100 Episodes of Song Exploder!

Song Exploder hit a big milestone today: 100 episodes, with Dirty Projectors (listen to the latest here). The show has come a long way since launch in 2014. Hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway (also the co-host of The West Wing Weekly podcast), Song Exploder features musicians from all different genres who take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the stories of how they were made. Hrishi uses isolated tracks from song recordings as artists detail precisely how each component was put together. He purposely removes his side of the conversation in order to highlight the artist. The show has featured classic bands like U2, television show soundtracks like Transparent, Oscar-winning movie scores like Moonlight, and newcomers like Carly Rae Jepsen. In Q1 of this year, Song Exploder released it’s most popular series of episodes ever: Metallica, Solange, and an Oscar series with composers from Moonlight, Arrival and La La Land. We asked host Hrishi to reflect a bit on the last three years.

“Song Exploder is probably fundamentally a very nerdy show, but there are occasionally moments that are extra, extra nerdy. Here are three of my favorites.”

WEEZER: Rivers Cuomo uses spreadsheets to catalogue ideas for lyrics, based on number syllables and syllabic stress.

CLIPPING: Daveed Diggs, aka Thomas Jefferson in Hamilton, never uses first-person perspective in his lyrics. Based on rules the band has imposed for themselves, he can never say the word “I” in a song.

THE BOOKS: Nick Zammuto uses a protractor to measure out rhythms in “drum loops” that he etches into the locked groove of a vinyl record.

You can listen to Song Exploder in RadioPublic, iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you like to hear podcasts. Stay tuned for more amazing episodes this year and beyond.