Highlights of 2023
With 28 magazine interviews and features plus 21 podcasts published in 2023, all showcasing a wide range of talented artists, musicians, writers, and performers, it was no easy task to pick highlights, but below are some notable standouts from this past year.
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Categories:
*BOOKS AND WRITERS
Adele Bertei discusses TWIST: An American Girl, her wrenching & poignant new memoir
Singer, songwriter, writer, and director Adele Bertei talks about the decades-long journey of writing Twist, her new memoir covering her troubled childhood in 1960s and 1970s Cleveland, and her often risky but also sometimes jubilant process of self-discovery and survival
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ Blaise Agüera y Arcas
An interview with leading AI researcher, author, and TED speaker Blaise Agüera y Arcas about his new book, Who Are We Now? - an exploration of how biology, ecology, sexuality, history, and culture have intertwined to create a dynamic “us” that can neither be called natural nor artificial.
Belonging and Not-Belonging in Jhumpa Lahiri’s ROMAN STORIES
Nirica Srinivasan reviews Roman Stories, the new short story collection by Pulitzer Prize-winner Jhumpa Lahiri
Poet Paisley Rekdal discusses her book WEST: A TRANSLATION
Isabelle Sakelaris talks with poet Paisley Rekdal about her acclaimed book West: A Translation
*VISUAL ARTS/MULTIMEDIA
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ Philippe Labaune
A conversation with curator Philippe Labaune, who runs an NYC gallery that focuses on narrative art, including illustration, painting, comic strips, and animation
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ KIDLEW
We travel far & wide in this in-depth podcast interview with NYC-based street & graffiti artist KIDLEW
MARTINE JOHANNA: How to Eliminate Stress and Anxiety Through Good Housekeeping
A brilliantly perceptive interview by Isabel Hou with artist Martine Johanna about her solo show How to Eliminate Stress and Anxiety through Good Housekeeping at NYC’s Massey Klein Gallery
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ Harper Simon talks about MEDITATIONS ON CRIME
An in-depth discussion with author/musician Harper Simon about his ambitious new multimedia project, Meditations on Crime, comprised of years-long collaborations with many high-profile musicians, artists, and writers
The Metaphysical Dreamworlds of VLM
Multidisciplinary artist Virginia L. Montgomery (VLM) discusses her mesmerizing multimedia exhibition Eye Moon Cocoon shown at Austin’s Women & Their Work
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ Hallie Packard
A lively chat with artist Hallie Packard about her wildly organic, surreal, and magical paintings
*PERFORMANCE/MULTIMEDIA/MUSIC
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ Joseph Keckler
Singer and writer Joseph Keckler talks about his wide-ranging works encompassing operatic singing, filmmaking, spoken word, touring with Lydia Lunch, ghostly sexual encounters, and more
*MUSIC
Anthony Wilson explores new sonic territories with COLLODION
Guitarist and composer Anthony Wilson talks about the free-form and collaborative process of making his new album Collodion, out now on LA’s innovative Colorfield Records
NEW YORK IS DEAD, LONG LIVE NEW YORK: 8 Music Acts to Catch Live
Photographer Alice Teeple writes that the NYC music scene is anything but dead & buried, & she highlights 8 innovative music acts to catch live now - pictured here: Blak Emoji
Interlocutor Interviews PODCAST ~ Uhl
Enigmatic and evocative art-pop diva Uhl discusses her vocally experimental and genre-bending new EP Channels and the ways that her classical music training has helped shape her songwriting, approaches to performing, and more
Rob Mazurek's abstractivist fusions
Multidisciplinary artist/abstractivist Rob Mazurek discusses Lightning Dreamers, a new album written for a compacted version of his long-running Exploding Star Orchestra
VINNY GOLIA'S sonic syncretisms
Composer, bandleader, and multi-woodwind performer Vinny Golia discusses the development of Movement Two Syncretism: For The Draw…the new addition to his massive collaborative project Even to this day…Music for Orchestra and Soloists