Episodes

We discuss 'Scaled and Icy' by Twenty One Pilots with special guest - and 12 year old - Jonas

We discuss Paul Kantner's 1970 concept album 'Blows Against The Empire' with guest Michael Lebron

Returning guest Joe Tunis brings us New Zealand's The Dead C and their blistering 1990 release: Trapdoor Fucking Exit

Poet/essayist Sarah Nichols brings us New Order's 1989 release, 'Technique'.

For this bonus Halloween episode our Patrons sent in their favorite scary songs

Chicago Blues historian Marty Weil discusses Howlin' Wolf

Dagger zine's Tim Hinely brings us Adolescents' self-titled debut record.

We discuss Syd Barrett's "The Madcap Laughs", a wonderfully inventive - though at times hard to listen to - document of a gentle artist whose recent ouster from soon-to-be-huge Pink Floyd loomed large.

Chicago's Mick Hans brings us the debut record by Derry lads The Undertones. Often referred to as the "Irish Ramones", their hyper charged tales of teenage angst and adolescent heartbreak caught the ear of legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who was an early champion of the band and famously dubbed "Teenage Kicks" his all-time favorite song! "A teenage dream's so hard to beat"

Returning guest Woody Compton takes on what some feel is the Holy Grail of punk rock excess/hubris, The Clash's sprawling, three-record-36-track opus "Sandinista!" Woody contends it would have been far more effective - and palatable - as a single record, and brought us his 12 song track list as evidence. Rob is in love with the whole overindulgent assemblage, proving one man's mess can be another man's masterpiece.

We go full-on metal this week, as Seattle Washington's Eric Loehrmann brings in a record that got his thirteen-year-old self hopelessly high: 'Diary Of A Madman' by the one and only Ozzy Osbourne. This full-throttle follow-up to 'Blizzard of Oz' was also, sadly, the final studio recording of guitar virtuoso Randy Rhoads. His fiercely inventive neo-classical playing is all over this album, making it a true heavy metal classic!

'What movie is that song from?' For this special bonus episode some of our patrons introduce their favorite movie soundtracks. Pass the popcorn and turn it up!!

Self-proclaimed 'God of Partying' Andrew W.K. is an enigma: a classically trained musical prodigy who's over-the-top songs about parties and positivity make Jim Steinman seem restrained. This week's guest - the mysteriously named Mark Guerita - does his best to explain why this amped-up-motivational-speaker of a record is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. Our advice: check your cynicism at the door and TURN IT UP!

Recorded right after 9/11 2001, Interpol's debut record "Turn On The Bright Lights" struck a darkly satisfying chord for many, including this week's guest Scottish singer/songwriter Josh Mackenzie (Lional, The Joshua Hotel) Their sleek, melancholy sound and enigmatic lyrics were just what he needed to hear at the time, and greatly influenced his own songwriting. New York cares!

Never flashy, always classy...there was just SOMETHING about the late Charlie Watts' drumming with the Rolling Stones that was pure rock-n-roll magic! We asked drummer/producer Bobby MacIntyre to join us and shine a little light on what it was that made his playing so special. R.I.P. Charlie.

In 1995, having changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, the artist formerly known as Prince released an album combining pop, funk, rock, soul, and jazz that grinds, pulsates and ROCKS like only he can. Returning guest Garry Messick makes the case for it's eclectic brilliance, and we turned it up and went along for the ride. "Only my enemies call me 'Prince.' Only those that want to hurt or offend me call me 'Prince'. 'Prince' is dead. I killed him." - Prince Rogers Nelson, 1995

Old friend - and former bandmate - Sam Fogarino (Interpol) returns with a record that briefly set the world on fire but ultimately fell victim to a somewhat unfair backlash: The Knack's multi-platinum debut "Get The Knack"! As power-pop records go it's a masterclass in super-catchy - if at times lyrically problematic - songwriting and dynamically energetic playing, and it provided a partial blueprint for young Sam's own powerfully precise drumming. Turn it up!! Spotify episode playlist: https://...

Singer/songwriter Peter Norris phoned in all the way from Glasgow, Scotland to discuss "East Side Story" by Squeeze. Are songwriting duo Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford REALLY the "new wave heirs to Lennon and McCartney's throne"? We don't know about that, but you'd be hard pressed to find a finer collection of pop-rock songs, with notes of R&B, blue-eyed soul, Merseybeat and rockabilly baked right in! Spotify episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5FVKRM3x4ipEqP95I54WV3?si=1ddf130...

Legendary rock and roll magazine Trouser Press was a big part of my musical coming-of-age, so I was super excited to have founding editor/publisher Ira Robbins on the show to discuss a record that expanded HIS artistic horizons as a NY teenager: "Urban Spaceman" by Bonzo Dog Band. A collective as much as a band, the Bonzo's combined an absurdist mix of pop, cabaret, and Dada to create a surrealist portrait of late-60s England and beyond. Spotify episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlis...

You might not draw a straight line between Chicago singer/songwriter Steve Dawson's (Dolly Varden)music and Stevie Wonder, but when he first heard Wonder's 1973 record "Innervisions" as a teen living in Idaho it seriously freaked him out. But in a good way. This is the sound of musical prodigy 'Little Stevie Wonder' growing up and tackling real-life themes such as drug abuse, inequality and systemic racism, expanding the boundaries of what popular music could be. Higher Ground indeed! Spotify ep...

Aylesbury, UK resident Paul Marfleet first heard "Meat Is Murder" by The Smiths on a cassette in his family's home, and their politically strident/musically adventurous second album took hold of his young ears and wouldn't let go. Our romp through the 80s continues with this 1985 gem... "I wish I could laugh, but that joke isn't funny anymore" Spotify Episode Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1EF9nwioyvjJ7uAXHMSxTl?si=4e08db4e40e14d0e

Returning guest, artist/musician Beatriz 'Betty' Monteavaro wears her 80s heart on her sleeve. For this episode, she again set the controls for 1981 and brought a record that melded Burundi beats, spaghetti westerns, Native American imagery (and some questionable cultural appropriation) into the campy one-of-a-kind chart-topper "Kings of the Wild Frontier" by Adam and the Ants. "You might not like us now, but you will!" Spotify episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7IBmGTf9fFSpUSsY...

This week's guest Eric Lazier makes the case that British performer and Fairport Convention co-founder Richard Thompson is woefully unheralded as both a guitar player and songwriter. As evidence, he brought us Thompson's 1991 release "Rumor and Sigh". Case closed! Spotify Episode Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jNlSWY19fmH5WGrohm8kU?si=13137db76c604c77

When he's not tearing faces off in various musical projects - 'To Live and Shave in LA' & 'NH Meth' to name two - Tom Smith leads a genteel life in Hanover, Germany, so it's only fitting that he brought Hanover's own 39 Clocks and their sophomore classic "Subnarcotic" to the table for perusal. Their songs of urban decay and rainy night insanities sung - subversively for 1982 - in English set them apart from the German New Wave of the time, and they managed to turn their love of the Velvets, Suic...