Discologist

Jim Lauderdale may not be a household name, but he should be. With twenty-plus years in the industry behind him and a staggering twenty-seven albums under his belt, Lauderdale isn't just the real deal; He is legend. 

London Southern takes the country-music veteran back to the music that first inspired him, inviting the listener along on a journey of reflection on and celebration of timeless art that shapes the musical landscape to this day.

PLUS! Ben Sollee is back and he's got a killer new album to show for it! Check out "Pieces Of You" off of the Kentucky native's latest Ben Sollee and Kentucky Native.

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In 2011 James Murphy brought an end to one of the biggest and best indie bands that have ever been. Now it's 2017 and LCD Soundsystem is back with a new album and bigger than ever. Live from the cat apartment, Kevin, Marcus, and Eduardo are taking on this American Dream to find out if it's the instant classic we all deserve, or just another non-essential comeback album from a band well past their prime.

PLUS! The New York Times is talking to women who rock, and Eduardo is spinning a new track from indie bossa nerds Mosquitos!

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Together or apart, long time musical collaborators Louis Weeks and Noah Berman have been creating some of the most forward thinking pop music of the past few years. When they started working on their latest project, it was familiar, yet different, and called out for something new. Out of this new collaboration, Faunaphor was born along with an exciting new phase of these old friends careers.

At the beginning of the Summer Louis and Noah joined Kevin in the basement to talk about And There I Was, the debut album from Faunaphor, what comes next and the inescapable pull of John Wick.

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First Up: Taylor Swift is gamifying the ticket industry? What does this mean for YOU and is this latest "big bad" really worth worrying about or should we be setting our sights higher.

Then...when Philadephia's Adam Granduciel started The War On Drugs with fellow mellow-rocker Kurt Vile back in 2006, the music industry was rapidly approaching the era of peak indie. Granduciel's small but intricate soundscapes stood out in a landscape dominated by fuss and flash, and on 2014's Lost In The Dream, the expanded lineup hit their stride with an album that balanced laid-back psychedelics with oceans of heart and soul. Dream earned The War On Drugs a rapidly growing fan base and a major-label deal, the results of which can be hard on their latest LP A Deeper Understanding. Kevin, Marcus, and Paul are digging into the band's latest forays to the edges of the sonicsphere to see if the trip is worth the journey, or The War On Drugs best days are behind them now.

Plus! Denver, CO's The Yawpers Boy In The Well, is the straight shot of rock-and-roll that we all need in 2017. Get a taste of this adrenaline fueled, high concept, punk-Americana masterpiece with the track "Mon Dieu." 

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Soundcloud is one of the most ubiquitous "tools" used by artists and industry professionals alike since the collapse of the MP3 blog culture. Communities have built up within it, artists have been discovered through it, and 

Earlier this month, the music service announced that they were laying off 40% of their workforce, closing two offices, and, it was discovered, may only have enough cash to run for another 50 days.

On our 300th episode (!!!) Kevin, Marcus and special guests April George and Matt Vista (April + Vista), are discussing what this collapse could mean for artists, the blogosphere and the industry at large, and figuring out how to save the music industry in the process*

PLUS: Thoughts on the future of the cast, and a listen to a track that is nearest and dearest to our hearts. 

*Spoiler: We don't save the music industry

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By 1987 the Grateful Dead's long, strange trip was starting to wind itself down, but a surprise hit single ("Touch Of Grey") would catapult the band back into the spotlight, inspire an entirely new generation of fans whose size would, in the end, play a large part in the band's untimely demise.

To celebrate it's 30th birthday, a group of proud Deadheads recently spent a Friday night in the basement with Kevin to talk through this divisive landmark in the band's history and try to figure out if it's just true that "every silver lining's got a touch of grey" or if the Dead were, at long last "going to hell in a bucket."

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With a string of mixtapes, EP's, and one LP behind him, hip-hop's Vince Staples has been making a mark on the new-rap landscape for years now. On his new album Big Fish Theory, he's taking the art form into the future and bringing us all along for the ride.

Kevin, Marcus Dowling (Decades/Capital Wrestling), and Joe Lapan (Songbyrd Music House) dig into this landmark effort from the young MC, and consider what this means for the future of hip-hop, where Staples is going to land once he comes down from the stratosphere, and much, much more. 

PLUS! Get to know the superfly jams of R&B/jazz/hip-hop supergroup The Pollyseeds before their album Sounds of Crenshaw, Vol 1 drops on 7/14. (This Friday!)

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In a recent article on artist advocacy site CASH Music, journalist Liz Pelly investigated "The Secret Lives Of Playlists", and what she found out has sparked another cycle of controversy for the world's largest provider of streaming music, Spotify.

Is payola running rampant in the world of playlists? Is that really a problem? Do streaming services have a "moral" obligation to artists or has the label system simply evolved, meet the new boss, same as the old boss? Casey Rae (The Priest They Called Him: William S. Burroughs & The Cult of Rock 'n' Roll) and Michael Kentoff (The Caribbean) join Kevin in the basement to try and navigate this hyper-complicated landscape and hopefully come up with some answers.

PLUS! Indie-Folk collective The Good Graces are back with a new LP (Set Your Sights) and we've got listen to one of it's best tracks for ya!

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With one of the biggest rock hits of all time ("Creep") and a genre defining guitar-rock classic (The Bends) under their belts, Radiohead had little left to prove when OK Computer was released in the Summer of 1997. Despite that, what they achieved was an album full of fear, anxiety, and beauty that quite literally changed the course of rock music as we know it.

On the latest installment of our Discologist series, we're taking a look at everything that made this modern-day masterpiece great, why it has withstood the test of time, and how its techno-phobic, anti-fascist themes are almost horrifically as relevant today as they were twenty years ago.

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Roger Waters, one of the founders of the legendary Pink Floyd, has always had a keen eye for isolation, oppression, and political justness. On his fifth solo LP, Is The The Life We Really Want?, he's turning that gaze on the United States and recruited a group of powerful "newcomers" (Johnathan Wilson, Jessica Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Lucius) to bring his stark vision of our present and future to life. 

Join Kevin, Michael Kentoff (The Caribbean) and Casey Rae (The Priest They Called Him: William S. Burroughs & The Cult of Rock 'n' Roll) as they dive deep into this savage political statement, Waters career, and much much more.

Happy Birthday America.​​​​​​​ 

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