The Self Portrait Gospel :: Podcast

Drummer extradordinaire Brian Kotzur, one half of the mighty Nashville duo Country Westerns, and Ultra Frog, among several other groups, and projects, first joined the Silver Jews a few years before the band recorded its fifth studio album "Tanglewood Numbers," back when the late great Steve McNair, who earned NLF Co-MVP, three Pro Bowl selections, and led the Tennessee Titans to Super Bowl XXXIV was still alive, and well walking the Earth's precious green field turf. Over the next five years, or so, the band went on their first major tour across the US and Europe, and eventually to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem during the filming of the documentary "Silver Jew" in the summer of 2006. Eventualy releasing their final album "Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea," the band played their very last show in the New Year of 2009 at the infamous Caverns in McMinnville, TN, before disbanding into the evaporating ether of space and time, leaving behind the lyrical legacy and poetic presence of Berman's soulful singing spirit for future generations.

We're joined by Nick Sutton, who famously played Tummler, for this two-part episode to explore the endless enviroments of an atmospheric apocalypse where character and personality complete and revolutionary relationships. Sutton is based in Portland, OR, where he provides endless services to folks who've fallen on extremely hard times; instead of turning his back on these individuals, as society has time and time again, Sutton and his team invest in them by building them up instead of tearing them back down. In many ways, this ties into Gummo, and what better way to start a conversation than by talking about the real thing.

An intimately inspired continuation of 2024's beloved "Somthing In The Room," "Materia," which was released just this past weekend on Domino, is a melodic meditation on the ghostly harmonies of the past, present, and future, and how expressing a lyrical language to the community can heal time's endless wounds better than any over-the-counter medicine on the market. LA-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Julia Holter has carefully crafted her soothing songbook for two decades and has grown closer to her medium with each new release. Like staring directly into the sun, Holter's discography is an adventurous alphabet that speaks of the human experience, and we're here for it.

When delving into the unparalleled universe of David Berman, you've probably run across the name Gate Pratt several times in your research. A fundamental fixture in our poetic pursuit to better understand the melodic mysteries and artisitc attitudes of the late great David "Cloud" Berman, Pratt attended UVA in the mid-1980s as an architecture student, where he met Stephen Malkmus and Bob Nastanovich (Pavement), Kylie Wright, James McNew (Yo La Tengo), and several others. It's here that some of the group would go on to establish the infamous house band collective Ectoslavia.
While occupying the infamous "Red House" on 14th Street near the school's campus, which served as a creative conduit for the local community for decades, Pratt takes us through the meditational mist of memory where he first met Berman and formed a relationship that would last over four decades. Having written songs with Berman and even toured with Pavement in Europe back in the day, Pratt's academic ability to explore the realms of recall truly allows listeners to imagine that they were there in the year 1987, tuning into a late-night radio show after a night of partying, or studying only to hear the airwaves slither through you and your roommates' ears as the narrative of the night continues to unfold in the prime of youth.

Journalist, documentarian, scientific researcher, and transcendental trailblazer in psychedelic phenomenon, Hamilton Morris has explored spirituality and the esoteric ecosystems of enlightenment around the world for nearly two decades since the publication of his first article, "The Magic Jew", in 2008. Since then, he's established himself as one of the world's leading psychoactive drug journalists, publishing dozens of atmospherical articles for VICE, Harper's Magazine, Hamilton's Pharmacopeia, and hosting the Hamilton Morris podcast.
We chat with him briefly about the counterculture movement, the legalization of drugs, and its intense impact on society and the population, to say the least, during the ongoing "War on Drugs" and prohibition, as well as his current research on 7-OH (7-hydroxymitragynine). Check out his YouTube channel and subscribe to his Patreon for further explorations into the never-ending narrative and revolutionary research of the psychedelic experience.