The Music Book Podcast

On this episode, Marc talks with Dan Le Roy, author of “Dancing to the Drum Machine: How Electronic Percussion Conquered the World,” published by Bloomsbury in November of 2022. It’s a fascinating look at the winding, surprising history of drum machines, and it covers so many musicians and styles of music, from Raymond Scott to RUN-DMC. As Dan writes in his introduction, "The story of the most high-tech endeavor is still the story of people.” Hope you enjoy Marc's chat with Dan!By the way, if you have any feedback, suggestions, questions, or anything you'd like to say about the Podcast, you can email us at MusicBookPodcast@gmail.com. Thanks!

On this episode, Marc chats with Vashti Bunyan, writer, singer, songwriter, poet, artist, and author of the memoir "Wayward: Just Another Life to Live," released in 2022 on White Rabbit books.  It covers her entire life, with special focus on her 1968 journey across the UK, when she wrote songs that appeared on her 1970 debut album Just Another Diamond Day. Since its reissue in 2000, Bunyan made two more incredible records, and she writes about all of this in a voice very similar to that heard in her enchanting songs. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Vashti Bunyan!

On this episode, Marc chats with Dee Peyok, author of Away From Beloved Lover: A Musical Journey Through Cambodia, published by Granta in January of 2023.  It’s a history of Cambodian music mostly from the 60s and 70s, a travelogue through the country to track down musicians from that time, and a detailing of all the societal upheaval that happened in Cambodia during those decades.  If you ever got into the Cambodian Rocks compilations or the Cambodian Cassette Archives comp on Sublime Frequencies, or are simply curious about Cambodian music, you’re going to love this book!Thanks for checking out Marc's conversation with Dee!

For this episode, Marc chats with Michael Tau, the author of Extreme Music: From Silence to Noise and Everything In Between, published by Feral House in October of 2022. The book delves into all kinds of music that could be called extreme: long music, short music, fast music, loud music, vulgar music, even “disgusting” music, just to name a few. It’s kind of a field guide to all kinds of conceptually committed sounds and releases, structured in a taxonomy that groups artists and records into categories but also tells their stories and the motivations behind why they do such interesting and challenging audio experiments.Hope you enjoy Marc's chat with Michael!

On this episode, Marc talks with Annie Zaleski, author of Duran Duran's Rio, an entry in Bloomsbury's 33.3 series exploring classic albums. The book originally came out in 2021, and about a year later, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of "Rio," a second, larger edition was released with extra material and illustrations.  Annie is a great at telling stories and unearthing information, and her book is so full of details and insight, painting a portrait of a band that was more than just a chart-topping pop act.Hope you enjoy our chat with Annie!

Journalist Kate Molleson discusses her book on radical 20th-century composers, highlighting their exclusion from classical music's standard histories. She explores themes of inclusivity, challenges in writing, and the complexities of historical composers, offering a fresh perspective on classical music.

On our second episode, Marc talks to John Lingan, author of the book “A Song for Everyone: The Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival." John does a great job telling the story of this amazing band, framing it more like a cinematic narrative than an oral history. He puts you right in the middle of the CCR journey, which started slow but flew fast once their career took off.  Hope you enjoy Marc's chat with John!

On the first episode of the Music Book Podcast, Marc talks to Matthew Goody, author of the book “Needles and Plastic: Flying Nun Records 1981-1988." It’s a history of the first seven years of this amazing New Zealand record label, told through chronological entries that cover all of the releases in that span of time. Matthew gets into the details of each record but also tells a story across the book of how this label worked and why it was so important. Enjoy!