Heat Rocks – Details, episodes & analysis

Hello Heat Rockers! This is Producer Christian, I edited Heat Rocks and you might've heard my voice on a few episodes with Oliver and Morgan! So we've been working on a new music podcast here on Maximum Fun and I'm so excited to finally share it with you! Primer focuses on genres of music from outside the English-speaking world. This first season we're talking about Japanese City Pop and I will be hosting alongside Yosuke Kitazawa.

If you like what you hear, please subscribe to Primer! I think you're really gonna love what we've made here. :) 

On November 5th, 1979, Miki Matsubara’s debut pop single “Mayonaka no Door/ Stay with Me” was released in her home country of Japan. It was a huge hit and remained her biggest and most beloved work throughout her entire career. Over 40 years after its original release, it soared in popularity once again when a whole new international audience discovered the song through TikTok. Its catchy hook and incredible vocals still resonate with listeners today and has become a staple in the City Pop genre. If you’ve heard one City Pop song, it’s probably Stay with Me.

On our inaugural episode of Primer, radio/tv presenter  Linda Marigliano joins us to discuss City Pop icon, Miki Matsubara and her debut record, Pocket Park.  We get into the unexpected renewed interest in Mayonaka no Door, the story behind Miki’s sudden departure from the music scene, and Linda’s personal connection and discovery of City Pop.

Check out our Spotify playlist for this episode!

Follow Linda: Instagram | Twitter | Tough Love | Love Language

Follow Primer: Instagram | Twitter | TikTok

Well, we're finally here. After nearly 200 episodes, we're ending our run with Maximum Fun! We intend to come back sometime in 2022, and to celebrate this occasion, it's and Oliver, Morgan, and Producer Christian episode. We talk about our favorite moments from the show, the things we appreciate about the show, and we have a few good laughs. 

Follow Morgan and Oliver on Twitter to keep up with upcoming projects! 

Until next time, Heat Rockers.
 

If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

This week, we discuss Prince for the SIXTH time on Heat Rocks with musician/scholar Vijay Iyer. We get into Prince's love of the drum machine, Vijay's love of the 80s, and the many sides of Prince we see on this record. 

More on Vijay Iyer

• Floating Along In Uncertainty With Vijay Iyer (NPR)
• Check out Uneasy
• Twitter | Instagram

More on Sign o' The Times

• Is Prince’s Sign O’ The Times the greatest album of all time? (BBC)
• The Story of Prince's Sign o' The Times (Classic Album Sundays)
• Prince's 'Sign O' the Times' Turns 30: All the Songs Ranked (Billboard)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Sign o'The Times unless otherwise indicated): 

• Housequake
• Starfish and Coffee
• Vijay Iyer: Night and Day
• Prince: Little Red Corvette
• Slow Love
• Sign O' The TImes
• Starfish and Coffee
• It
• Housequake
• If I Was Your Girlfriend
• The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
• If I Was Your Girlfriend
• It
• Hot Thing
• The Cross
• Adore
• U Got The Look
• It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night
• Hot Thing
• The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
• Lords of the Underground: Flow On (New Symphony)
• The Ballad of Dorothy Parker
• Forever In My Life
• The Cross
• Slow Love
• Vijay Iyer: Human Nature
• Mystic Brew
• If I Was Your Girlfriend
• The Cure: Just Like Heaven
• Madhouse: Three
• Prince: Sometimes It Snows in April

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there

If you’re not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

We here at Heat Rocks talk a lot about Prince, and this marks the FIFTH episode where we're discussing an album of his. Around in the World in a Day incorporated more psychedelia and a wider variety of instruments, which made for a much more eclectic and unconventional album. This is also Morgan's favorite episode, so we couldn't be more excited to talk about this magnificent album.

Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution come down to the studio to talk about creating this record with Prince, the funkiness of the record, and what life was like working alongside his purpleness for all those years. 

This is a very special episode you definitely do not want to miss.

More on Wendy & Lisa

• Wendy and Lisa on Prince (Esquire)
• Website | Twitter

More on Around the World in a Day

• Prince's First Ever TV Interview (MTV)
• Prince: In appreciation of a virtuoso, enduring genius (The Independent)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Around the World in a Day unless otherwise indicated):

• Raspberry Beret
• Around the World in a Day
• Prince: Annie Christian
• America
• Pop Life
• Paisley Park
• Raspberry Beret
• Condition of the Heart
• The Ladder
• Tamborine
• America
• Raspberry Beret
• Around the World in a Day
• Paisley Park
• Condition of the Heart
• Prince: Uptown
• Wendy & Lisa: I Will
• The Family: Screams of Passion 

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

Oliver's albums

Erykah Badu's New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh) (2010)

Laura Mvula's Sing to the Moon (2013)

Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly (2015)

Frank Ocean's Blonde (2016)

Tyler, The Creator's Flower Boy (2017)

Morgan's albums

Thundercat's The Golden Age of the Apocalypse (2011)

Robert Glasper Experiment's Black Radio (2012)

Beyoncé's Beyoncé (2013)

D'Angelo's Black Messiah (2014)

Kamasi Washington's The Epic (2015)

Oliver and Morgan are kicking off the new decade and talking about their favorite albums from the 2010s. They discuss their own personal journeys through the decade and the changes in the music industry in general. 

Happy new year, Heat Rockers. Hope you all have a great one!

Show Tracklisting:

• Erykah Badu: Fall in Love (Your Funeral)
• Tyler, the Creator: See You Again
• Robert Glasper Experiment: Ah Yeah
• Kendrick Lamar: Momma
• Beyoncé: Drunk in Love
• Frank Ocean: Nights
• Erykah Badu: Love
• Erykah Badu: Out My Mind, Just In Time
• Erykah Badu: 20 Feet Tall
• Laura Mvula: Like the Morning Dew
• Laura Mvula: Father Father
• Laura Mvula: She
• Kendrick Lamar: Alright
• Kendrick Lamar: Wesley's Theory
• Kendrick Lamar: Complexion (A Zulu Love)
• Kendrick Lamar: For Sale? - Interlude
• Frank Ocean: Pink + White
• Frank Ocean: Godspeed
• Frank Ocean: Self Control
• Tyler, the Creator: Glitter
• Tyler, the Creator: See You Again
• Thundercat: Daylight
• Thundercat: Walkin'
• Robert Glasper Experiment: Cherish the Day
• Robert Glasper: Portrait of an Angel
• Robert Glasper Experiment: Move Love
• Robert Glasper Experiment: Black Radio
• Beyoncé: Haunted
• Beyoncé: Drunk in Love
• Beyoncé: Partition
• D'Angelo: Really Love
• D'Angelo: 1000 Deaths
• Kamasi Washington: The Message

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

The Albums: Vince Guraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) Andy Williams' The Andy Williams Christmas Album (1963) Stax Records' Christmas in Soulsville (2007)

Heat Rocks was hyped to have film critic Alonso Duralde (The Wrap), one of the hosts of Maximum Fun's movie podcast Who Shot Ya? guest with us to talk about our favorite Christmas songs, holiday fare, songs that should play when it's cold outside, baby.

We visit the canon of Christmas music over the years (Andy Williams 1963 The Christmas Album, Vince Guaraldi Trio's A Charlie Brown Christmas and Stax Record's 2007 compilation Christmas In Soulsville and across genres and styles - crooners, sweeping orchestral cinematic pieces, summer songs vs. winter songs, modern Christmas traditions, etc.

Alonso broke down the power of nostalgia as it relates to Christmas music and how our tastes in music are informed by tradition.

Don't be a grinch. Listen to this wintery wonderland of an episode about favorite Christmas tracks.

More on Alonso Duralde

• Alonso's podcast, Linoleum Knife
• Alonso on Maximum Fun
• Twitter

Show Tracklisting

• Andy Williams: The Christmas Song
• The Waitresses: Christmas Wrapping
• The Shins: Wonderful Christmastime
• Tracey Thorn: Snow
• Yogi Yorgesson: I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas
• Boyz II Men: Let It Snow
• Band-Aid: Do They Know It's Christmas
• Andy Williams: O Holy Night
• Andy Williams: Kay Thompson's Jingle Bells
• Andy Williams: It'as The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
• Andy Williams: Sweet Little Jesus Boy
• Andy Williams: White Christmas
• Vince Guraldi Trio: Christmas Time is Here (Vocal)
• Vince Guraldi Trio: Christmas Time is Here (Instrumental)
• Vince Guraldi Trio: My Little Drum
• Vince Guraldi Trio: What Child Is This
• Vince Guraldi Trio:Skating
• Vince Guraldi Trio: Hark, The Herald Angels Ring
• Otis Redding: Merry Christmas Baby take 1
• The Staple Singers: Who Took The Merry Out of Christmas
• Albert King: Santa Claus Wants Some Loving
• The Emotions: Black Christmas
• Isaac Hayes: The Mistletoe and Me
• Booker T and the M.G.'s: Winter Wonderland take 2
• Nate Dogg: Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto
• Little Johnny Taylor: Please Come Home For Christmas
• Juice Crew: Cold Chillin' Christmas
• The Free Design: Close Your Mouth (It's Christmas)
• Kenny Bobien: O Come Let Us Adore Him

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

2016 was a hard year, to say the least. We lost Prince, David Bowie, Phife Dawg, Sharon Jones, and many others that year. And on top of that, we here in the US had to reckon with the results of the presidential election. On November 11th 2016, A Tribe Called Quest dropped their final album, We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service, with verses from Phife himself. It came at a time we needed Tribe the most. It went Gold and was widely regarded as one of the best albums of the year.

Comedian Cristela Alonzo sat down with us to talk about We Got It From Here and why it quite literally changed the course of her life. We talk about the use of samples and how Tribe was able to update their sound for a modern audience without compromising the mission statement and production style that made them famous all those years ago.

More on Cristela Alonzo

• Cristela's new book Music to My Years is out now
• Laughing in Color: Cristela Alonzo on Finding Her Voice Through Comedy (WNYC)
• Twitter | Instagram

More on We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service

• Oliver's review of the album for NPR
• A Tribe Called Quest's Soundtrack to the Resistance (The Village Voice)
• Life Goes On With A Tribe Called Quest (The AV Club)

Show Tracklisting (All songs from We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service unless otherwise indicated):

• The Donald
• The Space Program
• We The People...
• Curtis Mayfield: We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue
• Dis Generation
• Kids...
• Elton John: Bennie and the Jets
• Solid Wall of Sound
• Nairobi Sisters: Promised Land
• Whateva Will Be
• Dis Generation
• Conrad Tokyo
• We The People
• Black Spasmodic
• Melatonin
• Lost Somebody
• Conrad Tokyo
• J Dilla: U-Love
• Gang Starr: Bad Name
• 2pac: Changes

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

What's Going On? On May 21, 1971, Marvin Gaye released his eleventh studio album asking this simple question. It was a risky move, for sure. Gaye was at the height of his career and this new album was heavy, focusing on things affecting his community like drug abuse, poverty, injustice and the Vietnam War. People might not have been expecting this, but it was what he wanted to make.

Fortunately, the gamble paid off. What's Going On went on to sell over two million copies and is widely regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time, and it's not hard to see why. It's a timeless record, as true back in 1971 as it is now. 

Father Amde of The Watts Prophets sits down with Morgan to talk about why this album was so groundbreaking, how he got to know Marvin Gaye when he was was still with us, and what Marvin might be talking about if her were here now.

More on The Watts Prophets

• "Watts Poetic" (TheLAand Magazine)
• Biography on The Watts Prophets (Hip Hop Scriptures)
• Website

More on What's Going On

• The Story of Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' (NPR)
• Marvin Gaye's 1971 "What's Going On?" remains unanswered today (The Conversation)

Show Tracklisting (All songs from What's Going On unless indicated otherwise):

• Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
• Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)
• What's Happening Brother
• What's Going On
• Watts Prophets: Pain
• BB King: Every Day I Have the Blues
• Marvin Gaye: Soldier's Plea
• Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
• Save the Children
• Curtis Mayfield: We Got To Have Peace
• Save The Children
• Wholy Holy
• Flyin' High (In The Friendly Sky)
• James Brown: King Heroin
• Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
• What's Going On

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

We've talked a ton of gospel here on Heat Rocks, but this episode marks the first time we've discussed a full gospel album on the show, and from none other than one of the very first gospel quartets, The Sensational Nightingales.  The group was formed in 1942 as simply The Nightingales, but it wasn't until 1946 and the introduction of the sensational singer Julius Cheeks when the band really began to hit their stride. The quartet still tours to this day, albeit with a slightly different lineup, but the soul and tradition of Southern black gospel music is alive and well.  

Singer/songwriter Van Hunt joins us in the studio to talk about his personal connection to gospel music, the influence of the Sensational Nightingales, and how artists can make the move from gospel to secular music.

More on Van Hunt

• The re-imagined first album, TRIM
• Seconds of Pleasure (Live at WFUV)
• Website | Twitter

More on The Sensational Nightingales

• The group's take on the gospel classic Hold On
• Profile by the National Museum of African American Music

Show Tracklisting (All songs from It's Gonna Rain Again unless indicated otherwise):

• The Last Mile
• Dionne Farris: Hopeless
• Van Hunt: Seconds of Pleasure
• Hold to God's Hand
• At the Meeting
• A Heart Like Thine
• Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers: Be With Me Jesus (Live)
• Van Hunt: Hello, Goodbye
• Anthony Hamilton and the Hamiltones: Hotline Bling
• DeWayne Crocker Jr, Kelontae Gavin, Keyla Richardson, and Mikel Simmons: Hold On
• At the Meeting
• The Old Account
• Carlton Pierson: Old School Medley
• It's Gonna Rain Again
• At Calvary
• A Heart Like Thine
• Sly Stone: Walking in Jesus Name
• It's Gonna Rain Again
• The Davis Sisters: Twelve Gates to the City
• Silvergate Quartet: I'm Going Down in Jesus Name
• The Daytonians: Let Jesus Work it Out
• Dr Charles Hayes and Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir: Jesus Can Work it Out
• Karizma: Work it Out
• Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers: Jesus Gave Me Water

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!

This episode originally ran 07/26/2018

The Album: Boyz II Men: II (1994)

Phil Yu is better known to most as Angry Asian Man...except that he isn't actually all that angry (though he is Asian and a man). Phil started his titular site nearly 20 years ago and since then, it has become an indispensable news resource about Asian American culture, politics and related issues. Phil, along with Jeff Yang, also hosts his own Asian American culture podcast, They Call Us Bruce.

Phil wanted to revisit one of the big hit albums of his youth: II by Boyz II Men. By '94, the group was already one of the biggest acts in all of R&B and expectations were beyond high for the follow-up. The quartet of crooners from Philly didn't disappoint as II continued the group's reign at the top, especially thanks to smooth ballads like "Water Runs Dry," "On Bended Knee" and of course, "I'll Make Love To You." (The three of us couldn't stop laughing when we were discussing the majesty that was the video for that single. Shout out to sexy finger wags.)

More on Phil Yu

• Interview with KoreAm Magazine.
• "Becoming Angry Asian Man" (Profile on NBC Asian America)
• They Call Us Bruce podcast
• Website | Twitter

More on II

• "Boyz II Men at the Head of the Class" (New York Times, 1994)
• "Boyz II Men Talk Incredible 1994 Run" (Billboard, 2014)

Show Tracklisting (all songs from II unless indicated otherwise):

• Thank You
• I'll Make Love To You
• Damar Jackson: No Protection
• Thank You
• Boyz II Men: End of the Road
• I Sit Away
• LL Cool J: Hey Lover
• Khalil - Interlude
• Yesterday
• Water Runs Dry
• On Bended Knee
• I'll Make Love To You
• On Bended Knee
• Boyz II Men: A Song For Mama
• Jezzebel
• Jazmine Sullivan: Round Midnight
• Water Runs Dry

If you're not already subscribed to Heat Rocks in Apple Podcasts, do it here!