Life of the Record

For the 20th anniversary of the debut album by José González, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After getting his start playing in hardcore bands in Gothenburg, Sweden in the 1990s, José González began studying biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg. While he was a student, he continued playing in multiple bands while recording his solo material on the side. His band Junip was work...

In celebration of the recently unearthed Out of Step Outtakes, we take a detailed look at the making of the original record. After Minor Threat formed in Washington D.C. in 1980, they began to find an audience in the American punk scene. Their first two seven-inch records contained songs written by Ian MacKaye, such as “Straight Edge” and “Out of Step,” which kickstarted the straight edge movement...

For the 25th anniversary of the first Bonnie “Prince” Billy album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. Will Oldham grew up studying acting but decided to pursue music while he was attending Brown University. In 1992, he released his first single with Drag City under the name Palace Brothers. A series of albums followed under several variations of the Palace name, which reflected Oldham’s u...

For the 35th anniversary of Mudhoney’s first 12-inch record, SUPERFUZZ BIGMUFF, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Mark Arm met Steve Turner at a show in Seattle, they became fast friends and began playing in multiple bands together. They started Green River with Jeff Ament and Alex Shumway and eventually added Stone Gossard on second guitar. Tensions over the musical direction of t...

For the 20th anniversary of The Shins’ second album, CHUTES TOO NARROW, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After getting their start in Albuquerque in the early nineties as a band called Flake, James Mercer, Neal Langford, Marty Crandall and Jesse Sandoval eventually morphed into The Shins. Mercer had first conceived of The Shins as an outlet for his quieter songs that weren’t working for...

For the 30th anniversary of the Melvins’ 1993 classic, HOUDINI, we take a detailed look at how the record was made. Buzz Osborne, Mike Dillard and Matt Lukin had formed the Melvins in 1983 when they were teenagers living in Montesano, Washington. Drummer Dale Crover ended up replacing Dillard early on and has remained with the band to this day. When Osborne and Crover decided to move to San Franci...

In celebration of the deluxe edition of Cursive’s DOMESTICA, we take an in-depth look at how the record was made. Following the breakup of the Omaha band, Slowdown Virginia, Tim Kasher reunited with his former bandmates, Matt Maginn and Stephen Pedersen, to start a new project called Cursive. They brought in drummer Clint Schnase and released their first 7 inch on their friends’ label, Lumberjack...

For the 20th anniversary of The Postal Service record, GIVE UP, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Jimmy Tamborello was looking for vocalists to collaborate with for a Dntel album he was working on, he connected with Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie. Gibbard agreed to provide vocals for a track that became, “(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan.” The two of them worked so well tog...

For the 35th anniversary of Pixies’ landmark debut album, SURFER ROSA, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Charles Thompson and Joey Santiago bonded as suitemates at the University of Massachusettes Amherst, they decided to form a band. By putting an ad in the Boston Phoenix for “a female vocalist into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary,” they connected with Kim Deal, who was the onl...

For the 40th anniversary of Violent Femmes’ classic debut album, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After bassist Brian Ritchie and drummer Victor DeLorenzo first started playing around Milwaukee as a rhythm section, they met a teenage songwriter named Gordon Gano. Despite having limited experience and still just being in high school, Gano had an extraordinary set of good songs that he ha...

For the 20th anniversary of Nada Surf’s third album, LET GO, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Matthew Caws and Daniel Lorca formed the band in 1992, they eventually linked up with drummer, Ira Elliot. They spent several years grinding it out in their hometown of New York City where they worked multiple jobs and hustled to get their music heard. During a chance encounter with Ric O...

For the 35th anniversary of Beat Happening’s second album, JAMBOREE, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After meeting at the Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington, Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis and Bret Lunsford formed Beat Happening and began releasing music under Calvin’s K label. In 1985, they released their self-titled debut album, which was later was picked up for UK distribu...

For the 55th anniversary of Van Dyke Parks’ debut solo album, SONG CYCLE, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After being born in the South, Parks grew up studying music and working as a child actor before settling in Los Angeles, California in the early 1960s. While playing guitar in different folk groups around town, he got his first job as an arranger on “The Bare Necessities” for Disne...

For the 40th anniversary of Mission of Burma’s first full-length album, VS., we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Mission of Burma released their first recordings, the “Academy Fight Song” single in 1980 and the Signals, Calls, and Marches EP in 1981, they felt like they hadn’t fully captured the sound they were going for yet. For this record, they decided they wanted a raw and lively...

For the 50th anniversary of the first NEU! album, we spoke to Michael Rother about the extraordinary circumstances of how it was made. After Rother had been invited to jam with Kraftwerk, he had a fateful meeting with drummer, Klaus Dinger. The two of them ended up joining Kraftwerk for a time before deciding to leave and form their own band. Rother and Dinger asked producer, Conny Plank, to recor...

For the 30th anniversary of L7’s breakthrough third album, BRICKS ARE HEAVY, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After L7 had released albums on venerable west coast indie labels, Epitaph and Sub Pop, they decided to go for major label distribution with their third album. Seminal Los Angeles label, Slash Records, allowed them more reach as well as a larger recording budget than ever before...

For the 50th anniversary of Big Star’s iconic debut, #1 RECORD, we take a detailed look at how it was made. After Chris Bell, Andy Hummel and Jody Stephens had taken recording classes from Ardent Studios owner, John Fry, they began to learn the art of recording. John Fry generously allowed them to use the studio during the night as they recorded under the names, Icewater and Rock City. Meanwhile,...

For the 10th anniversary of Japandroids’ second album, CELEBRATION ROCK, we take a detailed look at how the record was made. After the unlikely success of their debut album, POST-NOTHING, Japandroids found themselves leaving their hometown of Vancouver to tour the world and play to much larger audiences than they ever dreamed of. The expectations for their second album began to build as the band f...

For the 30th anniversary of the 2x Grammy Award winning group, Arrested Development’s, pioneering debut album, 3 YEARS, 5 MONTHS AND 2 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF…, Speech joins us for a detailed look at how the record was made. After getting his start in a high school hip hop group in Milwaukee called Attack, Speech left for more opportunities in Atlanta. He connected with Headliner at The Art Institute...

For the 15th anniversary of the landmark of Montreal album, HISSING FAUNA, ARE YOU THE DESTROYER?, Kevin Barnes joins us for a detailed look at how the record was made. After of Montreal had already released multiple albums by this point, Barnes had mostly been writing in a conceptual and fantastical style as a way to avoid writing personal songs. For HISSING FAUNA, Barnes decided to write autobio...

For the 25th anniversary of Built to Spill’s astonishing third album, PERFECT FROM NOW ON, Doug Martsch joins us for a detailed look at how the record was made. After Built to Spill released their first two records on indie labels, they ended up signing with Warner Bros. for their third album. Signing with a major label left Martsch feeling conflicted but inspired to experiment in the studio and w...

For the 50th anniversary of the baroque pop classic, ONE YEAR, Colin Blunstone looks back on the unique circumstances around how his first solo album was made. After the end of The Zombies, a band he formed as a teenager with Rod Argent, Hugh Grundy, Paul Atkinson and Paul Arnold, Blunstone found himself unsure about continuing in the music business. The Zombies had recorded ODESSEY AND ORACLE at...

For the 25th anniversary of Heatmiser’s third and final album, MIC CITY SONS, Neil Gust, Tony Lash and Sam Coomes talk openly and in detail about the unique circumstances around how this record was made. When Heatmiser embarked on recording their third album, it was a huge turning point for the band, as they signed a deal with a major label and began building their own studio. Elliott Smith was st...

For the 50th anniversary of John Prine’s debut album, we take a detailed look at the extraordinary circumstances of how this record came to be. In this episode, John’s older brother, Dave Prine, describes the shocking moment when he realized his brother’s staggering talent. Erin Osmon, author of the forthcoming 33 1/3 book about this album, takes us through John’s discovery story and how he first...

In celebration of the 10th anniversary, Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack reflect on the writing and recording of the third Wye Oak album, CIVILIAN. In this episode, they describe this intense period as a young band when they were taking every touring opportunity available and were getting burnt out by working constantly. For CIVILIAN, they were moving out of their comfort zone with recording as they sou...