Essential Listening: Darwin's Year of Interviews

It doesn't officially turn one year old until October, but Darwin Grosse has spent the last year having rich, deep conversations with a broad spectrum of artists for his Art + Music + Technology podcast. The guests have included big names like Pauline Oliveros and Richard Devine, as well as Cycling '74 co-workers (who also have a pretty rich creative life) and a whole range of synth freaks, programmers, and artists working in Art, Music, and Technology.
I caught up with Darwin to find out how the podcast has gone, and asked him to share some of his favorite moments:

"I actually learn from everyone that I talk to - so it feels odd to pick out favorites. Personally:

• I found myself deeply affected by the Robert Rich interview (#35) - his discussions about inspiration and creativity were inspiring.

• Tommy Dog's (#45) discussion about learning disabilities was great for me, since I have a child with this issue (although not as severe as Tommy's). Important to me to hear this.

• Mark Verbos (#27) chat was cool, because we got a chance to talk about some shared background that isn't always pretty. The off-air discussion really allowed me to exorcise some demons as well.

• Paul Schrieber's (#13) interview was classic Paul, combining a deep understanding of the modular synth landscape while being totally opinionated and ascerbic.

But each one of the podcasts hits me in the heart, because it shows me that there is a real person behind the work that is being done. Talking to someone like Richard Devine, who is kind of a star in certain circles, reveals that we both grew up on Ministry/Skinny Puppy industrial; Dan Snazelle and I had the same kooky religious background. This personalizes their work in a way that no written interview (or, for that matter, any pre-planned study) could have done.

Probably the best thing that has happened is that I now prepare less - and edit less. Unless I'm completely in the dark about someone's work, I generally spend less than 5 minutes checking on people's work. Rather, I open the door for them to talk about their work (which means that they talk about the stuff they are interested in, rather than what the public is interested in...), and then ask about their background (which always gives me the next 20 questions to ask!).

It is really incredibly fun for me, but also has totally changed the way I think of art-making and career-building. It also has changed the way I talk - I'm much more aware of my over-use of "um", "interesting" and "awesome". Not completely fixed yet, but working on it..."