The Thermals originally began as Hutch Harris’s solo recording project. He sang and played all the instruments on the 2003 Thermals record More Parts Per Million. In this episode, Hutch breaks down his lo-fi recording of the song No Culture Icons. The track was later mixed by Chris Walla, who is known best for his work with Death Cab for Cutie, and we’ll hear some thoughts from him as well. I spoke with Hutch in front of a live audience at the XOXO Festival in Portland, Oregon.

Buy “No Culture Icons” on iTunes.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
The song by Elevator to Hell is “Roger and the Hair,” and the song by The Misfits is “Astro Zombies.”

Spoon was formed in 1993 by singer Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno. They’ve released eight albums, including their most recent record, They Want My Soul, which came out in August 2014. In this episode, Jim Eno breaks down the song “Inside Out,” explaining how it went from the original demo to the finished album version, including what other music influenced the recording. Plus, we’ll hear from their co-producer, Dave Fridmann, whose other credits include The Flaming Lips album The Soft Bulletin, and Oracular Spectacular by MGMT.

Buy “Inside Out” on iTunes, or get the album on vinyl.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes
The Dr Dre song is “Still D.R.E.” The Marvin Gaye song is the Rhythm ‘N’ Strings mix of “What’s Going On.”