10 Offbeat Podcasts for Music Lovers

Music and podcasts often go hand in hand; most audiophiles are audiophiles regardless of the medium, happy to jump into the world of sound whether it’s words or notes. There’s plenty of music review podcasts, but there’s also a world of podcasts that use music in different, interesting ways.

This list is 10 podcasts that use music in a way that’s innovative or different from a typical music review podcast, given in no order–they’re much too different from each other to rank, but all delightfully offbeat. These aren’t going to be your standards like All Songs Considered or Song Exploder (which are both fantastic!); instead, we want to give you something a little different with these recs.

1. 36 Questions

From Two-Up (the team behind Limetown), 36 Questions is a fictional podcast musical presented in three parts. The story follows a husband and wife who are estranged for mysterious reasons–but the wife is trying to bridge that gap and get them back together. The music is catchy and often moving, but the dialogue also feels so genuine to each character. It’s incredible how well you’ll know the two characters after just three episodes, and it’s almost infuriating how long the songs will stick in your head.

2. Aria Code

Aria Code is a podcast all about famous arias from operas, produced by WNYC and The Metropolitan Opera. Hosted by Rhiannon Giddens, a recipient of the MacArthur “genius” grant, each episode dives into what makes each aria work, the mindset behind how it was written, and breaking down notable performances. Opera isn’t something many people think of as accessible–or maybe even interesting–but Aria Code completely redefines that image of the art.

3. Song Salad

Song Salad is an inventive comedy podcast in which two friends make a song each episode based on a randomly-selected musical genre and Wikipedia article. What results is songs about bizarre topics in styles that usually completely clash with their subject–all while teaching the listener about both the music style and topic themselves. The concept is already brilliant and hilarious, but the sweet, goofy dynamic between the two hosts makes it a listen I never miss.

4. It Makes a Sound

It Makes a Sound is one of the more divisive Night Vale Presents fiction podcasts; it takes a good deal of buy-in and patience, but that initial learning curve is well worth the results. It Makes a Sound follows a woman obsessed with a musician from her youth, Wim Faros, who nobody else seems to have heard of. The podcast gradually becomes more and more musical–as well as becoming more profound and moving. It’s a rumination on music, memory, and identity, with some really lovely songs along the way.

5. Punch Up the Jam

Punch Up the Jam is a comedy podcast in which the hosts and their guest choose a song, usually from the 90’s, to improve upon. They discuss the history of the song and how it was written before “punching it up”–making the parts that don’t work better while celebrating the things that do work, while also giving hilarious banter.

6. Fall of the House of Sunshine

I’ve listened to many, many podcasts, but nothing I’ve heard is as unique as Fall of the House of Sunshine. Before 36 Questions, Fall of the House of Sunshine was paving the way for both musical fiction podcasts and a strange, bizarre world of fiction in podcasting in general. This podcast centers on figuring out how and why the host of a children’s television show about dental hygiene–who is also the heir to a cult about dental hygiene–was murdered on air. And it does not get less strange from there. It’s a wild, kinetic listen with so many surreal moving parts and rapidfire jokes it can be hard to take everything in. Once you do, though, it becomes something entirely unique and exhilarating.

7. The Soundtrack Show

The Soundtrack Show is a dive into the soundtracks of films, TV shows, video games, and more. The podcast is a great mix of accessible topics–most people will have heard most of the soundtracks discussed–and looking into music theory. For those who haven’t taken theory classes, discussing things like augmented chords or tritones can be confusing, but host David W. Collins puts everything in clear language that helps listeners not only understand the film/etc. being discussed on a deeper level, but also how music works to evoke moods and concepts.

8. Dreamboy

Another Night Vale Presents production, Dreamboy is a very NSFW podcast about a burnt-out musician who moves from New York to Cleveland with the goal to write an album. The podcast isn’t just about a musician, though–it’s also meticulously scored. Music is the blood of the podcast, flowing around the bones of the dialogue. The music and the writing are equally vital to how the podcast sounds and feels. It’s a strange, often hilarious, often unsettling podcast that feels as dreamlike as the plot often is, largely in thanks to the score.

9. Let’s Make a Music!

Let’s Make a Music is a comedy podcast in which the hosts make a song based on listener submissions. It feels a little bit like Song Salad, but based on tweets versus random Wikipedia topics–and like Song Salad, it’s also filled with jokes, banter, a sweet disposition, and songs that are much better than they have a right to be. Let’s Make a Music has more of a freeform structure, but the hosts always dissect the suggestion and ruminate over the song before presenting it to the listener.

10. Reasonably Sound

Reasonably Sound is a podcast all about how sound works. The show covers everything from the noise chip readers make to how foley artists work or–as linked above–the infamous “Braaam” from Inception and every big-budget action film that followed. It’s a podcast not just about music, but about what makes sound tick, and how we interpret those sounds. It’s one part science, one part observation, one part history–and all absolutely fascinating.