Best Joe Pera Podcasts (2025)

1
Transmissions :: Justin Gage (2025) 1:00:23

2d ago1:00:23

1:00:23

We close out the 10th season of Transmissions with a special look under the hood with Justin Gage, who founded Aquarium Drunkard 20 years ago in 2005. Initially envisioned as just a place to share cultural recommendations with friends, Aquarium Drunkard blew up as the blog rush began. Suddenly, Gage found himself running a respected media outlet. 2…

1
Transmissions :: Damien Jurado 2:32:20

9d ago2:32:20

2:32:20

This week on the show, something different: an extra-sized Transmission that’s been locked in the vault for years, a two-hour talk with singer/songwriter Damien Jurado. Way back in 2022, host Jason P. Woodbury sat down with Jurado in the recording studio at Gold-Diggers in Los Angeles for a career spanning conversation, exploring the stories behind…

1
Transmissions :: Deerfhoof 1:27:28

16d ago1:27:28

1:27:28

On the cover of Deerhoof’s new album, Noble and Godlike in Ruin, is an image of the band’s lineup—Satomi Matsuzaki, Ed Rodriguez, John Dieterich, and Greg Saunier—collaged together into one strange visage. Given that the album’s title is drawn directly from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this cobbled together assemblage makes sense, but it also doubl…

1
Transmissions :: Dean Wareham 1:07:53

23d ago1:07:53

1:07:53

Do you ever connect with an old friend and find that, despite however many years it's been, you pick up right where you left off, as if no time has passed at all? That’s sort of what happened between today’s guest, Dean Wareham and producer Kramer in the making of Dean’s new album, That’s the Price of Loving Me. You know Dean from his work with Lun…

1
Transmissions :: Yuka Honda 1:05:18

1M ago1:05:18

1:05:18

This week on the show, the great Yuka Honda. She’s a New York musician. In the 1990s, she emerged from the fertile New York music underground with Cibo Matto alongside groups like the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, and Luscious Jackson. She’s collaborated with an extensive roster of musicians, including John Zorn,David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Sean Ono Lennon,…

1
Transmissions :: William Tyler (2025) 1:23:01

1M ago1:23:01

1:23:01

This week, a return appearance from William Tyler. As a guitarist and sideman, William has worked with the Silver Jews, Lambchop, and other forward leaning acts, balancing a deep understanding of tradition with experimental energy. His own records have found him drifting from Takoma School style finger picking to a zone that hovers in-between kraut…

1
Drifting Off: Live from the Brooklyn Opera House 1:08:14

1M ago1:08:14

1:08:14

The full recording from the 'Drifting Off Live' performance on February 24th, 2024. While the podcast is on hiatus, we figured we'd release this show featuring new material, sections from the podcast performed live, and some sleep pieces from friends, all accompanied by the band, Hour and Ryan Dann. Joe will be in Vegas, SLC, Texas, Tulsa, and Omah…

1
Transmissions :: Jeff Bridges 1:04:01

1M ago1:04:01

1:04:01

That's right, we've got The Dude hisself: Jeff Bridges. This week on Transmissions, he joins us to discuss his new archival record, Slow Magic, 1977-1978. Listening to the record sounds like eavesdropping on the coolest Hollywood party you’ve never been invited to: Bridges and co. sound like they are blowing off steam more than making a proper reco…

1
Transmissions :: Joe Pera (2025) 1:09:19

2M ago1:09:19

1:09:19

This week on Transmissions, a return guest, the great comedian, writer, actor, and podcaster Joe Pera. Joe first appeared here on Transmissions in 2020 alongside his friend and collaborator James Wallace aka Skyway Man, and we've wanted to have him back ever since. This talk is a blast, covering everything from the beauty of Phoenix’s Sky Harbor ai…

1
Transmissions :: Mekons 1:03:01

2M ago1:03:01

1:03:01

Welcome back to Transmissions and we’re going to start this week’s show with a reading from Jennifer Kelly’s review of the new Mekons album, Horror. “Things are very bad, but then again, they always have been. That’s Horror’s argument in a nutshell, the 26th album from the legendary Mekons, a Leeds-born gaggle of instigators of punk rock anarchists…

1
Transmissions :: The Weather Station (2025) 1:14:24

2M ago1:14:24

1:14:24

Call it “brain fog,” call it “attention economy burnout,” call it the dregs of late capitalism: however you label it, Tamara Lindeman has been feeling it. With “Neon Signs,” our favorite song from her 2025 album as The Weather Station, Humanhood—out now on Fat Possum Records—she gives names and shapes to the sense of dread so many of us feel permea…

1
Transmissions :: Lonnie Holley 1:10:44

2M ago1:10:44

1:10:44

Welcome back to Transmissions, your weekly conversational series from Aquarium Drunkard in partnership with the Talkhouse Podcast Network. This week on the show, a long awaited return visit from Lonnie Holley. The Atlanta artist joins us alongside his manager, Matt Arnett, son of William Arnett, the Southern art curator and collector who brought Ho…

1
Transmissions :: Lucy Sante 1:19:13

3M ago1:19:13

1:19:13

This week on Transmissions, we welcome the phenomenal writer Lucy Sante to the show to discuss her latest book, I Heard Her Call My Name: A Memoir of Transition. Poetic, slyly funny, and exceptionally moving, the book joins her other classics, Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York and Maybe the People Would Be the Times, as a piece of art that…

1
Transmissions :: Steve Lillywhite 1:04:32

3M ago1:04:32

1:04:32

Welcome back to Transmissions with Jason Woodbury. This week, Steve Lillywhite, a producer who's had as pivotal a role in shaping your host's musical taste as anyone. In this conversation, Lillywhite opens up about working with artists like Dave Matthews Band, U2, Phish, XTC, The La's, Marshall Crenshaw, The Killers, and more. From The Joshua Tree …

1
Season 2 Ep 3: Drinks Before Bedtime ft. Carmen Christopher 23:50

3M ago23:50

23:50

Joe continues his bedtime drinks experiment while on tour in Canada with help from Carmen Christopher, back pain expert.* *please be skeptical of medical advice given by comedians. Subscribe to Patreon (this ep is free and ad-free there) - https://patreon.com/DriftingOffwithJoePera Music & sound design by Ryan Dann Co-written by Joe Pera and Carmen…

1
Transmissions :: Jazz Is Dead (Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge) 1:06:20

3M ago1:06:20

1:06:20

This week on Transmissions: Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, the duo behind the label and concert series Jazz Is Dead. Founded in 2017, Jazz Is Dead began releasing new work by jazz artists frequently sampled in rap and hip-hop in 2020, including releases from legendary players like Roy Ayers, Azymuth, Gary Bartz, Lonnie Liston Smith, Tony A…

1
Transmissions :: Bonnie "Prince" Billy 1:24:11

3M ago1:24:11

1:24:11

Welcome back to Transmissions from Aquarium Drunkard. We're kicking off our 10th season with host Jason Woodbury in conversation with Will Oldham, the man behind Bonnie “Prince” Billy, who appeared on the very first Transmissions interview back in 2016. This episode flips a gentle and honest bird to The Big Online Machine: "Some people I think are …

1
Season 2 Ep 2: The French Library 23:14

4M ago23:14

23:14

Imagine... you are walking down the street in France. Yes, France. Shout out to the Sainte-Geneviève Library. Subscribe to Patreon (this ep is free and ad-free there) - https://patreon.com/DriftingOffwithJoePera Music & sound design by Ryan Dann Written by Joe Pera Produced by Grant Farsi for Chestnut Walnut All Episodes are free and ad-free on Pat…

1
Season 2 Ep 1: Wind ft. Elori Saxl 26:22

5M ago26:22

26:22

Talking about wind - wind through wheatfields, wind in hair, wind blowing you around in a hot air balloon...the list goes on. It's a good episode. Subscribe to Patreon - https://patreon.com/DriftingOffwithJoePera Music & sound design by Ryan Dann Co-written by Joe Pera and Matt Barats Additional music by Elori Saxl Earth Focus (Original Score) by E…

1
Drifting Off Season 2 is Here 0:59

5M ago0:59

0:59

Comedian Joe Pera & Ryan Dann's Sleep Podcast returns next Monday... All Episodes are free and ad-free on Patreon. Each month we’ll also post 1 Max Drift Episode (an 8 hour extended version) and 2 Readings to Doze To (30 min readings) for paid subscribers.This month Joe is reading 'My Antonia', that you can either appreciate as literature or just s…

1
Transmissions :: Phosphorescent 1:07:29

6M ago1:07:29

1:07:29

We’ve reached the end of the road for this season—season 9 concludes with this episode, a conversation with Matthew Houck, the leader of the avant-country band Phosphorescent. In April, Phosphorescent released Revelator, the band’s ninth album. It’s their debut for Verve Records, after a string of well-received albums on Dead Oceans. Joined by coll…

1
Transmissions :: Pat Irwin (Suss, The B52s) 1:09:05

7M ago1:09:05

1:09:05

Welcome to the penultimate episode of our ninth season, featuring Pat Irwin of Suss. You may remember him from last year’s Suss talk, with his bandmates Jonathan Gregg and Bob Holmes, but he’s back for a solo talk this time, which allowed us to dig into his wild life in music, from his time in the the late ‘70s New York No Wave scene with The Raybe…

1
Transmissions :: Real Estate 1:01:21

7M ago1:01:21

1:01:21

Welcome back to Transmissions, we’re so glad to have you tuned into this show. This week, a talk taped earlier this summer with Martin Courtney of Real Estate. Real Estate has been releasing great albums since the late 2000s. This year, they released their sixth LP, called Daniel. Produced in Nashville by Daniel Tashian, who produced Kacy Musgraves…

1
Transmissions :: Rosali and David Nance 1:55:21

7M ago1:55:21

1:55:21

This week on the show, a double-header. First, Rosali Middleman, and then, her bandmate, collaborator, and the leader of Mowed Sound, David Nance. Together, they both play on Rosali’s fantastic 2024 album, Bite Down. Reviewing it for Aquarium Drunkard, Brent Sirota writes, “A great summer album needs hooks and choruses, big barroom rave-ups and ble…

1
Transmissions :: Mitch Horowitz (2024) 1:17:23

7M ago1:17:23

1:17:23

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, one of our favorite return guests: Mitch Horowitz. As scholar and historian of the occult, he's established himself as one of the most literate voices in the New Age field. On previous episodes, Horowitz has discussed his books, like Uncertain Places and Daydream Believer—but h…

1
Transmissions :: Frosty and Hermanos Gutiérrez 1:09:07

8M ago1:09:07

1:09:07

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, this week on the show, we're joined by three guests—though, not all at once. In the first half of the show: Mark “Frosty” McNeill of dublab and the LA Phil to discuss a new compilation he helped produce, Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971-1996; in the second-half of the show, Estev…

1
Transmissions :: Jill Fraser 1:03:50

8M ago1:03:50

1:03:50

Welcome back to Transmissions—far out conversations for far out times. This week, we're joined by synthesist Jill Fraser. She's lived a remarkable life in music: mentored by Morton Subotnick, she went on work in film and television, with projects like 1974's sci-fi fantasy Zardoz and Paul Schrader's 1979 film Hardcore to her name, in addition to a …

1
Transmissions :: Matt Sweeney 1:03:09

8M ago1:03:09

1:03:09

This week on the show, we're pleased to present a conversation with Matt Sweeney. He’s lived a truly dazzling life in music. After coming up playing with the great band Chavez, he contributed to masterworks of indie rock—including records by Cat Power and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, with whom he crafted the monumental 2005 classic Superwolf, a classic i…

1
Transmissions :: Jake Xerxes Fussell 58:51

8M ago58:51

58:51

If you’ve been listening to Transmissions for a while, you've noticed how often host Jason P. Woodbury brings up “time” when talking about music. And while he's certainly apt to talk about music in spiritual or "out there" terms, songs are in some ways literal time machines: they can take you back to your own past or in the case of traditional musi…

1
Transmissions :: Joe Boyd 1:15:57

8M ago1:15:57

1:15:57

This week on Transmissions, we're sitting down with a genuine legend: Joe Boyd, author of And The Roots of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music, out September 24 from ZE Books. On the front cover of the book Brian Eno—a venerated saint in the Aquarium Drunkard canon—declares: “I doubt I’ll ever read a better account of the history and soci…

1
Transmissions :: Amelia Courthouse 1:04:08

9M ago1:04:08

1:04:08

This week on Transmissions, the return of Leah Toth, aka Amelia Courthouse. She was last here on the podcast in its earlier, more feral incarnation—and by feral we mean "updated with elss regularity"—but back in 2018 she reviewed Shinya Fukumori Trio’s incredible ECM release For 2 Akis. We've wanted to have Leah back on ever since, and this now we'…

1
Transmissions :: Six Organs of Admittance (2024) 1:34:20

9M ago1:34:20

1:34:20

From early mystic folk inclinations to more fried and psychedelic work, Ben Chasny's Six Organs of Admittance project has never settled into an easy, definable zone. But 2024 sees the Six Organs sonic universe expanding kaleidoscopically, even by Chasny's prodigious standards. First was Time Is Glass, an album that documented his return to Humboldt…

1
Transmissions :: Rich Ruth 1:10:14

9M ago1:10:14

1:10:14

Welcome back to Transmissions, our weekly conversational offering. On today's show? Nashville’s own Rich Ruth. Opening his review of Ruth’s latest, the Third Man Records LP Water Still Flows, Aquarium Drunkard’s Brent Sirota states: “We don’t even have a name for what has been going on in instrumental music lately. There’s plainly some kind of new …

1
Transmissions :: Starflyer 59 1:07:00

9M ago1:07:00

1:07:00

This week, we have an exceedingly rare interview with Jason Martin, of California dream pop band Starflyer 59. Fermented in the nascent Riverside dream pop underground alongside his brother Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric in the early '90s, Martin's band SF59 released its debut album, Silver, 30 years ago in 1994 on the fledgling Tooth & Nail label. …

1
Transmissions :: Yasmin Williams 1:06:21

10M ago1:06:21

1:06:21

This week on Transmissions, return guest Yasmin Williams. On October 4th, she releases Acadia via Nonesuch Records. It's her long awaited follow up to 2021's Urban Driftwood, and like that record, it's beautiful—a showcase for a one-of-a-kind artist. And while the focus remains Williams' fluid and lyrical guitarwork, she's joined by a roster of rin…

1
Transmissions :: La Lom 50:28

10M ago50:28

50:28

Sometimes, background music moves to the foreground. That’s the case with today’s guests, guitarist Zac Sokolow, bassist Jake Faulkner, and drummer Nicholas Baker. Together, they form LA LOM, short for the Los Angeles League of Musicians. In 2019, they were hired to bring suitably vibey music to the lobby of the historic Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywoo…

1
Transmissions :: The Lemon Twigs 53:48

10M ago53:48

53:48

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, our weekly conversation podcast. This week on the show, we’re joined by Brian and Michael D’Addario, AKA, The Lemon Digs. Their latest slice of toothsome guitar pop is called A Dream Is All We Know. Writing about it in our mid-year favorite albums of 2024 (so far) list, we noted: “A dash of Badfinger…

1
Transmissions :: Daniel Bachman 1:17:22

10M ago1:17:22

1:17:22

This week on a far-ranging episode of Transmissions: guitarist, folklorist, and all-around-top-notch thinker Daniel Bachman. A songwriter and composer from Fredericksburg, Virginia, Bachman first began releasing records under the name Sacred Harp, before adopting his own name for a series of finger-picked classics like 2012's Seven Pines and 2015’s…

1
Transmissions :: Chris Cohen 1:39:34

11M ago1:39:34

1:39:34

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the program, we are pleased to welcome guest host Zara Hedderman and singer/songwriter Chris Cohen to the show to a generous, expansive, and genuine conversation. Cohen’s new record is called Paint a Room. His fourth solo album—perhaps you know his work with Deerhoof, The Curtains, Crypt…

1
Transmissions :: Mark Lightcap (Acetone/Dick Slessig Combo) 1:09:52

11M ago1:09:52

1:09:52

This week, we welcome one of our favorite musicians to the show: Mark Lightcap of Acetone and the Dick Slessig Combo. Back in 2017, author Sam Sweet released a great book about Acetone called Hadley Lee Lightcap, accompanied by a stellar Light in the Attic anthology compilation,1992-2001. Writing about it, Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury said:…

1
Transmissions :: The Dirty Three 1:09:56

11M ago1:09:56

1:09:56

There are heavy hitters, and then there's The Dirty Three. A trio comprising violinist Warren Ellis, guitarist Mick Turner, and drummer Jim White, these Australian independent rock legends recently returned with their first album in 12 year, the aptly titled Love Changes Everything. Though they are perhaps best known for their work with artists lik…

1
Transmissions :: Joe Pernice 1:06:54

11M ago1:06:54

1:06:54

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions. This week on the show, Joe Pernice of The Pernice Brothers, Scud Mountain Boys, and Chappaquiddick Skyline—as well as books, records, and other projects under his own name. Since the early 2000s, Transmissions host Jason P. Woodbury have placed Joe on their personal Mount Rushmore of criminally under…

1
Transmissions :: Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music) 1:07:11

12M ago1:07:11

1:07:11

This week on Transmissions, guitarist Phil Manzanera, who joins us to discuss his latest project, a memoir called Revolución to Roxy. Writing about his childhood in revolutionary Cuba, his lifelong fascination with music, and his collaborations and run-ins with people like Brian Eno, David Gilmour, Robert Wyatt, and more, Manzera reveals his Zelig-…

1
Transmissions :: Jeff Tweedy of Wilco 54:57

12M ago54:57

54:57

Near the start of his recently released book World Within a Song, Jeff Tweedy admits there’s probably some parallel timeline where this one is his first, not third, book. It is, after all, dedicated to a subject he’s “thought about the most by far: other people’s songs.” Through a series of comical stories and humble reflections, the Wilco leader p…

1
Transmissions :: Julian Lage 1:07:42

12M ago1:07:42

1:07:42

Welcome back to Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions, our weekly series of illuminating interviews and contextual conversations. This week on the show, guitarist and composer Julian Lage. A child prodigy in his youth, Lage has commanded attention for decades for his guitar prowess—he performed at the GRAMMYs at the tender age of 12—and he’s accompanied …

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Joe Pera Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen