Hrishikesh Hirway
Hrishikesh Hirway is an American musician, producer, and podcast and television host. He has made four albums under the name The One AM Radio, and has a side project with Lakeith Stanfield called Moors. He is the creator and host of the podcasts Song Exploder, The West Wing Weekly, Home Cooking, and Partners. He is the executive producer and host of the Netflix television adaptation of Song Exploder. As a composer, Hirway scored the Netflix television show Everything Sucks! and the films Our Nixon, Save the Date, and Companion.
Early life
Hirway was born in Peabody, Massachusetts. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy for high school and then Yale University, where he majored in art.Career
Music
Hirway began making music under the name The One AM Radio in 1999. His first release was a split 7” with Ted Leo, recorded by Ted Leo after the two met at a show. There are four One AM Radio albums, released between 2002 and 2011.Moors is a project with rapper and actor Lakeith Stanfield that began in 2013. Hirway writes and produces the music, and Stanfield writes the lyrics. The duo released an EP in 2014 on Haven Records.
Hirway has made remixes as The One AM Radio, as Moors and as Hrishikesh Hirway.
He co-produced two albums for the band Eulogies.
In August 2021, Hirway played a new song, "Between There and Here " during his TED talk titled What you discover when you really listen.
Podcasts
In 2014, Hirway launched the Song Exploder podcast, where musicians break down one of their songs and the creative process that went into it. Hirway is the host, producer, and editor. The show was named Podcast of the Year by Quartz in 2015, Best of iTunes in 2015, and Best Music Podcast in 2017 and 2018 by the Academy of Podcasters.In 2016, along with actor Joshua Malina, Hirway created The West Wing Weekly podcast. The show is an episode-by-episode discussion of The West Wing, featuring guests from the cast and crew, as well as real-life political figures like Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, then-mayor Pete Buttigieg and White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain.
Hirway is the host, producer, and editor of the Partners podcast, which features two people in noteworthy partnerships telling the story of how they met and how their dynamics work. In the show's trailer, he says, “Every successful partnership, no matter what kind, is sort of a love story.” Vanity Fair called Partners one of the podcasts that defined 2020.
Along with chef and author Samin Nosrat, Hirway co-hosts the Home Cooking podcast, which they launched at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It won the 2021 iHeartRadio award for Best Food Show, and was named one of the best podcasts of 2020 by Time, Rolling Stone, Vulture, The Economist, and The Atlantic.
Television
In 2020, Hirway adapted Song Exploder into a series for Netflix with Oscar-winning director and producer Morgan Neville. Hirway served as host and executive producer. The series features the artists Alicia Keys, Lin-Manuel Miranda, R.E.M., Ty Dolla Sign, Dua Lipa, Nine Inch Nails, Natalia Lafourcade, and The Killers. In each episode, the artists break down one of their songs and tell the story of how it was made. In The New York Times review, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic Wesley Morris called it "exhilarating TV".Discography
Albums
Rooms I Used To Call My Own The Red Lantern, TranslucenceHeaven Is Attached By A Slender Thread, Dangerbird RecordsThis Too Will Pass, Dangerbird RecordsA Name Writ In Water, Level Plane RecordsThe Hum of the Electric Air!, TranslucenceEPs
MOORS Accidents and Good Intentions On the Shore of the Wide World, Level PlaneAn Assembly, TranslucenceA Cloud's Fear of Kites : A Kite's Fear of Heights, Garbage CzarSingles
- “What's Next?”
- “Between There and Here”
- "Home"
Guest appearances
- alias - "The Weathering", on Resurgam
- Caural - "Cold Hands", on Mirrors For Eyes
- Daedelus - "Thanatopsis", on Exquisite Corpse
- Diplo - ''Under Ancient Skies''
Remixes
- Jenny Owen Youngs - Vampire Weeknight
- ALA.NI - "Cherry Blossom "
- Girls - "Slow Magic "
- James Vincent McMorrow - "Cavalier "
- Lusine - "Arterial "
- Baths - "Miasma Sky "
- Now, Now - Thread
- Sea Wolf - "Old Friend
- Poliça - "Wandering Star"
- Giraffage feat. XXYYXX - "Even Though "
- Dntel - "Rock My Boat "
- Baths - "Hall "
- James Figurine - "Apologies "
- Lymbyc Systym - "Astrology Days "
- Silversun Pickups - "Little Lover's So Polite "
Production
Eulogies by Eulogies, co-producer Here Anonymous by Eulogies, co-producerScoring
Companion The Red Lantern Everything Sucks! Our Nixon- ''Save the Date''
Themes
Hirway has written the theme songs for several podcasts:Song Exploder What’s the Point? It’s a Long Story The West Wing Weekly- 30 for 30 Podcasts The Jump Home Cooking
- ''Partners''
Podcasts
Song Exploder Home Cooking The West Wing Weekly Partners The Jump- ''City Soundtracks''