Curators
Browse all Herb Sundays curators
Sasha Frere-Jones
Sasha Frere-Jones has made a career out of taking music from micro to macro and back down into detail, writing for places like The Village Voice, Bookforum, Artforum, 4Columns, Observer and The New York Times. He was on the staff of The New Yorker from 2004 to 2015 and still contributes. His Substack is a curiosity cabinet worth your time.
1 playlist
Sean Monahan
Sean Monahan is a writer and consultant based in Los Angeles. He is best known for founding K-HOLE, the trend forecasting group that coined the term normcore, and being the first to diagnose the vibe shift.
1 playlist
Seth Troxler
Seth Troxler is one of electronic music’s most instantly recognizable artists. Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and raised in suburban Detroit, Troxler moved to Berlin at 18, before settling in London for a number of years, and now with his time divided between Ibiza and Zurich, establishing himself as one of the planet’s biggest DJs (voted the world’s number one DJ in Resident Advisor and gracing the front cover of Mixmag three times). As an inveterate lover of independent music culture, he hast co-founded labels like Tuskegee, Visionquest, Soft Touch, and Play It, Say It and recently debuted his own Slacker 85 label. More recently, Seth has focused his creative energies on his Lost Souls of Saturn project alongside his partner Phil Moffa and others, displaying work at institutions like the Saatchi Gallery in London and the Fondation Beyeler in Basel.
1 playlist
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is a renowned music journalist, author, and critic known for his influential works on alternative music. He has penned seminal books such as Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture, Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, and Rip It Up and Start Again, which chronicle rave, electronic, and post-punk movements with a distinctive British perspective. His work for esteemed publications like The Guardian, Wire, and Details underscores his deep insight into music and culture.
1 playlist
Taja Cheek
Let’s get the facts out of the way. Taja Cheek is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and vocalist and has become an acclaimed and sought‐after figure in New York experimental music and beyond. In June of this year, she released her sophomore album, Fatigue, under the moniker L’Rain. Her songs are equally rooted in r&b, jazz, noise, and pop: at once visceral, spiritual, ethereal, and urgent. She also frequently collaborates and has worked with artists, including Helado Negro, Vagabon, Anna Wise, Kevin Beasley, Justin Allen, Naama Tsabar, Sable Elyse Smith, and others.
2 playlists
Tim Heidecker
The bio for Tim Heidecker is long and winding, so here’s a list instead. If none of these register, you can move on to the playlist, but here goes: Tom Goes to The Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job, Check It Out! With Dr. Steve Brule, Tim and Eric’s Bedtime Stories, Abso Lutely Productions (Comedy Bang! Bang!, Nathan For You, The Eric Andre Show, Decker), On Cinema, Office Hours Live, Various TV/Film acting (“Us,” “Eastbound & Down,” “The Comedy,” “Bridesmaids,” “Portlandia,” and “I Think You Should Leave.”)
1 playlist
Toby Feltwell
An abbreviated bio goes like this. The man behind your favorite brands, some of mine at least. CV includes: Mo'Wax (coming out of the same creative ooze as legends like Ben Drury and Will Bankhead, 1996 - 2003), signing Dizzee Rascal & Wiley to XL, Bathing Ape (including launching the NYC shop and Billionaire Boy's Club) (main 2003-2005 and also 2005-2011) and launching the Cav Empt brand with Sk8thing and Hishiyama (Hishi) Yutaka in 2011 where they "continue to be excited by the process of making whatever we feel like making." It's enough to blind you.
1 playlist
Trevor Jackson
Trevor Jackson is an artist, designer, DJ, curator, and producer celebrated for his Renaissance approach to music, art, and fashion. His career spans early sleeve designs and underground musical projects to launching his influential label Output and producing DJ mixes under his Playgroup alias. Known as a 'taste engine,' his work marries a DIY spirit with a luxe, bold visual and musical aesthetic.
1 playlist
Trevor McFedries
Trevor McFedries is a baller. A DJ, entrepreneur, and aspiring basketball star, the 36-year-old Los Angeles native is also the CEO of Dapper Collectives, a role he assumed when the NFT startup Dapper Labs acquired his artificial intelligence–focused media company Brud. As one of its founders, McFedries gave life to Lil’ Miquela, the uncannily cool virtual influencer who served as patient zero for his philosophy of community-based storytelling (Brud plans to put Miquela’s fate in the hands of her followers). Now, as the internet moves towards a decentralized future—Web 3.0—McFedries sits firmly on its bleeding edge. In 2020, he launched Friends With Benefits (FWB), a private online community for blockchain enthusiasts and artists, where membership fees come in the form of digital tokens, and networking takes place on Discord channels. The goal? To create a digital utopia whose denizens can own—and monetize—their creative output. To help us make sense of his vision, the artist Jordan Wolfson, who knows a thing or two about creation in the age of the internet, spoke to McFedries about what the World Wide Web might look like when it’s for everyone, by everyone.
1 playlist
Veronica Vasicka
Veronica Vasicka is an NYC native (born on Coney Island and growing up in Greenwich Village/Upper East Side). She is a photographer, musician, DJ, and founder of the record label/community Minimal Wave (for old/reissued music) and Cititrax (for new music). Minimal Wave is the name of Vasicka’s first record label, but the words have come to represent a genre of sorts that stretches between a myriad of styles from Cold Wave, Post-Punk, Industrial, and Synth-Pop. Artists like In Aeternam Vale, Oppenheimer Analysis, Martin Dupont and Deux have gotten a second chance at glory with Minimal Wave, while she’s helped new acts with her Cititrax label including Marie Davidson, An-i, and Broken English Club.
1 playlist
Veronika Slowikowska
Veronika Slowikowska is a Canadian actor and comedian currently based in New York City. Since graduating from the Canadian Film Centre’s Actors Conservatory in 2020 she has found credits, including a recurring role on FX’s What We Do In The Shadows, CBC’s Homeschooled, Entertainment One’s Nurses, and has her first lead role in the Hulu comedy series Davey and Jonsie’s Locker which debuts this March. Veronika performs live around New York City and posts to her hundreds of thousands of fans on her TikTok and IG accounts, @veronika_iscool.
1 playlist
Vivian Host
Vivian Host is a journalist (Red Bull Music Academy, Native Instruments, NPR, MTV, etc.), DJ/Producer (Star Eyes), radio host, and perhaps most importantly, lifelong raver, who has been playing music and writing about it for as long as she’s been able. Lifer status is rare these days, especially as a journalist AND an instigator. She’s a founding member of DJ crews including Trouble & Bass, Eklektic SF, and B.A.S.S. Kru and after 16 years in NYC, she recently moved back to her native Los Angeles where she is currently involved in the Warp Mode parties and her own Chaos Clan imprint. In short, Vivian has never lost the muse. There’s always another sound and sunrise worth hunting down.
1 playlist
W. David Marx
I am W. David Marx, the Tokyo-based author of Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style. I have a new book called Status and Culture about how the fundamental human desire for social status defines, creates, and changes culture. The book tries to solve what I call the “Grand Mystery of Culture” — why we switch from certain styles to others over time for no apparent reason. In answering that question, I uncover many of the universal principles that guide cultural behavior. If you’re interested in culture — that could be music, art, fashion trends, or even certain beliefs — the book will help organize your thoughts on the topic and teach you something new.
1 playlist
Warren Defever
Warren Defever has famously released over a hundred records through his nearly 40‐year project, His Name Is Alive. Signed to 4AD in his early career and known for his eclectic mix of ambient, pop, dub, jazz, noise, and electronic sounds, he has continually pushed sonic boundaries while also working as a mastering engineer at Third Man in Detroit.
1 playlist
Will Calcutt
Will Calcutt is a pioneering photographer and visual storyteller who first recognized the potential of digital photography back in his college days at Michigan. Prolific and innovative, he has spent decades capturing the fleeting, transformative moments of life—melding technical precision with artistic insight. His distinctive approach has not only documented cultural moments but also helped shape the visual aesthetic of influential art and music projects, particularly through his work with Ghostly.
1 playlist
Yale Evelev
As the co-owner and president of the famed Luaka Bop label, Yale Evelev has been more than partially responsible for sparking an interest in music beyond the traditional Western paradigm—a drive that has helped reinvent the pop music landscape. While his full bio is extensive, this snapshot highlights his influential role in broadening musical horizons.
1 playlist
Yasi Salek
Yasi Salek is, in her own words, a writer, MFA dropout, and host of the show Bandsplain. Her mantra: I am cringe but I am free.
1 playlist
Yu Su
Yu Su is a Kaifeng-born, Vancouver-based musician, DJ, sound artist, and occasional chef. She works alone, performs with a band, and loves to host intentional food and listening experiences. Her music draws from house, dub, psychedelic rock, “fourth world” experimental, and the sounds of her native country to create downtempo oddities and slow-burning club tracks that transcend time and place. This has also established her highly personalized storytelling style as a DJ, constantly traveling through different genres without skipping a beat.
1 playlist
Zoe Latta
Zoe Latta is a fashion designer and co-founder of the innovative label Eckhaus Latta, which she established in 2011 with Mike Eckhaus. Known for her experimental approach to design, Latta creates garments that challenge conventional aesthetics by incorporating unconventional materials, textures, and silhouettes. Her work often blurs the line between art and fashion, earning recognition for its inclusivity and avant‐garde appeal. Zoe studied textile design at the Rhode Island School of Design alongside her co-founder, where she developed a deep interest in sustainable practices and experimental fabric techniques. This background is reflected in Eckhaus Latta's use of handcrafted and recycled materials, making the brand a pioneer in eco‐conscious high fashion. She writes on Substack under Rotting On The Vine.
1 playlist
sam
I'm not a true podcast head and only listen to a handful, but one of the inspirations for Herb Sundays is the form of the podcast, both as a repeatable series and as an invitation to conversation. Herb sort of rides this model with a lot less editing needed.
1 playlist