The Sharp Notes with Evan Toth
The Sharp Notes is a conversation podcast exploring music, sound, and the craft behind the records we love. Host Evan Toth speaks with musicians, producers, and industry voices about the art of listening and the stories pressed into every groove.
Episodes
205 episodes
Grover Biery on The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and the Search for Three-Dimensional Mono
Today, we return to one of the most discussed albums in pop history: The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.Nearly 60 years after Brian Wilson assembled its world of harmonies, longing, bass lines, sound effects, and impossible emotional detail, Int...
Alan Braufman on Anthem for Peace and the Legacy of Valley of Search
What does it mean for a musician to be free?Not free as a slogan, or a genre label, but truly free: free to search, free to return, free to follow a sound across a lifetime.Alan Braufman has been asking that question, in one form ...
Just Let It: Jarrod Lawson on Growth, Groove, and Evolution
Jarrod Lawson returns at an interesting moment in his career. With Just Let It, his third studio album, he’s not simply refining the sound that first brought him attention, he’s reshaping it. Long associated with a polished blend of so...
Mikaela Davis Maps the Terrain of Graceland Way
Mikaela Davis makes music that feels grounded, but never predictable. She has built a singular voice around the harp, and she uses it as a real expressive force, not as an ornament. On her new album Graceland Way, that voice carries th...
SPIN’s Bet on Physical Media and Building a Modern Music Company: Jimmy Hutcheson, CEO of SPIN
There’s a version of Spin Magazine that most people remember. The 1990s disruptor. Irreverent, artist-driven, willing to challenge the norms of mainstream music coverage while helping define the alternative music conversation in real time. For ...
Frank Hannon Unplugged: Guitar, Tesla, and the Bay Area Sound
There’s a version of Frank Hannon most listeners think they know. As co-founder and lead guitarist of Tesla, his playing helped define a more grounded, blues-informe...
Larry Jaffee on Record Store Day, the Vinyl Revival, and the Future of Plant-Based Records
Welcome to The Sharp Notes Podcast. I’m Evan Toth, and this episode was recorded live in front of an audience at The Sharp Notes record store inside the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey.My guest is author, journali...
Jude Warne Returns: America Paperback Release and the Story Behind Lowdown
We welcome back a familiar and always thoughtful voice in music criticism and biography, Jude Warne. With the recent paperback release of her acclaimed authorized biography
Alan Light on Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and His New Book "Don’t Stop" (Live at The Sharp Notes)
This episode is a little different, because what you’re about to hear was recorded live, in front of an audience, right here inside The Sharp Notes record store at the Garden State Plaza in Paramus, New Jersey. You might catch the room in it: f...
Studio Confidential Preview: Sylvia Massy on Sessions, Sound, and Recording Secrets
This episode’s guest is one of those rare studio minds who makes the control room feel less like a workplace and more like a laboratory with excellent taste.Sylvia Massy is a producer, mixer, and engineer whose credits stretch fro...
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One Musician, Many Names: A Conversation with Lucien Fraipont (Robbing Millions / DUID)
Some conversations begin with music. This one begins with language. A little French. A little English. When this interview takes place, it's a late night in Brussels, where the streets are quiet, the restaurants are closing down, and Lucien Fra...
Stéphane Wrembel Translates Django Reinhardt in New Orleans
There are musicians who treat tradition like a museum, and then there are musicians who treat it like a passport. Stéphane Wrembel belongs firmly in the second category.You may know his work from the soundtracks to Midnight in Paris<...
Doing It Yourself: Tamar Berk’s New Album ocd and the Long Road of Independence
Independence in music is usually described as freedom. In practice, it is a long sequence of decisions that can’t be outsourced. Writing the songs. Recording the tracks. Producing the record. Paying for the mistakes. Owning that outcome....
Eternity’s Children Reconsidered: Steve Stanley on High Moon Records and the Art of the Reissue
For nearly three decades, Steve Stanley has been one of the quiet architects behind how we remember mid-century American pop. His work as a reissue producer and archivist has revived artists who slipped through the cracks of the industry machin...
Tom “Grover” Biery Reframes Classic Albums for the Contemporary Listener
It’s a remarkable moment to be a record collector. Music lovers have never had more ways to hear their favorite albums in whatever format feels right: hi-res files, streaming on the move, the whole buffet. And yet, there’s a meaningful differen...
The Craft of Clarity: Bob Hazelwood and the Andover Audio Approach
There are people who make great sound feel less like a secret society and more like an open door. Bob Hazelwood is one of them. He is the Director of Engineering and Product Development at Andover Audio, and his career runs through many major p...
The Sound of a Better Education: Inside Kaufman Music Center with Anthony Mazzocchi | The Sharp Notes Podcast
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.A...
Small Rooms, Big Stakes: One Night Live Fights to Keep Live Music Local and Alive
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 s...
The House of Wax: Chad Kassem on Building a Vinyl Record Empire | The Sharp Notes Interview
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 R...
Put the Phone Down, Pick the Record Up: Discogs VP Jeffrey Smith on Dis/Connect | The Sharp Notes Interview
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,...
The Zombies Never Die: Colin Blunstone on the Resurrection of Odessey and Oracle in Mono | The Sharp Notes Interview
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 t...
From Toto to Thriller: Steve Porcaro on Music, Memory, and The Very Day | The Sharp Notes Interview
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 th...
Keeping the Beat: Tito Puente Jr. on Legacy and Latin Rhythm | The Sharp Notes Interview
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 reso...
Luke Marzec Makes Something Good Out of Nothing | The Sharp Notes Podcast with Evan Toth
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 t...
The Return of Geoff Wilkinson: Us3’s Soundtrack For a New Era | The Sharp Notes Interview
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 ...
