Talkhouse Podcast

On this week's Talkhouse Podcast, we've got an intense conversation between two friends about loss, mental health, and more: It's James Graham and Rachel Goswell. Graham is the singer and lyricist of the Scottish band the Twilight Sad, whose first full-length came out back in 2007, and who were part of a scene that included their friends in Frightened Rabbit and We Were Promised Jetpacks—the common thread being intense, emotional, heart-on-the-sleeve rock songs. They chugged along for a while there, making great records, and were eventually kind of taken under the wing of the Cure's Robert Smith, who loved their music so much that the Twilight Sad has become the Cure's default opening band. But life hit Graham pretty hard over the past decade, with a seven-year stretch that included losing his mother to dementia and a bout of his own with mental illness. Graham eventually began writing songs about it, and the result is the first Twilight Sad record in seven years, called It's The Long Goodbye. It's not neces

On this week’s excellent Talkhouse Podcast episode, we’ve got one of my favorite film directors in conversation with the vocalist of one of the last two decades most engaging bands—who also happened to appear in her latest movie. It’s Andrea Arnold and Jason Williamson. Andrea Arnold is a visionary British filmmaker who doesn’t make movies very frequently, but she sure makes them count. Her first to really make a splash was 2009’s Fish Tank, a coming-of-age story—that’s a recurring theme—that was the first place I remember seeing Michael Fassbender. She’s since directed three more features: an adaptation of Wuthering Heights (though not the gaudy new one), the visceral American Honey, and last year’s magical Bird, which stars Barry Keoghan as the deadbeat working-class dad to newcomer Nykia Adams. It’s flown under the radar for sure, but please seek it out and let me know what you think. I loved it, and it’s got one of the greatest soundtracks you’ll hear all year, with Fontaines DC, Blur, and Sleaford Mods,

This episode originally aired on March 25, 2026. Subscribe to ⁠⁠Music Person. Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning from South London, England.  Florence and Dylan discuss the difficulties of international touring, what your brain feels like on art school, black plastics, wanting to become a horse, reaching an associative songwriting state, and riding the bus as an idea-generating machine. + Florence gets something off her chest. Artists we mentioned: Cate Le Bon, Ryan Davis, Black Midi, bar italia, Jeff Tweedy, Elton John. Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got a songwriter with a long and varied history who’s somehow just now making her solo debut alongside the musician and producer who helped her make it: it’s Morgan Nagler and King Tuff. You could be excused for not knowing Morgan Nagler’s name; she’s been on the fringes of the L.A. music scene for the past couple of decades, co-writing songs with Phoebe Bridgers (the remarkable “Kyoto”) and HAIM, among others—as well as fronting the band Whispertown. She’s also had another career on-screen, from Punky Brewster to American Pie 2, but that’s not relevant for today’s conversation. Just this month, Nagler released the first album under her own name, and it carries the all-time great title I’ve Got Nothing to Lose and I’m Losing It. If you love melodic, heartfelt pop with a bit of that Laurel Canyon twang, you will find something to love on this record. Check out the song “Hurt” right here, which features a cavalcade of talented backing singers, too. Kyle Thomas has been

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got a great conversation between two friends and tourmates, one a musician, and one whose job title is slightly harder to pin down: It’s Langhorne Slim and Jordan Klepper. Langhorne Slim has been making music for the past two decades, and while it’s plenty varied, it also fits nicely into that wide bucket called Americana. For his new album, The Dreamin’ Kind, Slim hooked up with a couple of guys from Greta Van Fleet and ended up dedicating some time to rocking in a way he hadn’t really done before. Parts of the record offer a more polished sound than he’s made in the past—it’s the sound of a guy who’s always loved to go for it kind of going for it in a different way. Live, Langhorne Slim always brings it, connecting with audiences whether they’re already fans or not—often by joining them right out in the audience. If you recognize the voice or name, you may have heard Langhorne Slim on a movie soundtrack or opening for the likes of The Avett Brothers or The Lumineers

On this week's Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got a look back at a fantastic record on its 20th anniversary by an interesting pair of collaborators: the guy who made the music and the guy who created its iconic visuals. It’s Andrew Bird and Jay Ryan chatting about The Mysterious Production of Eggs. Andrew Bird has been on the podcast before, and he’s had such a rich and varied career we could have him on a dozen more times. He was a music-school kid and violin expert whose early career focused on more traditional sounds, but watching him break out of his shell—sorry—was fascinating. He made records with Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire for a few years, but it was when Bird officially went solo that he found his sound—a sort of gentle, intricate indie-folk made unmistakable by the triple threat of his gorgeous voice, his violin, and his uncanny whistling. You could reasonably argue that 2005’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs is where he really cracked the code—sorry again. It’s an essential record that didn’t come eas

This episode originally aired on February 18, 2026. Subscribe to ⁠That's How I Remember It⁠. Courtney Marie Andrews is my guest on the first That’s How I Remember It of 2026. Courtney is a great songwriter, poet, painter - a true artist who does a lot of things. We talked about love and grief on her great new record ⁠Valentine⁠ as well as light affecting memory, Marin County, the musical Annie, playing covers, Warren Zevon’s Preludes, and poetry vs. songs. Really enjoyed this and happy to be back with new episodes of THIRI. Listen and ⁠subscribe⁠!

This week’s Talkhouse episode is particularly exciting for me, since my two guests are also two of my favorite songwriters and singers ever—and they happen to be big fans of each other. It’s Matt Berninger and Eric Bachmann. Eric Bachmann was a massive part of the ‘90s indie-rock explosion as the snarling voice behind Archers of Loaf, a band that released four incredible albums in its relatively short run. But Bachmann ditched most of that genre’s signifiers afterward and has spent the last quarter-century writing and recording incredible songs both under the name Crooked Fingers and under his own. His records are more in line with Tom Waits or Townes van Zandt than Pavement, and his deep catalog is worth a deep dive. You could start pretty much anywhere, so it might as well be with the brand new Crooked Fingers album Swet Deth. It’s the first time Bachmann has dusted off the Crooked Fingers name in more than a decade, I’m assuming because it sounds like a more fleshed-out affair. He also invited some frien

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got two women whose singing styles are similar in that they’re both absolutely singular, unmistakable, and wonderfully out of step—just don’t call it spoken-word. It’s Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning and Sue Tompkins of Life Without Buildings. As you’ll hear in this chat, Dry Cleaning sort of fell together in London around 2017, when the three instrumentalists approached their friend Florence Shaw to add some vocals to the music they had been writing. It turned out that Shaw’s approach—speaking dense, clearly crafted but never obvious words—slotted in perfectly with the sort of nervous-yet-precise songs they had been working on. By 2020, Dry Cleaning had signed with the venerated 4AD label and the next year released a debut album, New Long Leg, that earned comparisons to post-punk greats like Siouxsie and Sonic Youth. For their third studio album, Secret Love, Dry Cleaning worked with producer-slash-musician Cate Le Bon, and they stretched out a bit, mellowing the sharp

For this week's episode, we're going to skip the typical Talkhouse format and give you something that I think you're going to love just as much, about a band called The Fiery Furnaces. I bet a lot of you remember, but if you don't, The Fiery Furnaces are siblings, Matthew and Eleanor Friedberger from Oak Park, Illinois, not far from Chicago. Together they put out seven of the scrambliest, catchiest rock albums of the 2000s, and then they kind of disappeared. We got contacted by a longtime radio journalist and producer of the show Snap Judgment, John Fecile, who wanted to talk to Matt and Eleanor. It turns out he had spoken to them over a decade ago, and as he'll explain, there was a very specific reason he wanted to talk to them again. Upcoming live shows for The Fiery Furnaces Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Faceb

I might overuse this word a little bit, but on this week’s episode we do have a true pair of legends in conversation on the Talkhouse Podcast this week: Maynard James Keenan and Daniel Ash. Keenan is of course best known as the frontman for Tool, the dark, complex, heavy band he formed way back in 1990—but whose records come few and far between. Keenan is also the frontman for A Perfect Circle, but the reason for today’s chat is yet another band, Puscifer. This one started out almost as a solo outlet for Keenan’s weirdest ideas: There are comedic elements, and—fun fact—Puscifer actually sprung to life as part of a Mr. Show sketch. (Google it, it’s a good story.) But the band has evolved over the years into a steady trio that features Keenan alongside Carina Round and Mat Mitchell, and that more recently has explored Keenan’s most theatrical and straightforward impulses. It’s funny, weird, and heavy, and the brand new Puscifer album, Normal Isn’t, even nods sonically to UK post-punk bands like Killing Joke. C

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve paired up two songwriters who love to wander musically but whose recordings are tough to mistake for anyone else’s. It’s Luke Temple and Will Westerman. Temple has been making incredible records at a pretty solid clip since around 2005, first making a real splash as part of a trio called Here We Go Magic, whose four-album catalog is legendary in certain circles. But Temple has also recorded fantastic records under his own name, under the alias Art Feynman, and, more recently, with Luke Temple and the Cascading Moms. That name is a little funny, kind of like his music—there’s humor but also a little bit of menace hiding underneath sounds that sometimes flirt with ‘70s soft-rock in the best ways. Check out “Echo Park Donut,” which is out this month on the new Cascading Moms record, Hungry Animal. The other half of today’s chat, Will Westerman, invited Temple to play on his 2023 album An Inbuilt Fault, and as you’ll hear they sound eager to meet and perhaps work together

Subscribe to ⁠Jokermen. And support Jokermen on Patreon. Ian catches up with Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear about their just-concluded 2025 tour, revisiting Yellow House, Veckatimest, and Shields, returning to the past with no sense of pressure, community vs. quality of life, solo artists vs. rock bands, the lasting reputation of Grizzly Bear, the GOAT Michael McDonald, and much more. FOLLOW DANIEL ON INSTAGRAM Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

On the latest episode of the Talkhouse Podcast’s spin-off series, host Nick Dawson sits down with Saturday Night Live star Sarah Sherman, who’s just debuted her first-ever comedy special on HBO, Sarah Squirm: Live + in the Flesh. In a lively, candid and very entertaining conversation, the two talk about recurring nightmares, hypochondria, masochism, shit-talking people as a healthy form of expression, their thoughts on death, funerals and 12 step, how Ted Kaczynski was onto something …, SNL boss Lorne Michaels’ unfortunate habit of forcing his employees to be constantly sleep-deprived, and much, much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse at talkhouse.com/film. Subscribe now to stay in the loop on future episodes of the Talkhouse Podcast. Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter (X)⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠.

Host Josh Modell hands the mic off to these Talkhouse Podcast Network shows and asks: "What was your standout episode from this year? And tell us one thing you loved from 2025?" 0:49 – Josh Modell (Talkhouse Podcast) 1:50 – Craig Finn (That's How I Remember It) 3:46 – Jason P. Woodbury (Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions) 5:18 – Dan Nordheim (Life of the Record) 5:58 – Matt Whyte (Sing for Science) 9:43 – Dylan Tupper Rupert (Music Person)

Episode 1: "The West is the Best? w/ Lili Anolik and John Doe" Subscribe to Really?? The Doors? What did The Doors mean for their time and what do they mean today? What’s the place of Los Angeles in The Doors’ oeuvre? What can the figure of Jim Morrison tell us about American masculinity? Are The Doors cool? And, has popular culture completely misunderstood The Doors? Naomi Fry welcomes you to the world of “Really??” and is then joined by writer Lili Anolik and musician John Doe of X to talk about the LA scene that gave birth to The Doors. Really?? The Doors? is produced by Noah Chernin, Jody Avirgan, and Ian Wheeler of Talkhouse. Production support from Jake Bowman and Keenan Kush. Special thanks to our sponsor, Bootleg. Be sure to check out Naomi’s work at The New Yorker and their podcast Critics At Large. Find more illuminating podcasts on the ⁠⁠⁠Talkhouse Podcast Network⁠⁠⁠. Visit ⁠⁠⁠talkhouse.com⁠⁠⁠ to read essays, reviews, and more. Follow @talkhouse on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Twitter

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a pair of incredible songwriters who’ve also been frequent Talkhouse guests and contributors over the years: Emily Yacina and Greta Kline. Follow along here, as this could get confusing: Frankie Cosmos used to be Greta Kline’s stage name, but now it’s the name of the band that she fronts. Maybe that wasn’t too confusing. In any case, the sixth and latest Frankie Cosmos album, Different Talking, came out earlier this year, and it’s a stunner. Kline has been writing smart, wry, literate indie-pop for a decade, and this one feels both like a nod to her bedroom-pop past and a bold look forward. Check out “Vanity” from Different Talking right here. Emily Yacina also came up in the DIY/Bandcamp era, and has been releasing music for the last decade or so as well—she collaborated with Alex G early on. Yacina’s latest album is the heady, expertly crafted Veilfall, which was at least partially inspired by a series of “death salons” she hosted while making it, where participa

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got two Canadian songwriter/performers with similar outlooks but pretty different results—both great. It’s Ada Lea and No Joy. Though it used to be more of a band, No Joy has become the solo province of Jasamine White-Gluz in recent years. She just released the first No Joy record in five years, Bugland, and it’s a whiplash-inducing delight. There’s an undercurrent of classic shoegaze, but no limits on where else things can go. So one minute you’ve got nods to ‘90s bands like Curve or even Garbage, the next minute the guitars are grunting and crunching. Bugland, which recently got the Best New Music nod from Pitchfork, was created with help from Chicago producer/musician Fire-Toolz, and the collaboration was fruitful. It’s funny, because it doesn’t sound at all like music that would be made by somebody who recently moved to a positively rural area—they chat about that move in this episode. Check out the title track from Bugland right here. The other half of today’s cha

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast we’ve got a pair of singer-songwriters who exist in a sort of post-genre world: Evan Honer and Wyatt Flores. Honer first came to wider attention with a cover of Tyler Childers’ “Jersey Giant,” but kept people’s attention with a rapid succession of progressively more polished albums, all tied together by his own solid songwriting. For his latest, Everything I Wanted, Honer found himself a new home city, Nashville, where he built a studio in his garage and—as you’ll hear in this conversation—locked himself away to make something bolder than he had before. The result is shiny pop with a gritty heart, and just a touch of country influence. Think Jason Isbell or Pinegrove, two artists Honer cites as inspirations. Check out “Curtain” from Everything I Wanted right here, which I should mention was released by Honer’s own very active independent label, Cloverdale Records. He’s a busy dude, and he’ll be touring the US early next year, so keep an eye out for that. The other half of

On this week’s Talkhouse Podcast, we’ve got two guys from different generations who’ve collided with big riffs in recent years: Tom Morello and Jordan Benjamin. Tom Morello is best known as the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, which smashed together heavy music and activism in the 1990s, inspiring countless bands—some good, some bad, as he’ll freely admit—to sprinkle some hip-hop into their rock. Morello went on to form Audioslave with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and find a whole other area of success, but he didn’t stop there: Morello goes wherever the muse takes him, from playing with Bruce Springsteen to doing acoustic sets as The Nightwatchman. He’s always working on new music—and always outspoken politically. Morello tapped Jordan Benjamin to contribute to his 2021 single “Hold the Line,” which makes perfect sense, because the music that Benjamin records under the name Grandson is certainly inspired by Rage, among other artists of course. Grandson has been releasing records for the past decade