Hello and welcome to REPLY ALT, the best email newsletter about music in the entire world which is also sometimes a podcast—the best podcast in the entire world. Today it’s a podcast.
Sometime around 2013 I heard a band called Cayetana. They only had a handful of songs to their name at the time and that was all I needed to hear. I was instantly hooked on the Philly trio’s scrappy take on punk, especially the vocal work of singer Augusta Koch. Her voice had this ragged edge to it and it flared wildly and unpredictably. I just loved it. I reached out and asked if I could interview them and they showed up to the interview in the most comically packed Subaru I’d ever seen. The minute I saw them piling out of their rock band clown car, I was sold.
Cayetana lasted for two albums and roughly eight years, but, fortunately, Augusta is still extremely prolific. She had a Herculean output last year with her new project, Gladie, having released one album and four EPs. (I am required by law to mention that one of them contains a Weakerthans cover.) It’s been really inspiring to watch her evolve as an artist over the last few years.
Augusta and I had a chat recently about staying creative, letting projects fade away once they’ve run their course, and the soul-sucking nature of promoting yourself on the internet. I got way more wistful and nostalgic than I typically do in these talks. What can I say, genuinely kind people are hard to come by in the music industry!
Listen to our chat above or on Spotify or Apple or wherever you like to listen to these sorts of things. Oh, and as I was feeling nostalgic, I was going through old photos and found this one of us in the back of their van, a candidate for the worst photo of me ever taken.
Top by photo by Jess Flynn. My new theme song by Dan Faughnder.
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