The Next Track

Episode #198 - Casey Rae on William S. Burroughs and Rock and Roll

December 9th, 2020  |  37 mins 29 secs

William S. Burroughs was an author who had a huge influence on rock musicians. Casey Rae's new book charts this influence through the years, as Burroughs met with many of the great musicians of his time.

Episode #197 - I'm Not an Audiophile, But...

November 25th, 2020  |  30 mins 48 secs

A comment by a tech reviewer incited us to discuss who is qualified to pass judgment on the audio quality of devices. We discuss this with our favorite audiophile, Chris Connaker.

Episode #196 - Really Don't Mind if You Sit This One Out

November 11th, 2020  |  32 mins 17 secs

Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick is arguably the best progressive rock concept album of all time. Doug and Kirk have long been fans of this record, and discuss the genesis of the recording and the music, which still stands, nearly 50 years after its release, as one of the great albums of all time.

Episode #195 - Timo Andres: Making Home Videos and the Creative Process

October 28th, 2020  |  1 hr 9 mins

We last spoke with composer and pianist Timo Andres early in the lockdown, after he made a series of videos for a recital program that had been cancelled at Carnegie Hall. Over the past few months, Andres has refined the art of filming himself at the piano, and uses both audio and video recording as part of his creative process.

Episode #194 - Pianist Simone Dinnerstein

October 14th, 2020  |  41 mins 51 secs

Pianist Simone Dinnerstein used the lockdown to record an album of music by Philip Glass and Franz Schubert. We discuss how she built her career, how she recorded this album, and talk about Schubert's wonderful last piano sonata.

Episode #193 - Is Stereo Wrong?

September 30th, 2020  |  30 mins 56 secs

Is stereo the right way to listen to music? After all, it is an artificial attempt to reproduce the sound of live music. Perhaps we should revolt against the tyranny of the sweet spot.

Episode #192 - The Same as It Ever Was

September 16th, 2020  |  31 mins 18 secs

Following our discussion of CDs in episode #190, we continue our discussion about these plastic discs, mainly because Doug bought some new audio gear and is now CD-obsessed.

Episode #191 - Exile on Monday

September 2nd, 2020  |  33 mins 56 secs

We begin an irregular series of key albums that stand out in the history of music. For our first foray into this type of discussion, we talk about The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street.

Episode #190 - Nostalgic about CDs

August 19th, 2020  |  26 mins 13 secs

We wax nostalgic about CDs, those plastic (and partly metal) discs that changed the music industry starting in the mid-1980s, and whose popularity has waned since the rise of streaming.

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Episode #189 - Renaissance Men of Music

August 5th, 2020  |  27 mins 50 secs

A reviewer suggested that we mentioned John Cage in this podcast as a "cheap marketing ploy." That made use think about taste: highbrow, lowbrow, and unibrow. We reflect on whether we are really the "Renaissance men of music."

Episode #188 - Kathryn Williams on the Breath in Music

July 22nd, 2020  |  37 mins 52 secs

Kathryn Williams plays the flute, and, because of some health issues, has a unique approach to the breath. In addition to being a free diver, she has been commissioning pieces of music for one single breath. And she's going to try to break the Guinness world record for the longest sustained note on a wind instrument.

Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!

Support The Next Track.

Episode #187 - Live Performances during Covid-19, and After

July 8th, 2020  |  41 mins 35 secs

John Wyver's company Illuminations produces films of live performances: theater, dance, opera, and music. He joins us to discuss the future of live performances in what he calls The After, that period when Covid-19 is just a memory. Will live performances be able to start again even if there isn't a vaccine? How can social distancing allow live performances to return?

Episode #186 - Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani

June 24th, 2020  |  51 mins 52 secs

We meet harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, who is showing how the harpsichord is no longer an instrument just for "old" music. His latest recording features contemporary music for harpsichord and electronics.

Help support The Next Track by making regular donations via Patreon. We're ad-free and self-sustaining so your support is what keeps us going. Thanks!

Support The Next Track.

Episode #185 - Use Plex to Manage Your Media Library

June 10th, 2020  |  20 mins 6 secs

Plex is a great way to manage your media library. Doug and Kirk discuss how they use it. Note: we recorded this episode before the lockdown began, but held off publishing it because we had a number of interviews with musicians in lockdown.

Episode #184 - TJ Connelly, Boston Sports DJ

May 29th, 2020  |  49 mins 22 secs

TJ Connelly is a sports DJ: he provides "scores" for live sporting events, such as baseball, football, and hockey games. Since the lockdown, he's been out of work, and he has been focusing his attention on Uncertain Times, a daily streaming radio show. We talk with him about what it means to score live sports, and how his streaming show is reconnecting him with real radio.

Episode #183 - Composer and Pianist Timo Andres on Concertizing at Home

May 22nd, 2020  |  1 hr 2 mins

Timo Andres is a young composer and pianist, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2016. We discuss his music, and how he missed his first solo recital at Carnegie Hall du to the coronavirus lockdown, and decided to make home videos of all the works to present his program to the public. (Apologies for the audio; we made some mistakes when recording.)