Charlie Harding 6/11/24 Charlie Harding 6/11/24

Freaking out about songwriting with Nile Rodgers

We invited the chair of the Songwriters Hall of Fame to talk about the making of a great song

Nate Sloan 6/4/24 Nate Sloan 6/4/24

Begging songs and basketball's musicality (with Hanif Abdurraqib)

Unpacking the classic "My Girl" through the lens of sports and sound

Nate Sloan 5/28/24 Nate Sloan 5/28/24

Charlie Puth should be a bigger artist (with Charlie Puth)

Coming off a recent shoutout, Charlie Puth is releasing a new single called “Hero,” inspired by Taylor Swift.

Charlie Harding 5/21/24 Charlie Harding 5/21/24

Billie Eilish hits both hard and soft

On her new record, Billie Eilish finally graduates from her signature anti-pop persona into full blown pop stardom.

Nate Sloan 5/14/24 Nate Sloan 5/14/24

Is pop music just fast food? (with Gastropod)

Breaking down the most iconic fast food jingles with the help of the Gastropod podcast

Nate Sloan 5/10/24 Nate Sloan 5/10/24

Rosie Tucker's unending bliss

Rosie Tucker’s songs makes late capitalism fun again

Guest User 5/7/24 Guest User 5/7/24

Eurovision 2024: from Baby Lasagna to Windows95Man

This year, Eurovision has one rule: there are no rules!

Charlie Harding 5/3/24 Charlie Harding 5/3/24

Justice is never-ending

Justice reveal their latest album Hyperdrama

Guest User 4/30/24 Guest User 4/30/24

Best of 2024 so far: hip hop feuds, Hozier’s pop surprise and espresso shots

The past few months have brought us everything from a nuclear hip-hop beef to existential power-pop.

Charlie Harding 4/23/24 Charlie Harding 4/23/24

Taylor Swift's Literary Era

Taylor Swift's 11th studio album finds her in the world of literature

Guest User 4/16/24 Guest User 4/16/24

Berlin's Hottest Club is Rico Nasty & Boys Noize

Rico Nasty and Boys Noize are challenging the sounds of UNESCO-certified Berlin techno.

Charlie Harding 4/9/24 Charlie Harding 4/9/24

Chasing old sounds: Djo's "End of Beginning" with Joe Keery

Joe Keery’s album ‘Decide’ will have you questioning everything

Charlie Harding 4/2/24 Charlie Harding 4/2/24

Cowboy Carter: This Ain’t Country

Beyoncé's foray into country music isn't what you expect

Guest User 3/26/24 Guest User 3/26/24

Hip-hop's Sea Change at Rolling Loud

What attending the world's largest hip-hop festival revealed about the state of the genre

Nate Sloan 3/22/24 Nate Sloan 3/22/24

Rhapsody in Blue, Reimagined

Pianist Lara Downes updates a George Gershwin classic on the 100th anniversary of its premiere

Charlie Harding 3/19/24 Charlie Harding 3/19/24

Eternal Sunshine of Ariana Grande's Mind

Ariana Grande wipes away the past through vocal virtuosity and harmonic trickery

Charlie Harding 3/15/24 Charlie Harding 3/15/24

How to DIY a Music Career (with Amelia Meath and David Gray at SXSW)

Amelia Meath and David Gray explain how they made have built independent music careers

Charlie Harding 3/12/24 Charlie Harding 3/12/24

Is Beyoncé’s music #sponcon? And other mysteries…

At this year's On-Air Fest, Charlie and Nate unpacked musical mysteries about spon-con and new-age frequencies

Charlie Harding 3/5/24 Charlie Harding 3/5/24

Jacob Collier Unites the World

Interviewing Jacob Collier on completing his Djesse quadrilogy with his assorted collaborators

Nate Sloan 2/27/24 Nate Sloan 2/27/24

Beyoncé's Country

The superstar singer trains her unerring sonic lens on the forgotten Black roots of country music

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.