Golden Hour with Charlene Kaye

Latest Episodes:

Yvette Young of Covet - The Guitar Virtuoso talks Love of Butt Rock, Overcoming Anorexia, and Sticking Up for Herself Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

Yvette Young plays guitar like no one else. A self-taught virtuoso, Yvette started on classical piano and violin and was subjected to a brutal practice regimen, which ultimately led her to an eating disorder in order regain some control over her life. She ultimately fell in love with music again, and the world is better for it. As the principle songwriter of the band Covet, Yvette has come to define a singular style of progressive rock that is only made better by the joy she spreads watching her play. Host Charlene Kaye and Yvette get into her atypical childhood, her love of all things butt rock, and the biggest challenge she still faces as an Asian woman in music. --- Listen to Covet's most recent track, Firebird, on Spotify. Find Yvette Young on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/yvetteyoung/ Find Covet on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/covetband/ Follow Golden Hour podcast at: https://www.instagram.com/goldenhourpod Follow host Charlene Kaye at: https://www.instagram.com/charlenekaye Follow producer Dave Yim at: https://www.instagram.com/dave_yim

Kimmortal - The Filipinx Canadian Talks Community-Driven Hip Hop Feb 15, 2023

Show notes

Kim Villagante, AKA Kimmortal, is a Vancouver-based, queer, non-binary, Filipinx rapper, singer, actor, activist, visual artist and all-around badass. Today on the show, host Charlene Kaye gets into it with Kim on being a multidisciplinary artist, their fraught relationship with the word "community," and what they said to Thundercat to make him laugh.

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Listen to Kimmortal's most recent track, This Dyke, on Spotify.

Find Kimmortal on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/kimmortaltheartist/

Follow Golden Hour podcast at: https://www.instagram.com/goldenhourpod

Follow host Charlene Kaye at: https://www.instagram.com/charlenekaye

Follow producer Dave Yim at: https://www.instagram.com/dave_yim

Jess Bowen of The Summer Set - Being "the Girl in the Band" and Learning to Take Up Space Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

On today's episode, Charlene catches up with her former Scottsdale, Arizona schoolmate-turned-rock-star, Jess Bowen. Jess, who is half Filipina, is primarily known as the drummer of the pop punk quartet, The Summer Set, which formed when the members were still in high school. The band broke up in 2017 and reunited just last year, 2022, to release their 5th studio album, Blossom.

Now in her thirties, Jess shares everything she's learned about being a female musician in a male-dominated genre, how she used to make herself small, and how she has learned to take up space. Jess also talks about her experience jamming with Chad Smith in the Netflix documentary Count Me In, the moment her Filipina mother accepted her drumming career, and navigating social situations as a half Asian person who appears white.

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Listen to The Summer Set's most recent album, Blossom, on Spotify.

Find Jess Bowen on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/jessbowen/

Follow Golden Hour podcast at: https://www.instagram.com/goldenhourpod

Follow host Charlene Kaye at: https://www.instagram.com/charlenekaye

Follow producer Dave Yim at: https://www.instagram.com/dave_yim

Lea Thomas - Finding Spirituality in Nature and Music Jan 18, 2023

Show notes

Today on the show, Charlene talks with singer-songwriter Lea Thomas. Born on the island of Maui in Hawaii, the half Japanese musician remembers writing her first songs about her childhood banyan tree with her beloved first guitar. Later, she dove into the music industry and city life in New York, only to find herself burnt out, yearning for spiritual power of nature. Now based in the upstate New York, Lea's music travels between wall-of-sound indie, to country-infused folk rock, to ambient shoegaze, yet it's always grounded in her intimate, warm vocals.

Stay tuned to the end of the episode for an exclusive acoustic performance of Lea's song "What Did the Music Sound Like," off her 2021 album Mirrors to the Sun.

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Listen to Lea's most recent album, Mirrors to the Sun, on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/3gaxiMrzBfbqwygpq8hRgG?si=UBLiu-IqS5C5WYkalZt2jA

Find Lea on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/lealeathomas

Follow Golden Hour at: https://www.instagram.com/goldenhourpod

Follow Charlene Kaye at: https://www.instagram.com/charlenekaye

Follow producer/guest host Dave Yim: https://www.instagram.com/dave_yim

Get tickets to Charlene's one-woman show Tiger Daughter on Jan 20: https://arsnovanyc.com/charlene-kaye-tiger-daughter

Telling His "American Bollywood" Story - Sameer Gadhia of Young the Giant Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Sameer Gadhia is the powerhouse vocalist of the alternative rock band Young the Giant. For over a decade, the Indian American singer and songwriter has helped lead the seminal group through multiple gold and platinum singles and five full length albums, the latest, American Bollywood, was released in late 2022.

Today on the pod, Charlene gets in deep with Sameer, discussing Young the Giant's early formation, his cultural awakening during the Trump years, his Sirius XM show Point of Origin, and the stories behind this next era of Young the Giant.

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Sameer Gadhia on Instagram: @sameergadhia

Young the Giant on Instagram: @youngthegiant

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Host @CharleneKaye on Instagram

Producer @Dave_Yim on Instagram

Email us your thoughts at goldenhourwithkaye@gmail.com

"F*ck Your Opinion" - MICHELLE (Emma Lee and Jamee Lockard) Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

On this episode, Charlene is joined by Emma Lee and Jamee Lockard of MICHELLE. Emma and Jamee are two of the four lead vocalists in one of the most buzzed about bands to come out of the New York indie pop scene in the last few years. Both are Korean American and New York City natives, who write songs that you can either serve up a Gen Z dance party, or cry alone in your room to, with lyrics touching on themes of heartbreak, home life, and their own racial identity.

On the pod, Emma and Jamee discuss their mixed race anthem FYO, what it's like to collaborate in a six person band, and whether Jamee should bring her black belt recorder skills to MICHELLE writing sessions.

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Follow MICHELLE on TikTok and Instagram: @wearemichelle

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Host @CharleneKaye on Instagram

Producer @Dave_Yim on Instagram

Email us your thoughts at goldenhourwithkaye@gmail.com

Med School, Battling Depression, and Producing Music All Herself - SuperKnova Dec 07, 2022

Show notes

Today on the pod, an in-person conversation with Charlene and Ellie Kim, aka SuperKnova. Ellie is a Korean American transgender artist who writes, shreds guitar, produces, mixes, and masters all her own music. Her highly personal music aims to put the queer experience front and center. She also details the experience of her own transition and celebrates the complexity of being many different things at once. And before becoming a professional musician, Ellie actually completed med school, at one point advocating for her hospital to change their policy on performing surgery for babies born intersex.

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Connect with SuperKnova at https://vibe.to/superknova

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Host @CharleneKaye on Instagram

Producer @Dave_Yim on Instagram

Email us your thoughts at goldenhourwithkaye@gmail.com

From Humble Beginnings to Superstardom - Black Eyed Peas' Apl.de.Ap Nov 22, 2022

Show notes

Apl.de.Ap's journey from a poor farming community in the Philippines to a member of the one of the best-selling musical acts of all time is nothing short of miraculous. To give him better opportunities, his mother sent Apl, whose real name is Allan Pineda, to Los Angeles to live with an adopted family. Homesick, Apl would soon meet another young boy who shared his love for breakdancing. That friend would become his lifelong collaborator and co-founder of Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am. With their third member, Taboo, Black Eyed Peas would go on to win six GRAMMY Awards and sell 35 million albums.

In this episode of Golden Hour, host Charlene Kaye talks with the hilarious Apl about his humble beginnings, having to support himself working as a telemarketer, and navigating an eye condition that left him legally blind.

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Find Apl.de.Ap and Black Eyed Peas on Instagram

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Host @CharleneKaye on Instagram

Producer @Dave_Yim on Instagram

Email us your thoughts at goldenhourwithkaye@gmail.com

BONUS EPISODE: Season 1 Recap - How It Started, How It's Going Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

In this special bonus episode, Charlene and producer Dave Yim close out the first season of Golden Hour by talking about the origin the show and re-visit some of their favorite moments from the past nine episodes. Thank you so much for being a part of our little community, and we'll be back later this year with more conversations celebrating Asian joy, creativity and intersectional solidarity. Peace and love.

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Follow Golden Hour on Instagram

Host Charlene Kaye on Instagram

Producer Dave Yim on Instagram

Email us your thoughts at goldenhourwithkaye@gmail.com

Nobuko Miyamoto - The Birth of the Asian American Movement Jan 11, 2022

Show notes

For our final guest of Season 1 of Golden Hour, we wanted to take it back to a time when the term "Asian American" was only just being born. In the late 60s and early 70s, a new political consciousness was forming amidst the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. It was out of this time period that a trio of musicians recorded a singular album in 1973 called A Grain of Sand, widely considered to be the first recording of Asian American music.

On this episode, Charlene talks with the album's co-writer and singer, Nobuko Miyamoto, who is now in her 80s. They talk about her recent autobiography entitled Not Yo' Butterfly and her solo album released on Smithsonian Folkways called 120,000 Stories. Nobuko shares her experiences living in a Japanese internment camp during World War 2, how she and Chris Iijima formed their partnership that led to A Grain of Sand, and what happened when she got a phone call from one of the most famous Japanese American artists.

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Follow Nobuko Miyamoto on Instagram

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Follow Golden Hour on Instagram

Host Charlene Kaye on Instagram

Producer Dave Yim on Instagram

Email us your thoughts at goldenhourwithkaye@gmail.com