Mixomusicology

Welcome to our second ever Classics episode, a deep dive into the career and discography of Liz Phair.

Alex names Phair as one of his most influential artists, and Jana knows almost nothing about her. Listen as Alex walks us through this roller coaster of a legendary career. Hands down, she holds a place as one of the most important voices and writers in rock to this day.

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But first, a drink:

BLOOD AND SAND

Liz Phair mentions in her interviews that while doing her early recording, she was mostly on the floor drinking scotch. This is enough for us…Scotch it is!

The Blood and Sand is a classic cocktail from 1922, named after the Rudolph Valentino film of the same name, which itself is based on an earlier Spanish novel. The film is about a torrid toreador love affair, which Alex feels is appropriate given Liz Phair’s most successful song, which we’ll talk about.

Ingredients

• 3⁄4 fl oz Blended Scotch whisky
• 3⁄4 fl oz Cherry (brandy) liqueur
• 3⁄4 fl oz Strucchi Rosso Vermouth
• 3⁄4 fl oz Orange juice (freshly squeezed)

Method

• Select and pre-chill a coupe glass.
• SHAKE all ingredients with ice.
• Fine strain into chilled glass.
• EXPRESS orange zest twist over the cocktail and use as garnish.

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This week's podcast will take you on a journey through Liz Phair’s discography, from her early cassette recordings as Girly-Sound to her almost unanimously acclaimed Exile in Guyville album to her early 2000’s pop swerve and all the way to present day Phair.

Use this as a starter pack and enjoy your own deep dive.

The tracklist:

1. Fuck or Die

2. Soap Star Joe

3. Chopsticks

4. Blood Keeper

5. Polyester Bride

6. Why Can’t I?

7. Wind And The Mountain

8. Bollywood

9. Divorce Song

10. Spanish Doors

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Episode edited by the genius Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

The only episode of this podcast where we will ever discuss Chet Hanx and Taylor Swift at the same time (probably).

Jana monologues us through the nepo situation. The word "nepotism" comes from the Italian nipote, meaning nephew, because Renaissance era popes kept passing down cardinal hats to their "nephews," who were often just their sons. It entered into current pop culture zeitgeist in 2022 when New York Magazine declared it the Year of the Nepo Baby.

Alex and Jana set some guidelines about what exactly gets you the moniker in music these days, as there are several echelons of nepo to be dealt with. We actually need a drink:

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Old Money No. 2

Adapted from a recipe created circa 2009 by Benjamin Schiller for BOKA Restaurant Group in Chicago, USA.

• 2 fl oz Bourbon whiskey
• 1⁄2 fl oz Bittersweet orange-red aperitivo
• 1⁄3 fl oz Nux Alpina Walnut Liqueur
• 1 dash Angostura Aromatic Bitters

(If you cannot find walnut liqueur, hazelnut will manage fine).

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First up with a Best pick, Maude Latour and "Lola." (Nepo qualifications: her Dad is the publisher of the WSJ and the CEO of the Dow Jones). She makes gay little pop songs, and they are great! The guitar and vocal intertwining is excellent here, her voice is gorgeous, and the lyrics are winners. Poetic, thoughtful, cute, and a love song that we all just need sometimes. Jana loves the line, "I'm turned on when I'm respected." Go girl, state your boundaries. Maude doesn't have the same risk others might have in her position, so she's making great, relatable, queer pop.

Jana is here to hate on Chet Hanx aka Chet Haze aka Tom Hanks' other kid as her Worst Nepo pick with "You Better Run." He's the self-appointed ambassador of "White Boy Summer." In his latest form, he is a Nashville-based trailer park livin' country singer in a duo called Something Out West. This song smells like a Monster Energy drink. Like Axe body spray. Hate-listen for their multiple uses of the word "run." His Dad is in the music video. Alex goes on a tangent: rich people get bored and go on little side quests. This project is one of them. It's generic country in a 2000's sort of way, which makes it even worse. Reheated slop.

Alex's Worst Nepo pick is Stella Lefty's "Boston." We sense a country theme here in these choices. This song is irredeemable and also hit No. 2 on the charts. Lefty's nepo qualifications are strong, her Dad is one of the billionaire founders of Groupon. She is adamant that she made it on her own, but she seems to have appeared overnight as opposed to a normal slow-burn developed career in country. She also is accused of multiple instances of plagiarism. We would hope that maybe if you have that much money, you would not need to rip other people off. The recording of this song...could be better. It sounds like a demo. The hook "I like it when you're nice to me," is...not groundbreaking.

Jana's pick for Best Nepo Baby is...not surprisingly, Taylor Swift. We also have to discuss the Encore EP to The Life of a Showgirl record, and man, do we have thoughts. Swift comes from marketing executive and Merrill Lynch stockbroker parentage. They were able to move their talented kid to Nashville to knock on doors when she was a young teenager. Privilege and hard work have paid off in spades. Now that she's evolved into billionaire land, we are seeing a disconnect.

The discourse is shifting, and there are things to call her out on. We listen to "Patient Zero," because we didn't want to rage-bait ourselves with "Cleveland!" It's standard Swift fare. The melody is sticky, the metaphor is interesting but maybe not as developed as we'd like. A Swift bridge is usually an Event, but it's just a ramble this time. The production with Max Martin and Shellback is also...not inspiring. Jana is really trying here as a Swiftie. (Alex recommends "Newspaper" by Fiona Apple if you want a good song with this theme). Everyone is phoning it in here. Jana is emphatic that she believes Taylor can do better, and calls her out for it. Hold your faves accountable, people. Jana: "She's kind of her own nepo baby at this point...she needs to rebirth a new Taylor." Ponder that.

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Episode edited by the glorious Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

Ah, the Song of the Summer. What are the choices? What do we LIKE, and what do we think are the obvious picks, whether we like them or not?

Alex introduces the Minicast this week, and Jana starts strong by saying she doesn’t much enjoy summer, so she doesn’t have a favorite Song of the Summer. Alex goes for Gwen Stefani’s “Cool.” Strong choice.

For 2026, though? Let’s chat about it. We each picked our personal favorite and also our choice that seems inescapable in Summer 2026. The rules: they have to be a notable release, released and/or charted between May 1 and September 1, and has to be an absolute banger. Easy! But first, a drink.

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The Mixomusicology Carajillo

Based on a Carajillo…bartenders started pulling this one because they were tired of espresso martinis! We get it!

Recipe:

• 2.5oz Licor 43 (if needed, any vanilla liqueur will do)
• 3oz cooled espresso
• .5oz amaro montenegro
• Pinch of salt

Reverse dry shake – a new method!

• Add all to a shaker with ice, shake hard for 10 seconds.
• Strain out ice, then dry shake for another 10 seconds.
• Express a lemon peel over it after, and discard

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Song of the Summer Choices:

Jana starts off with the undeniable chart hit, “Choosing Texas” by Ella Langley. This song has now been Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for so long (24 weeks), it surpassed Mariah Carey’s record for “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” This song has been out since October, the charts are barely moving, and also…this is a country song. A bunch of people in our circles have never heard this...and still, it's a true song of the summer. It’s a completely serviceable country song…it’s good! Ella Langley is good! Alex brings up “Islands in the Stream,” and Jana calls it inoffensive. Perfect for the song of the summer, really. Alex says, “Love Island: Chattanooga,” which someone needs to put into production stat. (Check out Helene Cronin’s cut on this record, “Speaking Terms”).

Alex’s pick for the ubiquitous summer hit is Slayyyter’s “Dance…” A completely different kind of track, this one has also been on the charts all summer. Slayyter brings her typical hardcore synth pop and it goes hard. “It doesn’t matter, let me dance,” is the true mood of Summer 2026, we think. The synth is abrasive and annoying and we love it. The intro is exceptionally long for a hit song, and it’s 5 minutes long. It should not be a hit, but it is and it works. Go dance.

Jana’s personal pick is so predictable…MUNA’s “Eastside Girls,” which has not charted per se but the album is firmly Jana’s Album of the Summer (TM). There are a lot of great options on this record, but the growling of Katie Gavin with the soaring chorus works so well. It’s all 80's neon in vibe, and the Billy Joel bridge makes you wanna sing-scream it.

Alex throws in a non-pick pick (cheating? It’s allowed) - "It’s Not Going to Be Okay" by Joshua Burnside. Go listen and buy it here.

Alex’s real pick is “Club To Your Arms” by Rose Gray. An ABBA-inufused perfect pop song…much needed to wrap up this minicast. It’s got the soaring chorus that we need, and Rose’s voice is absolute perfection here. There’s even a choir in the chorus. Yes. It’s sweet and sensual and perfect for summer. Best line is nonsense pop: “Do you want to wear the tiara?” Which she somehow managed to rhyme with “chameleon” and “found ‘em.” We are in love.

There you go - our choices. Everything is so niched out now, it’s hard to have a real obvious Song of the Summer. Let us know what you think…agree, disagree, want to drop a suggestion? Drop us a note on Instagram!

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Episode edited by the inimitable Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

Songs this week: Carly Rae Jepsen's "Burning Hearts," Miley Cyrus with "Different Religion," and Beabadoobee's "Satellite."

Alex thoughtfully monologues about our artists this week and their not-so-predictable career arcs. Carly Rae Jepsen, widely regarded by music nerds as one of the best ever pop writers and artists in the game, does not have the sales or cultural visibility to match that title. Miley’s career has taken a ton of turns genre-wise, and she seems to embrace the risk switching up her sound and following her muse. Both artists have very ardent gay followings, and the answer may be there: go find your gays, and make your music weirder.

This week’s drink:

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BURNING HEART

• 1.5oz Cocchi Americano
• .75oz Campari
• .75oz banana liqueur
• 2oz acid-adjusted guava
• 2 dashes celery bitters
• 1 tbsp lactic acid
• 2 dashes hopped grapefruit bitters (Jana, omit)
• garnish with Cara Cara orange covered with a sprinkle of sea salt

For acid adjusted guava juice:

• Add a tbsp of lactic acid powder, put into guava juice, shake until it dissolves.

Mix over ice, then pour over crushed ice

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Carly Rae Jepsen has given us a full 24 song double album, and we are talking about “Burning Heart.” We discuss the album as a whole, and agree maybe we need multiple spins to really absorb it. Jana says there’s a really good EP amongst the tracks, but both of us agree a lot of these tracks seem to blend together. Alex talks about how it’s sort of hard to discern a stark difference between the Day and Night sides of the record. We agree that CRJ’s baseline is already excellence, so we are invested. In “Burning Heart,” we hear a lot of Fleetwood Mac with the “Dreams” drums and the layered vocals, which are gorgeous. Plus, we get a 🚨CRJ SAXOPHONE MOMENT🚨!!! The lyrics aren’t super specific but work within the track, and overall…we have 24 new Carly Rae songs. We’ve won.

Miley Cyrus brings us “Different Religion,” and we immediately hear a lot of Tori Amos / Garbage / NIN influence in this track. Model/Actriz features with a perfect foil of a duet vocal. Alex hears some Janet Jackson, and Jana brings up Gaga’s Euro-dance vibes. Miley’s voice is really working here for this track, her low-husky vibe fitting this genre. Lyrically this is a great deep dive into the sacrilegious metaphor of God and sex. Alex, “The Evangelicals are going to be fucking nuts about this song.” Yes, Miley.

Beabadoobee brings us home with the gorgeous “Satellite,” from her new album, Pylon. The 90’s are re-surging hard and beabadoobee has delivered a powerhouse of guitars and screaming vocals. This is a shift in sound, from former projects that were softer and more folk, and this record is landing in a more Snail Mail type sound, but maybe even harder. Her voice is still sweet and soft, but contrasts well with the harshness of the guitars. The break into the chorus is very satisfying, and there’s a lot of use of interesting guitar harmonics, melody lines, B-benders, etc. Lyrically, it’s more of the “how do we survive this current cluster of real life” with a doom scroll reference, and we keep pondering our place in late stage capitalism. “The pop girls want to scream, and we have to let them.”

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Episode edited by the unparalleled Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

This week: Sylvan Esso’s “Sledge”, Slayyyter’s “crank 2,” and Bleachers’ “Caught Myself Believing.”

Jana monologues about the funhouse mirror dangers trying to go back in time, illuminated by her trip to the New Mexico State Fair. Nostalgia is high on her list lately, but it’s not always a good thing to visit. Small doses, just like Blue Taki Pickle Pizza. (Alex misses V.1 Tamagotchis, which is very valid nostalgia).

We get into a deep chat about the music industry news of the week: Jasmine Crockett/Chris Brown and Ed Sheeran/Macklemore. Alex leads us through a thorough fact-finding mission through the issue, through Macklemore’s career, and the NFL stadium owners response to his words.

After all that current event discussion…we need a drink.

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SWING MEMORY

• .5oz bee pollen infused cognac
• 1.5oz rye whiskey
• 1tsp ginger liqueur (syrup totally fine)
• 2tsp rooibos tea syrup
• 2 dashes chocolate bitters
• bee pollen garnish

Infuse 3tbsp bee pollen into 4oz cognac for forty minutes, then strain through a paper towel. Meanwhile, in a small pot over medium heat, steep 5 rooibos teabags over a simmer for 10 minutes with equal parts water and sugar. Turn off stove, continue to steep for an additional 10 minutes. Let cool completely. Add finished ingredients to a mixing glass over ice. Stir until cold. Strain over a large ice cube into a rocks glass. Express an orange peel over the glass, then discard. Garnish ice with a few scarce granules of bee pollen.

What to do with the extra bee pollen cognac: sidecar. It makes an excellent sidecar. It also makes a really lovely French 75.

B-side: Rooibos tonic

• .75oz lime juice
• 1oz rooibos syrup
• light tonic water
• 2 dashes angostura bitters

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We start with Sylvan Esso’s “Sledge.” It’s a bit of a departure from Sylvan Esso’s normally synth heavy sound; they’re adding sheets of distorted electric guitars and it’s working really well. The theme centers around late-stage capitalistic despair with a tinge of hope, packaged together with this re-emerging rock sound (Charli xcx is doing it too). There’s a lot of imagery about death and destruction, but in context of destroying to be able to create something new and better. The bubbling soft synths tamper the guitars and make it a true Sylvan Esso song. Check out the whole album, “Ow, ∞.”

Slayyyter brings us “crank 2,” truly the hardest song we have ever talked about. Alex says Nine Inch Nails through the lens of Britney Spears. Industrial dance at its best, and Slayyyter has been doing it well for a long time, though starting to finally break through into mainstream pop. Jana tries to connect the Charli xcx / Sylvan Esso / Sofia Isella / Ethel Cain / Slayyyter trending that is women doing pop that shifts into rock that is not made for the male gaze…seems very significant. Alex takes us through the maximalist pop trend in the early aughts that backlashed to singer-songwriter quieter pop (Oliva, Gracie), and now women are pushing BACK to “weird, hard, and loud.” It’s cool to see. To be clear, there’s space for all of it, and women continue to lead the way in the pop space. Anyway…LISTEN TO SLAYYYTER.

Bleachers give us a soundtrack contribution to Practical Magic 2, “Caught Myself Believing.” It’s a classic Jack Antonoff penned jam, and sounds a little more old school Bleachers versus the more recent Jersey-horns-guitars vibe they’ve been putting out. Lyrically it’s the sweet, self-aware introspection that Antonoff is known for. It’s got the classic Bleachers doubled vocals that are far back in the mix, the interesting mixture of instruments including an Alanis-inspired harmonica, mouth organ, and even some banjo. We re-iterate, it is perfect for this movie soundtrack.

Stay tuned to the end to hear Alex thank our listeners in French, because we charted in France! Thanks to everyone for listening and spreading the word.

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Episode edited by the effervescent Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

This week: underscores, THAO & Neko Case, and Rebecca Black

Alex’s monologue starts us off strong with the juxtaposition of trying to be an artist in an age when people have 24/7 access to your online persona, but maybe don’t treat you like a human being. Loneliness, the desire to be desired, and the desire to not be perceived at all. All the songs this week tackle these themes in their own way. To get into it, we need a drink.

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Waschesalon

Ingredients:

• 1oz 8-year rum
• 1oz Chilean pisco
• .75oz nectarine syrup
• .75oz heavy cream
• 1oz lemon juice
• 1 egg white
• 2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters (Jana, ango okay for you)
• barspoon almond extract
• barspoon absinthe
• 2.5oz soda water

For the nectarine garnish:

Soak 2 slices of nectarine in 4oz Amaro Montenegro for two days. Pull nectarine out of amaro and reserve liquid for another use (great in an M+M, for example.) Freeze nectarine until solid. Grate (peel side first) over top of cocktail once ready to serve.

For the nectarine syrup:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1.5 nectarines, sliced

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve sugar in water, stirring until liquid is clear. Add nectarine slices and bring to a strong simmer, then reduce to low heat. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat and steep for an additional 10 minutes. Strain the syrup to remove the fruit, then let cool completely. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 2-3 weeks.

For the cocktail:

This recipe requires all ingredients to be very cold, so a few hours beforehand, place rum and a Collins glass in freezer. In a shaker without ice, combine rum, nectarine syrup, citrus, egg white, cream, absinthe, and almond extract. Take coil out of a Hawthorne strainer and add to shaker; give it the shake of your life for one minute. Take out the coil, and add four small 1x1 ice cubes (two large ice maker cubes will also work.) Shake until all the ice has melted completely (around three minutes.) Add part of the soda water into the collins glass. Pour the drink into the glass (no strainer needed.) Let chill for 10 minutes. Using a barspoon to gently create a gap through the center of the foam, top up with remaining soda water. After foam has formed on the top of the drink, grate frozen nectarine onto the drink and serve with a straw.

This recipe takes some pointers (namely, that Hawthorne spring trick) from Jean-Félix of Truffles On The Rocks.

BONUS!

MM’s M+M

A reward for prepping the ingredients for the hardest drink in our pantheon so far, the Mixomusicology M+M uses the leftover nectarine-infused amaro montenegro with a well paired smoky mezcal to elevate a modern classic.

• 1.5oz nectarine-infused amaro montenegro
• 1.5oz Del Maguey mezcal

Add both to a mixing glass over ice. Stir hard. Strain over a large ice cube into a rocks glass. Grate frozen amaro-infused nectarine over ice.

Source for recipe: https://youtu.be/U8jH5cP9kz8

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We start with underscores’ “unlimited love.” It starts off so atonal and grimy, and then we blossom into an early 2000’s pop sound. The lyrics are excellent, with callbacks to Britney, Skrillex, and Alex even mentions Wii Sports theme vibes. There is humor that works, which is hard to do. Every line is quotable, and underscores is eminently danceable. We discuss trying to write vague enough lyrics that still punch through enough…an art that works for AIM away messages (Jana dates herself).

Next up is THAO ft. Neko Case and “Catch As Catch Can.” Thao (formerly Thao & The Get down) is back with a new solo album and brings Neko Case along for this track. This track is about a feral tryst in the ocean, essentially, and who doesn’t need that in their life? Again, lyrically this one stands out and is exceptionally intimate and sexy. Thao and Neko’s voices intertwine well. The bridge changes it up just enough to take us from a noir vibe to a mid-aughts Bahamas vibe in the chorus.

Lastly, Rebecca Black is blowing our minds with “Waschesalon” (laundromat in German. We talked about “Speakerphone” when Rebecca put it out as a single a couple of months ago, and now with the whole album out, we stand ten toes down for this being a career-making project. We gush about how Rebecca overcame global ridicule as a 13-year-old (something she should not have had to endure), and to grow into an artist of this caliber…well, again. We love her. Once again, the lyrics are raunchy but then turn sentimental and sweet toward the end. We love a turn around. The track is forceful and banging, a plucked kind of sampled zither-like synth at the start launches us into the club-slash-laundromat. It builds and builds until it explodes, takes us to a breakdown, and then it doesn’t build us back up, we kind of float out of the waschesalon instead. It’s just excellent dance music. We love you, Rebecca Black.

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Episode edited by the incredible Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

This week is our first Classics Episode! A deep dive into the discography of Tori Amos.

Listen along: https://www.tunemymusic.com/share/WUpzFTOpCD

Jana has been a Tori-phile since she saw her live on the Scarlet's Walk tour back in 2003. Alex's familiarity stopped with "Cornflake Girl." We think these deep dives are a great chance to share an artist one of us loves with the other, and also attempt to put the cultural impact of their career in context. Tori Amos provides a lot to talk about!

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But first, a drink:

For classics episodes, we’ve decided to pair the artists we’re discussing with the most fundamental cocktails in the biz. These are approachable, and use common, easily accessible ingredients. We’ll give you pointers on how to make the best version of each, and we hope you’ll make them along with us!

The Savoy Cocktail book, published in 1930, says of the less popular Corpse Reviver number One: “To be taken before 11 a.m., or whenever steam and energy are needed.” So, you know, it’s basically Gatorade. He does add “Four of these taken in swift succession will un-revive the corpse again” as a helpful warning.

A note before we start – you’re about to hear that our version of the recipe calls for Cocchi Americano, instead of Lillet Blanc, which a bunch of other recipes use. Lillet Blanc is great, but the original Corpse Reviver No. 2 used Kina Lillet, which is no longer in production. Lillet Blanc is less bitter and less sweet than kina was – which is why we’re using Cocchi here, which has a profile including cinchona bark and gentian that make it stand up better against the gin. It’s likely a more faithful recreation of the original recipe.

Corpse Reviver No. 2

• Absinthe rinse
• 3/4oz of each:
• Gin
• Cocchi Americano
• Triple sec
• Lemon juice

Shake over ice and serve up in a coupe glass.

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This week's podcast will take you on a journey from Tori Amos' first breakthrough album, Little Earthquakes, all the way through her latest 2026 release In Times of Dragons. Because we had to stick to 10 songs for time (and Tori could have a 4 episode arc if we really wanted to), we skip over several records in her discography. Use this as a starter pack and enjoy your own deep dive.

The tracklist:

1. Silent All These Years (Little Earthquakes, 1992)
2. Part the Mission (Under the Pink, 1994)
3. Father Lucifer (Boys for Pele, 1996)
4. Cruel (From the Choir Girl Hotel, 1998)
5. Taxi Ride (Scarlet's Walk, 2002)
6. Bouncing Off Clouds (American Doll Posse, 2007)
7. Welcome to England (Abnormally Attracted to Sin, 2009)
8. Wild Way (Unrepentant Geraldines, 2014)
9. Ocean to Ocean (Title Track, 2021)
10. Blue Lotus (In Times of Dragons, 2026)

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Episode edited by the amazing Marin Wilts!

Follow, subscribe, and rate us on your fave podcast platform.

We have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

-------

Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

Songs on the pod this week: Chelsea Wolfe, The Aces, and Caroline Rose

This week’s episode is for Dolly, and Alex opens with a career retrospective and commentary that shows how much influence she had in just about everything. We will always love you, Dolly Parton. Truly.

Consider a donation to The Imagination Library in Dolly’s honor.

Now, a drink!

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SWALLOWER

• 2oz bay leaf and celery infused gin
• .5oz white vermouth
• aquavit rinse
• 3 dashes celery bitters
• saline spray (add pinch of sea salt to shaker)
• lemon and bay garnish

Infuse gin for up to four days. Add ingredients to cocktail shaker over ice. Swirl chilled martini glass with aquavit, then discard the liquid. Shake cocktail shaker vigorously, then strain into glass. Garnish with a lemon peel and a bay leaf.

This martini is seriously dry - it’s a 4:1 ratio of gin to vermouth. If you like something slightly sweeter, change that to a 3:1, or add in a quarter ounce of a green liqueur. Chartreuse would be amazing here, but if you don’t want to spend $90 on a bottle, Dolin’s Genepy le Chamois will get you somewhere similar for $20, and I bet finochietto - that’s fennel liqueur - would work too.

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This week we start with Chelsea Wolfe’s “Swallower.” Jana immediately hears Tori Amos in the atmospheric piano / drums / bass vibe here. Amy Lee and Evanescence also come up immediately. Chelsea’s lane is doom metal, gothic rock, and folk? (As Alex says, “murder, arson, and jay-walking.”) The vocals shine here, and Chelsea’s voice is sublime. She goes from quiet and intimate to a wail of a chorus. We love the fuzz guitars, the rhythm section is on point, everything here is just good. Lyrically, the vibe is vague but poetic, and fits in the pocket of this gothic doom metal genre. We’re excited to dig into the whole Chelsea project, which is out now!

Next up: The Aces and “Wet Cement.” We love a hazy shoe-gaze pop live song, and The Aces deliver. They have been a solid four-member indie pop band for a long time, delivering solid jams for a long time. They’re also from Utah which is a bit of a surprise, but they sing openly about queerness so it takes all kinds, as they say! “Carve your name into me like wet cement.” Is a great hook line, a bit of a left field metaphor we love. The track is so solid, acoustic guitars are wide and doubled or quadrupled which makes it lush. Overall, a solid entry into the “I’ll Stop the World (And Melt With You)” pantheon.

Lastly, Caroline Rose gives up a bop with “Chow Mein.” Chelsea is an artist that has from a folk singer-songwriter background and has evolved into retro pop and now more of a pop rock sound. We love this song…lots of OTT compressed guitars and interestingly panned vocals with more compression. Lyrically we love it a lot, “Uh oh, it is all coming up now / Regret chow mein.” Caroline encapsulates a drunken night out full of regret and bad choices…a classic party song on the surface tinged with sadness.

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COOL ANNOUNCEMENT TIME: Last but not least this week, we are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have an editor, you guys! You might remember Marin Wilts as our special guest commentator on the MUNA full album episode. Marin has graciously agreed to join team Mixomusicology, chopping up our weird thoughts and taking our our um’s and er’s (and also skillfully using Foley as an asset instead of a hindrance when Jana drops her drink shaker). Welcome, Marin! We are so glad you’re here.

Also, we have our own Instagram now! Follow us at: https://www.instagram.com/mixomusicology

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

A full album episode: we discuss Phoebe Bridgers' Lost Weekend!

This week's episode is extra long because Phoebe Bridgers' new album is extra good. Also we are joined by a special guest, the artist CHAPS, Tyler Morgenstern. Jana opens with a monologue about Phoebe's take on writing and touring, just an appreciative meander about it all before we get into the record. First, let's have a drink:

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LOST WEEKEND

Alex says: "A play on a Lion’s Tail, which first appeared in The Cafe Royal Cocktail Book in 1937. It was an early use of allspice dram in a non-tiki cocktail, so early in fact that when allspice dram went out of favor and was taken off the market in the 1980s, it was lost altogether for thirty years.

As we hurtle toward the autumn listening to a new Phoebe Bridgers record, I wanted to make a drink that felt a little unplaceable in terms of flavor, a little mysterious – and I rediscovered this drink, which originally paired that allspice dram with bourbon. I switched out the bourbon for High West Double Rye whiskey here. Rye always tastes like dried hay to me, and I wanted to lean into that – so I infused it with chamomile. A couple other small changes to proportions, a little extra vanilla and brown sugar, and we have something that’s extremely complex, and has quite a long tail, but is still very approachable. Sort of like the album we’re listening to this week."

• 2oz chamomile-infused high rye whiskey
• 1/2oz allspice dram
• 1/2oz vanilla Demerara syrup
• 3/4oz lemon juice
• 3 heavy dashes angostura bitters

1. Infuse chamomile for 1 hour: 1 teabag per 2oz rye.

2. Add all ingredients to a shaker over ice. Shake vigorously for ten seconds.

3. Strain into a nick and Nora glass. Garnish with a luxardo cherry.

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We won't show notes you into oblivion for this episode. It's a long one, but we had a great time discussing this record with CHAPS. Phoebe's work deserves a deep listen, and all 3 of us are unabashed fans of this project. Do yourself a favor and take a listen!

Also, check out CHAPS wherever you stream music and follow on socials:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chapslovesyou

Bandcamp: https://chapslovesyou.bandcamp.com/album/in-all-directions

Everthing, everywhere: https://linktr.ee/chapslovesyou

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Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

This week: Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Bea Miller, & FLO!

Alex starts us off by monologuing about the hard times of shoulder seasons, and masterfully equates the Nicene Creed to the lyrics of WAP. Grief runs through all of our songs this week in an interesting way, and Alex makes note of ways music gets us through our own individual griefs. His main point: you are not alone. We are singular, but not alone.

We talk poets for a bit, Anne Sexton, Rumi, and more. Do songwriters write good poems? Jana is scared by that thought. She should unpack that.

First, this week’s drink:

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CARDBOARD HOUSE

• 1.5oz reposado tequila
• 1.5oz manzanilla sherry
• .75oz amaro montenegro

Stir over ice, strain into rocks glass, garnish with orange peel! A twist on a Manhattan with some briny notes...perfect for summer.

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Man/Woman/Chainsaw starts us off with “Nosedive.” They’re a 6-piece British band with a violinist prominently featured, so Alex is already won over. The strings here are a highlight, with the double stops on the violin featuring heavily. “Baby get me back up over you” is repeated 22 times throughout, almost as a mantra, and it brings a meditative tone to it. The lyrics are abstract but gorgeous phrased and work with everything musically. We can tell this band is a great live band, and it shows through in the recording. Highly recommend.

Next up, Bea Miller brings us “Born to Lose.” Be a has lived on the B-list of pop stardom for quite some time, and we think perhaps this project will not move the needle. Alex notes Ableton was probably used because it has that *sound*, which is not always noticeable. Vinyl crackle is featured as a texture here, and we hate that. Banish is as an effect, it’s played out. Bea’s voice is great, she can belt a note, and this trends a little bit country in vibe even. This song sounds like a radio song, and perhaps a dated one at that. It sounds a bit like “Counting Stars” by One Republic. Justin Trantor co-wrote this, and as Alex says, we expect smarter lyrics from that pedigree. We have a discussion about how pop stars need to have a mythos built up that also resonates with an audience. Some do it well. Some never find it. Maybe we are seeing that in action here.

Last up is “Touché" by FLO, a London-based girl trio. Simply, it’s a bop. There’s a hole in the market for R&B based girl groups, and FLO is delivering. Alex loves the melisma line paired with the words, “I’m a c*nt.” Pure beauty, really. The bass line and the beat are locked in and feel great. Jana uses the word, “stank face” (complimentary). Harmonies are reminiscent of Danity Kane, a reference Alex pulls out of the recent past. Pussycat Dolls and Fifth Harmony come up, but again…most of these groups are dormant right now. Lyrically we are reminded of Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch,” just a different genre, same topic. Overall, this is a vibe, and the whole FLO record is worth a spin. Need a random French word in a pop song? This is for you.

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As always, thanks for listening! Like, share, subscribe, review!

Alex's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboying

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboying

Alex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.com

Jana's links:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochop

Website: http://www.janapochop.com

Jana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com