Episode 153: Phoebe Bridgers

“Scott Street”

Phoebe Bridgers is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. In September 2017, she released her debut album, Stranger in the Alps. One of the breakout songs from that album was “Scott Street,” a song Phoebe co-wrote with her drummer, Marshall Vore. In this episode, Phoebe and Marshall break down how the song went from an unfinished cassette demo, to the finished album version.

After the full song plays, there’s a bonus segment where Phoebe and I talk about dealing with writer’s block. In the time since Stranger in the Alps came out, Phoebe has released another album, “Punisher,” which came out in June 2020. Plus, she’s part of the bands boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Center. So between all of that, she’s made a lot of music. I feel like I’m constantly plagued by writer’s block, and so partly for my own benefit, I wanted to find out how she manages to be so prolific. You can hear our converstation in this episode, too.

You can buy or stream “Scott Street” here. You can buy the album Strangers in the Alps on vinyl here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Tony Berg – Producer
Optigan
Rob Moose – String player

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Bonus Episode: The Daily from The New York Times

Wonderly – The Daily (Theme)

The Daily is the New York Times’ daily news podcast, hosted by Michael Barbaro. Every day, over 1.7 million people download the show. It launched in February 2017, and in honor of its two-year anniversary, we’re publishing a bonus episode about the show’s theme song, which was composed by Jim Brunberg and Ben Landsverk of Wonderly. This episode was originally published on the New York Times website, in 2018.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Theme to HBO’s Westworld, by composer Ramin Djawadi (hear his Song Exploder episode on Game of Thrones’ theme song here)

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Episode 152: Japanese Breakfast

“Boyish”

Japanese Breakfast is the musical project of Michelle Zauner, who’s been making music under that name since 2013. In July 2017, she released her second album, Soft Sounds from Another Planet, to critical acclaim.

In this episode, Michelle breaks down a song from that album called “Boyish,” along with her co-producer and bandmate Craig Hendrix. We’ll hear the original demo, plus a version Michelle recorded with her old band. And she’ll talk about how her perspective on the song has changed over the years.

Buy or stream “Boyish” here, and stream the music video below. You can buy the album, Soft Sounds from Another Planet on vinyl here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
“Boyish” – Little Big League
“Be My Baby” – The Ronettes
Harpsichord
The Beach Boys

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