Music

The THUMP Podcast

Every week, THUMP’s Editor-in-Chief Emilie Friedlander and a panel of guests discuss the people and stories shaping the contemporary club culture and nightlife. Our objective: to pinpoint what it is that we go looking for when go out, and what we find out about ourselves when we get there.

Latest Episodes:

Episode 17: How Radiohead Made Computers OK Jun 30, 2017

Show notes

Radiohead's landmark record 'OK Computer' is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, so we're marking the occasion with a special episode of the THUMP Podcast. Our host Emilie Friedlander is joined by Associate Editor Ezra Marcus and Managing Editor Colin Joyce to discuss how that album sparked the band's long fascination with electronic music, and how their music channels some of Western society's greater anxieties about machines. Also, Colin forgets that 'The King of Limbs' ever happened.

Episode 16: What It Means to Call a Party "Queer" Jun 22, 2017

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We're deep in the midst of a celebration of Pride month and the LGBTQ communities that birthed dance music. So this week's episode digs deep into some of the work we've done highlighting the ways that queer culture intersects with nightlife across America. Host Emilie Friedlander is joined by THUMP contributor Rose Dommu for a discussion of the DJ and promoter's recent op-ed about what it means to call a party "queer." Features Editor Michelle Lhooq, Associate Editor Ezra Marcus, and Managing Editor Colin Joyce also join the cast to chat about LGBTQ nightlife in non-coastal cities as well as gay square dancing—which is totally a thing.

Episode 15: The Weirdest Corners of House Music Jun 15, 2017

Show notes

No music goes better with the humid summer heat than a breezy house track. So as New York rapidly heats up, Associate Editors David Garber and Ezra Marcus and Features Editor Michelle Lhooq join Managing Editor Colin Joyce for a conversation about what's going on in the land of the endless 4/4. We dig into the group of lo-fi house producers who are rapidly moving into more fully realized pieces, a new generation of DJs who are slowly incorporating ambient music into their work, and a few musicians taking grammar of house tracks and turning it into something more strange and surreal.

Episode 14: The Greatest Spectacle in Raging Jun 09, 2017

Show notes

We're continuing our stint in the trenches on the frontlines of festival season this week. Half of the THUMP staff spent some time at Detroit's Movement Festival—the yearly Memorial Day dance music celebration that some have taken to calling "Techno Christmas." Features Editor Michelle Lhooq and Associate Editor Ezra Marcus explain how the festival's non-stop slate of afterparties—both official and under-the-radar—make it electronic music endurance test unlike any other. We also spent some time at one of the weirdest EDM festivals going: the absurd patriotic spectacle of the Speedway, Indiana's Snake Pit, which happens in the infield of the Indy 500 as the race goes on.

Episode 13: Will We Survive Festival Season? May 25, 2017

Show notes

Ah summer, the warm months of tank-topped bros sweating all over you under the dayglo lights of big stages at outdoor EDM shows. Our host Emilie Friedlander and Managing Editor Colin Joyce have just returned from Durham, North Carolina's Moogfest, so we decided to dedicate this episode to the dawning festival season of 2017. After we chat about our experiences at the festival, features Editor Michelle Lhooq joins the cast to talk about a piece we published last week about helping a friend through a bad psychedelic trip, which is always good knowledge to have on hand when you're within spitting distance of a mainstage. Associate Editor Ezra Marcus talks about the qualities that make a "Song of the Summer." And since last month marked the 40th anniversary of Studio 54's opening night, we talk about Nicky Siano's account of the club's troubled first month.

Episode 12: A Roundtable on the Adventurous State of Gay Nightlife May 22, 2017

Show notes

Some of the country's best DJs and promoters were in New York last week for an event put on by Red Bull Music Academy called Trade Show. Representatives from Honey Soundsystem, Honcho, Wrecked, the Carry Nation, The NeedlExchange, and Men's Room all united under one roof. The show was meant to demonstrate the rise of a network of gay parties across the country that prioritize adventurous musical selections running the gamut from disco, to techno, and even more gnarled forms of club music. We figured it'd be a good time to get all of them in one room for a chat, so this week's episode of the THUMP podcast is an overstuffed two-parter on the state of the gay underground. Features editor Michelle Lhooq leads Aaron Clark (Honcho), Baronhawk Poitier (TNX), and aCe (Men's Room) through a discussion of the intersection of partying, politics and inclusivity on the first part. Then after a break, she returns with Jackie House (Honey Soundsystem), Ryan Smith (Wrecked), and Nita Aviance (The Carry Nation) for a talk about the differences between mainstream and underground gay parties. Also there's some real estate given to everyone's favorite party drug...poppers.

Episode 11: The Strange Rise of Flute-Rap and Other Hip-Hop Production Trends May 11, 2017

Show notes

After a week off, we're back with an in-depth episode about hip-hop production. With people like Lil Yachty making songs that sound like M83 and Lil Uzi Vert rapping over beatless ambient tracks, it's hard to talk about the evolution of electronic music without talking about the evolution of rap. Our associate editor Ezra Marcus hosts a discussion between freelance journalist Drew Millard, Noisey Staff Writer Lawrence Burney, and Vice.com Social Editor Trey Smith about young rappers' tastes for strange sounds. Elsewhere, we discuss the experimenters working on the fringes to bridge club music and rap, the handful of producers ruling pop rap, and flutes. It's 2017, so of course we're talking about flutes.

Episode 10: Music's Biggest Day Apr 27, 2017

Show notes

Hey, it's our tenth episode! That's a nice round number. This week, Emilie's brought on our News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado, Managing Editor Colin Joyce, and Social Editor Dillon Riley for a spin through some of this week's dance music news. Anna talks about a piece she's written about the language we use to report on drug deaths at music events—one of the first articles in a series about harm reduction that we'll be running throughout this summer's festival season. Colin gives us a walk through of his cover story on the reclusive producer Cashmere Cat, who's set to release his debut album 9 this Friday. Finally, to celebrate everyone's favorite holiday— Record Store Day—Dillon recounts a stressful trip to a local music megastore, and we discuss the event's continued relevance after nearly a decade in existence.

Episode 9: All About Weed Apr 20, 2017

Show notes

It's Weed Week here at VICE, which means that across all of our sites we're exploring the culture, art, and politics around the green stuff. So we decided to dedicate this THUMP Podcast to delving into its relationship with club culture. Features Editor Michelle Lhooq hosts this week, alongside Associate Editors David Garber and Ezra Marcus, and News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado. They spend some time debating whether weed is a good club drug and what makes for good weed music. David also talks about GRiZ, a dance producer who crafted an award-winning weed strain, and Anna explains the phenomenon of the "Weed Flower Crown," which is apparently a thing now.

Episode 8: A Brief Debate About the Chainsmokers Apr 13, 2017

Show notes

Look, so the most popular dance act in the world released an album last week. They played SNL. You heard their songs on the radio in the grocery store. Whether you like it or not, you can't avoid the Chainsmokers at this point—even if you wanted to—so this week's episode finds our crew of guests puzzling just how this even happened in the first place. Emilie is joined by Associate Editor Ezra Marcus, Managing Editor Colin Joyce, and VICE's Senior Culture Editor Larry Fitzmaurice for a deep dive into both the icky and transcendent sides of Alex Pall and Drew Taggart's wildly successful business endeavor. We give their unlikely origin stories, discuss all the upsetting stuff they've said in interviews, and attempt to determine whether the weaponized nostalgia of their new record Memories...Do Not Open is interesting or just empty.

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