While he’s no longer putting out records, Jim Hanke—ex El Oso, Twinstar—hasn’t stopped talking about them. Back in January, Hanke launched Vinyl Emergency, a weekly podcast wherein he and another audiophile discuss their love and experiences with the records they love. Early episodes feature guests like Muzzle Of Bees founder Ryan Matteson and Evan Weiss of Into It. Over It. Now a Chicago resident, Hanke’s early guests tend to skew heavy with Illinois affiliation. The podcast’s most recent episode with Josh Modell is no different, save for The Onion Inc.‘s Editorial Director’s deep connection to Milwaukee music.
Before the intensely interesting 90-plus-minute conversation moves to the subject of wax, they reminisce about Atomic Records (and lesser known Earwaves and Mainstream Records), The Unicorn, and Milk Magazine. Modell—a Shorewood native—also looks back on seeing Death Cab For Cutie open for Camden at Cactus Club, being one of 15 people to see Jason Molina at an Atomic in-store show, a voicemail he received inspiring the name of The Promise Ring’s Very Emergency (and playing the milk man in the band’s “Emergency! Emergency!” video), and co-running a small vinyl label with TPR’s Dan Didier. Milwaukee Record‘s own Matt Wild even gets a mention. It’s definitely worth a listen.