Charlie Harding 1/11/22 Charlie Harding 1/11/22

The Weeknd drives through purgatory (with a little help from Jim Carrey)

Dawn FM haunts internet genres to make The Weeknd’s best album yet

Nate Sloan 12/21/21 Nate Sloan 12/21/21

Why do new Christmas songs fail?

Ariana, Kelly, and Bieber try to join the holiday canon

Charlie Harding 12/14/21 Charlie Harding 12/14/21

Tai Verdes TikTok-ed his way to a breakout hit

If you want to know how social media has fundamentally changed music, you need to hear Tai’s Verdes tell his story

Charlie Harding 12/7/21 Charlie Harding 12/7/21

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raise The Roof

The superduo return 14 years after their Grammy winning album Raising Sand

Charlie Harding 11/30/21 Charlie Harding 11/30/21

The Beatles get back to their roots

Why 'Let It Be' has four official recordings and which one is the best

Nate Sloan 11/23/21 Nate Sloan 11/23/21

Taylor, Adele & Silk Sonic’s broken hearts club (with Brittany Luse)

Breaking down every type of heartbreak on the radio dial

Nate Sloan 11/16/21 Nate Sloan 11/16/21

Snotty Nose Rez Kids on hip hop and Indigenous protest

“In hip hop you have the MC. Well, we have our storytellers.”

Charlie Harding 11/9/21 Charlie Harding 11/9/21

The State of the Pop Union

From time to time, it is our constitutional duty to provide an update to the people on the current state of pop music

Nate Sloan 11/2/21 Nate Sloan 11/2/21

Why ABBA songs just hit different

After 40 years, the Swedish hitmakers are back with new music. Does it match up to their classic hits?

Charlie Harding 10/26/21 Charlie Harding 10/26/21

The Healing Power of Pop with Esperanza Spalding

Music-as-medicine

Charlie Harding 10/19/21 Charlie Harding 10/19/21

James Bond’s Spycraft Sound

Billie Eilish and Hans Zimmer take on the classic theme

Charlie Harding 10/12/21 Charlie Harding 10/12/21

James Blake & The Return of Harmony

“I find contentment and bliss in a chord progression, but it's fleeting”

Charlie Harding 10/7/21 Charlie Harding 10/7/21

Sparkle spoke out against R Kelly. It cost her her career.

Charlie Harding 9/21/21 Charlie Harding 9/21/21

Deja Vu: Why Olivia Rodrigo keeps giving up songwriting credits

Charlie Harding 9/14/21 Charlie Harding 9/14/21

CHVRCHES and the sound of 80s horror

How internet trolls and horror icon John Carpenter inspired their new album Screen Violence

Nate Sloan 9/7/21 Nate Sloan 9/7/21

From Taylor Swift to Bon Iver, Aaron Dessner Finds Meaning in Musical Community

“Being collaborative is risky on some level...but it’s the most important thing”

Nate Sloan 8/31/21 Nate Sloan 8/31/21

Modern Classics: Carina del Valle Schorske on Cat Power's "Manhattan"

Why every song about Manhattan is a pop song

Charlie Harding 8/24/21 Charlie Harding 8/24/21

The Joy of Music Festivals

Darkside’s Dave Harrington and listeners recall their best festival moments

Nate Sloan 8/17/21 Nate Sloan 8/17/21

Summer Festivals: Insane Clown Posse and the Gathering of the Juggalos

What we can learn from one of the most controversial, and most misunderstood, music festivals

Charlie Harding 8/10/21 Charlie Harding 8/10/21

Summer Festivals: How Coachella took the Woodstock look

Dissecting the commercialization of festival fashion with The Cut

Mini Series

Featured

Listening 2 Madonna: Ray of Light

The third essential aspect of Madonna's holy trinity is her ever-shifting spirituality.

Listening 2 Madonna: Spanish Eyes

To understand Madonna is to see her music as a cultural melting pot.

Listening 2 Madonna: Who's That Girl?

The way Madonna communicates gender is integral to understanding her and her music.

Featured

Newcomers: Porter Robinson

The new sound of Porter Robinson

Newcomers: Jhayco

Jhayco moves from the background to the foreground

Newcomers: Magdalena Bay

Few pop groups are making music as imaginative as Magdalena Bay.

Featured

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Random Access Memories

The robots gain a heart and soul - and self-destruct in the process

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Human After All / Alive 2007

The French duo’s anti-utopian disco-rock record makes us question, are they robot, or are they human?

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Discovery

On their second album Discovery, Daft Punk fully lean into the artificial – singing through robotic vocoders that correspond with their now-iconic robot helmets.

Listening 2 Daft Punk: Homework

On their first album, Homework, Daft Punk stretched the boundaries of electronic music and began wiring the circuits that would become their robot alter-egos, asking a fundamental question: where does the human end and the machine begin?

Featured

Listening 2 Britney: Gimme More

Leave Britney’s (voice) alone

Listening 2 Britney: Toxic

How Bollywood strings, surf guitar, and Britney’s ethereal vocals add up to pop perfection

Listening 2 Britney: I’m A Slave 4 U

Enter The Neptunes – Britney’s Virginia Beach Era

Listening 2 Britney: ...Baby One More Time

Breaking down the unmistakeable voice of Britney Spears

Featured

Modern Classics: Carina del Valle Schorske on Cat Power's "Manhattan"

Why every song about Manhattan is a pop song

Modern Classics: Mark Ronson on Ginuwine's "Pony"

The "Uptown Funk" hitmaker breaks down the innovations behind pop's biggest smashes

Modern Classics: Yola on Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” and the Longevity of Soul

“I realized that Classic Soul can exist with everything and somehow not lose its potency.”

Modern Classics: Labrinth's "Sexy MF" (with Sam Sanders)

“They're all these little secrets and surprises that pop up...it's like bespoke, maximalist, power pop.”

Featured

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT IV, What Beethoven Would Have Wanted

When we listen closely to the Fifth, we hear that's it more than a museum piece, it’s a living testament to self-expression and determination.

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT III, Putting the Classism in Classical

Before Beethoven’s time, classical music culture looked and sounded quite different. In episode III we explore how Beethoven’s symphony was used to generate the strict culture of classical music — and the politics that undergird those norms of behavior.

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT II, From Struggle to Victory

In movements II , III and IV, Beethoven keeps trying to overcome his dark fate with bright major melodies, and keeps getting defeated.

THE 5TH — MOVEMENT I, A Battle Brewing

The first four notes of the piece are more than a modern meme, they’re the main character in a drama life and death.

Featured

ANTHEMS: Missy Elliott — Work It

Cultural critic Ivie Ani breaks down how Missy Elliott broke into the pantheon of anthems, and how she changed the scope of who could belong.

ANTHEMS: Smash Mouth - All Star

How “All Star” became an anthem played in sports arenas, soundtracked by Hollywood, and embedded into seemingly every internet meme.

ANTHEMS: Jock Jams — Get Ready For This

n 1995, ESPN launched Jock Jams Volume 1, a compilation record that would define the sound of sports for the next quarter century.

ANTHEMS: Queen — We Are The Champions

Cory Henry & The Funk Apostles’ album “Something To Say” makes you want to get up and dance as much as it makes you want to take action.