festnoise | Music & Festivals

When back in March we refused to accept what was happening, and the promise of an Autumn full of festivals was not an option that would calm our cravings for music, now fully embedded in September, no one dares to talk about dates and we can only hope that 2021 will give us back part of what this year has taken from us. Year 2020 has left us speechless, but fortunately not all of us, because in a year of absence of live music, music is more than ever a topic, and music podcasts have a say in this! With options for all tastes, here is an interesting selection of the ones I like the most.

Song Exploder

Song Exploder is a very simple concept driven podcast. A must if you´re interested in how a song is born. Produced and edited by host and creator Hrishikesh Hirway in Los Angeles, Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. Using the isolated, individual tracks from a recording, Hrishikesh asks artists to delve into the specific decisions that went into creating their work. Hrishikesh edits the interviews, removing his side of the conversation and condensing the story to be tightly focused on how the artists brought their songs to life. Guests include Vampire Weekend, U2, Metallica, Blood Orange, Lorde, Yo-Yo Ma, Tame Impala, and more.

Listen to Song Exploder.

Broken Record

Hosted by Justin Richmond with interviews by legendary producer Rick Rubin, author Malcolm Gladwell, and former New York Times editor Bruce Headlam, Broken Records is a fine podcast that has in every episode a member of the team having an in-depth conversation with artists such as Tame Impala or Pharrell Williams.

Listen to Broken Record.

Disgraceland

A hell of a podcast! Murder, infidelity, suicide, arson, addiction, religious cults, drug trafficking. Disgraceland podcast explores the alleged true crime antics and criminal connections of musicians such as Jerry Lee Lewis, the Rolling Stones, XXXTentacion, Cardi B, the Grateful Dead, Tupac, Biggie, Amy Winehouse, Bob Marley, Phil Spector and many more. Disgraceland is a scripted, single voice narrative storytelling podcast that melds music, true crime, history and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not a journalistic podcast. It is an entertainment podcast inspired by true events. If you love true crime and you love music, you will love this award winning podcast.

Listen to Disgraceland.

Rolling Stone Music Now

No doubt any past time was better for the Rolling Stone magazine, however they are trying to adapt as well to this modern times and the writers and editors echoes now the magazine music stories also in the podcast Rolling Stone Music Now. Featuring interviews, conversations and interesting opinions from some of the most respected and influential journalists of the industry.

Listen to Rolling Stone Music Now.

Questlove Supreme

While we see more and more musicians podcasting, Questlove Supreme, conducted by The Roots drummer, is one of the best ones simply because Ahmir Khalib Thompson has an impressive musical knowledge. This fun, irreverent and educational weekly podcast digs deep into the stories of musical legends and cultural icons in a way that only Questlove and Team Supreme can deliver. Each episode is driven by conversation ranging from the guest’s origins (along with a few never-before-revealed secrets to their success) to their life passions and current projects. Previous guests have included Jack White, Usher, Michelle Obama, Chris Rock, Steve Miller, Maya Rudolph, Weird Al and many more.

Listen to Questlove Supreme.

All Songs Considered

Who hasn't been suggested while getting lost in YouTube one of the shows held by Tiny Desk? Exactly, no one. Tiny Desk belongs to NPR, probably the most famous music podcast platform and the main and most acclaimed podcast from NPR is All Songs Considered. Hosted by Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton, the podcast is great to get an edge on what’s happening right now, which albums are dropping and which tracks are popping.

Listen to All Songs Considered.

Switched On Pop

What makes pop songs so catchy? Musicologist Nate Sloan and songwriter Charlie Harding pull back the curtain on how pop hits work their magic on our ears and culture in the Switched On Pop podcast. Easy to listen, always interesting.

Listen to Switched On Pop.

Indiecast

Indiecast is a weekly show from UPROXX Indie Mixtape hosted by music critics Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen (long time music critic of Pitchfork). Every week, Hyden and Cohen discuss the biggest news and names in modern indie. They review new albums, talk about trends, discover new bands and offer you a good perspective of today's indie scene.

Listen to Indiecast.

Sound Opinions

Sound Opinions is definitely one of the oldest running podcasts about music. Hosted by the two very respected Chicago based rock critics Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis, you can find pretty much everything after almost 800 hundred episodes now as you can imagine.

Listen to Sound Opinions.

New York Times Popcast

This Podcast is hosted by jon Caramanica, a pop music critic for The New York Times. The info of this podcast says it covers the latest in popular music criticism, trends and news but it goes way further, and it's a great one to get a good scope of today's situation of music.