Monday, December 26, 2022

Completely Conspicuous 601: Your Favorite Thing

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2022. Listen to the episode or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded at Clicky Clicky/Parcheesi Redux East HQ

- We've been doing this for 13 years!

- Kumar: Went to some more shows this year

- Breitling went to zero shows in 2022

- Things to look forward to in '23: The Cure returns, Drop Nineteens, Hallelujah the Hills' DECK project, Johnny Foreigner, Fucked Up, Blue Ocean, Peter Gabriel

- Kate Hudson is supposed to be releasing an album

- The varied talents of Fred Armisen

- In '22, the music industry continued to struggle

- Fewer revenue streams, fragmented audiences, content glut

- Diaper payola

- Even established acts can't sell new albums anymore

- Artists are selling directly to their audiences through Patreon, etc.

- Breitling's honorable mentions: Photon Band, Flyying Colours, Bitchin' Bajas, Kal Marks, Sun Airway, S.C.A.B., They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Kiwi Jr.

- Kumar's HMs: Kal Marks, Built to Spill, Wet Leg, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Alvvays, Superchunk, Spoon, Jon Spencer and the HitMakers, Archers of Loaf, Black Angels, OFF!

- Albums that came out early in the year feel like they came out much longer ago

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts 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.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Completely Conspicuous 600: Meet Ze Monsta

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1995. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Jay's non-top 5s: Mike Watt, Bjork, Guided By Voices, Boss Hog, Rancid, The Amps

- Phil's #5: Bjork's second album embraces the quirkiness

- Jay's #4: Jawbreaker's major label debut was a total bust, but it's really good

- "Selling out" was a big deal back then

- Phil's #3: The debut of Elastica was fully formed, but band disappeared a few years later

- Jay's #3: Pavement's followup to their big break was dismissed as too weird, but now is considered a classic

- Phil's #2: Neil Young teams up with Pearl Jam for strong release at the peak of PJ's fame

- Jay's #2: Horn-powered kickass blast of an album from Rocket From the Crypt

- Phil's #1 and Jay's #5: Dave Grohl emerges from Nirvana's shadow with first Foo Fighters album

- Jay's #1 and Phil's #4: PJ Harvey changes up her sound and goes theatrical and atmospheric

- Favorite songs: "Meet Ze Monsta" (Jay), "Alone + Easy Target" (Jay)

- Next: Best of 2022 with Jay Breitling

 

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.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Completely Conspicuous 599: Army of Me

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 1995. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- First show in quite a while

- In '95, Phil turned 26, Jay turned 28

- We both saw a lot of concerts that year

- Big deaths: Jerry Garcia, Eazy E, Shannon Hoon

- Musings on Cleveland, where the Rock Hall of Fame opened in '95

- Jay saw a doubleheader of a Bruins game and a Chris Whitley show

- Singles charts were leaning toward pop and lighter fare

- Is band loyalty still a thing?

- It's okay to not listen to every album in a band's catalog

- Phil's non-top 5 albums: Belly, Garbage, Alice in Chains, Mad Season, Phish, Elliott Smith, Radiohead, RHCP, Sonic Youth, Matthew Sweet, Pavement, Ben Folds Five, Morphine, No Doubt, Throwing Muses, Green Day, Natalie Merchant, Son Volt, Smashing Pumpkins

- It's a rare double album that can't be cut down to a single album

- To be continued

 

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.