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Sound Science · Music History · Music Theory · Origins & Oddities · Genre Tombola · Entertaining Noises
Follow a musical thread: Five notes, many musical worlds.
Episode 42 – Never the Same Melody Twice with Akram Abdulfattah
What happens when a melody can never be played quite the same way twice? Akram Abdulfattah brings his six-string violin to explore maqam, microtones and improvisation, with stories of musical tradition, family and his Palestinian-American identity.
Episode 41 – The Whole History of Music (More or Less): For the Record with Trent Burton
Director and Cosmic Shambles co-founder Trent Burton joins Steve to explore For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music, and what notation, recording, live performance and AI reveal about what music is for.
Episode 40 - Voice, Power and the Big Machine: Opera Special
Bass Barnaby Rea joins Steve backstage at the Royal Opera House to explore the unamplified operatic voice, La Scala, class, access and the enormous machinery behind opera.
Episode 39 - A Cave, A Conch, An Algorithm
A collaboration with What We Did Before on the deep history of music, from prehistoric instruments and ritual to place, technology and AI.
Episode 38 - Nathaniel Dye: Public Service Announcement
A tribute to Nathaniel Dye (Nat) — musician, music teacher, brass band obsessive, and the creator of the brilliantly blunt song “Public Service Announcement”, performed live at Wilton’s Music Hall. We replay our earlier conversation about what music became for him after diagnosis: not escape, but purpose — teaching, making, playing, and using the time properly.
Episode 37 - A Clap, a Slap and a Stomp
What actually is musical time?
This episode kicks off 2026 with the first four days of my “12 Days of Listenmas” mini-series — pulse vs rhythm, groove, micro-timing, and why our brains can’t resist locking onto a beat.
Then we jump back to Wilton’s Music Hall (January 2025) for a live guest spot from Brazilian percussionist and former STOMP cast member Aluá Nascimento — trumpet + pandeiro on “Brazil”, body percussion (clap / slap / stomp), and a quick tour through the sounds (and stories) of berimbau and caxixi.
A practical listen, a bit of audience participation, and a reminder that rhythm is basically everywhere.
Episode 36 - Five Notes, Maisy Mouse and a Sacred Flute
Steve Pretty takes a deep dive into the pentatonic scale — the five-note sound behind playground chimes, folk traditions around the world, and the theme tune for My Friend Maisy. Featuring an Entertaining Noises detour into the Colombian gaita with Mestizo Collective, plus a playful experiment repitching a kids’ TV theme into an Ethiopian-flavoured pentatonic.
Episode 35 — Mulatu Astatke, Pentatonic Worlds and Ethio Jazz
Mulatu Astatke — the father of Ethio jazz — joins me in a long-lost interview recorded during Hackney Colliery Band’s Collaborations Vol. 1 sessions. We dig into pentatonic worlds, the Derashe tribe, unusual scales, and how Ethiopian traditions shaped global music.
There’s also a trip through the physics of sound, a live Barbican recording of “Derashe”, and reflections on Mulatu’s incredible collaborations from Duke Ellington to Talib Kweli. A deep, warm, gently mind-bending episode.
Episode 34 — Ciphers, Picks and the Art of the Jam
From WOMEX in Finland, cyphers meet bluegrass picks with Gangstagrass — a live acoustic “Do Better,” an in-studio freestyle, and why the banjo’s a “pitched rhythm” engine. Improvisation as a shared language across genres.
Episode 33 - Malawian Madalitso, Vampire Vamps & Sofa Songs
From sofa farts to Malawian folk, Steve Pretty explores how play, curiosity and imperfection keep music alive.
Episode 32 – Sampling Firepits, Feeling Flamenco, Finding Tonás
From a Dorset firepit to Manchester flamenco, Steve Pretty explores how rhythm and emotion evolve through sound.
Episode 31 - Earwax, Echoes and Entropy
From whale earwax to cosmic echoes, Steve explores how sound shapes life—from the sea bed to the stars.
Episode 30 - Music therapy, Swedish Standards and Clinical Improvisation
Edinburgh conversations on music therapy, Swedish standards and what clinical improvisation really sounds like in the room.
Episode 29 — Access, Ancestry and a Flute Made From A Leg
Bodies, buildings and bone flutes: Steve and artist Jonathan Enser on access, ethics and musical ancestry — from venues to Neanderthal echoes.
Episode 28 - Jeremy Deller, 303s and Knitting
Artist Jeremy Deller joins Steve to talk Acid Brass, TB-303s, knitting, and how art, brass bands and dance music collide — with Manchester threads throughout.
Episode 27 - Eurovision Special with Frances Ruffelle
Frances Ruffelle joins Steve live at Wilton’s Music Hall for a Eurovision special — half interview, half cabaret, and a candid chat about confidence, craft and being a ‘proper musician.’
Episode 26 — World Poetry Day Special! Robin Ince, conch baths and BRIAN BLESSED (kind of)
Robin Ince drops in at a live show from Wilton’s Music Hall for a World Poetry Day special: poems that breathe on stage, conch‑bath sonics, and a playful wander past BRIAN BLESSED (kind of) and Brian Cox.
Episode 25 — Reawake: a Wake, a Sample, a Rebirth
A daughter’s heartbeat becomes music. After the Daily Mail reports him dead, Steve throws his own wake and launches Clip ’n Mix — transforming sound, story and second chances.
Episode 24 — Vocal Coaching, Twanging and Matters of Life and Death
Live with vocal coach Juliet Russell at ALSO Festival: twang, resonance, breath and the warm-ups that actually help. Plus a closing tribute to Nathaniel Dye and the making of his album, Matters of Life and Death.
Episode 23 — Ass-haling, Skateboard Zithers and Golden Audio
Breath jokes, throat sounds, skateboard zithers and a trip to Audio Gold in Crouch End — an episode about how we hear, not just what we play.