Lost And Sound
Paul Hanford
Lost and Sound is a podcast exploring the most exciting and innovative voices in underground, electronic, and leftfield music worldwide. Hosted by Berlin-based writer Paul Hanford, each episode features in-depth, free-flowing conversations with artists, producers, and pioneers who push music forward in their own unique way.From legendary innovators to emerging mavericks, Paul dives into the intersection of music, creativity, and life, uncovering deep insights into the artistic process. His relaxed, open-ended approach allows guests to express themselves fully, offering an intimate perspective on the minds shaping contemporary sound.Originally launched with support from Arts Council England, Lost and Sound has featured groundbreaking artists including Suzanne Ciani, Peaches, Laurent Garnier, Chilly Gonzales, Sleaford Mods, Nightmares On Wax, Graham Coxon, Saint Etienne, Ellen Allien, A Guy Called Gerald, Jean Michel Jarre, Liars, Blixa Bargeld, Hania Rani, Roman Flügel, Róisín Murphy, Jim O’Rourke, Yann Tiersen, Thurston Moore, Lias Saoudi (Fat White Family), Caterina Barbieri, Rudy Tambala (A.R. Kane), more eaze, Tesfa Williams, Slikback, NikNak, and Alva Noto.Paul Hanford is a writer, broadcaster, and storyteller whose work bridges music, culture, and human connection. His debut book, Coming to Berlin, is available in all good bookshops. Lost and Sound is for listeners passionate about electronic music, experimental sound, and the people redefining what music can be.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Apr 14, 2021 • 1h 8min
Mark Reeder
Fresh up in Lost and Sound today, legendary Brit in Berlin, Mark Reeder. Musician, record producer, label owner, the man who bought Joy Division to Berlin, who pioneered Trance with his MFS label, he’s been an outlier and creative force in the city from post-punk to now, whose story of arriving in Berlin over 40 years ago is vividly chronicled in the amazing doc B-Movie. This is a kind of redux. A really rather short version of this interview appeared in one of the very first episodes of Lost and Sound, the idea was always to share a much longer cut, because the story he tells, of arriving in Berlin in the 70s initially just to buy some records, and how he smuggled cassettes across the border into East Berlin, eventually setting up a punk gig under the noses of the Stasi, needs to be heard in full. Right now, he’s just released SUBVERSIV-DEKADENT, a double album featuring his own tracks, and remixes for the likes of New Order, Yello and Liars. But we recorded this conversation in a cafe on Zossener Strasse, a real cafe with real atmosphere in 2018 on the 1st of May, as the annual street celebrations were kicking off a kilometre away. Get ready to be transported back to the early 80s…MFS Label WebsiteMark ReederTitle music by ESO
Apr 6, 2021 • 60min
Hannah Holland
I had a chat with Hannah Holland - DJ, producer, composer, promoter, label boss. Hannah’s played a key role in London’s alternative and queer club scene since the mid-noughties, firstly as resident at the legendary night Trailer Trash and then with Batty Bass. She’s played everywhere from Panorama Bar to Fabric. Now, not only composing the music for Channel 4’s Adult Material, she’s debuted the krautrock tinged single Midnight Horizon from her new LP.I know Hannah a little bit from when I was living in east London, but havn’t spoken to her for years. We had a fun, open chat reflecting on the energy and freedom of the party scene in East London during the early naughties, her early experiences being super young and going to Goldie’s Metalheadz nights, building up to a 9 hour set at Panorama Bar and levelling up with new work.Title music by ESO
Mar 24, 2021 • 49min
Chilly Gonzales
This week, I had a chat with Chilly Gonzales, the suave all round musical polymath. Where do you start with Chilly? From early rap-infused works where he declared himself the President of the Berlin Underground, to his sublime Solo Piano albums, via collaborating with Daft Punk, Feist and Jarvis Cocker. Then there's running his own music school (The Gonzervtory) to holding the Guinness world record for the longest ever solo performance and of course writing a book about Enya. We got into a flow that took in everything from the hidden genius in Iggy Azalea’s Fancy to the connection between chamber music and bedroom producers. A charming and erudite gent to spend an hour with!Title music by ESO
Mar 16, 2021 • 48min
Ella Zwietnig
I had a chat with Ella Zwietnig, film composer, sound designer, performer and songwriter. I’ve only recently discovered the Austrian artist’s music, and I was really captivated by the sonic soundworld she creates and the incredible things she does with vocal arrangements. We spoke about the shocking lack of female composers getting work in films, how making electronic music is a liberating power and lots more. It was a super fun chat to have and I hope you enjoy listening.www.ellazwietnig.comTitle Music by ESO
Mar 2, 2021 • 46min
Robot Koch
I spoke with composer and producer Robot Koch. His music is a real cyborg mix of natural stuff like strings and high tech immersive 3D elements. He made an album that toured planetariums and in a change of pace, scored the music for the new Christiane F remake Wir Kinder Vom Banhof Zoo. We had a really warm talk about the universe and leaving Berlin for LA, amongst other things.https://www.robotsdontsleep.comTitle music by ESO
Feb 23, 2021 • 46min
Arab Strap
I zoomed across to Scotland to have a chat with the one and only Arab Strap - Aidan Mofat and Malcolm Middleton. About to release their first new album together for over 15 years - As Days Get Dark, I’ve always loved the band’s confessional lyrics, often pre-occupied with sex and hedonism, half sung, half spoken in Aidan’s Falkirk accent, and the atmosphere they conjur up around this. I felt like I was dropping in on two old friends having a good lunchtime natter and I loved it.https://www.arabstrap.scotTitle music by ESO
Feb 16, 2021 • 41min
Büşra Kayıkçı
Fresh up on the new Lost and Sound I connected to Istanbul, to chat with the influential pianist and interior architect Büsra Kayıkçı. Her compositions have a unique way of capturing something in the moment and her social media presence, particularly on instagram has become, I think, a really positive beacon in a world where its still perhaps unusual in the west to see a woman wearing a headscarf in a creative role.I love her sound, the space and emotion she conjures up and I was so fascinated to discover more about how she combines all of her different disciplines, this is what happened one snowy Sunday when we had a chat.
Feb 9, 2021 • 44min
Hania Rani
I had a chat with pianist and composer Hania Rani, whose two beautiful albums so far on the Gondwana label - Esja and last year’s Home to me, feel like the perfect listening for these snowy days.I love the atmosphere she’s able to conjure often with little more than piano and we got into a really nice conversation from Berlin to her home in Warsaw about, amongst other things, finding the things that give creative freedom, releasing sheet music, The Hobbit and pianos as objects.Hania Rani WebsiteTheme music by ESO
Feb 2, 2021 • 49min
Stuart Staples
I had an intimate and honest chat with Stuart Staples, frontman of Tindersticks, who’ve been carving their unique atmospheric music for over thirty years. When I first heard them, I was immediately drawn to this kind of melancholic romanticism that they seem to tap so well into. I’d listen and in my mind picture a group of gentleman musicians that wear good suits and read old paperbacks. On the eve of the release of new LP, Distractions, we had a conversation from his home in France where we discussed the validity of being pretentious, film scoring, recording in lockdown and what drives his creativity.TindersticksTitle music by ESO
Jan 26, 2021 • 45min
Anna Meredith
I had a chat with Anna Meredith, who is the only person I can think of who has been awarded both an MBE and released albums on indie label Moshi Moshi. Mercury nominated Anna has been Composer in Residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and won the 2019 Ivor Novello Composer Award for Innovation. Not only that but was Goldie's mentor on the TV show Classic Goldie and at the same time I find her own LPs bristle with an impossible to define physical voltage . I love her unique approach to music, and we had a revealing and, I think, funny chat that debunks a lot of the romantic perceptions about creativity.http://www.annameredith.comTitle music by ESO
