ifitbeyourwill S06E12 • Alexei Shishkin

What happens when you book four days in a studio with no songs written and trust your gut anyway? We sat down with Alexei Shishkin to unpack the making of Good Times, a record born from instinct, loops, and a shared “don’t overthink it” pact with producer Bradford Krieger at Big Nice in Rhode Island. Alexei walks us through the thrill of showing up empty-handed, improvising with friends, chopping bass lines into new shapes, and committing to sounds fast so inspiration never goes cold.

We dig into the long arc that got him there: early experiments with Sound Recorder and GarageBand, the way loops taught him arrangement and structure, and how his voice drifted from hidden texture to focal point as space, gear, and confidence shifted. Alexei explains why direct-in guitars, stock tools, and minimal mixing rounds weren’t shortcuts but creative choices that kept the project fluid. He also shares an unfiltered take on modern music careers—why he loves recording but refuses to tour, how he handled radio sessions with covers instead of acoustic stand-ins, and what it means to keep music in the passion lane while video work pays the bills.

This is a conversation for anyone fascinated by process over perfection, indie production that favours momentum, and the quiet discipline of knowing what you want from your art. Along the way, you’ll hear about influences like Microdisney, High Llamas, and Pavement, and the layered catalogue Alexei is building for deep-diving listeners. Press play, then tell us: do you value a flawless performance, or the spark of creation captured in real time? If you enjoy the show, follow, rate, and share with a friend who loves indie music stories shaped by instinct.

https://shishkinproductions.com/

The Hidden Cameras • Counting Stars • Live 2016

The Hidden Cameras • How do you love? • 2025

https://www.thehiddencameras.com/

The Hidden Cameras are a Canadian indie pop band formed in 2001 by singer-songwriter Joel Gibb. Known for their blend of melodic pop, orchestral arrangements, and provocative lyrics exploring queer themes, the band gained early recognition for their theatrical live shows featuring go-go dancers, choirs, and string sections.

Their debut album The Smell of Our Own became a cult favorite, followed by critically acclaimed releases like Mississauga Goddam and Awoo. Over the years, The Hidden Cameras have remained a unique voice in indie music, mixing intimacy, activism, and baroque pop sensibilities. Rough Trade

Rubber Band Gun • “Eyes Above” • 2025

I got turned onto the work of Kevin Basko through the people he rubs around with: The Lemon Twigs, Foxygen, Uni Boys, etcetera. Basko makes pop-rock like all of them, the sticky, howling dogs kind that’ll clog up your noggin, and he also makes a lot of it. In fact, he’s already put out three albums under the Rubber Band Gun banner in 2025 alone, a follow-up to the three albums he put out last year! And that’s not even including the three-part collection of demos he unveiled sometime in there, too. I dig that, and I dig the new Rubber Band Gun record, Record Deal With God. It’s a whole lot of fun, especially a firecracker track like “Eyes Above.” I mean, we’re talking about a potential favorite song of the year here!! With a glint of McCartney in his eye, Basko breaks through with some delirious, rabble-rousing rock and roll timelessness colored by his striking, catchy flavor of modernity. I credit Emily Moales’ backing vocals for yanking “Eyes Above” through the tides of retro. If there ever were a present-day example of Ram’s lasting influence on us young folk, look no further: —Matt Mitchell

Hand Gestures • Justin's Funeral • 2025

"a warm and spirited blend of indie rock that has elements of bands like Woods, Real Estate, and The Feelies" - We All Want Someone to Shout For

“Hand Gestures could actually become your new favorite band.” - We Love That Sound

“Hand Gestures doesn't feel like a new band, but rather a new chapter in American songwriting.” - Lost in the Manor

“pulsing with urgency but anchored in heart” - Fame Magazine

“For fans of reflective, melody-driven indie-rock that blends warmth with tension, this single is a quiet triumph.” - FLEX Magazine

“warm and breezy indie-rock textures, lofty atmosphere, and spellbinding hooks layered throughout” - Mystic Sons

“It is a spontaneous yet intricate exercise of guitar driven psych pop, a reality check wrapped in a quilt of gently shifting instrumentation.” - Here Comes the Flood

“What stands out most to me is the atmosphere they create. It’s simple, but not in a lacking way, it’s more like they know exactly what to leave in and what to leave out. That balance makes the whole thing feel alive.” - Cheers to the Vikings

ifitbeyourwill S06E11 • Octoberman

A fall day, a fresh cup, and a songwriter ready to open the door. We sit down with Octoberman’s Marc Morrissette to trace the line from teenaged mixtapes and first guitars to packed vans, TV placements, and the decision to build Octoberman as a fluid, long-haul project. Marc shares how four songwriters in Kids These Days created abundance and how the quieter, folk-leaning material found a real home once he stepped into a looser, more personal frame.

The heart of this conversation lives in process and in the pivot points life hands you. Marc walks us through his writing ritual—constant note-taking, big demo batches, and letting the best ideas rise—then shows how trust shapes arrangements when bandmates write their own parts. We dig into Chutes and why he abandoned the click track for the warmth of two-inch tape, capturing performances live in the room. The result is a record that breathes: wood, wire, and the human timing you can feel in your chest.

There’s a deeper current here too. After stepping back for family and losing his mother suddenly, Marc found proof of her quiet belief—Octoberman CDs in her car, a scrapbook of clippings—and channelled that grief into a creative surge. Half of Chutes sprang from that renewed momentum; the other half came from forgotten demos on old hard drives, bringing vivid character songs and narrative vignettes that expand the album’s voice. We talk Canadiana roots, Harry Nilsson nods, and why names like Roger and Marla can pull a listener closer.

If you love indie folk, live-to-tape warmth, and honest talk about how records actually get made, you’ll feel at home. Press play, meet Marc’s world, and then tell us what you heard—your favourite track, a line that stuck, or your own story of stepping back and starting again. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves analog recordings, and leave a review to help more ears find the show.

Our seventh album “Chutes” is OUT NOW EVERYWHERE. Analog and liveish… Fictional storytelling amongst some “we’re all dying, what to do”. Snuck in some vibraphones, accordion, banjo, rhodes next to the what have you’s of guitar/bass/drums/synthesizers. Marshall, Tavo, Annelise, J.J., and myself played on it and our longtime friend Jarrett Bartlett recorded and mixed it and. Jeffry Lee did the artwork. Philip Shaw Bova mastered it. Bandcamp for a “vinyl”/download and everywhere else to stream. The world is a very heavy place right now but making music is a helpful distraction. Thank you, take care and good luck out there. ❤️ Marc

The Goods • "Sunday Morning Out Of The Blue” • 2025

Oakland power pop band The Goods return with Don’t Spoil the Fun, their first full-length album, arriving October 24th, 2025 via Dandy Boy Records. Written and produced by frontman Rob Good (Ryli) in his Oakland studio, the record captures the band’s signature mix of jangling guitars, big melodic hooks, and heartfelt songwriting. Joined by bassist Cherron Arens and guitarist Gabriel Monnot, Good channels the classic shimmer of The Byrds and Big Star with the energy of Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet - crafting songs that feel both familiar and fresh.

https://dandyboyrecords.bandcamp.com/album/dont-spoil-the-fun

Louis O’Hara • Magpie • 2025

Louis O’Hara is a singer-songwriter from Pembroke Dock, West Wales, whose music blends tender folk sensibilities with poetic lyricism and chamber-pop textures. His songs draw from memory, place, and quiet emotional truths, often described as nostalgic, emotional, and intimate.

After years living in Bristol and London, O’Hara returned to West Wales in 2024, a move that inspired the writing of his forthcoming debut album (due late 2025). Written between a cherished nylon-string guitar and his grandmother’s piano, the record reflects on themes of loss, love, and friendship, arranged with his band His Burley Chassis and recorded in Spain with producer James Trevascus (Billy Nomates, Young Fathers, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis).

 

His earlier EPs Clay (2024) and Pass The Blame (2025) established him as one of Wales’ most affecting new voices, drawing comparisons to Leonard Cohen, Sparklehorse, and Paul McCartney. With “Just Grand”, Louis O’Hara offers a glimpse into the emotional honesty and lyrical clarity of his upcoming full-length record.

 

https://www.libertinorecords.com/

Jessica Hoop • Memories are Now • 2025

Website

Tomorrow, California-born, Manchester-based singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop will release Selective Memory - a live, unplugged reworking of her acclaimed 2017 Memories Are Now (Sub Pop). Joining the cast of stripped back album versions for her first three releases, this new collection finds Hoop and her two bandmates, Chloe Foy and Rachel Rimmer, capturing the record in its entirety live in Hoop’s Manchester home.

 

Opening the door to an intimate performance space, Selective Memory shines a new light on one of Hoop’s most beloved albums. Raw and immediate in its delivery, the record brims with luminous harmonies, lyrical richness and unguarded emotion. It is sweet and bitter, fresh and raw, and very much of the moment.

Keaton Henson • Past It • 2025

Today’s new songs “Past It” and “Loose Ends” capture the two ends of Henson’s journey both personally and musically across the forthcoming record. The first, a nostalgia-soaked evaluation of his career as a musician, is delivered through a crackling, lo-fi hum reminiscent of Christian Lee Hutson or Phoebe Bridgers. While awash with self-doubt, the self-reflective daydream is permeated by an understanding of his own needs. “This one’s a bit meta,” says Henson. “It’s me looking at ageing and growing older as a musician. But also reflecting on the whole idea of a 37-year-old man singing the kinds of songs I sing, especially the way I am on this album. Sometimes you can catch your reflection while writing songs and I have these thoughts, usually ending with wondering if anyone will even hear it.”

Instagram

ifitbeyourwill S06E10 • Thanks Light...

A sunlit hook can feel like a hand on your shoulder. That’s the energy we chase with Zane Ruttenberg of Thanks Light, as we unpack how Good Timing blends tropical psych shimmer, country ease, and harmony-rich craftsmanship into a record that invites you to stay for the whole side. Zane takes us from his backseat education with The Byrds and the Beach Boys to a lifelong obsession with layered vocals and melodies that last, sharing the human moments that seed lyrics—like a rough morning that turned into a song-worthy phrase.

We get inside the engine room of collaboration. Zane’s ear-trained, punk-spirited songwriting meets the classical rigour of longtime partner Michael Frels, creating friction that sharpens ideas without killing their spark. That push and pull shows up in arrangements that know what to protect—a defining riff, a hooky bassline—and what to open up for play. Along the way, we talk rotating lineups, shared fingerprints on records, and the quiet, unglamorous truth of trusting people after long van rides and late nights. It’s a portrait of a project that feels more like an art collective than a fixed band, yet still manages to sound unmistakably like Thanks Light.

Then we zoom in on Good Timing itself: the faux radio stinger that frames the album’s world, the exotica nods on the nine-minute closer, and the sequencing that makes each song feel necessary. Zane name-checks influences from Martin Denny and Jimmy Buffett to Granddaddy and Texas country pillars, weaving them into a sound that’s escapist without being empty. Finally, he teases what’s next—two albums tracked in parallel, one bright and breezy, the other tender and blue—both shaped to feel cohesive from first note to last.

If you love harmony-rich indie, tropical psych colours, and songs built to last, hit play, follow the show, and leave a review to tell us which moment stuck with you most. Your notes guide future conversations and help more listeners find the music.

https://www.thankslight.com/

Brògeal • Tuesday Paper Club • 2025

"They look and sound like the most Scottish motherfuckers you ever saw in your entire life, and they write very catchy songs"

– Stereogum

"one of the best live acts" 

– The Independent

“It’s time we had a band with the ability to make us cry and party until our heads are disgustingly sore. In Brògeal, we might have found them” 

– Rolling Stone

ifitbeyourwill S06E09 • Living Hour

The first spark was private: long walks, headphones on, and albums that asked for total attention. From there, Living Hour grew into a band that treats dynamics like storytelling—opening with noise that dissolves into hush, letting melodies carry both weight and warmth, and trusting listeners to lean in. We sit down with Sam and Gil to trace the arc from university jams in Winnipeg’s DIY rooms to a studio session that captured the bold confidence of Internal Drone Infinity, their new record dropping October 17.

We unpack how ambient influences—Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Explosions in the Sky, and the Social Network score—shaped a patient, spacious approach to songwriting. Sam explains how ideas begin as fragments and vowel sounds, how a riff earns its place by refusing to fade, and how lyrics stepped forward across albums until the new songs felt fully owned. Gil maps the shift from guitar‑forward interplay to arrangements built around Sam’s melodies, and what happens when a new drummer changes the band’s gait in the best way. Touring comes to life here too: the van routines, modular setlists that fit quiet rooms and rock clubs, and the small onstage transitions that make the show breathe.

You’ll hear why release season feels like nesting and training, how social media becomes part amplifier, part chore, and why November’s run is designed like a marathon. We also look ahead: February dates on the West Coast, hopes for Europe and Australia, and a folder of demos that might become an EP. Sam’s ambient side project, Pure Pulp, threads back to the beginning—proof that the private room where songs start remains the core of the band’s voice. If you love indie rock steeped in ambient textures, slow‑core dynamics, and heartfelt vocals, this conversation will lock you in. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs new music, and leave a review to help more listeners find the show.

livinghourband.com

On Internal Drone Infinity, Winnipeg’s Living Hour transforms the passage of time into something both urgent and sacred. Anchored by Sam Sarty’s vivid lyricism, shaped by years as a projectionist conjuring stories in a dark theater, the band explores the quiet magic hidden in everyday life. Their fourth album drifts between dreamy noise rock, folky slowcore, and fuzzy indie-pop, coining a genre all their own:“yearn-core.”With wistful vocals, textural distortion, and poetic detail, Living Hour capture the ache of memory, the mess of feeling, and the beauty in what remains.

ifitbeyourwill S06E08 • The Noisy

A candle lit in a tiny kitchen. A book of poems opened before the phone wakes the world. That’s where this story begins—at the border of dream and day—where Sara Mae Henke (The Noisy) learned to trust the spark that eventually leapt from the page to a microphone. We dig into how a poet’s routine became a musician’s backbone, and how community—slam circles, UT Knoxville’s scene, and a tight-knit queer network in the South—turned a good voice into a living catalogue of songs.

We talk about building an album like a neighbourhood: each track its own house with different colours, but all on the same street. Chappell Roan’s world-per-song approach hovers in the blueprint, while touchpoints span Mannequin Pussy’s snarl, Lucy Dacus’s glow, shoegaze haze, and the country DNA of a Maryland childhood soundtracked by Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood. The deluxe release, The Secret Ingredient Is Even More Meat, isn’t a victory lap—it’s a field report. Nightshade finally arrives from the original writing burst. Tony Soprano grows from an inward whisper to a communal hymn for grief. Morricone exists twice, riding from spaghetti-western swagger to true indie rock. Live tracks capture the Philly lineup breathing new life into the set.

Then we go stranger and truer: clown as a craft lens. Not costume, but consent—to be fully seen, to be in on the joke with the audience, to carry the thought you’d normally take back and turn it into a chorus. We unpack how embarrassment can become voltage, how idiosyncratic structures and non-traditional recording make room for surprise, and why intimacy with listeners beats suspicion. Along the way, we honour the collaborators who opened doors, lent gear, taught etiquette, and showed that independent musicians are some of the most generous people on earth.

If you’re curious about how poetry informs melody, how queer community shapes art, and how a deluxe record can map the life of songs onstage and off, you’ll feel at home here. Join us, subscribe to the show, and tell a friend who needs a spark. And if the music moved you, leave a review—what track hit first, and why?

 

https://veryverynoisy.squarespace.com/

“Dynamic sound, charming energy, and a confessional tell-all spirit that’s as charismatic as it is irresistible.” – ATWOOD MAGAZINE

“Glamorous, retro, and proudly queer.” – WXPN

“The Noisy’s sound isn’t exactly noisy in the abrasive sense, but it is boisterous, embracing the crunch of grungy pop rock and the twang of Sara Mae’s Knoxville roots to create a muscular and freely associated alt-country belter.” – POST-TRASH

“It sounds really formative. Being “sixteen and see-through” is such a vulnerable feeling, one that “Grenadine” captures really well.” – THE ALTERNATIVE

Cedarsmoke • Over Nothing • 2025

Like sunlight spilling over shadows, Cedarsmoke’s new single ‘Something Over Nothing’finds joy and melancholy moving hand in hand. Out Friday, October 10, it offers the final glimpse of their forthcoming album 'Under The Rainbow' (October 31). 

A Brisbane/Meanjin band long admired for their lyric-driven approach and genre-bending sound, Cedarsmoke continue to evolve with every release. Since their 2016 debut, they have moved restlessly between folk, rock, country, and psychedelia, always with singer-songwriter Jon Cloumassis’s storytelling at the centre. Their upcoming third full-length album embraces this adventurous streak fully, with each track tied to a colour and a theme, creating a record that is as expansive as it is intimate.

Great Lake Swimmers • For You To Come Around (Live at Odd Fellows Hall) • 2025

https://greatlakeswimmers.com/

"A stunning variety of tones and textures..nothing less than both cerebral and sublime" – American Songwriter, 4/5

“Dekker’s preoccupation with the Canadian state of mind flourishes in his lyrics. Few songwriters are able to convey the country’s harsh beauty as well. …Canadian folk tradition personified in the 21st century” – Exclaim!

"Beautifully crafted and arranged, there’s a gorgeous warmth in ['Youth Not Wasted's] gentle instrumentation, which is lush and layered. These tones capture perfectly the way we look back as time passes..Sweetly melodic music accompanying tender words of reflection – this is Americana songwriting at its finest." – Americana UK

Lande Hekt • Favourite Pair of Shoes • 2025

I wrote this song when I was listening to a lot of The Bats and The Chills, it probably sounds nothing like any of that Flying Nun stuff but that was what was inspiring me at the time. Despite the lines that lean towards despair, I think this is quite a hopeful song. It’s about rising out of a pit of hopelessness and doing something really positive. The song features my old friend and longtime collaborator Samuel Bedford. We first sang together when we were 16, we recorded a song together for his folk solo project, then we were in an indie rock band together when we were 21 called Selfish Son. Sam sang on my song Kitchen in 2020 and now he sings on this song and Coming Home. Each of these collaborations are 5 years apart which is tidy.

ifitbeyourwill S06E07 • Carson McHone

What if the truest parts of a record live beneath the surface, shaping what you hear without ever announcing themselves? We sit down with Carson McHone to trace the layers behind Pentimento—from Austin’s all-ages venues to a late-summer desert in West Texas and a snow-dusted session by the Bay of Fundy, tracked to 8-track tape. Along the way, Carson shares the moment she said goodbye to restaurant shifts from the White Horse stage, the journal her mother kept during her first year of life, and how words, melody, and memory braid into songs that feel at once intimate and wide open.

We explore creativity as both posture and practice: the ear training of Suzuki lessons, the freedom of a gifted mandolin, and the patience to catch a song’s thread whether it arrives as a fully formed line or a slow, methodical build. The title Pentimento—borrowed from visual art—becomes a map for the album’s design: the underpainting that persists through time, the overlapping faces of influence, the way a project can hold multiple truths at once. Carson talks about recording to tape, embracing texture over tidy edges, and respecting albums as one living piece rather than a handful of singles. Listeners have responded by pressing play again the moment the last track ends, sensing a narrative that’s felt more than spelled out.

If you’re drawn to songwriting craft, analog recording, Austin music history, or the elemental pull of place—desert heat and ocean tide—you’ll find a lot to love here. We hold space for the practical and the poetic: paying the bills, protecting the creative spark, and building work that would be worth making even if no one heard it. Hit play, share it with a friend who still listens front to back, and leave a review to tell us what layer you heard first.

 

ifitbeyourwill S06E06 • Shallowater

A quiet room. Three players. More air than distortion—and somehow it feels heavier. We invited Blake Skipper from Shallowater to pull back the curtain on a second album that trades pedal stacks for patience, lets the drummer steer dynamics, and turns the bass into a melodic foil that fills the trio without clogging the mix. If you’ve ever wondered how slow/fast shifts can feel cinematic, or how minimal gear can still shake a room, this one lands right in your wheelhouse.

We trace the band’s path from Lubbock House shows to an independent release that knows what it wants: space, restraint, and intent. Blake breaks down how songs form in the room, why lyrics usually arrive last, and how a well-timed TikTok plus an Ethel Kane playlist slot helped the music find its people. There’s candour about the DIY grind—distribution, merch, schedules—alongside the pure joy of first tours, late-night drives, and fans who cross state lines for 45 minutes of slowcore catharsis. Expect talk of odd-time grooves, drummer-led accelerations, and the subtle choices that make quiet passages tense and loud moments bloom.

We also explore how reviews reflect the band’s bet: some call it sparse, others call it necessary. That’s the point. When you remove the extra, the melody has to carry, the timing has to mean something, and each player has to leave room for the others. Blake shares what’s ahead—new writing, deeper interplay, and dates with The Raveonettes across Chicago, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, and DC—plus a hope to bring their “dirtgaze” north to Canada. If you care about slowcore, alt-gaze, Texas indie, or simply how a small band can sound big through intention, queue it up, lean in, and let the space do the talking.

Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo - Texas Man Abducted By Aliens For Outer Space Joy Ride • 2025

Today, Jad Fair & Yo La Tengo announced a reissue of their often-overlooked and rare gem of a record, Strange But True, due out via Joyful Noise Recordings and Bar/None Records on December 12th, 2025. The album will be available on vinyl, CD, and all digital platforms. Along with this announcement, the group also shared a single “Texas Man Abducted by Aliens for Outer Space Joyride,” which is now available for the very first time on streaming.

https://jadfair.lnk.to/strange

Tracklist

 1. Helpful Monkey Wallpapers Entire Home

2. Texas Man Abducted by Aliens for Outer Space Joy Ride

3. National Sports Association Hires Retired English Professor to Name New Wrestling Holds

4. Dedicated Thespian Has Teeth Pulled to Play Newborn Baby in High School Play

5. Three-Year-Old Genius Graduates High School at Top of Her Class

6. Embarrassed Teen Accidentally Uses Valuable Rare Postage Stamp

7. Principal Punishes Students with Bad Impressions and Tired Jokes

8. Retired Grocer Constructs Tiny Mount Rushmore Entirely of Cheese

9. X-Ray Reveals Doctor Left Wristwatch Inside Patient

10. Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert by Mistake #2

11. Retired Woman Starts New Career in Monkey Fashions

12. Circus Strongman Runs for PTA President

13. High School Shop Class Constructs Bicycle Built for 26

14. Clumsy Grandmother Serves Delicious Dessert by Mistake #1

15. Ohio Town Saved from Killer Bees by Hungry Vampire Bats

16. Nevada Man Invents Piano with 21 Extra Keys

17. Clever Chemist Makes Chewing Gum from Soap

18. Minnesota Man Claims Monkey Bowled Perfect Game

19. Ingenious Scientist Invents Car of the Future

20. Car Gears Stick in Reverse, Daring Driver Crosses Town Backwards

21. Shocking Fashion Statement Terrorizes Town

22. Feisty Millionaire Fills Potholes with Hundred-Dollar Bills

JAD FAIR: INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC

YO LA TENGO: INSTAGRAM | BANDCAMP | YOUTUBE | SPOTIFY | APPLE MUSIC