Talk The Line

Across four decades Tracey Thorn's songs and writing have offered up a clear-eyed woman’s view of the immediate world around her; from the acerbic teen love songs of her first early-eighties band Marine Girls, through sixteen years as one half of articulate multi-million-selling duo Everything But The Girl to her recent acclaimed memoirs and journalism.This year she released her first solo album of entirely original material for seven years, titled "Record". Tracey has described the album as "nine feminist bangers" and it includes collaborations with the likes of Warpaint, Shura and Corinne Bailey Rae. She says that "Record’ represents that sense of liberation that comes in the aftermath, from embarking on a whole new 'no fucks given' phase of life."In this episode of Talk The Line, Tracey tells Jen Long about the long walks she takes around her hometown of London.

Fred Macpherson was already a mainstay of the East London indie scene before forming Spector in 2011. Playing their first shows at Efes Snooker Club in East London, the hype around the group around Spector rose quickly resulting in them signing with Fiction Records, the home of The Cure and scoring a nomination for BBC’s Sound of 2012 poll. Dropping their debut record Enjoy It While It Lasts that same year, the band were hailed with critical acclaim for the LP’s irresistible songwriting and witty wordplay. They followed this up with their second album Moth Boys and they return this year with their first new music in three years. In this episode of Talk The Line, Fred talks us through his surprising affection for (and knowledge of) the Pizza Express restaurant chain - recorded live in a real Pizza Express in East London!Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who ma

The Staves are Emily, Jessica and Camilla - three sisters who cut their teeth performing together at open-mic nights in Watford, their home city an hour North of London.The trio put out their first EP in 2010 and backed up Tom Jones on his comeback gospel record Praise and Blame that same year.The band are longtime friends of Justin Vernon from Bon Iver who produced their 2015 Album If I Was at his studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.The eldest of the sisters is Emily and she's obsessed with fantasy fiction, especially the His Dark Materials novels by Philip Pullman. In one of the most entertaining podcasts we've ever recorded, Emily tells Jen Long just why fantasy worlds offer up so much to her. You can find out more about Emily's passion in a letter she wrote us after we recorded this podcast, over on our show notes blog at talktheline.blog.

Fischerspooner began as a performance art piece in New York City at the end of the last century. They played their very first performance at a Manhattan Starbucks, which ultimately transformed into a spectacle that ushered in the electroclash scene. With the song "Emerge" they created one of the defining songs of that short-lived movement.This year they're back with Sir, their first new record in more than a decade. The highly personal album chronicles a tumultuous and emotionally fraught period of Casey Spooner’s life and was co-written and produced by REM's Michael Stipe.For this episode of Talk The Line, Casey tells Jen Long about the food experiences that shaped him. You can check out a full list of the places he recommends on our show notes blog at talktheline.blog. 

Jófríður Ákadóttir - one of Iceland's most talented and productive young musicians tell us about her obsession with matcha, against the backdrop of Kumiko, a teahouse in the hip Grandi area of Reykjavík.

Multi-disciplinary artist, electronic musician, vocalist and producer Káryyn tells us about how the importance of meditation in her life. 

London-based rapper and poet Kojey Radical tells us in detail about his passion for mixed martial arts.

Punk trio Dream Wife came together while they were studying visual arts at Brighton University, with roommates Rakel and Bella roping in fellow student Alice to create a fake girl band for a course project.Of course the fake band proved to be something of real substance and soon Dream Wife were putting on some of the best live shows around and recording tracks like their signature anthem "Somebody", inspired by the SlutWalk, the grassroots protest march that calls for an end to rape culture.Dream Wife also collaborate with the Girls Against campaign, which was formed by three teenage girls to raise awareness of, and reduce sexual harassment at gigs and concerts. At their concerts they make sure there's an even footing between performers and audience and they on a mission to support women taking up space at shows. Icelandic-born and California raised Rakel Mjöll is Dream Wife's singer and was already a veteran of the Reykjavík music and arts scene before she headed to the UK to study. She's sung with

British singer/songwriter Marika Hackman's had an incredible 18 months - last year's album "I'm Not Your Man" ditched the pastoral folk sound of her debut and found her treading new ground, asserting her credentials as one of the UK's most fierce and interesting artiss. Right now she's in the middle of touring Europe with the mighty Alt-J but we caught up with her at last year's By The Sea Festival in Margate for our chat.It's a testament to Marika Hackman's sense of humour that when we asked her to choose something she was obsessed with for this episode of Talk The Line, she told us she wanted to talk about her favourite condiments.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who make setting up a podcast a total breeze. Take your first steps in podcasting by signing to Pippa with this link: bestf.it/talkthelinepippa

Joe Mount is the mastermind behind Metronomy, one of the UK's most inventive, loved and successful bands. Joe formed Metronomy as a teenage bedroom project in his home town of Totnes, Devon and it took shape when he moved to Brighton to study music and visual art. Releasing the debut album Pip Paine (Pay the £5000 You Owe) in 2006, Metronomy became one of the more complex and considered characters of the burgeoning nu-rave scene.Relocating to London in 2008, Metronomy played a string of shows as trio with a very creative aesthetic which included outfits decorated in push-on bulbs and a series of choreographed routines. Completely changing it up with a new line up that included bassist Olubenga and drummer Anna, Metronomy's album The English Riviera was released in 2011 and is considered to be one of the most visionary pop records this decade. The album was smart, literate and catchy, and earned itself a nomination for the 2011 Mercury Prize. The gorgeous and just as innovative Love Letters follows in 2013 and

Rod Thomas grew up in Neath where he passed the time learning how to play as many different instruments as he could. Moving to London he started busking at Liverpool Street tube station and playing solo shows under his own name with an acoustic guitar and keyboard.In 2009 he flew to LA to work with the producer Boom Bip where he found his 90s disco pop sound, releasing his Love Part II EP the next year under the name Bright Light Bright Light and gone were the days of being mistaken for the Matchbox Twenty singer.Rod released his debut album Make Me Believe in Hope in 2012 which caught the ear of Sir Elton John. Rod and Elton became friends and Bright Light Bright Light supported Elton on world tour playing over 50 dates together.His second album Life is Easy followed in 2014 and last year he released the brilliant Cinematography which not only features a the vocals of Elton, but also all members of the Scissor Sisters and Alan Cumming.Rod now lives in New York but still comes back the UK for shows every now

Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson’s a career as a professional musician dates back to the early ’70s. He’s worked with the likes of Björk, Current 93 and Psychic TV. As a composer he’s worked on more than twenty-five films, including the award-winning score for the Oscar-nominated Children of Nature.He’s a longtime collaborator and friend of Sigur Rós and this year he designed a rune for their inaugural arts festival Norður og Niður which takes place on the shortest, darkest days of Iceland's Winter later this month. The festival’s name translates as 'may you go north and down’ which means telling someone or something to go to hell.Hilmar is also the allsherjargoði - the "high priest” of the Ásatrúarfélagið - Iceland’s pagan religious church which he joined at the age of sixteen, shortly after it was founded. It’s a religion of respect and tolerance that reflects the Icelandic society and its values and we met him in Reykjavik during this year’s Iceland Airwaves festival to him to find out more about pagan

Singer and songwriter Rae Morris signed a record at just 17 after years of gigging around the North with her mum and dad as tour managers. She released her first album Unguarded in 2015 and has lent her vocals to to the likes of Clean Bandit, Bombay Bicycle Club, Kaytranada and Rejjie Snow. Her new record is due out next year and is a working collaboration with producer Ben Garratt aka Fryars - who is also Rae’s boyfriend after the two fell in love working together.In a special Christmas edition of Talk the Line, we met up with Rae to talk about the festive season and the bits of Christmas that you don’t celebrate enough.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who make setting up a podcast a total breeze. Take your first steps in podcasting by signing to Pippa with this link: bestf.it/talkthelinepippa

Under the name of Naughty Boy, producer Shahid Khan has been behind some of the most successful pop music of the last few years. As a seventeen year old growing up in Watford, Shahid was turned onto the possibilities of music after hearing Timbaland and Aaliyah’s ‘Try Again’ but he only began making music 11 years ago.His career was kickstarted by a grant from the Princes Trust and an appearance on Deal or No Deal which netted him the forty grand he used to fund a collaboration with Bashy. The resulting track “Black Boys” became one of the first UK urban tracks to be playlisted on MTV Base . His breakthrough came in 2013 when “La La La” shot to number one. The song featured a relatively unknown Sam Smith and since then Shahid has worked with the likes of Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Emilie Sande, Popcaan, Janet Jackson and Missy Elliot. This year he’s back with a Joe Jonas collaboration which is the first song taken from his second album. Shahid is a real foodie and has become well known for feedi

Annie Hart made her name as one third of Au Revoir Simone, a band she initially formed almost fifteen years ago after befriending Erika Forster on a trainride from New York to Vermont. Along with Heather D'Angelo, Au Revoir Simone have released four records and despite their last coming out almost half a decade ago, the trio’s star remains on the ascent, with several appearances on the third season of Twin Peaks earlier this year.The Long Island-born Annie released Impossible Accomplice, her first solo record in the summer, and we met her when she came to the UK to play at Margate’s By The Sea festival.As an independent musician, Annie’s managed the finances for Au Revoir Simone since the band’s inception and today we’re talking about her expertise as a book-keeper.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who make setting up a podcast a total breeze. Take your first steps in

Natti Shiner is the principle singer, songwriter and synth player in Fickle Friends, the hardest working indie-pop band in the UK right now.Natti was born in the mountains of Switzerland, but raised in Devon and the New Forest by her bohemian Madonna and ABBA-loving mother who’d drag her to WOMAD every summer.A teenage obsession with Avril Lavigne set Natti on the path to music and she stared drumming in her first band when she was 11.She thought she’d end up becoming a doctor, but applied to drama school on a whim and that’s where she met her future bandmates.Natti’s the first guest we’ve had on Talk The Line to choose a book as her particular obsession and it’s one of the most popular non fiction books of the last decade: Yuval Harari’s Sapiens.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who make setting up a podcast a total breeze. Take your first steps in podcasting by signing to Pip

Torres - aka 26-year-old musician Mackenzie Scott - talks about her experiences of ASMR and its triggers.Three Futures, Torres' third album, was released last month and grew out of the idea that music could be enjoyed and experienced by all five senses. One of its dominant themes is a celebration of the body as a mechanism of joy and so it's no surprise that she chose Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) as her subject for our latest podcast exploring celebrity obsessions and passions.ASMR describes the tingling sensation on the skin that usually begins on the scalp and moves down the neck and spine in response to external stimuli - often acoustic or visual. Things such as softly spoken voices or quiet, repetitive sounds are the kind of things we're talking about and there's an endless list of YouTube videos out there to trigger an ASMR.We met with Mackenzie Scott in Reykjavík earlier this month where she was performing as part of Iceland Airwaves.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribin

Ólafur Arnalds is one of Iceland’s top composers and probably best known in the UK for his BAFTA-award winning score to the television show Broadchurch.Only just in his thirties, Ólafur has carved our a career that’s seen him work with the likes of Nils Fraham, as well as moonlight as one half of techno outfit Kiasmos – along with his friend Janus from electro-pop outfit Bloodgroup.Last year he released the album Island Songs which saw him connect with local musicians across his home country to create a community-based portrait of Icelandic music.Collaboration is a very important part of the way Ólafur approaches music. Just a couple of days after a companion film to the Island Songs project premiered in Iceland, we sat down with him to talk about why working with other musicians is so vital.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who make setting up a p

Before he joined The Killers in 2002, Ronnie Vanucci Jr was a well known drummer on the Las Vegas scene had played in in everything from a ska-punk to a covers band called Free Food, who played at prisons and homeless shelters.He beginning drumming at the age of seven and nineteen years later was studying classical percussion at the University of Nevada when he met Brandon Flowers. The band would play in Ronnie’s garage and at night he would sneak them into his University building to practice.Ronnie's dog Archie is almost as famous as he is to Killers fans and recently he started reading up a lot about animals, initially from the angle of investigating health and diet. This led him into a deeper journey, wanting to learn about and understand more about how the food chain fits together and how we relate to animals. That's what we're talking about with him on today's podcast.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazi

James Murray - aka Murr - is a member of comedy collective The Tenderloins who found fame on hit Comedy Central show Impractical Jokers.One of four friends who met 27 years ago in a High School religious education class, Murr was working for the Staten Island Ferry when the group reconnected 9 years later and began practicing improv comedy.Impractical Jokers sees the cast challenge each other to do the most ridiculous public pranks with everything captured on hidden cameras. Over the course of the show’s six seasons, Murr has done everything from having his nipples and belly button pierced and receiving prostate exams in front of an audience to legally marrying his castmate Sal’s sister and eating dog poo in a pet store for 300 dollars.We meet up with Murr to talk about his obsession with conspiracy theories.Catch up with our earlier shows by subscribing on Apple Podcasts with this link: bestf.it/talkthelineTalk The Line is hosted by the amazing podcast people at Pippa.io who make setting up a podcast a