Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Completely Conspicuous 452: The Honor Roll

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2016. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- We are not Moviefone
- Rough year for musician deaths
- Trump's top 3 albums
- The return of protest music?
- Clicky Clicky HQ is fully Alexa-ized
- The kids love the vinyl (well, the hipsters do, anyway)
- Albums are back, sort of
- Crowdfunding albums is becoming more prevalent
- Breitling's bubbling under albums: A Giant Dog, Thin Lips, Bent Shapes, Yr Poetry, Pinegrove, Horse Jumper of Love, Guillermo Sexo, California Snow Story
- Kumar's: Used Cassettes, Savages, Dino Jr., Radiohead, Split Single, Preoccupations, Descendents, Johnny Foreigner, Terry Malts, Hallelujah the Hills, Kristin Hersh, I Don't Cares, Nick Cave, Gord Downie, PJ Harvey
- Downie teamed with comics artist Jeff Lemire on combo album/graphic novel
- Breitling's #10
- Cold Pumas back with a hot new release
- Kumar's #10
- Possibly the last Tragically Hip album
- Different sound courtesy of producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin
- Breitling's #9
- Boston's Strange Passage reminds of early Ride
- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Friday, December 23, 2016

Completely Conspicuous 451: Reeling in the Years, 1990 (Part 3)

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1990. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- Jay's #3 album of 1990
- Public Enemy was controversial
- Homophobia was pervasive back then, especially in hip hop
- PE scared white America
- Brian's #3
- They Might Be Giants was in the middle of a classic run of albums
- Song-a-Day Hotline
- Jay's #2
- After a decade of weirdness, Neil Young re-established himself as a rock icon
- Took Sonic Youth and Social D on the road
- Brian's #1 and Jay's #5
- Kim Deal and Tanya Donelly teamed up
- Deal stepped out of Black Francis' shadow
- Brian's #2
- Pixies release their surfiest album
- When 3/4 of Pixies crossed paths with some interesting neighbors
- Jay's #1
- Jane's Addiction's tour de force
- Scored an accidental video and radio hit with "Been Caught Stealing"
- Starts out fast and punchy, ends with side 2 of long, epic songs
- Perry Farrell's transition from out-of-control rock freak to hippie uncle
- One more year to go: 1991

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Completely Conspicuous 450: Reeling in the Years, 1990 (Part 2)

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1990. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- Albums that just missed our top 5 of the year
- Alice in Chains inspired a ton of copycat acts
- World Party paid homage to many influences
- Brian was a big Pantera fan in high school
- Social Distortion's classic era
- Living Colour came into their own with second album
- Warren Zevon teamed up with the non-Stipe members of R.E.M. to do a covers album
- Elektra comp Rubaiyat featured unlikely covers
- Mark Lanegan's first solo album established his dark bluesy side
- Ride was on the crest of the shoegaze wave
- Brian's #5
- Ween established their eclectic reputation
- The strange journey of Sim Cain
- Jay's #4
- Fugazi at the peak of their powers
- Brian's #4
- Primus at their least jokey
- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Completely Conspicuous 449: Reeling in the Years, 1990 (Part 1)

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1990. Listen to the episode below or download directly.
 

Show notes:
- Check out Brian's podcast Input/Output
- Things are getting weird
- The Decline of Western Civilization docs are fascinating
- In 1990, Jay was 22-23 and Brian was 8
- The '90s were still kicking off
- Pivotal events were still yet to happen
- Stevie Ray Vaughan died young
- 2 Live Crew came to prominence
- Oh, Milli Vannilli
- Disposable pop seemed to fade for a while
- Hammer and Vanilla Ice
- Madonna: Publicity generator
- Metal was tailing off after a strong decade
- Hip hop was getting stronger
- New Jack Swing was the thing
- Alternative rock was paving the way for Nirvana's breakthrough
- Pop charts were topped by the likes of Wilson Phillips and Roxette
- Sinead O' Connor's wild year
- Bands formed: Bikini Kill, Cracker, Body Count, Spin Doctors
- What about Tool?
- Broke up: Death of Samantha, Game Theory, Starship
- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.