What Am I Making Podcast

What Am I Making
  • 4.8 (17)
  • Music
  • Updated Weekly

Hey there. I’m Matty C. For the formally inclined folks in the crowd, the official designation is Matt Carlson. I am a 50 year old musician, songwriter, and graphic designer that's spent the Covid era pondering deep and meaningful questions about music, film, literature and art in the 21st century. It seems as though we’re living in age where musicians have to give their music away, content is around every corner and we don’t seem to really value much of any of it the way we used to. What is it really like to make a living pursuing a life in the arts these days? Why are we seeing a lower percentage of artists in the workforce than at anytime in 100 years? Now, I’ve reached a point of massive change in my life and I am preparing to spend more of my time, and hopefully, generating a portion of my income from my creative endeavors. That’s a terrifying endeavor, but it’s also incredibly exciting. I’ll be discussing these ideas and a whole lot more of my own curiosity and creative endeavors on this platform using the written word, videos, podcasts, music and probably some other assets I learn along the way. I’ll be seeking out smart, and fascinating creatives as they build their own lives while fighting an ever-growing series of new challenges and opportunities. All of these journeys and detours are an effort to share my exploration of culture in the modern world, and to help shine a brighter light on the work I have been doing for years as a musician, designer and podcaster. This discussion is at the very center of our civilization, what it means to be human andhow to find a meaningful way to connect through that shared humanity in the form of artistic expression. Art is at the core of the relationship. Let’s explore it with that context, and that incalculable value, in mind. If you enjoy what you hear on the show, please subscribe to my Substack where I also I post this podcast as well as a variety of essays, video and recordings regularly in my search to find out what art really matters to people right here and right now, and they are willing to do to invest in our culture. Thank you so much for being here. It’s wonderful to have your support. https://whatamimaking.substack.com whatamimaking.substack.com

  1. 2d ago

    WAIM #151: Steve Wynn

    Steve Wynn formed his first band, The Light Bulbs at age 9. His second outfit, Sudden Death Overtime got its start while Wynn was just beginning middle school. Eventually, after a series of youthful explorations of a life in music, Wynn formed The Dream Syndicate in 1981. Success came quickly for that band as they found themselves entwined with a burgeoning new psychedelic pop scene in Los Angeles that was being dubbed The Paisely Underground. This cadre of bands included Green On Red, The Bangles, The Three O’Clock, Opal, and The Rain Parade. While the Paisley Underground scene was short-lived, it provided a massive boost to the beginning of the Dream Syndicate’s career. By the time the band released their second album, they spent eight weeks touring with R.E.M., garnering them a much larger audience. The Dream Syndicate were critical darlings however, and not a huge commercial success, and by 1988, Wynn and his bandmates packed it in to go their separate ways. Since the dissolution of The Dream Syndicate, Wynn has been busy with a prolific solo career and a busy life of side projects. In 2007, he formed The Baseball Project, a band which writes songs solely about the great game of baseball and its history. The Baseball Project, whose well-pedigreed lineup features Scott McCaughey, Peter Buck, Linda Pitmon, Wynn, and even Mike Mills on occasion, has now released four full length records and tour regularly around the US. Wynn also has a long history of playing house concerts and appearing in alternative venues. During our conversation, we discussed the beauty of playing in smaller and more unique spaces, especially as a solo artist. Steve and I also talked about how limitations and prompts, like writing about baseball, are helpful for his own creativity. We also hit upon the compulsion of the creative mind, and the sacrifices that one often has to make to live life fully as an artist. Cheers, Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Steve for joining me. Be sure to check out aloof his work and upcoming tour dates at https://www.stevewynn.net/ The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 5m

  2. 6d ago

    WAIM #150: Julia Steiner of Ratboys

    Julia Steiner found her musical soulmate the moment she arrived on campus at Notre Dame University. Steiner, already an avid musician and budding songwriterby the time she graduated high school, had already developed a virtual friendship with Dave Sanger on a Facebook Group for Notre Dame’s incoming Freshman class. Upon meeting in person, the pair felt a deep connection and began trading mix CD’s to deepen their respective musical wells. The friendship between Dave and Julia quickly blossomed into the formation of Ratboys, an outfit built around the pair’s original songs and youthful exuberance. By the time their studies at Notre Dame had wrapped up, Ratboys relocated to Chicago and began to climb their way up the indie rock ladder. Over the course of six albums and six EPs, including the brand new LP Singin’ To An Empty Chair, Ratboys have steadily built a core audience and a sea of critical acclaim. The band, which now features Julia and Dave, as well as Marcus Nuccio and Sean Neumann, is spending an overwhelming portion of 2026 on the road across North America and in Europe. During our discussion, Julia and I covered the travails and triumphs of life on the road, exploring the importance of staying grounded and in the moment while also hurtling across the globe one day at a time. We shared our experiences of blogging about life on the road and the way that process can help deepen our appreciation for the previous day’s events. Julia shared some of her approaches to songwriting, noting how editing, or in some cases, choosing not to edit, can be the key to making a good song great. Let’s get into it. Cheers,Matty C------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Julia for joining me. Be sure to check out her work in Ratboys wherever you get your music. And you can find all of their tour dates at https://www.ratboysband.com/ The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 2m

  3. May 22

    WAIM #149: Ken Shipley of Numero Group

    You could think of Numero Group simply as a record label, but you’d be missing the point entirely. Sure, with its massive catalog of neary 1,000 releases, it is technically a label, but as their own ideology says, “There is no Numero sound, rather there is a Numero aesthetic.” Ken Shipley and his partner Rob Sevier first began Numero when Shipley lost his job at the famed massive reissue label Rykodisc, a place famous for churning out reissue packages from legendary artists like David Bowie, Nick Drake, and myriad others. As Shipley began work on what would become Numero Group, he focused on seeking out lessor known artists to reissue. Much of Numero’s early catalog was defined by their Eccentric Soul series, a running series of compilations featuring some of the finest, but lessor known sounds in American regional soul. These comps often focused on now defunct labels that once featured groundbreaking artists, or they might have laser-focus on the soul scene in a particular community. Yet, while soul may have helped build the business at Numero, Shipley and his colleagues were always seeking out new and exciting sounds regardless of genre. In the two plus decades that Numero has been in business they have dabbled in afrobeat, disco, funk, soul, lounge music, ambient, new age, techno, slowcore, punk, shoegaze, lo-fi pop, and more. Numero has taken an almost museum-like approach in much of the curation work they do with these releases. Buying a Numero record is a listening experience that often comes with scholarship, contextualization, and enlightenment about the artists involved. During our chat, Ken and I discuss Numero’s process for finding sonic needles in the hay stack, sharing the long arc that can often be required for a record to eventually see the light of day. We cover the fading regionality of American music and the ways in which the internet has homogenized some of our sounds. Ken and I talk about how Numero helps to foster sonic curiosity, all while striving to be a label that has offerings for the music lover from teens to octogenarians. Let’s get into it. Cheers,Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Ken for joining me. You can find out all about his work at https://numerogroup.com/ The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 4m

  4. May 18

    WAIM #148: Morgan Nagler

    Morgan Nagler began working as an actor at age 5. For more than two decades she starred in a variety of movies and TV series for a handful of networks. By the time she hit her mid-twenties, Nagler was ready to leave acting behind and take a swing at the songwriting life. She was at first incredibly shy to her songs, keeping them close to her vest. Encouraged by her friends Jenny Lewis and Blake Sennett of the beloved indie rock outfit, Rilo Kiley, Morgan shed at least some of the shyness and dove into songwriting. As Nagler gained her confidence, she found herself co-writing with Rilo Kiley, Phoebe Bridgers, Kim Deal, and HAIM. Her first band, Whispertown 2000 was largely engineered by Jenny Lewis who found players to help bring Morgan’s songs to life. That experience saw her play shows across the country in a variety of circumstances, including a non-stop 30 day run of house concerts sponsored by MySpace. Naglers first solo album, I’ve Got Nothing To Lose, And I’m Losing It was released this March. Morgan and I got the chance to chat the day before she left for a cross country tour in support of King Tuff. Along the way, Morgan walks us through how she avoided the pitfalls of life as a child actor, ther maturation of her songwriting, and fully investing in the collaborative process. Let’s get into it. Cheers,Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Morgan for joining me. You can find out all about her and her music at https://morgannagler.bandcamp.com The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 3m

  5. May 15

    WAIM #147: Marshall Crenshaw

    You can hear the raw and unguarded version of today’s guest when you listen intently to The Bootleg Recordings Of Marshall Crenshaw. This new collection of Crenshaw originals, which was released on Record Store Day of this year, was culled from a trove of work tapes recorded while making his third and fourth albums. These recordings afford listeners and fans the opportunity to hear a host of unvarnished material, exposing the blood and bone of the songs. Marshall Crenshaw grew up in the leafy post-war suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. Although Motown, The MC5, and the glitter of the big city were just minutes away by car, the Crenshaw family largely stuck to the safety of the streets near their home, eschewing all that Detroit had to offer, except on the rare occasion of a ball game or a trip to see holiday lights. After high school, Crenshaw found himself with dwindling prospects at home and hit the road for New York and then eventually Los Angeles. He auditioned for bands, performed in the touring company for Beatlemania, and shopped his songs to any producer or label that would take the time to listen. Eventually, Crenshaw landed a deal with the small Imprint Shake Records which released his debut single, “Something’s Gonna Happen” in 1981. On the strength of that single and a few other demo recordings, Crenshaw inked a deal with Warner Bros. Records. Marshall Crenshaw’s first two albums, Marshall Crenshaw and Field Day found both critical and commercial success, and landed Crenshaw in a pair of Hollywood roles. He appeared first in Francis Ford Coppola’s Peggy Sue Got Married as part of the wedding band that is prominently featured in the film. Later in the same year, Crenshaw appeared in La Bamba as the ill-fated first wave rocker, Buddy Holly. During our conversation, Marshall and I discuss his childhood in Detroit and his urge to get out once he had reached adulthood. We cover his early days in both New York and LA, including a riveting story about a compromised producer that inadvertently gave Crenshaw the confidence to produce his own records. We talk about being in over your head, and learning to swim your way out. Plus, we cover helping to maintain the legacy of another great power pop band of the 80s and 90s. It’s a great conversation with a truly unique artist still working at a very high level. Let’s get into it. Cheers,Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Marshall for joining me. You can find out all about him and his work at https://marshallcrenshaw.com/ The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 3m

  6. May 11

    WAIM #146: Eef Barzelay (Clem Snide)

    Eef Barzelay has seen the peaks and valleys of the music industry. In the course of a lifetime playing music, Barzelay has toured the world as a solo performer and in his longtime outfit, Clem Snide. He has had his songs used in motion pictures, and major TV commercials. He’s written original songs and scores for independent films, while also continuing to tour and release new music regularly. Barzelay has also suffered through a painful divorce, had his house in foreclosure, and was even forced to declare bankruptcy at one point. More than one time he was sure he had reached the end of his career in music. Still, he forged ahead, beieving that better days would arrive. During our conversation, Eef and I cover a great deal of ground. We delve into his birth and early upbringing in Israel before his family moved to New Jersey while Eef was an elementary schooler. Barzelay talks about his spiritual path and even parses out his complicated relationship with the country of his birth. We also cover Eef’s long and winding path to today which has also included crowd funding his records, writing bespoke original songs for his fans, and embarking on a series of house concert tours. Eef openly discusses the economic realities of the music business in 2026, while also wondering if perhaps the business is as egalitarian as it has ever been. We talk about being “jazz famous”, and the concept of freedom over fame. There is discussion about the cinematic nature of Eef’s songwriting, and the ways in which we can use songs to explain our own experience. Let’s get into it. Cheers, Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Eef for joining me. You can find out all about him and his work at https://www.clemsni.de/ The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1 hr

  7. May 8

    WAIM #145: Jason P. Woodbury

    Every record is something like a sonic quilt; a pastiche of songs and sonic ideas laid out as a single product. That quilt might be stitched together with mechanical precision or it might have been hand-sewn by a grandmother with shaky hands. The squares of fabric used for our quilt might be of uniform shape, or they could be a collection of misshapen rags. Jason P. Woodbury’s newest album, Jason P. Woodbury & The Night Bird Singing Quartet plays like a bespoke seamstress setting to work with both precision and playfulness. Astute listeners of the album are likely to pick up notes of My Morning Jacket, Fruit Bats, Michael Penn, and Woods, but Woodbury is anything but a copycat. Treading a line that dips into alt-folk, cosmic-country, and neo-Americana, Woodbury and his collaborators have stitched a quilt perfect for crisp fall evenings. In addition to his terrific recorded work, Jason spends most of his days at the esteemed indie music blog, Aquarium Drunkard. He also has a terrific Substack called Range and Basin, where he writes and podcasts about music and culture. This work, in addition to his musical pursuits, gives Jason an interesting perspective on the state of today’s musical ecosystem. We talked openly about the role of the curator and critic in a world where we can access any music we want to hear at a moment’s notice. During our conversation, we talked about Jason’s childhood in rural Arizona and covered some of the Phoenix and Tempe music scenes that soared in the 1980s and 90s, and ultimately influenced him and his work. Jason shared his early experiences singing with others in church, and the profound impact it made on his young mind. We also hit upon the best ways to wear your influences as an artist. We got into the ragged nature of songwriting, and we discussed the necessity of making difficult choices in your art. Let’s get into it. Cheers,Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Jason for joining me. You can find out all about Jason and his work at https://jasonpwoodbury.com/ The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 17m

  8. May 4

    WAIM #144: Jack Rabid of 'The Big Takeover' Magazine

    Jack Rabid was bitten by the drug of rock and roll before he even hit adulthood. Before he was old enough to drive, Rabid was taking the train from Northern New Jersey into the city with friends to soak up the burgeoning punk and art rock scenes happening across Manhattan’s Lower East side. Often, this ragged pack of high schoolers would be forced to spend the night in the city when the trains stopped running before the rock shows they were frequenting would end. By the time high school came to an end, Jack and a buddy found a sublet in the city and moved in the week that they graduated. Rabid immersed himself in shows on an almost nightly basis. At the urging of a friend, he began working on putting his experiences at those shows into written words. After this pair of budding scribes had each devoted one hour to writing about their showgoing exploits, they put together a fanzine, the very first issue of The Big Takeover. Since that summer of 1980, Rabid has been dutifully printing regular issues of the magazine. Each issue is packed with show reviews, record critiques, and in-depth interviews with some of the brightest luminaries in indie and punk rock. It’s also crucial to Rabid that The Big Takeover stays in print. While he has embraced the immediacy and the convenience of the internet, Jack insists that there is still something sacred about the tactile glory of the written word. In addition to his journalistic exploits, Rabid is also a founding member of the shoegaze band Springhouse, who have toured voraciously throughout North America and the world while garnering praise from MTV, Rolling Stone, Spin and a number of other esteemed outlets. While the band is largely inactive these days, Jack shares a story from the band’s semi-recent visit to Kalamazoo, MI for the KalamaShoegaze Festival. Having spent half a century ensconced in the NYC music scene, Jack is filled with great stories. In this episode he shares a few nuggets about having Alan Ginsberg as a landlord, seeing XTC at his first show, being radicalized by Bowie at 15, disappointing Steve Albini by taking him to see the Replacements, and so, so much more. Cheers,Matty C ------------------------- End Credits Thanks so much to Jack for joining me. You can find his work at https://bigtakeover.com. Be sure to subscribe to the print version of the magazine The What Am I Making podcast is hosted, written, and produced by me, Matty C. Our theme music was written and recorded by David J. Baldwin. You can subscribe to our show wherever you get your podcasts. Please be sure to like, rate and review the show if you enjoy it. Our work is solely sponsored by listeners and readers like you. Please lend your support today with a paid subscription at whatamimaking.substack.com/. Now is a crucial time for new paid subscribers. Please step up and support the show. You can email the show anytime at whatamimakingblog@gmail.com. You can also leave us a voicemail with your questions or concerns at speakpipe.com/whatamimaking Get full access to What Am I Making at whatamimaking.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 28m
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4.8
out of 5
17 Ratings

About

Hey there. I’m Matty C. For the formally inclined folks in the crowd, the official designation is Matt Carlson. I am a 50 year old musician, songwriter, and graphic designer that's spent the Covid era pondering deep and meaningful questions about music, film, literature and art in the 21st century. It seems as though we’re living in age where musicians have to give their music away, content is around every corner and we don’t seem to really value much of any of it the way we used to. What is it really like to make a living pursuing a life in the arts these days? Why are we seeing a lower percentage of artists in the workforce than at anytime in 100 years? Now, I’ve reached a point of massive change in my life and I am preparing to spend more of my time, and hopefully, generating a portion of my income from my creative endeavors. That’s a terrifying endeavor, but it’s also incredibly exciting. I’ll be discussing these ideas and a whole lot more of my own curiosity and creative endeavors on this platform using the written word, videos, podcasts, music and probably some other assets I learn along the way. I’ll be seeking out smart, and fascinating creatives as they build their own lives while fighting an ever-growing series of new challenges and opportunities. All of these journeys and detours are an effort to share my exploration of culture in the modern world, and to help shine a brighter light on the work I have been doing for years as a musician, designer and podcaster. This discussion is at the very center of our civilization, what it means to be human andhow to find a meaningful way to connect through that shared humanity in the form of artistic expression. Art is at the core of the relationship. Let’s explore it with that context, and that incalculable value, in mind. If you enjoy what you hear on the show, please subscribe to my Substack where I also I post this podcast as well as a variety of essays, video and recordings regularly in my search to find out what art really matters to people right here and right now, and they are willing to do to invest in our culture. Thank you so much for being here. It’s wonderful to have your support. https://whatamimaking.substack.com whatamimaking.substack.com

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