Planet LP

Popdose writer Keith Creighton is back with another new music report for March 2022! However, in this episode, Keith and Planet LP host Ted Asregadoo get into some straight talk about music award shows like The Grammys, The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction, and even the Oscars. What purpose do these shows serve in the age of social media? On the new music front, Keith spotlights the latest from Tears for Fears, Luna Li, and Arcade Fire.

Dan Reed, the drummer for the indie-pop band Semprini, beams down to the planet for a visit with Ted Asregadoo. The band is fronted by Dan's brother Bob Reed. Both Dan and Bob were founding members of the '90s era grunge band, Overwhelming Colorfast. But now, the brothers have teamed with Dan Carr (MK Ultra, Creeper Lagoon), and Marty Schneider (Light Sleepers, The Midway Delta, Trip Wire) to form Semprini. The band's album was released on Bandcamp in February 2022. In this interview, Dan talks about their music, the music industry, future plans for the band, and even spotlights a few of their songs.  

In this episode, Ted goes back to his personal archives of interviews from when he hosted a public affairs program on KKIQ/KKDV radio. In this interview from 2007, Ted features Daniel Levitin, the author of the 2007 bestseller "This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession." Levitin was a former musician, producer, and A&R guy for 415 Records before getting his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology.

Ted welcomes back Keith Creighton for the February edition of the Popdose New Music Report. Keith extols the greatness of the compact disc, rails against the "Con of the Cloud" with streaming services, and spotlights new music from Lindsey Buckingham, Nation of Language, and The Weeknd. Also mentioned are upcoming releases from Tears for Fears, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Charli XCX, and Luna Li. It's a grab bag of music fun!

Ted Asregadoo welcomes the melodic shoegazing band from Cincinnati, Ohio, The Hynx (pronounced "The Hinks"). Lead singer Keith Adams, bassist Robert Moore, guitarists Liz Brettscheider, Carl Lerch, and (new) drummer Bil Bullock create a wonderfully lush type of rock that's unique, atmospheric, and soulful. Their latest mini-album, Your Tomorrow is out and available for purchase.

Ted Asregadoo speaks one-on-one with lead singer and songwriter Vinnie Longhi of the Nashville-based rock band, the Semi-Supervillians. Their third recording "Play That Rock 'N' Roll is a celebration of rock styles that pays homage to the blues, glam, and hard melodic rock. Vinnie talks about the band's ten-year run, being free of record labels, and forging their own independent path to share their music with fans -- whether through the radio or YouTube. In addition to the title track, the first single "Joyride" and a deep cut, "Snowplow Man" are featured in this episode.

Popdose writer and host of the podcast X Marks the Pod Beau Dure speculated why today's music sucks on his podcast. Well, Ted Asregadoo invited him to Planet LP to talk about the opposite: Why music today does not suck. In a world where recording music is much, much easier than it was between the 1960s to the early 2000s, finding good to great new music can be a challenge. Ted and Beau talk about some of those challenges in a landscape where a lot of good music gets buried in a sea of mediocrity.

Ted welcomes his colleague from Popdose, Keith Creighton, to the first edition of a monthly podcast feature. By his own estimate, Keith buys almost 150 CDs a year. That's a lot of music to consume, and in December 2021 he penned a piece for Popdose called "An Aging Hipster’s 21 Best Albums of 2021." In this episode, Ted and Keith go deep into three new albums from legacy acts; albums that were incredibly strong and demonstrate these groups still have the chops to produce some solid music in the latter part of their careers.

Ted Asregadoo welcomes writer and music journalist Bill Kopp to Planet LP. Bill's book, "Disturbing The Peace: 415 Records and the Rise of New Wave" centers on a particular time (the early 1980s), a particular place (San Francisco), and a particular genre (Post-punk/new wave). Some of the bands and artists that Bill spotlights in his book went from the fringes to influencing the mainstreaming of new wave music in the mid to late '80s.

Ted Asregadoo brings in a couple of ringers for this episode! Drew Harrison from The Beatles tribute band The Sun Kings, along with Beatles blogger and podcaster Dan Rivkin, jump in feet first into Peter Jackson's film "Get Back" to discuss how many myths about The Fab Four's last year as a group weren't entirely about bitterness and breakup. Rather, the sessions for the album "Let It Be" showed The Beatles in a playful, engaged, and hard-working mode that culminated in a fantastic final live performance on the rooftop at Apple Records in 1969.