This week, Indianapolis-based visual artist Samuel E Vázquez discusses his electronic music project Errors and Lovers, and Congressman André Carson shares how his early years as an activist and rapper in Indianapolis shaped the work he does now in Washington D.C.
Explore the debut album from 81355, an Indianapolis hip-hop supergroup featuring Oreo Jones, Sirius Black, and David “Moose” Adamson. The album is titled “This Time I'll Be of Use” and it features eight extraordinary tracks that combine surrealistic lyrical imagery, with adventurous electronic soundscapes. Plus, Karla Lopez talks with poet and LGBTQ+ activist Sylvia Thomas.
Marcus Jade is not your typical blues artist. Though his music draws from the classic delta blues of the 1930s, Jade’s songs speak about important present-day issues like gentrification, police brutality, and the economic crisis brought on by the Coronavirus. Jade is currently based in Brooklyn, New York - but his music is deeply rooted in the Westside Indianapolis neighborhoods where he grew up.
Indiana has an extraordinary legacy of soul music. This week we'll hear from two Indianapolis-based R&B artists that have new projects out: Keiana Whatley, and Taylor Hall. We'll also have another edition of Rebel Music with Karla Lopez featuring Katherin Chi, an organizer with the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.
Indianapolis is not known as a hotbed for techno music - but the city has produced several noteworthy techno producers and DJs. This week, Kyle listen back on interviews with three prominent figures in the Indy techno music scene: Drake Strange, Adam Jay, and Lisa Smith, who works under the name Noncompliant. Plus, the legendary Indy funk musician Reggie Griffin and artist Angelica Frausto.
Kyle Long speaks with visual artist Lobyn Hamilton about his latest work titled "One Nation Under A Groove Box Set," a 46 x 8 foot installation inspired by the classic 1978 Funkadelic song and album. Then, entrepreneur Tom Battista shares stories from his time touring with Parliament-Funkadelic as a stage technician, and working many of the group's iconic stage props.
Singer-songwriter Emily Rodgers' music has been compared to Cat Power, Mazzy Star, and Neil Young. This week, we'll listen to tracks off Emily’s new album “I Will Be Gone,” and discuss her time growing up in Elkhart, Indiana. Plus, Karla Lopez will return with another edition of Rebel Music, featuring Claudia Montes Salinas, a co-founder of the Latino Youth Collective.
Kyle's guest is drummer Ian Chang of Son Lux. The two preview tracks off the new Son Lux album Tomorrows III, and discuss Chang’s work outside of Son Lux with artists including Moses Sumney. Plus, Karla Lopez will return with another edition of Rebel Music featuring Kyra Harvey, co-founder of Indy 10 Black Lives Matter.
Kyle Long explores extraordinary vocal music from Indianapolis’ past and present, including new music from the Indianapolis based composer Hanna Benn and a look back at the music of the Four Freshmen, an innovative vocal ensemble formed on the campus of Butler University. Plus, Karla Lopez speaks with voting rights advocate Cynthia Morraz.
Kyle Long continues exploring the rich history of Asian, African and Latin music traditions in Indiana, with music from Salaam, Santos Candelaria, Prince Julius Adeniyi, and Pavel & Direct Contact. Plus, another edition of Rebel Music with Karla Lopez featuring Dana Black, a prominent voice in Indiana politics.
Kyle Long revisits his interviews with three Indiana artists who’ve brought the sounds of Africa, Latin America and Asia to Indiana audiences: electronic music producer Sutiweyu Sandoval, the African music DJ Stephan Vohito, and Teacher Ka, the founder of the Indianapolis Chinese Orchestra. Plus, Karla Lopez speaks with Lupe Pimentel of the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance.
Indianapolis based emcee Skypp has a new album out titled King of Indiana. He joins Kyle Long to discuss his time in the Indianapolis hip-hop scene, and how he’s using his music to address the legacy of systemic racism in Indiana.
Kyle Long celebrates Women’s History Month by paying tribute to the legendary country music women of Indiana. Explore music from some of the nationally known stars of Indiana country music, as well as lesser known local recordings from across the Hoosier state.
March is Women’s History Month, and this March is also the 100th anniversary of the birth of Vivian Carter, the co-founder of Vee Jay Records. During the 1950s, the label grew from a small independent operation into one of the most influential record labels in the history of American popular music. Today Vee Jay is regarded as the most successful Black owned record label of the pre-Motown era.
Kyle Long explores the musical legacy of Gary, Indiana’s Bud Pressner. His career in music stretched over 50 years, and covered an enormous terrain of musical expression, from big band music in the 1940s, to psychedelic rock, to Serbian-American folk music, to helping produce some of the most important electronic dance music records of the late 20th Century.
Kyle Long talks with Indianapolis musicians Oreo Jones, Sirius Blvck, and David “Moose” Adamson about their new project 81355 (pronounced “Bless”). The group has been signed to 37d03d, a record label founded by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National.
Explore the music of Note Records, an Indianapolis record label founded by brothers Mel and Jerry Herman during the 1950s. Note was perhaps the important Indianapolis record label of the early rock and roll era, issuing music from a variety of genres, including rockabilly, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and jazz.
Enjoy words and music with this year's Art & Soul performers, including Yadin Kol, Bashiri Asad, Chris Pitts, Staci McCrackin, Clint Breeze, and Ashlee Baskin. Now in its 25th year, the Indianapolis festival celebrates Black voices across the city. While traditionally hosted at the Artsgarden, the festival has moved online in 2021 due to ongoing COVID-19 health and safety concerns.
Explore the work of the celebrated folklorist, musician, and painter Art Rosenbaum. During the mid-20th century, Rosenbaum made a series of field recordings of traditional Indiana music. Art's work documenting Hoosier musicians like blues guitarist Scrapper Blackwell and fiddler John W. Summers resulted in the production of several critically acclaimed albums during the 1960s.
From the murder of Greencastle's Pearl Bryan in 1896, to the killing of Indianapolis rapper Lil Bango in 2012, Kyle Long explores the ways musicians have attempted to humanize and memorialize the tragic loss of life in Indiana through song.
Kyle Long features an hour of historic music written and performed by inmates at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana, including country songs by Hank Ferguson, blues from Eugene Rhodes, a rare recording of Indianapolis poet Etheridge Knight singing, and an infamous 1974 recording of "John the Baptist", a rock opera written and performed by Indiana State Prison inmates.
Kyle Long continues his ongoing tribute to the country music pioneers of central Indiana, including Bobby Helms, D.C. Mullins, Bryant Wilson and The Kentucky Ramblers, Delmer Sexton, Ginny Allyn, and more.
Host Kyle Long looks back at some of his favorite interviews from 2020 - including a chat with the Bloomington, Indiana based Middle Eastern music ensemble Salaam.
On this episode of Cultural Manifesto host Kyle Long speaks with guitarist and electronic music producer Rafiq Bhatia, best known for his work with Son Lux. They talk about the new Son Lux album Tomorrows II, and also discuss Rafiq's latest solo release Standards Volume 1, a collection of radically reworked jazz standards.
On this edition of Cultural Manifesto host Kyle Long pays tribute to Ron Miner, better known as DJ Indiana Jones. Ron Miner passed away last week at the age of 50.
Host Kyle Long continues his tribute to the country music pioneers of Indianapolis with rare recordings from local country music record labels based in Fountain Square, Irvington, and Beech Grove. He also shares music from early Indianapolis country music radio stars like Darling Nellie Brown, and Evalina Stallard.
Jared Thompson of Premium Blend joins host Kyle Long to discuss the band's new concert documentary film 38th & Postmodernism.
On this week's show Kyle shares live audio from the Jazz Kitchen's Naptown Sound concert series. Some performances shared are from Premium Blend, Sophie Faught, and Bashiri Asad. Kyle also asks a wide range of Indianapolis jazz musicians to define the "Naptown sound."
This week on Cultural Manifesto Kyle's guest is jazz harpist Jan Aldridge Clark. We' discuss her new album Moving Forward. The Moving Forward album was produced by Clark's son Willis, a prominent Indianapolis-based rapper and beatmaker. Moving Forward features a unique mix of harp music and hip-hop.
On this edition of Cultural Manifesto host Kyle Long continues a look at the history of country music in Indianapolis. During the mid-20th Century Indianapolis was home to a vibrant country music scene. Music is shared from Judy Perkins, Arnold Keith Storm, Eldon Baker and The Brown County Revelers, Oscar and Jaunita Shehan, Emry Arthur, The Swanee River Boys, and Jame Cole, a Black Indianapolis fiddler player who was active in the 1920s and '30s.
