The Self Portrait Gospel :: Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Season 8 Ep. #11 - Cass McCombs Oct 31, 2025

Show notes

On this terrifyingly spooky and melodically macabre episode-well, not actually that terrifying at all-of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we had the wonderful privilege to sit with the great Cass McCombs to discuss his brilliant new effort, "Interior Live Oak," and other atmospheric anecdotes such as how West Coast skateboard culture adopted him, made him one of the thier own, his late friend and musician Travis Graves (Mt. Egypt), recording the labum on both the West and East Coast, his cosmic connection with songstress Chris Cohen, life on the road, the importance of music overall, and much more.

Season 8 Ep. #10 - Zachary Cale Oct 10, 2025

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Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Zachary Cale first came onto the scene with his 2005 debut "Outlander Sessions" some 20 years ago, if you can believe that. Having navigated an eclectic era that's far beyond different from the one we currently occupy, Cale has kept a steady pulse on the melodic machine, while simultaneously sharing the stage with the likes of the great James Toth (Wooden Wand), Deer Tick, Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), Kurt Vile, and several others over the course of his multi-layered career. Following up on the brilliant release of last year's "Next Year's Ghost" with the veteran musician's instrumental debut "Love's Work," we sit down with Cale to speak about his poetic perspective on this day, and age's so-called industry, while carefully balancing the hardships of life's complicated curveballs.

Season 8 Ep. #9 - Crispin Glover Sep 30, 2025

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Embedded in the collected consciousness of popular culture, cinema, and creative charisma for the last four decades, legendary actor, filmmaker, and author Crispin Hellion Glover has danced on the elusive edge of artistic freedom, while simultaneously inhabiting an abstract atmosphere like no one else of his generation. His almost alchemical approach to his craft is unparalleled and unpredictable, as he carefully uncovers the macabre mysteries of the human experience through characters you know and love. Having starred in such cineamtic classics as Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Back to the Future, River's Edge, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Doors, Hot Tub Time Machine, among several others, Glover's complex career on the big screen has truly cemeneted him as one of the greats of our time.

On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we sit down with Glover to chat about his most recent film, "No! YOU'RE WRONG. or Spooky Action at a Distance," which was shot entirely on 35mm film negative over the course of several years, and what seems like a lifetime since its critical conception. Followed by a short tour in select theaters to showcase the industrious intensity and intimate imagery of this spellbinding effort, Glover pulls us into his incredible imagination by swiftly displaying the timeless tones and electrifying elements of the Dada/Surrealist movement, which has undeniably influenced the actor throughout his compelling career. Set to premiere at MoMA in New York City this Thursday, October 2nd, the film will continue to run through the spooky month with more available dates on his site below.

https://www.crispinglover.com

Season 8 Ep. #8 - Marissa Nadler Sep 26, 2025

Show notes

Now based in East Nashville, not too far from our little operation here in Tennessee, the subliminal songstress and mistress of melodic mastery, Marissa Nadler, has been gracing the alchemical airwaves for nearly two decades with her majestic meditations on life, death, love, memory, and several other elements of the human experience. Having signed with the Brooklyn-based label Sacred Bones Records in 2013 for the release of her monumental classic "July." She has since carved a captivating path of poetic perfection and otherwordly observations into the heart and soul of some of the most trepidatious topics that her peers Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan articulated so well throughout their careers.

We sit down to speak with Nadler about her new album "New Radiations" and just how private and personal this material is compared to her previous releases throughout her incredibly disciplined discography over the years, while simultaneously balancing being your own boss in the radically opinionated world that is the internet. "New Radiations" is a brilliant collection of songs that uplift the soul from the overwhelming depths of darkness by shining a lavish into the cryptic corners of the room, only to reveal the spiritual significance of beauty in its simplest form.

Season 8 Ep. #7 - IIyas Ahmed (Grails) Sep 19, 2025

Show notes

We're back for another exciting episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast with our friend, the talented multi-instrumentalist, artist, and fellow Nicolas Cage enthusiast, IIyas Ahmed. Pulling up a digital chair to chat with us about his visceral vision of the world and the people in it, the never-ending landscape of jazz, and its related juxtaposition, Ahmed tells the tonal tale joining the melodic machine that is Grails, his favorite films, a solo career that spans over two decades, and the intimate instincts it takes to be an artist in this day and age.

Having come from a Greek/Pakistani background, Ahmed, like most of his generation, connected with the critical climate of the punk and hardcore bands of the 1980s before establishing a more spiritual setting on the melodic meter of self-discovery and existential expression. While exploring the atmospheric alchemy of instrumental music and its cinematic nature, Ahmed's overall style and approach are undeniably universal, as he confidently communicates a language that is both lyrical and legitimate.

Season 8 Ep. #6 - Blake Mills Aug 22, 2025

Show notes

From the shapeshifting subleties of his spiritual practices in sound, tonal texture, and electrifying emotion, to the carefully cinematic essence of his eager expressions behind the scenes, there isn't much the West Coast-based, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and composer Blake Mills can't do. He's come a long ways since his classic 2010 debut "Broken Mirrors," while simultaneously capturing the critical chemistry of some of your favorite artists in between his sonic shifts and radical responsibilities in the studio.

On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we sit down with Mills for a long-awaited chat to discuss his most recent effort with legendary bassist and all-around master of melody, Pino Palladino, "That Wasn't A Dream." A breathtaking entry into the fundamentals of fusion, ritualistic rhthms, and lucid language between two incredible artists, Mills take us on a journey through his unique process, atmospheric approach, and tonal theories, while we kick back and marvel at the totality of his techniques, amighty attention to detail, and much more.

Season 8 Ep. #5 - Spencer Tweedy Aug 08, 2025

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Chicago-based drummer, producer, and multi-displinary artist Spencer Tweedy has played music as long as he can remember. Growing up in a musical household, to say the least, Spencer gravitated towards his father Jeff Tweedy, founding member of such notable acts as Unlce Tupelo and Wilco, and his profession by quickly navigating his very own unique path in music. On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we speak to Spencer about the critical connection he has with music, participating in bands like Case Oats, Tweedy/Jeff Tweedy, who is set to release their brand-new triple LP "Twilight Override" later this year, touring with Waxahatchee, the balance of life, and work, the climate of the music industry, and much more.

Season 8 Ep. #4 - Peter Stampfel (The Holy Modal Rounders) Aug 01, 2025

Show notes

Hailing from a period in time that, to this day, continues to birth bands and artists all around the world, New York-based multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and one-half of perhaps one of the most influential bands of its time, The Holy Modal Rounders, Peter Stampfel has been creating music, and art for well over half a century. From the Rounders to the death-defying dynamics of The Fugs, and a million other lives inbetween, Stampfel's poetically prolific body of work is compelling to say the least, as the veteran musician takes us on a journey from one end of the galaxy to other end of the table in a cosmic conversation that ignites the spirit of creative change. His most recent effort, "Song Shards," carefully captures the essence of youth, eager advertisments of the past, and a friendly reminder to stop and appreciate the small things as the 46-track collection unfolds into a beautiful flower of friendliness.

Season 8 Ep. #3 - Speech (Arrested Developmnent) Jul 18, 2025

Show notes

Sharing the same timeline as ATL-based singer-songwriter, poet activist, and lyrical legend Speech, born Todd Thomas, of the acclaimed American hip hop group Arrested Development, is something that should bring us all a little comfort and peace in these crazy times. Having first established the groundbreaking group nearly four decades ago, Arrested Development pried open our culture's sore soul with perhaps one of the most influential albums, not just in hip hop and conscious rap, but in American music, 1992's "3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days In The Life Of...." Over the next three decades, the artist would go on to record several albums with the group, as well as eagerly establishing a solo career that covers just as much groovy ground as time continues moving forward, and history horrifically repeats itself.

On this episode of The Self Portrait Gosple Podcast, we speak to Speech about his more formative years growing up in Tennessee before planting poetic roots Georgia in the mid to late 1980s, the influence of Southern hip hop on the world at large, the polarizing politics of the Trump administration, music's melodic meditation on the mind, the group's new album "Adult Contemporary Hip Hop," which was intentionally released on the Fourth of July, and much more.

Season 8 Ep. #2 - Jack Cooper Jul 04, 2025

Show notes

Jack Cooper is one of those musicians you follow no matter the artistic anatomy of the individual's journey into the universally unknown. His atmospheric approach is organic and built on the brilliance of his peers, while bravely bridging the gap between the contagious contents of the 1980s and 1990s soundscapes. From his time in Mazes, The Beep Seals, and everything he eagerly evaulated, and put all his poetic power into his latest outfit, Modern Nature.

On this episode of The Self Portrait Gospel Podcast, we speak to Cooper about his rural upbringing in the UK, the influences of bands such as Oasis, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, to name a few, the critical conditions of the world, and our place in it, and eventually forming Modern Nature. Releasing a series of titles on Bella Union, Cooper has returned to the sonic stratosphere with perhaps the band's most epic effort yet, "The Heat Warps."

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