Hey everybody, it was great to hear from so many of you last week on the newly launched Trapset Hotline,

and we'd love to hear from a bunch more of you this week. You can reach us at 833-T-R-A-P-S-E-T. This is Joe Wong.

Welcome to the Trap Set, where each week we explore the lives of drummers.

I want to play something for you.

Yeah. I want to play something for you. You're hearing Locus by PepEP Talk, featuring my guest Shana Dunkelman on percussion. Raised in Tokyo, Shana began studying music as a child and moved to the U.S. to attend Mills College,

where she was mentored by acclaimed percussionist William Wyant.

Her formal education serves as a vehicle for her explorations of music's bleeding edge.

Aside from leading pep talk, Shana's cerebral and emotive style is a key component of Shushu,

the group with which she's perhaps most closely associated.

She's also performed with artists such as John Zorn, Yoko Ono, Thurston Moore, Sina Parkins, and Chippo Mato. As a composer, Shana's collaborated with performance artist Jan Vaux and choreographer Amanda Pina.

I spoke to her before a recent Shushu performance at the Brode Museum in Los Angeles.

And now my conversation with Shana Dunkelman. I used to hang out in the backyard of my parents' house, the first one I lived in,

or the one that I have memory of, and feeding ants sugar cubes.

That was like my favorite thing to do.

What does that say about you?

What does it say about me?

That I like to stare at repetitive things.

So like what's an example of that today?

Today?

Staring at repetitive things today.

Well, let me think about this.

So I just want to point out, you weren't feeding the ants because you were trying to be generous to the ants.

...