
310. Kate Miller-Heidke on Joni Mitchell 'Hejira' (1976)
2 Jul 202023min

309. Mitchell Froom on Ray Charles 'The Genius of Ray Charles' (1959)
Legendary record producer Mitchell Froom (Crowded House, Sheryl Crow, Randy Newman) joins me to unpack ‘The Genius of Ray Charles’, the audaciously titled classic album where Charles took his first ambitious step outside of R&B into full on jazz. We unpack Charles’s brilliant piano solos, Quincy Jones’s arrangements, the combining of Ray’s band with musicians from Count Basie and Duke Ellington’s orchestras, how to breathe new life into songs that have been recorded many times and how Mitchell bonded with Randy Newman over their shared love of this record. Plus, Mitchell talks about writing and producing ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ with Sheryl Crow, why he won’t write his memoirs, what it’s like to hear songs he’s produced while out in the world and gives insight and updates on the new upcoming Crowded House record he and the rest of the band have been working on during isolation.
25 Jun 202047min

308. Alex Lahey on Paramore 'Riot!' (2007)
18 Jun 202033min

307. David Arnold on Stevie Wonder 'Songs in the Key of Life' (1976)
10 Jun 20201h 3min

306. Rose McGowan on Cocteau Twins 'Heaven or Las Vegas' (1990)
This week I'm joined by musician, activist, author, filmmaker, photographer and former actress Rose McGowan for a wide ranging chat about Cocteau Twins' classic album 'Heaven or Las Vegas' and her own record ‘Planet 9’. We chat about the Cocteau Twins indecipherable lyrics, how it soundtracked the writing of Rose’s memoir ‘Brave’ and the emotional malleability of the record. Rose also takes me into the process of creating her album ‘Planet 9', the best reviews she's gotten, how she shot her own visual art to accompany the album, how she intends to tour her music while creating an art hub accessible to everyone, why she doesn't want to be a 'pop star', her love of country music and much more.
4 Jun 202040min

305. Paul Dempsey on Fugazi 'In on the Kill Taker' (1993)
This week I’m joined by rock legend and Something for Kate frontman Paul Dempsey, to dive into Fugazi’s classic album ‘In On The Kill Taker’. Paul discusses how the band’s unique approach to intertwining instrumental parts influenced his guitar playing, the different ways of discovering bands in a pre-internet age, the contrasts between Ian Mackaye and Guy Piccitotto, the time Something for Kate nearly opened for Fugazi, why he has vowed never to cover their songs and his strong feelings against ‘opening the vaults’ and releasing alternate versions of albums.
27 Mai 202032min

304. Maya Hawke on Joni Mitchell 'Blue' (1971)
This week singer/songwriter and actress (Stranger Things, Little Women) Maya Hawke joins me via landline (!) from Woodstock to talk about the enduring classic of unfettered emotion, Joni Mitchell's towering Blue. We dig into Maya's love of poetry and how it intersects with her music, treating the lyrics of Joni's songs as a puzzle, separating art from the artist, how music helped with her dyslexia, the process of writing her own album and how Blue has helped her to find space, privacy and independence during Covid-19 lockdowns.
20 Mai 202045min

303. Bob Odenkirk on The Replacements 'Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash' (1981)
"If you're lucky, you get to see a lot of life. The fact that I can listen to an album like this and connect with a person to a person I was for a good deal of my life, came out of the hardest things in my childhood, and a kind of anger and sadness that motivated me to try to be who I've become and pushed me, kept me from settling. The fact that I can connect to that so directly with an album like this, to the person I was so long ago, it's like a time warp." - Bob Odenkirk. This week, the legendary Bob Odenkirk (Mr Show, Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad) joins me to talk about The Replacements classic debut album 'Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash'. Bob talks about whether the album qualifies as punk rock, his shared midwestern roots, the wit and cynicism of the lyrics, how the album helps him access the harsher emotions of his younger self, Bob Mehr's Replacements biography Trouble Boys, the recently released Replacements live record and more. Plus, Bob talks about the challenges of portraying Jimmy McGill on Better Call Saul, from playing someone fifteen years younger than him, how the character's evolving self-awareness has changed his performance and filming the brutal 'Bagman' episode of the most recent season.
13 Mai 202038min