Part
3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we wrap up the
CompCon Awards. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Worst Album by Best Band
- Mid-'90s Van Halen was really bad
- George Harrison had some questionable releases in early '80s
- The Clash's Cut the Crap was like a parody of the band
- Best Album by Worst Band
- The Strokes: One-hit-album wonder?
- Jay: Give the band Live credit for somehow having a career
- Best Non-Guitar Solo
- Jay: Looked at instruments other than drums
- Plenty of great bass solos over the years
- Best Live Album
- Stones played faster on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
- J. Geils Band were an amazing live act
- Sore Thumb Award for song that doesn't fit on album it's on
- What's the deal with skits on hip-hop albums?
- Best Moustache in Rock
- Jeff "Skunk" Baxter had a classic 'stache
- Zappa was defined by his 'stache
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Magnolia Electric Co. - The Dark Don't Hide It
Dinosaur Jr. - Entertainment
Kurt Vile - Never Run Away
Dump - Superpowerless
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Magnolia Electric Co. song is on the album What Comes After the Blues on Secretly Canadian. Download it for free at Chromewaves.
The Dinosaur Jr. song is a cover of a Phoenix track and is available for free download at Chromewaves.
The Kurt Vile song is on the album Walkin' on a Pretty Daze on Matador Records. Download the song for free at Matador.
The Dump song is on reissue of the album Superpowerless on Morr Music. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.
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.
Part
2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we continue handing out the
CompCon Awards. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Best Concept Album
- Brian: Not a fan of concept albums
- Jay: Afghan Whigs' Black Love is an underrated classic
- Townshend's book is a good read
- Best Album That Deviates From Band's Sound
- Brian: Prefers later Pavement to earlier stuff
- Tin Machine was welcome change after substandard Bowie albums
- Praising (or not hating) R.E.M.'s Monster
- Paul's Boutique was a masterpiece of sampling
- Best Song by Band Member Who Wasn't Main Songwriter
- Brian: George Harrison rules
- Best Rhythm Guitarist
- Post classic rock era, line between rhythm and lead has blurred
- Lee Ving and Dave Mustaine teamed up
- Bill Ward: Sabbath should give the drummer some
- Best Album Packaging
- Vinyl was the heyday of great packaging
- Zep's In Through the Out Door had several covers
- Music listening experience is less immersive now
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Wire - Love Bends
Mikal Cronin - Shout It Out
Parquet Courts - Stoned and Starving
Ten Kens - When a Door Opens
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Wire song is on the album Change Becomes Us on Pink Flag Records. Download it for free at Stereogum.
The Mikal Cronin song is on the album MCII on Merge Records. Download the song for free at NPR.
The Parquet Courts song is on the album Light Up Gold on Dull Tools/What's Your Rupture. Download the song for free at NPR.
The Ten Kens song is on the album Namesake on Fat Cat Records. Download the song for free at NPR.
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.
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we present the first edition of the CompCon Awards. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype during the Oscars telecast
- Jay: Picking top albums of the 1970s was tough
- The CompCon Awards are an alternative to the Grammys looking at different categories
- First category: Best Band Name
- Brian saw Trail of Dead back in the day
- Best Sophomore Album
- Bands like The Strokes have struggled to follow up strong debut
- Nirvana's success both killed and launched a lot of terrible bands
- Dave Grohl backlash
- Pondering Weezer's decline
- Graham Maby rules
- Best Side 1
- Harking back to the heyday of vinyl
- First Van Halen album had killer side 1 and 2
- Bowie had an incredible run of albums in the '70s
- Best Side 2
- Other outstanding album sides
- The Chili Peppers haven't aged well
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Mudhoney - I Like It Small
Frightened Rabbit - State Hospital
Marnie Stern - Year of the Glad
Telekinesis - Ghosts and Creatures
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Mudhoney song is on the album Vanishing Point on Sub Pop. Download it for free from Sub Pop.
The Frightened Rabbit song is on the album Pedestrian Verse on Atlantic Records. Download the song for free at NPR.
The Marnie Stern song is on the album Chronicles of Marnia on Kill Rock Stars. Download the song for free at NPR.
The Telekinesis song is on the album Dormarion on Merge Records. Download the song for free at NPR.
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.
Part 2 of my conversation with guests Ric Dube and Jay Breitling as we dissect a classic
episode of the 1970s sitcom What's Happening. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ; check out the 50th episode of MLT (with cameos from Mr. Breitling and myself)
- Inspired by MST3K and Rifftrax, we're commenting while watching video
- Watch the episode along with us at the CompCon YouTube channel
- Breitling joins the fray
- Haywood Nelson was the inspiration for indie rock band Haywood
- JB: The satin jacket died with Rainbow's "All Night Long" video (featuring Graham Bonnet on vocals, not Joe Lynn Turner)
- Enter Big Al Dunbar
- Rerun wore his pants old-man high
- The original discomfort comedy
- Were the Doobies big anti-bootleg advocates?
- Jeff "Skunk" Baxter is a defense industry consultant now
- Baxter's wearing a Warner Bros. jersey
- Rocking out while seated
- Flaming gongs kick ass
- Dee's tripping
- "Pluggin' in the USB"
- Rerun drops tape recorder, feels shame
- The Doobies intimidate Big Al and henchman
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Let the Day Begin
Patrick Stickles - Hey Tonight
Me & Stupid - Receiver
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club song is on the EP Let the Day Begin. Download it for free (in exchange for your email address) at the band's website.
The Patrick Stickles song is a cover of a Free Energy song and available for free download at Stereogum.
The Me & Stupid song is on the album In a Cabin with Me & Stupid. Download the album for free at the Me & Stupid website.
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.
Part
1 of my conversation with guest Ric Dube as we dissect a classic
episode of the 1970s sitcom What's Happening. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ
- Inspired by MST3K and Rifftrax, we're commenting while watching video
- Watch the episode along with us at the CompCon YouTube channel
- What's Happening!! had all the sitcom archetypes
- Formula elements at play
- This was a Very Special Episode
- No continuity in the '70s on TV shows
- The evils of bootlegging
- Check out CompCon episodes 218 and 219 about bootlegs
- Ric: Wonder if there's a bootleg of the Doobies' performance in this show
- Show inspired by the movie Cooley High
- Ric's a fan of Dee
- Did inner city kids really listen to the Doobie Brothers?
- Jay: I rocked the velour shirts back in the day
- Rerun gets roped into the bootlegging world
- All the parodies have been parodied now
- Ric's heard the "Which Doobie You Be?" line a million times
- Doobies are so big they're playing a podunk high school
- Patrick Simmons had a brief solo career
- Michael McDonald's vocal style
- The kids pretend to like the Doobies
- Jeff "Skunk" had magnificent facial hair
- The band Bread appeared on an episode of The Hardy Boys
- Simmons supposedly went to the kids' high school
- Four minutes of scenes from next week
- Theme by Henry Mancini!
- Next week, it's part 2 of the Doobie Brothers episode
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
They Might Be Giants - You're On Fire
Thalia Zedek Band - Walk Away
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The They Might Be Giants song is on the album Nanobots on Idlewild Records. Download it for free at Stereogum.
The Thalia Zedek Band song is on the album Via on Thrill Jockey. Download it for free at Soundcloud.
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.
Part 3 of my conversation with guests Mike Piantigini and Brad Searles as we
discuss the new music we're looking forward to in 2013. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at Piantigini Place, Somerville, Mass.
- Mike: New Big Dipper album is great
- Bettie Serveert is back with a new release
- Brad: The Neats reunion is happening
- Shockingly, Brad's never been to SXSW
- SXSW has grown into a huge spectacle
- Thumbs up to The Sinclair
- Def Leppard's Vegas residency
- Bob Mould can't play acoustic shows quietly
- Sting's "Back to Bass" tour
- Bands going out on a bad note
- Guitar Hero/Rock Band games flamed out quickly
- Do not taunt the Zoo TV
- Brad and Mike reminisce about the Merge Records 20th anniv. show
- Wilco's Solid Sound Festival is always good
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
The XX - Reconsider
The Thermals - Born to Kill
Redd Kross - Stay Away from Downtown
!!! - Slyd
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The XX song is on the album Coexist on XL Recordings. Download it for free at Chromewaves.
The
Thermals song is on the album Desperate Ground on Saddle Creek.
Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Soundcloud.
The Redd Kross song is on the album Researching the Blues on Merge Records. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.
The !!! song is on the album Thri!!!er on Warp Records. Download the song for free at Soundcloud.
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.
Part 2 of my conversation with guests Mike Piantigini and Brad Searles as we
discuss the new music we're looking forward to in 2013. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
Show notes:
- Recorded at Piantigini Place, Somerville, Mass.
- The Who's Live at Hull sounds a lot like Live at Leeds
- Hearing bands play old favorites vs. new material
- Selling your music for commercial use
- Pete Townshend was a major solo artist in the '80s
- '80s recording techniques have not aged well
- Debating McCartney's solo work
- Kids these days...
- YouTube as music delivery mechanism
- Not just videos, but full albums and lyric videos
- The sad tale of Myspace
- Bandcamp's fan pages
- Brad: Psyched about new LP from Kid Canaveral
- The death of Lovejoy's, a great Austin dive bar
- Alamo Drafthouse rules
- Brad: Mark Kozelek and Album Leaf collaboration
- Indie bands love covering the Misfits
- Bands keep touring without original members (Misfits, Dead Kennedys)
- Violent Femmes are reuniting with original lineup at Coachella
- Prog is coming back
- Brad dug Genesis in the Duke/Abacab era
- "Illegal Alien" is a horrible song
- Long-awaited albums that may never come: Dylan at the Movies, The Wrens
- Brad bets My Bloody Valentine won't release new album by time this airs (he loses bet)
- Mike can't stop talking about his trip to SXSW
- Labels are running out of classic rock to reissue, turning to alt-rock
- To be continued
- Bonehead of the Week
Music:
Low - Just Make It Stop
Thee Oh Sees - Minotaur
Mikal Cronin - Apathy
Ken Stringfellow - Doesn't It Remind You of Something
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!
The Low song is on the forthcoming album The Invisible Way on Sub Pop. Download it for free at SoundCloud.
The Thee Oh Sees song is on the forthcoming album Floating Coffin on the Castle Face label. Download the song for free at Stereogum.
The Mikal Cronin song is on his self-titled album on Trouble in Mind Records. Download the song for free from SoundSpike.
The Ken Stringfellow song is on the album Danzig in the Moonlight on Spark and Shine Records. Download the song for free at Chromewaves.
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.
