This week on KALW's showcase for the best stories from public radio podcasts and independent radio producers...
Thao Nguyen on the podcast Song Exploder produced by HrishikeshHirway, originally aired April 2016.
Each episode of Song Exploder features a musician discussing the different sonic elements of each track layered in one of their songs. The podcast then isolates those tracks while the musician tells the stories of inspiration or sheer dumb luck on how those compositions came to be. In April 2016, Song Exploder host and producer HrishikeshHirway spoke with San Francisco-based musician, songwriter, and bad ass Thao Nguyen, who deconstructed a track from her album “A Man Alive.”
You can find more episodes of Song Exploder by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher, or at the show’s website.
HuellHowser on KCRW’sGuest DJ Project, originally aired June 2011.
In addition to podcasts featuring musicians talking about their own songs, there are also quite a few out there which feature notable folks who aren’t musicians, sharing some of their favorite songs. KCRW’s Guest DJ Project is by far one of the most popular in the genre. Every two weeks they invite famous folks from the realms of TV, film, design, art, and beyond to share a personally selected playlist of songs, and the reasons why they chose that particular mix. The late HuellHowser, former host of the PBS television show California’s Gold stopped into KCRW back in 2011, and brings us this superb mix.
Subscribe to KCRW’sGuest DJ Project to hear more mixes chosen by notable folks like W. Kamau Bell, Ethan Hawke, Maria Bamford, and many, many more.
This week's episode featured music from: Black Mother Super Rainbow, El Chicano, Tosca, and The Carter Family.
If you have a suggestion for a podcast or an audio project we should feature, please drop us a line at thespot@kalw.org.
Tune in next week for another episode of The Spot, only on 91.7 KALW San Francisco.