For the 45th anniversary of The Soft Boys’ influential second album, Underwater Moonlight , we take a detailed look at how it was made. When Robyn Hitchcock first started a band in Cambridge, England under the name Dennis and the Experts, he recruited Morris Windsor, Andy Metcalfe and Alan Davies. They changed their name to The Soft Boys and released an EP called Give It to the Soft Boys in 1977. Kimberly Rew replaced Alan Davies on guitar as they began working with Radar Records, releasing a si...
Mar 18, 2026•1 hr 21 min•Season 5Ep. 11
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the debut Bat for Lashes album, Fur and Gold , we take a detailed look at how it was made. Natasha Khan had grown up in Hertfordshire, England and studied art at the University of Brighton. After graduating, she taught as a schoolteacher while writing songs and performing as Bat for Lashes. Her manager, Dick O’Dell, got her a publishing deal and connected her with producer David Kosten to work on some demos. The first Bat for Lashes single, “The Wizard” ...
Feb 13, 2026•1 hr 45 min•Season 5Ep. 10
For the 20th anniversary of the fourth My Morning Jacket album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. The band originally formed in 1998 in Louisville, Kentucky by Jim James, Johnny Quaid, Tom Blankenship and J. Glenn. After signing with Darla Records, they released their debut album, The Tennessee Fire in 1999. Danny Cash joined on keyboards before the release of their second album, At Dawn , in 2001. Patrick Hallahan took over on drums as they signed to ATO Records. Their third album, It...
Jan 22, 2026•1 hr 38 min•Season 5Ep. 9
In celebration of the Pogues’ 'Fairytale of New York' EP, we take a detailed look at how their classic Christmas single came together. The Pogues originally formed in London in 1982 by Shane MacGowan, Spider Stacy and Jem Finer. MacGowan had gotten his start playing in the punk band, the Nipple Erectors, and when that band broke up, he began playing in an Irish traditional music style. Gradually, he brought in James Fearnley, Cait O’Riordan and John Hasler to become a sextet. Andrew Ranken repla...
Dec 15, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 8
In celebration of the deluxe edition of Foreigner’s fourth album, 4 , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Mick Jones broke into the music industry as a session musician while playing in multiple bands, including Spooky Tooth, he envisioned starting a new project for the songs he was writing. He recruited musicians Ian McDonald, Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi before turning his attention to finding the right lead singer for the band. After recalling meeting Lou Gramm ...
Dec 02, 2025•1 hr 11 min•Season 5Ep. 7
For the 40th anniversary of The Jesus and Mary Chain’s landmark debut album, Psychocandy , we take a detailed look at how it was made. Growing up in East Kilbride, Scotland, brothers William and Jim Reid had their lives changed by punk and both made plans to start their own bands. When they had trouble finding like-minded musicians in their town, they realized they could pool their resources and start a band together. After their father was made redundant from his job at a factory, he gave them ...
Nov 14, 2025•1 hr 45 min•Season 5Ep. 6
In celebration of Sharon Van Etten’s breakthrough third album, Tramp , we take a detailed look at how it was made. Growing up in New Jersey, Sharon Van Etten studied music by learning several instruments and singing in the choir. After graduating high school, she went to Middle Tennessee State University to study recording. Though she started writing songs around the year 2000, she didn’t perform or release music until 2005 when she moved back to New Jersey. Later she moved to New York and start...
Oct 21, 2025•1 hr 37 min•Season 5Ep. 5
Subscribe to Fela Kuti: Fear No Man. In a world that’s on fire, what is the role of art? What can music actually…do? Can a song save a life? Change a law? Topple a president? Get you killed? In Fela Kuti: Fear No Man , Jad Abumrad—creator of Radiolab , More Perfect , and Dolly Parton’s America —tells the story of one of the great political awakenings in music: how a classically trained 'colonial boy’ traveled to America, in search of Africa, only to return to Nigeria and transform his sound ...
Oct 15, 2025•37 min
In celebration of Peter, Bjorn and John’s breakthrough third album, ' Writer’s Block ,' we take a detailed look at how it was made. When Peter Morén and Björn Yttling started playing music together in high school, they bonded over a shared love of guitar rock. When they moved to Stockholm after high school, they met John Eriksson, who was a trained percussionist, playing in a percussion ensemble. They eventually asked him if he would consider playing drums with them in a pop band and the trio, P...
Sep 02, 2025•1 hr 47 min•Season 5Ep. 4
For the 20th anniversary of the Smog album, A River Ain’t Too Much to Love , we take a detailed look at how it was made. Bill Callahan began recording music under the name Smog in 1988 and releasing music on his own label, Disaster. After signing with Drag City early on, he released a series of albums in the 1990s and continued into the early 2000s. At this point, he was living in Chicago and wanted a change of scenery. After moving to Austin, Texas, he began writing songs for his 11th album. He...
Aug 05, 2025•1 hr 34 min•Season 5Ep. 3
For the 20th anniversary of the debut Clap Your Hands Say Yeah album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Alec Ounsworth began recording demos of the songs he was writing, he connected with musicians he met while attending Connecticut College. The band was officially formed in 2004 and included Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Tyler Sargent, Sean Greenhalgh and Robbie Guertin. As the rest of the band relocated to New York, Ounsworth remained in his hometown of Philadelphia and commuted for ...
Jun 30, 2025•1 hr 36 min•Season 5Ep. 2
For the 45th anniversary of The Feelies’ classic debut album, Crazy Rhythms , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After the band formed as The Outkids in Haledon, New Jersey in 1976, Glenn Mercer, Bill Million and Dave Weckerman started playing with brothers Keith Clayton and Vinnie DeNunzio. They changed their name to The Feelies as they started playing gigs around New York City. At an audition night at CBGBs, they connected with sound engineer Mark Abel, who introduced them to manager ...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 32 min•Season 5Ep. 1
For the 15th anniversary of the second Titus Andronicus album, The Monitor , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Patrick Stickles founded Titus Andronicus in Glen Rock, New Jersey in 2005, he worked with a rotating group of musicians, many of whom he had known in high school. By the time they were ready to record their first album, the lineup had coalesced around Stickles, Liam Betson, Dan Tews, Ian Graetzer and Ian Dykstra. The New Jersey label, Troubleman Unlimited, agreed to put...
Apr 15, 2025•2 hr 33 min•Season 4Ep. 12
For the 20th anniversary of Stars’ breakthrough third album, Set Yourself on Fire , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Torquil Campbell and Chris Seligman grew up together in Toronto, they formed Stars when they were living in New York City. Their first album, Nightsongs , was made with the help of their friends in Metric and several guest singers, including Amy Millan. Deciding to relocate to Montreal, they added Amy Millan and Evan Cranley as full-time members. Their second albu...
Mar 10, 2025•2 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 11
For the 20th anniversary of the sixth Bright Eyes album, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning , we take a detailed look at how it was made. Conor Oberst began Bright Eyes in 1995 in Omaha, Nebraska as an outlet for his solo material that he had been writing as a teenager. He formed a partnership with Saddle Creek Records, a label founded by his brother Justin Oberst and Mike Mogis and began releasing his albums in 1998, starting with A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997 . Later that year...
Jan 27, 2025•2 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 10
For the 15th anniversary of Manchester Orchestra’s second album, Mean Everything to Nothing , we take a detailed look at how it was made. The band started in 2004 as an outlet for Andy Hull’s songwriting that he was doing as a teenager growing up in Atlanta, Georgia. Hull connected with bassist Jonathan Corley and drummer Jeremiah Edmond and self-released their first EP in 2005. Keyboardist Chris Freeman joined the band and their debut album, I’m Like a Virgin Losing a Child was released in 2006...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 44 min•Season 4Ep. 9
For the 25th anniversary of American Football (Self-Titled) , we take a detailed look at how it was made. The origins of American Football began with Mike Kinsella’s band Cap’n Jazz, who were hugely influential in the punk scene in the Chicago suburbs. Steve Holmes went to high school with Kinsella and was inspired to learn guitar after watching Cap’n Jazz perform. Kinsella and Holmes became close friends and ended up going to college together and were roommates at the University of Illinois in ...
Dec 04, 2024•2 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In celebration of the new Deluxe Edtion of Long After Dark , the fifth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Tom Petty connected with Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench to form Mudcrutch in Gainesville, Florida in 1970, they ended up relocating to Los Angeles. There they were able to sign a deal with Shelter Records, but Mudcrutch broke up soon after, leaving Petty under contract as a solo artist. Campbell and Tench began playing in a ban...
Oct 30, 2024•1 hr 54 min•Season 4Ep. 7
For the 30th anniversary of The Cranberries’ second album, NO NEED TO ARGUE, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After forming in Limerick, Ireland in 1989, with a different lead singer named Niall Quinn, the band initially took on the name The Cranberry Saw Us. When Quinn decided to leave the band, he recommended Dolores O’Riordan as a potential replacement. O’Riordan wrote lyrics and added vocals to their demo tape and when the band heard what she brought to the songs, they immediately...
Oct 03, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Season 4Ep. 6
For the 30th anniversary of Superchunk’s fourth album, FOOLISH , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Superchunk got their start in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1989, they were becoming known for their catchy punk anthems and busy touring schedule. Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance had been a couple and formed Merge Records initially as a way to release their early singles, while releasing their full-length albums on Matador Records. Around the time of their third album, ON THE MOU...
Sep 19, 2024•1 hr 40 min•Season 4Ep. 5
For the 10th anniversary of Spoon’s 8th full-length album, They Want My Soul , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Spoon concluded their remarkable run of records in the early 2000s with 2010’s Transference , they took a much needed break. During this time, Britt Daniel formed Divine Fits with Dan Boeckner, while Jim Eno produced records for other artists. When Spoon got back together, they added new member Alex Fischel on keyboards and opted to work with producers Joe Chiccarelli ...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Season 4Ep. 4
For the 30th anniversary of Sunny Day Real Estate’s iconic debut album, DIARY, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Dan Hoerner and Nate Mendel began playing music together in Seattle in 1992, they asked William Goldsmith to join on drums, despite the fact that he was already playing in three other bands at the time. When Mendel went on tour with another band, they asked Goldsmith’s high school friend Jeremy Enigk to jam with them. Enigk took over lead vocal duties from Hoerner and ...
Jul 10, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Season 4Ep. 3
For the past three decades, Deerhoof have been one of the most consistently inventive rock bands around. Their seventh album, The Runners Four , remains a fascinating result of a band obsessively recording themselves in their practice space for many months. After Deerhoof first began as a solo harmonica project by Rob Fisk, drummer Greg Saunier joined only one week later. They signed to Kill Rock Stars and soon after Satomi Matsuzaki moved from Tokyo to San Francisco, she became the lead singer....
Jun 04, 2024•2 hr 7 min•Season 4Ep. 2
For the 50th anniversary of Richard and Linda Thompson’s first album as a duo, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Richard helped pioneer British folk rock in the late 1960s with Fairport Convention, he was feeling burnt out and decided to leave the band to focus on writing. In 1972, he married Linda Peters, who had been performing in the folk scene during the same time as Fairport. Richard was under contract with Island Records and released...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Season 4Ep. 1
For the 20th anniversary of the debut album by José González, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After getting his start playing in hardcore bands in Gothenburg, Sweden in the 1990s, José González began studying biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg. While he was a student, he continued playing in multiple bands while recording his solo material on the side. His band Junip was working with a local label called Kakafoni and they agreed to release a 7-inch of the solo songs he was ...
Mar 13, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Season 3Ep. 12
In celebration of the recently unearthed Out of Step Outtakes , we take a detailed look at the making of the original record. After Minor Threat formed in Washington D.C. in 1980, they began to find an audience in the American punk scene. Their first two seven-inch records contained songs written by Ian MacKaye, such as “Straight Edge” and “Out of Step,” which kickstarted the straight edge movement within punk. By 1982, guitarist Lyle Preslar had left for college and Minor Threat temporarily bro...
Feb 20, 2024•1 hr 32 min•Season 3Ep. 11
For the 25th anniversary of the first Bonnie “Prince” Billy album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Will Oldham grew up studying acting but decided to pursue music while he was attending Brown University. In 1992, he released his first single with Drag City under the name Palace Brothers. A series of albums followed under several variations of the Palace name, which reflected Oldham’s unique approach to treating the album, rather than the artist, as the primary entity. In 1998, he had...
Jan 19, 2024•1 hr 38 min•Season 3Ep. 10
For the 35th anniversary of Mudhoney’s first 12-inch record, SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF , we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Mark Arm met Steve Turner at a show in Seattle, they became fast friends and began playing in multiple bands together. They started Green River with Jeff Ament and Alex Shumway and eventually added Stone Gossard on second guitar. Tensions over the musical direction of the band eventually caused Green River to dissolve with Ament and Gossard going on to form Mother Lo...
Dec 13, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 9
For the 20th anniversary of The Shins’ second album, CHUTES TOO NARROW, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After getting their start in Albuquerque in the early nineties as a band called Flake, James Mercer, Neal Langford, Marty Crandall and Jesse Sandoval eventually morphed into The Shins. Mercer had first conceived of The Shins as an outlet for his quieter songs that weren’t working for Flake. Sandoval joined him initially and when Flake called it quits in the late nineties, Langford ...
Nov 08, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 3Ep. 8
For the 30th anniversary of the Melvins’ 1993 classic, HOUDINI, we take a detailed look at how the record was made. Buzz Osborne, Mike Dillard and Matt Lukin had formed the Melvins in 1983 when they were teenagers living in Montesano, Washington. Drummer Dale Crover ended up replacing Dillard early on and has remained with the band to this day. When Osborne and Crover decided to move to San Francisco, Lori Black took over on bass, and they began a series of releases with indie label, Boner Recor...
Oct 04, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 7
