The Magnetic Fields - Andrew in Drag
24 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Stephin Merritt has fronted the band The Magnetic Fields for over twenty-five years. In this episode...
Joey Bada$$ - Hazeus View
15 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Joey Bada$$ released his debut album on January 20, 2015: his 20th birthday. It hit the Top 5 on the...
American Football - The One With The Tambourine
03 Sep 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The band American Football formed in 1997, and released only one album and an EP before breaking up ...
Best Coast - Feeling Ok
27 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno of the band Best Coast take apart their song "Feel...
HEALTH - Stonefist
18 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The band HEALTH formed in Los Angeles in 2005. Their newest record, Death Magic, came out in 2015. T...
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
10 Aug 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Multi-Love is the title track from the 2015 album by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. In this episode, Ruba...
Thundercat - Them Changes
30 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Thundercat is the alter-ego of bassist and singer-songwriter Stephen Bruner. He’s played bass for ...
Death Cab for Cutie - El Dorado
20 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Death Cab for Cutie released Kintsugi, their 8th album, on March 31, 2015. The song El Dorado, like ...
Sylvan Esso - Coffee
08 Jul 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Sylvan Esso has two members, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, who met while they were both working on ...
U2 - Cedarwood Road
29 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
10 Cedarwood Road is the address of Bono’s childhood home in Dublin. For the U2 song "Cedarwood Ro...
Will Butler - Anna
22 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Will Butler is a member of the band Arcade Fire, and he co-wrote the score for the film Her, which e...
Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones
11 Jun 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Game of Thrones premiered on HBO in April 2011 and became the most watched show in HBO's history. Th...
Brian Tyler - Avengers: Age of Ultron
29 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The title card for Avengers: Age of Ultron comes up twelve minutes into the movie. Against a black b...
tUnE-yArDs - Water Fountain
18 May 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs breaks down "Water Fountain." It's a song that draws i...
My Morning Jacket - Spring (Among the Living)
23 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Jim James is the lead singer of the Grammy-nominated band My Morning Jacket. Since starting in 1998,...
Toro y Moi - Half Dome
14 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Over the past five years, Chaz Bundick, aka Toro y Moi, has made music that's spanned a range of gen...
RJD2 - Games You Can Win (feat. Kenna)
01 Apr 2015
Contributed by Lukas
RJD2 has been making music since 2002. His song "A Beautiful Mine" was turned into the opening credi...
How to Dress Well - Pour Cyril
25 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In an interview with Belgian filmmakers the Dardenne brothers, talking about the kinds of stories th...
White Hinterland - Ring the Bell
13 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
Casey Dienel is a producer, singer, and songwriter who goes by the name White Hinterland. In this ep...
Warpaint - Love Is to Die
03 Mar 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 2013, Warpaint starting working on their sophomore album. They retreated away from their home in ...
Jeremy Zuckerman - The Legend of Korra
20 Feb 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In 2005, Nickelodeon premiered an animated series called Avatar: The Last Airbender, about a young b...
The Long Winters - The Commander Thinks Aloud
30 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart while reentering the earth's atmosphere....
Blonde Redhead - Penultimo
19 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
The band Blonde Redhead formed in 1993. Twenty-one years later, in 2014, the trio released their 9th...
Ghostface Killah - The Battlefield
07 Jan 2015
Contributed by Lukas
In November 2014, Ghostface Killah of the Wu-Tang Clan released his 11th album, called 36 Seasons. A...
The National - Sea of Love
22 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The National formed in 1999. They've released six albums, and have been nominated for a grammy. Thei...
Tycho - Awake
08 Dec 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Tycho is the project of designer-turned-musician Scott Hansen, along with guitarist Zac Brown and dr...
Stars - No One Is Lost
26 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Stars is a band from Toronto, who have been making music together since 2000. Their seventh album wa...
The Books - Smells Like Content
12 Nov 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Before The Books broke up, they released four albums that combined composed music and found sounds....
Julia Holter - Horns Surrounding Me
29 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Julia Holter studied composition, and in the song Horns Surrounding Me, she arranges not only acoust...
Valley Lodge - Go
15 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Hill is a comedian and host of his own podcast which, like Song Exploder, is on the Maximum Fun...
RAC - Let Go (feat. Kele & MNDR)
01 Oct 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Andre Allen Anjos is better known as RAC, a musician who first found success by remixing other peopl...
The Thermals - No Culture Icons
18 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The Thermals originally began as Hutch Harris's solo recording project. He sang and played all the i...
Anamanaguchi - Prom Night
02 Sep 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In addition to guitars, drums, and bass, the band Anamanaguchi makes their music with the 8-bit soun...
Spoon - Inside Out
19 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Spoon was formed in 1993 by singer Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno. They've released eight albums, ...
Brian Reitzell - Watch Dogs
06 Aug 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In May 2014, the video game company Ubisoft released Watch Dogs, about a vigilante hacker in Chicago...
Open Mike Eagle - Dark Comedy Morning Show (feat. Toy Light)
15 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, rapper Open Mike Eagle talks about making the song Dark Comedy Morning Show, along ...
The Microphones - I Want Wind to Blow
01 Jul 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In the fall of 2001, Phil Elverum released the album The Glow Pt 2 on K Records. Pitchfork named it ...
Converge - Dark Horse
19 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The band Converge formed in 1990, when its members were teenagers. They've been making music that li...
Nite Jewel - One Second of Love
02 Jun 2014
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we'll get a deconstructed view of the song One Second of Love by Nite Jewel. I spok...
Garbage - Felt
15 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
The band Garbage formed in 1994 when three guys from Madison Wisconsin — Butch Vig, Steve Marker, ...
Poliça - Smug
01 May 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan Olson is a member of the band Polica. Though he doesn't perform with them live, he put the band...
Loren Bouchard - Bob's Burgers (Theme Song)
15 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Loren Bouchard is the creator of the animated television comedy Bob's Burgers, a series about a fami...
Jeff Beal - House of Cards (Main Title Theme)
01 Apr 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Composer Jeff Beal deconstructs the main title theme music to the Netflix original series House of C...
Daedelus - Experience
17 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Alfred Darlington, better known as Daedelus, takes apart his song Experience. This early track of hi...
Sea Wolf - Kasper
01 Mar 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Alex Brown Church of Sea Wolf breaks down Kasper, a song from the album Old World Romance. He talks ...
Baths - Miasma Sky
14 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Will Wiesenfeld of Baths breaks down his song Miasma Sky, which came out last year on his highly-pra...
YACHT - Plastic Soul
01 Feb 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Claire and Jona of the band YACHT deconstruct their brand new single Plastic Soul, a fun pop song ab...
The Album Leaf - The Outer Banks
15 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf takes apart The Outer Banks, a song he recorded in Iceland with memb...
The Postal Service - The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
01 Jan 2014
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest on Song Exploder is Jimmy Tamborello, aka Dntel, aka one half of The Postal Service ...