The Completely Ignored Podcast

The fur flies on this episode of the Completely Ignored Podcast as Ali Manion (partnership manager, Diply) joins us for a look back at the manufactured meows of the Pussycat Dolls and their 2005 debut PCD. Together, we unpack the concept of “a brand as a band”, ponder what pop music was like pre-social media and try to force a parallel to silly stage stuff like STOMP and Riverdance. We also have two random chats about Hard Candy (the Madonna-funded line of fitness studios, not the Counting Crows album) and Coyote Ugly (here, primarily why it was a trashy thing). Things end with a few words about new tunes from Miguel and First Aid Kit.  

A dense, deep chat about “The Boss” here as my high school pal Adam Sidenberg and I revisit Bruce Springsteen’s 2002 full-length The Rising. Spoiler alert: Lots of 9/11 talk in terms of musical responses and how that time and this album were a turning point in how we view this artist. We also assess about the murkiness of late 1980s and 1990s Bruce, whether his tribute to Joe Strummer on the Grammys “made sense” and if he’d make the cut in a totally-fake reboot of the Traveling Wilburys. We wrap by talking trash about U2 and whether their last two albums were actual crap or assumed crap. Hint: The latter. 

Another Completely Ignored first as Cam and Sammy talk about a mixtape: Live. Love. A$AP, the 2011 debut from Harlem lyrcist and fashion fave A$AP Rocky. After a bit of "What's a mixtape, anyway?" exposition, Cam and Sammy dig deep into what defines NYC hip-hop, why Clams Casino mixtapes are both trippy and awesome, and where/how A$AP slots (circa 2018) alongside Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q, Danny Brown and other ascendents of the early 2010s. The guys also talk quite a bit about distribution (h/t to Rick Ross). The episode wraps with a short convo about why Chet Baker's music is 100% chill (even when his personal life was a GD wreck) plus a "remember these guys?" look back at Philly psych weirdos Barbo Pond.  

Cam and Sammy (fake) travel to New York City and back to 2003 on this episode for a revisit of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs debut full-length Fever to Tell. We talk about where the YYYs slot in amongst the finest acts of “NYC in the 2000s”, when something becomes retro, how Jay Z retired a million years ago (and yet he’s still making music) and how The Who retired a hundred million years ago (and yet they’re still playing shows). The episode ends with a mini-chat about Deer Tick, which is layered with “they sound like the Replacements” comments, obvi. 

This podcast is a deep, deep dive in the Neil Young back catalogue and his 30th studio full-length Le Noise. Toronto-based digital expert Karim Kanji guests for a high-quality chat about what makes Neil Young Neil Young and why the dude is still able to create moments that connect four decades into his career. Cam and Karim also dig a bit on Daniel Lanois, Neil's tunes about Kurt and whether its wise to see a fave artist for the first time once they're well into their "golden years". Oh, and we briefly talk about Pono and CES too. We wrap with a quick gab about July Talk, the Black Panther soundtrack... and soundtrack albums, in general. 

Funeral was the 2004 debut full-legnth from the Arcade Fire and it's generally regarded as one of the strongest first efforts in recent memory. Toronto-based digital guru/ninja/svengali/person Lindsay Lynch seconds this "emotion". She joins Cam for this episode, talking about small bands that seem big, why concerts on Toronto Island were really not the greatest, the band (and the things) Islands and how her relationship with the Arcade Fire has evolved/maintained through their mushy middle ages. The episode wraps with a little chat about why it's fun to dance to Daniel Caeser in public and why it's now problematic to dance to Crystal Castles anywhere. 

The Completely Ignored podcast returns for a fourth season with a focus on 10 "Albums of the 2000s". Kicking things off is Massive Attack and its 2010 full-length Heligoland. Cam and Sammy both gush over the uniqueness and chill-AF excellence of this band. talk about how the infrequency of their music is a strength and ponder whether the "pile on the guest vocalists" approach had an influence over Damon Albarn for the third and fourth Gorillaz records. The show wraps with a quick chat about new tunes from MGMT and a less-quick chat about the passing of The Fall's Mark E. Smith, how a mere mortal can tackle The Fall's back catalogue plus reasons why Smith never got much credit for the LOLz he put into the tunes he wrote.

We take things back to the early months of 2002 and Original Pirate Material, the debut full-length from grime-y UK artist The Streets. A singularly unique time capsule of a time/place, Cam and Sammy look to unpack where this album fits in the annals of British music and why the gloomy, paranoid aura of this album still feels semi-fresh more than 15 years later. We also ponder why Mike Skinner took such a huge step back commercial within a few albums and shoot down any suggestion that he was the Eminem of Britain. We close things out with a random chat about Ken Burns' 10-part PBS documentary on jazz and whether Neii Young's "Powderfinger" sounds like a song that should've been written by The Band (spoiler: It totally does!). 

Not to be confused with Michael Jackson's dad (or the disgraced baseball player), Joe Jackson is the profilic British singer/songwriter and subject matter for S3, E5 of the podcast. His 1979 debut Look Sharp! is full of songs that are both bratty and precocious. Cam and Sammy unpack this era of UK songwriters stuck between New Wave and elsewhere with Sammy sharing why this album never gets old and why Joe Jackson is one of his fave all-time live acts. The guys also talk (again) about the deep impact of Much Music and the New Music plus briefly touch on how Joe Jackson looked kinda weird sometime. The episode closes with some chit-chat about Chris Stapleton, John Coltrane and which Mogwai albums feature the best noisy noises. 

It's our first episode about an album from the current century! Still, we're going way back to 2001 to talk about the much-hyped, much-loved first full-length from the Strokes, Is This It. We gently discuss whether this and other albums of its vintage are now "retro" and revisit how well them there NYC bands from 2000-2010 have aged. Cam and Sammy also each talk about individual encounters with various Strokes (spoiler: Fab and Albert, respectively) and whether the Strokes ACTUALLY sounded like the Velvet Underground. We close with some heavy randomness by talking about Concrete Blonde, the Travelling Wilburys and Grizzly Bear.