Somebody Likes It

We'll edit for the moment that I think Jimmy Buffett's real missed business opportunity could have been something called Jimmy's Buffet (just trays, warmers, cheeseburgers, presumably. Margarita machines). Admittedly, some of these episodes are excuses for us to take a ball peen hammer to the material, and there's some of that exercise here, but there are undoubtedly aspects to Buffet's ascent that defy logic and encourage chatter. There's a bit of an Austin angle to his gold strike, too. Indeed, as incredulous as we often seem throughout this episode that we actually listened to it (with the possible exception of Mark, who made a conscious decision not to torture himself), we tend to agree that it's unusual that career rocketships launch cocktail in hand. If you squint hard enough at sunset, you may see Just Another Island from here. Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithCW McCall - ConvoyA Current AffairThe Last Dinner Party - Nothing Matters

Let's just get something incredibly obvious out of the way up top about this episode - there was a hiatus in between the time Ryan selected this LP and the time we were actually able to convene and record it, and by contrast, Fontaines DC are actually hyper prolific, meaning, by the time we laid this bad boy down, they had turned out an additional avalanche of tracks. Nevertheless, there is something refreshing yet acerbic about this band's point of view, and it's not terribly surprising that they've been so beloved by their homeland (and those who appreciate an Irish perspective, perhaps). They are as Irish as a somewhat damp, extremely heavy cable knit sweater and believe me when I tell you that I did not know the origin point for those sweaters was Irish, but I looked it up and turns out it is. Sometimes the world just lines up right. And there are so many stories lurking here, from the neighbor kid who stomps through the streets of a 'pregnant city with a catholic mind' to the open question of why punk needs saving, exactly. Conundrums, half-truths, attitudes that pull on longer yarns to come. Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithGlen Hansard - Lowly DeserterA Current AffairSir Chloe - Know Better

So, to be obvious about it, we talk about Canada here, like a LOT. Entirely too much. The Guess Who will do that to you. All of the usual and a few unusual bits are trotted out. We are aware, and we are fond of Canadians. But the deep dive in this case is kind of unavoidable. Apologies to all the Gords north of the border. Maple! For all my friends. We canvass the practice of the forty-seven minute drum solo, what it's like to sound a third angrier lyrically than is necessary, fake zombies, and something that comes across like Elvis covering Van Morrison. This band represents another one of those acts who rocketed up the charts, encountered weird touring issues, and was typically driven by a couple of core dudes and a rotating cast of players. The public took notice.Tune in as we examine a quirky and occasionally accidental ascent.Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithChemical Club - SpringA Current AffairLana Del Ray (ft. Father John Misty) - Let The Light In

Marc Bolan went out like a Roman candle or a speed bump or in some such way an incandescent rock star dies at twenty-nine, and left in his wake a glitterbomb of glam stardust and swagger a mile wide and a few albums deep.It's hard to overstate his impact: T Rex enjoyed a run from 1970-73 where they charted like the Fab Four. Eleven singles in the UK top ten, among them 'Get It On,' cornerstone of Electric Warrior, touchstone of myriad covers since.Weird stories abound: Bolan and Bowie once painted their shared manager's walls and scavenged outfits from dustbins together, and years later Bolan grabbed camp and androgyny and sexy sheen by the scruff of the neck. It's very easy to get this kind of thing wrong, but there is something no doubt fundamental at play here. It is, as Ryan suggests, both 'dirty and sweet.' The flashpoint of an attitude.Bolan was a guy that couldn't drive but owned several cars and died in one. Life and death are funny sometimes. But in the time we're here, there's still time to start something. Something that echoes and reverbs through the ages.(Recorded May 30, 2022)In This Episode:A Few Minutes With:Roger Miller - Dang MeA Current Affair:NKTOB (Feat. Salt-N-Pepa, Rick Astley, En Vogue) - Bring Back The TimeListen to the album on Spotify

I'm not sure what that has to do with the band 10 cc exactly, what with their high highs and low lows, the same band capable of trotting out a perfect all time classic like 'I'm Not In Love' along side some sort of song about Minestrone (which somehow actually charted).'I'm Not In Love' alone could have made for a solid hour of chatter, what with the story about how they laid down layers upon layers of voice tracks, the true aesthetic which could be best felt by laying down on the ground in the studio and letting the track wash over them, which they actually did.Don't get me started on the fact that eventually the band broke up into two equal halves, a pop half and an art half, and that the art half (I think?) was responsible for an all time ditty of their own, and one of the weirdest album covers ever. Swing for the fences, I guess.No, don't get me started on any of that. But do lend an ear. There are plenty of yarns to spin.In This Episode:A Few Minutes With:Rex Orange County - Loving Is EasyA Current Affair:Silk Sonic - Fly As MeListen to the album on Spotify

Let's say you have a band. It's mostly you, though you bring in a rotating cast of characters to help you fill it out. You don't love touring, but do love snapping together pop punk ditties with a surgical top-down-in-the-summertime sonic aesthetic. You tend to pair these with dada-esque videos, and somehow it makes sense. Though it's your act, your last name is a nom de plume. You may understand the difference between the 'emo' and 'scene' scenes, and you may churn out catchy harmonies like they're growing on trees, but beneath the surface of incandescent melodies lurks melancholy. That's where we find Jade Lilitri and his erstwhile ensemble, Oso Oso. Let's put the needle in the groove, together, and unpack what it means when an optimist drinks 'half empty cups.'(Recorded February 14, 2020)Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithMatthew Sweet - Thought I Knew YouA Current AffairDermot Kennedy - Outnumbered

A quick search online provides many examples of the extreme torture, pain, and suffering inflicted by the heavy metal device known as the Iron Maiden. It's legendary status puts fear into the eyes of even the strongest of humans and caused the slow, excruciating death of thousands.You will also find pictures of a large 19th century iron coffin device, lined inside with sharp spikes, into which people were imprisoned. One can only imagine it was nearly as painful. For this episode, we focus on the former; subjecting Mark to unimaginable anguish and making the coffin with sharp spikes seem like a comfortable respite from the audible shrieks of torture. Memories of high school D&D campaigns flanked by long candles protruding from the mouths of empty beer bottles and sound-tracked by Iron Maiden aren't enough to make one love Somewhere In Time. Truth be told, there are gems to be pulled from this instrument of persecution that warrant a listen. If only once.(Recorded on February 06, 2020)Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithNine Inch Nails - CloserA Current AffairCalexico - Father Mountain

At this point it feels almost antithetical to what we're worrying about in 2022 to talk about the pandemic, like we've come to regard it as some sort of distant, fuzzy memory. The scourge wasn't that long ago, and if you judge by my last trip to the supermarket, some folks are still sweating the outcome.A few months back Ryan and Mark and I put together our pandemic mixtape show, a glorious (and occasionally weepy) montage of the feels we found during those times. But Shane couldn't make that taping, and he proposed that we record a sort of adjunct episode, a Shane-centric one, if you will.So here we are, dialing up a sublime and occasionally hysterical batch of Shane's memories, from the 'What the hell did I just see' of Thundercat to the modern buzzy throwback of Bachelor to Run The Jewels (which gave me occasion to tell my ACL-TV story) to the nerdy upbeat bliss of Dayglow. And more. Because pandemic records were totally a thing, and so was pandemic listening. We reveal the escape where we can find it. Listen to the Spotify PlaylistWatch The VideosTamar Aphek - CrossbowRun The Jewels - Ooh La LaSharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen - Like I Used ToAnderson .Paak - LockdownThundercat - Dragonball DuragGoat Girl - Sad CowboyBilly Eilish - My FutureSylvan Esso - Ferris WheelDayglow - MedicineBachelor - Stay In The CarClairo - AmoebaHaim - Summer Girl

It is tempting with Marvin Gaye to start with the last chapter. To skip ahead to the tragic end, dog ear the page, and work backwards.But that robs us of a certain sense of who he was at his epiphany, a competitive and deeply original talent who shone in the spotlight, bucked the trends that made Motown buckets of cash, and crafted what Ryan termed 'a sexy protest record.'And that's what it is. Not every moment lands here; just as slivers of Marvin Gaye's days ring cinematic, others hollow, he was still, even in chaos, able to push past destruction and tap into wells of inspiration...that kept his work in focus, never beyond the wanting ears of the public consciousness. Marvin Gaye's life wasn't always cinematic, it just seemed that way. Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithModern English - I Melt With YouA Current AffairHarry Styles - As It Was

Given time, pressure, and the varied perspective that arrives with age, we can be forgiven for re-imagining the opinions we formed in our halcyon days. But as long as music bears the burden of snapping us back to the moment when we first made its acquaintance, it feels, if only for a brief time, like we haven't aged a day.Ryan's friend Daniel Rich sits in on this show, and he brought us a gift: The Jungle Brothers' Done By The Forces of Nature. And there, in the way back machine, he is...nineteen, staring down the semi opaque business end of a flimsy promotional pressing LP, slapping it on a substandard turntable, and falling hard for whatever bumped and grooved out of the tinny speaker set. For all that the Jungle Brothers didn't quite accomplish in comparison with the overt popularity of some of their Native Tongues brethren, this album signaled the serious Afrocentric arrival of an act with real chops, and even in a period of volcanic creativity in the genre, the LP rings as fresh today as it did in 1989. Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithCornershop - Good To Be On The Road Back HomeA Current AffairEASHA - Manic Pixie Dream Girl

Charlie Martin's pandemic experience has been much like the rest of ours, until it wasn't.Martin, one half of the having-an-indie-moment act Hovvdy, spent much of the first two COVID years huddled up with his Mrs, tethered to extended family from afar, until they deemed such time safe (or safe enough) to venture out.Imaginary People, Martin's solo LP, emerges as an exploration of perspective, or should we say, 'perspectives, both real and imagined.' Which is to say that the way Martin navigated the slow passage of the pandemic was to conjure stories of characters, examine his own experience, to wonder and encourage himself to create.Serendipity plays a role here: it just so happens that an 1870s Steinway grand piano has tenure at Martin's Mother-In-Law's house in Mississippi, and those keys flavor the record often.Ultimately, it's worth noting that the offending review I note during this show came from KOOP (not KCRW). I wasn't sure how this record would land with Ryan and Mark, how we'd identify with this menagerie of hazy sonic portraits, but one thing's for certain. Charlie Martin can spin a yarn. Listen to the album on SpotifyA Few Minutes WithEddie Grant - Electric AvenueA Current AffairThe Weeknd - Blinding Lights

So let's just start with the obvious: we don't know where the scarf is.We don't know if the legends about said scarf are real, nor do we have insight from various Gyllenhaals as to the status of the aforementioned scarf, and we don't know with certainty that Taylor Swift, when you break up with her, is contractually obligated or otherwise driven to write ten minute super catchy ditties heavily inferring that she wants her scarf back.We don't know any of that.What we do know is that she writes borderline illegally infectious pop ditties that at times make otherwise serious human beings feel like they're...twenty-two. That her popcraft is of such finely hewn nuance that she can reimagine many of her breakout works, layer in a dizzying array of collaborations, and even deftly cede the spotlight from time to time is pretty telling.It's a memorable party, you just may get emotional at the end.Also, we take a magnifying glass to 'Bust A Move' -Find it on AmazonA Few Minutes WithYoung MC - Bust A MoveA Current Affairfanclubwallet - Car Crash in G Major

It's pretty common in our collective rear view to gaze upon the halcyon days of early March 2020 and chuckle about our earnest belief that this COVID thing? We'll be past it in a couple of weeks.Of course now, in a story that's been beaten into a fine mist, we know the pandemic had other plans.It is with tongue planted firmly in cheek that I suggest that this development did manage to affect the pursuit of podcasting.  At least it did ours.We really like to sit down in person as we can—it just makes for a livelier show—and talk music. So we waited. In the time since, Shane's gone back into the studio, so when we did decide to reconvene, Kevin, Ryan & Mark connect for this episode.We offer you the SLI pandemic recap mixtape, where we consider the tracks we've met since we've not been meeting. From the forlorn to the fanciful, it's a grab bag of what's kept us company throughout as the months piled up.Like the needle dropped in the groove, you've got to start somewhere - Recorded in October of 2021. To listen to the songs featured in this episode, checkout our Pandemic MixTape Spotify Playlist.

It can be difficult to recall on occasion that Willie Nelson is more than just the proverbial Kevin Bacon of country music: true, he's recorded with everyone, true, he's become revered beyond his wildest dreams among a large swath of the American music loving public, and true, he once managed to wrangle his way out of trouble with the IRS, in part, by cutting some Doritos commercials. It's been a weird ride. But there was a time when he found himself at the crossroads to a great enough extent that he laid down in the street in hopes that he might not get up again. This was more than the act of a man who wrote Patsy Cline's breakout hit "Crazy." It was, at the time, an act of desperation. And how delightful it must have felt, then, years later, when he worked his industry position into an album delivered the way that he wanted it, on his terms. He delivered something Nashville brass had no concept might work: a stripped down, road weary tale of a man looking for answers is a world that kept them just out of reach. In the end, the audience had the final say. Let's unspool what all the fuss was about.

This sometimes happens when life intervenes, and if we're being honest there's a lot of that that's been happening lately. Shane's been touring, Mark's been on the road for work (I suppose that's touring too, of sorts), and Ryan and Kevin have been juggling schedules. We figured the perfect antidote to the layoff was a brand new mixtape show, and no better excuse than a re-examination of 2019's best.Some of the tracks here are to be expected (Billie Eilish is clearly having a moment), and Clairo's more recent work follows her video with 45 million downloads, but we also mixed in some of the Front Bottoms (which gave us occasion to riff on old band names), Soccer Mommy makes an appearance with chops, and who knew The Raconteurs were at it again. Brendon Benson, I suppose.All in all mixtape shows are a breezy way to get back into things, take the pulse, talk a little current events. And remember why, even if we're lagging, great tracks remain timeless.

It's a weird byproduct of doing this podcast that occasionally —and I realize that this idea is counterintuitive—finding a record square in the midst of all of our collective sweetspot may affect our banter when we lay down the show. It's rare when it happens, but it happens. We ran into an interesting set of circumstances with Barrie and their initial release Happy To Be Here, from the SXSW set Mark and I caught in a Mezcal bar (with a local weatherman) to the fact that through dumb luck they came through Austin literally the night before recording, and Mark and I cornered Barrie (the person this time, not the band) to ask her a few questions about their music and her songs. And of course she was delightful, and the record is often delightful, and the whole thing tends to play like a nostalgic trip to somewhere you already know that you fancy. Which may make for a little bit of a one note sounding commentary.  But don't listen for hand wringing (there really isn't much of that anyway), lend an ear for the tracks. Those are the ones you've never heard before...that always take you back. Purchase the album

Mixtape shows are funny (beyond whatever shenanigans actually happen during the taping itself): you tend to think about the songs you're going to add to the show via the unique prism of that song's application to a given theme. For our Labor Day Mixtape Show, we decided (cleverly? You decide-) that we'd bring to bear songs specifically about Work, Birth (or Babies) and/or British Parliament (though that Labour has a U in it). Who knows if it works, but it sure does make the searching and ensuing chatter greater than dull. Pull up your favorite chair, grab the beverage of your choosing, and hold on. Also, We've created a playlist for this mixtape so that you can enjoy all of the songs in their entirety. You can check that out on Spotify or on Apple Music. ##In This Episode:## R.E.M. - Finest Worksong Dolly Parton - 9 to 5 The Beatles - Birthday Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Isn't She Lovely They Might Be Giants - Seven Days of the Week (I Never Go To Work) Eddie Rabbitt - Driving My Life Away Loverboy - Working For The Weekend Spoon - The Agony of Laffitte Huey Lewis and the News - Working For A Living Sam Cooke - Chain Gang Donna Summer - She Works Hard For The Money Sex Pistols - God Save The Queen

At some point during the week before we laid down this episode, one of us circulated a Honda scooter ad starring Miles Davis from the 1980s. If you've ever seen it, it's more or less...terrifying, which is a helluva thing to accuse of a Honda scooter commercial from the 1980s. Miles could be well and truly ominous when he wanted to be, even when (sort of) pitching something. He was, after all, known in his later years for playing entire sets with his back to the paying audience. He wasn't here, specifically, for you. In 1959, sixty or so years (almost to the day) prior to this episode, Davis assembled a team of players in the stratosphere of their careers: John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on sax, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb and new band pianist Wynton Kelly, who sat in for a track. It was heady company, and by the time they hit the studio, Miles had considered the ideas and signatures behind Kind of Blue thoroughly. The result was a legendary "conversation" between instruments, a subtle juxtaposition of styles that has continued to chart ever since. It's a solid starter jazz record for the neophyte ear, packed with enough nuance to reward repeat listenings from staunch collectors. Kind of Blue is only six songs long. But the tracks run much deeper than that. In this show, we ponder a classic. Find it on Amazon A Few Minutes With [Blur - *Coffee & TV*](https://youtu.be/6oqXVx3sBOk) A Current Affair [Fontaines D.C. - *Boys In The Better Land*](https://youtu.be/TNXrKBt76zI)

I don't really know how to explain this other than the way that I'm about to, but the first time I heard In The Meantime, I had a pretty good idea that this track was pretty much the best that Spacehog had to offer. And I don't mean that it's because the song is a transcendent masterpiece, a triumph to eclipse all of their others. It sounded, for lack of a better term, like a band poured everything into making one radio ready song, and then realized that they needed to cut nine more before the record came out. There is a lot (I mean a LOT) of teeth gnashing in this episode - we worry about Liv Tyler (who up and married one of these guys), and we somehow find time to mention that there were other albums, which is frankly somewhat astonishing. But they had their fifteen minutes. Which is about a quarter of the time they get here. Find it on Amazon A Few Minutes With [The Kingsmen - *Louie, Louie*](https://youtu.be/CCY0bAPLZ1w) A Current Affair [Charly Bliss - *Chatroom*](https://youtu.be/dXrJwXRyitg)

So to be completely fair (and you'll notice this straightaway), there's an elephant in the room in this episode. We ran into a weird situation - Mark actually left his usual recording array at home accidentally, and we decided to soldier on rather than go home and get it. The result is a sort of weird "conference call" quality to the broadcast (a fact that we lampoon for probably too long here), but we're in lemonade out of lemons territory, and we were eager to have some fun talking about the band at hand, in this case, The Libertines, whose very sound seems to celebrate a certain level of sonic disaster on the regular. We're joined by our music writer friend Chad who steps in for Shane this go round, and Ryan makes him re-canvass his story the launch of the White Stripes UK hype machine, and how that started with a music missive from The D. There's lots of talk about what pub bands sound like and how many teeth Shane McGowan has these days, but mostly we shake up the snow globe that is The Libertines a bit and see what settles out. And we learn what Up The Bracket means. We're back to sounding like our selves (for better or worse) next week, but you can argue that we've been been more lo-fi than here, talking about trouble and wrecked hotel rooms. Press your ear to the keyhole and see what all the racket's about. Find it on Amazon A Few Minutes With [Slow Pulp - *High*](https://youtu.be/HVIIP9COGC8) A Current Affair [Pixies - *On Graveyard Hill*](https://youtu.be/E2o-65chdoc)

It's hard to escape your own predispositions, and come to think of it, that's probably why we call them that. We each bring the tapestry of our unique experience into the ear we lend to a record, and it's as important as the record is itself in determining our ability to fall for it. Music can be a complicated bundle, but falling in love with an act is always collaborative. The listener, by the very act of listening, participates. And so we find ourselves at the doorstep of Whitney's debut release Light Upon The Lake, and Shane Is Not Having It. He struggles to abide the vocal register of Julien Ehrlich (which, admittedly to some, can scan a little Muppetastic), but half of us see the late afternoon sun shining through the Laurel Canyon tinged hills and the Wes Anderson backstory and bask. Ryan makes the point that in an age of digital singles this record is, most assuredly, an Album. They've got a new one in the can and the dates have been lined up and it's supposed to drop in August. But if you want to see where Whitney started the conversation, look no further than here. And let the light in. Find it on Amazon A Few Minutes With [The Oak Ridge Boys - *Elvira*](https://youtu.be/nGKatCAQed0) A Current Affair [Katie Toupin - *Magnetic Moves*](https://youtu.be/6hBFPzy4haw)

Long before he found himself wandering around emitting, out loud, sounds associated with brain cell loss, Ozzy Osbourne leapt into a solo career that, one might competitively say, is more responsible for his legacy than his work in Black Sabbath. Oh sure, some things remain constant - he still doesn't linger in the recording studio - and he’s surrounded here by musicians that would prove iconic — including some, like Randy Rhoads, whose legacy cemented through prowess and tragedy alike. There are ugly legal battles that linger, but in the moment Diary of a Madman captures the touchstone of an artist’s trajectory. Just the kind of thing metalheads never forget. Find it on Amazon A Few Minutes With [Squeeze - *Cool For Cats*](https://youtu.be/uJ2cEc_TCH8) A Current Affair [Vampire Weekend - *This Life*](https://youtu.be/FwkrrU2WYKg)

By now the Jenny Lewis story has been told far and wide: child actress becomes indie darling, and is anyone really surprised when she assembles an allstar team to pull together her latest record (helmed by Beck)? Probably not. But behind the polished veneer of her most recent release, a few of us wonder if she's been comfortable too long. Too many high fives and back slaps (is that still a thing?) and afternoons by the pool, with a rolodex (is that still a thing?) of anyone she can imagine as collaborator. When that formula lands, the results can be mesmerizing. And when it doesn't, you may just end up with something...pleasant. And maybe this album is both. We agree on this: there's only one way to find out. Buy Jenny Lewis On The Line A Few Minutes With [Tony!Toni!Toné! - If I Had No Loot](https://youtu.be/aeGFHHWA5hY) A Current Affair [Empath - Roses That Cry](https://youtu.be/PLWA9KKX6EQ)

Adam and the Ants, perhaps the birthplace of the of the Sexy Revolutionary War Guy costume, is our focus as we welcome back our full complement of goofballs back into the fray. There's lots to discuss - Malcolm McLaren, dream journals, Jerry Reed comes up for some reason, and a girl who is reviewing all of the LPs in her husband's "Stupid Record Collection." All in all, it's not hard to see why this act became a thing in the nascent days of MTV, and why, after all these years, it still sounds fun. And you can wager that revolutionaries dressed like Adam Ant might not have won most wars, but  then again, you probably need to ask yourself, who wants to fight with all this dancing going on? Pick up Adam Ant's Friend or Foe A Few Minutes With [Richie Havens - Follow](https://youtu.be/IEazNNJEcm0) A Current Affair [Sasimi - Not The Time](https://youtu.be/T61l0Qlo-1E)

Pinning down the Roots' legacy isn't quite as simple as acknowledging their current role slow jamming the news on The Tonight Show: in fact, before they were invited into our daily national households, The Roots had to first shake folks up. Things Fall Apart became the ascendant touchstone for a band that always had chops but never felt dangerous - from the fiery Jim Crow imagery stamped on the cover to the grab you by the throat lyrical turns held within, Questlove, Black Thought and company laid down somewhere in the neighborhood of 145 tracks to whittle down to a final take-no-prisoners fourteen songs, and once the interludes and transitions were sifted in, the record felt like a full on protest - of history, of their careers. How does it hold up twenty years down the road? Lend an ear and let's see.

Generally speaking, most super groups aren’t that Super. They tend to trend toward a collective of famous parts that almost never eclipse the sum of the whole. As a result, most of these efforts come off looking like what they are, vanity projects that draft off of the disparate fog of fame. Not so with boygenius, the clever by way of earnest moniker that is Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker as one. Recorded in four days, this EP showcases artists who may mine familiar territory (loss, longing, challenges in confidence) but carve out unique and complimentary roles to weave their arresting and forlorn tales. The chief complaint about this release was that it was too short. Let's see if that's true - boygenius - boygenius A Few Minutes With [Slaughter - *Up All Night*][2] A Current Affair [The Beths - *Future Me Hates Me*][3]

After a time there is a conventional wisdom that Bands become Brands, and all too often (we'd wager most of the time), if you think critically about what a band is called, it's typically a total disconnect against the name (no one really expects, for example, Arcade Fire to canvass precisely that). Which brings us to Superorganism, an originally far flung collection of musicians who bonded in person but also, primarily, over email and Skype and who now largely share the same residence in London, except for that one who lives in Australia. Of course. That moniker syncs, but what does it mean? Their pop pastiche caught the indie world's attention and held it—and that clever grab bag approach makes intriguing bedfellows of a litany of effects and musical genres. It's a little slacky but often undeniably fun, seasoned with a variety that begs surprises. Like opening a present. Let's unwrap. Superorganism - Superorganism Video for Something For Your M.I.N.D. Video for Everybody Wants To Be Famous Video for Reflections On A Screen A Few Minutes With [Ben Kweller - Heart Attack Kid][5] A Current Affair [Generationals - It May Get Bad When You're Lonely And Cold][6]

All three members of Flasher grew up in the Washington, DC area, a metro recently referenced in one review as both 'beautiful' and a 'clattering hellscape' pretty much in the same paragraph. It's safe to say that it's a complicated place to come of age, and as of recently, they still hadn't actually quit their day jobs, all three of them continuing to wait tables in addition to being label mates with the likes of Arctic Monkeys. There's a chance Constant Image, their fist full length, could change all of that. And it should be said that the thrill of records like this, occasionally, is that even the band isn't totally sure of what they're supposed to be: that they'll stick the landing is far from assured. Still, that's the thing about the intersection of youth and ambition - occasionally, the chances you take are incendiary. Flasher - Constant Image Video for Material A Few Minutes With [sElf - So Low][3] A Current Affair [Rhett Miller - Total Disaster][4]

In this episode, we discuss one of several eponymous albums by the Velvet Underground. This is the one with them sitting on a dingy couch. There's some solid tunes on here and then, there's not. Definitely a departure from 1968's White Light/White Heat with John Cale being replaced by Doug Yule and several songs that could use further editing. The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground A Few Minutes With [R.E.M. - Pale Blue Eyes][2] A Current Affair [Zettajoule - No Thank You][3]

After a 2 month hiatus from the show, we decided to kick things back into gear with another mixtape. This go around, Kevin suggested we select songs that we love from motion picture or theatre soundtracks. It's always fun to share songs that we're familiar with and hold a special place in our catalog. ##In This Episode:## Survivor - Eye of the Tiger from Rocky 3 Echo and the Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses from Pretty In Pink Modern English - I Melt With You from Valley Girl Happy Mondays - Loose Fit from 24 Hour Party People Joe Esposito - You're The Best Around from Karate Kid The Replacements - Within Your Reach from Say Anything Elliott Smith - Needle In The Hay from The Royal Tennenbaums Sing Street - Brown Shoes from Sing Street Suzanne Vega - Caramel from The Truth About Cats And Dogs Pulp - Mile End from Trainspotting Ocean Colour Scene - Hundred Mile High City from Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels Teenage Fan Club & De La Soul - Fallin from Judgement Night Sammy Hagar - Winner Takes All from Over The Top Tears for Fears - Mad World from Donnie Darko The Beatles - Hey Bulldog from Yellow Submarine Nick Drake - One of These Things First from Garden State

Being the grandson of the progenitor of 20th Century Country doesn't give you a free pass to the music hall of fame–unless we're talking about the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum in Nashville, it probably gets you a couple of free tickets there–but one thing it apparently give you is an incredible genetic tendency toward extreme musical talent. We were a little divided on how well we think that talent comes across on Straight To Hell, but with a tip of the hat to his Grandfather's legacy, "Three" packages up a little something for all of us. Hank Williams III - Straight To Hell A Few Minutes With [Earth Wind & Fire - September][2] A Current Affair [Flight of the Conchords - Father and Son][3]

It's difficult to really compare Ariana Grande to other female pop and R&B starlets of recent history; part Mariah, part Brittney, part Christina, part Pete Davidson, but none of these at the same time. It's safe to say the past couple of years haven't been necessarily smooth sailing for the 25 year old. Still, she sings. And walks and breathes like a living actual ingenue. She's typically framed in soft light until the chorus, and then, presumably, there's shopping. Ariana Grande - Sweetener A Few Minutes With [Veruca Salt - Seether][2] A Current Affair [The Sneaks - Future][3]

We had limited purview. Bandwagonesque was the record we knew, framed by the apparently unforgivable historical fact that any band with any album might edge Nirvana's Nevermind for an Album of the Year designation. That happened. Some still haven't gotten past it. Voting on things brings controversy. But this isn't that album. It's not even that argument. Here we canvass Grand Prix, widely regarded as perhaps the pinnacle of Teenage Fanclub's jangly alt-pop catalogue: not so breakneck as the racer on the cover might suggest, not as European either, come to think of it. But it does sound like a band accelerating in pursuit of the act they're meant to be. Breathtaking, dynamic, harmonious. Buckle up. Teenage Fanclub - Grand Prix A Few Minutes With [Bronze Whale - Shrubbery][2] A Current Affair [Interpol - If You Really Love Nothing][3]

If enigmatic, sprite-like-delivered vocals, with a layered, hypnotic musical bed is your bag, then we've we over here at Somebody Likes It have got you hooked up this week. We took a turn at Beach House's 2015 release Thank Your Lucky Stars, a kinda-easy shot for all of us over at podcast-central. Without giving away too much, I'll just add that naps and trans-continental one night hook-ups could both be aided by said aforementioned dream-pop should give one enough pause to check this record out – and that Shane is a big enough devotee of this act (two folks, for what it's worth), to rank this somewhat lower in its canon, while still clocking in as a fan. Looks like I have some back-listening to do, as I'm into it. We also give what one would hope is a somewhat fitting tribute to The Queen of Soul, dearly departed Aretha Franklin. We will miss you. [Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars][1] A Few Minutes With [Aretha Franklin - Think][2] A Current Affair [Jealous of the Birds - Plastic Skeletons][3] It should also be noted that Producer Mark is King of the Vocal Mash-Up. [1]: http://a.co/3OeMaGx [2]: https://youtu.be/Vet6AHmq3_s [3]: https://youtu.be/EmYfPMDJoQs

Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding may have written some of the best songs of the 70s, 80s, and 90s that most people have never heard. They teetered on commercial superstardom for years and potentially could have gotten there had it not been for Partridge's crippling stage fright that caused the band to stop touring in the early 80s. Heading to the studio with a new-found freedom to create music without concern for how to reproduce it live, XTC began to push the envelope of their sound. But it would take a few albums for them to establish the right formula that would result in 1986's Skylarking. In the middle lies The Big Express. At times disjointed with angular expression and fluid poppy hooks, this album starts off with a chug and slowly puff puffs it's way to a grinding halt some 44 minutes later. This album seems polarizing among XTC faithful with some calling it one of their best works and others putting it at the bottom of their catalog. For us, we all pretty much agreed; this does not match the power of Partridge's and Moulding's work that came both before and after its release, but that does not make it any less important in telling the full story of this band from Swindon. XTC - The Big Express A Few Minutes With [The Cardigans - Carnival][2] A Current Affair [Viagra Boys - Sports][3]

"She's my...Vertical Smile!...oh, wait let's change that to Cherry Pie". Yeah, that's right. Because of stupid Corporate Overlords not respecting the free speech rights of Warrant, we will never get to hear the genius they originally had in mind when they set music to tape back in 1989. They originally wanted this album to be called "Vertical Smile". Get it? That is a true story. Say what you want about them, (and everybody has an opinion on them), those late-80's scrunched-up Aqua-Net bangs had a laser focused misogynist poetry that was DESTROYED forever by the ironic vaseline smeared fish-eye lenses of the 90's Seattle-ish bands that would stand fiddling on a dropped D violin as the House That Poison Built slowly sank into that Pacific Ocean. And that's sad. It's sad to watch an empire crumple. I wanted this album to be worse than it was. I begrudgingly admit there are some solid Rock And Roll songs on it. Coming from someone that HATES mainstream capital R "Rock and Roll" from 19 whenever-through-2000-yeah-still-sucks,that is a solid head-nod. Don't get me wrong, "Cherry Pie" is like 1/3 boring-ass power ballads. It was hard to make fun of. I wanted it to be way funnier than it was. So, screw you, Warrant. Screw you for making me defend you in a cold-fish-hand-shake-that-dude-shakes-hands-in-a-weird-shake-it-off-way. Warrant - Cherry Pie A Few Minutes With [**The Avalanches** - Because I'm Me][2] A Current Affair [**The Shacks** - Follow Me][3]

Oh Matador Records, you of your indie darlings and slack ingenues and legends scrawled upon the walls of rancid LA apartments...Matador, you're at it again. Welcome to the Hype Machine. With the release of Snail Mail's Lush, we teeter headfirst into the prodigious mind of Lindsay Jordan, who writes dually about love as social triviality and distant curiosity. Jordan, who cut her musical teeth in part under the ambitious watch of Mary Timony (Ex Hex/Wild Flag), may seem like she recalls a thing or two from the nineties. But let's be honest, that's not entirely true either. Raw honesty in part helped hatch the fervor to follow, but honesty will only get you so far. If it feels "like the same party every weekend," do you really want to go anymore? Let's Explore Snail Mail - Lush A Few Minutes With [**Clap Your Hands Say Yeah** - The Skin Of My Yellow Country Teeth][2] A Current Affair [**Alex Lahey** - Love You Like A Brother][3]

This episode, while Producer Mark was away in Barcelona, we tackled Parliament's Watership Down Mothership Connection. Parliament - Mothership Connection A Few Minutes With [Journey - Separate Ways][2] A Current Affair [George Clinton - I'm Gon Make U Sick O'Me][3]

It's difficult to gaze back upon Elliot Smith's career and not see all of it, even the highlights, through a lens tinted with melancholy. Such may be the way that it goes with turbulent exits from this mortal coil, but Smith always let rays of sunshine filter through his musical tumult, and so goes From A Basement On The Hill, one of those great album titles that none of us can quite recall correctly, exactly. Smith's hallmarks are all present, and though the effort isn't quite as sublime as Either/Or (or even Figure 8), there's enough substance for listeners to lament, still, his absence, from the Beatles-infused winks to Nick Drake inspired turns and beyond. 2003 seems like a long time ago, until it doesn't. Elliot Smith - From A Basement On The Hill A Few Minutes With [**Ariel Pink** - Put Your Number In My Phone][2] A Current Affair [**Devin Dawson** - Asking For a Friend][3]

All too often the influences passed down from one musician to another are apparent only as distant melodies, those shadows of nostalgia that revive against the dying of some musical light. A distilled fraction of what made the original influence so notable. But what do we make of two mammoth personalities, massive musical evangelists in their day, who only shared a stage a couple of times, three tops? Those sound like pivotal moments. Fats Waller, son of a minister and a musician, kidnapped star of Al Capone's birthday party, and Satchmo / Pops / Louis Armstrong, perhaps the most bedrock figure in the history of American jazz, may have only played together a handful of times during Waller's lifetime before he passed in 1943. But there's little question the stride pianist and buoyant trumpeter were tuned in to the same human channel. Each carved out a remarkable place in history and commanded any room he was in, but the treasures you find when digging a little - why Fats hated hearing 'Sunny Side of the Street' on the radio, why Pops wore a Jewish star his entire adult life. That's where things get interesting. Satch Plays Fats is an homage from Satch to his late friend Fats, but it's more than that. It's a Second Line. Satch Plays Fats on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**Amy Winehouse** - You Know I'm No Good][2] A Current Affair [**Leon Bridges** - Bad Bad News][3] This episode has been resubmitted to fix an audio defect in the first publishing.

Before Ozzy Osbourne was a stammering reality show punchline, he really underwhelmed Lester Bangs, and there's something to be said for that, historically speaking. Black Sabbath's eponymous initial record was recorded almost in one sitting on its way to defining a new genre, one minted, in part, by the fact that one of the members' metal shop accidents necessitated a wholesale change in his play, that ended up informing the overall "heaviness" of the metal. Heavy metal was, in fact, created to some degree by actual heavy metal. What the album lacks in track numbers it may make up for in personality, and even old Lester came around eventually. He may have called Black Sabbath "like Cream, but worse," but there was no denying how this record spoke to certain dark corners of the metal community, both then and now. Tune in and find the flashpoint. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath featuring the song "Black Sabbath" is for sale A Few Minutes With [**Weird Al Yankovic** - Fat][3] A Current Affair [**Soccer Mommy** - Your Dog][4]

It's been noted that perhaps Willis Alan Ramsey was Lyle Lovett...before Lyle Lovett was Lyle Lovett, mostly, come to think of it, by Lyle Lovett. That's what happens when your debut album mines the intricate details of the emotional barriers we often erect to stave off matters of the heart, and when you do so from stages where a young future troubadour might connect with your style to the point of honoring it. Ramsey weaves and stitches timeless, folksy yarns that sound, in retrospect, a bit like an antecedent to the tumult of the time they were hatched. And then he did something no one saw coming. He never made another album (well, not one that's been released since, anyway). And the one he did make influenced a varied tapestry of performers who've become household names in their own right. Lend an ear and hear where it all began. Read Joe Nick Patoski's article on Willis Alan Ramsey Willis Alan Ramsey on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**Lyle Lovett** - That's Right You're Not From Texas][3] A Current Affair [**Courtney Barnett** - Nameless, Faceless][4]

As far as it goes with hand claps and cowbells, the majority of people are 2/3 of the way there. With Shane rejoining the podcast after a brief sabbatical, we felt it was a good time for another mixtape episode. But don't fear the reaper, we've collected 12 great tunes that showcase (or don't) the percussive beauty of skin on skin and wood on metal bovine accessory. Enjoy! Round 1 ###[Close To Me][1] - *The Cure* ### This is the first song I can remember noticing hand claps. I mean of course, I had heard them in songs before, but they are so obvious in this one, not to mention I first heard this song around the age when I started really paying attention to music. ###Hair Of The Dog - Nazareth ### This song could have easily been substituted for Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" in the classic Walken SNL sketch, as it features the the most over-the-top employment of 70's cowbell to ever emerge from a cannabis-fogged van. Scotland's answer to AC/DC--I would so totally go see them today if they toured together--even if Nazareth's bass player is the only remaining member left over from this era. ###Your Life Is A Lie - MGMT ### Not exactly what you would immediately tag as a "single" from indie rock giants MGMT but the video certainly has legs. The solid thunk of the cowbell (or perhaps just a lead pipe) transcends the stereotypical 70's rhythmic standard heard everywhere, including through some of this podcast. You can thank acid for this one. ###Stars and Sons - Broken Social Scene ### Sometimes the handclaps resonate more when you have to wait for them, and that's exactly what happens with Stars and Sons -- this is Broken Social Scene at full swagger, and the handclaps here serve as an exclamation point, culminating the building tension within the track. No bubblegum to be found. Round 2 ###[Nothing'severgonnastandinmyway(again)][5] - *Wilco* ### A great song off of a great album. *Summerteeth* is criminally underrated. The handclaps in this one aren't as prominently featured as other songs on this list, but they are just right. ###Hey Ya! - OutKast ### I don't give half a shit what the rest rest of the guys around the table care about this song, as it is pure genius to my ears--to the point that I actively searched my radio dial incessantly for it at its popular zenith. This is catchy as all-hell, the video delivers in spades, and marked the high point of a double album (which, if we're "being honest" was really just two solo records sewn together). Also, it features hand-claps. ###Lowrider - War ### There's a real root of Chicano and Cuban percussion throughout this gem and the cowbell features prominently thus. Performed by the band War, who also gave us hits like "Spill The Wine" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?", it seems difficult to imagine anyone who has not heard that punchy trumpet riff at least a dozen times. ###House of Jealous Lovers - The Rapture ### You will not be surprised to learn that James Murphy had a hand in production here, and to that extent this sounds like the sibling of a long lost LCD Soundsystem release. At the time the band felt a dance song might alienate their fans, but why? This track is a calorie burn waiting to happen. Both cowbells and handclaps join the party. Round 3 ###[Cecilia][9] - *Simon & Garfunkel* ### What can I say, the patron saint of handclap songs, somebody was gonna need to pick this one. ###Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel ### There is so much to love about this song/video, from its 70's bell-bottom majesty to its literal interpretation of being stuck between a clown and a joker (although--party game--guess which one is which). This also features both cowbell and hand-claps, which gives it a double-whammy for this episode. I have my doubts, but it would appear that Kevin also spontaneously picked out the solo artist that this band spawned. One last thing: I would be derelict in my duty if I didn't give away the spoiler that there are no ears severed in this. Deal with it, and just go re-watch Reservoir Dogs. ###Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite ### When I was a sophomore in college, my buddy Hondo made up his own lyrics to this song called "Move Your Shopping Cart", with the chorus ringing out "I'm Krogerin' for my mother". It's an earworm that often sidelines my brain for days at a time with a nice, driving (and likely sampled) cowbell keeping it all together. ###Clever Girls - Paul Carlberg ### It seems appropriate to note the omnipresent Swedish songwriting tradition here, but we spend precious little time discussing up and coming songcraft in that regard...those who pen the smash hits get all the ink. For his part, Pelle Carlberg knows his way around a ditty, and this buoyant track with the overly complicated name brings us home.

As monikers go, Starcrawler might be more a more literal band name than you think: this act, punctuated by art school kids and fronted by the daughter of one of LA's premier rock shutterbugs, slinks and shrieks through their initial release. It seems they were destined for stardom, well, since they were crawling. Yes, that's Beck's daughter on the album cover. Yes, that was the back of lead singer Arrow de Wilde's head featured in a Bleachers anthem video. Yes, it's de Wilde's obsession with Ozzy Osbourne that appears to fuel her messy, frenzied, even occasionally bloodstained turns onstage. But if we're being honest, it's the shredded guitar riffs of 17 year old wunderkind Henri Cash that put the star in the name, and somewhere in this alchemy is a boiling cauldron of now that seems to have stood the LA music scene up on end. Say this for Starcrawler, winner of this year's SXSW Grulke award for Best Up and Coming Act: they're not dull. Pick Up Starcrawler's Album A Few Minutes With [**L7** - Pretend We're Dead][2] A Current Affair [**Fan** - Velour][3]

Dear listeners-- If you've been waiting patiently, all your waking life, to immerse yourself in Aussie-bred hard rock featuring a grown-ass-man wearing a Catholic schoolboy uniform with an astonishing level of longevity, well, this is your week. We tackled AC/DC's 1979 record "Highway to Hell" this week, and I'll be damned if I didn't find this record endlessly entertaining. Take early-blues-based rock and roll and turn it up to 11, and you've got a good start. Lead singer Bon Scott would be dead within six months of this release, and if there's such a thing for a relatively young man having a fitting epitaph after an early exit from this mortal coil, this may be it. Tune in and figure it out for yourself, mate. Get on your own Highway To Hell A Few Minutes With [**The Bee Gees** - Too Much Heaven][2] A Current Affair [**Ratboys** - Elvis Is In The Freezer][3]

Working on this podcast as I have for a couple of years, I am often taken aback at albums that completely flew under my radar and yet still had enough buzz around them as to create a massive following. This parallel project for Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen is a fine example of a creative endeavor straight up my alley and yet I would not come to hear it until nearly 10 years after its release. Department of Eagles' (nee Whitey On The Moon UK) 2008 release, In Ear Park, is a beautiful collection of undulating vocal arrangements and gorgeous instrumentation that pays tribute to Rossen's recently deceased father. One can certainly draw comparisons to Grizzly Bear here considering it shares 3/4 of the same personnel, however this is certainly a departure in songwriting and composing. It's not an A&R man's type of record but sometimes a fishing trip is more about the journey and less about the hooks. I have no idea if that analogy makes any sense. Department of Eagles is available on Amazon. A Few Minutes With [**The New Pornographers** - Moves][2] A Current Affair [**Father John Misty** -Mr. Tillman][3] This week during "A Current Affair" we talked about a video by Father John Misty. What we neglected to mention was that the video he released is just him in front of a green screen without audio (which was released in a separate YouTube URL), encouraging others to "rip away" and linking to a tool allowing you to download the video from YouTube for additional editing. The video we watched and commented on was created by YouTube user rainforests using that green screen footage.

We all know the country music songwriter's recipe: start with a stretch of hardscrabble backstory, mix in some bad luck with the ladies, stir the bottom of the bottle around, maybe sprinkle in a stint in the pokey for good measure. Rinse. Repeat. Your typical country artist could sing the blues, but somehow this feels heavier. More wrought with shame. Still, scenarios can wax trite. Not so for Travis Meadows, who cut his teeth penning tracks for Dierks Bentley and Eric Church and wrote his first songs for himself after his fourth stint in rehab. And maybe that sounds predictable. But cancer at 14 was a wicked twist, on top of a the broken home that ushered Meadows into an evangelical stint bordered by deep dives into booze and drugs. He doesn't do much halfway. This is his first release produced by someone else, and at times it feels a little pristine. But chances are taken, and hard luck abounds. Join us with a couple of special guests as we see where the dusty roads lead. Pick up a copy of First Cigarette from Amazon. A Few Minutes With [**Caroline Rose** - Soul No. 5][2] A Current Affair [**Migos feat. Drake** - Walk It Talk It][3]

Years after crafting a sound so unique that a fledgling movement spun up around it, Portishead walked away from notoriety and their Trip hop roots that influenced so many. Away from the dark corners and come hither beats, punctuated by Beth Gibbons' pained yarns of yearning and regret, away from all of it. Until they didn't. Borne to some degree out of the threads they continued to explore after their first two pivotal LPs, the band's literally named Third release finds them still uncertain, still haunted, but still certainly curious and exploratory. Hell, there's even a ukulele that makes an appearance. Pretty sure no one saw that twist coming. What happens if you take the Trip hop out of Portishead? You're about to find out. Amazon has the album for sale. A Few Minutes With [**PJ Harvey** - Sheela-na-gig][2] A Current Affair [**Sylo Nozra** - Felt You][3]

It's a safe to say that if you have been pushing out music for the past 51 years, you've probably got a little something for everyone. It's also a pretty good chance that not everything in your catalog is going to elicit the same enthusiasm from all audiences. For those of you who appreciate early Prog Rock, you probably like Genesis 1972 release Foxtrot a hell of a lot more than 3/4 of us did. Lauded by many to be one of their top three albums, Foxtrot also marked a change in direction for the stage presence of the band, launching Peter Gabriel from a relatively unknown instrumentalist and vocalist into a strange and surreal performance-art superstar. The lyrics are sometimes cryptic and the music devoid of anything resembling a hook, but one can't deny the level of talent and expertise buried these epic arrangements. Here's a place where you can own your own copy. A Few Minutes With [**Genesis** - Mama][2] A Current Affair [**Troye Sivan** - The Good Side][3]

It's hard not to wax a certain amount of nostalgic about the year you're born: it is, after all, what lights the candle of your days. That's not lost on Josh Rouse, who reminds us that much is revealed by the concept albums an artist releases. Rouse has long revealed a wandering attention span, but when it comes to the AM gold of the early 1970s, he lets his gaze linger. But does it land? Pick up 1972 on Amazon. A Few Minutes With [**Folk Implosion** - Free To Go][2] A Current Affair [**St. Vincent** - Los Ageless][3]

As I write this, I am currently consuming the Jim Jarmusch documentary about the Stooges, "Gimme Danger." This means nothing, other than the fact that it turns out the Stooges hung out with Nico, and that ridiculously beautiful German model had a hold (artistically!) with two massively influential bands. She is most known, of course, for collaborating with the Velvet Underground on their first record. Which leads me to my real point: Lou Reed. Lou led the aforementioned VU, and by most accounts, was a cantankerous asshole. Let that not lead one to assume that he was an untalented cantankerous asshole, for he was not. In 1989, Mr. Reed released the solo effort "New York." Suffice it to say, some love love this record, others quite less so. Critics were pretty hip to it, but they aren't always right. Without giving away too much, I'll just say that check in to a spirited debate about a document of pre-Giuliani New York, and decide for yourself. You can buy this album on Amazon, don't you know. A Few Minutes With [**A Tribe Called Quest** - Can I Kick It?][2] A Current Affair [**Sufjan Stevens** - Tonya Harding][3]