KCRW Press Play

11/15/2022

“The album is not about abuse. It’s about the journey out of abuse, the transformative power of art and love and community,” singer-songwriter told Press Play.

Russell's solo debut album "Outside Child" made her a breakout star in the Americana genre last year. She is performing at tomorrow, November 15th.

Photo Credit: Marc Baptiste

09/12/2022

After founding the iconic band , bassist Oliver Sim has released his debut solo album. The lyrics tackle HIV stigma, shame and learning to celebrate.

“Songwriting is only a conversation with myself. There's no back and forth there. I don't have to be in the room when somebody listens to this,” Sim told KCRW.

Sim’s new album “Hideous Bastard” is out now.

Photo Credit: Laura Coulson.

07/15/2022

Australian singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett () hit indie-rock stardom nearly 10 years ago when her music impressed fans with personal lyrics about love, anxiety, depression and panic attacks. Now Barnett is the subject of a new documentary called “Anonymous Club,” which explores the difficulties of being in the spotlight while managing mental health.

“A lot of the film is hard for me to watch actually, because I can hear how sad I sound,” Barnett told KCRW. “But it’s also nice to reflect on those moments.”

“Anonymous Club” premieres in Los Angeles on July 15 at Brain Dead Studios ()

Photo credit: Mia Mala McDonald.

04/29/2022

“I’ll find the money. There won't be any new taxes. I am not in favor of new taxes. And we can hire the police, which we desperately need. We are underserved with the amount of cops we currently have in LAPD. Crime is rising, and we have 500 less police officers on the street. And that's why crime will continue to rise,” says LA mayoral candidate and billionaire businessman of his plan to hire 1,500 new LAPD officers.

Caruso is best known for developing projects like The Grove and The Americana. He also served as president of the LA Police Commission in the early 2000s and as chair of the USC Board of Trustees from 2018 until earlier this year, when he stepped down to run for mayor. The latest polls show Caruso leading the race to be the next mayor, though very narrowly and within the margin of error.

Caruso has spent at least $10 million dollars of his own money on his campaign — an unprecedented amount this early in the race. He’s used that money to blanket TV, mailboxes and social media with campaign ads. But he refutes the idea that he’s buying his way into the race.

“I don't believe people can buy elections. I believe people need to get their message out there, and then the voters will make a good choice,” Caruso says.

spoke with Caruso earlier this week about his plans to end street encampments, build 30,000 shelter beds in his first year, and why he chose not to release his tax returns.

📸 courtesy of the Caruso for Mayor campaign.

04/28/2022

“I think there's more support for defunding the police than you think because we're not just talking about defunding the police. We're talking about refunding a community. And I think whether we know it, we feel it. We are not well as a society. We are not taking care of one another. And it is time to have different priorities,” says LA mayoral candidate .

Viola, a community organizer, says as mayor, her ultimate goal would be to abolish the police, but that that would happen gradually over time.

“I think the first step to it is not hiring any new police officers,” Viola says. “That's the first step we need to take.”

Viola is also running on a platform of increasing the minimum wage to $39. ’s Madeleine Brand spoke with Viola earlier this week about her campaign.

📸 by KCRW

04/20/2022

“It is not solving [homelessness] to criminalize people, even if you are so fed up that you have no more empathy. If you lead to a strategy like that, you might lock somebody up in city jail. They might be there for three days, and they'll be right back on the street,” LA mayoral candidate Karen Bass says.

California Congresswoman Karen Bass talks about her plan to house 15,000 homeless Angelenos, and why LA needs a nonviolent approach to alleviate crime.

04/15/2022

When New York Times food writer set out to write his first cookbook about Korean American cooking, he decided he needed to study at the foot of the master: his own mother, Jean. 

“Learning from home cooks is one way to really nuance your cooking and to really find not just joy, but also incredible secrets. Like my mom, the way she cooks certain things, no one else does it like her. And it's because she didn't learn it from a book,” Kim tells . “She just learned it from real life. … That's the kind of cooking that I'm really interested in writing about. It's in the ordinary that you find real nuance.” 

So Eric left New York City and moved back into his childhood home in suburban Atlanta for almost an entire year. He spent his days learning the recipes his mother cooked for him as a kid developing new ones with her – and even cementing his own voice as a Korean American in and out of the kitchen. 

Those recipes – and the family stories that inspired them – make up Eric’s new cookbook, “Korean American: Food That Tastes Like Home.” 

📸s 1 and 3 courtesy of Penguin Random House. 📸 2 by Jenny Huang.

04/13/2022

“What I appreciated most was to give a voice to this woman who is somebody's mother, somebody's auntie, somebody's grandmother, who we pass on the streets … who goes unnoticed and unheard, and not appreciated in any way, any form,” stopped by to about her film

Photo Courtesy of

04/04/2022

Press Play continues our series of conversations with the leading candidates hoping to become the next mayor of Los Angeles.

City Attorney Mike Feuer () is promising to make shelter beds available for every person experiencing homelessness by the end of his first term as mayor, and to centralize the city’s response to homelessness.

“It's imperative that we have a single person who is responsible for the issue of homelessness, with transparent goals and timeframes to accomplish those goals,” Feuer says. “It's the right thing to do. And it's the most efficient thing to do. And it'll make Los Angeles much more effective when it comes to grappling with the issue of homelessness.”

Feuer also discussed his plans to reduce crime and his love of Steve Wonder.

📸: Marcelle Hutchins/

03/24/2022

"My plan is: Those who are living on the streets, give them two options, whether it's a BRIDGE Home or Project RoomKey. And if they refuse, there ought to be consequences because when a bed is available, the sidewalk should not be an option," Joe Buscaino tells Madeleine. "As a last resort, I've always felt that a citation or arrest has to be on the table."

Today we kicked off the first in our series of interviews with LA's leading mayoral candidates.

In the first of five interviews with LA mayoral candidates, LA City Councilmember Joe Buscaino talks about his plan to provide immediate shelters to unhoused Angelenos, and defends his use of donor cash to travel abroad with his family.

03/22/2022

Do you have questions to ask LA's next mayor? Madeleine is interviewing the top five candidates, but we need your help to make that happen.

What do you want to ask the candidates running for LA mayor? Homelessness, crime, transit and beyond — send us your burning questions.

03/17/2022

"Empowerment is not a destination, it's something that you need to negotiate on an everyday basis,” says filmmaker Rintu Thomas.

In rural northern India, group of women has done something extraordinary. For 20 years, they’ve run a newspaper in a part of the country where electricity and indoor plumbing are still scarce, and India’s caste system still reigns.

Most of these women journalists come from the Dalit caste — the “untouchables” or lowest designation. And yet this publication is a force to be reckoned with.

Since they moved online, they’ve amassed half a million YouTube subscribers and hundreds of millions of views for their stories. They report on sexual assaults, mining disasters, vigilantism, the rise of Hindu nationalism.

Their story is told in Writing With Fire, which is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

For 20 years in rural northern India, an all-women group has run an increasingly popular news outlet called Khabar Lahariya. Most of them come from the Dalit caste, which is the lowest. Their story is told in the Oscar-nominated film, “Writing with Fire.”