The THUMP Podcast

VICE is back with a new podcast exploring the subcultures and fringes that we are best known for. If you thought we were gone, looks like we have more to say. Each week we are sitting down with the internets most fascinating characters and getting to the bottom of cultural trends. Oscar award winners, internet oddities, and viral sensations. There has never been more culture to consume, so let us...

VICE is back with a new podcast exploring the subcultures and fringes that we are best known for. If you thought we were gone, looks like we have more to say. Each week we are sitting down with the internets most fascinating characters and getting to the bottom of cultural trends. Oscar award winners, internet oddities, and viral sensations. There has never been more culture to consume, so let us...

Since 1926, a law has been on the books in New York City that prohibits three or more people from dancing in any bar or venue that doesn’t posess a notoriously hard-to-obtain “Cabaret License.” In recent months however, people from the city’s nightlife community have been taken steps to change that. North Brooklyn City councilman Rafael Espinal has introduced a bill that will repeal the law. On th...

Radiohead's landmark record 'OK Computer' is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, so we're marking the occasion with a special episode of the THUMP Podcast. Our host Emilie Friedlander is joined by Associate Editor Ezra Marcus and Managing Editor Colin Joyce to discuss how that album sparked the band's long fascination with electronic music, and how their music channels some of Western soci...

We’re deep in the midst of a celebration of Pride month and the LGBTQ communities that birthed dance music. So this week’s episode digs deep into some of the work we’ve done highlighting the ways that queer culture intersects with nightlife across America. Host Emilie Friedlander is joined by THUMP contributor Rose Dommu for a discussion of the DJ and promoter’s recent op-ed about what it means to...

No music goes better with the humid summer heat than a breezy house track. So as New York rapidly heats up, Associate Editors David Garber and Ezra Marcus and Features Editor Michelle Lhooq join Managing Editor Colin Joyce for a conversation about what’s going on in the land of the endless 4/4. We dig into the group of lo-fi house producers who are rapidly moving into more fully realized pieces, a...

We’re continuing our stint in the trenches on the frontlines of festival season this week. Half of the THUMP staff spent some time at Detroit’s Movement Festival—the yearly Memorial Day dance music celebration that some have taken to calling “Techno Christmas.” Features Editor Michelle Lhooq and Associate Editor Ezra Marcus explain how the festival’s non-stop slate of afterparties—both official an...

Ah summer, the warm months of tank-topped bros sweating all over you under the dayglo lights of big stages at outdoor EDM shows. Our host Emilie Friedlander and Managing Editor Colin Joyce have just returned from Durham, North Carolina’s Moogfest, so we decided to dedicate this episode to the dawning festival season of 2017. After we chat about our experiences at the festival, features Editor Mich...

Some of the country's best DJs and promoters were in New York last week for an event put on by Red Bull Music Academy called Trade Show. Representatives from Honey Soundsystem, Honcho, Wrecked, the Carry Nation, The NeedlExchange, and Men's Room all united under one roof. The show was meant to demonstrate the rise of a network of gay parties across the country that prioritize adventurous musical s...

After a week off, we’re back with an in-depth episode about hip-hop production. With people like Lil Yachty making songs that sound like M83 and Lil Uzi Vert rapping over beatless ambient tracks, it’s hard to talk about the evolution of electronic music without talking about the evolution of rap. Our associate editor Ezra Marcus hosts a discussion between freelance journalist Drew Millard, Noisey...

Hey, it’s our tenth episode! That’s a nice round number. This week, Emilie’s brought on our News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado, Managing Editor Colin Joyce, and Social Editor Dillon Riley for a spin through some of this week’s dance music news. Anna talks about a piece she’s written about the language we use to report on drug deaths at music events—one of the first articles in a series about harm reduct...

It’s Weed Week here at VICE, which means that across all of our sites we’re exploring the culture, art, and politics around the green stuff. So we decided to dedicate this THUMP Podcast to delving into its relationship with club culture. Features Editor Michelle Lhooq hosts this week, alongside Associate Editors David Garber and Ezra Marcus, and News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado. They spend some time d...

Look, so the most popular dance act in the world released an album last week. They played SNL. You heard their songs on the radio in the grocery store. Whether you like it or not, you can’t avoid the Chainsmokers at this point—even if you wanted to—so this week’s episode finds our crew of guests puzzling just how this even happened in the first place. Emilie is joined by Associate Editor Ezra Marc...

Are you worried about the rise of machines? We are! This week, Emilie’s joined by Associate Editors David Garber and Ezra Marcus as well as VICE’s Senior Culture Editor Larry Fitzmaurice to talk about how unseen tech forces are shaping our music taste. First up, we discuss the rise of the hazy genre people are calling “lo-fi house,” partly on the back YouTube’s related video algorithms. Next, Ezra...

Emilie’s back from Austin with lots of thoughts about SXSW. Features Editor Michelle Lhooq, associate Editor Ezra Marcus, and Managing Editor Colin Joyce join our host for a conversation about the complexities of artist compensation in 2017, from streaming to playing festivals. Colin discusses SoundCloud’s recent decision to compensate (some) DJs for mixes uploaded to the service, and Michelle tal...

Emilie is away this week speaking on a panel at SXSW, so we decided to get a little weird. Managing Editor Colin Joyce is joined by Features Editor Michelle Lhooq, Associate Editor David Garber, and VICE.com social editor Trey Smith for a wide-ranging conversation about Norwegian black metal, Future, and throwing beers at cops. Elsewhere, we do actually talk about electronic music—including a tren...

This week, as part of a series called Dancing Vs. the State, THUMP is publishing a collection of stories exploring the relationship between club culture and the law. Episode three of The THUMP Podcast is a special installment about safety at parties and festivals where drugs are present. Emilie is joined by News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado, as well as Kellye Greene, the president and director for Danc...

It’s episode two! Today, Associate Editors David Garber and Ezra Marcus and News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado join Emilie to talk about—among other things—the most expensive records ever sold on Discogs, and a curious footnote in Moby’s career that Ezra thinks predicts the confusing state of our culture. Anna also gives us an update on the state of Oakland’s DIY community after last year’s tragic fire...

On episode one of the THUMP Podcast, News Editor Anna Codrea-Rado, Features Editor Michelle Lhooq, and Managing Editor Colin Joyce join host and Editor-in-Chief Emilie to reflect on the impact Trump’s travel ban will have touring electronic musicians, as well as the responsibility that artists have to use their platform for politics. We also mull over the ways the Grammys fail electronic music and...