Fantastic Beats

Author and R.E.M. historian Robert Dean Lurie is the third head in our huddle formation: this time we carve a house in half with R.E.M., relive the wedding silent disco with Jlin and pluck the darkness out of The Go! Team's cheerleader chants.

Plectrums at the ready. New York comedian Kenice Mobley joins us to rediscover our inner scene kid at The Futureheads show, fire up the butt fan with Mirrored Lips and ride the wave of awesome with Sleater-Kinney.

Music maniac Tom Withey joins us to crack open a Gorillaz happy meal, get a little woozy with Alice Coltrane and join The Beatles on a meditation retreat.

Ian F. King is JUST what we needed: the author of Appetite For Definition joins us to get drunk and simple with The Cars, excavate some excellent 90s post-rock and push down the trash in the Fuck Buttons bin.

We're back with some sounds you've never heard: author Jeanette Leech joins us to discuss the devotional disco of Joubert Singers, deceptive TV nostalgia from Broadcast and a novelty song that's too fast for a puppet.

It's a big one! We're joined by the relentlessly great Kirk Hamilton of the Strong Songs podcast. We pool our music-talk prowess to cycle around the suburbs of Arcade Fire, pick apart the vocal layers of Kimbra and take a precious Talk Talk track off the shelf.

Ingmar Apinis from The Antidote Podcast joins us to find joy within the noise of Melt-Banana, drink cocktails from a camera at a Rüfüs Du Sol show and plug ourselves into Robbie Williams's rather grubby energy grid.

Strong statements all round: Honor Clover-Slater joins us to discuss the relentless rhythms of Maseke, Pasopa and Mako, Blur-related tattoo regrets and how The Stranglers' ghost train got hijacked.

Digital product designer James Marriott joins us to discuss the kitchen curiosities of Migos, a morning from hell narrated by Kate Nash and a fleeting mystery from Dean Blunt.

Musician and writer Tor Maries joins us to discuss the all-out party of Merry Clayton, the slinky polyamory of Unknown Mortal Orchestra and My Bloody Valentine's melting edges.

Bassist and beat-lover Dom James joins us to discuss the no-nonsense romance of Dire Straits, festive funk from The Poets Of Rhythm and Xenia Rubinos's spiralling bass lines.

Musician/sibling James Chuter joins us to discuss the throbbing anxiety of Low, the pebble-plopping of Panda Bear and Björk's visceral protest piece.

Welcome to Fantastic Beats: the new podcast where we invite special guests to swap music recommendations with us. New episodes arrive every other week.