The Music Book Podcast

Lior Phillips, author of “South African Popular Music,” discusses the connections between African music, modern music, and the history of apartheid. They share their motivation behind writing the book, the challenges faced, and their extensive research process. The speaker emphasizes the political statement made by creating music in South Africa and the importance of understanding the connection between past and present artists.

On this episode, Marc talks to Jeff Schwartz, author of “Free Jazz,” published in April of 2023. It’s a smart survey of free jazz that’s structured not around individual artists but more around aspects of free jazz, with chapter titles such as "Energy", "Spirituality", and "Self-Determination."As Jeff writes, “Few pieces or artists will fall neatly into one chapter…There is no discography or recommended listening list at the end of this book. The goal is to suggest things to listen for rather than what to listen to.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Jeff!

On this episode, Marc talks with John Szwed, author of “Cosmic Scholar: The Life and Times of Harry Smith,” published in August of 2023. It’s a fascinating and superbly skillful portrait of a man who played so many roles: anthropologist, archivist, musicologist, filmmaker, painter. He's best known for his massively influential Anthology of American Folk Music, but he did so much more. Szwed takes a figure who is so hard to pin down and crafts a real story without losing all the mystery of his life and work.As John writes in his introduction,“How are we to understand the paradox of an artist whose life was almost completely outside the public’s view, always on the edge of calamity–if not death–and yet so influential in so many ways?”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with John Szwed!

Clifford Allen, author of 'Singularity Codex: Matthew Shipp on Rogue Art,' discusses collaborating with Shipp, exploring his releases, analyzing albums, the role of the engineer and recording space, and reflections on creating the book.

On this episode, Marc talks to Audrey Golden, author of “I Thought I Heard You Speak: Woman At Factory Records,” published in June of 2023. It’s a fascinating oral history of the legendary UK record label told exclusively by women involved in at all levels. Golden talked to nearly 100 individuals for her book, from people who ran the office, to people who managed the bands, to people who promoted the music, to people who worked at the label’s nightclub, the Hacienda, and so much more.As she writes in her introduction, “I set out to do two things: to create an innovative historical record of Factory and its cultural influences, and to collate an archive of women’s experiential knowledge in all its vast, varied, and anecdotal complexity.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Audrey!

On this episode, Marc talks to Eric Harvey, author of “ Who Got the Camera? A History of Rap and Reality,” published in October of 2021. It’s a fascinating investigation into how rap music in the 80s and 90s intersected with the rise of reality TV and tabloid news - as Eric once put it, “(when) the news was getting more entertaining…and rap was becoming more informational.”Eric covers so much ground in this book, dissecting some of the best and most important hip-hop of the time while connecting it to so much that was going on politically and culturally throughout those years.We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Eric!

On this episode, Marc talks to Kerry O'Brien and Will Robin, co-editors of “On Minimalism: Documenting a Musical Movement,” published in April of 2023. It's an anthology of writings on the modern musical style known as minimalism, presenting essays, interviews, reviews, and more. There are over 100 documents included in “On Minimalism,” organized chronologically but also grouped under themes such as “Dream Music,” “Altered States,” and “Gurus and Teachers.” As Kerry and Will write in the book’s introduction, “It’s a retelling of the history of musical minimalism - a revisionist history…Who was there? What did it sound like? How was it described? And what is missing from how it was remembered?”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Kerry and Will!

On this episode, Marc talks to Steve Turner, author of “Mud Ride: A Messy Trip through the Grunge Explosion,” published in June of 2023. Steve is a founding member of Mudhoney, the great Seattle band who helped explode Sub Pop and Grunge with their first single “Touch Me I’m Sick. “Mud Ride” is a memoir of Steve’s own life in music, but also of the Seattle scene in the 90s and beyond, including the moment where Steve was asked to join Nirvana but turned them down because he thought they were already great as a trio.In his introduction, Steve writes, “What I have to offer is an insider’s insight into a time that went from homespun fun to international acclaim in a handful of years. It still seems unreal to me, because it was so unexpected.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Steve!

On this episode, Marc talks with Bill Perrine, author of “Alien Territory: Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music in 1970s San Diego,” published in May of 2023. It’s a fascinating look at so much varied experimental music, much of it centered around the University of California at San Diego, whose archives Bill was able to comb through for unheard gems. Bill highlights familiar figures such as Harry Partch, Pauline Oliveros, and Diamanda Galas, but also lesser known characters like Jim French, Warren Burt, Arthur Frick, and tons more.In his introduction, Bill writes, “I take it as a given that the music is not, and should not be, the sole providence of academics, specialists, or art snobs. It is made by professors at universities as well as punks in trailer parks.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Bill!

On this episode, Marc talks with Lily Hirsch, author of “Can't Stop the Grrrls: Confronting Sexist Labels in Music from Ariana Grande to Yoko Ono,” published in March of 2023. It’s a thorough look at the many ways women artists, including Courtney Love, Britney Spears, and FKA Twigs, have been the target of unfair labels in the media, and how they’ve fought back. As Lily writes in her intro, “By spotlighting the consequences as well as the pervasiveness of this labeling, I hope to create a certain awareness and, in the end, real change.”We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Lily!