Completely Conspicuous

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of this decade (2010-14).

Show notes:

- Looking back

- Breitling: My top albums of the 2013 and 2014 didn't make this list

- JB's #10 and JK's #9

- "The purest distillation" of this band's sound

- JK's #10

- Harking back to '70s glam punk

- JB's #9

- New sound for indie rock stalwart

- JB's #8

- Lots of side projects spun off from this band

- JK's #8

- A super outing from an indie supergroup

- JB's #7

- Unclear whether another release is coming from this act

- JK's #7

- Top pick of 2011

- Turned Out a Punk is an interesting podcast

- JB's #6

- Breakthrough for excellent indie act

- JK's #6

- Television-Velvet Underground sound

- 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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2015.

Show notes:

- Jay Kumar's #5 album of the year

- Productive collective out of the Bay Area

- Jay Breitling's #4

- What's next for Jonah Furman?

- JK's #4

- JB's #3

- Dark, crazy guitar ambience

- JK's #3

- Another indie darling blowing up big

- JB's #2

- Another great shoegaze act makes its mark

- JK's #2

- A local indie act does well nationally

- JB's #1

- Marriage of electronic and guitar rock

- JK's #1

- Topped midyear list, still holds up

- Looking ahead to 2016

- Next week: Our favorites of the first half of the decade (2010-14)

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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2015.

Show notes:

- More music out than ever before

- JK: Immersed in top 40 pop against my will thanks to my kids

- JB's honorable mentions

- Ava Luna is the Steely Dan of indie rock

- JK's honorable mentions

- Some notable comeback albums

- JB's #10

- JK's #10

- The insanity of the Paris concert tragedy

- JB's #9

- JK's #9

- The ever-prolific Patrick Stickles

- JB's #8

- JK's #8

- Constant touring hones a band's sound

- JB's #7

- JK's #7

- JB's #6

- Exploding in Sound is the indie rock label of the moment

- JK's #6

- JB's #5

- For those not about to rock, we salute you

- 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.

This week, I'm joined by author Greg Renoff as we discuss the response to his new book about the early days of Van Halen.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Buy Greg's book Van Halen Rising at Amazon or get a signed copy from the Van Halen Store

- We last spoke in March before the book came out

- Great response from readers

- Selling well on Amazon, was reviewed in Rolling Stone

- DLR's role in the band's early days surprised some

- Roth defied the odds to become a star

- Gene Simmons was an early supporter of the band

- Roth had different musical interests than the VH brothers

- Greg: Not sure what next writing project will be

- Meeting readers at book signings is fun

- Launch party in Pasadena featured VH's original bassist Mark Stone

- Visited neighborhood where VH played backyard parties

- The revolutionary sound of "Eruption"

- VH's disappointing live album

- Debate over what's in the archives

- The future of the band is murky

- Little released output from Eddie over the last 15 years

- Dave's role in the band is much different now

- DLR could be reuniting with his Eat 'Em and Smile-era band for some shows

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.

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1992.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Jay: Rollins Band broke out with The End of Silence

- Jay's #5

- The best album from The Tragically Hip

- Brian's #5 and Jay's #4

- Pavement's first stab at greatness

- The Pavement reunion was disappointing

- Brian's #4 and Jay's #2

- Brian's #3

- 1992 was a banner year for Alice in Chains

- Dirt was unrelentingly dark

- Jay's #3

- Jay: The album that got me into Buffalo Tom

- Saw them play Let Me Come Over front to back earlier this year

- Brian's #2

- Found at CMJ conference: Balanescu Quartet does Kraftwerk

- Sugar was a great combination of Bob Mould's worlds

- Came out at the right time as alt-rock was hitting

- Brian's #1

- With Kerplunk, Green Day laid blueprint for future success

- Jay's #1

- The Afghan Whigs set up a great decade melding rock with R&B

- A few others we missed

- Next year to tackle: 1983

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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1992.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Brian: A friend was at the Eagles of Death Metal show in Paris but escaped unharmed

- Security at club shows is minimal

- Post-9/11 concert experiences

- Bands formed in '92: Brainiac, Bush, Shellac, Sugar, Weezer

- Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" is a great song

- Bands that broke up in '92: Bullet Lavolta, Europe, Fine Young Cannibals, Feelies

- Albums that didn't make our top 5

- Brian: Nirvana, Late!, GBV, Ween, They Might Be Giants, Beasties, R.E.M.

- Jay: Lemonheads, Rage Against the Machine, Sloan, Neil Young, Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees

- Tom Scharpling does the best version of "Killing in the Name Of"

- Jay: Saw Alice in Chains at a small Boston club in late '92

- Automatic for the People was the last great R.E.M. album

- 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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1992.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- In '92, Brian turned 10 and Jay turned 25

- Hot 100 chart had a lot of pop, R&B, some hip hop

- But alternative rock was booming

- "Baby Got Back" was #2 song of the year

- Clapton's Unplugged album was huge

- The greatness of early Dire Straits

- Pat Smear in the Chili Peppers?

- The evolution of Guns 'N Roses

- Axl's vampire voice

- Labels got rid of the CD longbox

- Once it was about hifi, now nobody cares about audio quality

- Big year for rock weddings

- Concert for Life paid tribute to the late Freddie Mercury

- Wayne's World appealed to both of us for different reasons

- Hair metal died in the U.S. but remained huge in Europe

- Montreal fans rioted because of Axl's antics

- Arena shows were de rigeur in the '70s and '80s

- Bands play much smaller venues now

- 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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the problem with research studies.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Don't get sick!

- Studies can be scary

- Apply some logic when reading studies

- People live in fear of everything

- We love to get worked up about studies

- Studies with no research on long-term effects

- Studies seem to have lost all value

- Outrage only lasts for about a week and we move on

- Nobody wants to take the time to verify

- Are cell phones dangerous? Let's hope not

- Studies: Everything gives you cancer

- We're all gonna die!

- Only thing Wall-e got wrong was everyone was happy

- Pixar wants to make you sad

- Near-death running experiences

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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the problem with research studies.

Show notes:

- Order Matt's book The Entropy of Everything: The Indestructibles Book 3

- Surviving Halloween in Salem

- Endless barrage of studies

- You can find a study to prove just about any point

- Pick and choose the result you want

- Going down the WebMD wormhole

- Studies get picked up by mass media

- People don't verify the research, just pass it on

- Morning TV shows are an empty void

- Study says processed meat causes cancer

- The research-industrial complex

- Watch out for Big Vegetable

- The folly of the Farmer's Almanac

- The influence of pharma companies on research studies

- Too much TV as a child dident make us dumm

- Rarely watch TV now without social media interruptions

- Studies don't change behavior

- 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.

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Mike Heyliger as we discuss the trials and tribulations of moving.

Show notes:

- Check out Mike's blog Popblerd and his podcast Blerd Radio

- Jay: Haven't moved since 2000, but moved a lot in the '80s and '90s

- TVs used to be a lot bigger and heavier

- People used to always move around September 1

- Jay: Used to borrow the newspaper delivery van for moves

- Mike: Upcoming move back to New York will be like going to a different place

- Narrowed list down to a handful of cities to settle down in

- Mike: Currently conveniently located near Boston-area clubs

- Watertown is a quiet community, but Boston Marathon bomber was caught there

- Tough times for journalism majors

- Mike: Took a while to get used to earlier Boston closing times

- It's easier to stay out super late when you're younger

- Drunken work parties are always interesting

- You don't want to be the drunk one

- Alcohol-fueled fun can lead to awkwardness at work

- Mike: Been working from home for several years

- Looking forward to separating work from home life

- It's tough being the person on the other end of the speaker phone

- Mike: New office will have an open floor plan

- You have to be conscious of people around you in an open office

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.