Song Exploder

I've been listening to this podcast for over a year now after seeing it listed as one of the best holiday postcasts in the Guardian before our long driving holiday in 2015. It was also showcased in more detail in the Observer.

I took a bunch of unlistened episodes again on holiday this year and have listened through some of my old favourites again. What is so interesting is how widely varied the creative processes are between musicians and bands and how ideas come from the smallest of inspirations and are then honed and crafted. It's particularly interesting to hear how the musical and lyrical elements are developed together.

Here are some of my favourite episodes:

78 Grimes - Kill v. Maim
Interesting insight into the creative process, defining songs as either a kick-drum song or a guitar song. This track gets as much from the drums as possible with 40 layers of drum tracks!

76 Chvrches - Clearest Blue
I just love this band and have been listening to them for a while now. Their Glasto 2016 set was one of my highlights this year. It is interesting to hear their process and the idea of strarting the creative process with a set rules for the band, like a two chord rule and then breaking them.

66 KT Tunstall - Suddenly I see
KT Tunstall is amazing, from her first blow-away performance on Jools Holland using a looper pedal to the way that she plays acoustic guitar. The insight into the development of this track is how her producer identifies that her strong rhythm developed from busking was getting diluted by drummer layering over stock beats. This track is inspired by looking at artists you love.

43 Sylvan Esso - Coffee
I love the use of sound samples including the Little Tikes xylophone.

40 Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones theme
Everyone must have tried playing the catchy riff at some point! It's interesting hearing the development of the track and some of the derivatives including an 8bit version!

24 Tycho - Awake
Love the album, so it was interesting to hear the development process.

17 Anamanaguchi - Prom Night
I particularly liked hearing about the tech use of 8bit Nintendo sounds and the creative process around the use of synthetic vocals

9 Polica - Smug
And another exploration of how particular kit can drive the development of a song.

7 Jeff Beal - House of Cards
How the darkness and gloom was worked into this track to evoke a particular atmosphere.

6 Daedelus - Experience
I can remember listening this podcast at the end of a long drive last year. It only uses acoustic sounds with the interesting accordion riff that eventually  became part of a hip-hop classic!