Episode 132: Jack Johnson

“You Can’t Control It”

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

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Episode 131: Black Panther

Ludwig Göransson – “Killmonger”

Marvel’s Black Panther was released in theaters on February 16, 2018, and in just a few weeks, it made over a billion dollars worldwide. It’s already broken some box office records and it looks like it’s going to break some more. The score for the film was created by Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson. His film and tv credits include Creed and New Girl. He’s also Grammy-nominated producer, who’s worked most often with rapper Childish Gambino. In this episode, Ludwig takes apart one of his pieces from Black Panther. The track is called “Killmonger,” and it’s the theme for Erik Killmonger, a character played by Michael B. Jordan. Black Panther is set in the fictional African nation of Wakanda, and coming up, Ludwig tells the story of doing research and making recordings in Africa, and how he incorporated that into the score for the film.

(SPOILER ALERT: this episode contains a few spoilers about Black Panther, though not much more than what’s in the trailers. But if you’re someone who, like me, wants to go into a film without any prior knowledge, consider yourself alerted.)

Buy or stream “Killmonger” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Director Ryan Coogler on IMDB
Baaba Maal
Bach – Saint Matthew Passion, Pt. 1
Metro Boomin – No Complaints

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Episode 130: Natalie Prass

“Short Court Style”

Natalie Prass released her debut album in 2015. That year, Time Magazine called her an Artist to Watch, Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music, and Stereogum named it one of the Top Albums of the Year. In this episode, Natalie Prass takes apart a new song form 2018, called “Short Court Style,” her first track to come out since that debut album.

Buy or stream “Short Court Style” here.

Here’s the short film “Oh Jerome, No,” directed by Teddy Blanks and Alex Karpovsky (aka Spielbergs), featuring the original version of “Short Court Style.”

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Bee Gees – “Children of the World”
Chic – “Le Freak”
Producer – Matt White
Cuíca – Brazilian percussion instrument
Yamaha CP70

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