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Episode 209: Atmosphere (Slug & Ant)

Vinyl Emergency

Release Date: 12/17/2024

Vinyl Emergency Trailer: Spinning Since '16 show art Vinyl Emergency Trailer: Spinning Since '16

Vinyl Emergency

Vinyl Emergency is where your favorite songwriters, producers, record label owners or other personalities who just love music come to discuss how vinyl's mere existence has shaped their lives and careers.

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Episode 220: Ben Nichols of Lucero show art Episode 220: Ben Nichols of Lucero

Vinyl Emergency

With a new solo album dropping later this month — In the Heart of the Mountain, his first in over 15 years — Lucero frontman Ben Nichols addresses why some of his recent songs feel like graphic novels, how he’s reconnected with the mythological Arkansas of his youth, and the parts of him that still wrestle with his southern heritage. Vinyl pre-orders, tour dates and more can be found at .

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Episode 219: David Lowery (Cracker / Camper Van Beethoven) show art Episode 219: David Lowery (Cracker / Camper Van Beethoven)

Vinyl Emergency

A vocal advocate for artist rights and a senior lecturer on all things music business at the University of Georgia, David Lowery discusses today the recent losses of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, learning accounting while on tour, and how Camper Van Beethoven expanded their legend through record store performances. David's latest release -- a 3LP set titled Fathers, Sons and Brothers -- is available now. Tour dates for all of David's projects are available at , and . Also, check out , in beta testing, as David and a group of current and former students attempt to upset the recorded music...

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SECOND SPIN: S.G. Goodman (September 2022) show art SECOND SPIN: S.G. Goodman (September 2022)

Vinyl Emergency

This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in September 2022. "Planting By The Signs," S.G.'s latest album, comes out on June 20th. -- S.G. Goodman delivers both a voice and a lyrical wisdom that feel perfectly worn in -- like that of an artist who's been crafting decades worth of masterful, soul-baring material. What's all the more astounding is that she's only a few albums in to what will hopefully be a long, deep career. The publication Bitter Southerner defines her sound as "driven by love, sometimes by defiance, but always by a delight in singing out... like...

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SECOND SPIN: Sara Watkins (April 2021) show art SECOND SPIN: Sara Watkins (April 2021)

Vinyl Emergency

This is an encore presentation of a previous episode, originally airing in April 2021. Wild and Clear and Blue, Sara's latest album as a member of I'm With Her, was released on May 9th. --- Over the last twenty-five years with acclaimed acts like Nickel Creek, I'm With Her and Watkins Family Hour (as well as her own solo material), Sara Watkins has become one of the most prolific musicians in folk and bluegrass. Dig into your record collection, and you'll also find her work on albums from Steve Earle, The Decemberists, Mandy Moore, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett and Father John Misty, to...

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Episode 218: David Bazan on 20 Years of 'Headphones' show art Episode 218: David Bazan on 20 Years of 'Headphones'

Vinyl Emergency

Though a rather one-off side-project, David Bazan says his Headphones LP may be his most stressful artistic expression. Though the band Pedro the Lion was his breadwinning endeavor at the time, he admits to losing interest in guitar, album by album. Suddenly, dabbling in synthesizers led to not just a new avenue for songwriting, but a borderline obsession, bringing his gear everywhere from lakeside family vacations to vacant movie theatre parking lots in order to perfect these unconventional sounds, alone. Putting the album to tape was a whole other hill to climb, leading to David staying up...

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Episode 217: Dianogah show art Episode 217: Dianogah

Vinyl Emergency

Jay Ryan and Jason Harvey, bassists for the Chicago-area trio Dianogah, describe the route to -- and surprise release of -- their new, career-spanning 5LP box set. Visit to order this limited pressing, and follow @dianogah_official on Instagram for more updates.

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Episode 216: Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger show art Episode 216: Sean Nelson of Harvey Danger

Vinyl Emergency

Harvey Danger vocalist Sean Nelson makes a good case for his group being, in his words, "the last band through the door" of the alternative revolution: Though the quartet went gold thanks to the frenetic, inescapable "Flagpole Sitta" as the nineties closed, the landscape for them (and cohorts such as Cake, Semisonic or Fastball) would look much different a year later. By 2000, a sudden contingent of beefy backwards cappers, led by the likes of Limp Bizkit and Papa Roach, had commandeered arenas and the airwaves as an antithesis to pop radio. Paired with a massive label shake-up, this left...

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Episode 215: Minus the Bear on “Menos El Oso,” Track-By-Track show art Episode 215: Minus the Bear on “Menos El Oso,” Track-By-Track

Vinyl Emergency

After 15+ years on the road, Seattle's Minus the Bear said goodbye in 2018... but not for long. Marking two decades since the release of their second album, Menos El Oso -- heralded by both critics and fans alike -- the five-piece are back this year to play the album in full across the country. A sprawling, math-rock masterclass, Menos takes listeners on a globetrotting trail through Spain, Ireland, Los Angeles and more, while vocalist/guitarist Jake Snider inhabits characters seeking escape, be it from fever dreams, crime scenes or soul-crushing day jobs. Today, Jake is...

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Episode 214: Bob Mould show art Episode 214: Bob Mould

Vinyl Emergency

On the heels of a fiery new album (Here We Go Crazy), influential indie icon Bob Mould reflects on how record store culture informed Hüsker Dü's formation and why the jukebox singles of his youth still help him get out of the occasional songwriting stalemate. Visit for tour dates, social media and more. 

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More Episodes

In 1995, a fervent and wry rapper (Sean Daley, aka Slug) and a dexterous deejay (Anthony Davis; Ant for short) helped co-found a platform to help put Midwest -- and more precisely, Minnesotan -- hip-hop on the map. Three decades later, Rhymesayers Entertainment is one of the most popular and influential modern rap labels in existence, releasing seminal LP's by MF Doom, Freeway, Aesop Rock, Brother Ali, and Atmosphere: Slug and Ant's infectious repartee that helped define the Rhymesayers aesthetic from the jump: While Daley puts the listener in a metaphorical chokehold -- thanks to a volatile delivery of vulnerable self-reflection -- Davis' textured musical milieu allows plenty of room for revelry within a hybrid of soul, gospel and rap's golden age. On this week's episode, the pair ponder how record shopping has actively made their lives better, why racially integrated album covers usually lead to great music, and when their first-ever appearance on vinyl became a time capsule of their first-ever collaboration. Atmosphere will commemorate the 20th anniversary of their landmark release You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having by kicking off their aptly-titled Imagine The Fun tour in January. Tickets, social media and pre-orders for Ant's third volume of his Collection of Sounds series (dropping next month) are all available at atmospheresucks.com