tripping balls (a music podcast?)

This week’s new albums: RJD2 & Supastition | Bloody Knees | EPs from Little Simz and Grocery Bag

Also: confirmation bias in action, warm blankets, pen pal collabs, all the gear and no ideas, bucket hat dads, shooting down trial balloons, garbage bags, change-ups, who was the subject of Powderfinger’s ‘Celebrity Head’, the tripping balls of record labels, bad tattoo ideas, Arsenal won but at what cost, no relation, broke boy Blazers guy, suboptimal geopolitical analogies, who is Wemby’s Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the stench of America, the perfect way to lose, and spider-god spider-god does whatever a spider-god does. 

2:20  RJD2 & Supastition

9:44  Bloody Knees

15:13  Little Simz

17:40  Grocery Bag

20:43  Next week’s albums 

30:16  After Dark - Arsenal, NBA, World Cup

Next week’s new albums: Friko | The Lords of Altamont | Harsh Riddims 5

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | Doc's and Beeso’s 2026 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: The Black Keys | Melanie Baker | ISTA

Also: Headbanging, getting dog’s abuse in book dedications, dingy downstairs sessions, that one tool that does that one job, that’s fairly interesting, possibly the longest unbroken monologue Beeso has ever delivered on the podcast, point/counterpoint, get a diagnosis, 30 year mysteries solved, moving the sliders, different conclusions, pink butterflies, very superstitious, rabbit hole EPs, #BeesoReadsDatesWrongly, Titanic spoilers, tiny houses, the end of losing on purpose, when your first mover advantage has been moved past, falling in love with one good idea and important clarifications.

1:55  The Black Keys

5:06  Melanie Baker

13:00  ISTA

19:20  Next week’s albums 

27:00  After Dark - NBA, futbol

Next week’s new albums: RJD2 & Supastition | Bloody Knees | EPs from Little Simz and Grocery Bag

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | Doc's and Beeso’s 2026 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Trials | KNEECAP | Iguana Death Cult

Also: Out of touch royalty, when catching up with high school mates goes wrong, Bad Boy Bubby vs Let’s Get Skase, your own private Wild Colonial, love something like Labour governments love criminalising protest, shouts to Genius.com, unexpected Dutchmen, Dave Callan joins Viagra Boys, hurting your own brand, celebrating valiant failure, art project or psy-op?, fake Canadians, cartoon realism, Beetle avoidance, bicoastal clashes of energies, popcorn and beer, podcasting no-sells, old British people stop hating trans people challenge (impossible), sim to end, turning your club off and back on again, it’s nice to win stuff, Wrex on deck, Koaching Korner, 1989 Easts vs Broncos and a tribute to Three Knees Hancock. 

1:50  Trials

6:42   Kneecap

12:08  Iguana Death Cult

16:15   Next week’s albums 

27:00  After Dark - NBA playoffs, EPL relegation, 80s rugby league 

Next week’s new albums: Melanie Baker | ISTA | The Black Keys

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | Doc's 2026 mixtape | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Hermitude | Angine de Poitrine | Abronia

Also: earning a crust, Liam Ro-see-ya, last week Raye-visited, pre-emptive disappointment, made for TikTok, diluted chemicals, podcasting therapy, weird TV soundtracks, how did you get here, this year’s stalking-beetle, anti-buzz cynicism, world music defined, the Gaelic calendar, secretly Canadian, profiting from complacency, Nugs-Wolves post mortem,  Swans-Weagles areas, everybody needs somebody, the real final, Mudgee travel notes, mo’ Mou’, unpaid plugs, knockoff jerseys and rain stopped play.

4:18  Hermitude

8:41  Abronia

13:27  Angine de Poitrine

16:56  Next week’s albums 

22:45  After Dark - touch footy, NBA playoffs, more touch footy

Next week’s new albums: KNEECAP | Trials | Iguana Death Cult

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | Doc's 2026 mixtape | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Courtney Barnett | Eaves Wilder | RAYE. 

Also: compromised assets, novelty Olympic single B-sides of the early '90s, the Rogers Continuum, winery tour nostalgia, Rumble vs Vulcanella, half a room of reverb, the rewards of low expectations, my skin is crawling, Find My Spouse, main character energy, on the hour every hour, musical theatre superstructure, reading the phone book, the producers’ cut, comfort is the enemy, Stoner to Rossi, reasons to end the podcast, Wallpaper TISM, stereotypes are a great time-saver, journeys of personal realisation, the narrative cannot hold, LeBron Ain’t Clutch and other historically badly aged takes, #AdamReadsBoxScores, the East is a joke and Boston will win it, casual fan journeys, Howie: Australia’s Oprah, Lol @ Strom, the asbestos is load-bearing and swearing on podcasts. 

2:03  Courtney Barnett

8:15  Eaves Wilder

12:32  RAYE.

29:27  Next week’s albums 

35:26  After Dark - NBA, rugbaloig, podcasts

Next week’s new albums: Hermitude | Angine de Poitrine | Abronia

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | Doc's 2026 mixtape | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Morgan Nagler | Truckfighters | Holy Funk*

Also: Pointing and shouting, crossfit crossover, peaking on track one of album one, is the vibe still sick, expert knitting, a prominent advantage of subscription music streaming, Bandcamp's triphop revival, not wanting to be a member of any club that would have you as a member, losing control of your art, declarative statements, bot hype, Doc misremembers bandnames, punctuation fetishists, less of a fun vibe, domin-Ayton, Angry Ant energy, running your stuff, getting fired on your day off and getting out while the getting out is good.

2:03  Morgan Nagler

3:42  Truckfighters

7:39  New triphop

12:10 Blasphemous expletive

20:36  Next week’s albums 

24:34  After Dark - NBA playoffs, college coaching

Next week’s new albums: RAYE | Courtney Barnett | Eaves Wilder

*thanks v. much Apple Podcasts

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | 2025 review archive | Doc and Beeso’s 2025 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Hellripper | Telenova | Surfbort

Also: A pre-dusk after dark, physios in Mudgee, the Filo diaspora challenge, explaining black metal to kids, choose the form of the destroyer, BYO nostagia, rainy day electronica, Justine Frischmann erasure, how to lose a guy in ten hours, legacy avoidance, cruise economics, are Apple good at anything except what they started at, music to bend the horizon with, international politics corner, the company you keep, AU get off my cloud, the Roggets, playing Operation on difficult mode, #NeverGoogle and bring back screenshots of emojis. 

4:31  Hellripper

8:59  Telenova

12:22  Surfbort

18:59  Next week’s albums 

28:45  After Dark - NBA, a lament for ye olde internet

Next week’s new albums: Holy Frick* | Truckfighters | Morgan Nagler

*yes, I know and you know they’re not called that but let’s just pretend to get these shownotes past various podcasting platforms’ punishing content filters

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | 2025 review archive | Doc and Beeso’s 2025 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Puma Blue | VIAL | Yin Yin

Also: You can dance if you want to, DOC triphop, getting icky with Tricky, the drugs don’t work, go be weirder, moving targets, diversity vs unevenness, engagingly naive, we’ve got enough Irish angst, ‘70s travelogues, 37 chambers, this hasn’t aged well, big label washed legacy stuff, cinearma, Doc reads Insta posts?, Robbie Burns riffs, Beeso’s anti-Pitchfork albums bracket, the benefits of relentless mediocrity, Save our Simz, Skypidi toilets, the twin paradox, West playoff matchups, in defence of momentum, Adam Silver is asking you to please unpack the dishwasher, signs of the apocalypse: the #10 seed in the East will finish over .500, LeBron’s travel tips, Nashville is in Texas?, non-playing captains and running up that hill (after a dog)

1:53  Puma Blue

7:08  VIAL

11:02  The U2 comeback

12:30  Yin Yin

16:14  Next week’s albums 

20:47  Beeso’s bracket

26:26  After Dark - NBA

Next week’s new albums: Surfbort | Telenova | Hellripper

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | 2025 review archive | Doc and Beeso’s 2025 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: Girl Scout | Blackwater Holylight | Automobile Club

Also: Reaching an understanding, geometric averages, not wanting to be at the front of the mix,  internet clothes purchases, Fleetwood Mac’s big muff, Purple.Monkey.Dishwasher, Jizz Witch, your flatmate’s girlfriend’s band, Old Mate Molko, some assembly required, K&D vs GENA, sparkling London lo-fi electronica, Loyle Slander, what to answer when your dad asks are RHCP any good, top five live, SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY, feels like racism, finding Boondall, don’t write in, raising your children right, blame the A-League, saving the BBL, engagingly village, air fryer architecture, in defence of Montjuich, problems with Charlotte, and we check in with the Real Madrid medical department.   

2:06  Girl Scout

6:32  Blackwater Holylight

12:46  Automobile Club

14:37  Kruder & Dorfmeister, for some reason

16:38  Next week’s albums

27:32  After Dark - sokkah, T20, stadium design, coaching

Next week’s new albums: Puma Blue | VIAL | Yin Yin

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | 2025 review archive | Doc and Beeso’s 2025 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email

This week’s new albums: GENA | Vegas Water Taxi | The Black Crowes

Also: Darts real ones, icy cold cans of coke, getting a D on the group project, Cagey performances, you can’t see the join, albums that would have saved careers, Chris Robinson: Friend of Conan, breaking half of the Black Keys’ gear, a limited number of ideas, more black bands, spring fog, Scandipositivity, reviewing without listening, in defence of streaming, getting that Tim Webster cosign, Minidisc memories, Apple design. the abiding philosophy of the podcast, wilfully stupid NBA expansion takes, contractually obligated Shoresy references, getting other people paid, being loud wrong to get on TV, and Max Verstappen appreciation corner??? (he won, of course)

1:38  GENA

7:05  Vegas Water Taxi

9:37  The Black Crowes

15:59  Next week’s albums

23:34  On streaming

37:42  After Dark - NBA, F1

Next week’s new albums: Blackwater Holylight | Girl Scout | Automobile Club

Spotify playlists: Album review playlist | 2025 review archive | Doc and Beeso’s 2025 mixtapes | All our playlists

The list: Our previous review albums and year-end top fives

Find us on: Spotify Podcasts | Apple Podcasts | RSS feed for other apps

Socials: Beeso on Bluesky | Doc on BlueSky | Pod Facebook | Pod email