Impress Me With Music is a weekly podcast where comedians Mary Novokhovsky and Dave Metz strive to create the perfect playlist. Each week they'll bring you a collection of songs by new artists, hidden gems, timeless B-sides and the occasional hit. You can listen and stream their playlists on Spotify…
We're back baby! We talk Tiny Desk, Rome Fortune, Against Me!, Jim Carroll, Spillage Village, and of course the one and only Baldassare Galuppi.
Comedian, writer, painter and civic organizer Meredith Kachel is our guest. She brought four songs with her, all of which are perfect playlist fodder (find them in the Spotify playlist on the link below). We watch Rubber Johnny by Aphex Twin, talk Roger's Park shooter, and Mary opens up a mystery box of Amazon stuff she ordered while asleep and has no memory of what it is. Meredith teaches us how to defraud your parents and we listen to: Paul Simon & Nico Segal, Muddy Waters, Otis Redding, Poolside, Jean Grae, Isiah Rashad, and Make Believe Ballroom Time!
Comedian Dave Vagnetti (the Palm Pilots, High Dive Comedy) comes on to help put a bow on the final chapter of the Mac Miller sage - his last album, Swimming. Mary tries out some character work. Dave likes a really dumb song by Tom Petty. Other Dave thinks Today in Music is a fun segment.
EARTHGANG, Camp Lo, Sylvan LaCue, plug Mary's reaction to the "I Love It" music video. Also, never forget the Beach Boys or Phil Spector.
We talk about the death of Mac Miller, why September 13th is one of the most historic days in music, and then Mary recommends some very questionable music.
Samantha Berkman and Toby McMullen try to impress Mary & Dave with music, and things get a little crazy. We talk Eminem's new album, George & Jonathan, Jorja Smith, PUP, Googie, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Mick Jenkins and of course, Lena Dunham. It's a long one, but a good one.
Anthony Santoro and Ryan Wesley Ensley a.k.a Hoagie of the band Sonny Falls are reppin' their label hard. We listened to two new songs off of their new album Some Kind of Spectre out on Sooper Records. They also played songs from their label mates Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, Jodi, Sen Morimoto, and Longface. One of the best ones yet!
Mathias really wants us to dig Alex Cameron, so we listen to a few tracks off of his new album Forced Witness. We also cover the death of Aretha Franklin and do a first listen of a Protomartyr track.
We watch the movie Eighth Grade and discuss the soundtrack as well as our own eighth grade experiences. We each pick two songs that we listened to in eighth grade and try to defend them while being questioned by the other about our tenure in middle school. We also review an exceptional fan music video for a Rick Ross song, review two albums (Ab-soul and Drake) as well as discuss one of the most historic days in music history EVER!
We go a little deeper on Rick James and what a bad dude he was, why the music industry is no longer profitable for most musicians, and review Chance the Rapper's latest release. Dave plays Mary four songs to impress her, by: Joyner Lucas, Tierra Whack, the Cool Kids and Lizzo. It's a weird one.
Music criticism's number 1 power couple (yeah, suck it Chuck Klosterman and Melissa Maerz) talk about Pitchfork: Ms. Lauryn Hill, Smino, Ravyn Lanae, Noname, DRAM and more. Plus we learn something horrifying about Rick James on Today in Music. Also a review of Joyner Lucas' "I'm Not Racist"
Mary and Dave (mostly Dave) plays what they've been listening to lately, including J.I.D, 38 Spesh, Sheck Wes, Daniel Johnston and give 5 minutes to Chaka Khan's 50 year music career.
Rahim Salaam and Ben Moroney from What About Chicago?! come on to discuss Chicago music and what's going on in the scene right now. We talk Saba, Glad Rags, Freddie Old Soul, NONAME, as well as the bad boys of Today in Music (DMX, Limp Bizkit) and our "Chicago Favorites" (no hotdogs or pizza, we promise).
Last week we did fatherhood, and since we forget to celebrate Mother's Day on the podcast, we brought comedian and friend Lia Berman over to talk motherhood, music, Boogie, Teyana Taylor, and how Lia has been to 72 Dave Matthews Band concerts in her life. Mary plays a weird Russian song, and Dave fawns over Mr. Wonderful.
We go deep on this episode. We talk fatherhood, but also parenthood in general with newly minted father and comic Nick Dloughy. Dave & Nick share songs that make them think of their daughters, while Mary plays a Pink Floyd song that reminds her of her own dad. We also talk the death of XXXTENTACION, Spotify rolling back it's content restrictions and NASIR. Follow Nick on Twitter @ndlousy.
After a little whoopsie in the studio, Mary & Dave are back with a playlist episode. Mary is big on Big Freedia, Dave is trying to like Rock and Roll. We also talk Anthony Bourdain, Paul McCartney, KIDS SEE GHOSTS, emo rap's next moves and the number one song from 1923.
We go in deep on the Drake/Pusha-T beef with Dave Maher. Dave Maher continues to be the only guest to challenge any of our stupid opinions on music.He is the creator of the Dave Maher Coma Show, which will be returning to Chicago soon before it goes to Edinburgh. You can learn more about that here: http://thisisdavemaher.com/comashow. He recently was a guest on This American Life: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/646/the-secret-of-my-deathTo donate to his Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/964780271/send-dave-maher-coma-show-to-edinburgh-fringe
Mary and Dave head to Detroit and listen to Kanye West's new album, and give their first impressions. Dave self identifies as a Yeezus freak, and Mary remains a skeptic.
Rovaughn Hill comes on to judge the argument between a married couple about dead rappers, and who holds (held) the crown. David says Tupac, Mary says Biggie. We also review the new Kevin Gates EP and talk about Rovaughn's hemorrhoids. You'll be shocked which one is more violent.
Mary takes Dave back to her electronic days with songs by Menomena, Daphni, Mexicans with Guns and Manu Chau. Dave reviews the new Junglepussy album and Puff Daddy's dark secret.
Does a singer-songwriter have to be good at singing? Do they have to be good at writing? Mary & Dave invite singer-songwriter Natalie Grace Alford over to discuss their favorites in the genre. We talk Todd Rundgren (and his "daughter"), St. Vincent, Margo Guryan, Darondo, Billy Bragg and Amanda Palmer. Also Dave won't stop bringing up Willie Nelson.
Mary and Dave put together a start of summer playlist, gab about Kanye and discuss the whole Bushwick Bill "shot in the eye" incident. New music from Maxo Kream and Drake, and a review of Willie Nelson's latest/maybe last album.
Dave hates live music, even though his first date with his wife Mary was a concert. Mary loves it so much, she is going to try to convince Dave otherwise. They put together a playlist that includes some of the best live songs of all time, as well as some new ones you might not know about. We also talk 420 Flops and Music News.
Battle of the bands this week, as we compare two albums about relationships gone awry: Cardi B's Invasion of Privacy, and Neil Young's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere. Anthony Scardino, aka Professor Pizza stops by to break the tie. We also talk Kendrick Lamar's Pulitzter and the anniversary of Prince's death.
Today in Music, album review of Vacation in Hell by the Flatbush Zombies, Battle of the Songs and even a baby crying at one point. "Best episode yet" - critics.
Back from a three month break, Mary and Dave are joined by their infant daughter to talk ten rappers that owe their careers to Soundcloud. Including: Lil Pump, 6ix9ine, and 03 Greedo.
Days before the birth of our daughter Sophia we recorded an episode where we reflect on the year, what we're thankful for and then we talk shit on the movie Meth Storm. It's a really terrible documentary. Seriously, most episodes of Intervention are better.
Titty City (@titty_citty) a punk band that likes to crack jokes comes by to play their favorite songs and promote their new album. We talk Steve Albini, Cher, Frank Zappa, and deceased babyface Lil Peep.
Mary and Dave play the music of their childhood, including ICP, Los Camposinos!, TV on the Radio, and more. BTW, forgot to hit the mute button, so if you love bloopers, this ep has a few!
Josh & Sean from Comfort Zone come in and make a playlist with us that includes Kevin Abstract, Drake, ILoveMakkonen, and a lot more. Their ep is out now on Spotify and SoundCloud.
After a little hiatus, Mary & Dave are back with a playlist for the ol' dusty road (very new in this case actually). They want to go on record and apologize for the air conditioner playing in the background!
Feeling down? Need motivation? Love getting that heart rate pumping before you do what you gotta do? Throw this playlist on.
Dave Maher is a funny comedian and creator of the Dave Maher Coma Show and music aficionado. Follow him on twitter at @thisisdavemaher.
Mary and Dave return to Chicago after taking a honey moon in the City that Never Big Apples. This week we've got a playlist based around New York City itself.
Mary & Dave are getting ready to get married in just a few days, and in from California are their friends Bella & Andrew. Bella is a former vegetable EMT and Andrew is "on the fringe of the entertainment industry." We talk music, marriage and YouTube stars.
Mary & Dave put together their new parenthood playlist for Impress Me With Music - an assortment of songs that make us think of the birth of our daughter Sophia.
Kate Meyers (aka Muhammad) schools us on musicals and we say a lot of ignorant things about a respected art form. Muhammad is Dave's friend from China/Kalamazoo and she is a literature and drama teacher, in addition to staring in many musical theatre productions over the years.
Dan Muller (We Book Celebrities) is our first guest. Our goal is to impress him with music we think he would like. We're not sure if we did or not. This episode includes: Kanye West, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the National.
This episode: Ebony Bones, Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment, Gil Scott-Heron, Sean Leon, Hot Chip, Dr. Dre, Kevin Gates, Handsome Boy Modeling School, and more!
Mary and Dave kick the show off in Miami, FL. In this episode we begin our ideal playlist for Summer 2017 (aka the Summer of Love Part 2).