TuneDig
TuneDig is an in-depth and informed conversation between two lifelong friends about the power of music — one album at a time. In each episode, we go down the rabbit hole to spend a while in the strange world we discover. We take an honest look at creativity in all its complexity—from writing and production to history and cultural impact. We promise you’ll learn something new every time, no matter how much you already love the album we explore. Sign up at tunedig.com to get occasional news and new episode announcements.
Episode 82: Shania Twain's "Come On Over"
Picture a world under Shania Law: where the three most powerful words ever uttered (“Let’s go, girls”) are not a Rorschach but a rallying cry, for anyone who wants to be free to feel the way they feel. Once upon a time, it pitched a big tent that drew more than 40 million congregants to dance, and honestly? That does impress us much. If you ain’t yet a believer, don’t be stupid. It’s time to let your heart change your mind.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.c
Episode 81: Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath"
What is this which stands before us? A long shadow spreading its magic o’er scores of artists all bearing its seal, certainly. But if we go Back to the Beginning, we can still unearth lots to learn from the band forged from steel unto a wicked world on fire. Whatever your connection to Sabbath today (and certainly you have one), look beyond the lore with us before you know the way you’re going to feel.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
REPLAY: Fela Kuti’s “Expensive Shit” (feat. Nick Alt of Vinyl Me Please)
For Fela Kuti’s 88th birthday, we’re joined by our first-ever guest—Nick Alt of Vinyl Me, Please—to Felabrate the man who reminded us that “music must be for revolution,” to unpack VMP’s beautiful new Best of the Black President box set, and to revisit our original 2022 conversation about the vital, visceral document Expensive Shit.
The story of Fela Kuti — one of the most famous people on an *entire continent* passionately struggling to liberate power to more people — is absolutely one worth deeply knowing, regardless of whether you find yourself drawn to Afrobeat or (cringe) “world music.” But on...
Episode 80: Between the Buried and Me's "Colors"
Music can be this?! Five North Carolina dudes took the full range of the human spirit and musical styles into the woodshed, and from the loom came a technicolor dreamcoat of power, precision, and progress that we’ve worn with pride through nearly 20 years of long, strange trip.
Join us in looking back with gratitude for getting to be there during a special band’s watershed moment and looking ahead with renewed enthusiasm for the boundless possibilities still beyond the dark side of the moon.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out...
Episode 79: FKA Twigs's "LP1"
As the 2010s cleaved culture into fractals and alienated humans from their being, Tahliah Barnett beamed down from the cosmos, a biblically accurate angel contorting into shapes embodying pure emotion. Her singular, decade-defining debut offers prescient wisdom for our AI age: the path to the world begins back in our bodies. When (FKA) Twigs moves, you move.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 78: The Chemical Brothers's "Exit Planet Dust"
Time's funny, innit? As today's youth excavate the nineteen hundred and nineties for the ecstasy of seemingly simpler times, here lies a fossil record containing so much of the DNA of how it was done — layers upon limestone layers of cultural source code. Keep digging and you might just find a place to get off your biscuits. The Big Beat goes on.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 77: Otoboke Beaver's "Super Champon"
For our money, this is what running through the halls of your high school and screaming at the top of your lungs actually feels like. And why shouldn’t the unreal world be a 250-BPM confetti cannon of primal-screaming sweetness? Take 21 mere minutes to blast-beat your brain and body into a fireworks show and then let’s shopping after.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 76: Chic's "C'est Chic"
This episode’s meaning is neither deep nor hidden: the Nile is a river. To good times, that is. If the savoir faire, stellar musicianship, and seismic influence of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards’ organization don't suit you, then to cite a very wise t-shirt: “disco doesn't suck; you just can't dance.”
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 75: Nas's "Illmatic"
Illmatic’s impact on hip-hop is a foregone conclusion — one listen and it ain’t hard to tell why. But as we unpacked the lyrical density, the layered samples, and the hyperlocal lens of Nas taking us to the Bridge, we found they represent, represent something deeper in the American mythos and our cultural consciousness. In the land of the free and home of the brave, life may be a bitch, but the world is yours.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 74: N.E.R.D's "In Search Of..."
It may be true that No One Ever Really Dies, but at the turn of the millennium, a young, wild, and free new wave in culture most certainly came alive. Whether or not you were around and aware in the moment of the Neptunes’ cultural dominance—and the decidedly counter-cultural bomb N.E.R.D planted underground—it's worth the star trek to the 21st century sound and style’s Big Bang.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 73: Odetta's "It's a Mighty World"
Odetta — a must-know titan of American music and culture — once noted that young people “learn about American history through battles.” But her dream of liberation was shaped much differently: “I learned about the United States through this music, through the songs that I sing.”
As we live through the kind of historical moment that makes most folks want to lie down and die, we can — like many heroes before us, from MLK to Maya Angelou — look to the legacy of 1964 and Odetta for strength to insist upon our lives.
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Episode 72: R.D. Burman's "Shalimar"
Once upon a time in Bollywood, one magical man made enough music to fill a million moments—and made space for hundreds of other artists along the way. Of the 331 scores “Pancham” composed in his lifetime, 1978's “Shalimar” is a uniquely compelling introduction to his technical prowess, transcendent alchemy of cultures, and tremendously joyful love of a life full of song.
Follow us on Instagram (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 71: Marianne Faithfull's "Broken English"
“That’s the thing about pretty faces… We don’t expect them to belong to the fighters— the junkies and monks and cockroaches who’ll survive every atomic bomb and suicide attempt and outlive us all.” - Lindsay Zoladz
Broken English is searing, singular snapshot of surviving to spite the devils (who’ve gotten far too much sympathy in the story so far). You’ll love it forever with its good and bad weather.
We may have lost Marianne Faithfull this year, but not before she outran the darkness. As we close out a dark year and look ahead for...
Episode 70: Sade's "Love Deluxe"
Any denier that all art is political need look no further than the smoothed-out soul slipstream of Sade, a group defined by its economics. Rare output, minimal arrangements, reserved volume, and, of course, the premium implied by “Love Deluxe”—a title derived from the idea that true love is among a precious few luxuries that can’t be bought. Our world’s clearly longing for more longing, and we discovered a truly transcendent delicacy as we unboxed Sade’s brand of desire.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more epi...
Episode 69: Charles Mingus's "The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady"
When you think of true "artists" in music, who comes to mind? Charles Mingus embodied its romantic ideal, for better and for worse. His magnum opus "Black Saint" is more than even jazz's cosmic form can hold—it's the full-bodied essence of a master composer, peerlessly inventive bassist, and clairvoyant critic of the real America. In it, you’ll find what his collaborator Gunther Schuller called "the widest ranging musics you can find composed by one single human being."
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at t...
Episode 68: Gang of Four's "Entertainment!"
“Entertainment!” is described by Gang of Four’s Jon King as “a record about young people smiling and dancing in the face of disaster.” Uh oh, sound familiar? This Leeds-born slab of Brechtian boogie reminds us that to navigate a world where everything is (small-p) political, dancing and dialectics belong together. Free your ass and your mind will follow.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 67: Brooks & Dunn's "Brand New Man"
This is the tale of two lonesome cowboys who got down, turned around, and went to town catching lightning in a bottle on their first try together. Whether or not their decade-defining country anthems lit a flame in your eye in the 90s like they did ours, Ronnie and Kix offer a lens through which outlaws, in-laws, crooks, and straights alike can look for ways to learn to love again.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 66: Oumou Sangaré's "Moussolou"
The name "Oumou" derives from an Arabic word meaning "mother of." It is associated with dignity, wisdom, and maternal strength. Southern Mali’s Oumou Sangare has come to embody her namesake for millions around the world, and it all began when she was just 19 years old, channeling the magical music of hunters through her powerful and purposeful voice and creating a moment that captivated an entire country. Hers is a story everyone should know.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 65: Missy Elliott's "Supa Dupa Fly"
In the words of one of her groundbreaking forebears, “You feel free? You want to try some wild s**t? Thank Missy.” Since the very first frame of “The Rain” entered our eyeballs, Missy has made the avant-garde accessible, pointing us to a future full of more funk and more fun simply by standing fully in the splendor of her space-age self. Come (supa dupa) fly with us back to the moment where Missy’s magic began.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 64: The Cramps's "...Off the Bone"
God is a woman and she plays the guitar loud … y’all come catch some Holy Ghost in your hips.
Hear our hallelujah for the love story of the queen of rock ‘n roll and the mad daddy holy rollin’ on a river—upstream all the way—and boot scootin’ through a fun and freaky heaven and earth of their own design. The Cramps were Dionysian, devilish, dangerous, and damn good, and they remind us that life can be, too. If you can’t dig this, you can’t dig nothin’.
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Episode 63: Black Moth Super Rainbow's "Dandelion Gum"
Life’s a bit heavy to chew on these days, so we reached into the pocket of our mid-2000s jeans and found an old piece of Dandelion Gum to chew on instead. As soon as its neon syrup hits your tongue, you’ll wonder why you hadn't let this "future pop for now people, today" melt you, melt you, melt you yet.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 62: Project Pat's "Mista Don't Play: Everythangs Workin"
This life we're livin' is oh so beautiful. Take it from Patrick Houston, who has spread the gospel of the real for three decades, followed by a discipleship that has shaped 21st century culture in his image. For those still alive in 2025 by the grace of God, let us give flowers to the man from the North North.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 61: Grace Jones's "Nightclubbing"
Not a woman. Not a man. A revolution. Music’s long history is littered with larger-than-life characters whose mythology shapes reality for the masses — and few loom larger than the mighty Grace Jones.
“Nightclubbing” without context is a tremendous body of songs worth anyone’s time, but after a deep dive into Grace’s time at Compass Point, you’ll agree that it’s a vital work.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 60: Paramore's "This Is Why"
The menace and melancholy of modern life have sentenced scores of young people to the gilded prison of nostalgia — but much to our surprise, a band of recovering Southern pop-punks have an antidote. For anyone willing to “sit still long enough to listen to yourself,” their new music’s sharp rhythmic angles and sharper lyrical reflections frame a doorway through which to free our big feelings and forge ahead.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, or Mastodon (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 59: Ennio Morricone's "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"
You know that five-note coyote howl. You may even know the classic film it helps power. But what do you know about the man behind those iconic moments?
For our final exploration from our 2024 calendar, reflect with us on the genius of a maestro who could make magic with a mere fistful of notes, who poured forth from his soul a foundation upon which much of 20th century popular culture was built.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 58: TLC's "CrazySexyCool"
Vision. Bravery. Originality. The 30th anniversary of the ATL-exported opus — by the highest-selling girl group of all time — offered us a chance to reflect on all the ways our hometown heroes ran so some of the 21st century’s most iconic artists could fly.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 57: Kendrick Lamar's "good kid, m.A.A.d city"
Before the Super Bowl, the super beef, the Pulitzer, or PGLang, one good kid and king-to-be sojourned from South Central to the height of the American promise and rained down lightning that united one nation under a groove. You’ll feel the energy of this episode from two planets away — hop in the van real quick and let’s roll out.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 56: Cocteau Twins's "Heaven or Las Vegas"
Dream of ethereal waves of sound swirling around you—and words you can’t make out saying more than you could imagine—as you float back upstream with us toward the warmth of Cocteau Twins’ decade-defining masterpiece, which still ripples across a vast pool of influences 25 years on.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 55: Jeff Buckley's "Grace"
Once upon a time, “your favorite artist’s favorite artist” wasn’t a Midwest princess, but a “mystery white boy” beloved by Bob Dylan and Adele alike. Jeff Buckley’s signature Grace is on the shortlist of transcendent albums every living being should experience, because, as one industry vet put it: “it’s all in there, isn’t it? It’s just all in there.” Marvel and ache with us at the warm glow of a remnant left behind by a fallen star whose light shone briefly but brilliantly.
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Episode 54: Botch's "We Are the Romans"
If you like heavy music in 2024 (or want to try), all roads lead back to We Are the Romans. Botch is the Eno-on-Velvet trope of hardcore, the band that launched a thousand imitators simply by being themselves.
We Are the Romans is a visceral, vital document guaranteed to make you feel something from its first notes — and there’s never been a better time to stop and smell the roses from a group just now getting its long-overdue flowers.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tuned...
Episode 53: Ravi Shankar's "Three Ragas"
Ravi Shankar lived one of the twentieth century’s most extraordinary lives, bearing witness to—and making—history all around the world. To many (especially in the West), he personified an extraordinarily complex style of music and the cultures from which it was borne, and he worked hard to make it look easy.
That work opened doors for scores of artists—John Coltrane, Phillip Glass, George Harrison among them—to explore and express their worlds in newer and deeper ways.
This episode could never touch every part of the proverbial elephant that is his life and legacy, bu...
Episode 52: Alain Goraguer's "La Planète Sauvage"
Gather ’round, sommeliers of the strange and crate-digging boogie children, for something “Strange! Frightening! Fascinating!” awaits. The soundtrack to Cannes 1973’s Jury Prize-winning film is a dazzling, surreal, avant-garde hymn to cosmic knowledge and compassion and a secret handshake among real heads. If you’re after a trip to a new dimension, here’s your one small step for man.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for daily listening recommendations, and check out more episodes at tunedig.com.
Episode 51: Marvin Gaye's "I Want You"
Marvin Gaye’s well of soul power ran mighty deep, and deep into his career, he pulled up a bucket of ice-cold, silky smooth champagne called “I Want You.” Come for the lush instrumentation, vocal harmonies, and Leon Ware clinic; stay for the stories.
For our return from hiatus, we observe a titan in his element, reflect on the pain that built him into one, and consider how to reconcile our feelings when complicated messengers deliver beauty to our door.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the ep...
Episode 50: Funkadelic's "Maggot Brain"
Before uniting one nation under a groove, the lysergic lords of chaos in Funkadelic harnessed wild lightning into an amulet called "Maggot Brain", bestowing the bearer with raw, dark power stronger than any force known to man. Between reaching our 50th episode and coping with the “maggots in the mind” of today’s universe, it felt like the right time to free our minds. We hope y’all’s asses will follow.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Check out more episodes at https://tunedig.co
Episode 49: Alice Coltrane's "Journey in Satchidananda"
The story of Alice Coltrane — an accomplished bebop pianist from Detroit who transcended into something far greater before walking away from public life altogether — is a glimpse into what it means to be truly free. Alice’s masterpiece Journey in Satchidananda is a cosmic dance that sparked creation from destruction. And in a time when we’re all desperately searching for a spark of meaning and hope, Journey abides abundantly.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Check out more episodes at https://tunedig.com.
Episode 48: Heart's "Little Queen"
Take a moment to appreciate Ann and Nancy Wilson, who kicked down the doors of rock ‘n’ roll’s boys’ club with their peerless guitar work, soaring soul vocals, and tight songcraft. 1977’s Little Queen — an oft-overlooked gem in the classic rock canon — offers a snapshot of those elements at their most urgent and pure, powered by the Wilsons’ simple motivation (as described by their producer): “It was a war.”
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Check out more episodes at https://tunedig.com.
Episode 47: Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra"
When you think of “electronic music,” what comes to mind may not be a genre you deeply love — hip-hop, house, new wave, or even dub reggae — but all of it owes some debt, scientifically or otherwise, to Tangerine Dream. Dig in with us as we study a prime example of the band’s brand of effortful innovation, where they patiently and persistently labored at the cutting edge of electronic technology to open a portal to new worlds in our minds.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Episode 46: Olivia Rodrigo's "SOUR"
Did you catch one of 2021’s biggest albums, or like us, did you almost overlook it? If you have any expectations of pop music, "SOUR" will likely subvert them. Teenage dream this is not; it’s an exquisitely universal portrait of a weird time to be alive.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Check out more episodes at https://tunedig.com.
Episode 45: Fela Kuti's "Expensive Shit"
The story of Fela Kuti — one of the most famous people on an *entire continent* passionately struggling to liberate power to more people — is absolutely one worth deeply knowing, regardless of whether you find yourself drawn to Afrobeat or (cringe) “world music.” But once you know it, it’s almost impossible not to fall in love with Fela and Afrika 70 as their revolutionary grooves rewire your brain in magical and meaningful ways.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Check out more episodes at https://tunedig.co
Episode 44: Meshuggah's "ObZen"
Meshuggah’s "ObZen"—an artifact of human creativity pushing the limits of what’s possible—will quite literally make you hear music differently. If you’re looking for a new musical adventure, and especially if you don’t think you like “heavy” or “weird” music, consider this your sign to push past your comfort zone.
Follow us on Instagram and Twitter (@tunedig) for more info about the songs that didn't make the episode.
Check out more episodes at https://tunedig.com.
