Completely Conspicuous

It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the past decade. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Breitling's top 10 aren't ranked in order - JB's #10: 2014 compilation of singles by Cookies - Experimental stuff, hooks galore - JK's #10: Magnum opus by Titus Andronicus (2010) - Sprawling album with lots of guest stars, loosely based on Civil War - JB's #9: Breakout 2013 album from Speedy Ortiz - Hot '90s indie rock sound - JK's #9: Double album from Toronto's Fucked Up (2011) - Sound of hardcore singer fronting Velocity Girl - JB's #8: Dan Bejar brings the heat in 2011 with Destroyer - Catchy '80s yacht rock vibe - JK's 8: Jeff Rosenstock's post-election response (2018) - Deals with disappointment and hitting your 30s - JB's #7: Snowball II with an early '90s homage (2017) - Produced by Kurt Heasley of Lilys - JK's 7: Epic 2013 release from Queens of the Stone Age - Near-death experience

It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the past decade. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - We did this 10 years ago, a little differently - Ten years is a long time inside a car - The shift from downloads to streaming - Not everything is available from streaming services - iTunes didn't die, it was just split up - Music can also disappear from streaming services - Original MP3 players only held a handful of songs - The kids like the vinyl - Concerts business has evolved: Bands are playing smaller venues - Who the hell are the Chainsmokers? - Bands we like can't fill hockey rinks - Nobody's making money off albums - It's all merch - Vinyl and box sets are big bucks - Lots of reissues - Albums that didn't make our top 10 - Breitling: Releases from Lubec, Funeral Advantage, Hop Along, LCD Soundsystem - Kumar: LCD Soundsystem, Grinderman, Arcade Fire, Wild Flag, Sloan, Destroyer, METZ,

I'm joined by guest Steve Zisson as we discuss the new sci-fi short story anthology he compiled, A Punk Rock Future. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Take 2 of our conversation after the first one didn't record - A Punk Rock Future is available on Oct. 8 - Book mashes up Steve's love of punk rock and science fiction - Inspired by other self-published sci-fi anthologies - Steve and I go back to the late '80s when we were both newspaper reporters - Later worked together at three different companies - Zisson: Love for sci-fi started with the original Star Trek series - Wrote sci-fi in his teens, but then went into journalism - Jay: Realized that chemical engineering wasn't the path for me and decided to go into journalism - Zisson: Got into music in the mid-'70s, including early incarnation of the Cars (R.I.P., Ric Ocasek) - Was going to see bands like Queen, the Kinks, Roxy Music before checking out early punk acts - Saw Ocasek and Be

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album Blues for Allah. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in September 1975 - The band's highest-charting album until 1987 - Very non-commercial record - Jay: The best thing about the album is the cover - Moved in a much different direction from previous album - Band had stopped touring after From the Mars Hotel - Mickey Hart was back - Also in 1975, Zeppelin had released Physical Graffiti, Talking Heads and Sex Pistols played their first shows, disco started hitting the charts - Phil: Very sparse, subdued jazz-rock album - Studio songs are blueprint, but they change after repeated live playings - Dead fans were used to changing sounds - The live show was the thing - Commercial success was less important to the band and its fans - Some songs on this album went on to become concert staples - Not a lot of bands that have fans following

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album From the Mars Hotel. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ on the 13th birthday of the podcast - The Dead's 7th studio album, came out in June 1974 - Watergate hearings were the big news story - Beer was a lot cheaper back then - In '74, there was a good variety of rock acts releasing important albums, plus funk - Mars Hotel had some classic Dead songs - Phil Lesh sang two songs, which was rare, and Bob Weir had one - Garcia is in prime form on this record - The Dead was touring with the "Wall of Sound," a massive "distortion-free" speaker setup - Playing larger venues - The cost was so high that they eventually quit touring for a few years - Maybe the last great Dead studio album - The Grateful Dead Movie was taken from the final shows of this tour - Working out new songs in the live setting - Rivalry between lyricists Robert Hunter and John Perry Barlow - The Dead would

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Gary Barth as we discuss the concertgoing experience. Show notes: - Recorded in Gary's car on the way to the show - Driving before and briefly after an Iron Maiden concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA - Jay: Big fan of club shows - Like to get up close to the stage - The downside of theater shows - Some shows are made for big venues - Getting your face melted by Ty Segall - Demographics: We're the target market for Maiden, but often among the oldest when seeing newer acts - If you were 30 when you saw Maiden during their early days, you're pushing 70 now - Still weird to be "the old guy" - No institutional knowledge of what came before - Gary: Raised our kids on the Beatles - Jay: My kids love Taylor Swift; at least she writes her own songs - I listen to a lot of pop these days when I drive the girls around - Making the kids listen to your music - Gary: We played Beatles Rock Band a lot as a family - Will we still go to rock shows as senior citizens? - No such t

Celebrating 13 years of podcasting with part 1 of my conversation with guest Gary Barth as we discuss the concertgoing experience...while we drive to a concert. Show notes: - Recorded in Gary's car on the way to the show - Driving to an Iron Maiden concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA - Gary's first concert: Huey Lewis and the News in 1985 - Huey's got rock cred - All the big shows back in the '80s were at hockey rinks - Many bands now play smaller theaters and clubs - Jay: Used to go see arena shows only back then - Arenas in Worcester, Portland, Providence - Shows were cheaper back then, but we had less money - People would get really wasted before concerts - The guy who sat behind us and still missed the entire Maiden show - Getting rides to concerts from parents - Gary plays in a Grateful Dead cover band, Deadbeat - Listening to some "nice hahd rawk" - Jay's (very) short-lived high school band - Jay: Liked a lot of metal and hard

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Breitling's #6 - Changing his take on "Steve Miller Band for millennials" - Kumar's #6 - Band recently relocated to Nashville - Breitling's #4 - Another accomplished Boston indie rock act continues to evolve its sound - Kumar's #5 - Don't call it a comeback; fuzzy power pop from low-key indie rocker - Breitling's #3 - Reissue of mid-'90s release from San Jose hardcore trio - Definitely check out the reissue of Silkworm's In the West - Kumar's #3 - Scrappy pop punk from Toronto band - Breitling's #2 - Veteran act with inspired new release - Kumar's #2 and Breitling's #5 - Inspired by '80s riff rock - Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #4 - A triumph from a legendary rock god - Possibly as good as anything from his previous bands - Kumar's #1 - Out of left field for me, but a great sweeping folk po

It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Breitling's bubbling under albums: Purple Mountains, Katie Dey, Ava Luna, Coaches, Fennesz, William Basinski - Kumar's not-quite top 10: Swervedriver, Piroshka, Cherry Glazerr, L7, Jenny Lewis, Flat Worms, Hash Redactor, Versing, Kiwi Jr., Business of Dreams - Breitling's #10 - Veteran indie pop act from Seattle - Kumar's #10 - Fuzzy power pop that's short and sweet - Breitling's #9 - Shout out to Matt Graves - Glittery guitar pop from Austin - Kumar's #9 - Vital post-punk noise straight outta Dublin - Breitling's #8 - Shoegaze from prolific LA band - Kumar's #8 - Welcome return from indie rock veterans - Breitling's #7 - Blistering EP from great Boston indie act - Perry Farrell's face - Kumar's #7 - Western Canadian stoner rock - Next week: Our top 6 albums of the year so far Completely C

I'm joined by guest Jay Breitling as we discuss the year in rock music so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Back for the attack - Kumar: Just back from Philly - Coming up in December: We pick our favorite music of the decade - Apple is doing away with iTunes, but it's not that big a deal - Some people are freaking out, but there are other options - It was good for making playlists - Kumar: Still need downloads to build radio show playlist - People don't need to own music anymore - Kumar: Use free versions of Spotify and YouTube to stream - Somebody stole a bunch of Radiohead outtakes, band responds by putting it up for sale on Bandcamp - Breitling's curb vinyl haul - The Dio hologram tour is ongoing - Our verdict: Stay home - The festivals keep going - The Woodstock 50 debacle - Our verdict: Festivals suck - Breitling may want to choke you - Reality show people are annoying - Ja Rule explains it all - Both of us have gone to

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album Wake of the Flood. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Jay: Knew nothing about this album until recently - First album on the Dead's own label - New phase for the Dead: No Mickey Hart, the Godchauxs arrive, Pigpen had died - Shades of jazz fusion - Three years after their last studio album, American Beauty - Material was well-honed in concert before making it to studio recording - Horns featured throughout - Phil: Live versions of these songs are better - Two big shows with Allman Brothers and the Band that summer - The rise of Frampton - Nobody cares about live albums anymore - "Stella Blue" is a standout track - On the merits and demerits of Rush - Back when AOR stations would play album sides - Pulled back on the country influence of previous two albums - No immediate "hits" - Touring is one of the few ways bands can make money nowadays - Ultimately, not one of thei

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's live triple album Europe '72. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Triple album documenting the Dead's European tour - Displays new Americana sound - Mickey Hart's gone, Keith and Donna Godchaux join - Full tour was documented on a 73-CD box set - Letting it all hang out at an Oregon show - Garcia and Weir released solo albums this year - The Dead's influenced ranged wide, eventually including members of punk/indie acts like Black Flag and Meat Puppets - Greg Ginn, noted Deadhead - The greatness of "Jack Straw" - Later covered by eventual guest keyboardist Bruce Hornsby - Grateful Dead keyboardists : Spinal Tap drummers - "A long f-ing album" - Unrelated: The Dirtbombs rule - "China Cat Sunflower" sounds very different here than the original - This is Peak Dead - The band captured the communal live experience and attracted a huge following - When you party too hard before the

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album American Beauty. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Cover art could also be read as "American Reality" - Also released in 1970; recorded a few months after Workingman's Dead came out - Even more countrified, Americana-sounding - Mickey Hart was on his way out, less involvement - Featured on Freaks and Geeks episode where Lindsay gets into the Dead - Half the album features "hits": Box of Rain, Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia, Ripple, Truckin' - Very low-key record - Play Ripple at Phil's funeral - On 50th birthday playlists - Phil's idea for a playlist: 5 songs from every year of his life, no repeat artists - Around this time, the Dead started really growing their fanbase - Dead fans started following them on tour - A lot of guests, including David Grisman - This album isn't as dark as the previous one - Another fairly concise record - The Dead played the old Boston

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1970 album Workingman's Dead. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - First show of the new year - Workingman's Dead is the band's 4th studio album - First of two releases in '70 - Recorded in nine days - Stripped down sound, less psychedelic - Garcia and Robert Hunter wrote the whole album - Folk, country, Americana elements - Rock was moving away from psychedelia, toward singer-songwriters and acoustic sounds - Bookended by two of the band's biggest songs - More of an emphasis on vocals like Crosby, Stills and Nash - "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as a torture device - Phil: Prefer live Dead, but still break out the studio albums on occasion - Warm sounding record - "New Speedway Boogie" is about Altamont - Recently covered by Courtney Barnett - Hunter's solo releases are all over the place - Jay: Only heard two songs before - Fairly concise album; not much jamming - Moved away from acid

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube - On to our top 5 selections - JK's #5 - An unexpectedly great album from a member of the Strokes - JB's #5 - Weird shoegaze straight outta Philly - JB's #4 - More excellent Philadelphia indie rock - JK's #3 - Angry, angular UK rock act that has listened to the Fall - JB's #3 - "I had difficulty finding fault with this record" - Esteemed YoLa-ologist in the house - YLT keeps doing its own thing - JK's #2 - Another fine double album from an interesting Toronto act - Where hardcore meets prog - Lots of guest vocalists - JB's #2 - Sweeping orchestral material, hot jams - Bands still make videos for some reason - Picking and choosing from the catalog - JK's #1 - A political record released early in the year that still resonates - Fiery live show to go with the album - Co

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube - JB's #10/JK's #9 - On-again, off-again band led by Steve Hartlett - Ah, the old "sweatpants-with-beers-stuffed-down-the-legs" deal - Reminiscent of "Bug"-era Dino Jr. - JK's #10 - Labelmates of Parquet Courts with similar sound - The downside of "Music Limited" - JB's #9 - Boston act traffics in "millennial mopery" - Lo-fi, self-released effort - Stickin' it to the Man with his Bandcamp URL - JK's #8 - Released on 1/1/18 - Fueled by political frustration and anger - A "fun protest album" - JB's #8 - Brand new record from a UK supergroup - Long-awaited followup to 2007 debut - Rhythmically diverse look at British culture - Whither Gorillaz? - JK's #7 - The 12th studio album from power-pop masters - Four songwriters who each wrote three songs - Consistently great - Th

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube - The decline of rock's popularity - Album sales are way down - That time the Melvins hit the Top 200 albums chart - Apple's going to work with the Amazon Echo soon - Breitling pays for the Amazon Music "Talky Talky" - The youths don't pay for physical media anymore - Ric's family has Spotify, he has dedicated streaming of his own collection - Modern country is doing big business, relatively speaking - Pop music is doing well - Most rock acts make money through touring, not albums - The Stones are still touring - Mick and Keith were considered "old" in their mid-30s - Breitling: The year's music really picked up in the second half - New Mary Lattimore release is enjoyable - Ric: Enjoying Brian Eno's latest release, which is a $30 app - Kumar: Honorable mentions include

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's first official live album, Live/Dead. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Live/Dead was released in 1969 - There weren't a lot of live albums released then - The band did it as a make-good to the label after some poor-selling albums - Recorded at the Fillmore West - Songs evolved in live setting - At the time, it was unusual to play extended jams - Music fans really focused on albums back in the heyday of vinyl - The first thing you hear on the album is 23-minute "Dark Star" - Now for the tuning section - Phil: Have listened to 250-300 Dead bootlegs - Bootleg tape trading was huge in the '70s and '80s - Archive.org, Nugs.net have tons of Dead shows - On a lot of '70s-era live albums, bands went in and re-recorded songs or parts of songs - Some bands perfectly recreate their studio sound - "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is reminiscent of Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" - Whe

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's third album, Aoxomoxoa. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Aoxomoxoa was released in 1969 - A big year for rock music - Tons of legendary albums came out: Zeppelin, Who, Beatles, Neil Young, Stooges, MC5, Stones - First two Dead albums were commercial failures - Went way over budget in studio, stuck to their guns - Very experimental sound - Robert Hunter contributed lyrics to most of the album - Songs featured eccentric characters, way out lyrics - Plenty of drugs were part of the process - The old West, the devil, the rose were recurring themes - First album ever recorded using 16-track technology - Band spent $180k on the album - Jay: A lot to like about this album - "Dupree's Diamond Blues" sounds like a Kinks song - "What's Become of the Baby" is 8 minutes of weirdness that should have been left off album - When bands release unnecessary hits compilations - There was a defi

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's second album, 1968's Anthem of the Sun. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Anthem of the Sun was recorded in 1967, released in '68 - Very experimental, similar to Zappa's song splicing in the '70s - Studio and live performances mixed together - An early concept album - Songs would evolve through the years in performance - Robert Hunter makes his first appearance as a lyricist on this album - Producer grew frustrated with the band and left during the recording - The sound of "thick air" - Triple kazoo attack - The Dead must have been a shock to fans of bubblegum pop - Live, the Dead mixed up their shows every night - This album sounds more jammy, like you would expect a Dead album to sound - A lot of covers of bluegrass, country, jug bands, blues - Pearl Jam adopted the Dead practice of releasing official bootlegs of shows - The Dead used to do more audience banter, but recent inc