Because of music rights restrictions, this episode is no longer available.

The Imitation Game is a biographical film about Alan Turing, a mathematician who pioneered computer science and helped the British government break Nazi codes, but was then later prosecuted by the British government for being gay. Composer Alexandre Desplat created the score, which was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar — his eighth Oscar nomination. In this episode, he breaks down the orchestration of the main theme from the film, which plays during the title sequence.

Here’s Alexandre Desplat conducting the London symphony Orchestra performing The Imitation Game Suite:

Buy “The Imitation Game” on iTunes.

Twitter

Facebook

email

On February 1st, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart while reentering the earth’s atmosphere. John Roderick, singer and songwriter of The Long Winters, wrote “The Commander Thinks Aloud” about that fateful moment. This episode was made from an interview I did with John Roderick in front of a live audience in Seattle, where we discussed how and why he made this song.

Buy “The Commander Thinks Aloud” on iTunes.

Read the profile of the commander and the six other crew members at NASA’s page dedicated to the Columbia. The seven of them were of seven different religious faiths.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
John Roderick also makes podcasts: Roderick on the Line with Merlin Mann, and Roderick’s Rendezvous.

Twitter

Facebook

email

The band Blonde Redhead formed in 1993. Twenty-one years later, in 2014, the trio released their 9th album, and in this episode, they deconstruct Penultimo, a song from that record that caused some dissent between the band members. At the heart of the controversy was the Pitchfactor effect pedal by Eventide, a harmonizer that does a lot, or maybe too much. Coming up, you’ll hear how tricky it was to begin this song, as well as to finish it.

Buy “Penultimo” on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
Fleetwood Mac – Tusk

Twitter

Facebook

email