A Chinese & Taiwanese fusion episode. An anniversary episode. A great, great movie episode. In The Mood For Love from director Wong Kar-Wai is a seductive visual masterpiece about the painful beauty of longing and heartbreak. Edward Yang's Yi Yi is a generational family story about the under-appreciated beauty of our ordinary, messy lives. Both are visionary works of art released 20 years ago and they are two of cinema's greatest achievements from master filmmakers. 

Through some technical difficulties on this episode, we have some fun discussion and Nick achieves possibly the ultimate happy tear? What does that even mean?

In the Mood For Love starts at 6:45

Yi Yi starts at 32:15

Taylor Swift! SAULT! Fleet Foxes! Other musicians! Our favorite albums of the months of July, August, and September in the year of Corona: 2020. Despite an absolute dumpster fire of a year, there has been some wonderful and uplifting music to help us cling desperately to our collective humanity. If you're looking for hope and levity, there's some here. It's not much, but it's something. <3

Catch the playlist of our highlight tracks here!

Full list of artists covered: Taylor Swift, Dinner Party, Kamaal Williams, Kacy Hill, Madeline Kenney, The Beths, Colter Wall, All Them Witches, Mildlife, Gregory Porter, Spillage Village, Mirror Gazer, Samia, Misha Panfilov Sound Combo, IDLES, SAULT, Bobby Sessions, Garrett Owen, Fleet Foxes, Sufjan Stevens, Sylvan Esso, and Lianne La Havas.

This week on the pod we revisit Stillwater and the Band-aids for the 20th anniversary of Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. Come sing "Tiny Dancer" with us as we cry happy tears and remain uncool.

We finish our deep dive of the career of the incomparable Fiona Apple with an exploration of her albums Extraordinary Machine, The Idler Wheel, and Fetch The Bolt Cutters. Drinking game: take a shot any time you hear the words: genius, stunning, striking, or "she's just SO GOOD!"

Extraordinary Machine starts at 1:55

The Idler Wheel starts at 27:40

Fetch The Bolt Cutters starts at 51:30

The release of Fiona Apple's stunning 2020 album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters inspired us to take a look at the career of the incomparable Fiona Apple. In this episode we examine the state of the mid-90s music industry that Fiona exploded onto, as well as her first two albums Tidal and When the Pawn...

Music Industry background starts at 8:46

Tidal starts at 10:50

When the Pawn... starts at 30:30

On this episode, we discuss the comic book sensation, Saga. This sprawling space opera is one of the most celebrated comic books of the last decade. From its incredibly imaginative character design, to it's detail-rich worlds, and it's incredibly charming ensemble, this universe has captured the hearts of millions of readers and just might belong among the greatest sci-fi stories of all time...(?)

Despite being an ongoing, seemingly never-ending train wreck in every other sense, 2020 has been an incredible year for music. We go through our favorite albums, month by month from January to June. We discuss such artists as Andy Shauf and Fiona Apple and SAULT and Denzel Curry and Jeff Rosenstock and Phoebe Bridgers and many, many, (maybe too many?) more! 

Bed-Stuy, do or die! We're spending some time in pre-gentrified Brooklyn this episode to discuss James McBride's new novel Deacon King Kong and Spike Lee's legendary film Do The Right Thing. These works both feature wacky ensembles, uproarious humor, love, hate, a lot of light, a little bit of darkness, and they're both really, really good. WAKE UP!

Deacon King Kong starts at 4:35.

Do The Right Thing starts at 19:05.

026: March by John Lewis // SAULT

Congressman John Lewis was a civil rights activist and an American hero. We honor him in this episode as we discuss the comic book series MARCH (written by Congressman Lewis, Andrew Aydin, illustrate by Nate Powell) which is a three-part graphic novel about the civil rights movement of the 1960's. Then, we explore the incredible, afrocentric, new album UNTITLED (BLACK IS) by the UK collective SAULT.  As a work of revolutionary art that explores the black experience, often as it relates to police and the establishment, this album may have arrived precisely at the moment that it was most needed.

Rest in peace, John Lewis.

March starts at 6:30.

SAULT starts at 26:15.