by Mary Dolan

Episode 273: Lizzy McAlpine

“Staying”

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Lizzy McAlpine released her first album in 2020, and her second album in 2022. And between the two, she’s had a lot of success. One of her songs, “Ceilings,” was a viral TikTok hit, and has been streamed over half a billion times. So you might think, with all that success, you’d want to keep working in way that’s been working. But while Lizzy was making her third album, Older, after almost a year into the process of recording, she threw the whole thing out. She brought in a new band, and started over with a totally different approach. I talked to her about the song “Staying” from her new album. You’ll hear her original voice memos, as well as the first version she made in the studio, and then how it really came to life once she reimagined it.

You can buy or stream “Staying” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
Mason Stoops – producer, guitar
Sam KS – drums
Michael “Libro” Libramento – bass
Tyler Nuffer – pedal steel
Ryan Richter – steel guitar
Taylor Mackall – piano, mellotron
The Japanese House – “One for sorrow, two for Joni Jones”

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by Mary Dolan

Episode 272: The Flaming Lips

“Do You Realize??”

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The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma City in 1983. Over the last four decades, they’ve put out 16 albums. In 1999, they put out their album The Soft Bulletin, and that brought them a new level of success. And then, in 2002, they followed it up with Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, which was their biggest album to date. Pitchfork named it one of the top 5 albums of the year, Stereogum called it one of the best albums of the decade, and they won a Grammy. And the biggest song from the album was “Do You Realize??” So, for this episode, I talked to Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd about how that song was first imagined. You’ll hear the very first demo Wayne recorded for the song, and the demo he and Steven put together later, on their way to making the final version with producer Dave Fridmann.

You can buy or stream “Do You Realize??” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
“We Can’t Predict The Future”
Mercury Rev
Jane’s Addiction
“Slow Motion” – Origin of the “Do You Realize??” drum fill
Adam Clayton fromU2

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by Mary Dolan

Episode 271: War

“Low Rider”

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The band War formed in 1969, in Long Beach, California. “Low Rider” is from their 1975 album Why Can’t We Be Friends? The song was a hit as soon as it came out. It went to #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, and it’s just had tremendous lasting power ever since. Besides being in the movie Dazed and Confused, where I heard it, it’s been sampled by the Beastie Boys, it was covered by Korn, and it was the theme song for all six seasons of The George Lopez Show.

For this episode, I talked to War’s bandleader Lonnie Jordan, and their producer Jerry Goldstein. The two of them told me how “Low Rider” was made in the studio, through a combination of improvisation and meticulous editing.

You can buy or stream “Low Rider” here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

footnotes:
“Low Rider” personnel: Lonnie Jordan, Papa Dee Allen, B.B. Dickerson, Charles Miller, Harold Brown, Howard Scott, and Lee Oskar
“Low Rider” as seen in the movie Dazed and Confused
Crystal Studios
Jerry Goldstein’s prior credits included “Hang on Sloopy” and “My Boyfriend’s Back”
Tito Puente
Lowrider cars
Stevie Wonder
Sound City Studios
“Low Rider” is sampled on “G.D.F.R.” by Flo Rida
Flavor Flav

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