🎙️ Podcasts
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Shows in Music
Music
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Key Change: Tatiana Maslany on "Faceshopping" by Sophie
My guest today is the actor Tatiana Maslany. One of the things I find so compelling about Tatiana and her career is that the roles that she plays often contain multitudes—literally. She played over 10 different characters–clones, but with distinct personalities–in the TV show Orphan Black. And in the Marvel Universe…
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Pop music for an internet-pilled generation
This week on Switched On Pop, we’re looking at all things feral pop, the microgenre that takes pop music to its most wild extremes. And no feral pop artist is more tapped into that ethos than underscores. Her music synthesizes dubstep, trance, and Timbaland with ease, and her latest album ‘U’ is filled with boundless…
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E12 - 'Random Access Memories' by Daft Punk [PART 3]
SEASON FINALE! Our dissection of Daft Punk's entire career concludes with the second half of Random Access Memories before looking holistically at the narrative their four studio albums creates. Connecting Changes Everything. https://www.att.com/connecttochange/ Host/Writer/EP: Cole Cuchna Editors: Kevin Pooler &…
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The new wave of pop is here, and it’s feral
What would it sound like if pop music was reverted to its most wild state of being? It would sound hyper-digital, influenced by the electronic vanguard of the 2010s, and speak to a post-genre audience. And while the charts have been stagnant, Gen-Z has been crafting this exact sound: one that is exciting…
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Songs for any road trip
It’s the season of road trips -- and nothing goes better with those long and winding roads than music. This week we share our picks for the perfect playlist, breakdown what works best when, and consider some ground rules -- does the driver always have the final say? Reviews help! Leave us one on Apple or Spotify…
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Olivia Rodrigo has The Cure for sadness
Olivia Rodrigo is back with her third studio album, you seem pretty sad for a girl in love. As the title might suggest, it’s a deeply personal affair, with moody soundscapes supporting hyper-detailed lyrics of soul-wrenching depth. This album is a meditation on desire, and intriguingly, the letdown that can occur when…
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The Best Way To Listen To Strong Songs (Spotify PSA)
A quick note about the best way to listen to Strong Songs.
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'You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love' | Every Single Album: Olivia Rodrigo
Nora and Nathan break down the third studio album from Olivia Rodrigo, 'You Seem Prrety Sad for a Girl So in Love.' They talk about why this record represents such a pivotal moment in her career (1:00), the heavy 80's and 90's rock influences that are present throughout (33:36), and what songs represent evolvement for…
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New Music Corner: Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Gracie Abrams, and Charli XCX
Nora and Nathan catch up on some of the new music that was released while they were out. Including: the song Taylor Swift did for 'Toy Story 5' (22:25), the latest single off of Olivia Rodrigo's forthcoming album 'You Look Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love' (39:33), the first single off of Gracie Abrams' new album…
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Paul McCartney - Ripples in a Pond
Paul McCartney is a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer whose career spans more than six decades. As a member of The Beatles and later Wings and then with his own solo albums, he’s simply one of the most influential artists of all time. He has more accolades than I have time to list in this intro.…
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E11 - 'Random Access Memories' by Daft Punk [PART 2]
Our dissection of Random Access Memories continues with a journey through “Within,” “Instant Crush,” “Lose Yourself to Dance,” and the album’s emotional centerpiece, “Touch.” Connecting Changes Everything. https://www.att.com/connecttochange/ Follow @dissectpodcast on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.…
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Paul McCartney went back to Liverpool for something new to say
Boys of Dungeon Lane, McCartney's collaboration with producer Andrew Watt, arrived when McCartney was 83 and and he came out swinging: the opening track greets listeners with a dissonant, unresolved guitar chord that sets the album's tone. Harmonic instability runs through the entire record: chromatic mediants…
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11 more songs to reset your mood
NPR listeners share the songs they reach for when they need to reset the mood, their day or even their life. This is a followup to our April episode on songs for starting over . NPR’s Dora Levite joins host Robin Hilton. A good review helps! Leave us one on Apple , Spotify , or wherever you listen to podcasts. And…
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How a sci-fi dystopia became a personal utopia (ft. Arc Iris)
A sci-fi ballet imagined a 2080 where AI strips people of purpose, and the day before its New York premiere, an actual dystopia arrived. Arc Iris, the trio of Jocie Adams, Zach Tenorio and Ray Belli, built iTMRW as a concept record set in a future ruled by a mega-corporation that shares its name. In its world, AI has…
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E10 - 'Random Access Memories' by Daft Punk [PART 1]
Our season-long exploration of Daft Punk continues with their final album Random Access Memories. Turning away from the electronic mainstream they helped create, Daft Punk entered real studios with real musicians to rediscover the human “magic” inside recorded music. In this episode, we dissect “Give Life Back to…
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Wet Leg, Vince Staples, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien
Our latest picks for the best new tracks of the week include a raging, dancefloor remix of Wet Leg’s “Catch These Fists,” a touch of vintage soul from rapper and singer Vince Staples, Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien channels Kentucky poet Wendell Berry who says, “to know the dark, go dark,” and more. NPR Music’s Tom…
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Why bands give us purpose (ft. MUNA)
A culture that rewards easily consumable individual identities produces plenty of pop stars and almost no bands. A significant exception: MUNA, the trio of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin, and Naomi McPherson. MUNA treats the band as a structure that grounds identity beyond the ego and makes any success feel shared among…
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Drake's Slop Era
Canada’s favorite export Drake is back! This month, the Toronto singer-rapper extraordinaire released three albums simultaneously: the long-anticipated return to form Iceman, the sultry, R&B Habibti and the pop-focused, clubby Maid of Honour. All three albums have much different vibes, and are Drake’s first official…
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E9 - 'Human After All' & 'Alive 2007' by Daft Punk
Our season-long dissection of Daft Punk continues with a turning point in their catalog, as we unpack the stark minimalism and dystopian vision of 2005's Human After All. We explore how the album’s cold, mechanical sound and Orwellian themes reframe the duo’s robot personas. Then, we trace how those ideas are expanded…
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Album Swap: 'Autobiography' by Ashlee Simpson and 'Not a Pretty Girl' by Ani DiFranco
Nora and Nathan are back with another album swap. First up, 'Autobiography' by Ashlee Simpson, an album defined by her hit "Pieces of Me" and a lot of aughts-era angst (1:00). Then, Ani DiFranco's 'Not A Pretty Girl,' a '90s feminist icon who used her press-on nails to create the record's unique percussive sound…
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Hot Chip - Boy From School
Hot Chip is a band from London made up of Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. Their second album, The Warning , came out in 2006. It was nominated for a Mercury Prize, and named one of the best albums of the year by NME and Pitchfork. And later, NME would include it in their list of…
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Drake Drops ICEMAN...and Habibti...and Maid of Honour. Why?
Cole is joined by The Ringer’s Charles Holmes and Justin Sayles to discuss Drake’s three-album release stunt. They speculate on the strategy behind the 43-song drop before diving into ICEMAN’s music and lyrics. Finally, they discuss Habibti and Maid of Honour, ending the conversation by wondering where Drake will go…
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Kacey Musgraves walks country’s borderlands
Kacey Musgraves' album Middle of Nowhere finds the country outlaw taking a break from exploring her inner life to look outward, back to her roots: the regional stylings of Texas. She says the album was inspired by a sign in her hometown that read “Golden, TX: Somewhere in the middle of nowhere.” The album’s sounds…
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Rostam reimagines American music
The pedal steel and the saz both live in the spaces between equal-tempered notes, and that gap is where Rostam built American Stories. Rostam joined Vampire Weekend at Columbia in 2006, produced the band's first three albums, and after leaving in 2016 made records with Clairo and Haim you can identify as his within a…
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Return to Kind of Blue
A closer look at Miles Davis's 1959 jazz masterpiece.
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Mailbag: The Summer Touring Landscape, Taylor Swift Wedding Watch, and What's on Our Summer Playlist
Nora and Nathan open up the mailbag and answer questions about why so many artists are now selling tickets for their tours before their albums are out (1:00), whether or not Harry Styles will get an invite to Taylor Swift's wedding (23:03), and what songs have stuck with them throughout the year (39:37).Hosts: Nora…
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Key Change: Emma Straub on ‘69 Love Songs’ by The Magnetic Fields
My guest today is the bestselling author Emma Straub. Her books include 'This Time Tomorrow,' 'Modern Lovers,' 'The Vacationers,' and more. And with her husband, Michael Fusco, she co-owns the beautiful Brooklyn bookstore Books Are Magic. I'm so thrilled to have her on because, not only is she a wonderful writer, but…
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What is Daft Punk's Best Song Ever? [Season Intermission]
We’re taking a brief intermission from our Daft Punk season - but don’t worry, we’re still talking Daft Punk in a special episode of Last Song Standing, the show where Cole and Charles Holmes debate an artist’s catalog to determine their single best song. In this episode, Cole and Charles nominate the tracks from…
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Eurovision is back – but not without controversy
The flowers are blooming and the calendar says May. That can only mean one thing: the Eurovision Song Contest is upon us once again. This year, thirty-five countries face off to determine the best song that Europe and adjacent continents have to offer. However, the competition comes with a big asterisk: while…
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Kacey Musgraves's 'Middle of Nowhere' and the State of Country Pop Girls
Nora and Nathan talk about some of the pop music news that came out of this week's Met Gala (1:00) and Olivia Rodrigo's appearance on 'SNL' (8:20). Then they talk about the newest album from Kacey Musgraves, 'Middle of Nowhere,' and where she fits in amongst other female country artists like Megan Moroney and Ella…
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