Music fanatics Gabe, Dan, and Darin (formerly of the Metafork Music Review) use your favorite artists and albums to get at bigger trends and phenomena in the world of popular music.
We're celebrating the 20th anniversary of Radiohead's Kid A by attempting to rank every song. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com And subscribe to our new side-pod, "GONKCAST: An Autechre Podcast"!
The fall season has officially begun, so we're counting down the five greatest autumn albums of all time. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Cocteau Twins classic, Heaven or Las Vegas, by getting into the album for the very first time. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We celebrate Phil Elverum's return to The Microphones with a deep dive into Elverum's 2001 masterpiece, The Glow Pt. 2. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We're taking a brief summer break, so here's an assortment of Lou Reed and Neil Young reviews from our archives to hold you over. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We reflect on our past obsessions with Pink Floyd by diving deep into the band's 1971 LP, Meddle. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We take a deep dive into Bob Dylan's new LP, Rough and Rowdy Ways, as well as the state of Bob Dylan's legacy in 2020. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We dive deep into the phenomenon that is 100 gecs by discussing their debut LP, 1000 gecs. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter: @PopShieldPod
We celebrate a ton of classics that are turning 50 this year by counting down and debating our favorite records from 1970. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
In honor of Mark Mothersbaugh’s 70th birthday (but mostly to appease Dan), we're getting into Devo by exploring the band's 1978 debut, Q. Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pavement's Wowee Zowee by diving deep into the album, as well as its curious reception history. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We discuss Fiona Apple's new LP, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, plus the insane hype surrounding the album, including Pitchfork's perfect 10 rating. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
Inspired by a random tweet, we've decided to put the years of our birth head to head to head. We're talking Sonic Youth, Pixies, The Cure, and a whole lot more. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
When we learned that Joy Division had never "clicked" for Darin, and that Gabe hadn't listened to them in years, we decided to dive deep into the band's classic second LP, Closer. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We dive deep into an emerging cult classic that everybody needs to hear, Fishmans' 1996 magnum opus, Long Season. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We finally tackle classical music by looking at two iconic recordings of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, one by Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic, and the other by John Eliot Gardiner and the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We celebrate Valentine's Day by ranking every song on My Bloody Valentine's 1991 classic, Loveless. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We figure out how to get into free jazz by comparing and contrasting two free jazz classics, Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz and John Coltrane's Ascension. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We reassess Modest Mouse's breakthrough LP, Good News for People Who Love Bad News, and discuss whether "selling out" has any meaning in 2020. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We're back from the holiday break to count down our favorite albums of 2019, discuss Pitchfork's list, and offer up some reflections on the year as a whole. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com Dan's list: 5. Swans - Leaving Meaning 4. Danny Brown - uknowwhatimsayin? 3. Sunn O))) - Life Metal 2. Purple Mountains - Purple Mountains 1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen Darin's list: 5. Helado Negro - This Is How Your Smile 4. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell! 3. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors 2. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen 1. Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride Gabe's list: 5. Panda Bear - Buoys 4. Dax Pierson - Live in Oakland 3. Swans - Leaving Meaning 2. 75 Dollar Bill - I Was Real 1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Ghosteen
While we're all away for the holidays, enjoy this bonus episode from the archives breaking down every song on Prince's 1984 classic, Purple Rain. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We celebrate the new super-deluxe-edition of Prince's 1999 by ranking every song on the album and diving into all that amazing bonus material. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the most polarizing albums of all time, Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica, by discussing discussing how to "get it." Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
Instead of your run-of-the-mill review of Jesus Is King, we try to figure out how we got here by discussing the last year in the life of Kanye West, including the Yandhi leaks, Sunday Service, Jesus Is King, and all of the antics in between. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We share our personal picks for the 10 best records of the 2010s, discuss the musical trends that defined the decade, and, of course, complain about Pitchfork's end-of-the-decade lists. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
Enjoy this bonus episode on The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, recorded back in 2017 to celebrate the release of the remixed 50th anniversary edition. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We celebrate the 50th anniversary of The Beatles' Abbey Road by discussing the new "super deluxe" reissue and attempting to rank every song on the album. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
We revisit the Wu-Tang Clan's overstuffed and underrated sophomore LP, Wu-Tang Forever. Then, listener emails on Neutral Milk Hotel and Vampire Weekend. Email us: PopShieldPod@gmail.com
A listener email inspired us to dive deep into a masterpiece we all somehow missed, Burial's 2007 LP, Untrue.
A listener email inspired us to share this bonus episode, recorded back in 2018, on the re-recording of Car Seat Headrest's Twin Fantasy. Enjoy!
We've had pre-Aeroplane Neutral Milk Hotel on our minds lately, so we decided to discuss the band's criminally overlooked debut LP, On Avery Island, and finally give it its due.
Billie Eilish is proving to be one of the most divisive pop stars in recent memory. We dive deep into her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, and try to figure out why.
Enjoy this bonus episode on Radiohead's OK Computer reissue, OKNOTOK, as well as the band's most recent album, A Moon Shaped Pool—both recorded at the time of their original release.
In the wake of Thom Yorke's magnificent ANIMA, we reassess Yorke's The Eraser alongside Radiohead's The King of Limbs—the first two disappointments from an otherwise flawless band.
Enjoy this bonus episode on all 8 hours of Autechre's NTS Sessions, recorded back in 2018.
We celebrate the legacy of the iconic Warp Records by discussing underrated gems from Boards of Canada, Broadcast, and Autechre.
We celebrate the 30th anniversary of Nirvana's debut album by counting down the 10 best songs in the legendary band's extraordinary catalogue.
Bob Dylan's legendary 1975 concert tour, recently documented in film and box set form, has us trying to figure out the meaning and lessons of the fascinating experiment that was the Rolling Thunder Revue.
There are so many similarities and connections between the Grateful Dead and the Velvet Underground, so why do they feel like polar opposites? We compare and contrast both bands' most jammed-out masterpieces to get to the bottom of it.
The announcement of Tool's first album in 12 years has us reflecting on our former obsession and current distaste for the alternative metal juggernauts, so we revisit their crowning achievement, 2001's Lateralus, in order to reassess the band's legacy.
The success of Beyonce's new live album and concert film, Homecoming, raises a ton of interesting questions about the future of live albums in the age of streaming, poptimism, and on-demand video. We discuss!
We celebrate the 10th anniversary of a bunch of a great music by counting down our top 5 albums of 2009 and discussing the musical trends that dominated the year.
After Scott Walker passed away, Dan was shocked to learn that Gabe and Darin had never listened to him before. He assigned us one early album (Scott 2) and one late (Tilt) to teach us about Walker's incredible career arc and covert us into fans.
The 20th anniversary of The Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage unexpectedly inspired numerous retrospective reviews and discussions. We revisit the record ourselves and try to figure out what makes it such an enduring classic.
It's the 50th anniversary of Jim Morrison's legendary meltdown in Miami, so we mark the occasion by revisiting and ranking every studio album by The Doors. Do they still hold up? Or are The Doors just pretentious dad rock? The guys find out!
Thanks to the streaming era, it seems like albums are either getting really short or really long. Is this an actual trend? Why is it happening? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? The guys get to the bottom of it!
What if instead of releasing so many frustrating albums over the past 23 years, Weezer dropped their 3rd LP today, consisting only of their very best post-Pinkerton songs? Would it be another classic? The guys try to find out!
It's the 10th anniversary of Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, one of the most acclaimed records in recent memory, but somehow its legacy now seems in serious doubt. Is the backlash justified?
Is it poptimism? Good old fashioned selling out? Something's wrong with Pitchfork, the defining music publication of the last two decades, and the guys are determined to figure out what.
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