For this episode of Stark Reality, we roll the red carpet out to Brooklyn (via the Bay Area) for Jessica Lipsky. She is an editor and reporter covering culture, politics and music, and her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Newsweek, Salon, Billboard, Wax Poetics, LA Weekly, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Chronicle etc etc etc. Currently she is the senior editor of the Recording Academy’s GRAMMY.com. Jessica is the author of the award-winning book It Ain’t Retro: Daptone Records & The 21st-Century Soul Revolution, which we will mostly focus on for the interview today. Talking about badass folks like Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, The Frightnrs, the Daptones, Anti-balas, Gabe Roth, Neal Sugarman, and the general evolution of 90s/00s revival funk and soul music, and slowdies (ballads). Reading her book was a real pleasure, she captured a lot of that scene and the personalities involved. As mentioned she’s written for a number of publications and has a Harvey Averne interview/overview coming out in the NY Times soon. Jessica also DJs under the name Terry Dactyl and has done radio at KUSF, KPOO, and a number of seedy establishments on both coasts.

And ofc Jessica gives us a very funky and soulful exclusive All 45’s Stark Reality playlist (to to Episode 56) of her current faves to accompany, featuring tracks by Prince Buster, Alton Ellis, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, Eddie Floyd, Yvonne Fair, Willie Hutch, Ramones, and much more. Enjoy!

For more information about Jessica go to www.jlipsky.com and follow her @interview_boogaloo on Instagram

Order Jessica’s book here!