Terraplane Blues

Seven mysteries

Music in this episode: Peter Gabriel - “Solsbury Hill” (1977) Pink Floyd - “Money” (1973) Dave Brubeck - “Unsquare Dance” (1961) The Beatles - “All You Need is Love” (1967) The Grateful Dead - “Uncle John’s Band” (1970) The Grateful Dead - “Estimated Prophet” (1977) Cordelia’s Dad - “Brother Judson” (2002) Venetian Snares - “Szamár Madár” (2005) Eleni Prodana - “Milo Mou Kokkino” (2014) Gothart - “Jovano, Jovanke” (2000) Şevval Sam feat. Onay Şahin - “Çay Elinden Öteye” (2008) Vojko V - “Zovi Čovika” (2018) Angine de Poitrine - “Fabienk” (2026) Here’s Angine de Poitrine’s iconic KEXP performance: References: Ulf Olsson - Listening for the Secret: The Grateful Dead and the Politics of Improvisation [https://academic.oup.com/california-scholarship-online/book/13278] David Bruce - “Angine de Poitrine’s Math Rhythms Explained [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frXX5KWYUaY]” Andrew James Gustar - “The Closest Thing to Crazy: The Shocking Scarcity of Septuple Time in Western Music [https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-royal-musical-association/article/closest-thing-to-crazy-the-shocking-scarcity-of-septuple-time-in-western-music/40EBDBC7596D2B8AB3168FAA4531AD05]” Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Take Five

Music in this episode: The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Take Five” (1959) The Dave Brubeck Quartet - “Blue Rondo à la Turk” (1959) John Coltrane - “My Favorite Things” (1961) Lalo Schifrin - “Theme from Mission: Impossible” (1966) Max Roach & Abbey Lincoln - “Tears for Johannesburg” (1961) Jaco Pastorius - “Portrait of Tracy” (1976) Brad Mehldau - “Anything Goes” (2004) The Beatles - “Eleanor Rigby” (1966) Ethan Hein - “Eleanor Rigby Takes Five” (2026) The Beatles - “Within You Without You” (1967) Nick Drake - “River Man” (1969) Tim Eriksen & Peter Irvine [https://ethanhein.substack.com/p/more-people-should-be-listening-to] - “The Fitchburg Tragedy” (2026) Béla Bartók - Mikrokosmos, Book 6, BB 105 No. 150. 6 “Dances In Bulgarian Rhythm III” (1940) performed by Jenő Jandó Gustav Holst - “Mars” (1917) performed by The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Led Zeppelin - “Four Sticks” (1971) Sungazer - “Sequence Start” (2014) Kendrick Lamar - “DUCKWORTH [https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2020/transcribing-kendrick-lamar/].” (2017) Noname - “Don’t forget about” (2018) Grateful Dead - “Playing in the Band” (1971) Radiohead - “Everything in its Right Place” (2000) Ethan Hein - “Hit Em” (2024) Read more about Hit Em [https://www.parapraxismagazine.com/articles/hit-em]. Read more about time signatures [https://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2024/the-bottom-number-in-time-signatures-has-always-confused-me/]. Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Terraplane Blues

Music in this episode: Robert Johnson - “Terraplane Blues” (1936) (I said it was recorded 100 years ago, it was actually recorded 90 years ago, math is hard) Stevie Wonder - “Superstition” (1972) Dan Bubien & the Delta Struts - “Terraplane Blues” (2022) Eric Clapton - “Terraplane Blues” (2004) John Lee Hooker - “Boogie Chillen” (1948) For a nuanced discussion of Robert Johnson and Eric Clapton, I recommend the episode on “Crossroads Blues” from A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs [https://500songs.com/podcast/episode-166-crossroads-by-cream/]. For a look at how musicologists are analyzing swing, check out this paper by Milton Mermikides on John Coltrane [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17494060.2020.1734051]. Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Why and how I make all those jam tracks

Music in this episode: Jamey Aebersold - “Fm Ebm Dm 8 Bars Each” (1967) The Temptations - “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” (1972) Bo Diddley - “Bo Diddley” (1955) Aretha Franklin - “Chain of Fools” (1967) Eddy Grant - “Electric Avenue” (1982) Mobb Deep - “Shook Ones Part II (Instrumental)” (1994) Common/Slum Village - “Thelonius (Instrumental)” (2000) The Grateful Dead - “Scarlet Begonias > Fire on the Mountain” (1977) James Brown - “I Got To Move” (1970) James Brown - “There Was A Time (I Got To Move)” (1970) James Brown - “Soul Power” (1970) James Brown - “Blind Man Can See It (Extended)” (1973) Herbie Hancock - “Chameleon” (1973) The Band - “The Weight” (1968) The Beatles - “Dear Prudence” (1968) John Coltrane - “Mr Knight” (1962) (I mistakenly identified the bassist on this recording as Jimmy Garrison; it is actually Steve Davis.) McCoy Tyner - “Contemplation” (1967) Brad Mehldau - “Anything Goes” (2004) Peter Gabriel - “Solsbury Hill” (1977) The complete jam tracks collection: References George Howlett - One Chord Songs [https://ragajunglism.org/guitar/one-chord-songs/] Joseph Schloss - Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop [https://www.weslpress.org/9780819574817/making-beats/] Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

Little Fluffy Clouds

Music in this episode: The Orb - “Little Fluffy Clouds” (1991) Brian Eno - Ambient 1: Music for Airports - “1/1” (1979) Rickie Lee Jones - “Chuck E.’s in Love” (1979) A Conversation with Rickie Lee Jones (1989) Ennio Morricone - “L’uomo dell’armonica" from C’era Una Volta Il West (1968) Harry Nilsson - “Jump into the Fire” (1971) Twin Hype - “Serious Attitude” (1989) Pat Metheny - “Electric Counterpoint: III. Fast” (1989) Karlheinz Stockhausen - “Gesang der Jünglinge” (1955) References Sound on Sound - Classic Tracks column on “Little Fluffy Clouds” [https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-orb-little-fluffy-clouds] Justin Morey - “Ambient House: ‘Little Fluffy Clouds’ and the Sampler as Time Machine” [https://unipress.hud.ac.uk/plugins/books/19/chapter/28] Get full access to Ethan teaches you music at ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe [https://ethanhein.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]