by hrishikesh

Episode 190: The 1975

“The Birthday Party”


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The 1975 are a band from Manchester, England, made up of Matty Healy, Adam Hann, Ross MacDonald, and George Daniel. They started playing music together in 2002, when they were teenagers. Since then, they’ve released four albums, won three Brit awards, and got two Grammy nominations. Their most recent album, Notes on a Conditional Form, came out in May 2020. In this episode, Matty and George break down how they made the song “The Birthday Party.”

You can buy or stream “The Birthday Party” here.


Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
OP-1 synthesizer
John Waugh – saxophonist

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by hrishikesh

Episode 189: Waxahatchee

“Fire”

 

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Katie Crutchfield is a singer and songwriter from Birmingham, Alabama. She’s been making music under the name Waxahatchee since 2010. Her fifth album, Saint Cloud, came out this past March. Pitchfork named it Best New Music, and The Guardian called it the best album of the year so far. In this episode, Katie breaks down how she made the song “Fire.”

You can buy or stream “Fire” here.


Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Brad Cook – producer
Bonny Doon – band
Sonic Ranch – studio

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by hrishikesh

Episode 188: Khruangbin

“So We Won’t Forget”

 

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Khruangbin is a band from Houston, Texas, who first formed in 2010. NME called them the “low key superstars” of psychedelic music. They’ve released three albums. The most recent, which came out in June 2020, is called Mordechai.

In the past, most of Khruangbin’s songs have been instrumental, or if they did have vocals, they’d be minimal. Their new album is different. It features vocals prominently, and in this episode, the three of them explain their philosophy on vocals, and their process on writing lyrics. I spoke to each of them to get their perspective on how they made the song “So We Won’t Forget.”

You can buy or stream “So We Won’t Forget” here.


Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
“Khushi” – Nazia Hassan
Steve Christensen – engineer
Synare drum synthesizer
The NeverEnding Story II

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