Episodes

Chino Moreno is the lead singer of Deftones, the Sacramento band experiencing a resurgence as a new generation discovers their ’90s hits on social media. This year, Deftones have been selling out arenas while putting the finishing touches on their latest album, Private Music. During the recording sessions, guitarist Stephen [Stef-in] Carpenter’s health took a turn when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Chino stepped in to handle more of the guitar parts, approaching the album with newfound...

Miguel, the Grammy-winning alt-R&B pioneer is back with a new album, Caos—his first full-length in eight years. It’s the latest step in a career that’s always pushed the boundaries of R&B, from his 2010 debut through albums that blended in psychedelia, dance music, and now touches of ’80s industrial and even ranchera rhythms. On today’s episode, Miguel talks with Leah Rose about his unreleased 2023 album Viscera and how suspending himself from piercings in his back during its rollout helped him...

30 years ago, Sublime released the album that defined Southern California’s music scene for a generation. Now the band is preparing to put out their fourth full-length, and for the first time, Bradley Nowell’s son, Jakob Nowell, is stepping up as lead singer. Bradley, Sublime’s original frontman, died of a heroin overdose in 1996, just a couple of months before the band's breakthrough album came out. Jakob was still an infant then, but he grew up surrounded by the lasting influence of a band th...

Word first broke about the band The Favors back in February, when cryptic posts revealed that Billie Eilish’s producer and brother, Finneas, was making new music with singer Ashe. Soon after, both artists began performing these songs live, introducing The Favors to audiences even before an official release. Now, the band is set to drop their debut album, The Dream. They call it “a real chemistry album,” the product of free-flowing writing and jam sessions with their close friends David Marinell...

What was meant to be an hour-long interview with Gene Simmons turned into one of the stranger conversations we’ve had on Broken Record. As co-founder, bassist, and co-frontman of KISS alongside Paul Stanley, Simmons created one of the most outrageous personas in rock history: The Demon. On stage, he breathed fire, spit blood, and wagged his famously long tongue. Off stage, he and KISS became merchandising pioneers, selling everything from comic books and lunchboxes to KISS-branded coffins. Now...

In 2022, at 75 years-old, Loudon Wainwright III released Lifetime Achievement—an aptly titled album from a songwriter whose debut came more than fifty years earlier. Over the decades, Loudon has built a reputation for his confessional style, writing candidly about the struggles and absurdities of family life, failed relationships, and the scars of parental abandonment. While his subject matter can be heavy, he often balances it with wit and humor. You’ll hear that today when he performs “Fam Va...

Great musical chemistry often starts at home. Think of family bands like Sly and the Family Stone, The Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, Haim, Oasis, AC/DC, and The Jacksons. Infinity Song, our guests today, carry on that tradition. Siblings Momo, Abraham, Angel, and Israel Boyd grew up between Detroit and New York City, sharpening their sound wherever they could: in church, in the park, on subway platforms, even around the kitchen table. Their devotion to performing eventually carried them to bigger s...

Margo Price’s new album, Hard Headed Woman, was recorded in the heart of Nashville at the legendary RCA Studio A—the very place where the “Nashville Sound” was born, and where greats like Merle Haggard, Dolly Parton, and Charley Pride have all recorded. It’s the perfect setting for Margo, who’s as much a student of country’s rich history as she is a fan of its fearless rule breakers. She’s never taken the straight path herself, a journey she tells in her 2022 memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It. On tod...

Soaring, lush and steeped in soul, Annahstasia has a voice that feels distant and intimate all at once. She was scouted in high school for a career in pop music but after some strange dealings set out down the road of self discovery. You can hear what she uncovered about herself and her artistry on her serene new album, Tether. The album was recorded live in studio and is stripped to the bone allowing her voice and poetry to shine through unencumbered by any hint of pop production. Justin Rich...

Chrystia Cabral is the experimental, often mystically-inclined Oakland artist who records as Spellling. Since her 2019 debut, she’s built a reputation for richly imaginative music that defies easy categorization. Her third album, The Turning Wheel, earned a rare perfect 10 from notoriously discerning online critic Anthony Fantano, who called it “stunning and beautiful.” Today, Spellling joins Justin Richmond to talk about the making of her latest release, Portrait of My Heart—a bold evolution t...

Daron Malakian first made his name as the enigmatic guitarist and songwriter behind System of a Down. Between 1998 and 2005, the band released five albums—three of which debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. In 2006, System announced an indefinite hiatus. Eager to keep creating, Daron launched a new project: Scars on Broadway. Their debut album arrived in 2008 to critical acclaim. Since then, he’s reunited with System for a series of live performances—including a recent South American...

Here’s a preview from a new podcast, Charlie’s Place. How did a Black man in 1940s Jim Crow South open a club where Black and white people danced together? Charlie’s Place was revolutionary, and that meant it was dangerous. Host Rhym Guissé explores the unbelievable true story of Charlie Fitzgerald, a mysterious Black businessman whose nightclub became an unlikely site of integration in 1940s Myrtle Beach. Charlie broke down racial barriers through the power of music and dance, hosting some of t...

Today, we’re joined by one of the most inventive and electrifying vocalists in modern soul music: Bilal. Since the release of his debut album 1st Born Second in 2001, Bilal has defied categorization by design and by circumstance. With a voice that shifts effortlessly from a whisper to a wail, and from jazz to gospel to outer space, he’s carved a singular path through the world of music. Whether lending hooks to Kendrick Lamar or collaborating with Erykah Badu, Bilal has long been your favorite ...

Mike Shinoda took a bold step last fall when he reintroduced Linkin Park with a new lineup featuring drummer Colin Brittain and singer Emily Armstrong as lead vocalist—taking on the role once held by Chester Bennington, who died by suicide in 2017. Mike, who co-founded Linkin Park in 1996, has long served as the group’s de facto producer, as well as its MC and keyboardist. The band rose to massive success in the 2000s, with a run of genre-blending albums that have collectively sold more than 10...

Jesse Malin quite literally came of age onstage in the gritty clubs of New York City. At just 12 years old, he fronted Heart Attack—one of the earliest hardcore punk bands. After the band broke up in ‘84, Jesse went on to play in other groups, including Hope, and later co-founded D Generation, a glam-punk band that toured extensively through the '90s, opening for acts like Kiss, the Ramones, and Social Distortion. In the early 2000s, Jesse launched a solo career, trading hardcore for a more sin...

The youngest Haim sister, Alana, started playing music with her older sisters, Danielle and Este, when she was just four years old. Back then, the three of them were part of their family band, Rockinhaim, playing charity gigs all over L.A. and the San Fernando Valley where they grew up. After high school, Danielle was jamming in Laurel Canyon when Jenny Lewis spotted her and invited her to join her touring band. Not long after, she hit the road again—this time playing guitar and drums for Julia...

Malcolm Gladwell sits down with the linguist John McWhorter, to discuss his new book, "Pronoun Trouble: The Story of Us in Seven Little Words." Among other things in their wide-ranging conversation, John makes an impassioned case for the return of “thou.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on Broken Record, we’re joined by the one and only Bootsy Collins. Bootsy burst onto the scene in the early ’70s as James Brown’s young, electrifying bass player. But it was with Parliament-Funkadelic that he truly found his voice—or rather, his voices—balancing raw, uncut funk with a psychedelic, intergalactic persona that would go on to inspire artists from Prince to Thundercat. In this conversation with Justin Richmond, Bootsy reflects on what it’s been like to navigate life as both W...

Today, Justin Richmond is joined by the Starchild himself—KISS co-founder and frontman, Paul Stanley. Born and raised in New York City, Paul fell in love with music at an early age, attending shows at iconic venues like the Fillmore East. Over the course of more than 50 years with KISS, he helped build one of the most devoted fan bases in rock history, turning theatrical spectacle into an art form. Now that KISS has officially retired from touring, Paul reflects on life beyond the stage. He ope...

Shirley Manson rose to '90s fame as the magnetic front woman of Garbage, but she was already a seasoned singer when guitarist Steve Marker spotted her in a music video for her previous band, Angelfish. She joined the Garbage in 1994. The band was made up of Steve Marker and producers Duke Erikson and Butch Vig—renowned for his work with Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. Nearly 30 years and over 17 million albums later, Garbage is preparing to release their eighth studio album, Let All That We Imag...

Today, we're revisiting a gem from our archives. In late 2020, Wilco's frontman and acclaimed songwriter Jeff Tweedy released his compact yet powerful book, "How to Write One Song" – a remarkable guide for unlocking anyone's creative potential through songwriting. This exploration of creativity immediately resonated with Broken Record host Malcolm Gladwell, leading to a fascinating conversation about the book and examining what has established Tweedy as one of the most distinctive songwriters of...

For close to three decades, Ben Kweller’s been crafting deeply personal indie rock that's both intimate and expansive. From his early days fronting the band Radish as a teenager in the '90s to his acclaimed solo career that began in the early 2000s, he's consistently delivered songs that feel raw, honest and almost conversational. But his latest album, Cover the Mirrors, finds Ben in a different place entirely. It's an unflinching examination of grief, healing, and the complicated process of mov...

Over the past few years, Kali Uchis has released three standout albums: Red Moon in Venus , Orquídeas , and now her latest, Sincerely . Each has made a powerful contribution to the evolving legacy of R&B and Latin music—but Sincerely marks a striking leap forward in her artistic journey. So it’s no surprise that in her conversation with Justin Richmond, Kali reveals she took a different approach this time—writing most of the album on her own before stepping into the studio. It also, hea...

Rico Nasty is a genre-defying force in contemporary hip-hop, known for her raw, unapologetic style and fearless experimentation. Rico started releasing mixtapes while still in high school in Maryland, with early tracks like “iCarly” and “Hey Arnold” catching fire online. After dropping five mixtapes independently, she signed with Atlantic Records in 2018 and introduced the world to her signature “sugar trap” sound—a blend of aggressive nu-metal energy and trap production—on breakout tracks like...