This week’s Fresh Find, Vagabon, is a self taught, Cameroonian-born musician whose haunting voice and genre defying style has won over critics at both The New Yorker and Pitchfork. In this episode she talks about emigrating from West Africa to Harlem as a teenager, sneaking out of her parent’s house to play D.I.Y. punk shows in Brooklyn, and how bouts of writer’s block can cause her to dream of writing code instead of new music.

 Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

This week’s Fresh Find, Vagabon, is a self taught, Cameroonian-born musician whose haunting voice and genre defying style has won over critics at both The New Yorker and Pitchfork. In this episode she talks about emigrating from West Africa to Harlem as a teenager, sneaking out of her parent’s house to play D.I.Y. punk shows in Brooklyn, and how bouts of writer’s block can cause her to dream of writing code instead of new music. Learn more about your ad-choices at <a href="https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com">https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com</a>

Music and storytelling meet on Broken Record, where artists across genres and generations sit down to explore the joy, chaos, and vulnerability of creating—and what it means to devote a life to music. From legendary icons to groundbreaking new voices, each episode captures artists in conversation sharing the inspirations and experiences that shape their craft.

Music and storytelling meet on Broken Record, where artists across genres and generations sit down to explore the joy, chaos, and vulnerability of creating&mdash;and what it means to devote a life to music. From legendary icons to groundbreaking new voices, each episode captures artists in conversation sharing the inspirations and experiences that shape their craft.

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Vagabon: Fresh Find

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/83e46826-ac8f-41a2-86b5-ae32008a373b/transcript

Susanna Hoffs rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and guitarist of the Bangles, the Los Angeles band behind hits like “Manic Monday,” “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame.” Inspired by the Beatles, the Byrds and the melodic pop of the 1960s, the Bangles brought jangling guitars and rich vocal harmonies to a decade dominated by synthesizers. Hoffs' distinctive voice and gift for melody helped give the band its signature sound.

Since the Bangles' heyday, Hoffs has continued to explore her musical influences through solo records and collaborations, while also branching out into fiction with her bestselling debut novel, This Bird Has Flown. Now she's returning with The List, a deeply personal collection of original songs that grew out of informal writing sessions with producer and multi-instrumentalist C.J. Camerieri and a group of collaborators. Drawing on stories from her own life, the album explores love, loneliness, memory and the passage of time, pairing Hoffs' unmistakable voice with the kind of timeless melodies that first made her famous.

On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks with Susanna Hoffs and C.J. Camerieri about the making of The List, the musical influences that shaped her, and the stories behind the album's songs, including a chance encounter with the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir. They also discuss her approach to songwriting, what writing a novel taught her about storytelling, and how she's finding new ways to express herself more than four decades into her career.

Susanna Hoffs rose to fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and guitarist of the Bangles, the Los Angeles band behind hits like &ldquo;Manic Monday,&rdquo; &ldquo;Walk Like an Egyptian&rdquo; and &ldquo;Eternal Flame.&rdquo; Inspired by the Beatles, the Byrds and the melodic pop of the 1960s, the Bangles brought jangling guitars and rich vocal harmonies to a decade dominated by synthesizers. Hoffs' distinctive voice and gift for melody helped give the band its signature sound.
Since the Bangles' heyday, Hoffs has continued to explore her musical influences through solo records and collaborations, while also branching out into fiction with her bestselling debut novel, This Bird Has Flown. Now she's returning with The List, a deeply personal collection of original songs that grew out of informal writing sessions with producer and multi-instrumentalist C.J. Camerieri and a group of collaborators. Drawing on stories from her own life, the album explores love, loneliness, memory and the passage of time, pairing Hoffs' unmistakable voice with the kind of timeless melodies that first made her famous.
On today's episode, Bruce Headlam talks with Susanna Hoffs and C.J. Camerieri about the making of The List, the musical influences that shaped her, and the stories behind the album's songs, including a chance encounter with the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir. They also discuss her approach to songwriting, what writing a novel taught her about storytelling, and how she's finding new ways to express herself more than four decades into her career.

Susanna Hoffs

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e5f83072-1992-4b0c-8917-b4e1010f7da7/transcript

The United States has far more homicides than any of its peers around the world. Why? 

In his new audiobook book, The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic, Malcolm Gladwell explores the American “peculiarity” — how the world’s wealthiest country came to suffer from a problem typically only seen in the world’s poorest countries. 

Drawing on original interviews, archival and social science research, and his trademark insight, Gladwell approaches the American paradox through a series of stories. What can we learn from the miracle of a young gunshot victim in Washington, D.C.? How have the legal troubles of a seventeenth-century English knight influenced American attempts at gun control? Why would a European police chief be baffled by the graduation ceremony at any American police academy? 

In a sweeping narrative, Gladwell travels from a shooting range in North Carolina, to the South Side of Chicago, to an old plantation house in Alabama, painting a picture of a country that does not understand its most pressing social problem, and as result, does not understand how to fix it. 

Here's a preview. Get the full audiobook at pushkin.fm/audiobooks or wherever you get audiobooks.

The United States has far more homicides than any of its peers around the world. Why?&nbsp;
In his new audiobook book, The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic, Malcolm Gladwell explores the American &ldquo;peculiarity&rdquo; &mdash; how the world&rsquo;s wealthiest country came to suffer from a problem typically only seen in the world&rsquo;s poorest countries.&nbsp;
Drawing on original interviews, archival and social science research, and his trademark insight, Gladwell approaches the American paradox through a series of stories. What can we learn from the miracle of a young gunshot victim in Washington, D.C.? How have the legal troubles of a seventeenth-century English knight influenced American attempts at gun control? Why would a European police chief be baffled by the graduation ceremony at any American police academy?&nbsp;
In a sweeping narrative, Gladwell travels from a shooting range in North Carolina, to the South Side of Chicago, to an old plantation house in Alabama, painting a picture of a country that does not understand its most pressing social problem, and as result, does not understand how to fix it.&nbsp;
Here's a preview. Get the full audiobook at <a href="https://airtable.com/appZTFQex5QyqNtvc/pushkin.fm/audiobooks" data-airgap-id="12">pushkin.fm/audiobooks</a> or wherever you get audiobooks.

The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic | Malcolm Gladwell's New Audiobook

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/30dc94d9-2e9e-4b01-bfa1-b4da0115b531/transcript

Elvis Costello seemed to arrive fully formed with his 1977 debut, My Aim Is True. The look, the voice, the wordplay and the attitude were already there, along with songs like “Alison,” “Watching the Detectives” and “(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes” that helped establish him as one of the most distinctive songwriters of his generation. But behind that seemingly sudden arrival were years spent absorbing everything from Motown and country to Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and the California folk-rock of the late ’60s and early ’70s, as Costello worked to find a musical language of his own.

Now, nearly 50 years later, Costello is revisiting that evolution with an expansive new anniversary edition of My Aim Is True. The collection reaches back to songs and demos he recorded before the album, tracing his early experiments as a songwriter through the sessions with producer Nick Lowe and the American band Clover, and eventually to the formation of the Attractions.

On today’s episode, Bruce Headlam talks with Elvis Costello about how he found his voice as a songwriter, the music that shaped him, and the stories behind some of the songs on My Aim Is True. They also talk about the “angry young man” persona that followed Costello through his early career, what he learned about music from his parents, and what he hears now when he looks back at the young songwriter he was nearly half a century ago.

You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Elvis Costello HERE.

Elvis Costello seemed to arrive fully formed with his 1977 debut, My Aim Is True. The look, the voice, the wordplay and the attitude were already there, along with songs like &ldquo;Alison,&rdquo; &ldquo;Watching the Detectives&rdquo; and &ldquo;(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes&rdquo; that helped establish him as one of the most distinctive songwriters of his generation. But behind that seemingly sudden arrival were years spent absorbing everything from Motown and country to Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman and the California folk-rock of the late &rsquo;60s and early &rsquo;70s, as Costello worked to find a musical language of his own.
Now, nearly 50 years later, Costello is revisiting that evolution with an expansive new anniversary edition of My Aim Is True. The collection reaches back to songs and demos he recorded before the album, tracing his early experiments as a songwriter through the sessions with producer Nick Lowe and the American band Clover, and eventually to the formation of the Attractions.
On today&rsquo;s episode, Bruce Headlam talks with Elvis Costello about how he found his voice as a songwriter, the music that shaped him, and the stories behind some of the songs on My Aim Is True. They also talk about the &ldquo;angry young man&rdquo; persona that followed Costello through his early career, what he learned about music from his parents, and what he hears now when he looks back at the young songwriter he was nearly half a century ago.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Elvis Costello <a href="https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5DGM1VzKzlcPUs3PlWcsWL?si=9182c4dab4934877&amp;nd=1&amp;dlsi=a5040205951e4077">HERE</a>.

Elvis Costello

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/eaf6bb0f-6768-4fec-8364-b4d400102a1c/transcript

Vagabon: Fresh Find

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