Brooklyn-based writer and podcaster Matthew Perpetua (Fluxblog) joins the pod for an extended conversation about Steely Dan, a Boomer band that Gen X had to learn to like (as they got older) but which had a different appeal for Millennials and Gen Z thanks to their music being sampled in hip-hop and their inclusion in “Yacht Rock” subculture.

Along the way we discuss the cinematic properties of the band’s music through their storytelling and Kubrickian approach to production, the heavy use of irony and subversion in their lyrics, the usual reasons why people bear grudges against their music, and an appreciation of their 1980 album Gaucho as the perfect soundtrack for people just vibin’ in COVID-era solitude.

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Check out Matthew’s great new music podcast Fluxpod and the Fluxpod Patreon

Steely Dan Dictionary (an important resource once you’ve been Danpilled)

Excerpt from the VH1 Classic Albums episode on Aja - the making of Peg (including isolated Michael McDonald vocals!)

Three illustrative Steely Dan songs

- Glamour Profession (1980)

- Razor Boy (1973)

- The Fez (1976)

Music video for New Frontier - Donald Fagen, from The Nightfly (1982)

Tom Robinson - Ricky Don’t Lose That Number (a cover version that makes the subtext text)