Steve Reich long ago transcended the ----minimalist---- tag to stand as one of America's greatest and most influential living composers. In this episode, he details the effects that the music of Stravinsky, Perotin, and John Coltrane had on some of his seminal pieces.

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For 25 years, Mimi Parker’s minimalist drumming and angelic voice have helped provide the spine, and the soul, of Low, the brooding trio from Duluth, Minn. Just before the release of their mold-breaking new album, Double Negative, Parker discussed her tough upbringing, discovering music beyond classic rock, and the indie band that launched a thousand other indie bands.

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Colin Newman rewrote the rules of punk with London-based band Wire, and went on to push back the boundaries on creativity and relevance for decades-long rock careers.But Newman has also thrived as a solo artist and producer — and the latter role is what he wanted to talk about in this episode, with three tracks that have shaped his work in the studio.

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Though he emerged from Washington, D.C.’s post punk scene with the band Smart Went Crazy, Chad Clark has expanded his musical palette with Beauty Pill, an omnivorous band that makes the most of his vivid melodies and wry lyrics.In this episode, he discusses Paul Simon, a jazz tragedy, and ----The Story of O.J.----

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Emily Flake went from running her Lulu Eightball comic in altweeklies to drawing cartoons for The New Yorker and publishing books about her experiences with quitting smoking and raising her daughter. In this episode, she talks about the youthful impact of the Descendents, Jawbreaker, and the Replacements.

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Irmin Schmidt and his cohorts in the group Can not only formed one of the central pillars of so-called krautrock, they created a body of work that influenced generations of rock, electronic, and experimental musicians.In this episode, he discusses the three epochal classics that shaped his music.

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Tim Kinsella has made at least two indelible marks on contemporary music—first as frontman of emo hingepoint Cap’n Jazz, then as ringleader of the unpredictable Joan of Arc.In this episode, he talks about formative encounters with Bauhaus, Can, and composer Arnold Dreyblatt.

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Deerhoof has become one of the country’s most unusual and prolific rock bands, and drummer Greg Saunier has been in the driver’s seat the whole time. His ecstatic attack—and his minimal kit—have helped define and distinguish the group, which formed in San Francisco in the mid-1990s. In this episode, he talks about an AM-gold gem, a lost hip-hop classic, and music as medicine.

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Baltimore quartet Horse Lords have become an underground sensation on the back of their trance-inducing polyrhythmic rock attack. In this episode, guitarist Owen Gardner traces his sound back to Africa, to an almost forgotten folk tradition, and to hunting down the avant-garde while growing up in Iowa.

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Susan Alcorn spent years playing her pedal-steel guitar in country bands across Texas. But she has also taken the instrument into less typical territory, applying its sinuous tones to jazz, free improvisation, tango, and her personal blend of all of the above.In this episode, she recalls her seminal encounters with 20th-century composition, free jazz, and a steel-player’s steel player.

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