Kodi has years of experience developing talent and businesses in the music industry. He has played an instrumental role in US media campaigns for domestic and international acts. He also spearheaded the development of Marauder’s event production services, utilizing a background in marketing, curation, and performance to help connect US audiences and industry with artists and organizations from around the world. From beginnings in college radio through hands-on experience with the hurdles facing artists at all levels, he is driven by creative energy and a core belief that cultural exchange makes art and culture better.

Our recent chat with Kodi discusses his favourite campaigns and talks about the overlaps between visual creativity and music.

IM LOVING

Meat Wave - Chicago-based band making incredibly forward-thinking indie rock records with punk's propulsiveness and doing it largely on their own. Their last two releases are every bit as vital as anything IDLES or Fontaines DC has been doing.

Tula Vera - NYC/NJ-area band that's really young, ridiculously tight live, and made an amazing new EP last year. They're somehow able to walk a fine line between psych rock and a little heavier, while still being playful and sprawling in their arrangements.

Kathryn Joseph - Scottish singer-songwriter with a new album that's just gorgeous. Her music is almost exclusively her voice over piano, but everything she makes has this incredible weight to it where you feel like you're holding something deeply personal that could break in your hand at any moment. I find her work incredibly inspiring, even in its bleakest moments.

FAVOURITE VIDEO

Missy Elliott's "Work It," directed by Dave Meyers. Hands down. Are you kidding? It's a visual feast that makes the song vastly better on every level - and I think it says a lot about how brilliant Missy has been that you could make a real argument for at least two of her other videos being above this one. I used to sit and wait for this video to come on when I was home sick from school. Hip-hop videos set an enormously high bar to clear for all other genres.

BEST ARTWORK

Friend and Foe by Menomena. It was made by the graphic novelist Craig Thompson, and it was multiple pieces of art that were like die-cut pages over top of each other. You would open the CD booklet or the vinyl gatefold, and the cover would keep changing and showing you new things, some of it referencing the songs inside. He got a Grammy nomination for that packaging, and he should have won. It completely changed how I view album design and made me a lot more interested in illustrators than I already was.

RECENT CAMPAIGN

I oversee partnerships for Independent Venue Week's US edition, and we're moving into year-round programming for the first time this year with deeper engagements at Folk Alliance and at SXSW. It's been incredibly rewarding to help grow an event that champions the vastly important role small business owners play in live music. I've also been putting a lot of work into growing a footprint for my own music with Lost Decades, which has been eye-opening for understanding the sheer amount of heavy lifting you have to do as an independent musician.

COLLABORATION

When I see musicians doing clothing collaborations and fashion, I respect it and I think it can be meaningful, but I wouldn't say it usually catches my eye. When I see deeper efforts for harm reduction and overdose prevention like Pearl Jam  collaborating with Project RED, that gets me excited to a different degree. I'm inclined to have a different degree of trust when one or both sides of a partnership are thinking about how they can better the world around them.

HOTTEST RECENT VIDEO

Tove Lo's video for "No One Dies From Love" (directed by @alaskafilmes) has to be up there. It's a sci-fi love story with some distinctly Kubrick-grade high-symmetry shots. What's not to like?

LOGO LOVE

Metallica's logo. It's so simple, so direct, so clear in terms of what you'll get when you listen to them. They've been so good at having subtle changes to it over the years that mark different eras of what they're making, too.

GO FOLLOW

Lil Nas X, and it's not close. No artist in the entire game is better at promoting their work, having fun, keeping their fans in on the joke, and taking you along for the ride. I don't know Lil Nas X at all personally, but we all sort of feel like we *know* him. He's the best artist I've ever seen at social media.

ICONIC PHOTO

That photo of Jimi Hendrix burning his guitar at Monterey in 1967. You know exactly which one it is the second I say it. Ed Caraeff took that. That's the kind of photo that makes a career for the people on both ends of the camera.