December 25 - 31, 2016

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1. The Room Where It's Happening - "Alex Lacamoire: Musical Mastermind (#14)"
This may be where The Room Where It's Happening peaks.  I will listen to the rest of the episodes as they march on in their quest to get Obama on the show, but I doubt any will surpass this ebullient vessel of insidery musical joy.  Lacamoire expounds on the music he helped orchestrate and guide from mixtape concept to off-Broadway to game-changing Broadway smash, in a way that can be as pleasing to people who are singularly obsessed with Hamilton as it is to straight-up music nerds with no knowledge of the musical.

2. All Songs Considered - "The Year In Music 2016"
NPR puts out one of the perennially must-read year-end music lists, and 2016 is no exception.  After carefully and crafting my own list, I am always eager to check out the things I inevitably missed.  Reading is definitely effective, though I always enjoy hearing the All Songs crew hold court over their domain.  Particularly of interest in this episode is the discussion on how the art of listening to music is changing in our time of nearly unbridled access to on-demand music, and I think I may be approaching my listening in 2017 a bit differently in light of it.

3. Song Exploder - "Justin Hurwitz - La La Land"
I was already excited to see the movie La La Land before hearing this episode of Song Exploder, but Hrishikesh got me even more pumped after this enjoyable romp through a track from the show.  This follows as a part of a series where Song Exploder is partnering with Vulture to dive into music that is worthy of being nominated for an Oscar, a brilliant introduction to a genre of music that, in general, I'm not pre-disposed to understand.

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