Saturday · 13 min
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
- TL
August 22 · 12 minFontaines D.C. ‘Marianne’: Nowhere Left to Escape
Fontaines D.C. have spent five albums trying to find somewhere else to go. From Dublin, to Ireland, to romance, fantasy and now something much harder to define, escape has been one of the central tensions running through their music. With “Marianne”, their first new music since 2024's Romance, Fontaines D.C. offer our first glimpse into their forthcoming fifth album, Dopamine Chamber. In this episode, Stephen explores what “Marianne” tells us about Fontaines' evolving sound and their fascination with escapism, while examining the song's Ripley-inspired music video and the controversy surrounding its original AI Artist credits. Dopamine Chamber is released October 16th, 2026 via XL Recordings.
- TL
August 15 · 13 minPhoebe Bridgers’ Lost Weekend: The Sound of Living Through This
Six years after Punisher gave the isolation of 2020 an apocalyptic soundtrack, Phoebe Bridgers returns with Lost Weekend an album about what it feels like to live through a world that increasingly feels impossible to change. The Trump era. Late-stage capitalism. Internet alienation. Institutional indifference. Grief. Love. Fame. Lost Weekend brings these enormous forces down to the scale of an individual life, asking what happens when catastrophe stops being an event and becomes the environment we live inside. But this isn’t a protest album. Through dissociation, distorted voices, memories of her father, intimate relationships and moments of unexpected warmth, Bridgers explores what remains when the larger systems around us feel beyond our control. If Punisher asked what happens when the world feels like it’s ending, Lost Weekend asks what happens when you have to keep living through it. How do we remain human after it? The Last Mixed Tape is a music and culture video essay exploring the ideas, stories and politics behind the music that shapes our lives.
- TL
August 8 · 18 minWas David Bowie a Fascist? The Thin White Duke
Was David Bowie a fascist? In 1976, David Bowie became the Thin White Duke: an elegant, unsettling persona born during a period of cocaine addiction, paranoia and psychological collapse. Bowie praised Hitler, spoke approvingly of fascism and was photographed appearing to give a Nazi salute. But was the Duke an expression of genuine political belief or a dangerous piece of performance art that began to escape its creator? We trace the Duke through Bowie’s controversial interviews, the post-war artistic fascination with fascist imagery, Situationism and punk, and finally Station to Station the album where Bowie and his creation seem to wrestle for control. The Last Mixed Tape explores music, culture, politics and the stories hiding underneath the songs.
- TL
August 1 · 16 minU2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday | This Is Not a Rebel Song
“This is not a rebel song.” For more than forty years, Bono has introduced Sunday Bloody Sunday with those six words. But why? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores the history, controversy and enduring legacy of one of the most important songs in Irish music. Beginning with the events of Bloody Sunday in Derry in 1972, we trace the writing of the song during the recording of War, its first performance in Belfast, the legendary Red Rocks concert, and the debate that has followed it ever since. Rather than asking who the song supports, this episode asks a different question: What happens when a piece of art leaves its creators and begins a life of its own? Along the way, we explore: • The real events behind Bloody Sunday • Bono’s reflections from Surrender • The Edge’s writing of one of rock’s defining guitar riffs • The Belfast performance that tested the song • Red Rocks and the white flag • Why Bono tore up Irish tricolours on stage • How music shapes politics and how politics reshapes music If you enjoy long-form conversations about music, culture and history, follow The Last Mixed Tape for new episodes every week.
- TL
July 25 · 11 minAfter Brat | Charli XCX’s Music, Fashion, Film
Brat became one of the defining cultural moments of the decade. Rather than trying to recreate that success, Music, Fashion, Film asks a far more difficult question: what happens after the breakthrough? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores Charli XCX’s latest album through the lens of artistic identity, modern fame and the growing expectation that musicians must become far more than musicians. From the satirical mockumentary The Moment to the Vincent Cassel-starring video for Camera, and the closing words of David Cronenberg, Music, Fashion, Film becomes less a traditional album than a meditation on creativity, performance and what happens when an artist no longer owns the meaning of their own work. Is this Charli XCX’s most challenging record yet? Or is it something even more ambitious a reflection on what it means to continue making art once the world has already decided who you are?
- TL
July 18 · 12 minGilla Band, Mental Health and the Sound of Modern Ireland
Music doesn’t just soundtrack history. Sometimes it captures emotions before we have the language to describe them. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores how Dublin’s Gilla Band became one of Ireland’s most important cultural voices, not simply through noise rock, but through their uncompromising portrayal of anxiety, recovery and modern life. From Dara Kiely’s struggles with psychosis and schizophrenia to the panic attack that became the opening of The Talkies, this documentary traces how the band’s music evolved alongside Ireland’s changing conversation around mental health. Along the way, the episode examines housing insecurity, burnout, late-stage capitalism and why albums like Holding Hands With Jamie, Most Normal and the new single Placeholder feel less like records and more like emotional documents of a generation.
- TL
July 11 · 15 minWhy Julian Casablancas Refuses to Shut Up | The Strokes, Gaza & Political Speech
Julian Casablancas sparked controversy after comparing American Zionists to Black people living under slavery on SubwayTakes. It was a comparison I believe was historically clumsy, rhetorically reckless and ultimately damaging to the point he was trying to make. But five weeks later, at the Oxford Union, Casablancas returned to the subject with a clearer argument centred on settlements, expansion and the reality facing Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores why context matters, why criticism and clarification can coexist, and why the conversation about a musician’s words can sometimes eclipse the people living through the reality those words were attempting to describe. From The Strokes’ politically charged Coachella performance to Douglas Murray’s comments on Irish voices discussing Israel and Palestine, this episode asks a broader question: What happens when a bad analogy becomes more famous than the reality it was trying to describe?
- TL
July 4 · 11 minPhoebe Bridgers’ Lost Boys: The Machine Killing Us
Phoebe Bridgers is back with Lost Boys, her first solo music in six years — a song haunted by nostalgia, isolation, masculinity and the machines we carry in our pockets. At its centre is a dark inversion of one of the most famous slogans in protest music. Where Woody Guthrie wrote “This Machine Kills Fascists,” Bridgers sings: “This machine is killing me.” In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores what Lost Boys tells us about smartphones, social media, male loneliness and generations who no longer simply use technology, but have grown up inside it. From the reckless young men haunting the song’s lyrics, to Bridgers’ phone-free Lost Tour and her attempts to rebuild a more direct emotional connection with audiences, this is a story about the machines built to connect us, the people getting lost inside them… and what happens when we decide to leave the machine at the door. The song identifies the machine. The tour attempts to dismantle it.
- TL
June 27 · 12 minThe Continued Fall of Róisín Murphy
Following renewed controversy around Roisin Murphy over comments about transgender people, criticism from artists including The Blessed Madonna and CMAT, and a growing divide between Murphy and the LGBTQ+ community that helped shape her career, this episode explores a larger question. What happens when an artist becomes estranged from the community that gave their work meaning? From queer club culture and collective memory to the politics of belonging and audience, this episode examines how music is shaped not only by the people who create it, but by the communities who embrace it.
- TL
June 20 · 12 minWhy Gen Z Loves The Cure | Olivia Rodrigo, Robert Smith & Music Discovery
Olivia Rodrigo’s latest album features Robert Smith of The Cure, but this collaboration tells a much bigger story than a pop star working with one of her heroes. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore why The Cure continue to resonate with younger listeners, how TikTok and streaming have transformed music discovery, and whether modern audiences are inheriting music differently than previous generations. Drawing on an idea from David Byrne, we examine how music now exists in a giant cultural “bucket” where new and old songs coexist without chronology, allowing artists like Olivia Rodrigo to become gateways into entire musical worlds. From The Cure and Talking Heads to Spotify playlists and TikTok algorithms, this episode is about the changing nature of musical discovery and why great songs continue to find new listeners.
- TL
June 13 · 14 minWhy Ireland Still Sings Viva la Quinta Brigada | Christy Moore, Anti-Fascism & the Belfast Riots
Following the recent unrest in Belfast, I found myself returning to one of the most powerful songs in Irish music: Christy Moore’s Viva la Quinta Brigada. What begins as a song about Irish volunteers who travelled to Spain to fight fascism during the Spanish Civil War reveals a much deeper story about Ireland itself. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, I explore the Connolly Column, the Blueshirts, Irish support for Franco, and Christy Moore’s role as one of Ireland’s great custodians of cultural memory. More than a history lesson, this is a story about identity, belonging, and a question Ireland has been asking for nearly a century: Who gets to define what Ireland is? From the Spanish Civil War to modern Ireland, Viva la Quinta Brigada remains a song that refuses to let us forget the choices that surround us. Topics discussed: • Christy Moore • Viva la Quinta Brigada • The Spanish Civil War • The Connolly Column • The Blueshirts • Irish history • Anti-fascism • Belfast and modern Ireland • Protest music and cultural memory The Last Mixed Tape is a podcast and video essay series exploring music, culture and the stories that connect them.
- TL
June 6 · 12 minAI Ozzy and the Death of Endings
When reports emerged that an AI-powered version of Ozzy Osbourne could continue interacting with fans after his death, many people focused on the technology. I found myself thinking about something else. For most of human history, art survived the artist. Using Ozzy Osbourne as a starting point, this episode explores digital resurrection, AI, memory, grief, nostalgia, Mark Fisher’s “slow cancellation of the future,” and what happens when culture becomes increasingly uncomfortable with endings. Is AI Ozzy really a story about technology? Or is it a story about our growing inability to let things go?
- TL
May 30 · 15 minCMAT Just Said What Most Pop Stars Won’t
When CMAT won Best Album at the Ivor Novello Awards, she used her acceptance speech to challenge fellow artists to stop “sitting on the fence” as fascism and far-right politics continue to rise across Britain and Ireland. It was a speech that immediately made headlines. But this episode isn’t really about one speech. It’s about the role artists play during moments of political and social tension. From Euro-Country and its examination of post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, to her support of drag culture at the Choice Music Prize, CMAT’s intervention at the Ivors didn’t come from nowhere. It was the latest expression of ideas that have been present throughout her work for years. This episode explores the speech itself, the atmosphere in which it was delivered, and a bigger question that sits at the heart of modern music culture
- TL
May 23 · 20 minHow Irish Music Helped Break the Catholic Church’s Power
For much of the twentieth century, the Catholic Church shaped almost every aspect of Irish life education, sexuality, family, politics, shame and silence. But long before Ireland changed politically, Irish artists began documenting the emotional cost of that world through music. From Christy Moore’s response to the death of Ann Lovett… to Sinéad O’Connor tearing up a photograph of the Pope on live television… to Hozier, Marriage Equality, Repeal the 8th and Fontaines D.C… this episode explores how Irish music became both witness and protest during one of the most profound cultural transformations in modern Irish history. Part music documentary, part cultural essay, this is the story of how songs carried truths Ireland often struggled to say aloud until eventually the silence itself began to collapse.
- TL
May 16 · 13 minWhy Artists Are Scared To Change | Charli XCX, Rock Music & Authenticity in the Streaming Era
“I think the dance floor is dead… so now we’re making rock music.” One sentence from Charli XCX sparked immediate online discourse. Was this the end of Brat? A reinvention? A provocation? Or something much bigger about modern music culture itself? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores Charli XCX’s Rock Music as a case study in artistic reinvention during the streaming era — where algorithms reward familiarity, audiences expect consistency, and authenticity itself has become increasingly performative. From David Bowie and LCD Soundsystem to hyperpop, TikTok culture and the collapse of scene identity, this episode asks: What does authenticity actually mean in 2026? And maybe more importantly: Is risking your audience now the only truly authentic thing an artist can do? 🎧 The Last Mixed Tape Hosted by Stephen White
- TL
May 9 · 11 minBeyond Gender: The Real Meaning of Running Up That Hill
Kate Bush described Running Up That Hill as a song about a man and a woman trying to understand each other. But what makes the song endure goes far beyond romance. In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, Stephen White explores how Kate Bush used shifting narrative perspectives across Running Up That Hill, Cloudbusting, and This Woman’s Work to examine empathy, identity, transformation, and the impossible challenge of truly understanding another person. From the theatrical world of Hounds of Love to modern conversations around identity and perspective, this is a deep dive into why Running Up That Hill still feels decades ahead of its time.
- TL
May 2 · 13 minFenian: Language, Identity & Kneecap’s Most Political Album
What does the word “Fenian” really mean and can it ever be reclaimed? In this episode of The Last Mixed Tape, we explore Fenian, the new album from Kneecap, and the complex history behind one of the most loaded words in Irish identity. From its origins in Irish mythology and the Fianna, through revolutionary movements and into its use as a sectarian slur during the Troubles, “Fenian” is a word shaped by conflict, resistance, and power.
- TL
April 25 · 16 minWho Gets Banned From Eurovision? Politics, Boycotts & the 2026 Crisis
Is the Eurovision Song Contest really apolitical or has it always been shaped by politics? With over 1,000 artists calling for a boycott of Eurovision 2026 and multiple countries withdrawing from the contest, this year’s competition has become one of the most controversial in its history. With the question of Isreal’s participation at its core. Drawing on past moments from Bosnia’s wartime entry in 1993 to political controversies involving Armenia and Ukrainethis episode examines how Eurovision has always reflected the tensions of the world around it. Because the real question isn’t whether Eurovision is political.
- TL
April 18 · 13 minWhy Female Pop Stars Still Have to Do More | Bieber vs Sabrina Carpenter at Coachella
At Coachella 2026, two performances sparked completely different reactions. Justin Bieber took to the stage with a laptop, revisiting old performances and creating a stripped-back, introspective set that divided opinion. Some called it lazy. Others called it art. Meanwhile, Sabrina Carpenter delivered a full-scale headline performance choreography, costume changes, live band and was praised for doing exactly what was expected. So why are these performances judged so differently? This video explores the double standard in pop music, and why female artists are still expected to do more to prove themselves, while male artists are often given the space to do less and have it framed as artistic. From performance, to perception, to the language we use to describe both, this is about more than just Coachella. It’s about who gets to define what “good” looks like.