The film La La Land tells the story of Mia, an aspiring actress played by Emma Stone, and Sebastian, a jazz pianist played by Ryan Gosling, both of them struggling artists in Los Angeles. The musical was written and directed by Damien Chazelle in collaboration with composer Justin Hurwitz. It’s the third film they’ve made together, and the follow-up to the Oscar-winning film Whiplash. In this episode, Justin Hurwitz breaks down a song from the film sung by Emma Stone; it’s called “Audition (The Fools Who Dream).” Plus, some thoughts from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who wrote the lyrics.

This episode is part of a series I’m doing over the next few months, highlighting awards-worthy film music. These awards episodes are presented in partnership with New York Magazine’s site Vulture. For more, go to vulture.com/awards.

Buy “Audition (The Fools Who Dream)” or the entire official soundtrack on iTunes.

La La Land trailer

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

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In 1996, Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow, released his first album, Endtroducing…... It’s been hailed pretty much universally as one of the best albums of the ’90s, and Time Magazine included it in its top 100 albums of all time. It changed hip-hop and electronic music, and helped define the trip-hop genre. Now, for the 20th anniversary of the release, DJ Shadow breaks down the song “Mutual Slump.”

To mark the anniversary, DJ Shadow has released a deluxe box set version of Endtroducing….., which features album outtakes and remixes by artists like Hudson Mohawke, Daedelus, and others. You can order the deluxe version here, and you can also buy the song “Mutual Slump” on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Björk – “Possibly Maybe”
Pugh Rogefeldt – “Love, Love, Love”

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Angel Olsen released her third album, My Woman, in September 2016. It’s been critically acclaimed, including getting named Best New Music on Pitchfork and Best Albums of the Year on NME. In this episode, Angel Olsen takes apart the song “Shut Up Kiss Me.” She breaks down how she recorded it live in the studio with her band, and how she tried things with her voice that she’d never done before.

You can buy “Shut Up Kiss Me” on iTunes or on Bandcamp.

Special thanks to Sonos, who let me conduct my side of the interview from their store in New York while I was on the road.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

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