Patrick Tape Fleming

How often do we really get to grow up with a band.. Not just loving a band for a season or a record or a summer, but actually getting to watch them evolve in real time. Getting older alongside them… Read more

On today's brand-new quick episode of Perfect Songs Forever, Rudy Fischmann wanted to talk about a Yo La Tengo song, and of course I immediately said fuck yes. Why? Because I honestly think Yo La Tengo might be the greatest… Read more

In April of 2005 I decided to book myself a solo tour, but more importantly pointed my car toward Athens, Georgia with one thing in mind. I was going to see The Olivia Tremor Control play their first reunion show… Read more

This morning my pal Alli Arnold sent me one of those gifted articles from The New York Times Today’s was “The 30 Greatest American Living Songwriters” Which is basically throwing a match into my brain… oh baby here we go…

I was 19, in the front row at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, and I had no idea what I was about to see. Back then, everything you heard about Fiona Apple on MTV News or in little blurbs from… Read more

When WIRED reported that the marketing firm Chaotic Good helped fuel the rise of Geese through algorithm driven TikTok accounts, people singing their songs, listening to them, seeding the culture, it felt like some great revelation to people. Let's just… Read more

There are certain people in music who don’t just exist in a scene. They define it quietly, without trying. Jennifer Baron has always been one of those people for me. In the 90's you couldn't really find photos of indie…

Growing up in small town Iowa in the late 90s, being a music fan was pretty hard. There was no internet to look things up, no YouTube to fall down some endless rabbit hole. It felt more like trying to… Read more

What I found so powerful about Melissa Auf book is the tenderness of her memory. Maybe it comes from looking through a lens for so long, capturing thousands of moments, learning how to truly see people. She doesn’t soften the… Read more

Buckle Up. The brand new episode of Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts features one of the most fascinating characters in the extended Elephant 6 universe, R Sloan Simpson, whose new Ep, by Sloan Brothers Love and Diagnosis continues the story… Read more

  They spent it on a dream. On this week's episode of the Discograffiti Soldiers of Sound podcast, Adem Kerimofski told Rudy Fischmann and I this amazing story. He was backstage with the Australian band Custard, listening to Wowee Zowee…

A few mornings ago, I was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee, watching the movie Rushmore. The house was quiet in that sweet way it only is before your ten year old child wakes up. Then you… Read more

Songs About the Ocean by The High Water Marks is built on a love story that feels almost too cinematic to be real. Per Ole Bratset and Hilarie Bratset met at a music festival in Norway and sparked an instant… Read more

HELP US FIND THE CLOUD BOXES I love how some of my favorite artists used to go so far to make something feel special. Not just the music. The whole world around it. While working on the Elephant Six podcast…

Right Here by Joanna Sternberg is that fragile emotional space where nothing is broken out loud… but everything is quietly breaking underneath... type of song. The slow ticking awareness. The feeling of love leaving the room and never looking back. … Read more

Oh Minnesota. Maybe it’s the cold winters that push people inward, toward creativity. Maybe it’s the hustle, the honesty, the blue-collar poetry. Or maybe it’s just the way this state keeps finding new ways to turn hardship into beauty. When…

This week’s episode of Don’t Bother Wearing Seatbelts is extra special to me. Our guest is Tammy Shine, the heart and soul of Dressy Bessy, who is about to release her debut solo album OK Shine OK. I…

I love being a parent. Truly. It’s the greatest job in the world. But it's also at times pretty difficult. One of the hardest parts of it is deciding what to protect our kids from and what to gently let… Read more

Some of the most meaningful music never begins with an audience in mind. It starts in a basement or a room. With friends. With time to kill and something to chase. Recording not because anyone is asking for it, but…

We all have had moments in life when the world suddenly feels very small. Moments when everything grows quiet and heavy and you don’t know if you can really go on. We have all been there in one way or… Read more