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

Ed O'Brien has spent decades crafting some of the most textured, expansive guitar in modern rock. From the fragmented beauty of Kid A and Amnesiac to the experimental layers of The King of Limbs, with the more straightforward muscle of OK Computer somewhere in between, few players have done more to expand what the instrument can do in a rock context.
In recent years, Ed has been building a parallel universe, one where he's at the center. It started with Earth in 2020, released under the moniker EOB. Now comes Blue Morpho, out under his full birth name, Ed O'Brien. The title isn't incidental: like the striking butterfly it references, Ed went through a genuine transformation over the six years it took to make this record, and the album reflects it.
On today's Broken Record, Ed walks us through the journey, beginning in solitude, playing guitar figures purely for himself, then gradually moving toward collaboration, eventually pulling in a crew of talented friends to help bring the songs to life. He also talks about how his playing has evolved over time, what Brazil has meant to him musically, and which producer he wishes Radiohead had worked with back in the '90s.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Ed O'Brien HERE.
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Just before the premiere of Earth, Wind & Fire's new Questlove-directed documentary , the three OGs of the group stopped by Broken Record: vocalist Phillip Bailey, singer and percussionist Ralph Johnson, and bass player Verdine White.
Host Justin Richmond will tell you straight up that talking about Earth, Wind & Fire's music feels a little beside the point. It exists on a level that resists explanation — spiritual, emotional, somewhere in the body before it reaches the brain. What the conversation reveals instead is the kind of people these three are: warm, grounded, and deeply committed to what they've built together. And maybe that's the whole answer.
In this episode, they talk about Maurice White, founder and spiritual leader of the group and Verdine's brother. They listen to some music together. And Phillip finally spills on what "Reasons" is actually about.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Earth, Wind & Fire HERE.
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The 1960s brings social and political change to the world and to New York City, where a young Johnny Pacheco keeps people dancing with his orchestra and charanga music. The Dominican musician is also going through a divorce and his lawyer, Jerry Masucci, happens to be a fan of Johnny’s music. The two form a music partnership that will forever change music. They call their music label Fania Records.
Hosted by Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress and Brooklyn native Rosie Perez and produced by Pulitzer Prize-winning Futuro Media. “Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York,” is the most comprehensive audio narrative yet made about the birth and wild heights of salsa, a genre that continues to shape global culture today.
Listen to Our Thing: The Birth of Salsa in Nueva York wherever you listen to podcasts.
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The New Pornographers have never been easy to pin down. Since forming in Vancouver in the late ’90s, the band became one of the defining acts of the Canadian indie rock explosion. They’re part of a scene that also produced Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and a generation of artists who seemed to operate entirely outside the commercial mainstream. Co-founders Carl Newman and Kathryn Calder have spent more than two decades making records that sound like they arrived fully formed: densely layered, relentlessly melodic, and somehow both euphoric and melancholy at the same time.

Their latest album, The Former Site Of, draws on a different kind of raw material. Part of it came from a friend’s terminal illness and the weight of watching someone you love reckon with time running out. Part of it came from something more unexpected: the last remaining payphone in New York City, which became a kind of anchor image for the record, a physical object standing in for everything we hold onto after it stops being useful.

On today’s episode, Bruce Headlam sits down with Carl Newman and Kathryn Calder to talk about where their new album came from, what it’s like to make something beautiful out of grief, and how the Canadian music scene that shaped them still runs through everything they do.
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Mopreme Shakur is 2Pac's half-brother, a rapper, filmmaker, and record producer living at the intersection of revolutionary politics and hip-hop. He's one of the only surviving members of Thug Life and Outlawz, raised alongside 2Pac in the tradition of Black liberation activism.
And now, for the first time, he's telling his own story. His new book, This Thug's Life, is a book about brotherhood, survival, movement building, and the making of a legend.
On today's episode Justin Richmond talks to Mopreme about growing up in a family steeped in activism, how he started his rap career with a classic appearance on "Feels Good" by Tony! Toni! Toné!, and what it was like to witness the evolution of 2Pac's career.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Mopreme Shakur HERE.
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