Free Association with Brian Carpenter

WZBC
  • 5.0 (3)
  • MUSIC
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
Free Association with Brian Carpenter

Brian Carpenter is the host of Free Association, a free-form radio show broadcast from WZBC-FM Boston College with occasional special guests. Brian Carpenter is an American singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, and producer. He founded Ghost Train Orchestra (Brooklyn NY) in Brooklyn in 2006 and has led the Boston-based band Beat Circus since 2004. Since 2001, Carpenter has produced several radio documentaries on Free Association, including an in-depth examination of sound design in horror and science fiction films.

  1. JAN 27

    Steven Bernstein

    Steven Bernstein is a trumpeter/composer/arranger who founded the band Sex Mob in the mid 1990s. Steven joins Free Association to talk about his new record with Sex Mob and his decades-long work with Scott Harding, Hal Willner, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, and John Lurie.

    1h 24m

  2. 09/09/2023

    Michael Gira

    Michael Gira speaks with Brian on the subject of the new Swans record The Beggar, and on the cusp of a worldwide tour. Gira formed Swans in 1982 in New York City. After a long hiatus, the band reformed in 2010 with the record My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky. Since then the band has become known for their compelling live performances and as one of the most uncompromising bands in new music. The wide-ranging conversation ranges from writing to recording to artists such as Nina Simone, Charlemagne Palestine, and Scott Walker.

    1h 8m

  3. 08/04/2023

    J.G. Thirlwell

    Composer J.G. Thirlwell is a man of many interests and talents, with wide-ranging projects including the decades-running Foetus, the large ensemble Steroid Maximus, chamber ensemble Manorexia, collaborations and compositions for Kronos Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, and Bang on a Can, and his scores for the TV series Venture Brothers and Archer. His new record Dystonia (Cantaloupe Music) features riveting and ground-breaking string quartet pieces performed by Mivos Quartet. J.G. sat down to talk with Brian about composing, rehearsing, collaboration, how his Foetus project evolved, composing for film and TV, and much more.

    1h 22m

  4. 07/15/2023

    Stephen Ulrich

    NYC-based guitarist Stephen Ulrich is best known for his work with the "guitar-noir" trio Big Lazy. His new record Music for This American Life chronicles his compositions for the show of the same name. Stephen joins Brian to talk about writing for radio and TV, the history of Big Lazy, and much more.

    50 min

  5. 06/17/2023

    Brandon Seabrook

    Guitarist/composer Brandon Seabrook joins the show to talk about his new record brutalovechamp in a wide-ranging conversation with long-time collaborator Brian Carpenter on composing, arranging, recording, and much more.

    53 min

  6. 04/29/2023

    Naomi Yang

    Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi) stops by the show to discuss her new documentary film Never Be a Punching Bag For Nobody and the unique soundtrack she created for it.

    1h 2m

  7. 02/06/2022

    Kronos Quartet: Black Angels

    This episode’s guest is David Harrington, founder of Kronos Quartet, the legendary string quartet at the vanguard of contemporary music for nearly 50 years. In this episode the subject is "Black Angels", the startling George Crumb composition which sparked the formation of Kronos in 1973, and the quartet’s recording of the piece nearly 15 years later. George Crumb (b. 1929) is an American modern classical and avant-garde composer who formed his distinct style, featuring unusual timbres and innovative sonorities, in the early 1960s. By the time he finished “Black Angels” on March 13, 1970, Crumb had already won a Pulitzer Prize (1968) and established himself as the creator of a highly spiritual and poetic sound world.

    51 min

  8. 01/08/2022

    Alan Licht

    Alan Licht is a writer, musician, and curator based in NYC. He is known for his solo guitar work and long-time collaboration with guitarist Loren Connors and rock bands Run On and Love Child and the experimental group Text of Light. He is also the author of several books, including his new book Common Tones: Selected interviews with artists and musicians from 1995-2020. In this in-depth and wide-ranging conversation, we talk about his interview with Lou Reed, the new Velvet Underground documentary by Todd Haynes, Alan's work at the seminal NYC venue Tonic, his collaboration with Loren Connors, and his interviews with Christian Marclay, Michael Snow, Milford Graves, and the late writer/musician Greg Tate., who passed away the day after our conversation.

    1h 46m
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Brian Carpenter is the host of Free Association, a free-form radio show broadcast from WZBC-FM Boston College with occasional special guests. Brian Carpenter is an American singer-songwriter, composer, arranger, and producer. He founded Ghost Train Orchestra (Brooklyn NY) in Brooklyn in 2006 and has led the Boston-based band Beat Circus since 2004. Since 2001, Carpenter has produced several radio documentaries on Free Association, including an in-depth examination of sound design in horror and science fiction films.

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