If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk archives, and more!

My guests this week are New York rapper and engineer blackchai and Tennessee-via-North Carolina rapper, producer, and engineer Illohim, who record together at the duo Pathfinders. We spoke about The Rehearsal, Peacemaker, Friendship, Jet Li’s Fearless, their respective solo careers up to this point, meeting as members of the collective No Clue, their chemistry, and the creative process behind their self-titled debut. Come fuck with us.

Pathfinders is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider buying directly from blackchai's Bandcamp. Follow blackchai on Instagram (@blackchai19) and Twitter (@blkchai). Follow Illohim on Instagram (@illohimshymns) and Twitter (@illohim).

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), Bluesky (@cinemasai.bsky.social), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped into all things Dylan Green.

Support the show

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk archives, and more!

My guest this week is New York producer and engineer Tony Seltzer. We spoke about Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and the legacy of David Lynch, Harriet the Spy, Little Figuitive, growing up loving metal and hip-hop, transitioning from drumming to producing, why he’s become well-known for the drums in his beats, his impact on underground rap, drifting into A&R, the creative process behind he and MIKE’s Pinball album series, his compilation album Hey Tony, and a handful of his greatest beats for artists like Wiki, WifiGawd, Key!, & more. Come fuck with us.

Pinball 2 is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping directly from MIKE's Bandcamp. Follow Tony Seltzer on Instagram and Twitter (@tonyseltzer) and follow Tony's Brooklyn-based studio, Noc Noc Studios, on Instagram (@nocnocstudios) to book a session with the man himself.

Read Lei Takahashi's review of Pinball II at Pitchfork

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), Bluesky (@cinemasai.bsky.social), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped into all things Dylan Green.

Support the show

If you'd like to see full video of this and other episodes, join the Reel Notes Patreon at the Homie ($5/month) tier or higher. You also get early access to episodes, an invite to our Discord server, access to the Reel Talk archives, and more!

My guest this week is Montreal-via-Zambia rapper, producer, and composer Backxwash. We spoke about Sinners, Nigerian cinema, our respective histories with horror movies, moving from Zambia to Canada, how Cassidy mixtapes, Common’s Be, and Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor informed her rap style, the timeless appeal of Memphis rap, mixing rap with doom metal, having fun while making music about trauma, and the creative process behind her latest album Only Dust Remains. Come fuck with us.

Only Dust Remains is available wherever music is sold, streamed, or stolen. Consider copping off Backxwash's Bandcamp. Follow Backxwash on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @backxwash

Read my piece, What Sinners and Chelsea Reject Taught Me About The Power of Black Cultural Memory, for Hearing Things.

My first book, Reel Notes: Culture Writing on the Margins of Music and Movies, is available now, via 4 PM Publishing. Order a digital copy on Amazon.

Reel Notes stands in solidarity with the oppressed peoples of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, Tigray, and Haiti. Please consider donating to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, The Palestinian Youth Movement, The Zakat Foundation, HealAfrica, FreeTigray, and/or Hope For Haiti. For information about contacting your representatives to demand a ceasefire, finding protests, and other tools, check out CeasefireToday!

Follow me on Instagram (@cinemasai), Twitter (@CineMasai_), Bluesky (@cinemasai.bsky.social), TikTok (@cinemasai), Letterboxd (@CineMasai), and subscribe to my weekly Nu Musique Friday newsletter to stay tapped into all things Dylan Green.

Support the show