“You can taste the dishonesty It’s all over your breath…” These are the initiatory lyrics with which Beyonce begins her 2016 album, “Lemonade.” An album that takes the listener on a mixed genre journey of betrayal and self-reflection, exploring the intimacy of relationship through the lenses of racial context and generational trauma. This album too…

“I remember now…” It is this thought that opens and catapults us into the mind and memories of Nikki, a young man contending with drug addiction and his dissatisfaction with the unscrupulous social and political climate of his time. In his anger and frustration, Nikki is lured into becoming an assassin for an underground revolution, and eventually …

Season 2 has been an eclectic mixture of concept albums! In keeping with the form of season 1, episode 8 is again a time for contemplation. And so in this episode, Rob and Joël reflect on the inspiration and insights that have come from their most diverse season yet: Kate Bush, Sinatra, Iron Maiden, Deltron 3030, Miles Davis, King's X and Tyler the…

What does one do with unrequited love? Get angry, get even, or get depressed? How about learn from Tyler, the Creator and create! In this episode, Rob and Joël discuss Tyler, the Creator's 2019 concept album "IGOR." The conversation explores Tyler's rich palette and manipulation of vocals, samples, synths and beats - a combination which expresses T…

The late 80's were a uniquely rich period for hard rock in the United States. There were strong existing scenes on both coasts and many regional hotspots where the bands were incubating and developing in small groups and pockets. But no one could have predicted the emergence of King’s X as they burst out alone in the middle of the country with a si…

Released in 1970, Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" would become a unique album in the jazz canon, not only for its improvisational explorations, but also for the timbral and textural doors it opened in instrumentation and in the use of studio as instrument. In their conversation, Rob and Joël discuss how the album came into their awareness and the influ…

"It's the year 3030..." A dystopian future where galactic corporate entities sustain a strangle hold on the universe, and "Deltron-Zero" emerges to save humanity and music from this 31st century New World Order by winning The Galactic Rhyme Federation Championship. This album delivers not only in its fantastic iterations of Afrofuturism, but also i…

"Seven deadly sins, Seven ways to win, Seven holy paths to hell, And your trip begins..." are the first lyrical moments of Iron Maiden's "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son," and how potent these words were in setting the tone for Rob and Joël's conversational trip with this impressive and exuberant album. As always, many avenues were explored, such as t…

"Is Iron Maiden's Powerslave a concept album?" It is this question that Rob and Joël discuss in their first Vignette. Recorded during the same sessions that captured our S2Ep.3 and Aftercast discussions about Iron Maiden's "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son", we chose to explore this question about "Powerslave" as our first published audio Vignette. Vig…

In this episode, Rob and Joël discuss "The Voice," Frank Sinatra, and his 1955 album, "In the Wee Small Hours." Arguably the first concept album, this was the first of its kind with its innovative format and its introspective tone on love and heartache. Through their respective experiences, Rob and Joël look at not only Sinatra's performance and vi…

Sonic Ventures' season two premiere episode is a rich dive into Kate Bush's 1985 album "Hounds of Love." Conceived as two suites, Rob and Joël explore the album's expository and cinematic structure, along with Kate Bush's extensive vocal palette and her lush, mesmerizing song craft. "Hounds of Love" is ripe with symbolism, and takes the listener th…

Rob and Joël go further into their listening experiences of Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love," and come out with what they call an "Aftercast." An Aftercast is a recorded continuation after the conclusion of a regular podcast conversation. In these conversations, Rob and Joël are freed from the structural necessities of building the conversation and int…

Rob and Joël reflect on the completion of the first season of Sonic Ventures, discussing their respective processes, some of the most memorable moments and their future plans for the podcast.By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

Rush's "2112" has been heralded by many as one of their most compelling and significant albums. Rob and Joël take a close look at the title track, discussing the implications of its concepts and the band's powerful performance.By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

Rob and Joël discuss The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," a profoundly influential album for the pop/rock genre.By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

In this fifth episode, Rob and Joël discuss John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," exploring the music and symbolism of this highly influential album for jazz and beyond.By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

Listen to Rob and Joël delve into what many consider to be rock's first concept album, The Mothers of Invention's "Freak Out!"By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

In this episode, Robert and Joël discuss the term Rock Opera with its stylistic and historical implications for the concept album format.By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

In this episode, Robert and Joël discuss Pink Floyd's "The Dark Side of the Moon."By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

In this episode, Robert and Joël begin their conversational journey as they discuss what is a concept album and their motivations for creating this podcast.By Robert Goble and Joël Tibbits

How can technology solve world problems? In this episode, Riana speaks with Radhika Shah of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs about how her background lead her to the exciting world of tech innovation. Hear about interesting tech ventures being put into use to combat social, environmental, and health issues around the world!--- Support this podcast: …

In this episode Riana Shah sits down with CEO and co-founder of BrightCrowd, T.J. Duane, to talk about his work and the importance of networking platforms. T.J. is an expert networker and has brought that ability to people through this site BrightCrowd. In this episode we talk about the ways in which people can build an effective network to bring t…

In this episode, Riana speaks with Tracy Chadwell and Alison Andrews Reyes, co-founders at 1843 Capital. Tracy is an attorney with 19 years of experience in venture capital and private equity and she previously worked as partner at Baker Capital, with $1 billion under management. Alison is a start-up founder and executive with over 20 years of expe…

In this episode, we got to speak with Russell Rogers, Head of the Silicon Valley Innovation Center at DowDuPont. At DowDupont he has experience building an innovation center and R&D tools that enable rapid innovation with a customer-centric approach. In this episode, he discusses the current state of corporate innovation, compares startups to big o…

In this episode of Venture Vignettes, we got to chat with Jay Boddu, VP of New Products at Juniper Networks, where he is responsible for shaping ideas into profitable businesses. He is currently leading the development of a class of new products that leverage Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to reimagine Networking Products.Concurrently…

In this episode of Venture Vignettes, Riana Shah sits down with Paula Mariwala, Founder & Executive director of one of India’s first Venture Capital Funds. Paula walks us through her experiences at SeedFund, providing vivid examples of Indian entrepreneurship and insight into the ins and outs of the emergent entrepreneurial ecosystem. She provides …

In this episode, Doug Galen, founder of Rippleworks, a foundation affiliated with Ripple, the cryptocurrency, describes the impact of blockchain on the world. He is also a lecturer at the Stanford GSB and serves on the boards of Heifer International. Some questions we talk about in this episode:1. Is Blockchain reality or hype?2. What are the areas…

This week, I'm sitting down with Mar Hershenson, one of the Founding Managing partners at Pear Ventures, a VC firm that supports new entrepreneurs with fresh ideas and funding. After studying electrical engineering at Stanford, Mar co-founded three tech and hardware startups, eventually transitioning to the funding side of VC to found Pear with oth…

In today’s episode Riana Shah chats with Rashad Moore, an investor who is changing the way capital gets allocated to entrepreneurs.. Rashad was a software engineer by trade, but found his way into the entrepreneurial world after moving to Washington D.C. He began his career by coding for companies in the defense industry and eventually started his …

Ever wonder how to make change from your current career to a totally different one? This week on Venture Vignettes, host Riana Shah speaks with Justin Davis on how to transition into investment from a radically different industry. Justin Davis was formerly a professional basketball player who played in Europe and for the NBA. Now, he’s a portfolio …

In this podcast, Riana, Erin, and McKeever discuss the components that are important to building a diverse ecosystem of entrepreneurs and the role of governmental offices of economic development and innovation. Erin Horne McKinney is the co-founder of Black Female Founders (#BFF) and KissIntel mobile app. She was previously a Senior Advisor on Inno…

This week, Venture Vignettes host Riana Shah sat down with Stephanie Lampkin, CEO of Blendoor. Stephanie graduated from Stanford with a BS in Management Science and Engineering in 2006 and later received her MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Hear how her experiences working in Silicon Valley tech companie…

Venture Vignette’s guest this week is Sampriti Ganguli, Arabella Advisors’ chief executive officer. Sampriti leads Arabella Advisors, a mission-driven, Certified B Corporation that has provided strategic guidance on over $100 billion in assets to increase their clients’ philanthropic impact. Arabella helps foundations, philanthropists, and investor…

Host Riana Shah sat down with Alan Chiu, a partner at XSeed Capital to talk about product design and engineering. Alan has a computer engineering background and holds a MS in Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Sloan Fellow focused on entrepreneurship, venture capital, and mergers and acquisitions. He has previo…

This week Venture Vignettes host Riana Shah got to have a heart-to-heart with Miriam Rivera, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Ulu Ventures, an early stage venture fund in Silicon Valley. Miriam has worked at all stages of new ventures, from formation to Fortune 500 public company, Google Inc. At Google, Miriam became vice president and saw Google…

This week, Venture Vignettes host Riana Shah sat down with the co-founder and CEO of Folia Water, Dr. Jonathan Levine. Levine received his Ph.D from Columbia University in Earth and Environmental Engineering and worked on African water supply for the U.N. Millennium Villages Project for his masters. Folia Water is a wholesale technology manufacture…

This week Venture Vignettes host Riana Shah spoke with Bimla Picot, designer extraordinaire and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the fashion label Rebecca Minkoff. Bimla is the the the founder and CEO of ReboundWear, a clothing company that focuses on created dressing solutions when regular clothing is too constrictive or difficult to wear. Through her…

We had the opportunity to sit down with Siqi Mou this week who is the founder of the startup beauty company Hello AVA, a bot that provides personalized skincare recommendations. She received a MBA/MPA-ID joint degree from Harvard Kennedy School and Stanford Graduate School of Business and previously worked in the finance industry. Siqi and her team…

In this episode we speak with Christos Shepherd, co-founder of Campfire, an app that allows individuals to talk with their favorite celebrities and experts this week. He’s a graduate of Stanford Graduate School of Business, previously started his own airline, and originally hails from Jamaica. Listen in for some super candid conversations about div…

Morgan Simon has been a leader in impact investment for the past seventeen years and has managed over $150 billion in capital. She is the author of the book, Real Impact: The Economics of Social Change and spent some time to talk with us about impact investment. Venture Vignette host Riana Shah sat down with her at her offices in Oakland, CA and he…