263. BILLIONS creator Brian Koppelman on the music of the show, from Dylan to Sinatra to Isbell and beyond

Reposting a classic episode while we take a few weeks off to take a breath and record. Former Deputy Prime Minister, long-serving parliamentarian and occasional DJ Anthony Albanese MP joins me on the show to talk about his favorite album by one of his favorite artists - "The Good Son" (1990) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. We talk about the origins of his Nick Cave fandom, seeing him live with the Birthday Party and later with the Bad Seeds, how this album represents a period of Cave in transition, why 'The Ship Song' ended up on his playlist when he guest hosted Rage and which Nick Cave song got people moving in his recent DJ set. Also, we talk about why his electorate has Australia's best concert venue (the Enmore), the advantages of going to gigs in Canberra, why bad governments breed good music, protest songs and the Reclink Community Cup.

29 Marras 202246min

Today we celebrate out milestone 400th episode with a special tribute to one of the all time great TV dramas, which recently concluded it's brilliant run. Better Call Saul is the rare spinoff that not only lived up to its parent show, it actually surpassed it. Today I'm joined by writer/director/executive producer Thomas Schnauz, actors Patrick Fabian (Howard Hamlin) and Peter Diseth (Bill Oakley), casting director Sharon Bialy and journalist and cultural critic Carrie Wittmer, plus I revisit my 2020 conversation with Jimmy McGill himself, Bob Odenkirk. Thanks for everyone who joined us today, producer Georgia Mooney for helping pull this together and to everyone who has joined me for the past eight years and 400 episodes, either as guest or listener. We're just getting started!

4 Marras 20222h 45min

Author Bradley Morgan joins me to dive into his fascinating book 'U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America'. We unpack the political underpinnings of the album, how the album has been recontextualised by the political environment of today, resisting nostalgia, how the members of U2 embraced the myth of America and then dissected it, the anti-cynicism of U2's music, how U2 appeals across political divides while foregrounding politics in their own music, their surprising late awakening to American roots music, the story behind One Tree Hill and Bradley's pilgrimage to the site of the album cover photo.

21 Loka 202235min

Today Better Call Saul writer, director and executive producer Tom Schnauz joins our rare three timer club as he returns to the show to talk about the legendary Monkees. We talk about the false perception of the Monkees as a 'fake band', the Monkees TV show and how it introduced Tom to their music, Tom's friendship with Micky Dolenz, the original audition notice that led to the band's formation, how and why Tom used two deeper cut Monkees tracks for montages in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul and some Monkees trivia direct from Micky himself.

6 Loka 202251min

After eight years and almost four hundred episodes, we finally talk about Rush! Better Call Saul Star Patrick Fabian joins me to preach the Canadian gospel as we chat Geddy, Neil and Alex's classic 1980 album 'Permanent Waves'. We talk about Patrick discovering Rush as a high schooler in Pennsylvania, taking the 'magic bus' to see the band at his first ever arena show, 'growing old' with the band as he's gone to see them over four decades, the skewed gender balance of Rush fandom, how Patrick ended up with a pair of Neil Peart's drumsticks and that time he met Def Leppard.

23 Syys 202255min

Today singer-songwriter and actor Lola Kirke joins for a rollercoaster of a conversation about Joni Mitchell's classic Hejira album and a lot more besides. We talk about how Lola was turned on to Joni by her then boyfriend, only for listening to the music to inspire her to leave him, Joni's cross-country road trips and how they inspired the songwriting, whether people can write music like this in the 'content' era, how Lola forced her way into a Last Waltz tribute where she performed 'Coyote', Joni's social media presence, celebrity autographs and how this record inspired Lola's latest single 'All I Had To Do'.

15 Syys 202247min

Empire Film Magazine and Fade to Black's Amon Warmann joins me to try and answer one of the great nerd questions of all time: Is a 75 minute animated film from 1993 actually the best Batman film ever made? Warning: This is a spoiler-filled conversation after the first ten minutes. Amon and I go for broke digging into a film we both love dearly covering topics including: - Best Batman film vs best film starring Batman - The love story that drives the film - How the film and its parent show Batman: The Animated Series took key inspiration from classic Hollywood films of the 30s, 40s and 50s. - Why this 'kids' film is one of the most emotionally mature superhero films ever made. - How the film finds a unique way to tell Batman's origin story - Kevin Conroy's definitive and multi-pronged take on Batman - The strategic use of the Joker and how it parallels The Silence of the Lambs and Sexy Beast. - How to go dark without slipping into pretension or self-parody. - Vengance vs Justice. - Shirley Walker's incredible classic score. Plus we game out an alternate history of the 90s where Warner Brothers looked to this film for inspiration after parting ways with Tim Burton instead of making Batman Forever, and speculate on appropriate candidates to take over from Michael Keaton. Plus we have a spirited argument about whether a film should ever be three hours long.

25 Elo 20221h 6min

Today Sam Tsang aka Congee joins me down the line from London, as we look back on one of the iconic records of the last decade - Frank Ocean's 'Blonde'. We talk about how Frank Ocean builds a new world with each album, and makes the release an event. We talk about the detail of the production, the care put into every choice, stories from the making of the record and speculate on the practical concerns of making a record where every song went through so many iterations. We talk about the guest cameos from everyone from Beyoncé to Radiohead's Johnny Greenwood, the rock influence on the record and what we think Ocean has up his sleeve for the next album.

11 Elo 202222min