033: "Pinch and Roll" feat. Jay Ryan (The Bird Machine, Dianogah)

I’m joined today by JAY RYAN — bassist, guitarist, screenprinter, poster-maker, author, teacher, & longtime shining star in the HUM-verse.

For 3 decades, Jay’s been designing & making posters & prints at his studio THE BIRD MACHINE for artists ranging from HUM & Matt Talbott, to Stereolab, Melvins, Shellac, the Flaming Lips, Seam, & Silkworm, to his own band, DIANOGAH.

He’s published a trio of richly illustrated books brimming with his designs, from the 90s to now, with lots of helpful captions that situate the works in their respective times & places. The first book is called 100 Posters, 134 Squirrels, & it was followed by Animals & Objects In & Out of Water, & then No One Told Me Not to Do This. Links to everything below.

Dianogah recently released a discography box set titled 1995-2008, which compiles their 4 full-lengths & another LP of singles & compilation tracks. The sets have sold out, but you can still get the remastered audio from their Bandcamp, also linked below.

In addition to Dianogah, Jay plays in the live presentation of Chicago band THE MOST DISTANT OBJECT, who are set to release their second record, VOLITION, on May 4th.

In this episode, we discuss the productive limitations of screen printing, dig into the scratchy histories inside his images, & try to make sense of the ups & downs of the angsty bounce.

[We refer to quite a few posters during the conversation, & a PDF of those is linked below as well.]

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JAY'S BOOKS

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DIANOGAH

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