Midnight Chats

Like it or not, Oasis are back together for the reunion tour that's surprised absolutely no one. As a former stan of the band, Stu really should be feeling better about this news than he is, while Greg is just happy that he finally gets to share the extremely important role he's played in Oasis mythology. 

On this week's episode we get into how the story broke, what we think will happen next, and dust off our tales of seeing the ba...

Charli XCX's career highlight was coming on our podcast back in 2018, for what turned out to be a rushed conversation about art school, living in LA, writing songs for Blondie and seeing songs as colours. With Charli's career still doing reasonably well due to the release of this year's album, Brat, on this week's podcast we revisit that conversation to see if it was as bad as Stu thought it was at the time, consider what it tells ...

Ahead of their new album Romance, people can't stop talking about Fontaines D.C.'s new look. One week after Glastonbury, the Dublin band's singer, Grian Chatten, had Stu round to his flat to discuss the reason behind the band's new aesthetic, his prolific writing process, a strange 9 days spend working in a bar in L.A., and a record that draws influence from Korn, Lana Del Rey and Shygirl. 

You can watch clips of the podcast online...

New York musician Cassandra Jenkins really shouldn't be on Midnight Chats, or any podcast talking about her new album, My Light, My Destroyer, because that record, near-perfect though it is, was never going to be made. 

On this week's episode she tells Stu about how she had decided to quite music after releasing her last album, but things went unexpectedly well, so here we are, discussing one of the best albums that will be release...

Following on from last week's Mercury Prize predictions episode, Greg and Stu dive into this year's shortlist to see how wrong they were as they cast judgement on which of the nominated records they think might actually have a chance of winning this year's award.

Stu picks out a clip from our 2018 Charli XCX episode, and you'll all invited to play our Mercury Prize audio quiz, safe in the knowledge that you'll more probably be bett...

In two days time (25 July), the short list for the 2024 Mercury Prize will be announced. On this week's show, Stu and Greg discuss who they think will DEFINITELY be on the list, and who they hope will be. 

Greg also spills the beans on what it's like to be on the Mercury Prize judging panel (something he's done 3 times), we ask how relevant the award is in the instant age of TikTok, and throw in some of all-time our favourite past ...

As Nottingham duo Sleaford Mods release a 10-year anniversary edition of their breakthrough album Divide & Exit, frontman and lyricist Jason Williamson revisits the album that changed his life, the time he threw the bleakest album release party of all time, and how he finally found success in his 40s on his 7th album.   

You can watch clips of the podcast online now, just give us a follow on Instagram @midnightchatspod.

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Look around and you’d be forgiven for feeling the world is completely broken in 2024. War. Division. Crises. How did we get here? That’s the fundamental question Norwegian songwriter AURORA explores on her latest album What Happened To The Heart?. It’s a project that is technicolor in feeling, and in sound.

Host Greg Cochrane went to meet her to talk about activism, conflict and why she and the iconic Brian Eno are like “an old mar...

Stuart got the hot ticket. Greg did not. In the field, and from the sofa at home, Midnight Chats does Glastonbury 2024. 

Your hosts tackle the biggest talking points from the most famous music festival in the world. Did Dua Lipa fulfill her promise to turn Worthy Farm into a club on her headliner debut? Was SZA's microphone fresh out of batteries? Did Coldplay bring the world together in a moment of communal feeling, or was it a ba...

James Smith from Leeds band Yard Act met New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo at Glastonbury festival a couple of years ago when the pair were watching little Simz. Since then, Smith's group has invited Matafeo to sing on their second album, Where's My Utopia?, star in one of their music videos and open for them in their hometown.

What better excuse did we need to get them both in a room to discuss the time Rose accidentally put her h...

Frontman with one of Britain’s biggest modern rock bands, Yannis Philippakis recently launched Yannis & The Yaw – not so much a solo project, more of an experiment in collaboration. Dial back seven years and Yannis spent time writing songs with one of his heroes, the icon drummer Tony Allen – godfather of Afrobeat and distinguished collaborator with everyone from Damon Albarn to Air. The result is a posthumous project – Allen d...

Annie Clark has been recording as St. Vincent since 2007, collaborating with David Byrne and Paul McCartney along the way, and proving herself as one of the best guitarists (and songwriters) in the world. 

In more recent years she's written a number one hit single (aren't they all) for Taylor Swift, co-written and starred in her debut feature film, The Nowhere Inn, with her close friend Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, and rele...

South Londoner Lynks used to make the type of straight-faced, emotional music that all of his friends were making, until one day, for a bit of fun, he decided to adopt a masked drag persona and lean into being an entertainer. His thumping alt. pop songs since have centred around his experiences as a young queer person, with songs about sex with strangers delivered with a bluntness that is matched by Lynks' wicked sense of humour. T...

Sam T. Herring’s distinctive growl and spectacular dance moves may still be one of the best known things about Future Islands, but away from the chest-thumping on stage he's a charismatic, thoughtful and humble guy. 

Greg Cochrane caught up with him to talk about his recent move into acting (he starred in TV series The Changling last year), the heartbreak channeled in Future Islands’ most recent album ‘People Who Aren't There Anymo...

Katie Crutchfield aka American artist Waxahatchee joins Stu on the podcast to look back on how she arrived at her sixth album, Tigers Blood, following on from her 2021 breakthrough record Saint Cloud. 

Just what does having a breakthrough record do to an artist? How will Katie navigate 2024? Is MJ Lenderman the most talented young dude in US indie rock right now? And what was Charlie Sheen talking about when he said he was drinking...

The Blessed Madonna – truly one of the most engaging, fun and opinionated guests we’ve welcomed onto Midnight Chats. 

One of the world’s foremost DJs, producers and curators, Marea Stamper invited Greg Cochrane to her intimate London studio Godspeed to record this colourful conversation. 

Topics covered: 2024 and this turbulent time in politics and journalism; her unique relationship with the iconic track ‘Marea (We Lost Dancing)’ ...

A. G. Cook joins Stu on this week's show to talk about the visionary hyperpop label he founded in 2013 and closed in 2023 (PC Music), his work with Charli XCX as her creative director, co-writing a song for Beyonce, growing up an only child as the son of radical architects, and his new 3-disc, 24-track, 100 minutes long album, Britpop.

A completely singular creative mind, this episode was recorded face to face in April 2024. It cou...

It’s surprising to find 23-year-old British songwriter GRIFF’s feet firmly on the ground, given her extraordinary experiences the past three years. 

It’s been a steep rocket ride: from bedroom songwriter to a powerful breakthrough performance at the BRITs, and onto the stages of stadiums with Dua Lipa and Ed Sheeran. Coldplay’s Chris Martin is such a fan the duo collaborated on the song ‘Astronaut’. 

And so here we are in 2024, and...

London-born musician Anna B Savage talks to Stu in this particularly freewheeling episode of Midnight Chats that covers topics including meeting Cillian Murphy, present-opening etiquette, music industry anxiety, and what the hell is success anyway?! 

Stu also reveals to Anna where she is/was on the Loud And Quiet 2023 Albums of the Year list. And then there's a song to end.

Give the show a follow on Instagram at @midnightchatspod f...