TuneDig

REPLAY: Fela Kuti’s “Expensive Shit” (feat. Nick Alt of Vinyl Me Please)

For Fela Kuti’s 88th birthday, we’re joined by our first-ever guest—Nick Alt of Vinyl Me, Please—to Felabrate the man who reminded us that “music must be for revolution,” to unpack VMP’s beautiful new Best of the Black President box set, and to...

Episode 80: Between the Buried and Me's "Colors"

Music can be this?! Five North Carolina dudes took the full range of the human spirit and musical styles into the woodshed, and from the loom came a technicolor dreamcoat of power, precision, and progress that we’ve worn with pride through nearly 20...

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Episode 79: FKA Twigs's "LP1"

As the 2010s cleaved culture into fractals and alienated humans from their being, Tahliah Barnett beamed down from the cosmos, a biblically accurate angel contorting into shapes embodying pure emotion. Her singular, decade-defining debut offers...

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Episode 78: The Chemical Brothers's "Exit Planet Dust"

Time's funny, innit? As today's youth excavate the nineteen hundred and nineties for the ecstasy of seemingly simpler times, here lies a fossil record containing so much of the DNA of how it was done — layers upon limestone layers of cultural source...

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Episode 77: Otoboke Beaver's "Super Champon"

For our money, this is what running through the halls of your high school and screaming at the top of your lungs actually feels like. And why shouldn’t the unreal world be a 250-BPM confetti cannon of primal-screaming sweetness? Take 21 mere minutes...

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Episode 76: Chic's "C'est Chic"

This episode’s meaning is neither deep nor hidden: the Nile is a river. To good times, that is. If the savoir faire, stellar musicianship, and seismic influence of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards’ organization don't suit you, then to cite a very wise...

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Episode 75: Nas's "Illmatic"

Illmatic’s impact on hip-hop is a foregone conclusion — one listen and it ain’t hard to tell why. But as we unpacked the lyrical density, the layered samples, and the hyperlocal lens of Nas taking us to the Bridge, we found they represent, represent...

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Episode 74: N.E.R.D's "In Search Of..."

It may be true that No One Ever Really Dies, but at the turn of the millennium, a young, wild, and free new wave in culture most certainly came alive. Whether or not you were around and aware in the moment of the Neptunes’ cultural dominance—and the...

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Episode 73: Odetta's "It's a Mighty World"

Odetta — a must-know titan of American music and culture — once noted that young people “learn about American history through battles.” But her dream of liberation was shaped much differently: “I learned about the United States through this music,...

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Episode 72: R.D. Burman's "Shalimar"

Once upon a time in Bollywood, one magical man made enough music to fill a million moments—and made space for hundreds of other artists along the way. Of the 331 scores “Pancham” composed in his lifetime, 1978's “Shalimar” is a uniquely compelling...

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Episode 71: Marianne Faithfull's "Broken English"

“That’s the thing about pretty faces… We don’t expect them to belong to the fighters— the junkies and monks and cockroaches who’ll survive every atomic bomb and suicide attempt and outlive us all.” - Lindsay Zoladz Broken English is searing, singular...

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Episode 70: Sade's "Love Deluxe"

Any denier that all art is political need look no further than the smoothed-out soul slipstream of Sade, a group defined by its economics. Rare output, minimal arrangements, reserved volume, and, of course, the premium implied by “Love Deluxe”—a title...

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Episode 69: Charles Mingus's "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady"

When you think of true "artists" in music, who comes to mind? Charles Mingus embodied its romantic ideal, for better and for worse. His magnum opus "Black Saint" is more than even jazz's cosmic form can hold—it's the full-bodied essence of a master...

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Episode 68: Gang of Four's "Entertainment!"

“Entertainment!” is described by Gang of Four’s Jon King as “a record about young people smiling and dancing in the face of disaster.” Uh oh, sound familiar? This Leeds-born slab of Brechtian boogie reminds us that to navigate a world where everything...

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Episode 67: Brooks & Dunn's "Brand New Man"

This is the tale of two lonesome cowboys who got down, turned around, and went to town catching lightning in a bottle on their first try together. Whether or not their decade-defining country anthems lit a flame in your eye in the 90s like they did...

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Episode 66: Oumou Sangaré's "Moussolou"

The name "Oumou" derives from an Arabic word meaning "mother of." It is associated with dignity, wisdom, and maternal strength. Southern Mali’s Oumou Sangare has come to embody her namesake for millions around the world, and it all began when she was...

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Episode 65: Missy Elliott's "Supa Dupa Fly"

In the words of one of her groundbreaking forebears, “You feel free? You want to try some wild s**t? Thank Missy.” Since the very first frame of “The Rain” entered our eyeballs, Missy has made the avant-garde accessible, pointing us to a future full...

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Episode 64: The Cramps's "...Off the Bone"

God is a woman and she plays the guitar loud … y’all come catch some Holy Ghost in your hips.  Hear our hallelujah for the love story of the queen of rock ‘n roll and the mad daddy holy rollin’ on a river—upstream all the way—and boot scootin’...

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Episode 63: Black Moth Super Rainbow's "Dandelion Gum"

Life’s a bit heavy to chew on these days, so we reached into the pocket of our mid-2000s jeans and found an old piece of Dandelion Gum to chew on instead. As soon as its neon syrup hits your tongue, you’ll wonder why you hadn't let this "future pop...

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Episode 62: Project Pat's "Mista Don't Play: Everythangs Workin"

This life we're livin' is oh so beautiful. Take it from Patrick Houston, who has spread the gospel of the real for three decades, followed by a discipleship that has shaped 21st century culture in his image. For those still alive in 2025 by the grace...

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