Jams and Tea

Jams and Tea

By Jams and TeaMusicMusic Commentary
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Jams and Tea episodes

  • Fleetwood Mac's Last Masterpiece: TANGO IN THE NIGHT

    For this week's Record Club, Jake, Ryley, and Morgan are breaking down Fleetwood Mac's brilliant, hugely successful but still overlooked 1987 classic TANGO IN THE NIGHT - the final studio record on which all core members would actively contribute, and a tumultuous album which houses a number of the group's most enduring standards. How does the album hold up today, and what do its songs tell us about the stories and lives of the songwriters behind them? Join us as we dig into it, and let us know what this record means to you in the comments on YouTube!


    48 min
  • The SHORTEST Albums You Need To Hear! (plus: M83, Joanna Newsom, Rick Ross and more!)

    For this week's NOW episode we're flipping the script on last week and celebrating our favorite albums that run under 30 minutes (some of which are even shorter than 20!), taking the time to talk about what makes these records work and feel complete at such a tiny runtime, and how artists can use brevity to leave a lasting impact. We also discuss at length the new album from M83, talk about the impending return of Joanna Newsom, the many newsworthy stories of Rick Ross, who should play Joni Mitchell in Cameron Crowe's film of her life, and much more!
    Let us know your favorite short albums in the comments on YouTube!

    0:00 Intro

    2:46 Joanna Newsom Surprise Concert and New Era

    5:59 Cameron Crowe is Making a Joni Mitchell Movie

    10:19 The Smile Recording Album #2 Already

    12:16 Rick Ross Appreciation Corner

    19:02 New Swans Album Finally Announced

    21:45 Jake's Grindcore Arc

    25:00 Jake Listens to Classics from Wilco and The D-Plan

    30:37 Jake Dives Into Joanna Newsom

    37:47 M83 - Fantasy (Full Bonus Review)

    49:56 The New Lil Ugly Mane Singles Compilation Is Essential

    54:00 Essential Albums Under 30 Minutes

    1 hr 42 min
  • 100 Gecs Make an Explosive Comeback & Yves Tumor Seeks the God Inside

    We're back a day early with two deep dives into two huge and celebrated new releases from big artists! First up is the long-awaited return of 100 Gecs with the ridiculous sugar high of the absurd, memetic miasma of 10,000 Gecs. After that we unpack the arc and themes within the work of the brilliant Yves Tumor, whose new album takes their soul-searching interrogations of identity and self-discovery to ecstatic and spiritual new heights with the astonishing Praise a God Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume (or: Hot Between Worlds)!
    Let us know what you think of either of these records in the comments on YouTube!
    0:00 100 Gecs - 10,000 Gecs
    39:53 Yves Tumor - Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume

    1 hr 15 min
  • The LONGEST Albums You Need To Hear (plus: Oscars 2023, Morgan Wallen, Macklemore)

    For this week's NOW episode, Jake and Ryley are discussing their favorite albums that approach the 2 hour mark and sometimes go way longer - how can a band justify such an absurd length for a record, and what makes the best super-long albums work? Join us as we dig into these questions and more. Plus we also discuss our thoughts on the 2023 Oscar winners, the abysmal new albums from Morgan Wallen and Macklemore, as well as new announcements and discussion topics from the week in music. Let us know your favourite 2+ hour albums in the comments on YouTube!


    TIMESTAMPS

    0:00 Our Thoughts on the 2023 Oscars
    14:21 The Meg White Discourse
    20:47 The Cure versus Ticketmaster
    26:50 Announcements: Animal Collective reissue, Sigur Ros return
    30:48 Jake Gets Into Wilco
    37:55 Jake's Recs: The Magnetic Fields, Sidney Gish, Meaningful Stone
    42:01 The Dismemberment Plan's Change is a Perfect 10
    53:17 The New Morgan Wallen Album Is Bad
    1:06:33 The New Macklemore Album Is Terrible
    1:22:15 Our Essential 2+ Hour Albums

    2 hr 17 min
  • Fever Ray's Radical Romantics & the Endless Summer Frustration of Miley Cyrus

    For this week's new release reviews, Jake and Ryley dive deep into the poetic, thoughtful, irreverent, and deeply funky explorations of sexuality and gender in Fever Ray's stellar new album RADICAL ROMANTICS, as well as pondering the bizarre and elusive career arc of Miley Cyrus with her new album ENDLESS SUMMER VACATION. Let us know what you think of either of these records in the comments on YouTube!
    0:00 Fever Ray - Radical Romantics
    37:17 Miley Cyrus - Endless Summer Vacation

    1 hr 11 min
  • RAIN DOGS: How Tom Waits Made a Masterpiece

    Once again in the Record Club series we're excited to dig into another seminal record from the legendary Tom Waits, and this time it's none other than his 1985 masterpiece RAIN DOGS. Join us as we unpack the unique stylistic shift, memorable and idiosyncratic lyrical topics and themes, and overall structure of one of Tom's most celebrated and revered works, and why it lives up to the hype. Let us know what you think in the comments on YouTube!

    54 min
  • When "BAD" Artists Make GREAT Albums

    This week's NOW discussion is a reversal of last week's, where we talked about regrettable records from beloved artists. This week we put a more positive spin on the topic and try our best to celebrate when artists or bands we typically hate suddenly win us over with one surprising new release. Let us know what your picks would be in the comments on YouTube.

    Check out Team Tremolo here: https://teamtremolo.bandcamp.com/

    0:00 Intro 1:11 Scarin' the Hoes Tracklist Announcement 6:15 Sufjan Takes Illinois to the Stage 7:17 Love Rising Benefit Concert for Queer Youth 8:52 New Album Announcements: McKinley Dixon, Panopticon 11:08 New Singles: Protomartyr, The Antlers, The Menzingers 17:22 The Best Song of the Year So Far 21:02 New Release Recs: Ulthar, Team Tremolo 30:34 Jake's Fixations: Sleater-Kinney & LOONA 48:01 Great Albums from "Bad" Artists

    1 hr 32 min
  • Slowthai's UGLY Unraveling & Kali Uchis's Emotional Return

    The theme is self-love this week, as the vastly different but surprisingly spiritually similar new albums from Slowthai and Kali Uchis espouse the virtues of putting yourself first, and the consequences of leaving others behind. This is especially true for Slowthai, whose new album UGLY sees the British rapper reinventing his sound and deepening his ambitions. Kali Uchis's beautiful new album Red Moon In Venus is less intense but complicated in its own way, and both are worth hearing. Let us know what you think in the comments on YouTube!

    0:00 Kali Uchis - Red Moon In Venus 

    18:14 Slowthai - UGLY

    48 min
  • When GREAT Bands Make TERRIBLE Albums (plus: Model/Actriz, BCNR, Caroline Polachek, Skrillex & more)

    On this week's NOW episode, Jake and Ryley are making up for lost time with a bumper episode catching up with big albums from Model/Actriz, Caroline Polachek, Skrillex, and more, as well as discussing the latest in music news, album anniversaries, and important single drops. Our main topic of discussion though is reflecting on what has to happen, and how it happens, for great bands to make truly terrible albums - where do things go wrong, and how do such all-time stinkers as Elton John's Victim of Love and Daft Punk's Human After All hold up today? Let us know what you think over on YouTube.

    0:00 Intro 3:57 Danny Brown and JPEGMAFIA Are Scarin' the Hoes 6:25 Music News: De La Soul, Big Thief, and Lizzo 12:07 Album Anniversaries: Cerulean Salt, The Ugly Organ, Paris 1919 23:28 New Singles: boygenius, Sparks, Jason Isbell 33:38 In Memoriam: Wayne Shorter, David Lindley, Steve Mackey 42:01 Black Country New Road - Live at Bush Hall 50:41 Model/Actriz - Dogsbody 58:51 Caroline Polachek - Desire I Want to Turn Into You 1:04:39 Riverside's ID.Entity Is a Fucking Disaster 1:16:14 Insomnium Make Essential Melodic Death Metal 1:22:18 Avey Tare's New Solo Album Is His Best Yet 1:25:45 Orbital's New Album Is a Crushing Disappointment 1:33:39 Skrillex's New Album Is... Really Good? 1:39:39 Terrible Albums from Great Bands

    2 hr 36 min
  • Gorillaz Take Us to Cracker Island & Algiers Leave Us Shook!

    For this week's new release reviews, Jake and Ryley tackle the frustrating new album from Damon Albarn's legacy pop collective Gorillaz, CRACKER ISLAND, before digging deep into the intense, brash, and colorful new album from genre-defying act Algiers: SHOOK. Let us know what you think of these albums in the comments on YouTube!  

    0:00 Gorillaz - Cracker Island 42:35 Algiers - Shook

    1 hr 26 min

About Jams and Tea

From the publisher's feed

We are a group of friends from across the globe, and every week we discuss, review, and generally chat about the latest and greatest in music. Every Monday we discuss the latest news and records we've…