Scorching guests and sizzling records: join music writer Oliver Wang and music supervisor Morgan Rhodes each week as they invite their favorite artists, critics and scholars for in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives. Each week our special guests will take you deep into their heat rocks from the world of hip-hop, soul, dance, jazz, funk and more. Get with us!
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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.
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!
Vijay Iyer on Prince's "Sign O' The Times" (1987)
Episode 203
Friday, June 11, 2021 • Duration 59:21
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.
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
Wendy & Lisa on Prince's "Around the World in a Day" (1985)
Episode 120
Thursday, January 9, 2020 • Duration 01:00:23
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.
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
Our Heat Rocks of the 2010s
Episode 119
Thursday, January 2, 2020 • Duration 57:28
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
Holiday Music Special with Alonso Duralde redux
Episode 118
Thursday, December 26, 2019 • Duration 40:11
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.
Cristela Alonzo on A Tribe Called Quest's "We Got It From Here...Thank You 4 Your Service" (2016)
Episode 117
Friday, December 20, 2019 • Duration 59:30
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.
Father Amde of The Watts Prophets on Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" (1971)
Episode 116
Friday, December 13, 2019 • Duration 51:30
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.
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
Van Hunt on The Sensational Nightingales' "It's Gonna Rain Again" (1972)
Episode 115
Thursday, December 5, 2019 • Duration 54:59
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.
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.)
Show Tracklisting (all songs from IIunless 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
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25/05/2026
#70
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24/05/2026
#31
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#96
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23/05/2026
#72
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22/05/2026
#45
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19/05/2026
#70
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