The Grateful Dead are one of the pillars of the American musical canon.

With an influence that spans generations and all walks of life, it's no surprise that Bryce and Aaron Dessner, both members of indie-rock superstars The National, were huge “Deadheads.”

Now, with a little help from their friends, the brothers have put together a sprawling, 59 track celebration of the Grateful Dead’s music to benefit the amazing Red Hot Organization.

 Will these indie rock A-listers redeem the Dead's legacy for a whole new generation? Or will the gang just end sitting around talking about their favorite tapes? Tune in as we’re joined by special guests Andres Restrepo and Ryan Little to find out.

And as always, please excuse the long tuning pauses.

A few years ago in the small town of Washington, DC, Maddy Wolpow-Gindi and Quinn Meyers (along with the steady hand of friend Jordan Grobe on sound) set out to host a few rock shows at their shared space above a Cajun restaurant known as The Bayou.

Over the course of two years that space which started out just hoping to turn out "a few rock shows" turned into one of the most vibrant and vital music venues the nation's capital has ever seen.

But all good (great) things come to an end, and so it was that the last bittersweet notes rang loud from Above the Bayou's withered bay windows out into the streets of DC in May of this year. 

Dead is dead, and the past is the past, but there are always stories to be received from those who were there.

This is theirs. 

Chance The Rapper, one of the most exciting hip-hop artists of the 21st century, recently dropped his long awaited third mixtape, Coloring Book.

For possibly unrelated reasons, we assembled a KILLER panel that included music journalists extraordinaire Briana Younger and Marcus J. Moore, PLUS DC music powerhouse Jamal Gray (Nag Champa).

With that much firepower in the room we should probably talk about something right?

OK. Let's talk about Chance.

Copyright law is a fickle beast. Will Toledo and Matador Records found out just how fickle when they found out despite their good faith efforts, a (killer) track off of Teens Of Denial that quoted a classic The Cars song wouldn't pass the copyright muster, resulting in the physical release of the album being pushed back to June and all copies being destroyed. 

This kinda thing could be catastrophic to an artist's career, but given the circumstances, who really gives a f$%$?*

That's our podcast. Plus a little Promised Land Sound for good measure. Dig it.

*Circumstances = Teens Of Denial is one of the best rock records of 2016, maybe of all time

Is Apple aiming to kill music downloads in the near future? Are we ready to go "full digital" or is this just an idea that's not ready for prime time?

You might have heard that Radiohead is back. Their new album is called A Moon Shaped Pool. We're talking about it. 

Go-go, the soul of Washington, DC, may be out of the spotlight in 2016, but it will never die thanks to Rare Essence keeping on keeping on and their new album Turn It Up.

Since 2001, Fruit Bats' Eric Johnson has proven time and time again why he has become one of the 21st Century's most revered songwriters. After a brief "retirement" where he released music under his own name - 2014's excellent EDJ - Johnson has revived the Fruit Bats name and delivered Absolute Loser, one of the strongest and most personal albums of his career.

Before his recent show here in Washington, DC, Johnson stopped by the basement to talk about his new record, the worth of a name, almost two decades in the constantly shifting music industry, and much, much more.

Dig it. Dig it the most.

Henryk Gorecki's 3rd Symphony, often referred to as the Symphony of Sorrow, is one of the most popular pieces of classical music ever composed and with good reason. Sonically dense, and often brutally minimalist in construction. 

In other words a perfect fit for saxophonist Colin Stetson's frequently off-kilter sensibilities.

WIth little help from friends like Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire) and Greg Fox (Liturgy), Stetson has crafted a work that is as reverent of the original as it is audacious. Colin Stetson's Sorrow is music for grown ups that challenges, moves, and satisfies in the way few pieces can

Join us along with our friends Chad Clark (Beauty Pill) and Louis Weeks as we dive deep into this stirring modern classic from one of the most versatile and innovative artists working today. 

Is the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame an institution that's past it's prime. At this year's ceremony Steve Miller certainly seemed to think so.

Legendary rock icon Bob Mould is back with his latest collection of rockers Patch The Sky. Need we say more?

Detroit based producer and MC Black Milk (Curtis Cross) and his band Nat Turner are back with The Rebellion Sessions. We've got a taste of these tasty jams to wet your appetite.

RIP Above The Bayou. Long live Above The Bayou!

With spaces for the arts becoming scarcer and scarcer in Washington, DC and other cities, should we turn to abandoned office parks in our suburbs for answers? 

California trio Bleached is back with Welcome The Worms, their strongest release yet. At least according to some of us.

Electronic musician Tim Hecker takes a trip into the inner-space on his new album Love Streams and we've got a taste for you. 

One day in early Spring budding hip hop superstar and creative powerhouse K.A.A.N. (Brandon Perry) dropped by the basement to hang out with Kevin, Random Nerds’ Bryce T. Rudow, and Marcus Dowling.

The following is a true account of what happened next. 

Saturday night, Beyoncé premiered the short film “Lemonade” on HBO. It was powerful, aggressive, political, and vital. Minds were blown.

Then she dropped the album.

Now we're here with special guests Briana Younger and Marcus Dowling to talk about it.

Oh yea...we’ve got a new track from J-Zone’s killer new album Fish-n-Grits too.

Pretty cool, eh?

So, uh, guys...Prince died.

That reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaly sucks.

Kevin, Marcus Dowling, and Future Of Music Coalition's Casey Rae needed to talk about it.

Here is that conversation.

Is the "white male voice" dead in indie rock? David Turner at MTV certainly thinks so. 

Parquet Courts are back with another durable set of slow-burn rockers. Is Human Performance the sound of a band hitting its stride, or are they just delivering more of the same?

DC's Brushes has emerged from the shadow of proto-rockers Baby Bry Bry. We've got a taste of the what's good off of their debut EP, whatever, again.

Way back in February, Richmond, VA's Lucy Dacus released her debut album, No Burden.

No Burden happens to be one of the best albums of 2016 to date.

This is what happened when we talked to Lucy and her band the day after her album came out.*

*we included a sweet track from one of Lucy's fellow Richmonders Clair Morgan too because AWESOME, that's why.

The historic Howard Theatre in Washington, DC is in trouble. Again. How did we get here and what the hell can anyone do about it?

Sturgill Simpson has followed up his breakout album Metamodern Sounds In Country Music, with the ambitious, genre hopping, expectation defying love letter to his son, A Sailor’s Guide To Earth. Is it another masterpiece or has the country “outlaw” bit off more than he can chew this time out? We aim to find out.

Merle Haggard is gone and that that f%&ing sucks. We listen to some country and shed a tear of the loss of this legendary songwriter.

Music has always been the lifeblood running through multi-instrumentalist Phil Cook's veins for as long as he can remember. In 2015 he fully dialed in to that guiding presence for the first time in his life, and the result was the magnificent Southland Mission. Mission mined a deep history of American gospel and blues to deliver songs of beauty, hope and rejuvenation, that didn't just honor what came before them, but weaved themselves into the very fabric of the rich tapestry of the culture that's at the root of our modern experience.

We (finally) caught up with Phil before his recent show here in Washington, DC to talk about his past, the music he loves, and how a goofy kid from Wisconsin found enlightenment at at an early age in the most unlikely of places.

This podcast can be the instrument to mend a broken heart or to straighten out your life through the sincere testimony of one righteous dude. A must!

Independently, Sam McCormally and William McKindley-Ward are longtime staples of the DC music scene. Together they are FELLOW CREATURES!

Following the demise of their previous band - the beloved Ugly Purple Sweater - both were looking for a different direction for their music. They found it in electronic experimentation coupled with masterful songwriting and the result is a mind-blowing, self-titled LP that defies categorization.

In advance of the release, Sam and Will stopped by the basement to chat with Kevin and special guest Paul Vodra (Hometown Sounds) about the making of Fellow Creatures, life in the DC music scene, and much, much more.

The roller coaster that is TIDAL keeps on keeping on as new reports claim that the troubled, Jay Z owned streaming service is making plans to sue original owners Aspiro for misreporting their subscriber numbers.

On his latest, self titled album, indie rock legend Eric Bachmann (Archers Of Loaf, Crooked Fingers) is shedding his past and delivering his most personal collection of songs to date.

Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil are lifelong friends and legends of Brazilian music. We’ve got a taste of their recently released live set, the joyous Dois Amigos, Um Século de Música.

For 30 years now, SXSW has brought the best and the brightest of the music industry to the music capital of the world for for a week of controlled chaos and musical overload. Music journalist Marcus J. Moore attended this summer camp for music nerds for the first time this year, and he’s hanging out with us to report back on what went down.

Laura Gibson has made a career of making sublimely beautiful folk music, but on Empire Builder she beat back adversity and ended up with her best album to date.

Oddisee is back with a free album Alwasta, and we’ve got a politically charged track off of it to rock your freaking dome.

Vinyl sales are UP over streaming revenue, but does it really matter?

Iggy Pop returns with the help of a few friends for one last hurrah. We dig into Post Pop Depression, his legacy and more.

You don't know country. Royal Forest know s country though so it's cool. they've got you covered with their totally free album Rural Forest.