Music and Popcorn #4: April Wolfe on "The Bodyguard" soundtrack (1992)
Heat Rocks
We are nearly at the end of our Music and Popcorn miniseries here on Heat Rocks, where we talk about our favorite movie soundtracks with folks from the world of TV and film! This week, April Wolfe of the Switchblade Sisters podcast here on MaxFun joins us to discuss Whitney's showstopping performances, the iconic fits, and how a 2020 version of The Bodyguard might look like. More on April Wolfe Her film podcast Her | More on The Bodyguard (USA Today) (Buzzfeed) Show Tracklisting (all songs from The Bodyguard soundtrack unless otherwise indicated): Run to You I Have Nothing...
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Music and Popcorn #3: Sean Fennessey on the "Juice" soundtrack (1992)
Heat Rocks
We are on week three of our Music and Popcorn miniseries and we could not be more excited to have The Ringer's own Sean Fennessey with us to talk about the soundtrack to the Ernest Dickerson classic, Juice. We discuss the importance of New York rap in the film,the unique place Juice has in the lineage of hip-hop movies in the early 90s, and the...let's say questionable portrayal of the art of DJing More on Sean | More on Juice (Shadow and Act) (The Guardian) Show Tracklisting (all songs from the Juice soundtrack unless otherwise indicated): 'Nuff Respect...
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Music and Popcorn #2: Renée Bever on the "Us" soundtrack (2019)
Heat Rocks
We are in the middle of our Music and Popcorn series, where we talk to our favorite folks from the world of film and TV about the soundtracks they love. This week, Renée Bever of the podcast Attack of the Queerwolf sits down with us to talk about the "Us" soundtrack and score. We talk about the masterfully creepy Luniz flip, the infamous Ophelia/police scene, and whether Lupita Nyong'o was snapping on beat. More on Renée Renée's podcast | More on Us Jordan Peele's (The Ringer) (Slate) Show Tracklisting (all songs from the Us soundtrack unless otherwise indicated): ...
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Music and Popcorn #1: The Medley
Heat Rocks
This is the first of a five episode miniseries we're calling Music and Popcorn, where we talk to guests from the world of film and TV about great soundtracks. This week, it's a special medley episode, featuring our past interviews with Eliza Skinner, Tre'vell Anderson, Luis Xtravaganza, and the folks from Heatbreak Radio discussing their favorite movie OSTs And if you like these snippets, go back and check out the full episodes in our archives! Show Tracklisting: The Psychedelic Furs: Pretty In Pink Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: If You Leave Jesse Johnson: Get To Know Ya...
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Josh Kun on Manu Chao's "Clandestino" (1998)
Heat Rocks
When Manu Chao announced he would be releasing his first solo album, fans around the world were both elated and hesitant. Manu's previous albums with his band Mano Negra were both critically and commercially successful, but the band's breakup was ugly and Manu was running around Central/South America, playing bar shows for three years before he started work on the album. Clandestino was initially released to little mainstream success, but eventually found its audience around the world. It tackled issues like social injustice and immigration and spoke to the displaced. It spoke truth to...
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Tall Black Guy on D'Angelo's "Voodoo" (2000) redux
Heat Rocks
The Album: D'Angelo (2000) Tall Black Guy, AKA Terrel Wallace, has been making beats and remixing artists like 79.5, Stro Elliot, and Moonchild, for a long time. Listen to any one of his songs and you'll understand why he's one of the best producers out there and why we were so excited to talk to him. It's no surprise that his personal heat rock (and ours) was "Voodoo" by D'Angelo. Making the album was no small feat. D'Angelo took a long break between albums to learn more about playing the guitar, and linked up with the Soulquarians to lay down some of the funkiest, most eclectic,...
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Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding on the Nat King Cole Trio's "Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio" (1991)
Heat Rocks
It's easy to think of Nat King Cole as "that Christmas song guy" but his musical output is truly astounding, recording hundreds of songs with over a hundred of them becoming hits on the pop charts. The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio is by far the largest album we've ever discussed on Heat Rocks and we couldn't have asked for better guests to come break it down with us. Nate Sloan and Charlie Harding of the Switched on Pop podcast sit down with us to talk about this enormous anthology, the timbre of Cole's voice, and the ubiquity of the AABA song structure....
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Wendy & Lisa on Prince's "Around the World in a Day" (1985)
Heat Rocks
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...
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Our Heat Rocks of the 2010s
Heat Rocks
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...
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Holiday Music Special with Alonso Duralde redux
Heat Rocks
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 , one of the hosts of Maximum Fun's movie podcast 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...
info_outlineThis 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
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