The Beaten Track

I wanna be your pod! This week we talked all about the legendary Iggy Pop and his 2016 collaboration with Josh Homme, Post Pop Depression. The album marked an interesting revival of Iggy's long and remarkable career, dotted with sharp lyrics and instrumentation. Also in the episode, we talk about the best honorific nicknames in music. 

For our 30th episode we ranked our top 5 Joy Division and New Order albums.

In this week's episode, we ventured into the world of music in cinema with Babylon, a cult classic based upon Jamaican sound system culture in 1980s London. The film focuses on the racism, poverty, and, police brutality experienced by the black Caribbean community in Thatchers Britain. There's also a fantastic score from Dennis Bovell that provides a pulsating soundtrack for this incendiary drama.

Here's our review of another new album from 2021, this one from Canadian folk outfit The Weather Station. This one caught our attention and could be an early shout for end of the year lists. Elsewhere, we discuss the musical talents of Feathers McGraw and Dick Turpin.

This week's album choice was the 1977 debut from early pioneers of electronic instrumentation, Suicide. We talk about their primitive and unique sound, as well as the terrifying track 'Frankie Teardrop'. Also, the Price it Up quiz returns with Joe guessing the cost of a Che Guevara action figure.

In this week's episode, we discussed a touchstone in the development of popular music. The Beatles' Rubber Soul marked a huge shift in their music and lyrical style as they shifted towards a studio focused sound. Joe and Louis discuss their favourite Beatles' works, the impact the group had on British culture, and yes, Alan Partridge's favourite album is given a mention.

We promise we'll get back to reviewing ancient albums next week, but for now here's an exciting new debut album from the experimental septet Black Country, New Road. In the episode, we discuss some of the diverse influences of the band, the sound of this new record, and round off with possibly our worst quiz yet.

In a break from our disciplined 30-minute episodes we just couldn't help ourselves when discussing this classic Nirvana record. Louis and Joe delve deep into Nirvana's third and final studio album, as well as touching on the Kurt Cobain documentary Cobain: Montage of Heck. 

This week we're doing it properly, discussing the genre of Dream Pop and Cocteau Twins' Heaven or Las Vegas. We talk all things Dream Pop, including bands such as Mazzy Star, Slowdive, and My bloody Valentine. Elsewhere, Joe's religious knowledge is put to the test.

This week we took a trip back to the 80s and Echo & the Bunnymen's second record Heaven Up Here. As per usual we talk about the sound of the era, some of our favourite tracks from the album, and try out some ridiculous quizzes.