Fluxpod

AC Newman on songwriting and making The New Pornographers’ Continue As A Guest May 04, 2023

This special edition episode is an interview with Carl Newman, the primary songwriter, singer, and guitarist of The New Pornographers. This conversation is focused on his songwriting process and working with Neko Case and the rest of his bandmates to flesh out his compositions. The band's new record Continue As A Guest is out now, and the band will be touring throughout the year.

The songs featured in this episode are, in order, "Continue As A Guest," "Firework in the Fallen Snow," "The Bleeding Heart Show," "Really Really Light," "Pontius Pilate's Home Movies," "Cat and Mouse with the Light," and "Angelcover."

Will Sheff on his new album Nothing Special Oct 04, 2022

This special episode is a nice long interview with Will Sheff, a musician best known as the songwriter and frontman of Okkervil River. We talk about his new album Nothing Special, which is his first record under his own name, and why he decided to step away from the Okkervil River name. We get into some fairly deep stuff about music and creativity in this conversation; I think you'll enjoy it whether you know Will's music or not. All of the songs in this episode are from Nothing Special except for the first song, which is "Mary On A Wave" by Okkervil River.

Eric Renner Brown on the post-pandemic concert industry Aug 03, 2022

This episode features Billboard journalist Eric Renner Brown, who has spent a lot of the past few years covering the concert industry for Pollstar. We talk about his experience of covering the industry through the chaos of the first phase of the pandemic, and what's been happening since things have mostly resumed in the current phase of the pandemic. If you subscribe to the Fluxblog Patreon you can hear a tangent we went on about the current jam band scene with a focus on Goose, Billy Strings, and Dead and Co. this coming weekend.

Louie from Pop Pantheon Jul 27, 2022

This episode features Louie, the host of the Pop Pantheon podcast. We talk about the show and his history as a DJ and along the way go off on tangents about several pop stars including Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, and Rihanna. If you love pop this episode is for you!

Flopuary Marathon featuring Molly O’Brien Jul 20, 2022

This episode is a marathon of all four episodes of FLOPUARY, a miniseries meditation on the concept of flopping by myself and Molly O'Brien of And Introducing. The miniseries was previously behind the paywall on the Fluxblog Patreon and originally came out in February of this year. We cover a lot of interesting ideas in this one, I'm really proud of it and excited for more people to hear it. In addition to getting deep into philosophical matters we go deep in discussing some specific artists including Madonna, Katy Perry, Elton John, U2, George Michael, and Taylor Swift.

DANPILLED V: Steely Dan chat with Carrie Courogen and Jesse Hawken Jul 13, 2022

Everyone's favorite sporadically produced and confusingly released Steely Dan podcast is back! This time Jesse Hawken and I are joined by the writer Carrie Courogen to talk about recent Dan shows, the whole Aimee Mann thing, a recently unearthed Dan cover of Joni Mitchell, and a bunch of classic songs including "Deacon Blues," "Glamour Profession," "Rikki Don't Lose That Number," "My Old School," and "Green Earrings." We also discussed "Barrytown," but that clip will only be available to Fluxblog Patreon subscribers.

Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone Jul 06, 2022

This episode features Brian Hiatt, the host of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast and one of the most prolific features writers in the history of that magazine. In this conversation we talked about his long career at Rolling Stone, how he approaches talking to some of the most famous people in the world, and changes in what people want from artist and celebrity profiles through the years.

Briana Cheng on A&R for 4AD and B4 Jun 29, 2022

This week’s episode features Briana Cheng, an A&R for 4AD and owner of the artist management company B4. We talk about what she does, how she works with new artists, and how high personal stakes put her in the position to take working in the music industry very seriously from a young age. There’s some clips of songs by artists Briana works with through this episode, here are the titles in the order they are played: Tkay Maidza “Cashmere” Hawa “My Love” 27delly “No Complaints” Velvet Negroni “Wine Green”

Karina Longworth of You Must Remember This Jun 21, 2022

This episode features Karina Longworth, creator and host of the long-running film history podcast You Must Remember This. In this conversation we talk about her current ongoing series Erotic 80s/90s, the formative influence of Madonna, MTV's The Real World, art school, the fallout of the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial, and her approach to curating history.

Nabil Ayers Jun 14, 2022

This episode features Nabil Ayers, president of the Beggars Banquet label group and author of the new memoir My Life in the Sunshine. We talk about the book, which is largely about his complicated relationship with his biological father, the musician Roy Ayers, and also get into his extensive experience in the record industry.

Tom Scharpling Jun 08, 2022

Here's the first episode of a new season of Fluxpod! Tom Scharpling is one of the best broadcasters in the world – he's the host of The Best Show, in which he frequently collaborates with his long-running comedy partner Jon Wurster, and the co-host of Double Threat along with Julie Klausner. This is a long and fun conversation that covers a lot of ground – the challenge of recording the audio book version of his memoir It Never Ends, how he and Jon have worked to keep the Best Show fresh for over 20 years, his relationship with Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young's bodies of work, and being terrified by Michael Stipe when he was a teenager in the early '80s. If you love Tom, this will be a big treat. If you don't know Tom... you're still probably going to have a good time with this one.

New FLUXPOD season coming in June! May 23, 2022

Just checking in to let you know that a new season of Fluxpod will begin in the first week of June with special guest Tom Scharpling. Tune in! Tell people about the show! Check out the Patreon with all-new miniseries for subscribers!

Daniel Ralston on Iron Butterfly and bartending in Malibu Dec 15, 2021

This episode features my old friend Daniel Ralston, who talks a bit about his forthcoming podcast investigating the bizarre disappearance of a former member of Iron Butterfly, and then a lot about his experience as a bartender in Malibu. Along the way we talk about Bob Dylan, California music generally, Paul McCartney, and Oasis.

The guys from __antiart__ on the music of 2021 Dec 07, 2021

This episode features Ryan and Troy from __antiart__, an excellent new music publication that mainly lives on Instagram. We talk about how they got the blog started, discuss Kanye West and Phoebe Bridgers a bit, and then get into some of their favorite records of 2021 including Arca, Japanese Breakfast, Drakeo the Ruler, Tyler the Creator, JPEGMAFIA, and Genesis Uwusu.

Lila Ramani and Bri Aronow from Crumb Nov 30, 2021

This episode features Lila Ramani and Bri Aronow of the band Crumb, who discuss the experience of making their excellent new album Ice Melt before and after the pandemic hit, their methods and creative inspirations, and their decision to self-release all of their music. The Crumb songs featured in this episode are "BNR," "L.A.," and "Balloon," all from Ice Melt.

Danpilled IV: Steely Dan talk with Jesse Hawken Nov 10, 2021

Jesse Hawken of Junk Filter is back for another episode of Danpilled, our sporadically produced Steely Dan series! This episode covers the new live albums plus discussion of the songs "Aja," "Dirty Work," "Razor Boy," "Night by Night," "Your Gold Teeth II," "Everything You Did," "Time Out of Mind," "The Second Arrangement," and "The Goodbye Look."

Douglas Wolk / All of the Marvels Nov 03, 2021

This episode is an interview with arts critic Douglas Wolk, covering his career as a music critic going back to the early 1990s on through his transition to writing mainly about comics. We discuss his new book All of the Marvels, which he wrote after reading virtually everything Marvel Comics has ever published. Come to get a glimpse into the music media culture of the '90s, stay for some very intense discuss of Marvel through the years.

Poptober sample - on U2‘s ”Gone” Oct 31, 2021

This is a segment from my recent POPTOBER miniseries with Chris Conroy in which we discussed U2's maligned and misunderstood 1997 album Pop in great detail. If you'd like to hear the whole series sign up for the Fluxpod Patreon, where you can also find my miniseries on Sonic Youth and Led Zeppelin, with more miniseries to come.

And Introducing recap Riot Fest and Governors Ball 2021 Oct 27, 2021

Recurring guests Molly O'Brien and Chris Wade of And Introducing are back to talk about their recent experiences at two festivals aimed at very different demographics - middle aged rock fans at Riot Fest in Chicago and NYC area teenagers at Governor's Ball in Queens. Artists discussed include Patti Smith, Morrissey, The Smashing Pumpkins, Motion City Soundtrack, Sublime with Rome, Andrew WK, Les Savy Fav, Devo, Machine Gun Kelly, Slipknot, Young Thug, Carly Rae Jepsen, Duck Sauce, and Post Malone.

Ade Blackburn of Clinic Oct 20, 2021

This episode is an interview with Ade Blackburn, the singer of the long-running band Clinic. This conversation gets into a lot of the band's motivations and methods, from the Liverpool group's early classics Internal Wrangler and Walking with Thee on through their new album Fantasy Island.

Sleigh Bells Oct 13, 2021

Fluxpod is back from hiatus with a long conversion with Derek Miller from Sleigh Bells. We talk a lot about their excellent new album Texis and the early days of the band with detours into surfing, Korn, Deftones, INXS, Radiohead, M.I.A., Tyler the Creator, guitars, and moving from Brooklyn to the Hudson Valley.

Zeptember Preview: Black Dog Sep 12, 2021

This is an excerpt from Zeptember, a four part series on the Fluxpod Patreon each week of September in which Sean T. Collins and I go deep on Led Zeppelin and their body of work. This clip is the beginning of Zeptember II, in which we discuss the albums IV, Houses of the Holy, and Physical Graffiti.

Bryan Quinby of Street Fight on the Gathering of the Juggalos and more Aug 25, 2021

This episode features one of my favorite podcast/radio guys Bryan Quinby, the co-host of Street Fight Radio and The P.O.D. Kast. We talk a bit about his experience at this year's Gathering of the Juggalos and then get into a bunch of rock music he's loved over the years including Korn, Radiohead, The Cars, Ty Segall, King Khan & BBQ Show, Type O Negative, and Danzig.

Sam Humphries (unlocked Patreon episode!) Aug 18, 2021

This episode features the comic book writer Sam Humphries and it's basically a freeform "dudes hanging out" episode of the show. We talk about a lot of things including experiences at shows, Prince, U2, Radiohead, Beck, 90s drum and bass, collecting imports, the importance of preserving live venues, and an awful but memorable experience I had at a Steely Dan show in Los Angeles.

Larry Fitzmaurice on pop's new emotionalism Aug 11, 2021

This episode features returning champ Larry Fitzmaurice, the author of the excellent music criticism newsletter Last Donut of the Night. This time around we discuss his recent essay about "pop's new emotionalism" starting around 2017, which serves as a good springboard into some other adjacent topics in music and music writing over the past few years.

Laura June Kirsch on Romantic Lowlife Fantasies Jul 28, 2021

This episode features the photographer Laura June Kirsch, whose forthcoming book Romantic Lowlife Fantasies collects a body of work in which she documented DIY music scenes, musical subcultures, and music festivals from 2008-2016. We talk about her background in photographer, her approach to environmental portraiture, and how photography has changed from her time in art school through the age of Instagram.

Hazel Newlevant on Of Montreal Jul 21, 2021

This episode features the comics creator Hazel Newlevant and is 100% totally focused on Of Montreal and Kevin Barnes' vibrant, fun, and extremely emotional body of work. We get into a little bit of almost all the major Of Montreal records, with a particular focus on Skeletal Lamping.

Jill Krajewski on Halsey x NIN, Jack Antonoff, U2, Foo Fighters Jul 14, 2021

This is a hangout episode featuring Jill Krajewski, a music critic and senior social editor for Vice. We talk about Halsey's forthcoming collaboration with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, the abuse allegations against Marilyn Manson and Rhye, St. Vincent, Jack Antonoff, late period U2, and the "Dave Grohl industrial complex."

Danpilled III: Danpilled Summer feat. Jesse Hawken Jul 07, 2021

Here's the third Danpilled episode, originally aired on Jesse Hawken's Junk Filter podcast. In this episode Jesse and I talk about Steely Dan's most summery tunes including "Glamour Profession," "Do It Again," "Bad Sneakers," "King of the World," and "Kid Charlemagne."

Jukebox Jury feat. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13 Jun 30, 2021

This episode is a classic “Jukebox Jury” with Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz and Sad13. We discuss new music by Olivia Rodrigo, Lovejoy, Gus Dapperton, Billie Eilish, Aespa, Vaultboy, Foo Fighters, Bella Poarch, PinkPantheress, Justus Bennetts, and more.

Unlocked: Sean T Collins - The Return Part 2 Jun 16, 2021

Here's the second half of my hangout episode with Sean T. Collins, which was originally only available for Patreon subscribers. We talk about a lot of things in this one, including Primal Scream, Peaches, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Cake, Moby, Deftones, Kenny Rogers, Kiss, The Killers, Benny Mardones, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Live, Helmet, and Hozier. For more premium episodes, including the current Sonic Youth audio essay series, subscribe to the Fluxblog Patreon!

GUIDED BY VOICES feat. Jake Longstreth of Time Crisis Jun 09, 2021

American painter, musician, and internet radio personality Jake Longstreth is here to talk about Robert Pollard and Guided By Voices' body of work from the late '80s through 2004. If you're not really into GBV I promise you this will still be pretty entertaining!

POP X FAST FOOD ROUNDTABLE feat. Molly O'Brien and Rebecca Alter Jun 02, 2021

Molly O'Brien from And Introducing and Rebecca Alter from Vulture join me to discuss the past, present, and future of fast food/pop star collaborations. We talk about BTS, J Balvin, and Travis Scott's meals with McDonald's, Shawn Mendes' Chipotle burrito bowl, and Mariah Carey's cookies, and game out what other musicians and chains should do in the future.

Erin Vanderhoof on Post-Brexit Post-Punk May 12, 2021

Vanity Fair writer Erin Vanderhoof is on the show to chat about the post-Brexit wave of indie bands in the U.K. and Ireland, including Black Midi, Courting, Shame, Yard Act, Legss, etc. You can read my article about the emerging scene – which is largely focused on Squid, Drying Cleaning and Black Country, New Road - over at NPR. Erin and I recorded a whole other episode that gets into Taylor Swift, Steely Dan, Stereolab, Jonas Brothers, rockabilly, and a whole lot of other things that you can hear as a Patreon exclusive.

Julia Gfrörer on The Smashing Pumpkins May 05, 2021

This episode, which is entirely about Billy Corgan and The Smashing Pumpkins from 1991 through 1999, features Julia Gfrörer, the writer and artist of the graphic novels Vision, Laid Waste, and Black Is the Color, and co-host of the podcast Lament Configuration. You can find her t-shirt designs on Threadless and visit her Etsy shop.

All R.E.M. with Jack Shepherd Apr 28, 2021

This week I have Jack Shepherd of the Babysitters Club Club on to go deep on R.E.M. - we discuss 30 songs from all over their catalog, at least one song from each of the 15 albums! If this is not enough for you, there's yet more of this as a bonus episode on the Patreon.

Danpilled II - Jesse Hawken on Steely Dan Apr 21, 2021

This episode is a sequel to my appearance on Jesse Hawken's show Junk Filter in which we went deep on Steely Dan. This time Jesse and I go EVEN DEEPER by focusing entirely on songs, with discussions of 17 classics including "Show Biz Kids," "Deacon Blues," "Chain Lightning," "Josie," "FM," "Pretzel Logic," "Reelin' in the Years," "Black Cow," and "Don't Take Me Alive."

Bonus: Junk Filter #24 - Danpilled Apr 19, 2021

This is an episode of Jesse Hawken's podcast Junk Filter in which I guest starred to spend a little over an hour talking about Steely Dan. I'm featuring it here both to get you to check out Jesse's show and hear me on it, but also because the next episode of Fluxpod will feature Jesse and we're going to go further down the Steely Dan rabbit hole. It's time to get Danpilled!

Eric Weisbard on music criticism, Spin in the 90s, and creating the Pop Conference Apr 14, 2021

This episode features the veteran music critic and academic Eric Weisbard, author of the new book Songbooks: The Literature of American Popular Music. This conversation covers his career from early days in the San Francisco critic scene of the late 80s/early 90s, his work as a key writer at Spin in the mid-90s, his experience co-editing the influential Spin Alternative Record Guide from 1995, his time at the Village Voiceand the EMP museum, creating and running the Pop Conference for many years, and his career as a professor at the University of Alabama. If you're interested in the culture and history of music criticism, you're gonna want to listen to this one.

Greatest Hits Vol.1 Apr 07, 2021

This week's episode is a clip show intended as a starting point for new listeners. If you'd like to get someone into the show, this is something you can pass along! I'd appreciate it if you did.

Here's a run down of the segments in this collection – each clip is around 5-12 minutes or so.

• Heather Havrilesky on Fleetwood Mac
• Nick Sylvester on flubbing a session gathering material for Beyoncé's Lemonade
• Brittany Spanos on Madonna and how pop rejects its own history
• Cates Holderness on the surprising popularity of Hozier on Tumblr
• Molly O'Brien and Chris Wade on party rocking, LMFAO, and uncle magic
• Trevor from Champagne Sharks on how Eminem has aged very badly
• Maria Sherman on how BTS broke big in the US and became the new top boy band
• Rob Sheffield on the similarities of Pavement and Sade
• Sean T. Collins on Guns N' Roses

Chris Ott on online/IRL music communities, gear, and CDs Mar 31, 2021

This episode features Chris Ott, a music writer best known for his Shallow Rewards videos and podcasts and his 33 1/3 book about Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures. We go deep on a lot of topics including music gear, CDs, online music communities, and IRL scenes. Also, be sure to check out the new episode of Junk Filter where I talk about Steely Dan with the host Jesse Hawken!

Heather Havrilesky of Ask Polly rates the advice in classic pop songs Mar 24, 2021

This episode features Heather Havrilesky, the author of the Ask Polly and Ask Molly advice columns as well as the books What If This Were Enough? and How To Be A Person In The World. We spend a bit of time at the top talking about observations on generational differences before jumping into the main event – judging the advice given in various hit songs from the 60s up to the recent past. You might be surprised by some of the judgments but I can guarantee you there’s some solid wisdom in this episode.

Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley on creating Broken Mirror, A Selfie Reflection Mar 17, 2021

This episode features the musicians Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley. In this conversation we talk about their new collaborative album Broken Mirror, A Selfie Reflection, which was inspired by early '70s jazz fusion, specifically Miles Davis' classic On the Corner. We also discuss White's company Spacebomb, which is a studio/label/artist management company mostly servicing artists in Richmond, Virginia, as well as Holley's long history as an artist and musician, and the unusual process that resulted in the new record.

Larry Fitzmaurice on the state of music media Mar 10, 2021

This episode features Larry Fitzmaurice, a veteran music critic who recently launched an excellent newsletter called Last Donut of the Night. This conversation is largely focused on music media - both independent, like Fluxblog and Last Donut, and our experiences working for corporate publications that are now largely driven by metrics and social media trends. We talk about what we like about doing things on our own, and what we think the broader media needs to do to break out of its creative doldrums and move away from the often poisonous cultures of the companies.

PARTY ROCK SYMPOSIUM feat. Molly and Chris from And Introducing Mar 03, 2021

In this special episode of Fluxpod I am joined by Molly O’Brien and Chris Wade from And Introducing for a symposium on the topic of PARTY ROCKING. We define the concept of party rocking, explore its aesthetics, consider its origins, and ponder its social and political implications. We talk a lot about LMFAO – the foremost icons of party rocking – and digress into discussions of the “hot couch guy” archetype and the power of “uncle magic.”

John Norris on MTV News, Britney Spears, 6ix9ine, Marilyn Manson, Michael Jackson Feb 24, 2021

This episode features John Norris, a veteran music journalist who has written for a wide range of publications but is best known for his work at MTV News for two decades. In this conversation we talk about the trajectory of MTV News through his tenure there, discuss recent documentaries about Britney Spears and 6ix9ine, and get into issues of ageism in media. Along the way we digress into anecdotes of some of his firsthand experiences with Spears, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Manson, Courtney Love, Kurt Cobain, and Ariel Pink, as well as being the guy who had to go on TRL to break bad news to the youth of America.

Tatiana Tenreyro on the indie music of 2011 Feb 17, 2021

This episode features AV Club writer Tatiana Tenreyro. We talk about all the songs on a playlist of indie songs from 2011 that she made, including artists such as M83, Fleet Foxes, Florence and the Machine, Girls, The Black Keys, The Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, Vivian Girls, Cold War Kids, Panda Bear, and The Horrors. A stroll down indie memory lane!

Trevor from Champagne Sharks Feb 10, 2021

This episode features Trevor Beaulieu of the podcast Champagne Sharks. This is pretty much a freeform conversation that gets into a lot of different topics – media, comics, blogging, aging with music, record stores, SPIN magazine in the ‘90s, how bad Gen X can be about wokeness, forgettable 2000s rock bands, Eminem's music aging badly, etc. FYI, the majority of the music breaks in this episode are from the new Madlib album Sound Ancestors.

Premium Preview: Abraham Riesman on Malkmus, Beck, and Kiki & Herb Feb 06, 2021

This episode features the journalist Abraham Riesman, author of the new Stan Lee biography True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee. We spend a lot of the full episode talking about the book and his history with Marvel Comics, but in this (rather generous) preview segment we talk about Stephen Malkmus, Beck, Kiki & Herb, and how coming out as bisexual in his early 30s shifted his relationship with some music. For the full episode, hit up the Fluxblog Patreon.

Norman Brannon of Texas Is The Reason and New End Original Feb 03, 2021

This episode features Norman Brannon, who is best known as the guitarist for Texas Is The Reason and New End Original, but has also had careers as a writer, educator, TV presenter, and real estate agent. A lot of this episode is about following a muse through different stages of artistic pursuits and careers, the way being in a successful band when you're young is very similar to being a child star, and the creative ideals that have driven Norman's art. This episode also gets into his struggles with depression, his connection to queer culture, and the ways the recent past is quite similar to the 1980s. You can a lot of find Norman's writing about music, including a three-part essay about his experiences in the emo scene, on Talkhouse.

Unlocked: Rob Sheffield on Pavement, Sade, Britney Spears, Hole, Björk, and more Feb 02, 2021

I'm unlocking this Patreon episode of the show to celebrate Rob Sheffield's birthday today! This is part two of an episode in which Rob and I play a game in which I throw two albums back to back on the new Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums list at him and he riffs on what they have in common. Discussed: The Modern Lovers, Björk, The Weeknd, Britney Spears, Hole, Allman Brothers Band, Pavement, Sade. You can get part one of this episode and lots of other bonus episodes of the show on the Fluxblog Patreon.

Chris Wade of And Introducing and Chapo Trap House on the future of music festivals Jan 27, 2021

This week's guest is Chris Wade, the co-host of And Introducing and the producer of Chapo Trap House. We speculate on what will happen with the festivals planned for later in 2021, and eventually get on the topic of artists who get so big they end up mainly competing with themselves – U2 and Eminem as bad examples, and Beyoncé and Radiohead as best case scenarios.

Premium Preview: Caitlin White on Charli XCX, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Jack Antonoff Jan 23, 2021

This is a preview of a Patreon exclusive episode featuring Caitlin White, the pop critic for Uproxx and the founder of CNMN. We hit on a lot of different topics in this episode, including Frank Ocean, Rostam, Clairo, Haim, Kacey Musgraves, Fiona Apple, and gaming out what a Kanye West comeback scenario might be like down the road. In this segment we discuss Rina Sawayama, Charli XCX, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, and Jack Antonoff. If you'd like to hear the full episode and all the other premium episodes, hit up the Fluxblog Patreon.

Adult Swim's Jason DeMarco Jan 20, 2021

This week’s episode features Jason DeMarco, SVP and Creative Director at Adult Swim. We talk about his very unique career in television, and how shaping the aesthetics of Adult Swim involved exposing artists from labels like Stones Throw, Warp, Brainfeeder, and Ninja Tune to a large basic cable audience, and directly collaborating with hundreds of artists including Flying Lotus, Danger Mouse, MF Doom, and Killer Mike. We also discuss what goes into building a career focused on enabling creativity and giving a platform to artists that can actually get them paid.

Premium Preview: Nick Sylvester on fashions in rap and pop production Jan 16, 2021

This week’s Patreon episode of Fluxpod features the second half of my conversation with Godmode producer Nick Sylvester. Whereas the previous episode focused more on Nick’s career, this episode is more about getting into the details of how music is made and how sounds go in and out of style. This clip goes into detail on snare sounds on rap records and the ubiquity of the Yahama DX7 synthesizer in ‘80s pop.

Maria Sherman on boy bands, K-pop, BTS, Blackpink, One Direction, Iceage Jan 13, 2021

This episode features Maria Sherman, the author of Larger Than Life: A History Of Boy Bands From NKOTB To BTS. We talk about boy bands and K-pop in the broad sense, and go in a bit deeper on the Backstreet Boys/NSYNC rivalry, BTS, One Direction, and Blackpink, who Maria profiled for Elle last year. We also chat about country music and Iceage, as she just recently wrote about the 10th anniversary of their debut album for Jezebel.

Premium Preview: Caitlin White on Ingrid Andress, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Luke Bryan, and more Jan 09, 2021

This week’s premium episode features Caitlin White, the pop critic for Uproxx and the founder of CNMN. We talked enough that I decided to split the conversation into two parts, and in this episode we discuss Ariana Grande, Adele, Taylor Swift, Bob Dylan, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Dua Lipa, Phoebe Bridgers, Guided by Voices, Fiona Apple, Rihanna, SZA, Ingrid Andress, Morgan Wallen, Luke Combs, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Lee Brice. This preview chunk features that last bit with all the country stars.

Nick Sylvester of Godmode on becoming a producer, learning from James Murphy, and developing artists like Shamir, Yaeji, and LoveLeo Jan 06, 2021

This episode features Nick Sylvester, a producer, musician, and songwriter who co-founded the artist development company Godmode. In this conversation we discuss Nick’s transition from critic for Pitchfork and Village Voice to musician in the band Mr. Dream to the evolution of Godmode. We also get into his apprenticeship with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, how working with Shamir was a turning point in his career, an anecdote about a somewhat disastrous experience being called in to potentially contribute to Beyoncé’s Lemonade album, developing LoveLeo from TikTok fame to viral pop star, how his work process has changed through the pandemic, and how we’re both amazed and confounded by Playboi Carti’s music. We actually recorded a lot for this, so a second episode with Nick that goes deeper into technical music stuff will come out next week as a Patreon exclusive.

Premium Preview: What happened with Electronica? Jan 02, 2021

This is a snippet from a premium Patreon episode of Fluxpod. This episode is a Q&A in which I answer a series of questions largely dealing with music trends and "irony" in relationship with making and appreciating music. The question presented here is basically "Why didn't Electronica stay big in the US?" If you want to hear the full episode and every other premium episode, you should hit up the Fluxpod Patreon page.

Ilana Kaplan on Halsey, Phoebe Bridgers, and writing celebrity profiles in a pandemic Dec 30, 2020

The guest in this episode is Ilana Kaplan, a prolific freelance writer who has written many features for many major publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Elle, New York Magazine, Rolling Stone, and GQ. In this episode we talk about how she's gone about writing profiles with major celebrities such as Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton, and Lenny Kravitz during the pandemic, her very positive experiences with Halsey and Phoebe Bridgers, and how Rob Sheffield inspired her to become a writer. Here's a few of the articles that Ilana wrote this year that are mentioned in this episode: • Phoebe Bridgers profile for Vulture • Halsey profile for Vogue • Paris Hilton profile for NY Times • Jessica Simpson profile for LA Times • Hayley Williams profile for LA Times • Die Jim Crow feature for LA Times • Kylie Minogue interview for Elle • How Dance Music Defined a Year When We Couldn’t Dance for Ringer

Premium Preview: Sean T. Collins on Guns N' Roses Dec 26, 2020

This is a segment from a Patreon premium episode featuring Sean T. Collins. Unlike our previous episode together, which was focused on industrial music, this is more of a free-flowing conversation that gets into Tears for Fears, Human League, Roxy Music, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Lenny Kravitz, and in this part of the conversation, Guns N' Roses. If you'd like to hear the full episode and get 4-5 premium episodes every month, you should hit up the Fluxpod Patreon.

Rob Sheridan on creating the visual world of Nine Inch Nails Dec 23, 2020

This episode features Rob Sheridan, who worked as the visual director of Nine Inch Nails for many years. This conversation covers how a teenage Rob came to work for Trent Reznor in the first place, how his collaboration with him evolved through the years, and how he created live visuals for NIN shows that remain many years ahead of the curve. Rob is also a noted glitch artist and is the co-creator of the Vertigo comic High Level with Barnaby Bagenda and Romulo Fajardo. You can find the fan-edited live video of the NIN Lights in the Sky tour that Rob mentioned here, and the High Level soundtrack created by Steven Alexander Ryan and Justin McGrath can be found here.

Premium Preview: Ronen Givony on Pearl Jam Dec 19, 2020

This week's premium episode is an interview with Ronen Givony, the promoter behind the Wordless Music series, about his new book Not For You: Pearl Jam in the Present Tense. If you're not particularly into Pearl Jam this is still worth checking out as we talk a lot about his background in instrumental and modern classical music and creating the Wordless Music series, and the discussion of Pearl Jam is - like the book – really more about the culture of the '90s in general. If you want to hear the full episode, you can subscribe to the premium feed on the Fluxpod Patreon.

Sean T Collins on Industrial: Nine Inch Nails, Ministry, KMFDM, Pigface, Meat Beat Manifesto, and more Dec 16, 2020

This episode features the writer Sean T Collins – the Original Bad Boy of TV Criticism! We recently collaborated on a playlist called Burning Inside: Industrial 1986-1994, which we made as an introduction to and celebration of the genre. This episode is basically a live "liner notes" for the playlist in which we discuss all the major figures and songs featured in the mix.

You can find the playlist on both Spotify and Apple Music.

Cates Holderness on Tumblr's year in music - K-pop, Harry Styles, sea shanties, Hozier, and more Dec 14, 2020

Cates Holderness, the managing editor of Tumblr, is here to break down what music was popular on Tumblr in 2020. Gen Z kids make up a huge portion of Tumblr's user base, so some of what's big there is about what you'd expect – K-pop, Harry Styles, Taylor Swift – while other things, like the huge popularity of sea shanties and the singer-songwriter Hozier, may come as a surprise.

Here's a list of all the songs featured in this episode:

Agust D "Daechwita"
The Mechanisms "Drunk Space Pirate"
The Amazing Devil "The Horror and the Wild"
Hozier "Wasteland, Baby!"
The Longest Johns "Oak & Ash & Thorn"
Harry Styles "Sunflower, Vol. 6"
Orville Peck "Drive Me, Crazy"
K/DA "Pop/Stars"
CNCO "Tan Enamorados"
Blankpink/Selena Gomez "Ice Cream"
BTS "ON"

Premium Preview: Sam Humphries Dec 12, 2020

In this clip from a Patreon exclusive episode of the show the comic book writer Sam Humphries and I talk about some live shows we've seen, including Sam witnessing a Nirvana reunion of sorts and me recalling an awful but very memorable experience seeing Steely Dan in Los Angeles.

Emily Gould on Perfect Tunes and passing music down to children Dec 09, 2020

This episode features internet legend Emily Gould, the author of the new novel Perfect Tunes. We talk about her new book, writing process stuff, and a lot about how people pass music down to children – and specifically, how she's been doing that with her young children.

Premium Preview: Bianca Gracie on R&B Dec 05, 2020

This is a preview of a Patreon exclusive episode featuring the music journalist Bianca Gracie. The full episode goes deep on Mariah Carey, Rihanna, and Bianca's childhood listening to dancehall and reggae, but this clip has us talking about the arbitrary limitations people often put on R&B as a genre. You can hear the full episode by subscribing on Patreon – $5 per month will get you 4-5 extra episodes every month.

No Joy Dec 02, 2020

This episode's guest is Jasamine White-Gluz from No Joy. We mainly talk about her excellent new album Motherhood, but also get into Boards of Canada, Nine Inch Nails, and Madonna as well as some discussion of how arts grants work in Canada.

Premium Preview: Rob Sheffield on Pavement and Sade Nov 28, 2020

This is a segment from a Patreon exclusive episode. Subscribe at Patreon.com/Fluxblog for the full show!

Melanie McClain explains how A&R works in 2020 Nov 25, 2020

This episode features Melanie McClain, an A&R for Secretly Group Publishing. We talk about how her job works, how she got into this role, how she finds new music, and discuss a few artists she works with – Nmamdï, Corbin Canvas, Kenneth Whallum – as well as the Alté scene in Nigeria. I highly recommend Melanie's Spotify playlists, which you can find on her Linktree. She's @melknee on Twitter.

Molly Mary O'Brien on Sad Girls and Merch Nov 23, 2020

This episode features Molly Mary O'Brien of And Introducing and Infinite Cast. We start off with an extended riff on Sad Girls – Phoebe Bridgers, Fiona Apple, Lana Del Rey, Angel Olsen, Mitski – before veering off into a tangent about band merch that includes discussion of Jenny Lewis, Nine Inch Nails, Vampire Weekend, Pom Pom Club, and...the Hamburger Helper mascot. It's a fun convo!

Premium Preview: Rob Sheffield on Destiny's Child and Van Halen Nov 21, 2020

This is a segment from a Patreon exclusive episode. Subscribe at Patreon.com/Fluxblog for the full show!

Ryan Broderick on 100 Gecs Nov 18, 2020

Ryan Broderick is a journalist who specializes in covering internet culture and he's here to talk about 100 Gecs and their roots in various social media subcultures.

Brittany Spanos on Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Doors, and Madonna Nov 13, 2020

This episode's guest is Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone. We start off by talking about Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Doors, but as we go along the topic becomes more about Madonna, the ways legacy artists can market themselves to young audiences, and how the culture of pop music rejects its own past.

Rob Sheffield Nov 09, 2020

This is the first episode of Fluxpod, featuring special guest Rob Sheffield. Rob is the author of five books and has been a mainstay of Rolling Stone since the late '90s. In this conversation we talk about music during the pandemic, Taylor Swift, Stephen Malkmus, Fairport Convention, Kate Bush, Radiohead, Lady Gaga, and more.

Fluxpod #1: Rob Sheffield Nov 09, 2020

This is the first episode of Fluxpod, featuring special guest Rob Sheffield. Rob is the author of five books and has been a mainstay of Rolling Stone since the late '90s. In this conversation we talk about music during the pandemic, Taylor Swift, Stephen Malkmus, Fairport Convention, Kate Bush, Radiohead, Lady Gaga, and more.

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