survivor Song. When he had turned in his final edits for the book months before, he could not have known how prescient it would seem, especially to his friends in the New England horror writing community. Survivor Song is set in Boston in the opening stages of an epidemic. A virus is spreading, hospitals are overwhelmed, the government is providing an inadequate response.
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S2EP2 - Musician Jenee Halstead
The Department of Tangents Podcast
Being an artist often means you spend your life looking for a place that feels right, finding it, and then leaving it as quickly as you can. Creative fulfilment as Brigadoon. In 2021, Jenee Halstead released Disposable Love, an album that sounds in many ways like the one she was always meant to make. With producer Dave Brophy and collaborators like Susan Cattaneo, Halstead has crafted an elegant pop album with a rich sonic palette.
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S2EP1 - Comedian and Daily Show Writer Josh Johnson
The Department of Tangents Podcast
Josh Johnson is a smart joke writer at ease with his own vulnerability, and those are qualities that are only enhanced as he gets bolder as an artist. Most of this episode is centered around Elusive: A Mixtape, his album-length exploration of comedy and music. at turns silly and thoughtful, with live comedy punctuated by recorded music. Johnson shares how working with Trevor Noah has helped him both as a writer and a person.
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The Department of Tangents Podcast: A Brief (Re)Introduction
The Department of Tangents Podcast
Season Two of the Department of Tangents Podcast coming Tuesday June 29! Six episodes, guests are comedians Josh Johnson and Jon Rineman, Stay Scary Podcast hosts Lisa and Yinh, author Paul Tremblay, and musicians Jenee Halstead and Rob Kovac!
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The Artist Check-In EP8: Bethany Van Delft - Comedian, Storyteller
The Department of Tangents Podcast
This week I speak with comedian and storyteller Bethany Van Delft. Bethany hosts Artisanal Comedy every Wednesday on Instagram, which she adapted to the online comedy world very quickly. We also talked about taking care of a family under quarantine and taking some time to pause as creative people to prevent burnout. The last part of the conversation revolves around the Black Lives Matter protests and how this moment in history feels a bit different from other flashpoints.
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The DoT EP112: Paul Hansen of The Grownup Noise On New Music, New Instruments, and Some Personal History
The Department of Tangents Podcast
Paul is the songwriter at the center of The Grownup Noise, a beloved and hard to characterize indie rock outfit in Boston. Over the years, the band line-up has changed, but Paul has always been out front with his guitar and voice. This week, on June fifth, Paul is putting out a new Grownup Noise with a very new sound. If you’re a fan, you’ll notice the difference in sound immediately. But you may also notice that this is still very much a Grownup Noise album.
info_outlineBeing an artist often means you spend your life looking for a place that feels right, finding it, and then leaving it as quickly as you can. Creative fulfilment as Brigadoon. In 2021, Jenee Halstead released Disposable Love, an album that sounds in many ways like the one she was always meant to make. With producer Dave Brophy and collaborators like Susan Cattaneo, Halstead has crafted an elegant pop album with a sonic palette that spans from her earlier acoustic sound to horn-driven R&B to something more ethereal. She took some chances to do something different, part of which was allowing herself to sing happier pop songs, which she says can feel even more vulnerable than some of the more folky confessional songs she has written in the past. But then, she’s always kept moving. She recently found new context in her writing after an Ayahuasca ceremony, and she’s looking forward to incorporating chants into her next project. That is all covered in this conversation about the arc of her career and the sound of Disposable Love.
You can find her music on Apple and Google and Spotify and all the usual places. To keep track of the new stuff you can go to www.jeneehalstead.com and find her on Twitter and Instagram under @jeneehalstead. The new album is Disposable Love, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.