The Tonearm
The people and ideas moving culture forward. With host Lawrence Peryer.
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Latest Episode
Martin Bisi: Forty-Five Years of Sonic Murder
The acclaimed music producer joins Lawrence Peryer to explain why he has worked out of one Gowanus building since 1979, what the rezoning is displacing, and why he thinks genres behave like social movements, with their own looks, uniforms, and language.
Play Latest EpisodeGreatest Hits
Wondering where to start or where to go next? Check out some of our most popular episodes.
295
March 7, 2026
Michael Graves: The Patient Philosophy of Audio Restoration
Five Grammys and a working museum of tape machines later, Osiris Studio's Michael Graves reflects on the ethics of restoration, the problem of artist intent, and why the work never stops surprising him.
291
Feb. 8, 2026
Lawrence English: Capturing the Impossible Trio
The Australian composer and Room40 founder discusses his new collaborative album 'Trinity' with Stephen Vitiello, his theory of relational listening, and why he spent eight years interrogating the meaning of live performance before returning to the stage.
301
April 19, 2026
Tomeka Reid: The Low Seat, the Long Haul, and 'dance! skip! hop!'
Cellist and composer Tomeka Reid joins the podcast to discuss dance! skip! hop!, the fourth Tomeka Reid Quartet album, and why photographs of her grandmother's Wyoming life keep finding their way onto her record covers.
310
June 21, 2026
Ora Cogan: Hard Hearted Is How You Survive
Ora Cogan on the politics of 'Hard Hearted Woman,' the hollowing-out of folk tradition, and why her forties have been the best time of her life to be playing music.
314
July 19, 2026
Suzanne Ciani: The Buchla's Orchestral Homecoming
The electronic music pioneer joins the podcast to discuss 'CIANI/ORKEST,' her live album pairing the Buchla synthesizer with the 50-piece Metropole Orkest, and why she has always heard the instrument as orchestral.
309
June 14, 2026
Billy Polo: Audio Engineer as Archaeologist
From the Black Ark tapes buried in Lee Perry's yard to unreleased Dennis Brown sessions, Billy Polo on the forensic pleasures and urgent stakes of reggae's analog archive.
Recent Episodes
320
Aug. 30, 2026
Martin Bisi: Forty-Five Years of Sonic Murder
The acclaimed music producer joins Lawrence Peryer to explain why he has worked out of one Gowanus building since 1979, what the rezoning is displacing, and why he thinks genres behave like social movements, with their own looks, uniforms, and language.
319
Aug. 23, 2026
Azar Lawrence: Spiritual Jazz With the Funk Left In
The saxophonist joins us to discuss 'Turn the Music Up,' the friendship with Pharoah Sanders behind its central tribute, and why he refuses to think of the jazz lineage as something outside himself.
318
Aug. 16, 2026
Josh Mason: Punk and Circuitry, Zippered Together
The Florida sound artist joins us to discuss 'Kicking A Dark Horse,' a modular album bound into a hardcover book, with each half composed to fill the silences left by the other.
317
Aug. 9, 2026
Terri Lyne Carrington: A Dance Record for Dark Times
The NEA Jazz Master and four-time Grammy winner joins us to discuss 'Trip the Night Fantastic,' the second album from Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, which sets deportation, prison abolition, and climate collapse to music for the dance floor.
316
Aug. 2, 2026
Chris Molanphy: One Chart to Rule Them All
The pop-chart analyst and 'Hit Parade' host joins us to discuss what better data revealed about hit songs, the slow end of the monoculture, and the cultural rules that keep outsiders off country radio.
315
July 26, 2026
Danalogue: Telling the Future Through Old Machines
On his debut solo album, 'Teleportations,' the synthesist, producer, and founding member of The Comet Is Coming turns grief and upheaval into a science-fictional voyage built entirely from analog machines.
About the Host
Lawrence Peryer
Executive Producer & Host
LP is a lifelong music fan turned industry innovator who has spent his career helping artists forge meaningful connections with their audiences. From pioneering early digital communities to producing Grammy-nominated box sets and award-winning retail experiences, his work lives at the intersection of creativity, technology and fandom. He's hosted The Tonearm since it initially launched as Spotlight On in February 2020.