All I want to do is talk about Madonna

Mark and Kenny wrap up the Madame X album with this gorgeous and vibe-y final track.  Topics include: Kimi Djabate, witchcraft, “Bella Ciao”, Ben Gibbard, history lessons, deep research & references, and the courage of admitting the unknown.  Plus, a lost documentary idea, Madonna’s cell phone number, and following the clues and hopes for the future.  “Let me know that it’s cool...

Kenny and Mark fly off the rails looking for the fun in this bonus track from Madame X.   Topics include: Cape Verde archipelago, Dino D’Santiago, autotune, Mac Miller, toilets, 1987, Madonna’s toes, Judy Garland and Estelle Getty.  “Let’s go dancing!”

Mark and Kenny contemplate what makes a pride anthem while discussing the finale proper from Madame X. Topics include X Gonzalez & 2019, love & hurt, messages & oppressions, guitars & strings, Peter Matkiwsky, wrapping up & holding the light, Tracy Young, Daybreakers, DJ Irene & The Alliance, Pride Island, and a whole of tragic magic.  “Immigrants are America.”

Kenny and Mark make some episode corrections and get super-vulnerable discussing the lost power ballad from Madame X.   Topics include: mercy & grace, Laurie Metcalfe & Scott Rudin, Tori Amos & Neil Gaiman, Bruce Norris’ play Downstate, writing letters, high powers, sinners & punishment, love & grief, flaws & cancellation, Ordinary People, and what makes the best prote...

Mark and Kenny reach the destination of the journey and Madonna returns to the dance floor … or does she?  Topics include: flexing the pop muscle, vibes, home & the wilderness, Picasso, sharing the search, Vogue snaps, gypsy blood, contentment, realigning values, Honey Dijon, iPods, Offer Nissim, Charlize Theron, the Boom Boom Room, Orlando Puerta, and celebrating DJ Kue.  “Platinum...

Kenny and Mark lose their identities with the return of Maluma to Madame X.   Topics include: Lauren D’Elia, Kaytranada, Starrah, cheap jokes, and the further adventures of Mr. Safe and Mrs. Crazy (and the dark shadow of “Soltera”).  Plus - Freddy DeMann is ALIVE!!

Mark and Kenny gyrate their hips and discuss a rare cover (and banger) track on Madame X.   Topics include: Blaya, tattoos, bisexuality and married women, cachaca, party sets, collaborators, and a deep dive into duet partner Anitta (and her father).  

Kenny and Mark reflect on the first deluxe version track - a DIARISTIC ballad that may prove to be the true centerpiece of Madame X.   Topics include: restless travel and searching,  second guessing, campaign slogans, shuddering opportunities, lucidity, street singing, Mirwais’ sonic landscapes, Malawi, reflective logic, John Wells, childlike essence, Buddhist circles, Madonna’s Portugue...

Mark and Kenny take a collective exhale while celebrating this exuberant anthem from Madame X.   Topics include Krakebs, oppression, freedom, Jeff Bhasker, Saint James Joy dance parties, simplicity, bees, standing in lines, Morocco, producer choices, and how Madonna knew exactly what the Madame X album needed.  “Who you talkin to?

Kenny and Mark go a little nuts over Madonna’s yearning vocals on this spare and compelling gem from Madame X.  Topics include Grindr and vinyl, app fantasies and selfies, Jason Evigan and Mike Dean, self-knowledge and mystery,  studying and safety, married men and married songs, trust and community, changing the narrative and attracting the drama, Katy Perry and Carly Rae Jepsen, and th...

Mark and Kenny confess their latest cravings while musing on this illusive and near-classic ballad from Madame X .  Topics include paper clips and major keys, desire and experience, Starrah and Swae Lee, On the Waterfront and The Wizard of Oz , bananas and pizza, Rae Sremmurd and Spider Man , Nuno Xico and Carson McCullers, “old choreography” and pigeons, swagger and grillz, Mike Cruz and Joe...

Kenny and Mark get vulnerable and stay sensitive to discuss one of the most polarizing and criticized songs in Madonna’s entire canon.  Topics include: Portuguese lyrics, taking a big risk, embracing awkwardness and metaphors, privilege, costs, oppressive poetry, legacy, the embarrassment of vulnerability, and the challenge embracing all of the personal and intense narratives in Madame X .&nb...

In the midst of the “I Feel So Free” launch, Mark and Kenny flee to Cape Verde to  dissect this anthemic duet w/ the mighty and inspiring Orquestra Batukadeiras.  Topics include David Banda’s security, community singing, generational mentorship, radical joy, recapturing the enthusiasm, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, the darkness of survival, Emmanuel Adjei, communal tasks, unself-conscious j...

Kenny and Mark get out the oracles and peer into this reggae-tinged anthem from Madame X.   Topics include scratchy pianos, Starrah, autotune vs. clean vocal, Quavo, Athens, GA, Sondheim & Streisand, being a sound level diva, rebirth, future & past, Great Depression propaganda, Anne Frank and the lack of empathy, The Little Drummer Girl, Angels in America, a troubling Eurovision 2019,...

Mark and Kenny light up some clove cigarettes to discuss the daring and deliciously disconcerting third song from Madame X.   Topics include illusionary disco, plethoras of motifs, threatening strings, the Wooster Group, nostalgic coos,   useless founding fathers, Casey Spooner, not-so-secret villains, disruptive choirs,  James Baldwin, new democracies, Jonas Akerlund, Taylor Swift,...

Kenny and Mark don their Supreme Hoodies to dive deep on the extreme and WHACKY second track from Madame X .  Topics include the 2018 MetGala, Eurovision, Tchaikovsky, A Clockwork Orange, the material life, truth vs. fiction, screen entrapment, insomnia, reading plays, Instagram whoredom, Mykki Blanco, evil cardinals, watchful matrons, the GLAAD Awards, and the turbo-charged return of old fri...

Mark and Kenny break out the wigs (and, yes, the eye patches) to launch Season Eight: Zero Fucks Given with an epic conversation about the first song and single from Madame X .  Topics include: eye twitches, pineapple, pandemic impact, skincare, pussy hats, Cher and a potential Mamma Mia 3 movie, Lisbon, Estere and Stella, Starrah, Dino D’Santiago and his band Expensive Soul, the ups and down...

As the launch of Season Eight nears, Kenny and Mark revive and explore one of the great long form interviews Madonna gave during the first decade of her career with the genius Carrie Fisher over two issues of Rolling Stone in the summer of 1991. Two iconic women discuss men, marriage, mothers – and share stories about god, death, ecstasy and spankings.  For the entire episode, subscribe...

Mark and Kenny celebrate the end of Season Seven with a wide-ranging conversation about the Rebel Heart Tour - and it’s Heart Rebel companion, Tears of a Clown.  Topics include Q-Tips, thumb ailments, the comment flurry,  Saturday Night Online , bathrooms, Grimes, ART,  Billions,  Bar Six, diehard fan finances, Kyle Richards, Kevin Antunes, Semtex Films, Michael Jackson, cages,...

Mark and Kenny travel way back to 1982 and revisit their 2019 conversation from the FIRST season of ALL I WANT TO DO IS TALK ABOUT MADONNA - LIVE in front of a very sexy SOLD OUT audience at Soho’s stunning Iron | Feather.  Topics include: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gwen Gutherie, Stephanie Mills, Seymour Stein, Michael Rosenblatt, Martin Burgoyne, Christopher Ciccone, Erica “Bags” Bell, James Mtu...

Kenny and Mark bust out the spray cans to celebrate the wrapping up of their conversations about the Rebel Heart album.  Topics include Basquiat, the legality of graffiti, backup vocals, misleading choirs, Lizzo, Keith Haring’s POP! Shop, Brad Gooch, Martin Burgoyne, downtown realities, the Smithsonian, The History of Sound and folk songs, Michelle Shocked, and a wrap-up discussion of the alb...

Mark and Kenny thrash their heads through a great lost bonus track from Rebel Heart.   Topics include Avicii, femme fatales, Janet Jackson, deadlifting on Instagram, kiwis and plums, psychic pain, the value of time, yoga, Notes on a Scandal, remix maxi-singles, and candid confessions about addiction and the thrill of obsession

Kenny and Mark piece together a fresh working theory about the Rebel Heart recording sessions with this true “fork in the road” lost album track.  Topics include Avicii and country music voices, Julia Roberts, Malawi, sonic links, spiritual time management, Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along , destinies, the power of love as a uniting force, and Madonna’s top priorities in 2015.  “We’re on...

Kenny and Mark frolic through this fizzy and sentimental favorite bonus track from Rebel Heart .  Topics include triptychs, AM/FM radio, New Wave synths, Rick Nowels, DJ Dahi, Blood Diamond, dancing through the streets in Lisbon, talismans, Super Deluxe Editions, and the meaning of “beautiful.”  Plus, a history of personal scars and the freedom in imperfection - and the dawn of Virgo Sea...

Mark and Kenny boil the baby bottle and the burping blanket to discuss this wild and weird bonus track from Rebel Heart .  Topics include joking with Mike Dean & Kanye West in the studio, friends with benefits, chemistry graduate students, gym buddies, wedding invitations, paprika and potato salad, lighting designers, growling, Amy Schumer, SNL, and Cher.  Plus an in-depth conversati...