DiS Podcast

Drowned in Sound's show hosted by Sean Adams & Danielle Perry.

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Podcasts

Tune into our podcast for hopeful, future-facing conversations with extraordinary musicians, cultural innovators, and organisers reshaping t

Drowned in Sound's podcast returned in 2023 and we've had an incredibly busy 2025 interviewing musicians like Idlewild, Maximo Park, Enter Shikari, The Linda Lindas, Sofia Isella, Mynabirds, Kadjha Monet, Mary Spender and many more.

We've also been making space for campaigners and activists, running projects and being part of movements to address class inequality, youth access to music, misogyny, the climate crisis, and corporate over-reach that impacts fans.

We aim to empower music fans and create space for conversations that music journalism often covers but rarely provides solutions to the issues.

Season 5 kicks off in January 2026 with conversations with DiS favourites Kelly Lee Owens, Gazelle Twin, and the podcaster behind over 500 episodes of 101 Part Time Jobs speaking to musicians about their side hustles.

Search for Drowned in Sound on YouTube, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. drownedinsound.org/podcasts

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#9: From ANOHNI to Bat for Lashes - Best of Q2 2016

April, May and June 2016's finest album releases are considered and evaluated by Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams and Absolute Radio's Danielle Perry. The show kicks off with Amber Arcades and ends with Fiona Brice, and there's plenty more including Minor Victories, Ala.ni. ANOHNI, Bat for Lashes, Fiona Brice, Black Honey, Minor Victories, Marissa Nadler and we chat about more stuff too.

Please note: this show was recorded the day after Brexit. Sorry for the delay on this podcast going live, we had issues with our Spotify uploader but it's now up there as a playlist with full tracks too, and on all the podcatcher websites with audio clips amongst the chatter.

Tracks played on this episode

'Fading Lines' by Amber Arcades 'All My Pride' by Black Honey '4 Degrees' by ANOHNI 'Cherry Blossom' by ALA.NI 'Give It Your Worst' by False Advertising 'A Hundred Ropes' by Minor Victories 'Janie in Love' by Marissa Nadler 'In God's House' by Bat for Lashes 'Echo of Creation' by JAMBINAI 'Berlin' by Fiona Brice

PODCAST

The podcast version only includes clips of the tracks but is available to download for free. You can browse our previous podcasts here. You can also get this podcast via RSS, Stitcher and most likely via your 'podcatcher' of choice.

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#8: The Anchoress on her complex, concept-driven debut album

Danielle Perry chats to The Anchoress aka producer, songwriter, author, and PhD, Catherine Anne Davies, about her critically-celebrated (see below) debut album Confessions of a Romance Novelist, which is out now via post-progressive independent label Kscope.

The Anchoress will perform her debut album in full at London's most ornate Edwardian Ballroom, The Bush Hall, on Weds June 15th 2016. In the run up to this special event, we thought this in-depth album commentary that explores the concepts behind the album and the recording process would be a great way to prepare yourself for the show.

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

You can hear this album commentary with the tracks in full on Spotify.

PODCAST

The podcast version only includes clips of the tracks but is available to download for free. You can browse our previous podcasts here. You can also get this podcast via RSS, Stitcher and most likely via your 'podcatcher' of choice.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Get the title track from The Anchoress' debut album from Bandcamp and pick up a signed copy direct from the artist:

Confessions of a Romance Novelist by The Anchoress

LEARN MORE

You can learn more about The Anchoress at iamtheanchoress.com.

You can also read:

The Anchoress' track by track guide to Confessions of a Romance Novelist (Drowned in Sound).

The Perils of Producing Your Own Album by The Anchoress (The Line of Best Fit).

Confessional Mode: An Interview With The Anchoress (TheQuietus).

NEW VIDEO

Watch her new video co-starring David Gilmour's son Charlie:

LIVE DATES

CRITICAL PRAISE

...And here's what the critics had to say about her debut album.

☆☆☆☆ MOJO

"...addresses the peaks and troughs of love, commitment and betrayal...Fascinating." SUNDAY TIMES

"...a rich and complex debut...a blackly witty breakup album...Compelling." THE OBSERVER

"...equal parts prog and pop, oddball & accessible." NME

"...a flawless and sophisticated hyper-literate pop record." GQ

"...insightful, intelligent songwriting on this hugely entertaining album . 9/10." THE LINE OF BEST FIT

"...hyper-literary but radio-friendly debut. A record which could sneak big ideas past the listeners of daytime radio." Q

"...literate and emotive. Karen Carpenter singing John Grant." UNCUT

"...rich and satisfyingly poptastic." THE QUIETUS

"Kate Bush’s Hounds Of Love... updated for the 21st century." PROG

The Anchoress is managed by CCCLX, run by Drowned in Sound founder, Sean Adams.

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Episode #7: Bowie and Beyond - Q1 2016 in Review

Our first half the year in review begins with the best albums, songs and DiScoveries of Jan, Feb and March 2016 as chosen by Drowned in Sound's Sean Adams & Absolute Radio's Danielle Perry. Featuring David Bowie, School of Seven Bells, Deftones, The 1975, The Kills, and more.

Listen to this podcast as a playlist commentary with tracks in full over on Spotify.

You can also listen to this with clips of the tracks on iTunes, SoundCloud, MixCloud and more.

Our Q2 episode is to follow soon.

Tracks from the albums discussed in order:

Ablaze by School of Seven Bells Girl Loves Me by David Bowie Doing It To Death by The Kills Only Child by Shearwater Something Else by The 1975 Under The Sun by Diiv Unstitch by Anna Rose Carter Big Ideas by The Boxer Rebellion Prayers / Triangles by Deftones Hands by The Duke Spirit Breadandbutter by El Perro Del Mar

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#6: Lights & Music, Turn On The Bright Lights, Light It Up-Up-Up!

They are the road crew, but what do they do? DiS is fascinated by how lights can enhance* a gig, so we had a conversation with lighting and production designer Ed Warren of NextLevelLights about his journey from watching bands to flicking the bright lights on for a Glastonbury headline set.

He's worked with everyone from Mumford & Sons to Four Tet via Interpol, Antlers, Metronomy, Father John Misty, Shakira, Mogwai, The Maccabees, The Strokes and loads more. In this first of a series of behind the scenes chats with people who are part of the village that makes music happen, Ed shared tales from the road, some helpful career advice, and his Kickstarter project. Shortly after we spoke he won the TPi Award for Best Lighting Designer.

* = and in some cases ruin

You can stream our podcast on Mixcloud and this show will soon be on Spotify too.

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Drowned in Sound's Music Review Show hosts Sean Adams & Danielle Perry share their favourite tracks of 2015. For more shows visit http://dispodcast.tumblr.com

You can now listen to our Best of 2015 show, where our podcast hosts share their favourite tracks of the year over on Spotify as a special playlist with commentary tracks.

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#5: Mercury Prize judges help us ponder: What makes a truly great album?

Mercury Prize 2015 judges John Kennedy from Radio X and Kate Mossman from New Statesman/BBC Four, join DiS editor Sean Adams and podcast co-host Danielle Perry from Absolute Radio to discuss this year's Mercury shortlisted album and what this year's 12 albums say about the current state of music plus we ponder what makes a truly great album?

The winner of this year's Mercury Prize will be revealed live on the BBC on Friday 20th November 2015.

The 2015 Mercury Prize ‘Albums of the Year’ in association with BBC Music were announced on Friday 16 October. The 2015 Albums of the Year are:

Aphex Twin 'Syro' Benjamin Clementine 'At Least For Now' C Duncan 'Architect' Eska 'Eska' Florence + The Machine 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' Gaz Coombes 'Matador' Ghostpoet 'Shedding Skin' Jamie xx 'In Colour' Róisín Murphy 'Hairless Toys' Slaves 'Are You Satisfied?' SOAK 'Before We Forgot How To Dream' Wolf Alice 'My Love Is Cool'

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#4: These Are A Few Of Our Favourite Songs Of 2015

In episode four, Drowned in Sound Review Show hosts Sean Adams and Danielle Perry discuss their favourite songs of the year.

Sean picked tunes from Charli XCX, Braids, White Hinterland, Chromatics, The Mynabirds and Marilyn Manson; whilst Danielle went for songs from Jamie xx, Foals, Bjork, Laura Marling, Duke Garwood and Wolf Alice.

You can hear the tracks in full by searching for Drowned in Sound on Spotify to find them all on a playlist with this commentary in-between. Or simply click here.

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Episode 3

15 Years of Music Blogging with Rockfeedback's Toby L

To celebrate 15 years of Drowned in Sound and 15 years of Rockfeedback, Toby L who founded the music website, concert promoter and TV show Rockfeedback, chats to our hosts Absolute radio's Danielle Perry and Drowned in Sound founder Sean Adams (@seaninsound).

The conversation covers a range of topics from the struggles of turning a hobby into a job, promoting gigs, and running labels as Toby also founded the Transgressive label, which is home to releases by Foals, The Antlers, Regina Spektor, Alvvays, Songhoy Blues and many more.

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Episode 2

20 Years of MOGWAI

To celebrate 20 years of being one of the best bands in the world, on October 23rd 2015 Mogwai are releasing a compilation entitled Central Belters.

In the lead up to the career-spanning release, DiS podcast co-host Danielle Perry sat down with Stuart Braithwaite for a chat about their career, John Peel, guitars and so much more.

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Stream it on Soundcloud:

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Episode 1

Review Show Pilot featuring METRIC and the AIM Awards

In the pilot episode of our podcast we (DiS founder Sean Adams, DiS contributor Marc Burrows and Absolute Radio's Danielle Perry) caught up with old friends of the site Jimmy and Emily from Metric (who were once signed to the DiS label) ahead of the release of their new album. They were gracious with their time and talked about almost starting a riot, working with David Cronenberg, their app, their hotline and lots more surrounding the release of Pagans in Vegas, as well as its imminent follow-up.

This was also our first attempt at the 'Review Show' format, which if we're honest didn't quite work. We sniped but it felt awkward. We went through the AIM Award nominees and celebrated Bjork, Wolf Alice, Father John Misty and Young Fathers, but it maybe didn't feel like we 'reviewed them'. We also raced through some big news stories and snarked at Nirvana, as you do. It was a pilot, and it could have been much-much worse, tbh, tbf.

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Stream it on Soundcloud:

Stream the Metric part of our chat, intermixed with their new album, as well as some 'deep cuts' on this Spotify playlist.