On the Cure’s second album, the impossibly crisp Seventeen Seconds; its debatable debts to Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire and Gary Numan; and the arrival of Robert Smith as a modern songwriter, but not yet a persona. An accompanying Spotify playlist is available here.

On the improbable endurance of XTC, a band signed during the punk frenzy that would bring song-craft back to the fore in the early 1980s. Following a fractious period of financial instability and pressure from Virgin records, the band went on strike in the early 1990s, unable to wrest themselves from one of the worst contracts ever signed.

On the improbable endurance of XTC, a band signed during the punk frenzy that would bring song-craft back to the fore in the early 1980s. Following a fractious period of financial instability and pressure from Virgin records, the band went on strike in the early 1990s, unable to wrest themselves from one of the worst contracts ever signed.

While there are conflicting accounts of the Elvis Costello/Stephen Stills incident, I mistakenly state it occurred during EC’s “first time in America,” when it was his third tour if I recall correctly. This is both factually wrong and in part seeds undeserving sympathy for Elvis. His age and drug abuse stand, but my invocation and retelling of this moment should be weighed against the facts.

On Chan Marshall’s stereotyping by the press, her aborted concept album about Kurt Cobain, and the uncomfortable reality of genetic exceptionalism.

On Def Leppard’s unparalleled ascent, and the curious album they recorded after being displaced by grunge in the mid-1990s, Slang. Their 1992 LP Adrenalize was the last successful stadium rock release, and kept The Cure’s Wish from reaching #1.

Having alternately enjoyed and scoffed at my early ‘00s online mania, Stylus magazine editor Todd Burns came to my apartment in 2006 for a “Stycast.” Thirteen years later, people may not realize that podcasts were a feverish commercial concern all those years ago, but there were hundreds of RSS-fed podcasts fighting for coverage, and making money. Todd would shortly hereafter pivot, and shepherd the ascent of Resident Advisor.

On the Cure’s uneven 1979 debut, its debts to pub, punk and prog rock, and the importance of older siblings. An accompanying Spotify playlist is available below; please listen on random as this is a broad primer, rather than mix-tape storytelling.

Apologies for the uneven sound during the first two sessions that make up the podcast; I had to pick up new gear, and three years on from my last wave of material, I was pretty rusty in all phases.

Adult Swim Creative Director Jason DeMarco returns to discuss the state of anime, and the future of Toonami with me and Jake Cleland. // @Clarknova1 @sawngswjakec

Christmas single No. 2: audio commentary for the Cure’s in Orange film from 1986 (currently on YouTube). Essentially, this is a two-hour ramble on the band’s legacy. Merry Christmas, everybody!