tripping balls (a music podcast?)

This week the After Dark reviews new albums from the Beasts (née O'Bourbon) and Karen O + Danger Mouse. Also: getting shirty, the weight of mortality, keeping it real to reel, running from Danger, layered vs mixed, the Brian Genious has logged on, drifting Ferraris through a Westfield carpark, other reviews are available, Fever To Tell Normies To Jog On, yeah nah yeah, Are They Still Making Them, Japanese breakfast, music teachers are committed and certainly should be, Doc's inside voice, listen to Turbonegro (like this upstanding gentleman) and getting smacked by good audio. Next week's new albums are a LA indie-fest courtesy SASAMI and Cherry Glazerr. These and other review albums from this year’s eps are in our album review playlist on Spotify, along with our 2019 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums reviewed this year. Our 2018 Mixtape is worth a listen; our full list of review albums is available here. You can get BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and hurl reckons at us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

NBA floors and ceilings, Bo-get rekt, plug-in vets, 5-6-7-8!, first round feelings, Stay-Puft cosplay, undervaluing low picks, Because The Spurs, Gail Miller is not here for your racist trash, Austin without the F1 track, Broke Off, free agents and big markets, Mike from the mailroom gets a pay rise, power-ranking interesting Melbourne Storm players, The Odd Couple, Danny Ainge ain't die for this, Mike (for) Lowry, distressed egotists, Light Years, Sorry Irving, New Faces, Simmons' salute to Egg Boy, what is wrong with AFL dudes, hoof it like Harris, a tantalising glimpse of sack, contractually obligated marketing commitments, amplifying dumb things from dumb people, the Leeds Blip, being led by the easily led, it's grim up north and don't hurry back. Then in bonus coverage from the After-After Dark: Beeso's Coaching Corner (World Cup Preparation Edition), Weed Gardening Australasia, Spurs In Decline and the placebo effect of irrational confidence. Edit shed factcheck: Mike Conley turns 32 next NBA preseason (Kyle Lowry's six months older) and Finch scored a match-winning ton against Pakistan so he's probably keeping his gig. You can hear BALLS and After Dark via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and talk back to us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

This week: new albums from Brooklyn bleakpop artist Sharon Van Etten and Sleaford Mods who are neither from Sleaford nor mods (stay woke fam). Also: if you're happy and you know it make a high-pitched squeal, Van's warped, peaking in 1964, whither the O'Neill Bump, old duck comebacks, regional punter karaoke, Graham Coxon lookalikes, YOU HAVE TO SIGN FOR IT MATE, sniping picks, that book about the '00s New York rock scene, what's new in the Zoo, McWhirter the squirter, deceased beasts, single mindedness, Beeso's U2 B-sides period, Adam's rib, Georgia on my mind and Gobby Island. Next week's new albums are Lux Prima by Karen O and Danger Mouse, while Oz pub rock legends the Beasts (formerly Of Bourbon) are Still Here. Review albums from current, recent and future eps are in our album review playlist on Spotify, along with our 2018 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums we reviewed last year and our work-in-progress 2019 Mixtape. Our full list of review albums is available here. You can get BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and hurl reckons at us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

This week: trying to remain hopeful, freefall Jazz, Western compressions, rodeo clowns, absolute Dereks, a bad time to be good, Dream Off, words to that effect, as a Mistral employee once told me you're only as good as your fans, Bogut's Bogans, Lakers excrementalism, TRADE LEBRON!!1!, Impractical Magic, Disney villains, friends don't let friends Knick, Beal's idiot mate, zone is for cowards, changing the rules, shouts to Tim Schenken(s), DIY breeze, round is a shape, win on Sunday sell (something else) on Monday, India's long con, Leave Means Leave, no way Jose, Leonardo Jardim's European Vacation, Galacticos reboots, Camp Nou catering options, faded picks and trade requests. You can hear more BALLS and After Dark via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and talk back to the show via Twitter,Facebook and email.

This week the After Dark premieres the new Chemical Brothers/Formula 1 collab, pours several out for the late great Keith Flint and runs critical ears over new albums by UK rapper AJ Tracey and Texan blues artist Gary Clark Jr. Also: lowering Red Bull labour costs, RUOK, rediscovered joy, the night is my friend, mah wahfe, Hick Newcastle, nothing is the mainstream, social strata through media, music is sport, out on going out, putting the grim in grime, permission to diverge, things you may have missed, ending up at Lenny, ideas man, Mero the Legend, MOAR AOR, the UberXL of albums, doing bits, token picks, Brooklyn hipsters, inappropriate parenting, songs that don't exist and voices that are weird. Next week: new albums from Sharon van Etten and Sleaford Mods. Review albums from current, recent and future eps are in our album review playlist on Spotify, along with our 2018 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums we reviewed last year and our work-in-progress 2019 Mixtape. Our full list of review albums is available here. You can get BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and hurl reckons at us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

This week: Hating the east, God-given gifts, the Lakers are everyone's fault, veterans affairs, the Jacques Kallis of the NBA, the Rime of the Ancient Pizzagater, pulling a Manu out, the South Queensland Crushers of the NBA, the cult of Kobe, attributing to idiots, Cambage chasing cabbage, men in blazers, the National Ratio League, consent protocols, Cheese Shop tributes at the Erko, Karma is Real, Panic St Germain, the Lakers of Euro football, Ol' Gunnar, #IndividualBrilliance, Zizou's legacy, Ranieri's Roman return, the Clippers but fascist, transitional swooshes and fake tension music. You can hear BALLS and After Dark via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and talk back to us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

This week: new albums from Puppy and Jessica Pratt, and a potted history of the Amen Break. Also: Not that kind of goat, Deathdeathdeath Amwayamwayamway, Chineweeze Democracy, MJ drivebys, musical building blocks, Amen brother, Centre for International Metal, MOAR SCREAMING, Pat Malone, San Franstinko, red flags on the Goldie, an elegant sufficiency of minutes, social media testicles, drizzle soundtracks, HI HO, minimum standards, Dutch grime, shouting at Spotify support, AJ Magnay: some folks say he's craazaayy, stabbing eastward, this land is mine, that new Deathrays-Briggs-Jesswar joint and the Like A Version ouroboros.

Next week: new albums from AJ Tracey and Gary Clark Jr. Review albums from current, recent and future eps are in our album review playlist on Spotify, along with our 2018 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums we reviewed last year and our work-in-progress 2019 Mixtape. Our full list of review albums is available here. You can get BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and hurl reckons at us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

Note: this ep was recorded before the sad loss of Prodigy frontman, British Superbike cult hero and BALLS/After Dark favourite Keith Flint. We'll be sure to remember him next week.

This week on the BALLS podcast: Respectable opinions, losing to the Magic, late nite Jazz, Piston happy, blow up the Suns, words are hard, the rookie class, playoff distractions, OKC vs anyone, Carl Hooper's Spurs takes, a week with Bielsa, when coaches and front offices feud, Chelsea's big decision, system coaches, Boston on the block, DEY TERK ER JERBS, the return of Zion, double terrible, the Australian men's cricket coach is apparently a small child, the real winners of SL in SA, you can't lose in the quarter-finals if there are no quarter-finals *head tap gif*, '92 nostalgia and explaining Max Headroom to millennials. Hear BALLS and After Dark via Omny Studio, Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and talk back to us via Twitter, Facebook and email.

This week we don't see eye to eye over Blood Red Shoes and get a bit Dr Seuss with the Gentleman's Dub Club. Also: stop drinking and start paying attention, a brief history of NWOBHM, the other end of Britpop, scene labels, alphabetical disorder, fourth album Garbage, Straya under Smudge, getting punished in KL, I'm A Scientist Get Me Out Of Here, dubdubdubdubdubdubdubdub FLASH! AAH-AAAAHHHH!!, you be the judge, half-baked concepts, pining for the fjords, boring legacy acts, NSW's war on live music, smh @ SMH and your hypocrisy knows no bounds. Next week: a new Puppy and a sad Pratt. Review albums from current, recent and future eps are in our album review playlist on Spotify, along with our 2018 After Dark Mixtape of our favourite tracks from albums we reviewed last year and our work-in-progress 2019 Mixtape. Our full list of review albums is available here. You can get BALLS and After Dark in your ears via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and hurl reckons at us via Twitter,Facebook and email.

NBA All Star weekend and the playoff picture, why college basketball is trash, we fix ODI cricket (no not like that), why is AFLX and Kaep gets paid to go away. Also: Networking opportunities, Logo Lillard, the most skilled player in the NBA, truth in journalism, Ky's two annoying dads, Scott Foster and the burden of problematic coincidences, the race for eighth, quick-burning coaches vs coach-killing locker rooms, playoff LeBron, Clippers free agents, Kangz v Dubs, useful idiots, the King's hubris, too much is never enough, seeding the KD-Kyrie Knicks, Bucks v Celts, stupid green blogs, making friends with PUAs, maintaining the pace, Beeso van Gundy still hates Jimmy Butler, revenge series, questioning the Raps, soft Jazz, Zion's tribute to Rick Disnack, the end of one-and-done, rooting for laundry, losing with the second and third best players in college basketball, Leeds United: This is fine(d), Connical Ali, the Nations League of cricket, AFLXcrement, BBL scheduling, All Star Saturday Night earns its acronym, Curry balls, slimy balls and Kaep's next move. Hear BALLS and After Dark via Omny Studio,Spotify and Apple Podcasts, and talk back to us via Twitter,Facebook and email.