Episodes

Listening back to it now, it's hard to believe that Bad Religion's seventh studio album - 1993s 'Recipe For Hate' - was at the time considered a polarizing record that many hardcore fans felt was a sell-out. 30 years later, it's clear this was a band at the top of their game - maturing and expanding musically while still delivering ferociously intelligent songs about class, religion and navigating a treacherous path towards the 21st century. Our guest, personal trainer and Taekwon-Do Studio owne...

Buckle-up listeners! This week's guest, Jeff Kaiser (), brings us a record - and genre - that got his teenage self extremely high: It's the 1995 debut album by Tampa Death Metal supergroup Six Feet Under (featuring members of Cannibal Corpse and...

Record store owner and self-professed 'music geek' David Lewis (Elizabeth's Records - Columbus, OH) thinks we should never stop discovering new (to us) music. He's right. Around 10 years ago he came upon the 1972 debut album by German experimental rock group Agitation Free, 'Malesch'. A mysterious fusion of psychedelia, experimental krautrock and world music, it's a fascinating snapshot of a band working together to create a trippy, ethereal and unique wall of sound. Songs featured in this epis...

Buckle-up haters, because returning guest Bobbie Jo brings us mega-selling pop star Harry Styles' third release, 2022's 'Harry's House'. It's a record engineered to make you feel good. Styles - along with producer/collaborators Kid Harpoon and Tyler Johnson - pays homage to his R&B, Funk and Indie-Rock heroes with meticulously crafted pop songs delivered with an appealing nice guy earnestness that's hard to resist. I mean, you COULD resist it, but maybe better to slip on a comfy candy-striped on...

For Halloween 2022 we asked our Patrons to send in a song or music that was used in a movie scene that made it MUCH more tense, terrifying...etc. They didn't just stick to horror films - any movie where a song/music was used in a scene to ratchet-up the suspense/anxiety level was fair game - and as usual they did NOT disappoint! Happy Halloween!! Songs featured in this episode: 'Goodbye Horses' - Q Lazzarus; 'Tubular Bells' - Mike Oldfield; 'Needle In The Hay' - Elliott Smith; 'Didn't I (Blow Y...

If you are unfamiliar with British rock band The Bevis Frond and its founder, singer/multi-instrumentalist Nick Saloman, you have some serious catching up to do. Releasing glorious pop/punk/psyche records at a feverish pace since the late 80s, they could quite possibly be England's best kept indie-rock secret. OG fan and Chicago resident Mick Hans brings us their latest release, 2021's 'Little Eden', a psychedelically-hewn panoramic take on brutalism Britain punctuated with pure pop melodies and...

While many fans of British band The The (aka Matt Johnson) might immediately point to earlier albums Soul Mining or Mind Bomb as proof-of-concept, this week's guest Marcia Potts brings us 1993's 'Dusk' to consider. With a crack band - including guitarist/harmonicist Johnny Marr - in tow, Johnson's songs of lust, love and a blacker-than-black worldview hit all the right notes, and it's a lush, provocative ride from start to finish. Songs featured in this episode: True Happiness (this way lies) -...

Our old pal Todd Nolan from Nashville Tennessee brings us a barn-burner of an album this week. The Geraldine Fibbers' sophomore - and final - record, 'Butch', is a weird, wild amalgamation of alt-country, punk, Appalachian fiddle music, speed metal and anything/everything in between. Anchored by the raw, poetic story-songs of Carla Bozulich and stellar musicianship of the band - including guitar-God Nels Cline - it's ultimately Carla's gravely, angelic voice that seals the deal. Songs featured ...

For the official start of our SIXTH season, musician/composer/producer/instrument designer Markus Reuter brings us an album that grabbed onto his psyche as a teenager in Germany and STILL captivates him over 30 years later: 'Thunder and Consolation' by Bradford, Yorkshire band New Model Army. Led by singer/songwriter Justin Sullivan, the band creates hard-to-classify musical soundscapes that perfectly compliment Sullivan's biting lyrics about navigating one's family, finding your tribe and comin...

This week's guest Joe Tunis (Carbon Records, Pengo) once again guides us into the world of post-rock, with Chicago-by-way-of-Kentucky band Gastr del Sol and their 1994 Drag City release 'Crookt, Crackt, or Fly'. Like many of their adjacent bands - Slint, Tortoise, Bastro...etc - the music on this mysterious record is often hard to define. It's a strange, evocative amalgamation of unconventional guitar virtuosity, subtle tape-work and occasional forays into full-on math rock that's definitely not...

For this BONUS 'Mixtape Episode', we invited guitarist Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys, Rocket From the Tombs) to curate a mixtape and dug into his selections. From growing up in Cleveland listening to rock-and-roll radio like CKLW out of Detroit to his mom unwittingly turning him on to The Stooges, it was a super-fun conversation with a true punk rock legend! Cheetah's mixtape: 1. Jumpin Jack Flash - The Rolling Stones 2. I Saw Her Standing There - The Beatles 3. 96 Tears - ? & The Mysterians 4. Born...

For Liverpool UK band Echo & The Bunnymen's fourth release, 1984's 'Ocean Rain', they went all-in. Recorded primarily in Paris with a 35-piece orchestra, Ocean Rain is a dazzling collection of songs writ large with sweeping string arrangements and inspired - at times restrained and at times ferocious - playing /singing by band members Ian McCulloch, Will Sergeant, Les Pattinson and Pete de Freitas. This week's guest Corey duBrowa went all-in as well, as he joined Rob to unpack this splendidly de...

This week's guest, Tim Hinely (founder of Dagger Zine and editor of 'Where The Wild Gigs Were: A Trip Thru America’s Legendary Underground Music Venues') brings us the debut album by legendary Washington D.C. band Dag Nasty. Originally released in 1986 on Dischord Records, 'Can I Say' is a blistering collection of masterfully-played, intelligent punk tunes about looking inward and moving forward. Turn. It. Up! Songs featured in this episode: Under Your Influence - Dag Nasty; In My Role As A Pro...

For Labor Day 2022 we asked our Patrons to send in their favorite work-related songs. It's an impressively eclectic list, with surprisingly NO Bruce Springsteen songs! (although he IS referenced several times throughout the episode) "There is power in a factory, power in the land Power in the hand of the worker But it all amounts to nothing If together we don't stand There is power in a Union" - Billy Bragg Songs featured in this episode: Career Opportunities - The Clash with Luke and Ben Galla...

Formed in London in 1980, The Legendary Pink Dots - led by core members Edward Ka-Spel and Phil Knight - are an uncategorizable experimental avant-rock band with over 40 albums to their credit. This week's guests, Oklahoma City husband-and-wife duo Allan and Barb Vest (doubleVee), join us to discuss their 1991 album 'The Maria Dimension', a uniquely compelling collection of neo-psychedelic tunes that sound like they were intercepted from an interplanetary radio broadcast hosted by Syd Barrett an...

Coming up as a teenager playing piano in Washington, D.C. gay bars, Tori Amos has always had a special connection to the LGBTQ community - particularly gay men. For this week's guests, 'Drive All Night - The Songs Of Tori Amos Podcast' co-host Efrain Schunior and Tori super-fan Kenny Franklin, that connection was only deepened with the release of her 1996 tour de force 'Boys For Pele'. Recorded primarily in a church in rural Ireland, the album combines her typically virtuoso piano playing with m...

We discuss 'The Hoople' by Mott the Hoople with Brad Elvis and Chloe Orwell of The Handcuffs

This week we ventured outside the box a bit, as we explored 1994's confounding 'Pomme Fritz' (The Orb's Little Album) by English electronic music group The Orb. When our guest, UK musician Nick Morfitt, first discovered this record he was ALREADY a fan of The Orb's brand of ambient techno, but this release - incorporating more abstract, experimental musique concrète elements - took him years to fully comprehend. Rob might still need a little more time. Music featured in this episode: Two Highla...

"The Man In The Van" himself, Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, The Stooges) joins us for another BONUS "Mixtape Episode", where we invite a special guest to curate a mixtape for our listeners and dig into their musical selections. He did NOT disappoint! Mike's mixtape: 1. Blank Generation - Richard Hell & The Voidoids 2. She's As Beautiful As A Foot - Blue Oyster Cult 3. Another Coke - Alternative Television 4. Dice Man - The Fall 5. Mine Mine Mind - Roky Erickson 6. Up Around The Bend - Creedenc...

This week's guest, writer/drummer S.W. Lauden, first wrote about NY band Fountains Of Wayne in the book 'Go All The Way: A Literary Appreciation of Power Pop'. During that time, he listened to their third - and breakout - album 'Welcome Interstate Managers' for months on repeat, and eventually formulated a theory that it's actually a sly, sophisticated Gen-X concept album. To be clear, this is solely HIS theory. Nonetheless, it lent itself to a really fun conversation, and the pure-pop mastery o...

For this BONUS Patron-curated episode, we asked our Patrons to send in a Duet/Collaboration that got them - metaphorically - high. They did good. Real good. Songs featured in this episode: I Got You, Babe - Sonny and Cher, Marianne Faithful and David Bowie, UB40 with Chrissie Hynde, Joey Ramone and Holly Beth Vincent; Let It Be Me - The Everly Brothers; Whenever I Call You Friend - Stevie Nicks and Kenny Loggins; Angel from Montgomery - Bonnie Raitt and John Prine; Piss Bottle Man - Mike Watt w...

Founded in Wakefield, West Yorkshire UK in 1972 by singer/guitarist Bill Nelson, Be-Bop Deluxe were a band that combined art-rock, glam and prog with a healthy dose of heavy metal guitar heroics. OG BBD fan Bill Burns joins us as we unpack their sonically stunning 1976 album, 'Sunburst Finish'. Songs featured in this episode: Anemone - The Brian Jonestown Massacre; Stay Young - Bill Nelson's Red Noise; Sickle Clowns - The Pretty Things; Axe Victim - Be-Bop Deluxe; Matte Kudasai - King Crimson; ...

Husband-and-wife bandmates Tony Kapel & Maitejosune Urrechaga (Pocket of Lollipops) bring us Harry Nilsson's wonderfully weird 1970 concept album 'The Point!' This strange and endearing collection of songs - which was accompanied by an animated film adaptation that aired a few weeks after the album's release on the ABC-TV network - is an often-overlooked gem that still resonates today. Songs featured in this episode: The Town - Harry Nilsson; Rainbow Swords, Skulls & Muscle Tones - Pocket Of Lo...

When this week's guest, producer/audio engineer Paul Mahern, discovered 'Easter Everywhere' by Texas psychedelic rock band 13th Floor Elevators in the early 80s, he was a punk rock loving musician (Indianapolis Indiana's Zero Boys) looking to expand his musical horizons. He got all that he bargained for and more with this wonderfully dense, expansive and mind-blowing record by a band - led by Tommy Hall and Roky Erickson - that went all-in on their spirituality-through-psychedelics ideals. "You'...