New Books Network Podcast

African American Studies September 30, 2023

Ode to Hip-Hop

50 Albums That Define 50 Years of Trailblazing Music

Kiana Fitzgerald

Hosted by Katrina Anderson

From underground roots to mainstream popularity, hip-hop's influence on music and entertainment around the world has been nothing short of extraordinary. Ode to Hip-Hop chronicles the journey with profiles of …

Music September 26, 2023

Harlem World

How Hip Hop's Super Showdown Changed Music Forever

Jonathan Mael

Hosted by Alex Kuchma

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July 3, 1981, was a pivotal night for the future of America's newest art form: hip hop. In New York's Harlem World Club, the Fantastic Romantic Five and the Cold …

Music September 19, 2023

Living Colour's Time's Up

Kimberly Mack

Hosted by Bradley Morgan

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The iconic Black rock band Living Colour's Time's Up, released in 1990, was recorded in the aftermath of the spectacular critical and commercial success of their debut record Vivid. Time's …

Popular Culture September 15, 2023

Old Town Road

Chris Molanphy

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

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In Old Town Road (Duke University Press, 2023), Chris Molanphy considers Lil Nas X’s debut single as pop artifact, chart phenomenon, and cultural watershed. “Old Town Road” was more than a …

General History September 14, 2023

The Golden Voice

The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen

Gregory Cahill

Hosted by Michael Vann

The Golden Voice: The Ballad of Cambodian Rock's Lost Queen (Life Drawn, 2023) is very well-researched graphic novel based on the life of beloved Cambodian singer Ros Serey Sothea, whose …

Music September 14, 2023

Dreams in Double Time

On Race, Freedom, and Bebop

Jonathan Leal

Hosted by Nathan Smith

In Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop (Duke UP, 2023), Jonathan Leal examines how the musical revolution of bebop opened up new futures for racialized and minoritized …

Music September 5, 2023

Why Mariah Carey Matters

Andrew Chan

Hosted by Latoya Johnson

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Why Mariah Carey Matters (University of Texas Press, 2023) examines the creative and complicated evolution of the musical artist. In the 1990s, Carey perfected blending pop, hip-hop, and R&B and …

East-West Psychology Podcast September 4, 2023

The Philosophy of Music and the Attunement of the Soul

A Discussion with Jack Bagby

Jack Bagby

Hosted by Stephen Julich and Jonathan Kay

In this episode we speak with Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness core faculty, Jack Bagby about his engagement with the philosophy of music, from Socrates, to Schopenhauer, and Bergson. We discuss …

Performing Arts September 3, 2023

Cosmic Scholar

The Life and Times of Harry Smith

John Szwed

Hosted by Andy Boyd

Who was Harry Smith? Was he an anthropologist, a filmmaker, a painter? Was he a charlatan? A genius? Was he a moocher, a schmuck, a bum? As John Szwed's Cosmic Scholar …

Music September 1, 2023

Female-Voice Song and Women's Musical Agency in the Middle Ages

Anna Kathryn Grau and Lisa Colton

Hosted by Áine Palmer

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While there is little doubt that women were active participants in medieval musical culture, their role has nevertheless been variously obfuscated, undermined, and overlooked, in large part because of the …

Music August 31, 2023

Singing the News of Death

Execution Ballads in Europe 1500-1900

Una McIlvenna

Hosted by Morteza Hajizadeh

Across Europe, from the dawn of print until the early twentieth century, the news of crime and criminals' public executions was printed in song form on cheap broadsides and pamphlets …

Music August 31, 2023

Voice Machines

The Castrato, the Cat Piano, and Other Strange Sounds

Bonnie Gordon

Hosted by Nathan Smith

Italian courts and churches began employing castrato singers in the late sixteenth century. By the eighteenth century, the singers occupied a celebrity status on the operatic stage. Constructed through surgical …

Music August 30, 2023

Live Dead

The Grateful Dead, Live Recordings, and the Ideology of Liveness

John Brackett

Hosted by Daniel Moran

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The Grateful Dead were one of the most successful live acts of the rock era. Performing over 2300 shows between 1965 and 1995, the Grateful Dead’s reputation as a …

Korean Studies August 28, 2023

K-pop Dance

Fandoming Yourself on Social Media

Chuyun Oh

Hosted by Leslie Hickman

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K-pop Dance: Fandoming Yourself on Social Media (Routledge, 2022) is about K-pop dance and the evolution and presence of its dance fandom on social media. Based on five years of …

High Theory August 24, 2023

Polyphony

A Discussion with Brian Fairley

Brian Fairley

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu

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In this episode of High Theory, Brian Fairley tells us about Polyphony, a concept from music that describes multiple melodic lines sounding at once. The many voices of polyphony have …

Music August 14, 2023

Rocking in the Free World

Popular Music and the Politics of Freedom in Postwar America

Nicholas Tochka

Hosted by Bradley Morgan

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Progressive and libertarian, anti-Communist and revolutionary, Democratic and Republican, quintessentially American but simultaneously universal. By the late 1980s, rock music had acquired a dizzying array of political labels. These claims …

Popular Culture August 4, 2023

B-Side

A Flipsided History of Pop

Andy Cowan

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

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In his new book B-Sides: A Flipsided History of Pop (Headpress, 2023), Andy Cowan explores a century of music b-sides. Pop music would be a different beast without the B-Side. Music history is …

Popular Culture July 23, 2023

Grebo!

The Loud & Lousy Story of Gaye Bykers on Acid and Crazyhead

Rich Deakin

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Grebo! The Loud & Lousy Story of Gaye Bikers on Acid and Crazyhead (Headpress, 2021) Rich Deakin explores West Midlands 1980s, home to heavy metal. Black Sabbath and Judas Priest are …

Performing Arts July 22, 2023

To Anyone Who Ever Asks

The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse

Howard Fishman

Hosted by Andy Boyd

Howard Fishman's To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse (Dutton, 2023) is a fascinating hybrid biography that weaves together Fishman's own odyssey of research with …

Music July 9, 2023

Alien Territory

Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music in 1970s San Diego

William Perrine

Hosted by Bradley Morgan

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Alien Territory: Radical, Experimental, & Irrelevant Music in 1970s San Diego (Billingsgate Media, 2023) is the untold story of a sleepy Navy town that became the unlikely gathering point for …