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 -...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 …

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 …

"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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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...

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...

Singer/Artist Vanessa Briscoe Hay (Pylon, Supercluster, Pylon Reenactment Society) 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. ...

Our 2nd foray into the rock and roll enigma that is Ween, this time diving into their sixth studio album The Mollusk with special guest and super-fan Les Norris. Pegged as a favorite by both Gene and Dean Ween - …

Canadian documentary filmmaker Alan Zweig (Vinyl, I, Curmudgeon, When Jews Were Funny) brings us an album of understated, fluid funk with a subtle-but-potent message: 'There's No Place Like America Today' by Curtis Mayfield. Released in 1975 on...

It's another BONUS Patron-curated episode! For this one, we asked our Patrons to send in their favorite INSTRUMENTAL song. No singers?? No problem!! Songs featured in this episode: Waltzinblack - The Stranglers; Jessica - The Allman Brothers Band; Fun...

We put the AA batteries into our Sony Walkman and fired up Berkeley California's The Motels 1982 New Wave classic 'All Four One'. Our special guest, retired drag queen and bon vivant Shelley Novak a.k.a. Tommy Strangie, brings the passion …

The fourth - and penultimate - studio album by The Police, "Ghost In The Machine", is both the sound of a band ascending to super-stardom and a band tearing apart at the seams. Guitarist extraordinaire Russell Mofsky (Gold Dust Lounge, …

When British band Scritti Politti originally got together at Leeds Polytechnic in 1977, they were a punk-inspired collective of art students and squatters with a penchant towards Marxism. In the early 1980s leader Green Gartside scrapped all that and...

In 1974, the one-of-a-kind chameleon that is David Bowie was poised to shed his Ziggy Stardust persona for the Thin White Duke. Before that transformation, he fired the Spiders from Mars and - using George Orwell and William S. Burroughs …

Our first "Mixtape" episode, where we invite a special guest to curate a mixtape for our listeners and dig into their musical selections. From the mind of Robert Price (Kreamy 'Lectric Santa, Bank O Christ, The Funyuns) we bring you …

Returning guest John Strohm (Blake Babies, Lemonheads, Antenna) has a strong personal connection to the record he chose to discuss, the stunning 1995 debut of Minneapolis band Polara. As a close friend of the bands founder, beloved musician/producer...

For this BONUS Patron-curated episode, we invited our Patrons to send in their favorite Non-English Language songs. They did NOT disappoint! Songs featured in this episode: Komm gib mir deine Hand - The Beatles; Aguas de Marco - Elis Regina; …

When Aaron Freeman and Mickey Melchiondo - better known by their respective stage names Gene and Dean Ween of the band Ween - were given full reign of a professional recording studio for their 4th studio album, they rose to …

In 1991, teenage Louisville, Kentucky band Slint recorded 'Spiderland', a brooding, sinister record that helped invent post-rock and influenced a generation of musicians. This week's guest Jay Reeve (Muteant Sounds Net Label) joins Rob to dissect this...

For this week's episode, we climb aboard the rock-and-roll mothership that is Led Zeppelin and their mysteriously untitled fourth album. What more could possibly be said about this ubiquitous classic-rock staple? This week's guest Ralph Cavallaro...

When this week's guest Kristen McLean's parents were raising the beams of their house in Worthington Massachusetts in 1971, Crosby Stills Nash & Young's 'Deja Vu' was the soundtrack. The angelic melding of CSN&Y's voices belied the often-dark mood...

Formed in 1976 by husband-and-wife duo Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, The Cramps forged their own unique niche in the early punk movement with their raucous brand of rock-n-roll psychobilly. This week's guest, art gallery owner and music fan Brook...

Sociologist, Appalachian scholar and activist Alana Anton is a southern girl at heart, and when she first discovered The Highwomen - the debut album by the country music super-group of the same name composed of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren...

Singer/songwriter Greg Franco (Man's Body, Rough Church, Ferdinand) has a dark secret. Even though he came up in the early-80s LA punk scene listening to bands like Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, he's also completely enamored with the music of …

For this special bonus episode, I asked my Patrons to send in a song they kind of love by a band/artist they kind of hate. It's: That ONE Song By That Band/Artist I Don't Really Like Got Me High! As …

Singer/songwriter...musician...producer...et cetera...et cetera Jim Camacho sat down to discuss a record that got him high over 35 years ago and continues to inspire him today: 1985s 'Hounds Of Love' by the incomparable Kate Bush. The songs on this...

Emmy-winning writer Jeff Greenstein (Friends, Will & Grace, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives) knows a thing or two about comedy. So it's no surprise that a record that got HIM high as a young impressionable adolescent ALSO made him laugh. A lot. …

As teens growing up in Summit, New Jersey in the late 70s, NY Punk Godfather Jack Rabid (Big Takeover Magazine) and his likeminded friends would sneak off to Manhattan to catch shows by the exciting new bands and punk legends …

In 1993, British alternative/shoegaze band Catherine Wheel paired-up with producer Gil Norton (Pixies) to create a record that fused the atmospheric beauty of their debut with a crushing wall-of-sound: 'Chrome'. The feedback-drenched tales of beauty...

This week, activist and co-host of 'The Muck Podcast' Hillary Dougherty takes a break from smashing the patriarchy to bring us a record that made the pandemic slightly more bearable for her: 'Punisher' by indie-rock sensation Phoebe Bridgers. It was …

Rat Bastard maps out the music of Sandy Denny

Frequent guest and music lover Camila Risso is always on the lookout for sounds that move her...or make her want to move! When she discovered then-25-year-old Leon Bridges and his debut album 'Coming Home' in 2015, she was immediately drawn …

For this BONUS Valentine's Day episode, we asked our Patrons to send us a song that broke their heart. Because sometimes, love stinks! Songs featured in this episode: Love Hurts - Nazareth; Alone Again, Naturally - Gilbert O'Sullivan; Operator - …

A self-professed band geek whose first instrument was trumpet, this week's guest - bassist extraordinaire Dan Bonebrake (Dashboard Confessional, The Lightworkers, Vacant Andys, Quit, Honest Liars...) - brought us a record that for him is an...

We discuss Stevie Wonder's 'Songs in the Key of Life' with special guest Bob Fay

We ventured once again into the Rat's lair - otherwise known as the South Beach studio of Frank 'Rat Bastard' Falestra - and sat down with Miami-via-Pennsylvania singer/songwriter Nick Mencia a.k.a. Nick County to discuss the stunning "Car Wheels...

Guitar virtuoso Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal's deeply personal solo record 'Abnormal', with special guest Larry Smith

We discuss 'Armed Forces' by Elvis Costello and the Attractions with Chicago-by-way-of-North London guest Steve Carroll

We dig into The Jam's 4th album, 1979's 'Setting Sons" with special guest Rory Cox

Some of our Patrons share a favorite song by a Female Artist/Female-led Band

We discuss Matthew Sweet's 1991 breakout album 'Girlfriend' with singer/songwriter Paul Roub

Returning guest Steve Michener brings us the criminally obscure debut record by The Vulgar Boatmen, 'You and Your Sister'