My Favorite Album With Jeremy Dylan

Today, Aussie hip-hop king L-Fresh the Lion joins me to discuss the fascinating and emotionally compelling J Cole concept album ‘4 Your Eyez Only’. We delve into how Cole use’s the album to tell the story of a late friend in the guise of a first person narrative, how he intermingles stories from his own life, why the album needs to be listened to in full, Cole’s rare status as a music star who takes his privacy seriously and avoids the tabloids, the crazy true story about J Cole’s home studio being raided by a SWAT team and much more.

Today the brilliant British broadcaster and podcaster Edith Bowman joins me to talk about Midlake’s 2006 cult classic The Trials of Van Occupanther, how it soundtracked her early relationship with her husband, its qualities of instant nostalgia and why she returns to it time and time again, including as a balm during lockdown. Plus, we talk about her experiences with live music during lockdown, who she’s most excited to see next year when touring resumes, the hidden tragedies of the absence of festivals, why she’s bad at saying no to things and her long friendship with friend of the show Drew Pearce.

Today reformed drummer and comedic genius Fred Armisen (Portlandia, SNL, Documentary Now) joins me to discuss the dreamy magic of El Perro Del Mar’s 2008 album From the Valley to the Stars. We talk about how the album became part of his routine at Saturday Night Live, why it inspired him to go out and buy a Hofner bass, how the songs fade in and fade out (and we speculate on the history of fade outs in popular music), his relationship with the artist herself, making a music video for her, why this album is the perfect travelling soundtrack and more. Plus, we make a plan to form the literal biggest band of all time, talk about meeting Paul McCartney, Fred’s issues with music criticism and much more.

Today I’m joined by singer-songwriter Tia Gostelow, on the eve of her new album release, to wax rhapsodic about the 2013 debut LP by friend of the show Melody Pool, ‘The Hurting Scene’. We unpack Melody’s wielding of emotional restraint to create tension, her unaffected skill as a vocalist, her literate lyrics, the emotional impact of songs like ‘Henry’, Tia’s history covering Melody’s songs and how she inspired her songwriting, why Tia makes me feel like an old man and I dig into the archives to revisit a classic conversation with Melody herself about the recording of the album.

On another format-busting episode of MFA, hosts of Light the Fuse podcast Drew Taylor and Charles Hood return to the show to bash out the eternal rivalry in spy movie world - James Bond vs Mission Impossible. Using the enduring James Bond movie formula - from gun barrels to gadgets, leading ladies to leering bad guys, we compare and contrast the two franchises and see where they differ, and more interestingly, how they’ve grown more and more similar through this current century. Plus we speculate about the casting of the next Bond, and instigate an entire new spy movie franchise which could eclipse 007 and Ethan Hunt.

Multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer and one of the best drummers of her generation Stella Mozgawa joins me for a look at the legendary Brian Eno’s final 70s pop masterpiece (before his turn into ambient music) Before and After Science. We delve into the most interesting man in rock’s creative process, how he used the studio as his instrument and enlisted collaborators from Robert Fripp to Phil Collins (and we defend Phil’s legacy), why it’s a good thing that Eno has kept his archival vaults locked, how Warpaint have used Eno’s Oblique Strategies cards in the studio, and why you should always turn down dinner invitations from an EGOT.

Longtime friend of the show and one of my favorite people in the world to talk music with, writer/director/showrunner Brian Koppelman (Billions, Rounders, Ocean’s 13) joins me to talk about Lou Reed’s mid-career classic ‘New York’ album. We talk about how Lou got sober and political simultaneously, the powerful simplicity of the music and the carefully crafter lyrics that Reed agonised over, Brian’s memories of living in NYC when this album was released, how the city looms large over both Lou and Brian’s writing, how Brian has deployed Lou’s songs in his TV series ‘Billions’, Lou’s enduring influence and much more.

Today a friend of the show becomes a subject of it, as emerging singer-songwriter Essie Holt joins me to rave on Megan Washington’s 2010 debut album ‘I Believe You Liar’. We talk about the benefits of discovering artists at live shows, Meg’s iconic ARIAs performance of ‘Sunday Best’, the will in song form ‘Underground’ and whether it holds legal legitimacy, songwriting as therapy, being the victim in your songs, how releasing music has changed over the last ten years and more.

Today, author and broadcaster Stuart Coupe joins me to discuss his new Paul Kelly biography and some of the lesser known tales from Paul’s life and career. We talk about Paul’s early years, why he struggled to be part of a band, the albums that Paul doesn’t want you to hear and why he’s made them unavailable, why Paul is Australia’s answer to Elvis Costello, what it’s like to write a book about someone you used to manage, how Paul went from being sceptical of the book to an enthusiastic contributor and why Paul didn’t mind losing his luxurious hair.

Beatles nerds rejoice again, as synth queen Seja Vogel joins me to delve into the album that brought Paul McCartney back to the toppermost of the poppermost in 1973, 'Band on the Run'. We talk about Paul’s uneven solo trajectory after the Beatles breakup, the volatile story of how the album was made in Lagos (band members quitting, stolen demo tapes, Fela Kuti, etc), Paul’s drumming, the use of synths on the record, covering Let Me Roll It, how McCartney has become the ambassador to Beatledom, our experiences seeing Paul live, our love for Nineteen Hundred and Eight-Five and Mrs Vanderbilt and the song we think should’ve been left off the album.

Legendary Australian filmmaker Bruce Beresford (Tender Mercies, Breaker Morant) joins me to discuss five songs that have influenced and inspired him from throughout his life and career, plus we talk about the process of shaping the music for his classic film Tender Mercies, the challenges of licensing songs for movies, how he approaches working with screenplays and writers as a director and the projects he’s working on now. Bruce’s six songs are: Dick Powell - Lulu’s Back in Town Elizabeth Welch - Yesterday Leonard Cohen - I’m Your Man Tim Carroll - What’ll We Do Til Then? Lizz Wright - Leave Me Standing Alone Willie Nelson - What Was It You Wanted? Willie Nelson - Last Man Standing

Today, Tony-nominated musician and actor Sarah Stiles (Tootsie, Billions, Avenue Q) joins me on the release day of her new EP ‘You Can Ukulele With Me’ to celebrate the wonderful world of Cyndi Lauper. We delve into loving the album as a kid, her intense emotional reaction to seeing Cyndi sing ‘Time After Time’ in person, the real feminist themes of ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun’, Cyndi’s incredible music videos, her vocal influence on Sarah, how Sarah’s album eschews the traps of most actors-turned-musicians and whether some music legends have unknowingly already played their last gig.

Today we’re bringing you the first in a new regular feature on the podcast. Once a month, I’ll be joined by a guest from music, movies, politics, literature or more, but not to discuss their favorite album. These will be compelling conversations about their favorite film, or book, or maybe even important world events. Today, friend of the show, Emmy-winning writer/director Jeff Greenstein (Friends, Will & Grace, Mom, Desperate Housewives) returns to delve into the eerily relevant 1976 Alan J Pakula classic thriller ‘All the President’s Men’, which tells the true story of how Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke open the incredible Watergate scandal and helped bring down President Richard Nixon. We talk about the film’s commitment to truth and authenticity, the blending of real archival footage with actors playing real people, how Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman compare to the real life Woodward and Bernstein, differences between the book and film, the way Deep Throat has ent

Today I’m joined by composer David Hirschfelder (Australia, Strictly Ballroom, Sliding Doors) to take the show’s first cautious steps into the world of jazz fusion, with Weather Report’s 1977 classic ‘Heavy Weather’. After a brief discussion of David’s majestic 80s mullet, we dive into all of it - fusing electronic sounds and rock attitude into celebrations of trad jazz, the surprising hit status of ‘Birdland’, how it inspired David to fuse electronic and acoustic sounds and influenced his scores for films like ‘Strictly Ballroom’, how the album has dated in a positive way, seeing the band live in their heyday and the genius of bass legend Jaco Pastorius.

Long time friend of the show and queen of the sadcore bangers Emma Swift returns to mark release day for new album ‘Blonde on the Tracks’, which features her beautiful interpretations of songs from across Bob Dylan’s vast songbook. We delve into how the project came to be, how each song was chosen, the different challenges in recording obscure and well known Dylan songs, why ‘I Contain Multitudes’ forced her to learn to record at home during lockdown so she could add it to the record, lyrical pronouns and subverting gender norms, how to cast songs for her voice, recording the album in the city where Dylan cut some of his own masterworks and much more. Songs discussed include Queen Jane Approximately, I Contain Multitudes, One Of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later), Simple Twist of Fate, Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands, The Man in Me, Going Going Gone, You’re A Big Girl Now

Guitar icon Joe Satriani joins me to dive into Jimi Hendrix’s magnum opus ‘Electric Ladyland’. Starting with discovering Hendrix through his older sisters back in the late 60s, Joe opens up about what makes the album so special and how its influence has loomed over him for more than fifty years. We discuss how music of the era reflected social upheaval, the progression and maturation of Hendrix’s music leading up to this album, how the album was recorded and how it pushed the technological boundaries of the era, the contributions of guest musicians and engineer Eddie Kramer, the influence Hendrix had on his 60s guitar hero peers and more. Plus, we talk about Joe’s time playing Hendrix’s material live on the Experience Hendrix tour and his philosophy on how to approach the songs and how to avoid doing an impression of his hero.

Grammy-award winning singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist wunderkind Sarah Jarosz joins me to talk about Shawn Colvin’s classic ‘A Few Small Repairs’ album, from discovering it as a prepubescent growing up in Texas to falling in love with the album on a whole new level during an I’m With Her tour a few years ago. We dig into the way the Texas singer-songwriter scene loomed over Sarah as a child, meeting and working with Shawn and other legendary musicians including Paul Simon, the many subtleties in the arrangements throughout the album and how she teamed up with the album’s producer, friend of the show John Leventhal, to make her brilliant new album ‘World on the Ground’.

Note: This interview was recorded before the death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests. This week, TV legend Shawn Ryan (creator of The Shield, SWAT, Timeless and more) takes me back in time 30 years to talk about the debut album by The Beautiful South ‘Welcome to the Beautiful South’. Shawn talks about discovering music in the pre-internet age, the lineage of the Beautiful South in cult heroes The Housemartins, the contradictions between the albums’ sound and lyrical content, the controversial album cover and how the album served as a bizarre soundtrack to the Rodney King police brutality and aftermath in 1991. Plus we talk about how Shawn has used music in his TV projects, discovering new music through his work, the music he loves to write to and why Coldplay earned his respect on The Shield.

Jasmine Rae caps off her release week by joining me to discuss Taking the Long Way, the 2006 album that saw The Chicks rising from the ashes of controversy and persecution to create one of their best records. We dig into the album’s backstory, frontwoman Natalie Maines taking a leading role in the band’s songwriting for the first time, parallels to their new album ‘Gaslighter’, the rock’n’roll collaborators who joined the band on this album, their decision to make the lyrics explicitly personal and specific in a way they never had on previous records and more. Plus, we discuss what it’s like to launch a new record (and play shows) in the midst of the pandemic in Australia, and the precarious nature of planning anything.