Wolf Alice…Wolf Alice? It’s one of those band names like 10,000 Maniacs that reminds you that band names are less about musical content and more about whats funny when you are having beers after band practice… Metallica=Metal+Vodka (not making this up) Was gonna show some more examples, but do I really need to? SO…podcast overlord […]

Are anthems nature or nurture? Maybe that seems a question easily answered, but think again: whereas so many of today’s musical tentpoles are crafted to be cranked up to Eleven at your local stadium du jour, Tom Petty’s highlighted catalog seemed birthed without the grandiosity later afforded to it by its audience. Petty tracks weren’t […]

By now, we’re familiar with the Blackalicious mojo: Gift of Gab throwing obsessive, complicated rhymes over the steady propulsive backbeat dropped by one Chief Xcel, a formula that’s earned the pair accolades. But all rocket ships launch from somewhere, and it’s clear word spread about the duo during production…how else might we factor the parade […]

Join us this week, as we discuss Band of Horses’ 2006 (turns out, debut LP, after an EP), Everything All the Time. If you love $29,000 refrigerators, majestic arpeggios, bizarre Gene Simmons infomercials, and mid-aughts sweet-sounding (if not-quite profound) proper debut for Ben Bridwell’s personal majesty, you should definitely tune in. Shane believes that this […]

Let’s be honest: Hug Of Thunder, for all of its good intentions, kind of sounds like something made by Hasbro: perhaps a giant, fluffy, crime-fighting machine—the likes of which, for all we know, could actually be one of the members of Broken Social Scene, the Toronto-based and terribly talented music collective that burst on the […]

Whatever you think of Cracker — they’ve been the subject of chart busting platitudes and some indie derision alike — it’s hard to understate the importance of David Lowery’s contribution to popular music. That’s a fact. Beyond his role in crafting earworms that burrowed their way into car stereos in the 90s, his determination to […]

SON! Pioneer of “trucker country,” Jerry Reed, turns out, falls in my sweet spot. The man was rapping (albeit with a country twang) before that was a thing, could finger-pick his way out of a wet burlap sack, and was pretty damn funny while doing so. I generally don’t care for my music and humor […]

I can sum up the way a lot of people feel about the Everly Brothers by telling you the props Ryan brought in to our show when we discussed It’s Everly Time by (wait for it) The Everly Brothers. Ryan shows up carrying a paper bag which he subsequently removed a loaf of Wonder Bread […]

In this case, buzz begat buzz when Oakland’s Melina Duterte drunkenly uploaded a batch of hastily recorded tracks to Bandcamp, and launched a sensation. Better known as Jay Som, her pop-up indie darling status seems only cemented since its home baked inception, an arrival marked by her legit label debut, Everybody Works. Duarte’s ascent, begged […]

Somehow I’ve managed to find myself concurrently watching the second installment of The Decline of Western Civilization (The Metal Years) whilst writing this up, which is pretty much apropos of nothing, other than if you haven’t seen this brilliant documentary, you definitely should. Another work worth investigating is Uncle Tupelo’s debut record, No Depression. Few […]