Radiolab: "Music Hat"

Podcast: Radiolab by WNYC Studios
Episode Release: August 29, 2025
Hosts: Lulu Miller, Jad Abumrad, Robert Krulwich
Episode Theme:
A reflective, sonically playful dive into the music at the heart of Radiolab. This episode listens back to two classic Jad Abumrad pieces about musicians whose work has shaped the sound of the show: the trio Dawn of Midi and Argentine artist Juana Molina. Using sound and story, the musicians explore the intersection of technology, improvisation, and the inner worlds we inhabit or create through music.

1. Episode Overview

Radiolab steps out of pure science this week, focusing on the musical DNA of the show. Original host Jad Abumrad, himself a musician, shares two previously produced stories that start deep in the craft of music before branching into bigger questions—about technology, about time, and about our sense of self.

Quote:
"They start deep in the music, purely about the music, but then each one unfurls into something more philosophical about our relationships with technology, our relationships to ourselves."
—Lulu Miller (00:34)

2. Segment 1: Dawn of Midi – Analog Humans, Machine Complexity

Start: 01:17 | Featured Speakers: Jad Abumrad (B), Robert Krulwich (E), Akash (F, bassist for Dawn of Midi)

The Band and Their Origins

• Dawn of Midi: A trio (bassist Akash Israni, pianist Amino Belyamani, drummer Qasim Naqvi) originally bonded at CalArts, not first over music, but over midnight tennis matches (03:01).
• Their early music was entirely improvised:
  • "We'd go into these classrooms that had no windows and turn out all the lights, and they would play these long, crazy sets in pitch black darkness." —Jad (03:35)
  • No predetermined key, tempo, or structure—just raw, live creation.

Evolution via Technology and Trance

• On tour, exposure to electronic artists (Aphex Twin), and deep dives into West African and Moroccan trance traditions, led the band to a transformative style (04:48).
• Transitioned from free improvisation into something rhythmically obsessive and complex—like "ancient folk music filtered through highly obsessive computers that actually aren't computers, but people." —Jad (05:18)
• Music Excerpt: The show plays a Dawn of Midi track, illustrating their hypnotic, mechanical human groove. Layers—bass, piano, percussion—develop at glacial speed, mimicking machine precision but fully live (06:09–08:43).

Acoustic vs. Electronic Illusions

• There’s disbelief that all sounds are acoustic and performed live, not synthetic (07:47).
• "It's acoustic."
  "That doesn't sound acoustic."
  "Yeah, it doesn't."
  —Robert & Jad (07:52)

The Philosophy: Reclaiming Humanity from Machines

• Akash describes a cultural moment:
  • Analog techniques now accomplish things once thought possible only with technology, echoing shifts in surfing and beatboxing (09:28–10:32).
• "It's like the computers showed us a world of possibility and now we're sort of almost realizing that that world was inherent to us, not the machine." —Akash (10:28)
• Reclaiming from machines; the machine’s example reveals hidden human capacity.

Experiencing Time, Pattern & Trance

• "It's not going to tell you a story. It's just going to keep you company." —Robert (10:53)
• Both the music and conversation explore a non-narrative experience of time:
  • "Where you're sort of existing in time, not in a sort of regular story way ... something else." —Jad (11:29)
  • Akash and Amino call this a "quantum state of time" (11:37).
• Layers of rhythm cycle in and out of phase, complex and at times not aligning, both confounding and entrancing (11:40–12:48).
• Robert compares it to the immersive, pattern-layered experience of standing before a Mark Rothko painting (12:48–13:35).

Memorable Quote:
"I like that phrase, feelings from the patterns, that makes sense to me. And these patterns to me, they feel kind of ancient and new at the same time. Super mechanical and yet deeply human."
—Jad (13:37)

3. Segment 2: Juana Molina – The Universe of One

Start: 14:46 | Featured Speakers: Jad Abumrad (B), Robert Krulwich (E), Juana Molina (D)

From TV Comedy to Musical Solitude

• Juana Molina began as a musician, veered into TV for financial reasons, and became a national comedy star in Argentina on Juana y Sus Hermanas (16:58).
• Fame grew unexpectedly:
  • "I had money and I could pay my rent and my guitar lessons. But then I got big." —Juana (17:25)
  • Despite success, she felt lost, until a period of bedrest during pregnancy forced her to reflect on her neglected original goals (17:47–18:10).

The Challenge of Becoming Herself

• Transition to music was tough: “It was hell for several years.” —Juana (18:24)
  • Performing as herself felt radically vulnerable compared to impersonating characters (18:30).

Embracing Solitude—Loops and Worlds

• Molina became a one-woman symphony, layering guitars, vocals, and electronics with looping pedals (19:08).
• On the creative state:
  • "The thing by being on your own, is that you can go deeper and deeper and deeper...in your own universe and go further, further away or deeper, deeper, deeper inside." —Juana (19:41)
• Juana doesn't begin with a message or story—songs come from the sounds and the feelings:
  • "There's absolutely nothing that I really want to say." —Juana (21:17)
  • Lyrics are added just to enable singing; stories emerge only later if at all.

The Song “Un Día”

• The origin: Spontaneous, playful improvisation before a concert leads to a song about hope for transformation ("One day I will be someone different...") (21:56).
• Jad’s response: “You wanted something crazy. Heard that song, and I got the sense immediately of what it was without knowing the words. Just a sense of, like a chant to your better self.” (23:22)

From Listener to Collaborator

• Jad, deeply moved, writes his first-ever fan letter and is given permission to remix the song (23:33–23:56).
• Plays a short excerpt from his remix of "Un Día." (24:13)

Memorable Quotes:

• "It feels like she's taking a bath in herself." —Robert (20:46)
• "Little by little, my ridiculously small universe. It becomes huge. Anything that has a note or a rhythm you can make music with." – Juana (20:53)

4. Episode Wrap-up & Recommendations

Host Recommendation:
Lulu Miller highlights "New Sounds" as a show for eclectic, boundary-pushing music lovers:
"So if you want something on in the background to unwind to, to refresh your repertoire while you cook or run or, I don't know, contemplate some profound mathematical theory, I highly recommend you check them out." (29:03)

5. Key Takeaways

• Music as Technology & Humanity: Both stories investigate how music reflects our evolving relationship with technology—sometimes emulating machines with human hands (Dawn of Midi), sometimes using tech to multiply the self (Juana Molina).
• Time, Pattern, and Perception: Whether through repetitive, shifting rhythms or layered loops, the music discussed invites us into altered states of time and consciousness.
• Artistic Authenticity: The daunting leap from persona to self is a core part of Juana’s journey, showing the power and terror of performing as one’s true self.

6. Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• “They start deep in the music, purely about the music, but then each one unfurls into something more philosophical about our relationships with technology, our relationships to ourselves.”
  —Lulu Miller (00:34)

• "It's like the computers showed us a world of possibility and now we're sort of almost realizing that that world was inherent to us, not the machine."
  —Akash, Dawn of Midi (10:28)

• "It's not going to tell you a story. It's just going to keep you company."
  —Robert Krulwich (10:53)

• "The thing by being on your own, is that you can go deeper and deeper and deeper...in your own universe and go further, further away or deeper, deeper, deeper inside."
  —Juana Molina (19:41)

• "There's absolutely nothing that I really want to say."
  —Juana Molina (21:17)

• "I like that phrase, feelings from the patterns, that makes sense to me. And these patterns to me, they feel kind of ancient and new at the same time. Super mechanical and yet deeply human."
  —Jad Abumrad (13:37)

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Intro & Framing: 00:00–01:17
• Dawn of Midi Story: 01:17–14:08
• Juana Molina Story: 14:46–24:13
• Music Recommendations/New Sounds: 29:03–30:29

Radiolab’s "Music Hat" episode is both a meditation on the mesmerizing reach of sound and an exploration of how technology, tradition, and solitude can each push music—and by extension, ourselves—into unexpected new spaces. This is an episode for anyone who loves to lose themselves in both the patterns of melody and the patterns of thought.