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PODCAST

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth

The Sharp Notes is a conversation podcast about music, sound, production and media hosted by Evan Toth.

music music interviews

All Episodes

41:45

The Sound of a Better Education: Inside Kaufman Music...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/11/05

Everyone agrees that music and the arts are essential — they make us smarter, more empathetic, more human. You’ll hear it in every school mission statement, every campaign speech, every conversation about what “really matters” for kids. And yet, walk into most public schools and the first thing on the chopping block is still the music program. It’s as if we all nodded our heads in agreement and then quietly decided to spend the money somewhere else. Our guest today, Anthony Mazzocchi, has bui...

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46:27

Small Rooms, Big Stakes: One Night Live Fights to...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/10/29

There’s a question that’s been circling the music world for a while now — and it’s only getting louder: how does a new artist actually get heard today? Because if you look around, the industry that once thrived on risk and discovery now seems to cling to nostalgia like a life raft. Major labels and festival lineups read like a roll call of the same veterans — the safe bets, the proven draws — while entire generations of emerging voices wait at the edges, wondering where exactly the door went....

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51:48

The House of Wax: Chad Kassem on Building a Vinyl...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/10/23

This episode feels like a meeting across time — the past, present, and future of vinyl commerce sitting down for a conversation. On one side of the table, there’s Chad Kassem — the founder of Acoustic Sounds, Analogue Productions, and Quality Record Pressings — a man whose passion for high-fidelity sound and meticulous craftsmanship helped revive the vinyl industry when nearly everyone else was going digital. And on the other side, there’s me — a fella who just opened The Sharp Notes, a new b...

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37:31

Put the Phone Down, Pick the Record Up: Discogs VP...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/10/15

Be honest — when was the last time you listened to a record all the way through, without checking your phone? No notifications. No scrolling. No playlists on shuffle. Just… listening. In a world that never stops pinging, Discogs — yes, the massive online music database and marketplace — is asking us to do something radical: to step away. On October 18th, they’re launching a global initiative called Dis/Connect, it’s a day that invites music lovers everywhere to unplug from devices, skip the...

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28:06

The Zombies Never Die: Colin Blunstone on the...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/10/08

Few albums in the history of rock music have had a journey as unlikely—or as triumphant—as Odessey and Oracle. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in 1967 during the final months of the original Zombies, the record was released only after the band had already broken up. And yet, what emerged from that bittersweet moment was a British psych-pop masterpiece: an album that gave us “Time of the Season,” and later earned its place on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and today...

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45:51

From Toto to Thriller: Steve Porcaro on Music,...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/09/25

Few musicians have had as wide-ranging an impact on popular music as Steve Porcaro. As a founding member of Toto, his synthesizer work helped define an era—on hits like “Africa,” “Rosanna,” and “Hold the Line.” But his influence doesn’t stop there. Steve co-wrote “Human Nature,” one of the most enduring tracks on Michael Jackson’s Thriller, still the best-selling album of all time, and he became a go-to sound architect for legends from Quincy Jones to Don Henley. His textured, atmospheric pro...

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22:08

Keeping the Beat: Tito Puente Jr. on Legacy and Latin...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/09/16

Tito Puente was more than a legend of Latin music, he was a cultural force who reached far beyond the Latino world. For those of us who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, his presence was everywhere. By the time of his passing in 2000, his loss resonated deeply, especially here in the New York City metro area, where his music had long been part of our region’s heartbeat. His son, Tito Puente Jr., has embraced that legacy while shaping his own path. As you’ll hear, he doesn’t simply perform—though ...

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30:25

Luke Marzec Makes Something Good Out of Nothing | The...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/09/10

Meet Luke Marzec, a British singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose music lives at the crossroads of soul, jazz, and modern storytelling. His new single, “Growing Up With You,” is a heartfelt reflection on the friendships that shape us — a theme that runs deeply through his latest album, Something Good Out of Nothing. Luke studied classical and jazz at the Royal College of Music and Trinity Conservatoire, but his path has never been a straight academic line. He’s just as comfortab...

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34:18

The Return of Geoff Wilkinson: Us3’s Soundtrack For a...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/08/20

In the 1990s, Us3 reshaped the global music landscape by fusing hip-hop and jazz in ways that felt both groundbreaking and a little bit inevitable. Their 1993 debut, Hand on the Torch, became Blue Note Records’ first platinum-selling album and introduced an entire generation to the possibilities of genre fusion. Yet, after a run of chart success and international touring, the project receded from the spotlight, and founder/producer Geoff Wilkinson stepped into other creative lanes. After a de...

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39:23

Anything Is Possible: Chris Stamey’s Soundtrack of...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/08/06

Chris Stamey has long been a quietly pivotal figure in American music. From co-founding the influential avant-pop band The dB’s and releasing early indie classics, to his work with Alex Chilton, Big Star’s Jody Stephens, and a wide array of sonic adventurers, his career has bridged the experimental and the melodic, the cerebral and the emotional. With his latest album, Anything Is Possible, Stamey returns not to the past, but to the feelings that defined it, particularly the wonder and ...

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39:04

Mocky vs. the Machine: Capturing the Sound of Humans...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/07/31

In a moment where algorithms increasingly shape what we hear, see, and feel, Mocky’s Music Will Explain offers something radically simple: the sound of human beings in a room, making music together. Known for his shape-shifting musical identity and wide-ranging collaborations, Mocky’s work has always blurred the lines between genre and geography. But on his new album, released via Stones Throw, he turns inward and local, recording in his Los Angeles garage with friends and neighbors, using a ...

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48:07

Zev Feldman Digs into Bill Evans and Art Pepper and...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/07/22

The introduction most often associated with producer—and champion of unfairly unheard music—Zev Feldman, compares him to an archaeologist: the “Indiana Jones of jazz,” as The New Yorker wrote in 2023. Fittingly, Feldman’s occasional SiriusXM radio show is cleverly titled Jazz Detective. In a reissue landscape often focused on bringing listeners albums they may already own in triplicate, Zev shines his producer’s flashlight into unexplored corners of the archive: frequently unearthing recordin...

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35:04

The Long Gig: Charles “Wigg” Walker’s Life in Soul |...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/07/16

Charles “Wigg” Walker’s voice isn’t just soulful, it’s resilient. His decades-long journey through the unpredictable terrain of the music industry is one of grit, adaptability, and unwavering devotion to the craft. From singing on Nashville street corners as a teen to warming up crowds for––and being fined by––James Brown, to reinventing himself across continents and genres, Wigg never quit. Music didn’t always pay the bills––he drove vans, ran hot dog stands, and learned firsthand that makin...

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37:14

Dennis Diken on the Legacy of the Smithereens, Vinyl,...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/07/09

For over four decades, Dennis Diken has embodied the enduring spirit of American rock and roll as the drummer and co-founder of The Smithereens. In this wide-ranging conversation, Diken reflects on the band’s legacy while underscoring the urgency and relevance of their music in 2025. As the industry shifts toward streaming and fragmented attention, Diken and his bandmates continue to value the full-album experience, recently reissuing 2011 on vinyl—a record originally created as both homage a...

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29:10

Cody Hanson on Building, Breaking, and Rebuilding...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/06/25

Being a rockstar might look effortless from the outside, but as Cody Hanson of Hinder makes clear, staying relevant in the music world takes far more than talent. In this revealing conversation, the drummer and co-founder of the multi-platinum band pulls back the curtain on the real work behind the music—from scrapping a full album that didn’t feel honest, to reigniting the band’s passion with the song that would become their seventh studio album, Bring Me Back to Life. What’s striking isn’t ...

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45:46

Jenny Owen Youngs on Revisiting "Avalanche",...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/06/18

Singer-songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs has never been one to shy away from transformation. In revisiting Avalanche for its deluxe edition, she offers listeners not just a deeper look at the record but a fuller portrait of herself: one that is shaped by collaboration, reinvention, and a willingness to let imperfections breathe. For Youngs, songs aren’t just crafted; they’re lived in, layered, and continually reinterpreted. The deluxe edition reflects this ethos, blending intimate demos, reimagini...

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40:52

From the Garage to Abbey Road: Russell Marsden from...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/06/11

In an era when the term "rock band" can feel like a nostalgic nod to a fading archetype, Band of Skulls has always stood as the real deal: gritty, authentic, and unrelentingly driven. With their forthcoming retrospective box set Cold Fame, frontman Russell Marsden digs deep into the band’s archives to illuminate the long, winding, and often unpredictable road that led to their breakout debut Baby Darling Doll Face Honey. In our conversation, Marsden reflects not only on the music but on the m...

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42:52

Wake the Dead and Stir the Soul | The Sharp Notes...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/05/29

When Chuck Prophet found himself lingering around after a gig in San Francisco, his band still buzzing from a sold-out set, he wasn’t expecting to stumble into a musical revelation. But as the club's DJ cued up a needle-drop on a weathered vinyl slab of cumbia, and the bass notes spilled through the subs, Prophet experienced something rare and electric. It was an atmosphere alive with rhythm, with movement, with the kind of communal joy that doesn’t require translation. That night planted a m...

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32:19

Steve Bardwil Trades the Boardroom for the Bandstand

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/05/21

After decades navigating the high-stakes world of Hollywood as Chief Counsel for Walt Disney Studios, Steve Bardwil has traded legal briefs for guitar riffs. His recent leap into full-time musicianship culminates in the release of Nothing But Time, a deeply personal and collaboratively rich album produced by the legendary Joe Chiccarelli. What began as a lifelong side-passion has now become the central focus of a second act that blends Bardwil’s storytelling instincts with a joyful, rootsy ro...

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39:55

Author Jude Warne Gets "Lowdown" in New Book About...

The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth ·

2025/05/14

Few writers can translate the sound of an album into a story with the grace and acuity of Jude Warne. Known for her deep dives into the lives of musical icons, Warne returns with her second music biography—this time turning her focus to the ever-evolving Boz Scaggs, titled Lowdown: The Music of Boz Scaggs. Her previous book on the band America set a high bar for weaving together scholarly research with a vivid narrative, and Jude raises it here as well. In both works, Warne’s dedication to cr...

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189 results

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