Arcade Fire is a Grammy­-winning six­-piece band originally from Montreal. They’ve released five albums, and the last three have all debuted at number one on the charts. In this episode, frontman Win Butler takes apart “Put Your Money On Me,” from their 2017 album Everything Now. You’ll hear the orignal demo, and an alternate version of the song that was never finished. The story begins when Win and his wife and bandmate Régine Chassange moved to New Orleans.

Buy or stream “Put Your Money on Me” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Roland TR-808 drum machine
“Sexual Healing” – Marvin Gaye
Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk)
“Around the World” – Daft Punk
“Everybody’s Talkin'” – Harry Nilsson
Will Butler’s Song Exploder episode
Daniel Lanois

Kimbra is a singer from New Zealand. Her first album came out in 2011, and in 2013 she won two Grammys for her collaboration with Gotye, the multiplatinum hit song “Somebody That I Used to Know.” In this episode, Kimbra breaks down a song from 2018 called “Top of the World,” a song she also made in collaboration—this time with artists Skrillex and Diplo.

Buy or stream “Top of the World” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Anderson .Paak
Vic Mensa
John Congleton – Producer
Lars Horntveth
Prophet V Synthesizer

Jack Johnson is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Hawaii. He’s had four number one albums on the Billboard charts. In September 2017, he released his seventh album, All the Light Above It Too, and in this episode, Jack Johnson breaks down one of the songs from that album. It’s about parenting, politics, and the ocean. It’s called “You Can’t Control It.”

Buy or stream “You Can’t Control It” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Zach Gill
Robbie Lackritz
“Funky Drummer” – James Brown
“Wonderwall” – Oasis
OP-1 Synthesizer