The New Exchange with Ken Grand-Pierre

This is without a doubt the most selfish episode of the season. Pillow Queens and Soda Blonde are my two favourite bands from Ireland, and getting an excuse to catch up with them both is a treat too good to pass up. Though they sound massively different, both of these bands have a shared ethos of human connection being paramount, along with the responsibility of facilitating spaces where that can even happen: human connection. On t...

OK, so the intro to this episode runs the risk of being a soapbox of sorts, but when you have an artist that’s so steeped in intentionality…it’s next to impossible not to reflect on the current state of things. Sharone Halevy is an abstract expressionist painter (based here in New York) that has gone on to deeply inspire me not just from her work, but also from what that work means to her on a personal level. You see, when it comes...

Austra is the moniker of Canadian singer-songwriter Katie Stelmanis, a band and project that continuously reflects Stelmanis’s thoughts on….well, pretty much everything. The songs on the latest Austra album, Chin Up Buttercup, traverse the madness left behind after a breakup. You know the one, those breakups that not only shake us up emotionally but leave us wondering “what the hell is this life even about?” If that sounds too conv...

(Thanks for the help on this one, Juliet!) Here we have someone who is most likely the coolest person to ever grace this podcast. Say hello to the badass punk that is Keaton Kustler, an LA-based creator who dabbles in creative direction, event production, brand development, project management, content strategy, and modeling. However, she’s most known for her favourite activity: running, and the ways she’s not afraid to share her th...

Something that I learned a long time ago is that there can be an art to rambling. They’re conversations you can be part of (or overhear) where you find yourself thinking “wait, how did we get here?” and somehow, the flow will tie back to an overall topic. That’s how it feels whenever I chat with my old friend, ALA.NI, a London-born singer-songwriter who’s called Paris home for many years. Across 3 albums, she’s creatively evolved a...

This episode is a bit of a special one, as I’m joined by Natalie and Meegan of JOSEPH for a conversation that feels just as much of a life update as it does an interview. Their new album, Closer to Happy, digs into that strange space of realizing your life doesn’t quite look how you imagined, and learning to be okay with that. We get into how that mindset shaped the songs, and how the band continues to evolve beyond their indie fol...

One of the most beautiful lessons we can learn in this life is how having clarity on what matters to us can set forth a path for us to walk through. I feel lucky that I’ve met people who’ve echoed that with their actions, and today’s guest does that in spades. Jess DiPierro Obert is an investigative photojournalist, filmmaker, producer, and visual artist whose work has focused on people who’ve had their human rights violated, parti...

For a lot of people, the idea of reaching superstardom and holding on to it is a focal life goal. But what happens when you reach that and realize that actually, there’s much more to life?

That’s where the story starts with Béatrice Martin (aka Cœur de pirate), a celebrated singer-songwriter from Montreal who’s had a career that feels uniquely reflective of her growth. That growth has come about from Béatrice asking the hard questi...

Being able to give someone their flowers isn’t new to me (especially on this podcast), but I do think the way it happens in this episode is particularly unique. You see, today’s guest, Kimbra, is an old friend who’s gone on to inspire me immensely. A large part of it is due to how, for Kimbra, there is no delineation between artist and human. She’s the kind of artist who lives and breathes her art, all while staying true to her ide...

This might just be the most timely episode we’ve ever released on this feed. The current state of the world continues to be this perpetual sh*t cycle of…well….sh*t, and with that, it’s easier than ever to fall into despair. But it’s usually in those moments where life feels its heaviest, that we’re reminded of what really matters, which is simply each other. This last episode of In The Long Run is about community, how we can cultiv...

You know the end of Ferris Bueller when he looks straight at you and says, “You’re still here?” That’s kind of how it feels writing this. Not that we don’t want you to stay (please stay), but this is Part 2, so ideally, you’ve listened to Part 1. If not, and you’re listening backwards… bold choice. We respect that kind of independence at The New Exchange. Carry on, dear listener.

This episode continues my conversation with Katie abo...

Katie shouting, “What the f%£k is creatine?” pretty much sums this episode up. This two-parter on aging feels like the heart of the series. In this first part, Katie reflects on how her views and feelings of life have shifted over time. We talk about the usual stuff (ya know, run clubs, consumerism, community, etc.) but as the conversation unfolds, it becomes something else entirely. Something I feel immense gratitude towards this ...

Happy International Women’s Day! To celebrate, we’ve made a special new episode of Creative Maintenance, with an interview featuring my co-host, Laura Harvey, interviewing Neesha Hothi. Neesha is a CEO in PR and marketing with her independent company, Neesh Communications. For over a decade, she’s worked vigorously hard to become a leading voice in Canada’s entertainment industry, with a speciality in cultural storytelling. Neesha ...

What if the trick to falling back in love with your craft was falling back in love with yourself? That’s not the question that Charlotte OC set out to ask herself, but it’s the answer she’s clearly been met with; the songs off her latest EP being the proof. That EP is called ‘Seriously Love, Go Home’ and though I’ve told you the end of the movie, the journey is what needs to be explored. 

Musically, Charlotte’s never sounded better;...

There’s a hauntingly familiar way in which loneliness can creep in when you’re surrounded by people. It can feel like such a small thing, but it will gnaw away at you until it’s the dominant thought in your mind. This is a feeling that Katie and I have chatted about in private many times throughout the years, and on this episode, we tackle it head-on. How do you make sense of that specific sense of isolation when surrounded by frie...

This is another episode that feels unintentionally timely. We all crave escapism, but to many of us, it increasingly feels like the escapism available to us can leave us feeling more detached than intended. Enter in Brooklyn R&B duo Bathe, a group that’s made it their mission to make music that acts as “a balm for the anxieties of modern life.” Take it from this music lover, the ways in which their album Inner Voice(s) has beco...

(Thank you, Heather!). Welcome to the first proper episode of In The Long Run with Katie Dadarria. If you missed the announcement episode, don’t worry, this first episode has been (partially) designed to catch you up to speed. Throughout these episodes, I’m going to be chatting with my dear friend, Katie Dadarria, about a developing personal project she’s working on, which features her interviewing older women about their experienc...

I couldn’t be more excited to announce our next mini-series, In The Long Run with Katie Dadarria. Katie is an exceptionally talented photographer and runner based in New York City. Though running has become a focal element of her life, she’s grown hyper-aware of how often the projection of community amongst run clubs can be anything but. Especially regarding older women, who (as Katie puts it) “are often not encouraged to show up, ...

I don’t think it’d be a stretch to say that ambition can usually be associated with a lot of tropes. The tortured artist laboring over their craft & resigning themselves to perpetually chasing greatness at the expense of everything (no, this isn’t a review of Marty Supreme, but I did love that movie). But what happens when an artist is able to take ambition and view it through a different lens? Even a healthier lens?

That’s been...