Late Night Tales: On The Record

Alexis Taylor met Joe Goddard, his Hot Chip bandmate, while they were still at secondary school, which is where the band started. Twenty years later, they’re eight albums deep and have collected Grammy and Mercury Prize nominations en route. Alexis recently released his sixth solo LP, Paris in the Spring, on our own Night Time Stories label. His musical career has been marked by a fearlessness in how he approaches his art, and his solo work is a constantly evolving quest for authenticity and musical honesty. Over the course of an hour, we covered the joy of collaboration, the golden years of Timbaland and The Neptunes, dancing to Paul McCartney’s “Check My Machine”, and an unlikely encounter with Chloë Sevigny.

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Dublin-born radio presenter Deb Grant caught the DJ bug in her early teens before moving to the UK to further her ambitions. Before she broke into the world of music, she spent four years doing a “proper job”, including a stint in HR. Her break came singing on a cover version of Trouble on the Mountain for Wah Wah 45s, which brought her into direct contact with the industry. She’s had a tour of duty on Hoxton FM, Resonance FM and Jazz FM before finally snagging a show on 6 Music, where she presents New Music Fix, a specialist evening show. We chatted about her early years in Dublin, her alternative career as a singer, and the record stores of Memphis and Baton Rouge.

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Shop worker, film director, DJ and songwriter are just some of the hats Don Letts likes to wear. And boy, does Don love a good hat. He made his name as the King's Road's coolest shop worker at Acme Attractions. He was resident DJ at the short-lived but influential Roxy on Neal Street, and he made the seminal The Punk Rock Movie. Later in his career, his Clash documentary Westway to the World won him a Grammy. He was a member of Mick Jones's 80s band B.A.D, and since 2009 he's hosted a show on BBC 6 Music, where his eclectic taste is on display every week. More recently he released Version Excursion for Late Night Tales, an album full of reimagined dub. In a wide-ranging conversation, we talked to Don about selling weed to Bob Marley, being endlessly followed by the police, directing music videos, his long relationship with The Clash and his jaundiced view of streaming platforms.

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Somewhere Soul is the alter ego of social media influencer and music evangelist Josh Mason Quinn. Dissatisfied with the machinations of the music industry, Josh started a blog over 10 years ago before adding TikTok and Instagram to his portfolio. He's also an active club DJ and A&R for the label Deep Matter. He became a full-time influencer in 2024 and now has a following teetering around 1 million on Instagram. He's a regular presence on social media with curated posts recommending everything from left field pop to modern jazz, cementing his reputation as a curator with the acclaimed compilation Rituals Vol. 1. We enjoyed a lively discussion covering taking on the algorithms, the fast-evolving world of music promotion and the definition of good taste.

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On our first episode of Late Night Tales: On The Record, we chat to Zakia Sewell, writer, BBC presenter and DJ. Earlier this year, her first book Finding Albion was published, and it was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Non-Fiction. Our discussion took in the complicated life of folk godfather Cecil Sharp, hanging out with druids at Stonehenge, the roots of Morris dancing and whether grime qualifies as folk music.

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To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we've selected a cluster of musical enthusiasts to interview in a brand new podcast series, Late Night Tales: On The Record. These interviewees range from radio DJs, composers, comedians, influencers and ex-pop stars, all with the same things in common: a passion for great music and a knack for vivid conversation.

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