Jean-Michel Jarre – effectively Daft Punk’s dad – has returned with a new compilation covering his 50-year career in electronic music. Planet Jarre was released on 14th September and to push it, Sony has helped put together a five part podcast – the self explanatory Planet Jarre: The Podcast.

The first part was released on 26th September and a new edition will be released over the following four Wednesdays. The first episode – The Early Years – sees him delve right back to the start of his career where he talks about his love of technology and electronic music and how he became a pioneer in the field.

In the series, he talks to actor and musician Matt Berry about his work, what influenced him, how he sold his guitar and amp to pay for a trip to London to buy his first synthesizer and how music and technology have evolved since his early experimentations. It is described as a “series of conversations for people interested in art, music, the creative process surrounding it and maintaining self-belief” and is not afraid to wear its intelligence on its sleeve.

Recorded in Jarre’s studio in Paris, each episode runs for just over half an hour and they are available on every major podcast platform, including Apple Music, Deezer and Spotify.

Jarre is perhaps better known today for his lobbying work around copyright protection on behalf of IFPI, CISSAC and others, but he has had a huge influence on music and should be more recognised – sitting alongside names like Kraftwerk and Giorgio Moroder – as a key figure in European electronic music. His is a fascinating story, especially how he turned live electronic shows into unique events with incredible one-off performances, and hopefully this podcast will help place him more centrally in the narrative around the history of electronic music.