The Beaten Track

We drop our little wooden bucket into the well of folk this week. The Waterboys surprised many when, on the brink of mainstream success, they dipped into the world of traditional Celtic folk. We are glad they did though, as it brought us Fisherman's Blues an album packed with charm, escapism and extremely rewarding tracks. Louis and Joe provide you with bad quizzing, ramblings, and a bang on the ear.

Louis and Joe dig out one of the great American alternative rock outfits, Sleater-Kinney. A band with a remarkably strong discography who sprung as an offshoot of the riot grrrl scene, Sleater-Kinney certainly provided our most challenging ranking list yet. Will their be harmony in our lists? Or will it come to blows as per usual?

Horses, horses, horses. Patti Smith  is the best. You know it, I know it, even Joe knows it now. This week we take you through a classic piece of punk from the world's coolest poet. Joe and Louis talk all things Horses and it's remarkable free form nature. Naturally, our quiz this week features great opening album lines.

In a historic episode of mild disagreement and general nonsense, Joe brings on a grungy noise-pop odyssey that Louis finds a bit flat. Luckily this under-heard 90s album inspires the duo to create some memorable quizzes, with Louis challenging Joe to guess the correct band roles of various mythical creatures. 

Diving into a garage rock revival classic, Joe and Louis discuss the legacy and immediate appeal of everyone's favourite dynamic duo. The bread and butter of musical pairings, Jack White's bombastic, howling guitar ripples above Meg's thundering drumbeats, creating some of the most authentic and blisteringly loud tunes of the early aughts. Also discussed is the band's deliberate attempts at conjuring a mysterious identity, as well as their repeated lyrical themes of innocence, anger and heartbreak.

'Take a walk around my CAN album, gentleman, he's a colossus'. A quote from krautrock fanatic Bill Shankly that sums up this monstrous album from the German avant-garde outfit. With two tracks clocking in over 17 minutes, bewildering vocals, and some fat drum grooves, CAN's second album is quite the thing to behold. Louis and Joe make an exception to their love of the shorter album, and embrace every note of the 1970 release. Elsewhere Joe guesses the price of a wooden Mushroom. 

Joe and Louis take you through the comeback album from iconic Jazz poet Gill Scott-Heron. Released in 2010, I'm New Here delved into post-industrial textures, trip hop, and even folk. It's a truly remarkable album and in tribute we have a spectacularly rubbish quiz.

I was lookin' back to see if you were looking back at me to see you listening to this pod. We review an absolute classic of the trip-hop genre this week and the album that started it all. Massive Attack's Blue Lines provided a unique blend of sounds when released in 1991 and still feels just as urgent today. Joe and Louis take you through the multiple stand out tracks and elsewhere, Banksy makes a late appearance, and Joe makes a big change of opinion.  

This week we delve into some pretty essential post punk listening. Despite a short-lived career, Au Pairs produced one of the standout albums of the era. Playing with a Different Sex mixes economical post punk sound with sharp and aggressive lyrics. Joe and Louis walk you through the tracklist, mention Gang of Four too many times, and produce more rubbish quizzes. 

The album up for discussion this week is the recently released second album from the experimental rock group, Black Midi. Join us as Louis struggles to pronounce the album title, Joe correctly pronounces Marlene Dietrich, and Spud from Bob the Builder gets a passing mention.