Completely Conspicuous 470: First and Foremost

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year so far. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- JB: The Orb released a remix EP
- JK: The prolific Ty Segall does it again
- JB: Vagabon brings fresh take to indie rock
- JK: Boss Hog's first album in 17 years
- JB: The evolving sound of Spoon
- JK: The consistently excellent New Pornographers back with another winner
- JB: Juana Molina returns with a strong, out there release
- JK: Mark Lanegan incorporates electronic music into his sound
- JB: Snowball II with a release that recalls The Lilys
- JK: Afghan Whigs release their best record since reuniting
- JB: Tommy Stinson brings back Bash & Pop with hooks galore
- JB: Slowdive's reunion album gives the people what they want

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 469: Listen Up

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year so far. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- Plenty of great rock music, but not on the charts
- It's all about playing live; rock radio exposure is nonexistent
- Billy Squier still gets the airplay
- Nobody's figured out how to make money from streaming music
- Get pumped for Husker Du bootleg box set
- More rock deaths: Berry, Cornell, Allman, Geils
- Rise in musical activism
- Albums we want to hear
- Breitling: Ride, Palehound, Wet Trident
- Kumar: Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett, Ted Leo, Buffalo Tom, Queens of the Stone Age, Deer Tick, LCD Soundsystem
- Bubbling under albums
- Breitling: Tara Jane O'Neil, Opin, The xx
- Lubec's coming to Boston in August
- Kumar: Chastity Belt, Bash and Pop, Cloud Nothings, White Reaper, At the Drive-In, Black Lips
- Our favorite albums so far
- JB: Spirit of the Beehive combines psych and shoegaze
- JK: Run the Jewels keeps on rolling
- Zach de la Rocha's hardcore past
- JB: Yr Poetry is a Johnny Foreigner side project
- JK: Japandroids bring the rock anthems
- JB: Different sound for Pile
- JK: More anthems from Los Campesinos!
- Cello vs. violin
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 468: Dig for Fire (Ween-Sloan, part 3)

Part 3 of my conversation with Brian Salvatore about musical blindspots. Brian listens to another Sloan album while I check out a third record from Ween. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
-Win-win situation
- Brian had Sloan's "The Double Cross" and Jay had Ween's "Quebec"
- Brian: My favorite of the three I listened to
- Beatles comparisons
- Brian will go back and check out rest of Sloan catalog
- No solo albums, but Murphy had TUNS project
- Jay: Really enjoyed Quebec
- Most cohesive of the three Ween albums Jay heard
- Dean and Gene were dealing with some issues
- "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" is an epic album closer
- Next up: Jay will listen to Frank Zappa and Brian will check out Iron Maiden

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 467: Dig for Fire (Ween vs. Sloan, part 2)

Part 2 of my conversation with Brian Salvatore about musical blindspots. Brian listens to another Sloan album while I check out a second record from Ween. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Brian: Impressed with the progression of Sloan's sound
- Jay: Hadn't heard anything from The Mollusk previously
- Plenty of genre jumping
- Nautical theme
- Elements of prog, psych
- Brian: My favorite Ween record
- Ween varies playlists from show to show
- Brian: Between the Bridges is steeped in the '70s: Big Star, Sweet, T. Rex, Fleetwood Mac
- Interesting sequencing and flow
- Confusing the title with Between the Buttons
- Last Sloan album gave each band member a side's worth of songs
- Brian: Almost exclusively listen to albums in full
- Jay: Will listen to albums, but also use shuffle mode on iPod
- Brian: Also listen to a lot of music on Spotify
- Next up: Quebec for Jay, The Double Cross for Brian

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 466: Dig for Fire (Ween vs. Sloan, part 1)

This week, Brian Salvatore and I talk about delving into the catalog of bands we don't know much about. Brian will learn about Sloan while I dig into Ween. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Each of us picks a favorite artist of the other that we don't know much about
- Jay listened to Ween's Chocolate and Cheese, Brian listened to Sloan's Twice Removed
- Both 1994 releases
- Both of us had heard a few songs before
- Jay: First heard Ween on Beavis and Butt-head, wrote them off as novelty act
- Brian: Twice Removed starts off strong, flows well
- Big power pop vibe
- The album that got Sloan dropped by Geffen
- Each band member writes and sings
- Were signed as part of the alternative explosion of the early '90s
- Self-release most of their albums now
- No indie rock radio stations anymore
- Jay: Chocolate and Cheese is great fun
- Wide range of styles, from funk to psychedelic to just weird
- Great guitar work from Dean Ween
- First Ween album done in a studio
- Walking the fine line between funny and stupid
- Phish has covered "Roses are Free"
- Ween plays jam band festivals sometimes
- Next up: The Mollusk for Jay, Between the Bridges for Brian

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 465: New Damage

This week, I talk to guest Brian Salvatore about the legacy of the late Chris Cornell. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Brian: Was never a huge fan of Cornell's early singing style
- Rediscovered his love for Soundgarden in recent years
- Jay: First heard him when Temple of the Dog came out in '91, then got Badmotorfinger
- The greatness of Mother Love Bone
- Soundgarden was perfect bridge between '80s hard rock and the new sounds of the '90s
- Jay: Saw Soundgarden in small club in early '92 and then again a few months later at Lollapalooza
- Kim Thayil's guitar playing complemented Cornell's voice well
- Jason Everman, the Zelig of grunge
- The diverse nature of the Seattle acts of the '90s
- The pressure of being the "responsible one"
- Cornell's final tweets were upbeat
- Hard to read into his lyrics
- Most of Cornell's songs were dark
- His death hit hard because he was ours
- Feels like more '70s touring acts have more living members than '90s bands
- The drugs were more prevalent in the '70s and '80s, but the '90s acts paid the price
- Cornell's first solo album Euphoria Morning is really good
- Less impressed with Audioslave
- Soundgarden leaves a terrific body of work

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous 464: Industry Standard

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about the evolution of the music blog. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Breitling recently shut down his fine music blog Clicky Clicky
- Some band reunions shouldn't happen
- A whole new target audience for newer live acts
- The kids wanna snap
- Some bands can make a living selling merch and playing small live gigs
- No time for comics anymore
- The inflated price of vinyl
- Zines were the music blogs of the '80s and '90s
- Kumar: A buddy in Washington state got into punk, started a zine
- The convenience of blog software
- The blog as reference tool
- Our work at Webnoize is mostly gone now
- Clicky Clicky lives on via Facebook page
- The blog had a hardcore audience
- Not in it for the numbers
- Cutting through the crap on Twitter
- Quality, not quantity of posts

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.