Song Exploder - Intro Theme and Thao's Farewell

Episode Date: December 17, 2019

Thao Nguyen has been guest hosting Song Exploder this year, with Christian Koons producing, to give Hrishikesh a little room to daydream. That’s all been possible because of the support of Radiotopia listeners. In this bonus episode, Thao says goodbye, and we break down the intro music that Hrishi made to go with Thao’s time as guest host. Thanks to everyone who has listened this year. If you’d like to support the future of the podcast, you can donate to Radiotopia. You can help make new things possible for the podcast. Make your mark. Go to radiotopia.fm to donate today.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. My name is Tao Wyn. This is Rishi-Kesh. About a year and a half ago, I asked Tao Winn if she'd be up for guest hosting Song Exploder for a year. It was an experiment. I started this podcast in 2014, and I wanted to see if I had built it with enough structural integrity that it could still work with someone else doing the interviews and someone else's voice introducing the episodes. Part of what fueled the experiment was curiosity, but part of it was also trying to get back to a feeling that I had when I first came up with Song Exploder. Taking a daydream and trying to see it through.

But I'd been so wrapped up in the work of making Song Exploder that I hadn't had a lot of room for the daydreaming part. And I definitely didn't have time to act on a daydream and try and turn it into something. But the idea was that I would have more room to work on some new ideas. And I'm happy to say that I've got some new projects coming out next year that I'm really excited. to share. But none of this would have been possible if it weren't for Radiotopia, the podcast network that Song Exploder is part of, and if not for the support of the people who listen to Song Exploder and donate to Radiotopia. Advertising is definitely one thing that helps make this podcast possible, but it's also inconsistent. But the donations that we get give the podcast this wonderful sense of

calm security. If it weren't for that stability, which comes from that financial support and from being part of Radiotopia, I would have never been able to do what we did this year. Song Exploders made by a very small group of people, and thanks to you, I was able to add one more to our crew this year. If you want to support Song Exploder and add to this incredible safety net that allows me to try new things and find new ways to develop the show, go to Radiotopia.fm to donate. Now I'm going to turn things over to Tao. This whole time that you were guest hosting, you were also making your record.

And I was wondering if there were ever moments while you were making the record that you thought of something differently because of this experience. Oh, so many. You know, it's so funny as I just turned in the album art this week, which is one of the final components. And, you know, and Song Exploders and the thank yous. Really? Yeah. It was incredible to have this parallel where around every week I could talk to someone else and hear about their process and hear about the challenges, you know, making a record is like so many different iterations of, of will and resignation. And it was so

inspiring. Were you able to listen to it in a different way? Yeah, I mean, I had to listen to it in a different way. It was very interesting for me, as somebody who has sort of been historically a little bit of a control freak to, you know, set up a situation where I had to let go of some of that control and it was really neat. It was both terrifying and rewarding. Yeah. What do you think is the worst thing that could have happened or what was your worst fear? I think my worst fear was that I would actually end up having to do more work than if nothing had changed at all. I would end up having to spend more time and therefore it would be counterproductive from what the whole point of it was, what the whole point of

the experiment was. But that didn't happen. Great. That was my next question. I think the moment that was really exciting for me was this summer, there was a day when simultaneously you were interviewing Bonne Verre, and I was interviewing Robin. And a lot of times we're limited by the schedule of when artists are available. And those were the dates that both of them were available. And in another world, I might have had to let go of one of those episodes.

And that wasn't the case. You know, with more people, you can do more things. And those are two of my favorite episodes of the entire year. That's awesome. I didn't know that that was happening simultaneously. Yeah. One thing I did want to ask you about is you took some time to compose a new theme song at the start of this season.

Yeah. When you were coming in to take over for your guest hosting year, I wanted to give an announcement that things were going to be a little bit different that there was this shift. I guess I wanted to show that, okay, the house is the same, but the front door that you're walking through, it's been painted a new color. Again, I wanted it to be different enough that it was clearly a different theme,

but I wanted it to retain some of the same feeling as the theme that had come before. So I wanted to be mostly electronic, but it's at a different tempo. And the way it kind of started was with this little arpeggiated synthesizer line. I was trying to match your energy a little bit. the first thing that I did was actually used your recording, you know, the intro to the show as a way to kind of pace the thing out. You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

My name is Tao Wyn. Is that an older voiceover? Yeah, I took it from the voiceover that I think you did originally for the Nico Case episode, the one-off guest spot that you did back in 2018. You know, it's so funny. I can hear I was disappointed in that voiceover. So I was like, that's saying my first time. I wanted the music to have a little arc. So the beginning was going to be without drums,

and drums would come in so then you could say your name. My name is Tao Wyn. So there was a first half and a second half, but I needed something to lead into that moment where things kind of resolved. There was no baseline. I was like, oh, well, I don't know what bass would actually make the most sense. And so I just cannibalized the actual synth part and just pitch shifted them down an octave.

Oh, cool. That way it was like, well, I know it's got the same flavor because it's actually made from the same notes. So the bass part sounded like this. Did the slides come in next? Yeah. There are things from old recordings of mine. One time I had recorded every note and my little xyle. You know, before I had any kind of understanding of exactly how samplers work.

And so I just had a folder of notes of me playing every single note on the xylophone. Cool. But in order to like lead into that, I wanted these things to come in backwards. And then to add to that, I had strings too. And again, these are like old, from an older recording of mine, just doing this sort of swell to go along with the bells. But then my favorite thing in the entire theme comes in when the drums come in there's also this sort of like skittery

I took the way the old theme ended and slowed it down to match the tempo and the key of this one and then I did it again I made it 50% as fast so it was an octave lower and half as fast and then you put them together it's like this

they're panned to different side. So it feels like a little sparkle, but it's made out of the old theme. So it was just kind of a way to show that this was still the same show. The show is still here, literally here in the new theme. And that's it. Those are all the elements. You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. My name is Tao Wyn. Hi, y'all. This is Tao. I wanted to address you directly in my podcast voice, because with the end of my stint here, I don't know the next time I'll be able to use my podcast voice. It has been an absolute pleasure to

guest host Song Exploder this year. Thanks so much to Rishi for the opportunity and my deepest gratitude to our producer Christian Coons for so definitely holding the fort down with me. Hosting the show this year was a gift and it could not have come in a better time. Sometimes making music for living complicates a relationship to music that I would hope would always remain quite cure. Talking to incredible, resilient artists every week helped me to reconnect to music making as first and foremost, the lifelong fan and student I know I am. Rishi is returning to the helm, and I will go back to listening to Song Exploder at home and on tour. My band and I have a new record coming out in 2020, and if you're so inclined, we'd love to see you at a show. Happy holidays,

happy listening, and thank you for such a wonderful year. Your feel. Hello music fan, Tao. I want to thank Tao for her thoughtful presence on the show this year, for jumping in and learning all the weird and very specific ways this podcast gets made. And thanks to Christian, who kept everything headed in the right direction, even when I had to take my hands off the wheel for a bit. And I'm so happy to be coming back as the host. Thank you again for supporting Song Exploder.

If you love this show and you're in a position to chip in a few bucks, we could use your help. Radiotopia is part of PRX, and they're a non-profit, and they're dedicated to helping independent podcast creators like me to help us make our best work and we're counting on you to be able to keep going. If you can't donate anything at the moment, you can still support Song Exploder by listening and telling everyone you know to listen to it as well. Listen to an episode with your family.

Share an episode on your social media. All of that helps. And if you are able to donate, you can make your mark on this show. You can make a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation at Radiotopia.fm. There are a bunch of rewards and gifts there for people who donate as well. So thank you for helping me continue to make this podcast. It's an honor and a pleasure to get to work with kind people behind the scenes and the incredible musicians whose stories and songs you hear on the show.

I'm Rishikesh Your Way. Thanks for listening.