Lamniformes Radio Roundup: March 2021
Molly Soda, Humeysha, Darkest Hour, & Infinity Shred
Another month of weekly podcasts in the bag. After this I’ll stop remarking on this fact because it’s starting to feel like talking about working out. Let the results speak for themselves etc.
For the first episode of the month I had web artist Molly Soda on to talk about her ongoing series “Keeping Tabs” where she breaks away from the social media hegemony to explore the stranger corners of the internet. I’ve loved watching “Keeping Tabs” the last few months, and I think Soda is one of the sharpest minds around when it comes to talking about internet culture. I specifically wanted to see how her thoughts about the general trend away from desktops and toward mobile devices intersected with the rise of streaming in music, as well as the disintegration of forum culture. Soda also started up a substack of her own, so go subscribe to that.
Next up, I spoke to Zaim Alam, who performs music under the name Humeysha. I’ve played drums for the live version of Humeysha since fall of 2019, and I’ve always found Zain to be a super thoughtful and well studied guy. We talked about how the project grew out of both his teenage love of shoegaze, post rock, and hip-hop, as well as his post-collegiate visit to India to study the long term effects of the 1947 Partition on the families that were split between India and Pakistan. I’ll admit that I felt out of my depth when talking about the geo-political stuff that Alam is mulling over in his work, but sometimes it’s good to get out of your depth. Alam also shares some very astute takes on the nature of sampling in the modern age. Really good stuff here!
I’m still in awe that for my third episode in February I interviewed Mike Schleibaum of Darkest Hour. Outside of Converge, I don’t think there’s a band on earth I’ve seen live more often than Darkest Hour. I first heard them on Purevolume in 2005 and I’ve been a fan ever since. The occasion for this interview was the premiere of Darkest Hour’s “Live in Lockdown” a live stream concert recorded in DC’s Black Cat. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from asking Schleibaum a bunch of nerdy questions about the band’s experience working with producers like Devin Townsend & Kurt Ballou, his perspective on the way Swedish metal took over the American hardcore scene, and his candid thoughts on Darkest Hour’s later material. The dude was game for all of it.
Finally, I spoke with Damon Hardjowirogo of Infinity Shred about their latest EP Recovery. Hardjowirogo and I have run in broadly the same circles for decades now, from the NYC DIY scene in the 00s to the metal world of the 10s. Infinity Shred are easily one of my favorite “local” bands, given that they scratch my itch for heavy metal, cutting edge electronic music, and post rock all at once. I’ve also always been impressed with the level of production that the band has invested into their visuals and live shows. Sometimes I honestly worry that I come on too strong with my fandom for Hardjowirogo’s band, so I’m honored that he hit me up to talk about his career on the podcast.
I won’t go into it at length here, but The Human Instrumentality Podcast is also still going strong, so if for some reason the anime fans reading this haven’t check it out yet, get with the program.