Advertise on podcast: The Music Book Podcast

On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Fishman, author of "To Anyone Who Ever Asks: The Life, Music, and Mystery of Connie Converse", published in May of 2023. It's part biography, part detective story, as Fishman combs through the facts and myths behind singer and guitarist Connie Converse, who made music in the 1950s that went unreleased in her time, and then vanished in the mid-70s at age fifty, never to be heard from again. Fishman meets her family members, friends, people who saw her play, and more, making the case for her music as important and unique, and painting a picture of a singularly creative person. As Howard writes, "The more I listened to her music, the more my curiosity grew...In short order, I stopped writing my own music and became devoted only to Connie Converse – to learning more about her; to piecing together her life; to spreading the gospel of her particular brand of genius everywhere and everyhow I could; to, eventually, inserting myself into the life she left behind to the point that – at times – I felt that I'd become part of the plot." You can buy "To Anyone Who Ever Asks" here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Howard Fishman!

On this episode, Marc talks with Matthew Blackwell, author of "Plunderphonics," part of the 33.3 "Genres" series of books focusing on specific musical styles and movements. "Plunderphonics" covers artists who use other people's recordings in their music without permission, often to make a statement about copyright law, the idea of fair use, and so forth. Blackwell focuses primarily on four artists - John Oswald, who coined the term Plunderphonics, Negativland, Avalanches, and Girl Talk - but he also covers many more who've played a vital role in this genre, such as Evolution Control Committee, the Tape Beatles, and Dangermouse.  As Matthew writes, these artists "tried to change the system. They did so by creating music that was deemed illegal, responding to lawsuits with daring media blitzes, and educating their audience about their own right to adapt and transform media." You can buy "Plunderphonics" here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Matthew Blackwell!

On this episode, Marc talks with Seth Neblett, author of "Mothership Connected: The Women of Parliament-Funkadelic," published in September of 2025. It's a fascinating oral history of the female members of Parliament and Funkadelic, particularly those in the P-Funk sister groups Parlet and the Brides of Funkenstein: Mallia Franklin, Lynn Mabry, Dawn Silva, Debbie Wright, and Shirley Hayden. Seth is the son of Mallia Franklin, who, along with being an important musician in the P-Funk story, was responsible for the inclusion of many members of the collective; most famously, she introduced Bootsy Collins to George Clinton and convinced him to include Bootsy in P-Funk.  As Seth writes, "The Brides of Funkenstein and Parlet, were, along with Bootsy Collins, the most successful groups to come out of the P-Funk Empire. The women sang and contributed to all the organization's in-house projects...In an era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, detouring through disco, and cresting on punk and new wave of the eighties, this critical "female" piece of the music history puzzle is as important as any other." You can buy "Mothership Connected" here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Seth Neblett!

On this episode, Marc talks with Josh Bloom, author of "The Apples In Stereo," published in December of 2025. It's all about the Denver band The Apples in Stereo, who began in the early 90s and were part of the Elephant 6 Collective alongside Neutral Milk Hotel, Olivia Tremor Control, of Montreal, and more. Josh has known members of the band for decades, particularly their main leader Robert Schneider, and his book is a mixture of informational bio and first-person narrative, written in a conversational, often humorous tone.  As he writes, "Because Robert and I have a history as on-off-on again friends, I can speak from personal experience to complete a picture of him as the more emotionally complex person, and therefore, songwriter, recording artist, and producer I know him to be." You can buy Josh's book here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Josh Bloom!

On this episode, Marc talks with Al Shipley, author of "Tough Breaks: The Story of Baltimore Club Music," published in August 2025. It's a thoughtful, detailed, and revealing look into a music movement that grew organically in Baltimore clubs, radio stations, and record stores, with beats and other musical ideas passed around quickly so that the styles and sounds morphed constantly. Though it may not have gotten a lot of play outside of the city, was as innovative and important as any club music scene in America. As Al writes, ""Local" is sometimes seen as a shameful or insulting word in music media, but treating the music that’s made in your neck of the woods with curiosity and respect is incredibly rewarding, and too many music writers have never even tried it. Fun music and dance music deserve thoughtful journalism and critical analysis as much as more conventionally “serious” art." You can buy Tough Breaks here.  We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Al Shipley!

On this episode, Marc talks with Simon Raymonde, author of "In One Ear: Cocteau Twins, Ivor, and Me," published in America in November of 2025. It's a sharp, enthusiastic, and funny memoir of Raymonde's life as a musician, member of the legendary UK band Cocteau Twins (with Elizabeth Fraser and Robin Guthrie), and owner of the vital indie record label Bella Union. Simon also delves into his relationship with his father Ivor, who was himself a renowned musician, producer, and arranger. It's all told with a sense of humor and wisdom that makes Simon's words practically leap off the page. As Simon writes, "It seems that my own past is no longer just a shoegazey blur of distant lights receding in the rear-view mirror; it is clearly visible in my present too. Cocteau Twins have never been as popular as we are now, almost three decades after we stopped making music." You can by Simon's book here. We. hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Simon Raymonde!

On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Weulfing. He's the author of Descenes and Discords, an anthology of two fanzines he edited in the early 1980s, documenting the burgeoning underground rock scene in DC at the time. Descenes featured interviews, record reviews, live reviews, and more, with most of the focus on DC. Discords also covered scenes around the country, publishing reports from writers such as Gerard Cosloy in Boston, Jim Testa in New Jersey, Tesco Vee in Michigan, and John Foster in Olympia. This new anthology includes explanatory introductions by Howard for each zine issue, as well as a conversation between Howard and Ian MacKaye, reminiscing about what things were like in DC back then. As Howard writes, "Our contributors were out in this community and readily accessible. We were playing shows, running record stores, simply hanging out. We got plenty of letters of criticism, clarification, and sometimes praise. We tried to process it constructively: broadening the coverage, questioning our judgements, while keeping the tone conversational and direct though often with tongue planted firmly in cheek." You can buy Descenes and Discords here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Howard Wuelfing!

On this episode, Marc talks with Bill Janovitz, author of "The Cars: Let The Stories Be Told," published in September 2025. It's a deeply researched, deftly crafted story of the Boston band, led by Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, who started peppering the charts with hits from their self-titled 1978 debut album, and kept making great music and selling tons of records for the next decade. Drawing on extensive interviews with the group's surviving members Elliott Easton, Greg Hawkes, and David Robinson, Janovitz digs deep into their creative and personal dynamics.  As Bill writes, "In the late 1970s, rock and roll resisted premature pronouncements of its demise. The Cars were crucial in that resuscitation. They grew to a towering presence and provided the soundtrack for the 1980s." You can buy "Let the Stories Be Told" here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Bill Janovitz!

On this episode, Marc talks with Joe Bonomo, author of "Play This Book Loud: Noisy Essays," published in May of 2025. It's a collection of pieces Bonomo wrote for various publications, primarily the website The Normal School, covering a wide range of music subjects and formats. Among the topics explored are the Cramps, the Who, the Stooges, the Jam, an exploration of the history of the song "Tobacco Road," a delving into a early 70s compilation sponsored by Dick Clark, and even a thorough examination of a 7-inch that 7-11 gave out to customers in the late 60s called "Dance the Slurp." Joe is the author of several other books including Sweat, a biography of the Fleshtones, an entry in the 33.3 series on AC/DC's Highway to Hell, and a previous collection of essays called Field Recordings from the Inside. You can buy Play This Book Loud here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Joe Bonomo!

On this episode, Marc talks to Sahan Jayasuriya, author of "Don't Say Please: The Oral History of Die Kreuzen," published in August of 2025. It's a thorough look at the band who began in the early 80s as one of the most vital and unique hardcore groups, but quickly evolved past that tag toward mixture of punk, metal, and proto-grunge that influenced many indie-rock bands of the 90s. Sahan tells the Die Kreuzen story through interviews with band members, people who worked with them and helped them, and many musicians who admired them both then and now. As he writes, "It's debatable whether Die Kreuzen could have ever happened at any other time or in any other place besides the American Midwest during the 1980s... In hindsight, Die Kreuzen’s eventual formation feels inevitable: four wildly talented individuals with shared influences who were seemingly made to play music together." You can buy Don't Say Please here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Sahan Jayasuriya!

On this episode, Marc talks to Ellen Koskoff, author of "Bittersweet Sounds of Passage: Balinese Gamelan Angklung Cremation Music," published in July of 2025. It's a fascinating look into a specific kind of gamelan music in Bali that is an essential part of cremation ceremonies, performed by village members who don't even consider themselves musicians. Koskoff learned to play this music herself by living in Bali and joining in with ensembles there, revealing a tradition that is unlike anything in Western culture. In the process, she captures the perspective of the people playing in these groups, who regard the music as essential to the dharma that sustains all things. As Ellen writes, "The history and meaning of gamelan angklung and its importance to contemporary Balinese cremations is hazy; written sources, recordings, and other forms of scholarship are almost nonexistent...yet, this music, most often performed by everyday villagers, is considered by all Balinese to be a necessary component of village life and death." You can buy Ellen's book here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Ellen Koskoff!

On this episode, Marc talks with Pat Blashill, author of "Someday All the Adults Will Die!: The Birth of Texas Punk," released in September of 2025. It's a narrated oral history of the early days of punk in Texas, exploring the many bands and figures who created a distinct strain of punk rock in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, including Big Boys, the Dicks, MDC, and Butthole Surfers. Pat weaves the voices of musicians, journalists, venue runners, fans, and more to paint a picture of a scene that used punk to break punk's rules. As Pat writes, "If punk gave many of us a way to understand the word, it also became a way for us to explain Texas and Texans to the rest of the planet. Punk didn't flourish in the Lone Star State in spite of local conditions but because of them." You can buy Pat's book here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Pat Blashill!

On this episode, Marc talks with Ian Thompson, author of "Synths, Sax, & Situationists: The French Musical Underground 1968-1978," published in August of 2025. It's a detailed history of a group of French rock bands who, inspired by the protests and civil unrest of May 1968 as well as psych rock and free jazz, broke with convention to create some of the most original music of the 70s. The best known of these groups were Gong, Magma, and Heldon, all of which Thompson covers in depth, but he also delves into bands who haven't gotten their due such as Lard Free and Moving Gelatin Plates, and ones who barely existed yet made a mark, such as Barricade and Cheval Fou.  As Ian writes, "It slowly dawned on me that if other anglophones were to discover this essential music they would need a reference - in English. And so, for the last five years I’ve digested everything I could find on the topic and interviewed almost fifty musicians from the scene. Now, at long last, the result of my efforts rests in your hands." You can buy "Synths, Sax, & Situationists" here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Ian Thompson!

On this episode, Marc talks to J. Hoberman, author of "Everything is Now: The 1960s New York Avant-Garde--Primal Happenings, Underground Movies, Radical Pop," released in May of 2025. It's a fascinating, real-time history of the art coursing through New York City in the 1960s, with vivid descriptions of plays, concerts, events, political movements, and all other types of creative moments. Hoberman, the legendary former film critic at the Village Voice, tells his tales in an excited rush of detail-drenched scenes, conjuring the adrenaline of a time when the past was broken and the future was unclear. As he writes, "[New York] was the site of demonstrations, insurrections, strikes, trials, sit-ins, be-ins, bombings, and, as a music, all manner of public theater – one giant happening on an epic urban stage...Although too young to have participated in most of the events I evoke, I am old enough to have experienced what might be termed the normalization of cultural craziness that characterized the 1960s." You can buy "Everything is Now" here. We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with J. Hoberman!

On this episode, Marc talks with Audrey Golden, author of "Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats," published on July 15, 2025. It's an innovative and thorough biography of the crucial UK band the Raincoats, told through an unconventional structure which divides their history not into eras, but "lives" - those of the band members, their supporters, and the people they inspired. As Audrey writes, "I consider this book–constructed from a Raincoats material archive built by Ana, as well as an archive of oral history and additional research materials collected by me–to be a layered feminist archive unto itself." You can buy Audrey's book here, and you can hear her talk about her previous book, "I Thought I Heard You Speak: Woman At Factory Records,” on our 14th episode here.  We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Audrey Golden!