For the first 60 years of the recorded music industry, things sounded awful…the quality of the recordings people had to put up with were terrible…the old 78 rpm records played on gramophones were no match when it came to hearing music live…we just didn’t have the technology to capture audio so that when we listened back, it sounded real…
That began to change ... Show More
Yesterday
The Golden Age of Synths, as told by OMD
This week, we dive into the Golden Age of Synthesizers, the period from the mid‑’70s to the mid‑’80s when synths became smaller, cheaper, and powerful enough to transform popular music forever. From early experimental machines that filled entire rooms, to the groundbreaking work ... Show More
36m 35s
May 23
Introducing "Hostile History"
Since the dawn of time, humanity has been at war. Conflict in one form or another has been part of our existence since we first walked the earth. In this first episode of a four-part series, join military historian David Borys as we travel back in time to Iran, where we chart how ... Show More
45m 16s
Nov 2023
Tune Tech: Distortion, sequencers, Auto-Tune, and more
From electric guitars to samplers to drum machines and beyond, the music we love is only possible thanks to the technology used to create it. In many ways, the history of popular music is really a history of technological innovation. In this episode, we partnered with BandLab to ... Show More
25m 33s
Apr 2024
439. Disco: Sex and Race in Seventies America
Music for sex, dancing, and watching the straight world go by…
The explosion of Disco provides an extraordinary window into the tumultuous world of the 1970s, with its themes of sex, drugs, race and sexuality. By the start of the 1970s, America was a nation of dystopian gloom. ... Show More
59m 21s