“I was taking a break from everything. A lot of different things had happened over the past handful of years in my life, a lot of personal loss — people passing, people leaving, people getting sick. It was nice to take those six months to heal myself and sort of reflect on things.”

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In the six years that former Hüsker Dü frontman Bob Mould has lived in San Francisco, he’s been a club DJ, an author, and an advocate for the homeless. But it’s Mould as songwriter that we’ve known and loved the longest, and nowhere is his talent more present than on his latest album, Patch the Sky.

Listen in as Mould stops by KQED’s studios to discuss the themes and details of album opener “Voices in My Head” — a song, he explains, that came after a long period of personal loss and reckoning, and one of 50 songs that emerged from a hailstorm of songwriting.

Other songs heard in this episode:

The Beatles, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” Henry Gross, “Shannon”

Subscribe to ‘Listen In’ on iTunes here.

Follow KQED Arts on Soundcloud here.

In this episode of the podcast, host Max Savage Levenson meets up to eat tacos and chat with Antique Naked Soul about their new single “Burn.” The Oakland four-piece create a unique brand of politically-charged R&B and soul music using only their voices, and “Burn” may be their most powerful statement yet.

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“Anyone who had someone close to them die as a child, you think a lot about death and… what the purpose of life is. And if there isn’t one, that’s just as fine and valid, but what do you do with your time here?”

Listen In: Dan Deacon, ‘When I Was Done Dying’

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Dan Deacon’s music is visceral. It inspires his rabid fans, crowded around as he performs on venue floors, to dance, laugh and lose themselves in communal euphoria. Were he to switch his bleeping synthesizers and zany vocal effects for drums and flutes, his performances would feel much more like 1968 than 2016. Deacon distorts and manipulates his voice to the point of being barely comprehensible — it’s not his lyrics that resonate; it’s the giddy rush.

Yet “When I was Done Dying,” from last year’s Gliss Riffer, offers something markedly different. Sung in a clear voice that touches on profound themes of existence, birth and rebirth, it marks a distinct shift in Deacon’s approach to songwriting. Listen in as Deacon explains the life experiences and philosophies that inspired the song on this episode of the podcast, recorded at Zeitgeist Management in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Additional songs heard in this episode:

Dan Deacon, “The Crystal Cat”

Subscribe to ‘Listen In’ on iTunes here.

Follow KQED Arts on Soundcloud here.

“My voice was released. I found all these new places it could go, from having just done this one song.”

Listen In: Lianne La Havas, ‘Midnight’

http://www.kqed.org/.stream/mp3splice/radio/listen-in/2016/03/Lianne.mp3

There are plenty of songs about independence; songs that give a bold middle finger to controlling men (Destiny’s Child’s “Independent Women”), silly societal expectations (“Ziggy Stardust”), and even colonizing imperialists (“The Star Spangled Banner”).

But Lianne La Havas’ “Midnight” is special; it doesn’t merely celebrate self-reliance and the value of solitude, it invites you into that place as well. In this episode of the podcast — recorded at San Francisco’s very echo-y Swedish American Music Hall — listen in as La Havas recounts the trip to Jamaica that inspired “Midnight,” why its chord progression might remind you of Beyoncé, and how the song made her a more confident singer.

  Subscribe to ‘Listen In’ on iTunes here.

Follow KQED Arts on Soundcloud here.

“I wanted to be a lot more emotive and vulnerable with my voice… For this one, I wanted to be just raw and screaming.”

Listen In: Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, ‘Nobody Dies’

03-07-Thao.mp3">http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/listen-in/2016/03/2016-03-07-Thao.mp3

Listen in as Thao Nguyen, frontwoman for Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, sheds light on the music and the personal experiences that inspired “Nobody Dies,” the lead single from the band’s new album A Man Alive. Drawing from a wide range of sources including John Lennon’s vocal shredding, the Pixies’ pummeling minimalism and Thao’s own family history, “Nobody Dies” skillfully swirls fist-pumping rock with painful introspection to create one of the most memorable songs in Thao’s ever-growing catalog.

This episode of the podcast was recorded on Guerrero Street in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Additional songs heard in this episode:

The Pixies, “Gigantic”

John Lennon, “Mother”

When have things simply gone too far? Is it when you announce that you could shoot someone on the street and not lose a vote? When Miami is underwater? Or maybe when you tell Wiz Khalifa that you “own his child?” For Grayson Converse, frontman of San Francisco four-piece Spooky Mansion, things crossed a line one bizarre night in the south of France.

Listen In: Spooky Mansion, “Gone Too Far”

http://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/listen-in/2016/01/listeninspookiestMansion.mp3

Listen in as Converse and his bandmates discuss the bizarre series of events that inspired “Gone Too Far,” its “haunted church” guitar tones, and what happens when you grow up only listening to Bob Dylan in this episode of the podcast, recorded outside Revolution Cafe in San Francisco’s Mission District.

Be sure to catch Spooky Mansion when they play the last night of their January residency this Saturday at the Make-Out Room, alongside San Francisco’s O and Bear Call.

I’d heard through the grapevine that Whiskerman frontman Graham Patzner wrote “Otis” about his infant son, and thus I hoped our interview would be an opportunity to discover what Patzner’s vivid and peculiar lyrics have to do with fatherhood; namely, lines about having a vulture in one’s mouth, and giving some king a ring on the phone.

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What I discovered upon chatting with Patzner is that “Otis” — the leadoff track to the band’s new album Nomad — is much more than an ode to fatherhood; it’s an account of self-empowerment and self-realization, seen through the eyes of someone who may have lost sight of himself along the way.

Listen in as Patzner discusses the inspirational landscapes of Lake County, his connection to Berkeley’s Medicine Path Native American church, and why he perceives “Otis” as a prayer for inner peace in this episode of the podcast — recorded at Farley’s on 65th Street in Emeryville, over a bowl of beef and barley soup.

Whiskerman play a vinyl release show for ‘Nomad’ at the Great American Music Hall on Friday, Jan. 8; details here.

Cold and despondent on a rainy December afternoon, host Max Savage Levenson sets out to sing the praises of some of his favorite Bay Area tunes of 2015… all by his lonesome self.

But wait! Levenson then receives a messianic visit from one of his lifelong heroes, who glides through his year-end selections with staggering wisdom and profound insight! Listen in as Levenson and co-host Kanye West (appearing as a podcast’s closest approximation of a Tupac hologram) discuss Idea the Artist’s vocal arrangements, the Dodos’ lurching guitars, Waterstrider’s epic vocals and much more on this episode of the podcast.

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Songs Heard in This Episode of ‘Listen In’:

Idea the Artist – “The Ceiling”

The Dodos – “The Tide”

Waterstrider-  “Passing Ships”

Makeunder – “Plain Tendency”

Astronauts, etc. – “Upward Swing”

As Freud might say, “Sometimes an EDM drop is just an EDM drop.”

But more often, a drop can add context and depth to a song that might otherwise simply be an excuse to get down. That’s certainly the case for “It’s Strange,” as the ecstatic break courtesy of Chicago production duo Louis the Child throws the vulnerability underlying K. Flay’s mournful verses into sharp relief. “It’s Strange” keeps you dancing even as it breaks your heart — a perfect combo that in October even garnered the attention of Taylor Swift.

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Listen in as K. Flay discusses her serendipitous connection to the song’s beatmakers, her Gumby-style dance moves and the personal relationships that inspired “It’s Strange” in this episode of the podcast, recorded in and around San Francisco’s legendary Fillmore Auditorium.

If you thought Inception had more layers than one could count, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

In this episode of Listen In, Naytronix’ Nate Brenner breaks down the multitude of sounds on the dreamy title track of his new album, Mr. Divine, from the plethora of polyrhythmic percussion to the punchy bass hook and the weird wash of wind that ties it all together.

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Listen in as Nate explains how the song changed after its… inception, the advice he got from his bandmate in tUnE-yArDs, Merrill Garbus, and why “Mr. Divine” was never supposed to be on the album at all.

For more on Naytronix, see the artist’s website.