The Music Book Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

On this episode, Marc talks with Howard Weulfing. He's the author of Descenes and Discords, an anthology of two fanzines he edited in the early 1980s, documenting the burgeoning underground rock scene in DC at the time. Descenes featured interviews, record reviews, live reviews, and more, with most of the focus on DC. Discords also covered scenes around the country, publishing reports from writers such as Gerard Cosloy in Boston, Jim Testa in New Jersey, Tesco Vee in Michigan, and John Foster in Olympia.

This new anthology includes explanatory introductions by Howard for each zine issue, as well as a conversation between Howard and Ian MacKaye, reminiscing about what things were like in DC back then.

As Howard writes, "Our contributors were out in this community and readily accessible. We were playing shows, running record stores, simply hanging out. We got plenty of letters of criticism, clarification, and sometimes praise. We tried to process it constructively: broadening the coverage, questioning our judgements, while keeping the tone conversational and direct though often with tongue planted firmly in cheek."

You can buy Descenes and Discords here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Howard Wuelfing!

On this episode, Marc talks with Bill Janovitz, author of "The Cars: Let The Stories Be Told," published in September 2025. It's a deeply researched, deftly crafted story of the Boston band, led by Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr, who started peppering the charts with hits from their self-titled 1978 debut album, and kept making great music and selling tons of records for the next decade. Drawing on extensive interviews with the group's surviving members Elliott Easton, Greg Hawkes, and David Robinson, Janovitz digs deep into their creative and personal dynamics. 

As Bill writes, "In the late 1970s, rock and roll resisted premature pronouncements of its demise. The Cars were crucial in that resuscitation. They grew to a towering presence and provided the soundtrack for the 1980s."

You can buy "Let the Stories Be Told" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Bill Janovitz!

On this episode, Marc talks with Brian Anderson, author of "Loud and Clear: The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound and the Quest for Audio Perfection," published in June of 2025. It's a detailed and compelling tale of how the Grateful Dead, over the first decade of their existence, continually created and expanded their own sound system into a gigantic tower of speakers known as the Wall of Sound. Scores of techs, roadies, and other fascinating figures worked on this monstrous array of gear, which delivered clear, almost mystical sound throughout the venues to which the Dead hauled it.

As Brian writes, "Our world has been radically shaped by the Dead, regardless of one's own relationship with the band. And their fabled PA of the early 70s is perhaps the most striking example of that outsized influence."

You can buy "Wall of Sound" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Brian Anderson!

On this episode, Marc talks with Dean Van Nguyen, author of "Words for My Comrades: A Political History of Tupac Shakur," published in May of 2025. It's a fascinating look at the socially-conscious life of rapper 2Pac, developed while growing up around radical black activism, particularly that of his mother Afeni Shakur of the Black Panther Party. This includes a thrilling opening section which serves as a kind of miniature history of the African-American left in the 60s, 70s, and beyond. 

As Dean writes, "Words for My Comrades is the story of how Tupac Shakur came to exemplify radicalism and revolution...How did a man who made music to dance to find himself elevated to a status that's commonly the realm of civil rights leaders and guerrilla warfare commanders?"

You can buy "Words for My Comrades" here, and we hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Dean Van Nguyen!

On this episode, Marc talks with Niko Stratis, author of "The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman," published on May 6, 2025. It's a memoir of Stratis's many experiences and life changes, explored through music that has greatly affected her, with each chapter focused on a specific song. Stratis expertly mixes her own story with the stories of these songs and how those two things intertwine, along the way carving out her own definition of Dad Rock that speaks to who she is, who her own dad is, and how life can be shaped and guided by the music we love.

As she writes, "So much of my relationship to music is driven by what it says about who I am. What the things I collect and adore can possibly say about the parts of myself I am desperate for people to see."

You can buy Niko's book here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Niko Stratis!

On this episode, Marc talks with Jon King, author of "To Hell With Poverty / A Class Act: Inside the Gang of Four," published in April of 2025. It's an engaging, fast-paced memoir by the lead singer of legendary UK band Gang of Four, whose classic lineup also included guitarist Andy Gill, drummer Hugo Burnham and bassist Dave Allen. 

King's tales of his youth up through the formation of Gang of Four and the four albums they released between 1979 and 1983 are written in the present tense, as if we're there with him experiencing it all, giving To Hell With Poverty a rushing excitement as life moves quickly both for the band and King himself.

You can buy Jon's book here or here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Jon King!

On this episode, Marc talks with Lisa MacKinney, author of "Dressed in Black: The Shangri-Las and Their Recorded Legacy," released in March of 2025. It's a thorough history of the 1960's group comprising sisters Mary and Betty Weiss and twins Mary Ann and Marguerite Ganser, best known for their hits  “Leader of the Pack” and “Remember (Walking in the Sand)." MacKinney started this project 20 years ago as a graduate student, gradually unearthing almost every possible detail about this fascinating group, despite not having access to any members.

As she writes, "A reappraisal of the Shangri-Las’ small but tremendously significant and influential body of work is long overdue. Repeatedly marginalised in traditional rock narratives, the Shangri-Las deserve to be examined in more informed historical contexts and on their own terms, right now and not later."

You can buy "Dressed in Black" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Lisa MacKinney.

On this episode, Marc talks with Matthew Shipp, author of "Black Mystery School Pianists and Other Writings," published in April 2025 by Autonomedia. It's a collection of essays, poems, tributes, obituaries and more. Shipp, best known for his piano playing (solo, in collaboration, and with the David S. Ware quartet), presents much of what he's learned and contemplated over decades as an artist, touching on inspiration, improvisation, language, and many other big ideas.

As he writes, "I don't consider myself a poet, but I do consider myself able to write about what inspires me to play the way I do. And the reason I'm able to do that, even though I'm not a poet, is because obviously I know myself to some extent."

You can buy Matt's book at Autonomedia's website or here. 

We hope you enjoy Marc's conversation with Matthew Shipp!

On this episode, Marc talks with Mark Doyle, author of "John Cale's Paris 1919," published in February of 2025 as part of the 33.3 series of short books on individual albums. It's a fascinating examination of John Cale's 1973 album, which Doyle approaches along the theme of "ghosts," with chapters on "The Ghosts of New York," "The Ghost of Dylan Thomas," "The Ghosts of HIstory," and "The Ghosts of Christmas."

As Doyle writes, "If you are looking for some systematic explanation of the songs' mysteries, some Grand Unified Theory that will tie together all the historical, literary, and autobiographical references in the lyrics, I am afraid this is not that book. Instead, I will undertake the more delicate task of identifying, one at a time, and with the utmost care, just a few of the ghosts haunting the album, taking their measure for a few moments before they float off into the night."

You can buy Mark's book here, and we hope you enjoy our conversation with him!

On this episode, Marc talks with S.H. Fernando Jr., author of "The Chronicles of DOOM: Unraveling Rap's Masked Iconoclast," released in October of 2024 by Astra House. It's a thorough and thought-provoking biography of the legendary rapper, writer, and producer known best as MF DOOM. Fernando delves into the mystery of DOOM's work and life while also capturing the magic that his music conjured.

As Fernando writes, "As a complex character who cherished his privacy, DOOM's very nature precludes any efforts to get behind the mask and into his head. Instead, his story unravels like a ball of yarn as told through the people who worked with him and knew him best."

You can buy "The Chronicles of Doom" here.

We hope you enjoy Marc's chat with S.H. Fernando Jr.!