Desert Island Discourse

It's been a long, angsty few weeks here at the island. In the midst of myriad work stresses, life changes, bad albums (from the former occupant of this slot), and, of course, the sad loss of Linkin Park vocalist Chester Bennington. When it came time to record this episode, your good good music pals were in pretty rough shape indeed.

But then, what better condition to be in to celebrate the music of Linkin Park? The band that was there for us when hormones and the dark conditions of mental health and middle school put us in a bad way, and who over the years managed to transform that rap-rock angst into anthemic power ballads, experimental electronica, and, most recently, EDM influence pop music, all while remaining at the top of the charts for nearly two decades. We start the episode one step closer to the edge, and it nearly breaks us. But with the help of Linkin Park, we're breaking the bait and...well, I'm all out of useable titles, but the episode is good!

Wellp, it happened again—due to a combination of audacity and human error, our Aphex Twin has been lost to time. But that’s ok—every podcast worth their salt needs a lost episode, and now we have on to take the place of our old lost episode, which has recently been salvaged from the bleached coral depths of our fateful island! That’s right, our original Sleater-Kinney episode, recorded way back in the fateful Month of Love and Hate, is finally seeing the light of day.

It’s not quite like our typical episodes—while I’ve edited out the long silences and managed to put in music (almost all of which is different from the music in our official episode—yes, Sleater-Kinney is just that good!), all the tangents and digressions we usually edit out for the sake of focus have been left in. In addition, my audio is kinda of weird and glitch throughout, although it’s still (mostly) understandable. So it’s a longer, messier episode, but frankly I think that just adds to its charm. I’ve always been really proud of what we did in this episode, and was super bummed that we weren’t able to release it. So I’m glad we could finally post up this lo-fi rarity for your listening pleasure. Enjoy! Also: Led Zeppelin shirts, Fraggle Rock covers, and one of the most elaborate Sesame Street jokes ever laid to tape.

TW: Abuse “Hi Mom” In our second ever B-Side, Andrew and Max get together and struggle with the existential dread of Laurie Anderson’s masterful track, “O Superman (For Massenet)”, and get really, really dark in the process. “O Superman (For Massenet)” is a weird track for a lot of reasons. It’s an excerpt from a…

We've had a good time with Bob Pollard over these last three weeks, but alas, every Julyded by Voices month must one day come to an end. Fret not though, for we're celebrating the holiday's end with Guided by Voices new beginning, exploring the 8 (!) albums they've released since reforming back in 2012. Yep, Bob brought the classic boys back together again, and we're here to guide you through their awkward first steps, their power pop triumphs, and eventual re-dissolution. And the story doesn't even end there, as we continue through a mysterious "solo" album and a massive double album monument from a reformed hi-fi lineup. How do these myriad forms of Guided by Voices stand up to their past selves? Well, it's messy, but it's also marvelous, much like this episode, which left quite a few PBR tall boys in its wake. Also: winking poets, parental beer snobs, silver badgers, and the debut of Desert Island Dinner tips!

The chaotic weather patterns of Julyded by Voices month have shipwrecked another guest on the island—fortunately, that guest is poet, actor, and Guided by Voices superfan Andrew McAlpine! That’s right, we have double the bearded Andrews on board to guide us through GBV’s wild and wooly hi-fi era. Spanning multiple lineups and a bevy of labels, this era is commonly seen as the moment when Bob Pollard lost his way, ditching the lo-fi charm of their classic albums for a more commercial sheen. Yet it also sees the band experimenting with their sound like never before, and the end result is an eccentric collection of highs and lows that produced some of the most interesting (and highest charting) albums of their career. With the help of Andy’s jovial, moderating presence, we take on a divisive set of albums, and find far more jewels than we expected. Also: Controversial Opinions, Doug Gillard's Extraneous Solos, and plenty of new stickers to help those albums fly off the shelves!

For our first B-Side, we're talking about Same Place the Fly Got Smashed (from our Guided by Voices Lo-Fi episode) with poet, musician, and raconteur James Eidson. In the process, we discuss our shared country origins, shifting perceptions of middle age, and, of course, fleshlights. It's like My Dinner with Andre, only excessively drunk. Enjoy!

It’s that time again, when we join together with family and friends to celebrate our proud heritage, shared love, and spirit of independence. That’s right, it’s Julyded by Voices month! For our latest poorly named and hurriedly invented holiday, we’re dedicating the next three weeks to national Tascam heroes Guided by Voices. This week we…

Welcome back to the island! Have you ever heard of a band called Pygmy Lush? Well I hadn't, so they were new to me! That's right, "If I Haven't Heard it it's New to Me Fortnight" (a.k.a IIHHIINTMF, or "Eehintimef" for short) is coming to close with a brief but dense discussion of these hardcore-veterans-turned-ambient-folkies. With only three and a half albums to their name, they managed to surprise this jaded, unfeeling woman, and we think you'll get a kick out of em too. Also: James Buchanan Fun Facts, a Treatise on the Inimitability of Tom Waits, and the only good cover of a Nirvana song in existence.

Music:

I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Ramones Cover)

Hurt Everything

Big Black River

No Feeling

Red Room Blues

Tumor

Proud King of the Doomed

November Song

Yellow Hall

A Weird Glow

Admit

Asphalt

Mount Hope

On a Plain (Nirvana Cover)

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Andrew's Cousin's Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFJ5Hljykcc

It's summer here on the island, so we're reviving ABC's old justification for reruns to justify our own experimental indulgence and telling each other, "If I haven't heard it, it's new to me!" This week is kicking off a two week special where Andrew and Max each bring in an artist the other hasn't heard of, and Max is starting us off with one of the most unpredictable bands in post-punk, Japan's own P-Model! Modern day composer Susumu Hirasawa's long-running early band went through a lot of changes over its 20 year existence, and we're covering perhaps it's most tumultuous period, from 1979's Devo-biting debut In a Model Room to the baroque synth-pop of 1986's One Pattern. In-between, we'll journey through goofy atonality, reverb heavy no-wave, gorgeous Cure style ballads, and Art of Noise-esque sound collages. But will this island import tickle Andrew's fancy? Probably! I mean, they're a real good band. Also: music hipster dick measuring contests, the varied works of Satoshi Kon, and just so, so much poorly pronounced/translated Japanese.

It’s been a tumultuous week in Great Britain, and we’re reaching out to our fellow island dwellers the only way we know how: by talking about a bunch of albums for, like, 90 minutes. Specifically, we’re covering possibly the strangest, cleverest, and Englishest band to come out of the British Invasion: The Kinks! Long beloved…