Song Exploder

By Song Exploder

Music

What's Song Exploder about?

Song Exploder is a podcast where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. Each episode features an artist discussing a song of theirs, breaking down the sounds and ideas that went into the writing and recording. Hosted and produced by Hrishikesh Hirway.

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The Mountain Goats - Cadave...

05.15.2019

John Darnielle has been writing and recording songs as the Mountain Goats since 1991. He’s released 17 studio albums, and also written two books of fiction. In April 2019, the Mountain Goats released the album In League with Dragons, and ...

Song Exploder episodes:

05.15.2019 The Mountain Goats - Cadaver Sniffing Dog John Darnielle has been writing and recording songs as the Mountain Goats since 1991. He’s released 17 studio albums, and also written two books of fiction. In April 2019, the Mountain Goats released the album In League with Dragons, and ...
05.01.2019 The Cranberries - All Over Now The Cranberries formed in Limerick, Ireland in 1989. Singer Dolores O’Riordan joined a year later, and the group went on to become one of the defining bands on the ‘90s, eventually selling over 40 million records worldwide. In January 2018, ...
04.17.2019 Panda Bear - Dolphin Panda Bear is musician Noah Lennox. He’s a founding member of the experimental, genre-defying band Animal Collective, and as a solo artists, he’s released six albums. In February 2019, Panda Bear released the album Buoys, and in this episode, he ...
04.03.2019 Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen Sharon Van Etten is a singer and songwriter who’s put out five albums. She's also an actress—she’s in The OA and Twin Peaks. Her most recent album, Remind Me Tomorrow, came out in January 2019. In this episode, Sharon breaks ...
03.20.2019 Nakhane - New Brighton (feat. Anohni) Nakhane is a singer and songwriter from Johannesburg, South Africa. His first album, Brave Confusion, won the South African Music Award for best alternative album in 2014. He starred in the award-winning film “The Wound,” which was shortlisted for the ...
03.06.2019 Mumford & Sons - Beloved Mumford & Sons are a Grammy-winning band that formed in London in 2007. They’ve put out four albums, and sold millions of copies. Their last three albums have all debuted at number one on the Billboard charts. The most recent ...
02.20.2019 Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street Phoebe Bridgers is a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles. In September 2017, she released her debut album, Stranger in the Alps. One of the breakout songs from that album was “Scott Street,” a song Phoebe cowrote with her drummer, Marshall Vore. ...
02.06.2019 Wonderly - The Daily (Theme) The Daily is a hit podcast from The New York Times, hosted by Michael Barbaro. Every weekday, over 1.7 million people download the show. It launched in February 2017, and in honor of its two-year anniversary, we’re publishing a bonus ...
01.23.2019 Japanese Breakfast - Boyish Japanese Breakfast is the musical project of Michelle Zauner, who’s been making music under that name since 2013. In July 2017, she released her second album, Soft Sounds from Another Planet, to critical acclaim. In this episode, Michelle breaks down ...
01.09.2019 Hozier - Nina Cried Power (feat. Mavis Staples) Andrew Hozier-Byrne is a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Ireland. His debut single from 2013, “Take Me to Church,” was a massive, multi-platinum hit. In September 2018, Hozier released the song “Nina Cried Power,” which features the legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples. ...
12.20.2018 Yo-Yo Ma - Prelude, Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major Yo-Yo Ma is perhaps the most famous and well-loved cellist in the world. He was born in Paris in 1955; his family moved to the U.S. when he was seven. He played for President Kennedy that year. He played at ...
12.13.2018 Reissue: Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Astonished Man Thao Nguyen is taking over as the new host of Song Exploder in 2019. This is a reissue of an episode from 2016 in which she was the guest. Thao & the Get Down Stay Down released the album A ...
12.05.2018 Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way Lindsey Buckingham is a singer-songwriter, a guitarist, and a producer. In 1974, he joined the band Fleetwood Mac, along with Stevie Nicks, his girlfriend at the time. A few year later, in 1977, Fleetwood Mac released the album Rumours, which ...
11.26.2018 Breakmaster Cylinder - Reply All Four years ago, on November 24, 2014, the first episode of the podcast Reply All came out. It’s a podcast about the internet hosted by Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt. And since then, they’ve put out 131 episodes. The show ...
11.19.2018 Empress Of - When I'm With Him Lorely Rodriguez is a singer, songwriter, and producer who goes by the name Empress Of. She’s released two albums, and she’s sung on tracks with Khalid, Blood Orange, and Dirty Projectors. Her first album, Me, was made on her own. ...
11.05.2018 Big Boi - Order of Operations Big Boi is a rapper from Atlanta. When he was a teenager, he and Andre 3000 formed OutKast, and went on to sell over 25 million records and win six Grammys. He’s released three solo albums, including Boomiverse, which came ...
10.26.2018 John Carpenter - Halloween (Theme) In 1978, John Carpenter wrote, directed, and scored the film Halloween. It was made on a $300,000 budget, and ended up grossing over $70 million, making it one of the most successful independent movies ever released. The main theme to ...
10.15.2018 Janelle Monáe - So Afraid Janelle Monáe is an award-winning musician and actress who released her first record in 2007. She’s been nominated for multiple Grammys, and starred in the Oscar films Moonlight and Hidden Figures. In April 2018, she released her third album, Dirty ...
10.04.2018 Cat Power - Woman Chan Marshall is a singer-songwriter who’s been making records under the name Cat Power since 1995. In 2018, she put out her tenth album, Wanderer. It includes this song "Woman," which has Lana Del Rey on backing vocals. In this ...
09.25.2018 Blood Orange - Saint Blood Orange is the project of songwriter and producer Devonté Hynes. He’s produced and co-written songs for artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Solange, HAIM, and ASAP Rocky, among others. He’s been releasing his own music as Blood Orange since 2011. ...
09.19.2018 Reissue: Patrick Carney feat. Ralph Carney - BoJack Horseman (Main Title Theme) Last week, Netflix released the fifth season of BoJack Horseman. I wanted to revisit this episode about the show’s Main Title Theme, which was written by Patrick Carney of The Black Keys, and his uncle, Ralph Carney, who passed away ...
09.05.2018 The Decemberists - Once In My Life The Decemberists are a Grammy-nominated five-piece band from Portland, Oregon. They released their first album in 2001, and since then they’ve put out seven more, including the 2018 album I’ll Be Your Girl. In this episode, singer and guitarist Colin ...
08.29.2018 Reissue: Mitski - Your Best American Girl In honor of Mitski’s new album, “Be the Cowboy,” here’s the episode she did in 2016. — Mitski has been making records since 2012. Her third record, Puberty 2, came out in June 2016 and was critically acclaimed Pitchfork gave ...
08.15.2018 Christine and the Queens - Doesn't Matter Christine and the Queens is a singer, songwriter, and producer from France. Her debut album was first released in 2014 in French, and in 2015, she released an English version of it. It was critically acclaimed and she won the ...
08.01.2018 Neko Case - Last Lion of Albion Neko Case is a singer and songwriter. She’s been nominated for multiple Grammys, and in addition to her own music, she’s a member of the band The New Pornographers. In June 2018, she put out her 7th album, Hell-On, which ...
07.25.2018 Reissue: Courtney Barnett - Depreston Earlier this year, in May 2018, Courtney Barnett released her second album, Tell Me How You Really Feel. And last fall, she and Kurt Vile made an album together. So I thought this would be a good time to go ...
07.18.2018 Action Bronson - The Chairman's Intent Action Bronson is a rapper from Queens who’s been making records since 2011. He also stars as the host of two TV shows about food on Vice’s channel, Viceland. His third album, Blue Chips 7000, came out in 2017, and ...
07.04.2018 Jhené Aiko - Sativa (feat. Swae Lee) Jhené Aiko is a Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter. She’s released three albums so far. In addition to her own records, she’s been a featured guest vocalist on songs by Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Childish Gambino, and many, many others. In 2017, ...
06.28.2018 Reissue: CHVRCHES - Clearest Blue I interviewed the Scottish band CHVRCHES back in March 2016, in Austin, Texas. A few weeks ago, in May 2018, they released a new album called Love is Dead. It features contributions from David Stewart of the Eurythmics, and another ...
06.20.2018 Yo La Tengo - Here You Are Yo La Tengo formed in 1984. The band is made up Ira Kaplan, Georgia Hubley, and James McNew. In March 2018, they released There’s a Riot Going On, their 15th album. They made the record themselves—they recorded it entirely in ...
06.06.2018 Wolf Alice - Don't Delete the Kisses Wolf Alice is a band from North London. Their second album, Visions of a Life, was released in September 2017. In this episode, singer Ellie Rowsell and drummer Joel Amey tell the story of how they made the song “Don’t ...
05.31.2018 Reissue: Kelela - Rewind In November 2015, I interviewed Kelela about her song “Rewind,” from her debut EP, Hallucinogen. Since that EP was released, she's gone on to collaborate on songs with Gorillaz and Solange, and released her first full-length, Take Me Apart, which ...
05.23.2018 Jon Hopkins - Luminous Beings Jon Hopkins is an electronic music producer whose been nominated twice for the UK’s Mercury Prize. Along with his frequent collaborator, Brian Eno, he co-produced Coldplay’s Grammy-award winning album, Viva la Vida. In May 2018, Jon Hopkins released his fifth ...
05.09.2018 Liz Phair - Divorce Song In 1993, Liz Phair released her debut album, Exile in Guyville. It was an instant hit, critically and commercially. It sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Spin and The Village Voice named it album of the year. Soon after, Rolling ...
04.25.2018 Arcade Fire - Put Your Money On Me Arcade Fire is a Grammy-winning six-piece band originally from Montreal. They’ve released five albums, and the last three have all debuted at number one on the charts. In this episode, singer Win Butler takes apart "Put Your Money On Me," ...
04.11.2018 Kimbra - Top of the World Kimbra is a singer from New Zealand. Her first album came out in 2011, and in 2013 she won two Grammys for her collaboration with Gotye, the multiplatinum hit song "Somebody That I Used to Know." In this episode, Kimbra ...
03.28.2018 Jack Johnson - You Can't Control It Jack Johnson is a grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Hawaii. He's had four number one albums on the Billboard charts. In September 2017, he released his seventh album, All the Light Above It Too, and in this episode, Jack Johnson breaks down ...
03.14.2018 Ludwig Göransson - Black Panther Marvel’s Black Panther was released in theaters on February 16, 2018, and in just a few weeks, it made over a billion dollars worldwide. It’s already broken some box office records and it looks like it’s going to break some ...
02.28.2018 Natalie Prass - Short Court Style Natalie Prass released her debut album in 2015. That year, Time Magazine called her an Artist to Watch, Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music, and Stereogum named it one of the Top Albums of the Year. In this episode, ...
02.14.2018 Moses Sumney - Quarrel Moses Sumney is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. His first album, Aromanticism, came out in September 2017, but before that, he’d already worked with an impressive and diverse list of collaborators, from Sufjan Stevens, to Solange, to Karen O ...
01.31.2018 Bleachers - I Miss Those Days Bleachers is the moniker of Jack Antonoff, a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He won two grammy awards as a member of the band fun., and another for his production work on Taylor Swift’s album 1989. He’s also co-written songs with ...
01.17.2018 Julien Baker - Appointments Julien Baker is from Memphis, Tennessee. She released her second album, Turn Out The Lights, in October 2017, on Matador Records. The New York Times called her music "devastating" and Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music. In this episode, ...
01.03.2018 The Roots - It Ain't Fair (feat. Bilal) Drummer Ahmir Thompson, also known as Questlove, and rapper Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, started The Roots when they were in high school in Philadelphia in 1987. Over the last thirty years, the band has released 17 albums. They’ve received ...
12.20.2017 R.E.M - Try Not to Breathe R.E.M. was formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, bassist Mike Mills, guitarist Peter Buck, and drummer Bill Berry. They’ve won three Grammys, and have sold over 85 million records. In 1992, the band released their eighth ...
12.06.2017 Nine Inch Nails - The Lovers Trent Reznor started Nine Inch Nails in 1988. He released eight albums, sold over 20 million records, won two Grammys and was nominated for 11 more. Then, in 2010, Trent Reznor and his longtime collaborator Atticus Ross scored the film ...
11.22.2017 Lin-Manuel Miranda - Almost Like Praying (feat. Artists for Puerto Rico) Lin-Manuel Miranda is a playwright, actor, and songwriter. He’s the creator of the broadway hits Hamilton and In the Heights, and he’s a Tony-award winner, a Grammy winner, an Emmy winner, a Pulitzer Prize winner, and a recipient of the ...
11.08.2017 Rachel Platten - Broken Glass Rachel Platten is a singer and songwriter who’s released four albums, including her 2016 album Wildfire, which went Gold. The lead single from that album, “Fight Song,” was used prominently by Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. For a normally apolitical artist, ...
10.26.2017 Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Stranger Things (Main Title Theme) The show Stranger Things is a Netflix original series. It was first released in July 2016. Season two’s release date: October 27, 2017. After the first season, the show was nominated for 18 Emmys, and won the Emmy for Outstanding ...
10.18.2017 TOKiMONSTA - Bibimbap Los Angeles producer and beatmaker Jennifer Lee released her first album as TOKiMONSTA in 2010. She has released music on Flying Lotus's label Brainfeeder, and has collaborated with Kool Keith and Anderson .Paak, among others. Her newest album, Lune Rouge, ...
09.25.2017 Lorde - Sober Lorde is a Grammy-award winning singer, songwriter, and producer. Her second album, Melodrama, debuted at number one on the charts in June 2017 – five months before her 21st birthday. In this episode, Ella breaks down her song “Sober.” You’ll ...

Older episodes

Song Exploder

What's Song Exploder about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Song Exploder episodes:

The Mountain Goats - Cadaver Sniffing Dog

The Cranberries - All Over Now

Panda Bear - Dolphin

Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

Nakhane - New Brighton (feat. Anohni)

Mumford & Sons - Beloved

Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street

Wonderly - The Daily (Theme)

Japanese Breakfast - Boyish

Hozier - Nina Cried Power (feat. Mavis Staples)

Yo-Yo Ma - Prelude, Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major

Reissue: Thao & The Get Down Stay Down - Astonished Man

Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way

Breakmaster Cylinder - Reply All

Empress Of - When I'm With Him

Big Boi - Order of Operations

John Carpenter - Halloween (Theme)

Janelle Monáe - So Afraid

Cat Power - Woman

Blood Orange - Saint

Reissue: Patrick Carney feat. Ralph Carney - BoJack Horseman (Main Title Theme)

The Decemberists - Once In My Life

Reissue: Mitski - Your Best American Girl

Christine and the Queens - Doesn't Matter

Neko Case - Last Lion of Albion

Reissue: Courtney Barnett - Depreston

Action Bronson - The Chairman's Intent

Jhené Aiko - Sativa (feat. Swae Lee)

Reissue: CHVRCHES - Clearest Blue

Yo La Tengo - Here You Are

Wolf Alice - Don't Delete the Kisses

Reissue: Kelela - Rewind

Jon Hopkins - Luminous Beings

Liz Phair - Divorce Song

Arcade Fire - Put Your Money On Me

Kimbra - Top of the World

Jack Johnson - You Can't Control It

Ludwig Göransson - Black Panther

Natalie Prass - Short Court Style

Moses Sumney - Quarrel

Bleachers - I Miss Those Days

Julien Baker - Appointments

The Roots - It Ain't Fair (feat. Bilal)

R.E.M - Try Not to Breathe

Nine Inch Nails - The Lovers

Lin-Manuel Miranda - Almost Like Praying (feat. Artists for Puerto Rico)

Rachel Platten - Broken Glass

Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein - Stranger Things (Main Title Theme)

TOKiMONSTA - Bibimbap

Lorde - Sober

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