Sub Titles

I’m not sure a metal band will again reach the heights that Metallica has. Their finest statement is Master of Puppets, a pummeling and tight 55 minutes of metal at its most populist. Matt presents albums by two highly respected and beloved metal acts from the last 20 years, Leviathan by Mastodon and Blue Record by Baroness, in a battle of Georgia bands. If you’re looking for your way into metal more broadly, look no further.

A lot going on in this episode. Tim gets to talk Westerns for a minute, so you know he’s excited, then he and Matt fuss about Unforgiven and talk about the nature of legends and who gets to print them. Tim offers two even more recent examples as the Malickissance continues with the visually marvelous The New World, and then one person gets real feisty about The Social Network. Tune in to find out which!

As fond as music critics are of praising Radiohead - more than deservedly so for the monumental Kid A - they’re almost more fond of identifying the next Radiohead. Matt assesses why that might be, landing on a general yearning for a specific brand of popular rock music, and offers Tim two albums by classic “The Next Radiohead” bands: Travis and Muse. That’s right, kids, it’s the Muse episode. Buckle up.

If you live for Tim’s impressions, here’s an episode for you. Dustin Hoffman realizes misogyny is a thing in Tootsie and Tim guides us through two other movies where maybe, hopeful a resident macho man realizes he’s being a s***head. Tune in to hear how the "‘Guy You Hate Might Have a Point' and ‘Lusty Moralist’ types fare and if they feel any shame in Hud and Sadie Thompson, respectively.

The Low End Theory is a high-point in hip-hop generally, and has a strong claim to being the pinnacle of the Native Tongues movement, a collective of early 90s artists with special love for jazz, Afrika Bambaataa, and a playfulness out-of-step with the burgeoning gangster rap scenes. Matt contextualizes Native Tongues, then gives Tim the choice of Queen Latifah’s assured and bouncy All Hail the Queen and Black Sheep’s edgier, at times sillier, A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing.

Violence comes in many shades. Tim and Matt talk all of ‘em here before settling on The Old Ultraviolence for which A Clockwork Orange is notorious. We got great evil performances all around as Tim brings The Big Heat and No Country for Old Men for consideration. Not exactly easy movies to watch, but we see what narrative purpose violence can serve and which forms are the oldest and most insidious.

I don’t know how much explaining the theme on this one needs but this has to be the silliest episode we’ve recorded thus far. Partially that’s because Weezer is a silly band who ruined Tim’s song. But it’s also partially because of the list of bands that opened for Weezer right after Blue Album. Matt talks Veruca Salt and Archers of Loaf, tune in to find out who all the rejects are too.

Who doesn’t love a good episode driven by angst and trauma? Tim and Matt indulge a couple of their pet passions as Tim, inspired by the historicism of our Saving Private Ryan episode, traipses through WWII films made during WWII and Matt, inspired by himself and all the sad white boys these past 10 episodes, looks at how pop-punk is doing in the 2010s and now, after it’s commercial heyday.

Not since [checks notes] one episodes ago have Matt and Tim been so confused by the popularity of a film! Maybe five episodes ago if you want the Forrest Gump Hate Parade of 2021. At any rate, Saving Private Ryan and it’s nonsensical plot is on the block this week before Tim takes us through other films looking at WWII in retrospect. The Malickissance continues with the titan The Thin Red Line going against Samuel Fuller’s The Big Red One in the battle of red WWII films with more profound things to say about the war and its lasting effects and legacy.

Beck and his music are difficult to parse in 2021, largely because what he was/is so good at is the norm now rather than progressive like in 1996 when Odelay delighted and confused listeners. Matt talks Beck’s importance and influence in terms of his uncanny ability to break down several genres and styles to stitch them together, then two other artists with similar Deconstructionist impulses working in the swirl grunge, college rock, indie, and alternative: Melvins and The Butthole Surfers.