We're taking a little break to do some birding, cloud spotting, and maybe even some trippin'! In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this re-release of “Genre Bending" with some bonus giddiness at the top. And we'll be back on July 28, commemorating the completion of the World Cup with an episode dedicated to sports songs.

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What happens when music refuses to stay in its lane? It gets some major Stereothematica love.

This week we talk about the artists who blur boundaries, break molds, and bend genres in ways that feel both surprising and inevitable. These are sounds shaped by curiosity, contradiction, and a refusal to be easily defined.

Videos:

Arthur Russell: This is How We Walk on the Moon (1994)

Yellow Magic Orchestra: Simoon (1979)

Extras:

Psycho Killer feat. Arthur Russell playing cello

Wild Combination documentary

"My favorite song" by Ramesh Srivastava

“‘I Want to See All My Friends At Once’: Arthur Russell and the Queering of Gay Disco” Journal of Popular Music Studies

Live Version of Simoon

The Music That Shaped Haruomi Hosono

Crafting the Sound of the Future

Michale Jackson cover of Behind the Mask

De La Soul Sampling YMO in Big Brother Beat

Reddit - Let’s Talk Music: YMO

The Amazing History of YMO

YMO on Soul Train - Tighten Up cover

Archie Bell and the Drells: Tighten Up

YMO on Soul Train - Firecracker

Firecracker Samples:

Afrika Bambaataa: Death Mix II

Mariah Carey: Loverboy

Jennifer Lopez (Featuring Ja Rule): I’m Real

De La Soul: Funky Towel

2 Live Crew: Mega Mixx II

Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!

If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.

And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back!