Episodes

At 70 years-old, Kim Gordon—the former bassist and founding member of Sonic Youth—is just now making the most abrasive music of her career. She just dropped her second solo album, The Collective, with producer Justin Raisen, who’s previously worked with artists like Drake, Lil Yachty, and Charli XCX. Kim’s spoken-word-like vocals on The Collective are the perfect accompaniment to Justin’s distorted trap-style beats. On today’s episode Leah Rose talks to Kim Gordon about her latest solo album, a...

To kick off our month-long celebration of Women's History Month, today we're featuring an interview with Polly Jean Harvey, a.k.a. PJ Harvey, who is without question one of the most gifted songwriters of our time. Her debut album, Dry, came out in 1992 and was what the LA Times called a near “instant classic.” The same with her sophomore release, Rid of Me—which became an inspiration for Nirvana’s last album: In Utero. Ten albums later and Polly continues to be not only a remarkable songwriter...

For the last installment of our Thursday Black History Month drops, how could we not revisit our episode with the incomparable Sonny Rollins? Listening to Sonny is like history coming right off the page. He’s living, breathing black history and one of the greatest tenor players of all time. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last couple of years have been huge for Jason Isbell. The Alabama-born singer-songwriter’s latest album Weathervanes won the Grammy for Best Americana album this year. He also snagged a role in Martin Scorsese's film, Killers Of The Flower Moon, which is up for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars. There was also a critically acclaimed HBO documentary released last year about the making of Isbell’s previous album with the 400 Unit, Reunions, that put his personal life on full display. On tod...

We’re halfway through Black History month and although we didn’t intend to rerun some of our older conversations to celebrate the month, after realizing we needed to do something to mark Usher’s Super Bowl performance and the release of the new Bob Marley biopic “One Love,” we figured we might as well keep going and celebrate the whole month long…because now we have a country album from Beyonce on the way. Beyonce released two songs from her upcoming album the night of the Super Bowl—“16 Carria...

Since releasing their critically acclaimed debut album, Brutalism, in 2017, the British band IDLES have dropped four other albums in quick succession. The band’s bombastic sound brilliantly balances joy, chaos, and an often critical take on the powers that be. IDLES latest album, TANGK, was produced by the band's guitarist Mark Bowen, Kenny Beats, and Radiohead producer, Nigel Godrich. On today’s episode Justin Richmond talks to Joe Talbot and Mark Bowen from the greenroom of the Tonight Show w...

Last week we revisited our conversation with Usher to celebrate his Super Bowl performance and the incredible career resurgence he’s had over the last couple of years. In thinking about our catalog, I thought there was another conversation worth revisiting - Malcolm Gladwell speaking with Ziggy Marley about the cultural influence the tiny country of Jamaica and Ziggy’s dad, Bob Marley, have had over the last half a century. The Bob Marley biopic One Love was released in theaters yesterday. I ho...

In the minds of many rock fans, Duff McKagan will forever be known first and foremost as the bassist for Guns N' Roses. The band’s white-hot reign in the late '80s through the early '90s is the stuff of hedonistic, hard rock legend. And for anyone interested in reading a detailed account of that wild ride, check out Duff’s memoir, “It’s So Easy and Other Lies.” After turning 30, Duff got sober, eventually left GNR, and then went on to play stints in Alice In Chains and Jane’s Addiction—and he h...

Four decades into his career, Usher is at the peak of his powers. In the year since he was on Broken Record, Usher became the king of the Las Vegas strip. According to Billboard, he grossed over $100 million dollars during his beloved Vegas residency. To celebrate his much anticipated halftime performance at this year's Super Bowl, along with his upcoming arena tour, and the release of his new album “Coming Home,” here's Justin Richmond's conversation with the one and only, Usher. See omnystud...

Countless decisions, large and small, aided The Beatles’ ascent to the top of popular culture. The release of their debut single, “Love Me Do,” in the UK in the fall of 1962 was one of those decisions. Their debut on American television was another. In this first episode of season two, Paul McCartney and Paul Muldoon discuss the early evolution of The Beatles. Season Two of McCartney: A Life in Lyrics comes out weekly starting February 7th, and features the stories behind songs like Yesterday, ...

James Fauntleroy is one of the most prolific pop songwriters of the past 15-plus years. Some of his most prized placements include writing songs for Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars. He’s also contributed background vocals to songs by Travis Scott, Jay-Z and his longtime friend, the late Nipsey Hustle. Similar to his music industry idol and mentor Babyface, James Fauntleroy is also an artist in his own right. While his songs have lived on streaming platforms over the past deca...

The Baltimore-based synth-pop band Future Islands was first thrust into the national spotlight in 2014 after making their TV debut on The Late Show With David Letterman. The band’s unassuming frontman Samuel T. Herring danced ecstatically around the stage seething with emotion. The performance quickly went viral, making it one of Letterman’s most memorable live appearances of all time. At the time of their big break, Future Islands had already released three albums and been touring relentlessly...

Sleater-Kinney has long been a safe space for band members Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker. What started as a group born out of the feminist punk riot grrrl scene in Olympia, Washington in the early 90s, has grown into a life-affirming artistic endeavor. In late 2022, tragedy struck when Carrie’s mother and stepfather were killed in a car accident overseas. In the months after, Carrie found a respite from her immense grief by playing the guitar for hours on end, and writing new music. Sleate...

2023 has been a helluva year for singer/songwriter Noah Kahan. Just three years ago he started uploading snippets of his indie-folk songs to TikTok while waiting out the pandemic at his dad’s house in rural Vermont. Those songs quickly caught fire across social media and eventually turned into Noah’s most recent album, Stick Season. After releasing collaborations with Kacey Musgraves, Hozier, and Post Malone, Noah has amassed 4 billion streams globally. It’s no surprise that last month he was n...

Ludwig Göransson is one of the most accomplished and distinctive film composers of the 21st century. In 2020, after working on the movie Tenet together, acclaimed director Christopher Nolan hired Göransson to score what has become one of the biggest movies of 2023: Oppenheimer. Ludwig, who emigrated to Los Angeles from his native Sweden in 2007, has racked up dozens of writing, producing and scoring credits. He started out working in TV and he eventually started scoring films with his old colle...

Janelle Monáe has had a lot to smile about this year. After a run of successful albums over the last decade, in June she released her fourth album, The Age of Pleasure. The album was just nominated for two Grammys including Album of the Year. This project is important—it signaled a big tone shift for Janelle whose past albums have centered in part around a recurring character named Cyndi Mayweather, an android who represents society’s new “other.” Esthetically Janelle has always been buttoned u...

Corinne Bailey Rae is an English singer/songwriter whose career started with a bang. In 2006 her debut album topped UK charts and was certified triple platinum with the help of her first hit single, “Put Your Records On.” A slew of awards and other “best new artist” distinctions followed. As she released subsequent albums, Corinne aspired to stretch herself as an artist beyond neo-soul pop-music success. In September, Corinne Bailey Rae released her excellent, genre-hopping fourth album, Black ...

David Paich is a prolific musician and songwriter who’s perhaps most well known for writing and co-producing Toto's classic song, “Africa.” Before David co-founded Toto with drummer Jeff Porcaro in 1977, he was an innovative keyboardist and session player. David honed his chops early growing up in L.A. where he worked under the tutelage of his father Marty Paich—an esteemed composer who worked with artists like Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles and Mel Tormé. While in college at USC David started pl...

As a founding member of the iconic all-girl band The Bangles, Susanna Hoffs is perhaps most associated with 80s hits like “Manic Monday,” “Eternal Flame,” and “Walk Like An Egyptian.” After releasing three platinum-selling albums, in 1989 The Bangles broke up. Two years later, Susanna started to release solo material before reuniting with The Bangles at the end of the 90s. Over the years Susanna has continued to release music and act in movies. She even appeared in all three Austin Powers films...

Marty Stuart has dedicated his life to playing and preserving old country music. During his 40-plus years as a solo artist, Marty has released more than 20 albums and racked up numerous honors, including five Grammys, and an induction into the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Marty started his career at the age of 12 playing mandolin in a gospel band. By 21, he’d joined Johnny Cash’s touring band, and eventually became a solo artist who combined classic rockabilly sounds with bluegrass and cosmic co...

Lol Tolhurst, drummer and co-founder of The Cure, first met lead singer Robert Smith when they were just five years-old. Together with their other Catholic school friend Michael Dempsey, they would go on to make dark, brooding music that reflected the isolation they felt as the only punks living in their small English town. As The Cure’s sound developed in the 1980s, they released a string of three albums that Lol now defines as the band’s “goth period.” Today we’ll hear Lol talk in detail about...

The lead singer and keyboardist for Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh, is an avant-garde, new wave pioneer. Although critics sometimes classify Devo as a joke band, the Akron, Ohio art-punks’ ethos was created in response to a very serious event—the 1970 shooting at their college, Kent State. Following the incident, the band took on the name “Devo,” short for what they felt was organized society’s “de-evolution.” Throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s Devo helped lay the groundwork for DIY, anti-establishment band...

Laufey’s fast rise to fame is a pandemic success story. During lockdown, the 24-year-old multi-instrumentalist built a substantial following on social media where she was known as “jazz girl.” Since then the Icelandic-Chinese singer/songwriter has released two studio albums that blend classical, pop and jazz. The first single from her most recent release, Bewitched, has been streamed over 20 million times globally since its release a couple months back. Raised in Iceland, Laufey started playing...

Hermanos Gutiérrez may be an instrumental guitar band, but they have zero interest in shredding. Instead the Swiss-Ecuadorian brothers, Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez, take a minimalist approach to playing. They create hypnotic, sweeping compositions inspired by classical Latin guitar and film scores from old Spaghetti Westerns. In 2022, after releasing three albums independently, Hermanos Gutiérrez signed to Easy Eye Sound, a label owned and operated by Dan Auerbach, guitarist and vocalist of...