Talkhouse Podcast

On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Podcast, the creator-star of Hulu’s Ramy, comedian Ramy Youssef, talks with Dina Amer, whose debut feature as writer-director, You Resemble Me, is in theaters now. The film is a lightly fictionalized, emotionally resonant portrait of Hasna Aït Boulahcen, a radicalized Muslim who Amer covered as a journalist in 2015 when Boulahcen was implicated in the Paris terrorist attacks. In an engaging, wide-ranging conversation, Youssef and Amer – fellow Egyptian-Americans who have been friends for years – talk about the personal nature of You Resemble Me, the major deal Dina turned down, Spike Lee’s take on her doing the film her way, casting a “hot” actor as a terrorist, and much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse at talkhouse.com/film. Subscribe now to stay in the loop on future episodes of the Talkhouse Podcast.

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got the Scottish singer and songwriter behind some of the catchiest songs of the past two decades along with the super producer who helped bring those songs into the world: Fran Healy and Nigel Godrich.Healy is the singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter of the band Travis, which really broke big with 1999’s The Man Who, scoring mainstream hits with songs like “Why Does it Always Rain on Me” and “Turn.” They’ve since created a deep catalog that numbers nine albums. But for today’s purposes we’re going to concentrate on 2001’s The Invisible Band, which Travis is giving a belated 20th birthday celebration for at the moment, including a US tour that starts this week. It can be difficult to follow up a massive success like The Man Who, and Travis turned once again to Godrich to help them chart the proper course. It wasn’t the beginning, but rather the continuation of a long and fruitful relationship. Check out “Sing” from The Invisible Band.Godrich, by the time Invisible Band came around, had found massive success as the producer of Radiohead’s OK Computer, and of course he would go on to be the sort of unofficial sixth member of that band—recording all of their albums and even playing music with Thom Yorke in Atoms for Peace. As you’ll hear in this conversation, Godrich had some solid advice for Healy heading into The Invisible Band, though it’s not necessarily advice he would give anymore. Beyond his work with Radiohead and Travis, Godrich has also produced classics by Beck—including Mutations and Sea Change—and Air and Arcade Fire and Roger Waters. The list goes on.In this conversation, the two old friends talk about their state of mind and state of life back when they commenced recording The Invisible Band in Los Angeles. They talk about Godrich’s recent revelatory experience seeing the Pavement reunion tour—he also produced that band’s swan song, Terror Twilight. There’s even a story about a baby goat peeing in a very expensive guitar case. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Fran Healy and Nigel Godrich for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting and social media platforms. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a pair of singer-songwriters who don’t sound much alike, but who’ve traveled similar paths and have similar outlooks on life—oh, and who did a duet earlier this year—Frank Turner and KT Tunstall.Turner is a sort of folk-punk troubadour who’s built an incredible catalog and following over the past couple of decades from his home base in England. Like his hero Tim Barry of Avail or even Billy Bragg before him, Turner infuses truly catchy songs with a punk spirit, and he’s made a career buoyed by the fact that he never stops moving: He’s always on tour—including a recent “50 States in 50 Days” run—and always making new music. Not even the pandemic could stop him, though obviously it slowed down the live performance. During lockdown, Turner recorded his ninth album, a sort of back-to-basics affair called FTHC, which of course stands for Frank Turner Hardcore. Check out “A Wave Across a Bay” from that album, which was written as a tribute to Turner’s late friend, Scott Hutchison of Frightened Rabbit.Also on that album is a song called “Little Life,” which Turner decided after the fact that he’d like to invite someone else to sing on. Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall perhaps wasn’t the most obvious choice, but then again, neither of these folks ever seems to make the obvious choice—and that’s definitely to their credit. Tunstall’s career, which stretches back to indie bands in the early 2000s, definitely started with a more mainstream-leaning trajectory, with BRIT awards and a Grammy nomination, even. But like Turner, Tunstall has a restless spirit, and some big life events not too long ago led her to sell everything she owns, move to Los Angeles, and dive into the world of musicals—where she has also, unsurprisingly, found success. And just last month, she released the final chapter in a trilogy of albums that were meant to convey the themes of “soul, body, and mind.” This one, called Nut—that’d be your mind—is great. Check out “Private Eyes” from that album right here.Turner and Tunstall have a really fun chat here, covering everything from The Clash and Bruce Springsteen to the weirdness of recording a song before you’ve ever played it live. The talk about the touring life a lot, and how that tribe of people have plenty in common, even when it seems like they don’t. They come up with a slogan for Tunstall’s career, and get into the reality of using a tour bus bathroom. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to KT Tunstall and Frank Turner for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow us on your favorite platform, and don’t forget to check out all the other great podcasts in our network and written pieces on this very website. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time! 

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a musician and an actor who also both happen to host their own podcasts—do they let just anybody do that now?—Rhett Miller and Busy Philipps. Miller is best known as frontman and primary songwriter for the Old 97’s, a band that’s celebrating its 30th year together in 2022 and which is at least partly responsible for the phrase “alt-country” coming into existence. But don’t hold Miller responsible for lazy genre tags: He has written literally hundreds of incredible songs that transcend any pigeonhole you might want to shove him in. In addition to a dozen Old 97’s records, he’s also put out eight solo albums, and he tours regularly both on his own and with the 97’s. All that and, like I said, he’s got a podcast: Wheels Off features Miller in conversation with other creative folks, talking about creativity—kinda like the chat you’re about to hear! Before that, check out “Go Through You,” from Rhett Miller’s new solo album The Misfit.You can see why Miller has won some diehard fans, among them actor Busy Philipps, who was introduced to the world via the cult classic TV show Freaks And Geeks back in 1999. (You’ve seen Freaks and Geeks, right? If not, please remedy that immediately.) Philipps went on to a ton of other TV and film roles, everything from ER to Cougar Town to her own chat show to her current gig on the very funny Girls5Eva on Peacock. She’s also built a passionate following by just being herself on the podcast Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best. If you’ve never heard it, you’ll get a little taste of what it’s like in this conversation with her friend Rhett.The two are amazingly all over the place in this chat, talking about everything from why the Target stores in New Jersey are better than those in the big city, about how Philipps is dealing with her pandemic divorce—very well, as it turns out—bad advice received from a genius, Jon Brion, and how much fun it is to read ads for your podcast. I can relate. They also go deep in discussing the genius of Taylor Swift, which results in what may be a Talkhouse Podcast first: real tears captured during an episode. It’s a really great chat between two really charming people. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Busy Philipps and Rhett Miller for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse—and Wheels Off, and Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best—on your favorite podcasting platform. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

This episode originally aired on December 16, 2021.We’ve hosted some incredible Talkhouse Podcast conversations in 2021, and for our final brand-new episode of the year, we’ve got two people responsible for some of the best records of this year: Julien Baker and Aaron Dessner.Baker released her third album, Little Oblivions, back in February, and it’s a doozy. Expanding her sonic palette massively, Baker delivered her powerful, vulnerable songs with much bigger sounds. That might have felt like a gamble, but it paid off massively—she produced it herself and pushed herself into new spaces.Dessner is of course a founding member of the National, with whom he’s played for the past 20+ years. While his main band slowed down over the past couple of years, Dessner has been operating at hyperspeed. He was one of the main co-writers and producers on Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Evermore albums. He won an Album of the Year Grammy for the former, and was nominated for five more Grammys for the latter. He somehow also found time to release a new album with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon under the name Big Red Machine called How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? In addition to loads of guest singers, that record features Dessner on occasional lead vocals.These two have a fantastic conversation about creativity and, specifically, production: Aaron has done a lot of producing for other artists, and Julien is just getting into it. Julien talks about what it’s like to have a full live band backing her, rather than being a quote-unquote masochist and playing alone. They talk about what it was like to be deprived of live audiences for so long, and Aaron gets into how his studio setup has changed over the years. Also, they both know what it’s like when music can make you cry—that’s the kind of thing we love here at Talkhouse. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Julien Baker and Aaron Dessner for having such a wonderful chat. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting service and social media channels--we’re everywhere. This episode was produced by Melissa Kaplan and Keenan Kush, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a pair of singer-songwriters who’ve taken interesting names for what are essentially solo ventures: Kevin Sullivan, aka. Field Medic, and Kristian Matsson, better known as the Tallest Man on Earth. Matsson has been making music as the Tallest Man since about 2006, winning fans both with his largely spare, Bob Dylan-like songs and his incredibly forceful live shows. Though he’s from Sweden, Matsson is definitely influenced by the American folk tradition, especially on his early records, like the classic 2008 debut Shallow Grave. He’s since released a handful of excellent albums, and in this conversation with Kevin Sullivan, he drops some hints about a new one that he’s really excited about to be released in 2023. In the meantime, the Tallest Man on Earth just released his first all-covers album, and though he downplays it a little bit, it’s pretty amazing. It’s called Too Late for Edelweiss, and on it he covers songs written by everyone from Hank Williams to Bon Iver to the National.Kevin Patrick Sullivan, who records under the name Field Medic, has long been known for a pretty Spartan approach to recording: Most of his songs have been made super simply, in the folk tradition but with decidedly modern subject matter. For his upcoming fifth album, which has the deliciously long title grow your hair long if you’re wanting to see something that you can change, Sullivan decided to grow his sonic palette and bring in a producer. His confessional, put–it-all-out-there lyrics are still fully intact, of course. Field Medic will take these songs out for a headlining tour that features a full band this fall—a first for Sullivan. Check out the latest single from the new album, called “I Think About You All The Time.”This is a fun conversation given that these guys don’t know each other, but they’re quick to connect. Tallest Man was clearly an influence on Field Medic’s sound, and we get to hear about a long-ago fan interaction between the two that did not, I repeat did not, involve marijuana. They also chat about finding inspiration when it’s gone missing, about the wonder of the Milli Vanilli story, and about which of them wanted to be Bob Dylan in high school, and which wanted to be Lou Reed. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Kevin Sullivan and Kristian Matsson for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform and social media channel. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a hardcore legend and a fierce Ukrainian bandleader who recently worked on a record together: Walter Schreifels and Eugene Hutz.Hutz is the founder, chief songwriter, and energetic frontman of Gogol Bordello, which has combined elements of punk, folk, Eastern European, Latin, and myriad other types of music for the past 20+ years. It’s a remarkable career that’s taken Hutz from his birthplace, Ukraine, to places as far flung as Vermont, Brazil, and New York’s Lower East Side. He’s also had forays into the film world, collaborated with everybody from Madonna to Primus, and gotten crowds jumping at pretty much every festival you can think of. The war in Ukraine has naturally been on Hutz’s mind, and he’s organized benefits and spoken up loudly about it this past year. At least one song on the brand new Gogol Bordello album addresses it directly. Speaking of that record, Solidartine, and Hutz’s penchant for collaboration, it was produced by Walter Schreifels. Check out “Fire on Ice Floe.”Schreifels isn’t just a producer; in fact, that job is probably like the tenth thing on his impressive resume. He was a pioneer of the New York hardcore scene as a member of both Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits, and from there he went on to sing and play guitar in Quicksand. A restless writer and performer, Schreifels formed half a dozen short-lived projects over the past couple of decades, in addition to reuniting sporadically with his various bands. Quicksand has released two great albums since getting back together in 2012; they’re heading out on a package tour soon with Clutch and Helmet. There’s also a reissue of a great record by another of Schreifels’ short-lived projects, Rival Schools, coming later this year. It’s hard to keep track of everything he does, but well worth the effort.These two NYC pals talk here about the city’s importance and vibe, as well as getting into deeper conversation about the war in Ukraine, how running can help prepare you for being in a punk band, and about how the pandemic might have led people back to hardcore music. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Eugene Hutz and Walter Schreifels for chatting. If you like what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all we have to offer on this very website. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve gathered three guys for a very focused discussion about one of the year’s most exciting horror movies: Ti West, Tyler Bates, and Tim Williams.Ti West is a director who’s made his name with a string of what I guess you’d call indie-horror movies—though I’m not sure that does justice to the kind of auteurist vision he has. With films like The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers, he revealed a truly singular style. He tried his hand at a Western with the wild and wooly In A Valley of Violence in 2016, but returned to his horror roots this year with a pair of movies filmed back to back: X, which came out in March, and its prequel, Pearl, which is just hitting theaters now. For these two movies, which both star Mia Goth, West hooked up with indie powerhouse A24, which as you’ll hear in this chat, made a big bet on these two films—and since this chat took place, have now committed to a third in the franchise. If you like creepy, stylish horror, definitely check them out.A big part of what makes both X and Pearl work is the music, and that’s where the two other guys on this chat come in. Tyler Bates is a composer who’s worked on music for an incredible array of films, from 300 to John Wick to Guardians of the Galaxy. But he knows horror, too, having worked on Rob Zombie’s string of early flicks as well. Bates is also a music producer, having recently done the new Starcrawler album, and he was, briefly, a member of Marilyn Manson. For the more old-fashioned orchestral score for Pearl, he recruited his friend and neighbor Tim Williams, who’s contributed to a ton of great film and TV scores over the past decade as well.This chat among these three gets wonderfully granular about the world of film sound. Pearl is a prequel that takes place in 1918, so West wanted Bates to come up with something very old-school. That meant real orchestrations and the kinds of instruments and musical cues you don’t really hear anymore—and it works remarkably well. As you’ll hear in this conversation, West really thinks like an auteur: He’s concerned with every aspect of his movies, right down to whether the sound of crickets is going to interfere every so slightly with the score. All of that care definitely shows on screen, and you can hear when these guys talk how much they care about getting things just right. Enjoy.Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast, and thanks to Ti West, Tyler Bates, and Tim Williams for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out all the great written pieces on this very site. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time! 

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we have a pair of French electronic music pioneers who recently teamed up alongside a DJ who’s been responsible for some of the most exciting production of the past 20+ years: Braxe and Falcon with A-Trak.Alan Braxe and his cousin Stephane Quem—aka DJ Falcon—are legends of French house music going back decades: Braxe was one-third of the trio Stardust alongside Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter. They famously released just one song in 1998 before splitting up, but “Music Sounds Better With You” is a classic of the genre. Falcon’s biggest claim to fame might also be Daft Punk adjacent: He co-wrote and co-produced their song “Contact,” from 2013’s Random Access Memories. And though they’ve obviously been acquainted forever, Braxe and Falcon only recently came together for a project, and it’s pretty amazing. Their debut EP, Step By Step, includes a killer title track with an appearance by Panda Bear. Braxe and Falcon will make their live debut in November with two U.S. shows, one in New York and another in L.A. Check out “Step by Step” right here.That EP also features a remix by Braxe and Falcon’s old friend DJ A-Trak, a superstar of the electronic world whose resume makes me feel very lazy. As a young guy, he was a championship-level turntablist in his native Canada, which led to a years-long role on stage with Kanye West. His career continued as a headlining DJ and producer in his own right: He’s known both for creating his own sounds and remixing big names. He also runs the vaunted Fool’s Gold label and collaborates with lots of other folks, including Armand Van Helden in Duck Sauce. A-Track’s latest project is a collaborative album with elusive hip-hop icon Cam’ron called U Wasn’t There, which comes out September 23. Check out “All I Really Wanted” from that upcoming record.In this chat, Braxe, Falcon, and A-Trak talk about the sonic intersections of house music and old-school hip-hop, they discuss the ups and downs of the forced Covid break, and there’s a lot of gear talk—which is a whole different thing when you’re talking about samplers and keyboards instead of guitars and pedals. It’s a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for listening to the Talkhouse Podcast and thanks to Braxe, Falcon, and A-Trak for chatting. If you liked what you heard, please follow Talkhouse on your favorite podcasting platform, and check out Talkhouse.com for all kinds of great written features. This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got a conversation between two young performers who are just this week starting a huge tour together: Marcus King and Neal Francis.King is a blues-rock prodigy who, at 26, already has a lifetime of music under his belt—both as leader of the Marcus King Band and, more recently, as a solo artist. Though he wasn’t alive for the 1970s, King clearly has an affinity for that decade, with nods in his music to players like Jimi Hendrix and ZZ Top. He’s earned a huge following over the years, which makes sense since he’s been gigging since his teens. King’s first solo disc, 2020’s El Dorado, earned him a Grammy nomination, and for the brand new Youngblood he once again hooked up with producer Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. It’s a scorcher. Check out a little bit of “Hard Working Man” from Youngblood, from a recent performance on Jimmy Fallon's show.Neal Francis is similarly enamored of 1970s sounds, though he leans more toward the funk and soul sides of things. Francis was in a band in his hometown of Chicago called The Heard, but graduated to more sophisticated sounds as a solo artist: Think Sly Stone and Elton John and you’re on the right track. His latest album for ATO Records is called In Plain Sight, and it was partly inspired by Francis’ time living in a haunted church in Chicago. Check out “Problems” from In Plain Sight right here.What both Marcus and Neal’s records share is a little more seriousness than you might immediately hear in what sounds like party-friendly music. Both have had their bouts with substance issues and messy breakups, and those things make it into their songs. They’re both also really interested in ghosts, as you’ll hear: King isn’t sure whether alcohol made him see a demon, but he’s definitely seen it. They also talk about growing up bluesy, how David Lynch might translate into music, and the time-honored tradition of drawing dicks on dressing room walls. Enjoy.This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan, and the Talkhouse theme is composed and performed by the Range. See you next time!