Lost Notes

Kendrick Lamar and the big samples (from “Switched on Pop”)

<p>Lost Notes returns with a brand new episode next Wednesday. To tide you over, we’re featuring a deep dive into Kendrick Lamar’s 2022 album Mr. Morale &amp; the Big Steppers...

Viva Tirado: The South/East LA Connection

<p>Lost Notes explores how the song “Viva Tirado” exemplifies the inter-generational musical conversation between LA’s Black and Brown communities.</p>...

My Lady’s Frustration: How Fela Kuti Found Afrobeat in LA

<p>Lost Notes explores how Fela Kuti’s time in LA in 1969 was instrumental in the creation of his legendary Afrobeat sound.</p>...

Mojo on Trial: The Seedy, Greedy World of Ruth Christie

<p>Lost Notes details the darkly hilarious schemes of record-label magnate Ruth Christie, who instigated one of the most absurd court cases in music history.</p>...

The True Story of ‘Tainted Love’

<p>Long before “Tainted Love” was an ‘80s anthem, it was a 1965 B-side by LA’s Gloria Jones. We trace the song’s journey from a warehouse floor to the annals of pop history.</...

Lost Notes Returns with the True Story of ‘Tainted Love’

<p>‘Lost Notes’ returns for Season 4 with a special preview episode about the song “Tainted Love,” and its lesser-known origins as a forgotten ‘60s soul gem from LA.</p>...

Jonathan Demme: 'Stop Making Sense' interview and guest DJ set (1984)

<p>Talking Heads’ 1984 film, <em>Stop Making Sense</em>, has long been regarded by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest concert films ever made. A new <a text="A24 re...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 10: Rollins

<p>Throughout “Bent By Nature,” you’ve heard many stories of the lifelong connections set in motion by Deirdre O’Donoghue. But none were quite as surprising as the bond betwee...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 9: Promised Land (with Julian Cope)

<p><i>The artist has got to be not like the historian.</i><i><br /></i><i>The historian’s got hindsight. He can go back and go, “That was a great moment.” But the artist’s got...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 8: Half A World Away (with Michael Stipe)

<p>It’s September of 1984. And Deirdre is head over heels for a fast-rising quartet from Athens, Georgia called <strong>R.E.M</strong>. In just a few years, the band’s music w...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 7: Ages of You

<p>In the mid-1980s, two young women are coming of age in the San Fernando Valley. In a few years, when they’re teenagers, they’ll both latch onto DJ Deirdre O’Donoghue, for t...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 6: Crossing Over (with David Lowery)

<p>It’s New Year’s Eve, 1986. Deirdre is talking with the LA Times’ music critic, <a text="Robert Hilburn" data-val="ec0182977e3a48f1bbb02ef141eb27da" href="https://www.kcrw.c...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 5: Haywire (with Kathy McCarty & Brian Beattie)

<p>It’s Independence Day Weekend, 1988. And Deirdre is celebrating the return of <strong>Glass Eye</strong>, her favorite independent act from Austin, Texas. They’ve just rele...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 4: Almost Magic (with Syd Straw)

<p>It’s September 4, 1986. And Deirdre has just met a kindred spirit in singer <strong>Syd Straw.</strong> Like Deirdre, Syd traveled in good company. You could pick out her v...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 3: Inside Out (with David and Bekki Newton)

<p>In 1988, while most of the music world was fawning over Morrissey’s solo debut, <a text="Deirdre O’Donoghue" data-val="4db9a9b5354241caa28094a2f0b789bb" href="https://www.k...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 2: Music Could Be Your Whole Life

<figure class="image-right credit-caption" style="text-align: center;"><img src="https://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/bent-by-nature/music-could-be-your-whole-life/@@images/f7f4eb...

Bent By Nature - Ep. 1: This Is 'SNAP!'

<p>Before Soundcloud and Bandcamp, there was Deirdre O'Donoghue and "SNAP!," the LA DJ and radio show that served as a waypoint for underground music, artists, and its fans — ...

Bent By Nature: Trailer

<p>She was the most influential American DJ you’ve never heard of. Deirdre O’Donoghue was a vital force in the musical underground of the 1980s. Countless artists crammed into...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 7: Grace Jones

<p>In 1980, anti-disco sentiment was at a high and Grace Jones was coming off a trilogy of disco albums. If she stayed stagnant, it felt like her career could be swept away. A...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 6: Minnie Riperton

<p>Most know Minnie Riperton because of one part in one song. “Lovin’ You” was Riperton’s biggest hit, and she doesn’t sing that magic, piercing note until around the 3-minute...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 5: Hugh Masekela & Miriam Makeba

<p>In December of 1980, two exiled artists and freedom fighters attempted return to their home in South Africa for a concert. Jazz musician Hugh Masekela and singer Miriam Mak...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 4: John Lennon & Darby Crash

<p>Punk singer Darby Crash dreamed of immortality. The single full-length Germs album was to become a holy grail of music history, and his passing might’ve made him a legend, ...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 3: Ian Curtis

<p>In May of 1980, Joy Division lost its lead singer, Ian Curtis. The band decided that they would carry on with a different name. From the cutting room floor, a song with Ian...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 2: The Sugarhill Gang

<p>In 1979, "Rapper’s Delight" was released and went on to become the first Top 40 hip-hop single. Sugarhill Gang almost had no choice but to follow the single up with a full-...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Ep. 1: Stevie Wonder

<p>Stevie Wonder released seven albums from 1970 to 1976. It is an impenetrable run of albums and songs, one of the greatest in music history. Then, in 1979, he faced his firs...

Lost Notes: 1980 - Introducing Lost Notes: 1980

<p>This season the poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib explores the year 1980. It was the brilliant, awkward and sometimes heartbreaking opening to a monumental decade i...

Lost Notes S2 Bonus: Teenagers Surfing on the Wave of the Apocalypse

<p>Our second of two <i>Lost Notes</i> bonus episodes for this summer. This one is about The Student Teachers. In 1977, a group of music obsessed friends got together and deci...

Lost Notes S2 Bonus: Power to the People

<p>The new season of Lost Notes will be here in September. Meantime, this summer, we’re sharing a couple of bonus episodes. Fifty years ago, an unlikely musical group evolved ...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 8: Song of a Gun

<p>As long as there have been guns, there have been songs about guns. But American culture's relationship with guns is changing. Does popular music reflect that? We take a loo...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 7: Beyond Disco: Nermin Niazi and Feisal Mosleh

<p>In the early ‘80s, two teenage siblings in London recorded an album that fused Pakistani pop and British New Wave. It became a perfect harmony of the two worlds they lived ...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 6: Imagining Billy Tipton

<p>Jazz pianist Billy Tipton has been celebrated by some as a trans pioneer – but his story resists an easy telling.</p>...

Lost Notes S2 Bonus: More on John Fahey and Legacy

<p>As a supplement to <a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/lost-notes/living-with-john-fahey-aka-a-room-full-of-flowers" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://w...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 5: Living with John Fahey, aka A Room Full of Flowers

<p>John Fahey’s guitar playing influenced the sound of the American underground for generations. But how does that legacy change when you hear from three of the women who knew...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 4: A Castle On Top of A Hill: The True Story of Fanny

<p>The rock band Fanny ruled the Sunset Strip in the 1970s, and they were supposed to be the next big thing. They explain the price women pay for being ahead of their time.</p...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 3: Sonic Sculptor: Suzanne Ciani

<p>Synth pioneer Suzanne Ciani used an esoteric instrument to design some of the most well-known commercial sounds of the 20th century.</p>...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 2: To Chan Marshall: A Letter to Cat Power

<p>Poet and author Hanif Abdurraqib's letter to Cat Power about how her album The Greatest worked its way into his life.</p>...

Lost Notes S2 Ep. 1: Teenage Offenders: Reckoning with a Punk Past

<p>The Freeze were an early American punk band. Now, 40 years later, two members reckon with the lyrics they wrote as teenagers.</p>...

Lost Notes: Introducing Season 2

<p>On this season of Lost Notes, the music journalist and author Jessica Hopper is looking at artist legacies. How do they hold up? How do they change over time? Learn how dec...

S1 Bonus - Reissue: Unfictional - Nature Boy

<div>The strange story of the postwar pop standard "Nature Boy" and its enigmatic creator, eden ahbez.</div>...

S1 Bonus - Reissue: Heat Rocks - Cymande

<p>Legendary DJ/crate-digger Cut Chemist professes his love for Cymande’s 1972 self-titled debut.</p>...

S1 Bonus - Reissue: The Dove

<div>A global pop icon appears in a most unexpected place in this story from Pod Planet’s Clive Desmond.</div>...

S1 Bonus - Reissue: Mad About the Boy

<p>We resurface a story from Falling Tree Productions that takes a look at the empowering flip-side of pop fandom.</p>...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 8: Searching for the Root: The Incredible Journey of Aisha Ali

<p dir="ltr">In the wake of the swinging ‘60s, a young woman named Aisha Ali travels to North Africa in search of her roots. There, she single-handedly documents hours and hou...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 7: A Million Dollars Worth of Plastic

<p>In 1989 McDonald’s ran the biggest flexi-disc promotion ever, sending out 80 million discs (playing the “Menu Song”) as inserts in newspapers all over the country. A very s...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 6: Shaggs' Own Thing: The Story of the Wiggin Sisters

<p>One of the most unlistenable bands of the ‘60s became a cult favorite decades later, gaining praise from the likes of Frank Zappa, Kurt Cobain and Sonic Youth. But did the ...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 5: Johnny Tried: The Ballad of Glen Sherley

<p>When Johnny Cash played his iconic concert at Folsom Prison he covered the song of one very talented inmate. Johnny pulled some strings, plucked Glen Sherley from prison an...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 4: New Edition's Neighborhood Secret

<p>The boys in New Edition were basketball fans from Boston - Celtics country. So what happened when they hung out with the L.A. Lakers in a music video during the height of t...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 3: Electricity: Conversations with Captain Beefheart

<p dir="ltr">In this intimate radio portrait of one of music’s most legendary eccentric geniuses, writer Kristine McKenna offers you a visceral experience of what it was like ...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 2: Outlaws of the Airwaves: The Rise of Pirate Radio Station WBAD

<p dir="ltr">Pirate radio station WBAD in New York was a beloved source for fans of underground, unsanitized hip-hop in the 1990s, but how high could this illegal operation fl...

Lost Notes S1 Ep. 1: Louie Louie: The Strange Journey of the Dirtiest Song Never Written

<p dir="ltr">An FBI Investigation, an engagement ring, wine coolers...  the surprising story behind the ubiquitous anthem that every teenager bangs out on their first guitar.<...

Lost Notes - Season 1: Introducing Lost Notes

<p>Hear a preview of Lost Notes, an anthology of some of the greatest music stories never truly told. Top journalists present stand-alone audio documentaries that highlight mu...