Thao & The Get Down Stay Down released the album A Man Alive in March 2016. In this episode, Thao Nguyen breaks down the song “Astonished Man.” Thao talks about working with Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards, who produced the album, and she speaks candidly about her relationship with her estranged father, the subject of the song.

You can buy “Astonished Man” from Thao & The Get Down Stay Down’s album A Man Alive, on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Gilead: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
Read by Phoebe Judge of Criminal.

Iggy Pop is a pioneer of punk rock, whose legendary career began over fifty years ago. In 2015, he began collaborating on music with Joshua Homme, of Queens of the Stone Age. The result was Iggy Pop’s 23rd album, Post Pop Depression. In this episode, Iggy and Josh break down the song “American Valhalla,” and tell the story of how it was shaped by reverb, opera, and the military.

You can buy “American Valhalla,” from Iggy Pop’s album Post Pop Depression, on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Daniel Lopatin has been making experimental electronic music as Oneohtrix Point Never since 2007. In this episode, he takes apart the song “Sticky Drama,” from his 2015 album Garden of Delete. He breaks down how he created artificial voices using software for the vocals, and how he sees his songs as pieces of science fiction.

You can buy “Sticky Drama,” from Oneohtrix Point Never’s album Garden of Delete, on iTunes.

Watch the music video for “Sticky Drama” —

Check out Oneohtrix Point Never on tour: pointnever.com/live.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.