Radiolab
• WNYC Studios
Remembering Oliver Sacks
In memory of one of our dear friends, a re-release of our last conversation with Dr. Oliver Sacks.
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Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
Best Coast - Feeling Ok
In this episode, Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno of the band Best Coast take apart their song "Feeling Ok," from the 2015 album California Nights. They trace their process and their influences, from the movie "10 Things I Hate About You" to the video game Rock Band. Plus, we'll hear from producer Wally Gagel.
This episode is sponsored by Hover (use the offer code BESTCOAST), Simple, and Lagunitas Brewing Company.
132: Digital Hearth
Europa or Frying Pan?
This image was tweeted out by the NASA Europa Mission account the other day:

One of these images is of Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, and the other eight are frying pans. Can you pick Europa out? Hint: frying pans tend not to have impact craters.
Update: The photos of the frying pans were taken by Christopher Jonassen, whose work I featured back in 2011 (which I had totally forgotten about). At the time, I even joked about the pans looking like a Jovian moon. kottke.org is a flat circle. (thx, tony)
[This is a vintage post originally from Aug 2015.]
Tags: astronomy · Christopher Jonassen · Europa · Jupiter · NASA · space · timeless posts
131: Finding Your Way Back In
Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
HEALTH - Stonefist
The band HEALTH formed in Los Angeles in 2005. Their newest record, Death Magic, came out in 2015. They spent four years trying to make it. They describe themselves as a noise band, but for this record, they reinvented their palette and their process. In this episode, John and Jake from HEALTH take apart the song Stonefist, which they made with their bandmates, Jupiter Keyes and BJ Miller.
This episode is sponsored by Hover, Lagunitas Brewing Company, and Simple.
130: Technical Countermeasures
Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love
Multi-Love is the title track from the 2015 album by Unknown Mortal Orchestra. In this episode, Ruban Nielson tells the story of how he made the song with help from his brother Kody Nielson, and how it was influenced by Romeo and Juliet, Questlove, and a broken synthesizer.
This episode is sponsored by Hover, Lagunitas Brewing Company, and Simple.
129: Tap-to-Click Wizard
- Skylake desktop CPUs launch
- Casey joins 2012
- 2015 iPhone predictions
- Carrier subsidies and pricing games
- Post-show:
- Repairing iPads
- Hot water heaters
- Marco's new camera
Sponsored by:
- Cards Against Humanity: A free party game for horrible people.
- Harry's: An exceptional shave at a fraction of the price. Use code ATP for $5 off your first purchase.
- Hover: The best way to buy and manage domain names. Use coupon code INFINITETIMESCALE for 10% off.
Radiolab
• WNYC Studios
From the Archives: Oliver Sacks' Table of Elements
Radiolab
• WNYC Studios
Shrink
Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
Thundercat - Them Changes
Thundercat is the alter-ego of bassist and singer-songwriter Stephen Bruner. He’s played bass for both Suicidal Tendencies and Erykah Badu and went on to help shape Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp a Butterfly.' In this episode, Thundercat will break down the song "Them Changes" off his new mini-album. Thundercat co-produced the track with long-time collaborator Flying Lotus, with Kamasi Washington on saxophone.
This episode is sponsored by Hover, Lagunitas Brewing Company, and Simple.
128: Blue Ring Stud
127: Not a Cactus in Sight
Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
Death Cab for Cutie - El Dorado
Death Cab for Cutie released Kintsugi, their 8th album, on March 31, 2015. The song El Dorado, like other songs on the record, was written in the wake of the divorce between the band's lead singer Ben Gibbard and actress Zooey Deschanel. In this episode, Ben talks about the metaphor of the city of El Dorado and how it fit the story he wanted to tell, about separation, unrealized dreams, and Culver City. Plus, he explains how a few pieces of equipment - a Fender Mustang, a Rhythm Master drum machine, and the VoiceLive unit - ended up shaping the creative process.
This episode is sponsored by Hover, Frank and Oak, and Lagunitas Brewing Company.
126: The Web Kind of Happens to You
- Pre-show: John being particular about his particular renovations
- Follow-up:
- Web apps versus native apps in the enterprise/government
- Browser choice on iOS
- TRIM versus over-provisioning
- Half Life is available for the Mac
- New iPod Touch
- iPod Nano
- iPod Shuffle
- Post-show:
Sponsored by:
- Squarespace: Build it beautiful. Use code “ATP” for 10% off your first order.
- MailRoute: Hosted spam and virus protection for email. Use this link for 10% off for the life of your account.
- Igloo: An intranet you'll actually like. Try Igloo for free.
Radiolab
• WNYC Studios
Gray's Donation
125: A Better Future for Everybody
Song Exploder
• Hrishikesh Hirway
Sylvan Esso - Coffee
Sylvan Esso has two members, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, who met while they were both working on other projects. Amelia asked Nick to do a remix of a song by the band she was in at the time, and when that remix was done, they both loved how it turned out. They emailed song ideas back and forth for a while, until they found a time to be in the same place. It was at that point that they first started working on the song, "Coffee." In this episode, Nick and Amelia talk about the origins of the sounds and lyrics within the song, from a Little Tikes xylophone to "Hanky Panky" by Tommy James and the Shondells.