78. Montaigne on Bat For Lashes 'The Haunted Man'

24 Feb 202243min

Today podcaster, writer, musician, director and Emmy-winning actor Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos, The Lovely Bones) joins me to talk about the classic 1985 album by the Smiths, Meat is Murder. We talk about how this album broadened the Smiths post-punk sound, incorporating elements of rockabilly and funk, the under-heralded rhythm section of Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, how Morrissey’s lyrics and persona compares to Tennessee Williams and Oscar Wilde, the difference between depressing music and music that explores negative subject matter, how impactful the band was despite their short time together, the small tweak from Johnny Marr that rescued How Soon Is Now?, how this record turned Michael vegetarian, how the Smiths album cover design inspired the front cover of Michael’s novel. Plus, Michael talks about getting into a fight at a Morrissey concert and whether he will play Lou Reed in the adaptation of his novel The Perfume Burned His Eyes.

17 Feb 202242min

My guests today are acclaimed Melbourne folk sister duo Charm of Finches. Mabel and Ivy talk about Sufjan Stevens’ seminal 2015 album ‘Carrie and Lowell’, how Sufjan processed the loss of his estranged mother through the songs, the intimacy of the record and how it contrasts with many of his other more elaborate albums, how to let yourself write from a vulnerable place, trusting a producer to shepherd those songs, whether writing about grief is actually cathartic, what it was like to see Sufjan live and their favorite songs on the record.

10 Feb 202233min

Today we take a detour into movie land with filmmaker Charles Hood and film journalist Drew Taylor (hosts of the Light the Fuse podcast) and count down our ten favorite films from 2021. It was an incredible movie year, and while we have a fair bit of crossover, we also have some bitter disagreements as we discuss and champion films ranging from shaggy dog coming of age stories to epic sci-fi sequels, noirish crime dramas to deranged comedies and beyond. What films do we discuss? You’ll have to listen to find out.

3 Feb 20221h 29min

Today we go behind the scenes and pull back the curtain on the making of the show, as guest host Seja Vogel interviews host Jeremy Dylan and producer Georgia Mooney about how the sausage/podcast is made. From the inception of the show, how the guests are chosen, the research process, the use of music, favorite episodes, dream guests, how to deal with awkward interviews and more, we try to answer all the questions you might have about how we put this thing together.

27 Jan 20221h 11min

In our third crossover podcast, I welcome back filmmaker Charles Hood and journalist Drew Taylor, hosts of the brilliant Mission Impossible podcast Light the Fuse. This time we (mainly) don’t talk about movies, but delve into their respective favorite albums, the 30 year old U2 classic ‘Achtung Baby’ and the world dominating final album from Daft Punk ‘Random Access Memories’. We talk about how Achtung Baby forged a new path for U2 after the apex mountain of The Joshua Tree album, the Berlin sessions that bought tension within the band to a boil, the meaning of the song ‘One’, Bono’s character  ‘The Fly’, the influence of producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and whether Tom Cruise and Bono are copying each other’s hairstyles. Then we talk about why Daft Punk broke up, the duo’s philosophy of creating new analogue samples as the foundation of the album, the involvement of Muppets songwriting legend Paul Williams, why they never toured the album, Daft Punk’s mystique and more. Plus we somehow get into discussions/fights about 3D, the Avatar sequels, which Men In Black films are good and Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger.

20 Jan 20221h 12min

Today I’m bringing you a fascinating conversation with the Michael Elliott, author of the new and definitive John Hiatt biography ‘Have A Little Faith’. We dive deep into ‘Bring the Family’, the 1987 classic that broke open Hiatt’s career after years of struggle. We talk about the album being an alternative to the dominant production of the late 80s, how it presaged Americana music, how Hiatt assembled Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner as his dream band for the sessions (and how Lowe almost didn’t make it), the adult subject matter of the lyrics, Bonnie Raitt’s cover of Thing Called Love, how James Cameron used Alone in the Dark in True Lies and how Hiatt proves that sobering up and getting your life together can produce a songwriter’s best work.

13 Jan 202256min

Well, we’re only seven months late. But here at long last is our Bob Dylan 80th Birthday special, featuring new conversations with some of favourite guests from the history of the podcast talking about different aspects of Dylan and his music from the 60s to the 90s to now. - Old Crow Medicine’s Show Ketch Secor on how Bob Dylan changed Nashville, and the process of excavating and finally falling in love with Blonde on Blonde as Old Crow made their album length tribute. - Robyn Hitchcock dissects the A side of Blonde on Blonde track by track - Rainy Day Women #12 and 35, Pledging My Time, Visions of Johanna and One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later). - Brian Koppelman on why Chrissie Hynde’s Dylan tribute record is the perfect onramp for non-fans, and the underrated beauty of Bob’s 1993 blues album World Gone Wrong, which set the tone for the second half of his career. - Bill Wyman on thirty years of Dylan’s Never Ending Tour and why he’s unlike every other rock star of his generation. - Steven Hyden on why Dylan’s real secret might be that he’s a pretty normal guy.

31 Dec 20211h 39min