Monday, January 30, 2012

Completely Conspicuous 212: Together Again for the First Time

Part 1 of my podcast conversation with special guest Brad Searles as we discuss band reunions. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- Check out Brad's excellent blog, Bradley's Almanac

- Recorded at the Sunset Grill in Allston, Mass.

- The Pixies are making a second career out of their reunion tours

- The only money for a lot of artists comes from licensing

- The Strokes' debut album hasn't aged well

- Iggy Pop is endorsing insurance in the UK

- Mission of Burma picked up after 20 years and are better than ever

- Brad: First Pixies show was on the ill-fated U2 tour

- Explaining myself to the waitress

- Broken-up bands realize a fanbase is out there

- Letters to Cleo sold some merch after t-shirt showed up on "Parks and Recreation"

- "Hallelujah" covers are making Leonard Cohen big bucks

- Fired up about the Afghan Whigs reunion

- At the Drive-In spawned a movement

- Brad's played drums in several bands

- The awesomeness of the Styx Behind the Music episode

- Styx's Paradise Theater is one of the first albums we both bought

- Brad: Early vinyl inherited from dad

- Brad loved the first two Men at Work albums

- My younger brother turned me on to Nirvana and Soundgarden

- Saw a lot of concerts with my brother in our 20s

- Bands we'd like to see reunite

- Jay: Replacements, Husker Du, The Jam, The Smiths

- Fogerty's open to a CCR reunion

- Brad: A Ride reunion is possible

- To be continued...

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Nada Surf - Waiting for Something

Girlfriends - Big Machines

Destroyer - Leave Me Alone

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

The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Nada Surf song is on the album The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy on Barsuk Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Girlfriends song is on the EP Nothing Nice to Say. Stream the EP at Bandcamp.

The Destroyer song is on a MOJO magazine compilation of artists covering songs from the 1983 New Order album Power, Corruption and Lies. Download the song for free at Aquarium Drunkard.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Completely Conspicuous 211: Keep Hanging On

Part 3 of my conversation with special guests Nick Lorenzen and Mike Piantigini as we discuss all things rock. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").




The show notes:

- Biggest regrets of missed live bands

- Daltrey's voice lasted longer than many peers

- Jay drops a Frank Frazetta reference

- Sabbath reunion

- Does metal work if you're 60?

- Springsteen and Young are still going strong

- N-Lo doesn't dig latter-day Dylan

- Lorenzen: Waits is 100% relevant

- Robert Plant has aged well

- Mike defends The Who's continued existence

- Give the people what they want

- Literal cat fight

- McCartney won't stop

- The communal aspect of live music

- N-Lo pissed off The Moody Blues' fanbase

- How big is the relevance window?

- U2 won't go away

- Albums you would've liked to hear when they came out

- 1971 was a great year for rock

- Mike: The '80s killed music because of crappy production

- The sound doesn't hold up these days

- Subscription services aren't there yet

- No money in the music biz anymore

- Jonathan Coulton is doing it himself

- Licensing music to commercials or TV/movies is huge

- David Caruso is synonymous with "Won't Get Fooled Again" intro

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
The King Khan Experience - Knock Me Off My Feet

Zeus - Are You Gonna Waste My Time?

Shearwater - You As You Were

Craig Finn - Honolulu Blues

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

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The King Khan Experience song is on the band's self-titled EP courtesy of Scion AV. You can download the entire album for free at Scion AV.

The Zeus song is on the album Busting Vision on Arts and Crafts. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at The Music of Zeus.

The Shearwater song is on the album Animal Joy on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at Stereogum.

The Craig Finn song is on the album Clear Heart, Full Eyes on Vagrant Records. Download the song for free at WXRT.com.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Completely Conspicuous 210: Live and Dangerous

Part 2 of my conversation with special guests Nick Lorenzen and Mike Piantigini as we discuss Boston's live music scene. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- Mike still goes to many rock shows

- The scene's rebounding, more new clubs

- Nick did not pogo at recent Superchunk show

- Nick and Mike saw Paul Westerberg's first solo show

- Myspace lives!

- Nick and Mike were in the band Lump in the '90s

- Brighton Music Hall is making an impression

- Live Nation squeezes out smaller clubs

- Live Nation Entertainment owns Live Nation and Ticketmaster

- Big venues are in trouble

- More bands played big arenas like Worcester Centrum in the '80s

- Memories of INXS

- Discovering your new singer on YouTube: Yes, Journey

- O Positive, a great Boston band from the past

- The suburban rock clubs of the '80s and '90s are mostly gone now

- The smartphone has reduced the amount of longform reading we do

- Debating Pearl Jam's fight vs. Ticketmaster

- Tickets in big venues are more expensive, but club tickets are still cheap

- Movie ticket prices haven't grown exponentially

- Moviegoing experience is less enjoyable

- Pixies need to pick another album to play; touring behind Doolittle for a few years now

- Mike: 2011 was a good music year

- We consume and digest music much quicker now

- Who doesn't have a Rick Neilsen guitar pick?

- Jay and Mike realized they grew up a few towns over from each other

- Mike bagged Queensryche's groceries (not a euphemism)

- The Kingston, NH Fairgrounds had several big festival shows in the '80s

- Next episode: Older artists aging gracefully while others hang on too long

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
Lee Ranaldo - Off the Wall

Reigning Sound - Shaw

White Rabbits - Heavy Metal

Mind Spiders - Wait For Us

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!Link
The show is sponsored by Budget, the country's premier car rental service with 900 locations. Go to Budget.com/CompCon and save 10% off any reservation or $30 off a weekly rental.

The Lee Ranadlo song is on the album Between the Times and Tides on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Matador.

The Reigning Sound song is on the EP Abdication...For Your Love. Download the song for free at Scion AV.

The White Rabbits song is from the album Milk Famous on TBD Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at the band's website.

The Mind Spiders song is on the album Meltdown on Dirtnap Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Completely Conspicuous 209: Physical Graffiti

Part 1 of my conversation with special guests Nick Lorenzen and Mike Piantigini as we discuss the impending death of the CD. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes:

- Mike hosts Clicky Clicky Radio on Boston Free Radio every Thursday

- Physical media is disappearing from store shelves

- Rarely buy CDs anymore

- Digital music sales overtook CD sales in 2011

- Minor resurgence in vinyl

- Listening to music has become "a solitary engagement"

- It's rare to listen to music now without doing anything else

- Many more distractions while watching movies or TV

- Glut of media; so many more albums available now

- N-Lo is no Geddy Lee

- With digital music, it's rare you get liner notes

- Looking back at metal mags of the '80s: Hit Parader, Circus

- Labels are trying to cash in with reissues and box sets

- Pink Floyd box sets come with plenty of extras

- Mike is miffed at the Quadrophenia box set

- Pete Townshend loves a narrative

- Mike: The Who's Endless Wire is pretty good

- N-Lo's not a big fan of rock stars with hankies

- Mike: CD's not dead yet, but it's close

- N-Lo remembers his Discman fondly

- Reissuing albums a year after the original comes out

- In the '90s, we'd go digging for singles with bonus tracks

- The Columbia House Record Club: 12 for a penny

- Packaging and pressing quality sucked for record club albums

- Next episode: We complain about Ticketmaster

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:
The Kominas - Doomsday

PJ Harvey - The Last Living Rose

Le Butcherettes - New York

Mclusky - To Hell With Good Intentions

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

The show is sponsored by Eastbay/Footlocker.com. Use the following codes to get athletic gear from Nike, Adidas, Asics and more. AFCOMP15 will get you 10% off any order of $50 at Eastbay.com, AFCOMP20 will get you 15% off any order of $75 at Eastbay.com and AFCOMPFL will get you 10% off any order of $50 or more at Footlocker.com.

The Kominas song is on the band's self-released, self-titled album. You can downlaod the entire album for free at TheKominas.com.

The PJ Harvey song is on the album Let England Shake on Vagrant Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The Le Butcherettes song is on the album Sin Sin Sin on Rodriguez Lopez Productions. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The Mclusky song is on the album Mclusky Do Dallas on Too Pure Records. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blogs Clicky Clicky and Keeping Some Dark Secrets. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian; check out his site PodGeek.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.