Completely Conspicuous

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss the year in music. I've also got music from Bob Mould, Dum Dum Girls and Radiator Hospital.

Show notes:

- Recorded at Clicky Clicky World HQ

- Still searching for a beer sponsor

- An annual tradition

- JB: Post-device lifestyle

- Streaming options abound

- JK: Still use the iTunes player

- Nobody's buying music anymore

- Vinyl found a niche with hipsters/indie rock fans

- Another big year for pop

- Taylor Swift had the only platinum album of 2014

- The spirit of radio is on the ropes

- More music out there than ever

- Noise for Toys benefit at Great Scott, 12/16

- Missed the Replacements show in Boston

- JK: Saw lots of good live shows in 2014

- Parquet Courts, Protomartyr, Ty Segall, Sloan, GBV, Afghan Whigs, Caspian

- JB: Hoping for a Ride show in Boston next year

- Next week: Our favorite music of the year

Music:

Bob Mould - Hey Mr. Grey

Dum Dum Girls - Under These Hands

Radiator Hospital - Five & Dime

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Bob Mould song is on the album Beauty & Ruin on Merge Records. Download the song for free from KEXP.

The Dum Dum Girls song is on the album Too True on Sub Pop. Download the song for free from Soundcloud.

The Radiator Hospital song is on the album Torch Song. Download the song and album for free at Bandcamp. 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 Matt Phillion as we discuss media-driven hysteria. I've also got music from The Sheila Divine, Meatbodies and Interpol.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's new book, The Indestructibles: Breakout

- What's the next big media story?

- Charlie keeps butting in

- It's amazing what gets people upset

- Reality TV plays into outrage culture

- Internet comments reach new depths

- Easy to be cynical about politics

- Would you ever run for office?

- Vote Beelzebub

- We were inundated with New Hampshire political ads for two months

- The importance of reading cue cards on SNL

- Chris Rock caught some heat for telling jokes about Boston Marathon

- Post 9-11, humor became a touchy subject

- Everybody's waiting to be offended

- Know your audience, like the Duck Dynasty guys

- The risk of alienating your audience

- We never really fix anything

Music:

The Sheila Divine - Watch Out for Us

Meatbodies - Mountain

Interpol - What is What

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Sheila Divine song is available for free download at Bandcamp.

The Meatbodies song is on the album Meatbodies on In the Red Recordings. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Interpol song is a B-side from the album El Pintor on Matador Records. Download the song for free by entering the words "Everything is Wrong" on the band's 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 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss media-driven hysteria. I've also got music from King Tuff, Greylag and Dream Police.

Show notes:

- Check out Matt's new book, The Indestructibles: Breakout

- Reading newspapers was once a thing

- Boston was a strong two newspaper town

- The Herald used to delight in tweaking the Globe

- Election ads go for the blue collar vote

- "Like hugging a Chicken McNugget"

- When your new boss is an uninspirational leader

- Matt: The end user is the product

- Pop-up ads are the worst

- People don't want to hear bad news

- It's entirely possible to avoid anything you disagree with

- Nobody wants to find middle ground

- News networks try to ratchet up the hysteria

- Fragmented workplaces

- Friends who aren't on social media are easily forgotten

- Jay: I don't talk to anyone on the phone anymore

-Another Charlie interruption

- To be continued

Music:

King Tuff - Eyes of the Muse

Greylag - Yours to Shake

Dream Police - Hypnotized

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The King Tuff song is on the album Black Moon Spell on Sub Pop. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Greylag song is on the album Greylag on Dead Oceans. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Dream Police song is on the album Hypnotized on Sacred Bones Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

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 media-driven hysteria. I've also got music from Dan Mangan and Blacksmith, GravelRoad and Wimps.

Show notes:

- Jay and Matt, bitchin' and drinking beer

- Enough with the pumpkin beer

- We've both worked in the media

- There's always a hot topic to get upset about

- Ebola's got everybody worked up

- It's been around for 40 years, but finally made it here

- Ebola response became a political football

- Before that, it was terrorism

- John Grisham made a controversial comment, which was forgotten after ISIS and Ebola dominated headlines

- CNN, Fox News, MSNBC amp up the stupid

- Twitter is the go-to source for news these days

- Matt was at Rhode Island ComiCon

- People love to be outraged

- Angry tweet from a low-level celeb can cause a stir

- Mixing up your social media accounts

- The end user is the product

-Dealing with clickbait

- To be continued

Music:

Dan Mangan + Blacksmith - Vessel

GravelRoad - Green Grass

Wimps - Stop Having Fun

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Dan Mangan + Blacksmith song is on the album Club Meds on Arts and Crafts. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The GravelRoad song is on the album El Scuerpo on Knick Knack. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Wimps song is on the album Repeat on End of Times Records. Download the album for free at Gimme Tinnitus.

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 Ric Dube as we look at the career of '70s pop star Leo Sayer. I've also got music from Menace Beach, Thee Oh Sees and The Fresh & Onlys.

Show notes:

- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ

- Check out our new web series Trust Fund Challenge

- In '77, Sayer hit it big with "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"

- Jumped on disco bandwagon

- Hit #1 and was on charts for 17 weeks

- Had a song in top 40 from Nov. '76 to Feb. '78

- "When I Need You" also hit #1

- Ric: Skate park memories

- Smoothed out all the edges

- We listened to a lot of kind of stuff at college newspaper

- By the mid-80s, Sayer was a distant memory

- "More Than I Can Say" was originally written by guys from The Crickets

- Half country, half Fleetwood Mac

- Sayer started doing covers in the '80s

- Ric loves Anzac biscuits from Australia

- "Sheetwood Mac"

- Sayer had some UK hits in the '80s

- Ric talks up the post

- What happened to Beck?

- An Australian artist remixed "Thunder in My Heart" in 2006 and it went to #1 there

- Sayer did Beatles covers for All This and World War II, a pseudo-documentary that bombed

- Voiced Dan the Forest Ranger in Canadian cartoon called The Raccoons on Ice

Music:

Menace Beach - Fortune Teller

Thee Oh Sees - I Was Denied

The Fresh & Onlys - Fascinated

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Menace Beach song is on the album Ratworld on Memphis Industries. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The song from Thee Oh Sees is on the album Warm Slime on In the Red. Download the song for free at Epitonic.

The Fresh & Onlys song is on the album Play It Strange on In the Red. Download the album for free at Epitonic.

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 look at the career of '70s pop star Leo Sayer. I've also got music from Nude Beach, The Vaselines and Happy You.

Show notes:

- Recorded at More Lost Time world HQ

- Check out our new web series Trust Fund Challenge

- Just watched the 1969 grindhouse flick The Babysitter

- Rated X then, pretty tame by today's standards

- Our society's pruder in some ways, more open in others

- Leo Sayer was discovered by David Courtney and Adam Faith

- Ric: Sayer was less threatening than Elton John or Barry Manilow

- Adam Faith was a British teen idol in early '60s

- Sayer and Faith had a falling out over money

- Sayer struck out at first

- Roger Daltrey recorded a Sayer song

- Sayer's version of "Giving It All Away" sounds like Elton

- Some weird album covers

- Dube: Sayer looked like a mime who sings

- British guys who sound American and vice versa

- To be continued

Music:

Nude Beach - For You

The Vaselines - Last Half Hour

Happy You - Chummy

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

The Nude Beach song is on the album 77 on Don Giovanni Records. Download the song for free for a limited time at Amazon MP3.

The Vaselines song is on the album V for Vaselines on Rosary Music. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Happy You song is on the self-released album Giggle. Download the album for free (in exchange for your email address) at Bandcamp.

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 the latest installment of Driving with Kumar as I share some thoughts while driving to and from my 25th college reunion. I've also got music from Ty Segall, Wormburner and The Pharmacy.

Show notes:

- No regrets about college years

- Could have graduated a semester early, but chose to stay for full year

- Got a job before I graduated

- Worked first few months at newspaper while also working weekends at supermarket

- Moved to Massachusetts after a few months

- Lived in 10 different places in a decade

- One apartment I shared with three women; a year later, it was all guys

- Nearly got married in mid-20s

- Went to Homecoming in '93 and passed on a party to go home and watch World Series

- Toronto won Series on Joe Carter HR that night

- Went up to UNH a lot the first few years after college

- On drive home

- Lots of drunken kids when I arrived at 2:30

- Wandered around through a mass of partying young people

- Eventually found class of '89 tent and my old roommate

- Saw some folks I hadn't seen in many years

- Only saw a little of the football game

- Overwhelming feeling of oldness, but had fun

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

Music:

Ty Segall - Feel

Wormburner - Somewhere Else to Be

The Pharmacy - Masten Lake Lagoon

The Ty Segall song is on the album Manipulator on Drag City. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Wormburner song is on the album Pleasant Living in Planned Communities on Dive Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Pharmacy song is on the album Spells on Old Flame Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

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 the latest installment of Driving with Kumar as I share some thoughts while driving to my 25th college reunion. I've also got music from Sleater-Kinney, Coaches and The Cherry Wave.

Show notes:

- Coached in a youth soccer tournament before driving up to University of New Hampshire

- Haven't gone to a college reunion before

- Still see many friends from college on occasion

- Nearly flunked out freshman year

- Switched from engineering to journalism and turned it around

- Worked for newspaper for six years after college

- Journalism majors use theirs skill in different ways now

- College was my first time away from parental discipline

- Real partying began when grades improved

- Did not drink in high school

- First weekend in college, that changed

- Freshman year roommate had a tough time

- Sophomore year roomie was super busy with activities

- Moved off campus junior year

- Unlucky in love

- Always hung out with both nerds and jocks

- Ate a lot of junk food

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

Music:

Sleater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends

Coaches - amisarewaswere

The Cherry Wave - Whitey

The Sleater-Kinney song is on the forthcoming album No Cities to Love on Sub Pop. Download the song for free (in exchange for your email address) at Stereogum.

The Coaches song is available for free download at Bandcamp.

The Cherry Wave song is on the forthcoming album Avalancher and available for free download at Bandcamp.

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 1996. I've also got music from Ex Hex, Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas, and Mini Dresses.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's new radio show Unsolicited Mixtape

- Brian's #5

- Olivia Tremor Control made Brian's favorite Elephant 6 album

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

- Frank Black had a tough task following up Teenager of the Year

- Moved to a rawer sound

- In the middle of an excellent stretch of solo music

- Jay's #4

- Weezer's underrated (at the time) masterpiece

- Brian's #3

- Ween goes to Nashville

- Serious musicianship behind silly songs

- Jay's #3

- Afghan Whigs' Black Love was a cinematic concept album

- Serious Quadrophenia feel on the ballads

- Brian's #2

- Fountains of Wayne's debut was also underrated

- Jay's #2

- Sloan bounced back from short-lived breakup to put together a brilliant album

- Trading a Ween mix for a Sloan mix

- Brian's #1

- Pinkerton was the first album Brian liked and his friends didn't

- Serious dropoff in quality since then

- Jay's #1

- Beck followed up Mellow Gold with an amazing album

- Brian: Midnite Vultures is the best Prince album of the '90s

- Next up: 1988

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

Music:

Ex Hex - Don't Wanna Lose

Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas - Caught Up

Mini Dresses - In Two

The Ex Hex song is on the album Rips on Merge Records. Download the song for free for a limited time at KEXP.

The Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas song is on the album Secret Evil on Instant Records. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Mini Dresses song is on the EP Three and available for free download at Bandcamp.

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 1996. I've also got music from King Tuff, Purling Hiss and Young Adults.

Show notes:

- Recorded via Skype

- Check out Brian's comics podcast The Hour Cosmic

- Brian: Beck's Odelay was just outside my top 5

- New album's okay, but not great

- Brian: Cake, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Wrens' Secaucus

- The endless wait for the new Wrens album

- Brian was supposed to play piano with the Wrens but got sick

- Sticking up for Stone Temple Pilots' album

- Jay: STP were equal opportunity ripoff artists

- The '90s brought new wave of festivals: Lolla, Gathering of the Vibes, HORDE, Ozzfest

- Jay: No desire to go to Bonnaroo or Coachella

- Nothing better than seeing a band in a club

- Jay: Dug albums from D Generation, Sebadoh, Luscious Jackson, Johnny Cash, Chixdiggit, Brainiac, GBV, Maxwell, Westerberg

- Singing the praises of Live at Drew's

- Brian: Belle and Sebastian, Bill Frisell

- Frisell did the soundtrack to a Far Side cartoon

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review!

Music:

King Tuff - Headbanger

Purling Hiss - Forcefield of Solitude

Young Adults - Old Kids

The King Tuff song is on the album Black Moon Spell on Sub Pop. Download the song for free for a limited time at Amazon MP3.

The Purling Hiss song is on the album Weirdon on Drag City. Download the song for free at KEXP.

The Young Adults song is available for free download at Bandcamp.

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.