155. Japanese Wallpaper on Tame Impala 'Currents' (2015)

Today we’re bringing you a first for the show - a two part conversation about two records with two members of mutli-award winning Australian duo Client Liaison, whose conflicting taste comes together in a fascinating way in their own music. First I talk to Monte Morgan about Prince’s turn of the century concept album ‘The Rainbow Children’. We dig into this album’s different reputations amongst casual and die hard fans, the Jehovah’s Witness inspired story, how Prince was able to keep reinventing himself through his albums and Monte’s experience being invited up on stage by the man himself at a concert. Then I talk to Harvey Miller about Cut Copy’s ‘Bright Like Neon Love’. We talk about how the music of your teen years stays with you, how the world of this music intersected with fashion and French House music, the early days of music on the internet in the MySpace era, how Cut Copy’s success made being from Melbourne and making great music seem more realistic and more.

12 Dec 202138min

Today, filmmaker and longtime Bruce Springsteen collaborator (Letter to You, Western Stars) Thom Zimny joins me to unpack the spark of his lifelong journey on E Street, the classic live bootleg ‘Live in the Promised Land’, recorded in San Fransisco on the 1978 tour behind ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’. We talk about how Thom discovered the record as a teenager, the joys and charms of the bootleg experience and how it made Thom feel like part of a secret subculture, how the design and flaws of the quality and packaging influenced his later documentary work with Bruce, the power and legend of the classic E Street Band, Bruce’s on stage monologues, the story of how Thom established his working relationship with Bruce and Jon Landau on the Live in New York City concert film and whether there are any plans to document the final E Street Band tour.

6 Dec 202141min

From the early days of Talking Heads, David Byrne has been developing unique and fascinating new ways to present his music to the world. There’s no finer example of this than the jaw-dropping American Utopia show, which the NME called “The Best Live Show Of All Time”. Today we are delving inside the process of creating and performing the show from its early touring incarnation through to the wildly successful Broadway run that has just triumphantly resumed at the St James Theatre. I talk to key members of the band and cast about the show's merging of rock concert with modern dance piece and Broadway show, the innovative staging and unique challenges of reconfiguring classic songs for the show, the costumes, memories from the road, celebrity encounters, working with Spike Lee on the film version, how they went from collaborators to family and the challenges and joys of finally bringing the show back a year later than planned. Thank you to cast members Angie Swan, Bobby Wooten, Chris Giarmo, Mauro Refosco and Stéphane San Juan for sharing their insights and stories, to Aussie queen of rock radio Zan Rowe for joining me to break down what makes the show special and publicist Michelle Farabaugh for making the whole thing possible.

29 Nov 20211h 23min

Today, all four members of indie-rock upstarts Teenage Dads join me for a fun five-way chat about Australia’s most prolific band, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, and their 2016 breakthrough album ‘Nonagon Infinity’. We talk the looping structure of the record, the different ways it has influenced each of them, how streaming this album changes the experience vs listening on vinyl, whether the album deserved the ARIA for Best Heavy Metal Album, why KGATLW are the ‘tightest loosest band’ and more.

10 Nov 202126min

On the eve of the fifth anniversary of Leonard Cohen’s passing, I’m joined by NYU Professor Marcia Pally to unpack the themes of her new book From This Broken Hill I Sing to You: God, Sex and Politics. We talk about how Cohen saw the world as being made up of inescapable relationships, to God and one another, the playfulness and profundity of Everybody Knows and how it interweaves the personal, political and spiritual, how non-believers can connect with Cohen works, how he questions instead of preaching, why do humans have a capacity for betrayal, how Cohen struggled with his commitment to God towards the end and how this is reflected in his final album You Want It Darker.

3 Nov 202132min

Today, rock'n'roller Des Rocs joins me for our first ever episode on the King himself, Elvis Presley, as we get into it on the 1972 live album 'Prince from Another Planet'. We talk about how the album captures Elvis between his two iconic eras, how he existed apart from both the rock era he inspired and the pop that came before him, the frenetic rearrangements of his classic songs, his choice to include contemporary covers in the set, his uneasy history with New York prior to these shows, Elvis's future if he hadn't died when he did, the influence on Des's music and performance style and his other favorite live albums.

28 Okt 202124min

Today acclaimed singer-songwriter and fellow podcaster (The Working Songwriter) Joe Pug joins me for an unexpected choice of favorite album - Weezer's classic 1996 LP 'Pinkerton'. We talk about the seeming dissonance between Pinkerton and Joe's own music, discovering the album as a 12 year old and why you are more open to change in music at that age, how the CD age dictated listening habits, how the lyrics have aged, why he would be wary of collaborating with Rivers Cuomo, why supergroups are overrated, Rivers' strange relationship with this record and why young people can make sophisticated music.

20 Okt 202131min

13 Okt 20211h 42min