Mayo Thompson is the founding member of The Red Krayola, an experimental rock group that has existed in various formations since 1966. He’s collaborated with The Raincoats, Pere Ubu, and the Fall as a record producer, is an active visual artist, and has recently published his second novel, “After Math,” a sequel to 2020’s “Art, Mystery” (both available via Drag City Publishing). Mayo joins Low Profile to discuss the unconventional processes of several Red Krayola albums, his lone solo album “Corky’s Debt to His Father” and its recent live embodiment, his experience as a writer, a long-sta ..read more

Markly brings his weekly pub trivia game "Questionable Music" to the radio in this exciting segment from the new two-hour Patreon release featuring Markly Morrison and Jack Habegger being interviewed by KAOS station manager DJ Jonny H. Full show available at patreon.com/lowprofile Play Questionable Music in-person at Three Magnets Brewing Company in Olympia, WA, Monday nights at 6:30 ..read more

Friend of the show Sean O’Hagan returns to the Low Profile to discuss “Hey Panda,” the first release from The High Llamas in eight years. When we last spoke in 2021, he had dropped the High Llamas moniker and forged a new path under his given name, embracing more contemporary influences.  In the years since, he’s recruited Llamas new and old to reroute the course of the band he’s led since the early ‘90s, and invited exciting guest performers to come along for the ride. “Hey Panda” is out on March 29th from Drag City Records. Today Sean explains the process that led to this album, collabo ..read more

Once upon a time in England, a teenager named Susan Murphy brought her saxophone to audition for a new punk band called X-Ray Spex- a group that was not looking for a sax player. Despite that fact, she made the cut, and like her fellow new band mates, she adopted a stage name: Lora Logic was born. When her tenure with the band was unexpectedly cut short, a friend with a studio encouraged her to forge her own path, and in 1979 the underground scene was introduced to her next project Essential Logic- a groove-laden and experimental sort of progressive punk rock. Somewhere along the way she becam ..read more

James Spooner is a writer, filmmaker and visual artist from Southern California. He grew up as one of two black punk rockers in the small town of Apple Valley, and he wrote a critically acclaimed graphic novel about his experience called “The High Desert,” released in 2022, twenty years after the release of his groundbreaking documentary “Afro Punk.” When I read the book, I found it so moving that I immediately reached out to him and invited him to be a guest on this Afro Punk, The High Desert, Black Punk Now!program. James joined me for a live interview in Olympia at the Capitol Theater after ..read more

About fifty years ago, three brothers started a garage band in Detroit. Their sound was forward-thinking and ferocious, and their band name – Death – played no small part in killing their music career. That didn’t stop them from doing what they loved, in private, where they amassed dozens of songs that have yet to see the light of day. Their debut album For the Whole World To See was recorded in 1973, but was never released until 2008 when one of the singer’s sons discovered the group’s lone single. Since then, a documentary has been made about the group, and several more albums have been rele ..read more

Who smoked more: academics like John Cage, La Monte Young and Vladamir Ussachevsky- or the underground scenesters, like Glenn Branca, Arthur Russel and Laurie Anderson? Why is turntablist Christian Marclay on the cover of "Transfigured New York," but not in the book, even though she interviewed him multiple times? Could AI design be to blame? How did the old guard of "New Music" feel about the commodification of computer-based music production four decades ago? In the 1980s, Brooke Wentz hosted a radio show in the middle of the night that focused on experimental music, which was developing all ..read more

When I started this show five years ago, I made a short list of artists I wanted to feature.  Near the top of that list was the British musician Vashti Bunyan. Vashti Bunyan released her beautiful album “Just Another Diamond Day” in 1970, and it was almost immediately buried in time.  She’d had her fair share of disappointment in the music business and walked away from it altogether, until some three decades later when people like me discovered her music for the first time.  Suddenly, Vashti was in demand, and her music career was back on track.  In her recent memoir, “Wayw ..read more

 Dev Ray, Dylan Shearer and Ali Baker (with Summer Schief) make an appearance at the final Sherler Sundays concert of 2022. Ali and Summer reveal their new band name, discuss singing harmony with the Mona Reels, and share about their recent opportunity to share the stage with hip-hop royalty. Dylan performs in Olympia for the first time in 20 years and talks about his formative years in the Mojave desert, and the chapter of his life in the Bay Area leading to working with members of the Osees and Comets on Fire. Dev visits Olympia for the first time ever, sharing songs from his upcoming r ..read more

The penultimate live episode for this series of highlights from the Scherler Sundays concert series features three Olympia acts and one out-of-towner, Austin Leonard Jones.  The Mona Reels has been the ongoing  project of singer-songwriter Peter David Connelly for over 20 years, today we hear his current and self-proclaimed favorite line-up of the band, a six-piece ensemble.  Included is a suite of songs from their latest record, "Without Love."  The Mona Reels will also be kicking off the seventh season of Low Profile later this month.  Olivia Rose is the namesake of ..read more