Indie rock band Nada Surf first hit big on college radio in 1996 with their driving, guitar forward song, “Popular.” The band started playing together four years earlier while attending college in Vermont. But they’re perhaps best known as a New York City band, where their lead singer and primary songwriter, Mathew Caws came of age. Caws is known as a vulnerable, and often reflective songwriter who tackles everything from social anxiety to politics in his work. Nada Surf’...
Feb 04, 2025•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jerry Cantrell has been the lead guitarist and songwriter for Alice in Chains since the band formed in 1987. By the mid ‘90s after a run of multi-platinum albums, Alice secured their spot as one of Seattle’s “big four” grunge bands along with Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Nirvana. Legend has it that Alice In Chains’ early whirlwind of commercial success wreaked havoc on the personal and professional lives of the band. In 2002, lead singer Layne Staley overdosed and di...
Jan 28, 2025•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today Justin Richmond has a quick chat with Laura Segura, the Executive Director of MusiCares—a Recording Academy non-profit that's currently offering support to musicians and music professionals affected by the ongoing fires in L.A. MusiCares can provide assistance with costs related to evacuation, relocation, instrument replacement, home damage, medical care, mental health services, and other essential living expenses. For more information or to apply for support, contact MusiCares at&nb...
Jan 22, 2025•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast Coming off the loss of Quincy Jones, Benny Golson, Roy Haynes and Lou Donaldson at the end of 2024, it’s truly a treat to bring you a fresh interview with one of the last musicians of the Bebop era, the saxophone colossus himself, Sonny Rollins. Since we last spoke, a couple interesting artifacts from Rollins life have surfaced: "The Notebooks of Sonny Rollins" and "Rollins in Holland." We discuss those releases, his spirituality and the loss of some of his comrades in 2024. You can hear a...
Jan 21, 2025•57 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast Alejandro Escovedo is a Texas-born singer/songwriter who comes from a rich family of musicians including his niece, Sheila E. Alejandro started out in the pioneering San Francisco punk band the Nuns in 1975. From there he moved to New York, and then eventually settled in Austin where he started playing rootsy rock with bands like Rank and File, as well as The True Believers. In March, Alejandro Escovedo released his latest album, Echo Dancing , a retrospective of his career that spans five decad...
Dec 31, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast 2024 has been a career-defining year for St. Vincent. In April she released her self-produced seventh album, All Born Screaming . Then in November she released the Spanish language version of the same album, called Todos Nacen Gritando , as a tribute to fans she met in Spain and Latin America. The album doesn’t serve to replace the English language version, but instead supplements it brilliantly and provides a renewed listening experience. Of all the St. Vincent projects dating...
Dec 24, 2024•53 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast This week we're sharing an episode from one of Slate's podcasts called Hit Parade. A decade ago, Rolling Stone magazine called 1984 “Pop’s Greatest Year.” A bold statement…but a lot of critics agree. A confluence of factors—the comeback of dance music, the peak of MTV, the Second British Invasion and the emergence of metal and hip-hop—made the radio a great place to be. Join Chris Molanphy in this episode of Slate's Hit Parade as he dissects eight reasons why...
Dec 17, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Conor Oberst's music is dynamic, deeply smart, captivating, funny, and sometimes biting. His extensive catalogue dates back to the early '90s and includes music with Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, the Mystic Valley band, the Faint, Commander Venus, Monsters of Folk, a collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers, and of course his solo material. On today's episode Justin Richmond and Conor Oberst discuss Conor's deep catalogue, and Conor recalls how he got his start by sending valentines to his favorite indi...
Dec 10, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast Hiatus Kaiyote is an incredibly talented group of four Australian musiciansvocalist and guitarist Nai Palm, drummer Perrin Moss, bassist Paul Bender and Simon Mavin on keys. But those arent permanent stations for any of them, they often move between instruments and all contribute to writing some of the most beautiful soulful music of the last decade. Their latest album, Love Heart Cheat Code, came out earlier this year. It's the groups fourth proper album and features some of their strongest son...
Dec 03, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast Today we have Aoife ODonovan on the show who was nominated for two Grammy awards this year: Best Folk Album for her latest release, All My Friends, as well as Best American Roots Song for the albums title track. Aoife is a wonderfully prolific singer and songwriter from the Americana traditionwho also has an academic background, having studied improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music. Her latest album is a gorgeous set of songs inspired by the life and work of suffragist Carrie Cha...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep 139•Transcript available on Metacast Kim Deal is an indie-rock icon. In the mid-80s, she joined The Pixies as the bands original bassist and co-vocalist. After the release of their debut album Come On Pilgrim in 1987, followed by the alt-rock classics Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, Kim took a break from The Pixies to form her own band, The Breeders. With the help of Kims twin sister Kelley on lead guitar, The Breeders released a couple EPs and four studio albums, including the platinum-selling 90s hit, Last Splash . This year after a r...
Nov 19, 2024•49 min•Ep 138•Transcript available on Metacast Soccer Mommy is one of the stand-out singer/songwriters to emerge over the last half decade. She was born Sophia Allison and raised in Nashville, Tennessee where she started playing guitar at six years-old. Sophia started posting her songs on Bandcamp in 2015 under the name Soccer Mommy the summer before moving to New York to study the music business at NYU. Two years later she dropped out after signing her first record deal with Fat Possum. Since then she has released four albums and toured wit...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep 137•Transcript available on Metacast Billy Bragg came up in East LondonBarking, Essex to be exact. It's fitting given the characteristic howl of his vocals. Listening to him these days, its hard not to recall the late-great Joe Strummer or the modern brilliance of Archy Marshall, a.k.a. King Krule. In the mid-80s, a musical era driven by production, Billy Bragg was all about songs. He was one of the great standard bearers of political music carried on from both the folk and punk traditions. On today's episode Bruce Headlam talks to...
Nov 05, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep 136•Transcript available on Metacast We occasionally field emails and DMs from Broken Record listeners telling us who theyd like to hear on the program. The past handful of years, one name has come up more than others: Julian Lage. Now, if youre not part of the converted, not a member of one of his devoted legion of fans that may come as a surprise. But if you get the chance to spend some time with his music after listening to this episode I have one word for you: welcome. Julians path in music has been as unique as his gifts. He p...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast A conversation with Charles Lloyd feels like a veritable interaction with the pages of history. I was continuously surprised throughout my conversation with Charles, along with Don Was, about the depth of his experiencesand the wisdom too. Charles is an inordinately beautiful tenor player from Memphis, Tennessee - who grew up at a time where the region was brimming with talent Elvis Presley, Howlin' Wolf, Junior Parker, Billy Lee Riley, B.B. King and so many more were from there or made their ca...
Oct 24, 2024•2 hr 34 min•Ep 134•Transcript available on Metacast Meshell Ndegeocello doesnt fit neatly into any jazz label - or any label of any kind for that matter. Shes a phenomenal bass player, deep songwriter, beautiful interpreter of song, wonderful band leader and has had one bad ass career. Its fitting that after a circuitous journey through the industry that started as one of the premiere artists on the Madonna helmed Maverick Records in the early 90s, that shes now released two albums on Blue Note Records under Don Was. The first was last years The ...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep 133•Transcript available on Metacast Were continuing our celebration of Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary this week with a conversation with a certified living legend: Ron Carter. For starters Ron Carter was a key member of a group thats on the shortlist for greatest band of all time: The Second Great Miles Davis Quintet featuring Mr. Carter, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and, naturally, Miles Davis. And although many conversations with Ron start and end with that period of his life from 1964 to 1968, at 87 years of...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 132•Transcript available on Metacast Blue Note is one of the first and longest standing institutions of Jazz music. Since its formation in 1939 the label has put out albums by Robert Glasper, Lee Morgan, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Gergory Porter, Bobby McFerrin, and so many more. To celebrate 85 years of music from this iconic label, Justin Richmond and Blue Notes current President Don Was recorded a series of interviews with the labels past present and future: Ron Carter, Meshell Ndegeocello, Charles Lloyd, Julian Lage and toda...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep 131•Transcript available on Metacast We have a two-part episode for you today in honor of the great Stevie Wonder. First we will hear the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Wesley Morris talk about the making of his new Audible original, The Wonder of Stevie . Then, Justin Richmond talks to the pioneering electronic music producer Robert Margouleff, who in 1968 together with Malcolm Cecil, built the world's largest analog synthesizer known as TONTO. Over a four year period, Stevie Wonder worked closely with Robert, Cecil, and TONTO to r...
Oct 10, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast At just 8 years-old, Lainey Wilson announced to her family that she was destined to become a country music star. There were no other musicians in her family to speak offor five generations her people had been farmers in a tiny Northern Louisiana town with the population of 180. After graduating high school, Lainey drove North to Nashville in a camper trailer that she lived in alone for three years. Success did not come easy. In those first three years, Lainey wrote over 300 songs, and it wasnt u...
Oct 08, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 129•Transcript available on Metacast Crowded House had one of the most enduring hits of the 80s with Dont Dream Its Over. The commercial and critical success of that song launched the Australian-New Zealand band and its esteemed Kiwi songwriter, Neil Finn, to pop stardom. The band made three more critically acclaimed albums before breaking up in 96. But over the years the band has come back together at various times to put out new projects including their latest, Gravity Stairs. You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite Crowd...
Oct 01, 2024•1 hr 24 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast Raphael Saadiq is one of the great R&B writers and producers of the last 30 years. He started out fronting and playing bass in the group Tony! Toni! Ton! with his brother DWayne Wiggins on guitar. The Tonys had an amazing four album run from 88 through 1996 with hit singles like "It Never Rains (In Southern California)," "Feels Good," "Anniversary," and "If I Had No Loot." Raphaels also released five solo albums starting with 2002s Instant Vintage . His most recent album, Jimmy Lee, is a col...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast Suki Waterhouse started professional life as a model and actress in the UK. A full-fledged music career mightve seemed far-fetched but she quickly found an authentic voice as a singer-songwriter. And put out some beautiful demos that caught the attention of the legendary Sub Pop label which put out her first album, I Cant Let Go and her latest, Memoir of A Sparklemuffin . Sukis music first started catching on with audiences through TikTok. But her sophomore album wasn't made for social media aud...
Sep 17, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep 126•Transcript available on Metacast This week we're sharing an episode from one of our favorite podcasts, One Song . You'll hear hosts Diallo Riddle and Luxxury tackling Cherub Rock by The Smashing Pumpkins. The guys go deep on the early 90s indie rock scene, band frontman Billy Corgans quest for musical family, and the Pumpkins complicated relationship with the indie rock community. On each episode of One Song friends Diallo Riddle (Emmy-nominated star and creator of HBO Maxs South Side and IFCs Shermans Showcase) and Blake "LUXX...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Madeleine Peyroux is a jazz-inspired singer songwriter who got her start singing in street bands in Paris as a teenager. In 1996, Atlantic Records released Madelines debut album where she covered tunes from the 30s and 40s by artists like Bessie Smith and Billie Holidayand then later she recorded songs by Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. This year Madeleine Peyroux released Lets Walk , her first album of all-original songs co-written with her long-time touring guitar player, Jon Herington. On todays...
Sep 03, 2024•54 min•Ep 125•Transcript available on Metacast Singer, songwriter Remi Wolf burst out of the pandemic like a ray of light, spreading joy with her infectious production, capricious outlook and jaunty hooks. She appeared to come to us fully formed. But Remis been working hard on her craft for the last decade. She started performing with local bands around the Bay Area during high school and she eventually wound up studying music in LA at USC where she met many of the people she still collaborates with. On todays Broken Record, Remi Wolftalks w...
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast Captain Kirk Douglas is the longtime guitarist for The Roots. Over the past 21 years hes seen the group evolve from a touring act, to the house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon , to having their own successful music festival in Philly. All the while continuing to record albums for themselves and others. Between The Roots' many commitments, Kirk has also found time to record a solo project under the name Hundred Watt Heart. His most recent offering New Unknown was recorded in the b...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast While Paul Banks is technically the lead singer of Interpol, he sees himself more as a member of a gang of musicians. Interpol formed in 1997 after lead guitarist Daniel Kessler invited Paulwho was a student at NYU at the timeto watch the band rehearse. In 2002 Interpol released their era defining album, Turn On The Bright Lights, to widespread critical acclaim. At the time they were lumped together with New York Citys emerging indie sleaze movement with bands like The Strokes, and the Yeah Yeah...
Aug 15, 2024•56 min•Ep 122•Transcript available on Metacast Tinashes changing what success in pop music can look like. Back in 2014 her song "2 On" featuring Schoolboy Q hit big on Billboard. With major success looming, Tinashe released projects that missed the charts but gained her a strong, loyal fanbase. In 2019 she left her major label to go independent. And judging from her massive online following today, her fans have stuck behind her. In April, she dropped the highly meme-able track "Nasty" that many are calling the song of the summer. Nasty comes...
Aug 13, 2024•50 min•Ep 121•Transcript available on Metacast True to her Texas roots, Edie Brickell can seemingly find a song anywhereincluding out of thin air. Here It Comes is the new album from Edie and her collaborators, CJ Camerieri and Trever Hagen who are known as Heavy MakeUp. Heavy MakeUp is, of course, only the latest musical iteration for Edie whos found herself ever evolving over her career. From her first hit with the New Bohemians, co-writing their massive 1988 single What I Am, shes never stopped looking for songs. She even spent the better...
Aug 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep 120•Transcript available on Metacast 
