Completely Conspicuous 622: The Hardest Button to Button

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2003. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Phil's #5: Raucous debut from NYC's Yeah Yeah Yeahs, featuring the electric Karen O
• Jay's #5: Radiohead combined electronic and guitar-driven sounds
• Radiohead albums kept leaking early on file-sharing networks
• Phil's #4: The Shins hone their super catchy pop sound
• Jay's #4: An indie rock gem from the Wrens that still awaits a follow-up
• 20 years of starts, stops, indecision and disagreements
• Phil's #3:My Morning Jacket combined indie rock, Southern rock, folk and jam band sounds
• MP3 blog bands abound
• Jay's #3: Another kickass release from Ted Leo and the Pharmacists
• Leo is one of the great unsung artists of our generation
• Is Springsteen overrated?
• Phil's #2: Drive-By Truckers add Jason Isbell and step up their game
• Jay's #2: A departure for Sloan, but one jam-packed with great songs
• The only Sloan album without an Andrew Scott song
• Phil's #1: The White Stripes expand their sound and totally blow up
• The Stripes made a lot of noise with minimal instrumentation
• Jay's #1: Greg Dulli's Twilight Singers unleash a classic album as a tribute to late friend
• Favorite songs: "The Hardest Button to Button" (Phil), "Teenage Wristband" (Jay)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. 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 184: On Top, Rockin' It

Special guest Jay Breitling joins me as we discuss our favorite rock music of the first half of 2011. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



Show notes:

- Breitling: Yuck's self-titled album

- Reminiscent of great '90s acts

- Kumar: Reissue of Queens of the Stone Age's first album

- Originally came out in '98, was out of print

- Breitling: J Mascis--Several Shades of Why

- Mostly acoustic

- Dino Jr.'s Where You Been has been unfairly forgotten

- Kumar: Sloan--The Double Cross

- 20 years of terrific rock and power pop

- Breitling: Rival Schools--Pedal

- NY post-hardcore legends

- Kumar: Twilight Singers--Dynamite Steps

- Greg Dulli's back with yet another great album

- Breitling: Destroyer--Kaputt

- Synth pop detour for Dan Bejar

- Whither Don Felder?

- Kumar: PJ Harvey--Let England Shake

- Polarizing album

- Bjork's selling her new songs as apps

- Breitling: Wartgore Hellsnicker--Moderate Rock

- "The last grunge record"

- Kumar: Buffalo Tom--Skins

- '90 alt-rock heroes still sound great

- Breitling: Also dig Johnny Foreigner, Wye Oak releases

- Kumar: Honorable mention includes Drive-By Truckers, Beastie Boys, Feelies

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

Yuck - The Wall

J. Mascis - Not Enough

Sloan - Follow the Leader

The Twilight Singers - On the Corner

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 Yuck song is on the band's self-titled album on Fat Possum Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The J. Mascis song is on the album Several Shades of Why on Sub Pop, where you can download the song for free.

The Sloan song is on the album The Double Cross on Yep Roc Records. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) from the band's website.

The Twilight Singers song is on the album Dynamite Steps on Sub Pop, where you can download the song for free.

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. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. 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.

Completely Conspicuous 174: Long Time Running

This week on the podcast, I take a look at my complicated relationship with running. Listen to the show below or download it directly (right click and "save as").



The show notes:

- Never saw the point of running

- Played sports but never ran for running's sake

- After college, started working out again

- Watched Boston Marathon every year but never thought I could do it

- Started running in late '90s because of my girlfriend (now wife)

- Ran a 5K, then kept increasing distance

- In 2002, ran Boston Marathon for the first time

- No marathon this spring because of burnout

- Enjoying shorter distances and just running in general

- Ran in the Poco Loco in Boston last weekend

- Social running event with no pressure for time or speed

- Similar events in the works for St. Louis, London

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

The Twilight Singers - Don't Call

The Church - Under the Milky Way

Sebadoh - Rebound

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 Twilight Singers song is a B-side from the band's album Dynamite Steps on Sub Pop Records. Find out more and download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at the band's website.

The Church song is on the 1988 album Starfish on Arista Records. Download the song for free at Amazon.

The Sebadoh song is on the upcoming re-release of the 1994 album Bakesale on Sub Pop Records. Download the song for free at Sub Pop.

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. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. 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.

Completely Conspicuous 156: At the Edge of the Scene

This week on the podcast, it's part 2 of my conversation with special guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the making of his new indie film Certainly Never. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Or you can listen to it here:



Topics:

- Scheduling filming is a tricky art

- Sometimes you have to cut scenes you like

- Distribution: Film festivals, Netflix, hoping to create indie buzz

- "Chasing the unicorn"

- Directing is Matt's film school

- Movie was Matt's most satisfying and most draining accomplishment

- Salem hotel thought crew was filming ghost hunter TV show

- Crew became close-knit group after filming

- Dealing with bystanders

- Now Matt's returning favors by acting in other folks' projects

- Putting together the soundtrack

- Missed all deadlines for 2010 festivals

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

The Twilight Singers - On the Corner

Middle Brother - Me, Me, Me

Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - No

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 Twilight Singers song is on the forthcoming album Dynamite Steps on Sub Pop Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.

The Middle Brother song is from the band's self-titled album on Partisan Records, where the song was given away for free as part of a Christmas promotion.

The Ryan Adams and the Cardinals song is on the double album III/IV on Pax-Am Records. Download the song for free at Amazon.

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. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.

Completely Conspicuous 146: Hey DJ, Play That Song

I'm joined on the podcast by Amanda Guest as we discuss college radio. Listen to the show in streaming audio or download it directly (right click and "save as").

The show notes...

Topics:

- Amanda hosts Radioculars Saturdays from 3-6 p.m. Eastern at Salem State University

- Started working at station in 1994

- Amanda was a top 40 fan when got to college

- Station only played indie rock at the time

- Lots of uptalking at first

- First DJ name was Bob, followed by Cosmic Amanda

- First time slot was Tuesdays noon-3

- Later got the "coveted" Friday 6-9 p.m. time slot

- Online streaming means Amanda now has listeners all over the world

- Stuck with Friday nights for several years

- Left SSC and came back in 2000-2001

- Graduated in 2003, but kept doing a show

- Anyone can do a show, but preference is given to students

- Mid-'90s was a great time for music

- Only played noncommercial music, but had a playlist rotation

- Now WMWM is freeform

- Amanda plays indie rock from artists like Surfer Blood, Wavves, Thermals

- College radio has less influence now

- Feedback comes via Facebook, Twitter, IM

- Studio is all digital now; used to be mix of vinyl and CDs

- For a while, Amanda did a '70s disco show

- Bonehead of the Week

Music:

The Twilight Singers (with Ani DiFranco) - The Blackbird and the Fox

The Morning Benders - Outlaw Blues

Gang of Four - Never Pay for the Farm

No Age - Fever Dreaming

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 Twilight Singers song is on the band's forthcoming album on Sub Pop Records. Find out more and download the song for free from the band's Internet home page.

The Morning Benders song is on the album Subterranean Homesick Blues: A Tribute to Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home on Reimagine Records. Download the song for free from the band's site.

The Gang of Four song is on the forthcoming album Content on Yep Roc. Download the song for free at Reverb Nation.

The No Age song is on the album Everything in Between on Sub Pop, where you can download the song for free.

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. Additional music used in the show is by Me and Boris the Bull, which is the brainchild of the mighty Mark Campbell. Thanks to Bob Durling for the album art; find out more about his photography at his blog.

Completely Conspicuous is a Tan God Production. Word.