Podcasts about Math rock

In this insightful episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, hosts Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb begin their series on Jesus's parables by examining the Parable of the Sower (or Soils). This foundational teaching from Christ reveals why some hearts receive the gospel message while others reject it. The hosts unpack the four soil types Jesus describes, exploring what each represents spiritually and how these patterns continue to manifest today. They emphasize that while the parable reveals different responses to the gospel, it also provides comfort for believers engaged in evangelism, reminding us that outcomes ultimately depend not on the sower's skill but on the condition of the soil—a condition that only God can prepare. This episode offers both theological depth and practical encouragement for Christians seeking to understand the various responses to the gospel message in their own ministry contexts. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Sower serves as a hermeneutical key for understanding all of Jesus's parables, as it directly addresses why Jesus taught in parables and provides the interpretive framework for understanding their purpose. The parable reveals four types of responses to the gospel (represented by the four soils), but only one that leads to genuine salvation and fruit-bearing. The focus of the parable is not on the sower's skill or the seed's quality but on the condition of the soil—emphasizing God's sovereignty in salvation while encouraging continued evangelism. The "rocky ground" hearers represent those who initially receive the gospel with joy but have no root system to sustain them when trials come, often resulting in what we might call "deconstruction" today. Christians should expect varied responses to gospel proclamation and not be discouraged when the seed appears to be wasted on unresponsive hearts, as this pattern was predicted by Jesus himself. The parable provides a warning against shallow faith while encouraging believers to develop deep spiritual roots that can withstand persecution and trials. Genuine conversion is ultimately evidenced by fruit-bearing, not merely by initial enthusiasm or religious affiliation. Understanding the Soils The Parable of the Sower presents four distinct soil types, each representing different responses to the gospel message. The first soil—the path—represents hearts where the gospel makes no impact whatsoever; the seed simply bounces off and is quickly snatched away by Satan. This illustrates not merely outward rejection of the gospel, but also intellectual non-comprehension. As Tony explains, this doesn't necessarily mean active hostility toward the gospel but could simply be indifference: "It may not be someone who has like a closed fist, 'I hate the gospel, I hate everything about God,' but for some reason they're just not [interested]." This parallels Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." The rocky soil represents those who initially receive the gospel with enthusiasm but lack depth. Their faith appears genuine at first but quickly withers under pressure or persecution. This phenomenon is particularly evident in what we often call "deconstruction" today—where someone who appeared genuinely converted falls away when their faith is tested. As Jesse notes, "I think what I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind...what's the length of time here? Is it possible that somebody could be in this place...which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end?" The parable reminds us that immediate joy at receiving the gospel is not necessarily evidence of saving faith, and it calls us to examine whether our own faith has sufficient depth to withstand trials. The Comfort of Realistic Expectations One of the most encouraging aspects of this parable is how it calibrates our expectations about evangelism and gospel ministry. Jesus teaches that when the gospel is proclaimed, we should expect varied responses—including outright rejection—not because of any failure in the message or messenger, but because of the condition of human hearts. This provides tremendous comfort for believers engaged in evangelistic efforts who might otherwise be discouraged by apparent failure. Tony highlights this point: "This parable is not about the skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed...The point of the parable...is that it has to do with the soil itself." This understanding frees us from the pressure of thinking we must somehow perfect our evangelistic technique or presentation, while also removing the false guilt that can come when people reject the message we share. Furthermore, the parable encourages continued, generous sowing of the gospel seed. As Tony observes, "We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this seed everywhere that he can." This reminds us that our responsibility is faithful proclamation, while the results remain in God's sovereign hands. Memorable Quotes "The Parable of the Sower teaches really that the gospel call goes out to all... but only those who God regenerates, that good soil, are gonna receive it savingly and will bear fruit." - Jesse Schwamb "Just because our experience of Christianity and our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that it felt real and genuine and rooted for [those who later fell away]... There's a caution there for us." - Tony Arsenal "The exhortation built into this is that we need to seek that root. We don't get to determine what kind of soil we are on an ultimate level—that's God's election and his secret providence. But on a horizontal level, in our experience of things, we have agency, we make decisions. We seek to be rooted or unrooted in the gospel." - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:36] Introduction and Greetings Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 462 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I am Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast of Good Soil. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. Well, will you look at us? Look at us. It's finally and officially begun. And that is this conversation. [00:01:00] Kickoff to the Parable Series Jesse Schwamb: This episode is really the kickoff, well, the first parable that we're going through together, starting a long conversation that I think is gonna bear much fruit, if you will. Yes. Maybe 30, maybe 60, maybe a hundred times. Lord willing. It's gonna be great. And we're starting off with a doozy. Yes. Actually, maybe this is like the granddaddy of all the parables because we're gonna hear Jesus tell us something about the word of God and how it's received among different hearers. And this is so fantastic. It's the only place to begin because this is truly some eternally contemporary words. Yeah, it's, this is the parable that's continually verified under our own eyes. Wherever the word of God is preached or expounded and people are assembled to hear it, the sayings of our Lord in this parable are found to be true. It describes what goes on as a general rule in our congregations in the world. Anytime the word of God goes out, what a place to begin. So we're gonna get there. It's gonna be great, don't you worry, dear listener. [00:02:04] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: But of course, before we do that, it's our tradition, our word that's spoken is always something in affirmation with something or in denial against something. So I say to you, as I always do, Tony. What do you have for us on this episode? Uh, an affirmation or denial. Tony Arsenal: This is an affirmation. I'll try to keep it nice and short and tight. Uh, I am affirming everything that comes with the fall. It's the air's getting crisp. The season, the, the pumpkin. Yeah. Not, not the fall. With the, let's, let's, let's clarify. I'm affirming everything that comes with autumn. So, uh, the air's crisp, the pumpkin spice is flowing, the leaves are starting to come down. Although, as a New Englander, I feel like I might be a little disappointed this year they're saying that it might not be as vibrant because we've been under a bit of a drought. But, uh, I, I'm all for all of it. Sweaters, gimme like a nice cozy scarf to put on and like a, I don't know, like a stocking cap. Gimme some flannel. I'm just ready to rock and roll. I'm, I'm, I'm done with summer and I'm ready for fall and yeah, that's, that's the whole thing. That's the affirmation. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. [00:03:09] Autumnal Delights and Debates Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. It's speaking of like eternally or seasonally contemporary. That is so good. Plus I would say like the fall or autumn. The best adjectives, doesn't it? Yes. Like including like the word ottum. Yes. Like, that's just a great word that we, we do not use enough of. So this season, loved ones dropping a tum in there because Yes. It's just such a good word. Tony Arsenal: And I, I know people hate on the pumpkin spice and uh, there was a rev, I think I've said this before, it's re revolutionized my understanding because I used to get so mad because I was like, this doesn't even taste like pumpkin. It's not pumpkin flavored items, it's pumpkin spiced. Flavored items. So it's the, the spice you would use in pumpkin pie is the spice that they're talking about. So people complain that you're just putting nutmeg in things. And to that, I say yes, that's the point. You just start adding nutmeg or pumpkin spice or cloves or all spice or whatever it might be. The point is we're using the same spices that you would use for making a pumpkin pie or some other sort of fall. Delicious fall. Pumpy squashy, goodness. Jesse Schwamb: You got that right. This is a classic case of don't hate the player. Hate the game. Tony Arsenal: It's true, it's true. And if you don't like it, if you don't like pumpkin spice, then just don't talk to me at all. I'm just kidding. Still get pumpkin spice. Like you can go to Starbucks and get the same, same coffee you always get. You don't have to get pumpkin spice, you don't have to drink pumpkin beer, you don't have to do any of that. The all the stuff is, all the normal stuff is still available. They don't tell you you can't have it. Nobody is opening your mouth and pouring it down your throat. So just calm down, order your normal drip coffee and move on with your life. Jesse Schwamb: Speaking of polarizing autumnal type things, I don't know if we've talked about probably, we have talked about this and I've just forgotten. Where do you land on the whole. Cotton, uh, sorry. Candy corn, not cotton candy, but candy corn. Tony Arsenal: I, I feel like we have talked about this and my perspectives may have changed over the years. I'm not a big fan of candy corn, but I will eat it until I vomit. If you put it in front, I think is the, is the consensus that if there's a bowl of it in front of me, the first thing that I will do is I will break off two little white tips of the ca uh, candy corn and stick them on my fangs and pretend to be vampire. Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. Tony Arsenal: And then I will eat the remainder of the pound and a half of candy that's in front of me until I throw up. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And I know there's some difference between like candy, corn and like the little pumpkin confectionary ones. Yeah. Some people prefer those over others. And then this is not even to talk about the whole debate between when it comes to Reese's Peanut butter cups and Oh yeah. The pumpkin variety of those and No, all that stuff. Tony Arsenal: No. Mm. Jesse Schwamb: No. To those? Tony Arsenal: No, to those. The, the shaped, the shaped, uh, Reese's Peanut butter objects, I suppose they're not cups at that point. Uh, they use a different kind of peanut butter. I dunno if you know that, but they use a different peanut butter. So they, they actually do taste different than the actual didn't know that says peanut butter cups. Um, it's either a different kind of peanut butter or a different kind of chocolate. But one of the primary substances, uh, not in the Aristotelian sense, uh, one of the primary substances is different. And so it does actually taste different. It's not as good. And then the balance between the chocolate and the peanut butter is off. It's, it's not good. I'm a, I'm a peanut butter cup. Uh, I like to say aficionado, but I think probably snob would be a better. A better term for it. Jesse Schwamb: Listen, you'll, you like what you like by the way, only on this podcast, only, I think among long-term listeners, would it be necessary to clarify that you do not mean substance in there was six alien sense. Tony Arsenal: That's true. That's, that's definitely true. Well, Jesse, that is where we are. Enough about my, uh, fall. Uh, food preferences. What are you affirming and or denying? Tonight, [00:07:02] Musical Recommendations Jesse Schwamb: I'm gonna also come along with you on it with the affirmation, and maybe while you're drinking that PSL or you're searching for that candy, corn, you might like, want something to put into your ears that isn't us, that's a little bit more melodic. And so I'm affirming with the, this time and age in which it is all about curation. That's often a lovely thing. I use Spotify for all of my music consumption, and they just fed me like a really interesting playlist that I would never have thought of as a category, but I've really been enjoying, it's called Math Rock. And I saw, and I thought I'm, I'm usually kinda like dubious of the Spotify playlist because like they're kind of out there for me generally. But I thought to myself, well, this is an interesting port man too. Like, I like math. I like rock, and the description was complex rhythms and mesmerizing loops. So I thought, I like complex rhythms. I like loops that continue and mesmerize, so the check it out for yourself. If you're looking for something that's like, it's enough to be interesting while you're working on something, but not too interesting. So that distracts you. This is apparently the jam. So yeah, it's like just really interesting rock oriented, mostly instrumental music that is like. Really motivating, but again, not interesting enough to really distract you from the task at hand if that's not your thing. The other thing I would recommend, I know you'll join me in this, Tony, is that poor Bishop Hooper released a new album this week. It's called The Serpent and the Seed, and this one has a ton of tracks on it, like 18 or so, and it, it as well is a unique mix of both instrumental, really lovely, beautiful pieces and then some that carry more vocal and melodic stuff that's kind of their customary jam. Both of 'em are great. They both do have kind of an an autumnal vibe, if I'm honest. Now I'm thinking about it. It's really the perfect compliment to whatever it is that you're consuming that has that pumpkin spice in it. So math, rock, the serpent and the seed. There you go. Tony Arsenal: I'm trying to synthesize. I mean, math and rock are like two of Jesse's favorite things. So I'm trying to synthesize what it would be like to scream the quadratic equation at someone with some sort of like slightly off cadence, dissonant guitar rift underneath. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. Tony Arsenal: I feel like there's a Me Without You album out there somewhere that that's exactly what it is. But Jesse Schwamb: yeah, probably there should Tony Arsenal: be at least. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there, there absolutely should be. And I'm with you. I'm willing to work on that album. That's a great idea. Like just, it's just an album of mathematical equations and like the deep mysteries of life, you know, listen, math is beautiful. Numbers are stories. There's, there's so much there. Yeah. You had me at Quadratic, so I, I think we've, we've given people a lot to enjoy in this fall season. It's true. Tony Arsenal: I, I. I couldn't solve a quadratic equation to save my entire life at this point. Uh, I took introduction to logic when I got to college 'cause I couldn't remember how to multiply fractions on the entrance exam. That's fair. So that's fair. So that was, that's my experience with math. But right Jesse Schwamb: now the internet wants to keep serving me videos about, you've seen like all these tests, like these entrance exams for like Harvard or like the Ivy Leagues, other Ivy Leagues, and it is all these random things, you know, like we're solving for like two variables, terminally, and there is some kinda like expon explanation to it. Um. Yeah, I guess that's what I've become and I watch 'em all. They honestly get me every time. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not gonna watch that. And then I'm like, oh, I'm definitely gonna watch that. So it just happens. It's great. Tony Arsenal: I love it. Meanwhile, meanwhile, YouTube is desperately trying to get me to watch Season six and Cobra High. And it's very quickly gonna be succeeding. I think the next time Netflix has a, has a promotion where I can get a cheap month or something like that, I will definitely be binging Cobra Kai. So I feel like our YouTube algorithms are very different. Jesse Schwamb: Very different. Yeah. Very different. Certainly in, um, there is a commonality of, of the mysteries of the world and. [00:11:06] Introduction to the Parable of the Sower Jesse Schwamb: In some way, that's what we're talking about in this entire series. And yeah, if for some reason you didn't hear a conversation from two weeks ago where we really set the table, I think for what a parable is, why Jesus uses parables. As far as I remember, you correct if I'm wrong, it was the definitive conversation about why the parable is not just peace wise in Jesus' teaching, but really why it's the centerpiece. Yeah, we talked about that at great length. So now we're really ready to go. If you didn't hear that, I highly recommend you go back and hear that. 'cause there's so much. I realize as we, we looked at this parable of the sower or better like the parable of the soils, that we could do a whole series on just this bad boy. Such not just like wide interpretation, but wide application. So much for us to really chew on and then to really come back to and chew the could. So we're gonna have to be probably every time a little bit self-editing and brief. So if you're just yelling at your device, why aren't you talking about this thing? There's a great place for you to yell into or maybe just calmly and very politely suggest rather than the void, you can join our Telegram group. Telegram is just an app for, it's kind of a conversational tool and platform, and if you're looking for it and I know that you are, don't, why would you even fool yourself? It's, you can find it by going to T Me Reform Brotherhood. There's a whole channel, there's a bunch of channels there, a bunch of little conversations that we have compartmentalize. There's one just to talk about the episode. So as we go through this, my encouragement to everybody is track with us, get your scriptures out. Come along with us in the actual journey of processing this. Do spend some time processing it with us. And then when there is inevitably that thing, they're like, why didn't you talk about this? You know, a great place to converse with others and us about that would be in the Telegram Chat. So T Me Reform Brotherhood. So enough of that, let's get to it. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there's, there's some, um, there's some logic that would say we should have just rather than doing an Introduction to Parables episode, we should have just done the parable, because this parable does really follow, it really does form like an introduction to all of Christ's parabolic teachings. And, you know, it's, no, it's no, um, mystery either in God's providence or just in Matthew as being a, a, you know, somewhat genius level composer of, of a work of literature in putting this parable first, because you're absolutely right at the top of the show that this parable really is. Almost like the hermeneutical key for all of the parables. Not just for in terms of like understanding the parables, it doesn't do that so much. But in understanding the purpose of the parables and more importantly, explicitly in the middle of this, Christ explains why he teaches in parables. So we covered that a lot last time, so we're not gonna, we're gonna skip over that middle section 'cause we don't need to rehash that. But this really is the granddaddy of all the parables. It it is, um. It is Christ's teaching on why he uses parables in action. It's the application of his own theology, of parables, if you want to call it that. Uh, in principle. And he is gracious enough that in this very first parable, he actually gives us the interpretation, right, which is, is not entirely unique, um, in, in the gospels, but it is not always the norm. There are a fair number of parables where Christ just drops the parable and leaves it there, um, for both his immediate listeners to figure out and then also for us to figure out. We're not given the inspired interpretation, but this one we are given the inspired interpretation. And Jesse, I had to laugh because, um. Just as you get really, really upset and worked, worked up about when people say Christ's body broken for you. Uh, it just drives me nuts when people call this the parable of the soils. 'cause Christ gives it a name, right? So, so we'll talk about that too. And I, I'm, I'm mostly playing, like, I'm not gonna jump through the screen at you or anything like that, but that's the, one of the other unique features of this parable is that it's given it's, it's given a name. Um, and that's part of the interpretation is that in most cases, parables have a primary figure or a primary point that's being made. And if you get that primary point wrong or that primary figure wrong, um, you tend to get the rest of the parable wrong. In this case, Christ graciously tells us who the parable is about or what the parable is about, and then later on when we get to the, the next parable or a couple parables down, um, he actually tells us more about the parable through some other teaching as well. [00:15:38] Reading and Analyzing the Parable Tony Arsenal: So, Jesse, do you have that text in front of us? Do you wanna go ahead and read that first chunk? That's the parable itself. Jesse Schwamb: I do, let's do it by the way. Uh, maybe somebody should keep track. Here's a fun little game of how many times we say parable or parabolic. And of course, whenever I hear parabolic, I always think, of course there is like something of great hyperbole or allegory, but I often think of, uh, parabola, which to your point, Tony, I think you're just doing this for my sake now, and I love, this is an exponent oriented equation. Of course, it's a like a canonical section, which can only be creative mathematically by pronunciation again. So thank you for that. I thought you just did that for me, so Tony Arsenal: I have no idea what you just said. You might as well have been speaking like Hindu. Jesse Schwamb: It's fantastic. Well, let's, let's get to the actual, the best word, the word of life. And this is from Matthew chapter 13. Beginning just at the start of the chapter. That same day, Jesus went out of his, uh, house and sat beside the sea and, and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables saying. A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprung up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no roots, they were it away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So on a surface level here, the, the parable is straightforward, right? We have a very straightforward picture, which is, is common for most of the parables, that it's not some sort of unusual, crazy out there situation that's being described. It's a common scenario from everyday life, uh, that doesn't tend to have sort of like. Mythological legendary kinds of characteristics. We have a simple farmer who is out sowing his seeds. Um, some of the commentaries we'll point out, and I don't, I dunno how accurate this is or isn't, but I, I saw it in, in a couple different commentaries. So I'm inclined to, to believe it that our model of farming, uh, in sort of a western world or, or maybe not western world, but in a more, I dunno, technologically advanced world, is to teal the ground till the ground first, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: And then to scatter seed. And it was much more common in the ancient world to actually scatter the seed kind of, uh, promiscuously and then till the ground. Um, I don't know the reasons for that. I'm not a horticulturist, but, um. The, the, one of the critiques that I've heard, and it's funny when people try to critique Jesus is 'cause they're always proven wrong, but one of the critiques I've heard is like, no farmer whatever would ever do this. Like, no, no sower would ever just throw seed on the ground, but this actually is the way they would've done farming. So he's, he's taking an everyday scenario that everyone would've been familiar with. Right. Nobody would've been like, oh yeah, that doesn't make any sense. They would've just said, oh yeah, of course you just throw the seed on the ground and then you come back around later and you do what you need to do. So it, it was really a scenario where some of the seed would've fallen on the path. And we're not talking about like a road next to the farm, but a lot of times the, the field had sort of, um. They're probably called like convenience trails is what they're called now. But people would travel through the, through the paths, and so there would be an area that's already walked, walked on that's a little bit easier to traverse. And eventually that area would turn into a pathway. So it was, it was kind of turned into sort of like hard clay turf that you couldn't get the seed into anyways. And then there would've been areas where, um, there was rocks under the surface. Most of our fields that our farm fields have been tilled and prepared and have been worked over, that the stones had been removed. But it wasn't always like that in the ancient world. And then you would've had areas where there was, uh, there was other vegetation, thorns, weeds, other kinds of plants that would've made, made it difficult for the crop to sprout and to bear fruit. So we have a very common scenario. There's nothing surprising about this. There's nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a simple farming metaphor that Christ employs here. Jesse Schwamb: And in some ways that's very consistent of course, because we have these very ordinary, normal things that God is using as a means of explanation for something that is very extraordinary, very supernatural. So we have the natural coming into play, not just as a representation, but to really demonstrates, illustrates and impound both in structure and form. This idea of what it means for the gospel to be communicated. And I'm with you, my understanding is in most ancient world. Those, those fields, we tend to think of them as fields and often the reference that way were like more like these narrow strips of land separated by these paths and you have this farmer casting the seed like very liberally. And not only that, but I think what's interesting right on the face. Is we see that there are basically four potential outcomes here and only one of those outcomes, 'cause we're already understanding this to mean the sowing of the sea, which is the word of life, which is the gospel message. Only one of those outcomes results in kingdom growth. There's a ratio of three to one. There's three times as many poor outcomes. In other words, there's all of these various ways in which we find that the seed is not rejected or does not result in the intended fruit. But there is just one path, one narrow kind of way in which it does result, and then it results in kind of various outcomes in terms of like the magnitude of the fruit or the plants that result from this planting. But as a result of that. I think what's really interesting to me right on the face is that we're seeing, like you said, there is a sower. He's casting the seed deliberately, he's coming on the path and he's just throwing it out. And in that narrow strip of land, there are all these different soils. And so right away we see if you're, if you're a farmer, you're understanding something about, it's not about the skill of the farmer in the casting of the seed. It's not even about the, the skill of the seed to grow. It's about the soil itself. And so again, we have this as three times as many potentially poor outcomes as there are for the one that results in this grand harvest. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And the one thing about this that might be, might have been, and, and again, some of the commentators are, are split on this, but might have been a sort of unexpected, um, element. And, and this is something we do see with, uh, with the parables, is there's usually some sort of, um. Unexpected or dramatic or turn of events kind of element, usually towards the end of a parable that would make, would, should be a subversion of expectations. Right? Right. And so the, in this instance, um, a yield of 30 times or, or 60 times or a hundred times, all of those yields would be crazy high yields. Um, you know, I, I, I think there are some plants, some of the commentators will make, make a point that there are some plants where like a 30. A 30 yield is normal. Um, but a 30 or a 60 or a hundred times yield of a crop is, is not the expectation. And so I think in, in a scenario like this, the reader or the listener is prepped by the fact that there are three, uh, negative outcomes and only one favorable outcome. To assume that the crop yield is not going to be great. Right? And then the reality is the crops that do sprout the crops that land on the good soil or the seed that lands on the good soil. Not only is it productive, it's so productive that it actually outpaces and kind of compensates for the lack of productivity or the lack of fruitfulness of the other three. So it's, it's three different, uh, it's four possible outcomes and then three levels of fruitfulness. And so this parable does sort of cause the listener or the hearer to think about, um, and start, you know, from the very outset, think about what does, what does it mean that the seed landed on the path and was stolen away by the birds? What does it mean that it sprouted quickly and uh, but didn't have roots and so it withered away in the sun? And what does it mean that, you know, it sprouted among thorns and so it couldn't bear fruit. And then I think the implied, um, the implied question that's being forced here because the parable does start out, you know, saying there was the sower, the sower, um. Sowed this seed out. He doesn't introduce this the same way he normally, he normally does or commonly does, right? Jesus often will start the peril ball by saying something like, the kingdom of God is like, right? Or you know this. This is like that. This, he just starts out saying like, a sower was out in the, in the field sowing seed. So the, the listener is not primed to know what the comparison is necessarily, but I think part of that is that now they're forced to ask what is the comparison? And I don't think it's much of a stretch. And again, this is why parables are so kind of paradoxical is it's not a difficult, when we get to the interpretation, it's not difficult to see the interpretation. Right, right. It's, it's easy to understand that the parable here, the metaphor is, is different reactions of, of some sort to. To a given thing, right? It's, it's different reactions to an investment of some sort. There's an investment of seed and in some instances it just doesn't take, in other instances, it takes and it doesn't sprout, and in other instances it sprouts, but it never fruits. So when we get to the interpretation, Jesus is gonna give us the clarity of what that investment is, and then who are, or what are the outcomes and what do they mean? In, in our, you know, in our thought process of what the kingdom of God is like. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, so let's do it then. [00:25:44] Understanding the Soils Jesse Schwamb: 'cause what we've got here is we basically have, each soil is representing some type of here. So we've got four heres but only one true believer. So it's probably behooves us to go through all of them and really kind of chat through. And maybe what we can do is try to bring some of our own practical application to each of these. I've been really meditating and pondering that, trying to think if this is practical for us, then how can we understand how each of these are being manifest all around us? And of course the intention here is not to like name people that we think fall into each of these four little groups, but more so to think about how we might understand people who do fall into each of these groups. And that is to say that. Each one of these, well, the, the first three rather, that these ones in which they're, the soil is in some degree suboptimal. I, I don't know that it means that it's always that way, for instance. So we might think of people that fall into those categories, but the Lord may be moving or working in them to move them into that fourth category. And of course, he's done that with ourselves, so we know that that's exactly how he operates. Um, and it's, I think it's good for us to remember that. I think there's a lot that's scary about this first soil, this idea that. The seed just bounces. So we get no uptake whatsoever in this one. But the other ones, at least you get a little satisfaction that there's some kind of reception. There is a receipt of that word. And the reason why I find this one to be so troubling is because these who hear it in the first case, they don't understand and they don't esteem it. And Christ is very clear to say that the seed itself doesn't sit there long. It bounces. So there's a, there is a literal hardness. That's reflected in that clay soil or that path, which is down trotted. And it's hard because of perhaps this constant lack of belief, this constant and unrepentant hearts or lifestyle, but it would be enough if it just kinda bounced off and sat there. But the fact that it's snatched away that the birds come and take it away, that Satan himself has an active and powerful role in influencing all of those who are hearing this word. And I think that hardness of heart may not just be manifest in, say, like an unrepentant lifestyle or this kind of clench fist against God on the inside, which is of course true of the natural man. But more than that, that anything that would take us away from true belief. So that is even any kind of our religious system or belief, any kind of philosophy, any kind of other worldview I think is in mind here because we know the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And so. What he's doing in that sometimes happens first and foremost in the mind, manifested in the heart and then in our behaviors. So if he's stealing away this word by replacing it with something that is false, that is not true, that destroys, that pulls us away and moves us away, then this is very scary. He has a real power, which we talked about. I don't know, like maybe six or so episodes ago. It's worth listening to, I think. And so what I find here that is really traumatizing upfront is the involvement in particular of the sinful man under his own mean estate. That is, that it's clear that the natural man cannot conceive of the things of God without regeneration, and Jesus makes it abundantly clear. He's, he's basically saying what Paul says later on in First Corinthians when he writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, does not accept them. So again, there's no agreement. There's no, even an intellectual ascent does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one for who is understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ, so there is no mind of Christ, which is, it's a horrible way to live life. And so in that space we have both the natural man, his total depravity, unable to pull himself up by his theological bootstraps or philosophical bootstraps or his intellectual emotional bootstraps to even discern what the way in which the world really actually is. And then in in, I say in addition to that, we have the devil himself waging war and attacking by pulling away that seed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I have a little bit of a different take on this and I think this is what I am looking forward to in this series. Is there, there is gonna be. [00:30:01] Understanding the Parable of the Sower Tony Arsenal: Different, uh, different understandings that probably all fall and are all compatible, but all fall within a acceptable range of understanding. Here, you know, I, in, in reading some of the commentaries, Calvin makes the point that all four of these different types of seed represent people who in some sense are open to the gospel. They're, they're open to, he, he makes the point that this is not talking about the, the person who like refuses to hear the gospel at all, who like won't even come into the church. This is a person predominantly who is, is exposed to the word in some sense, probably in view as someone who's among the people of God who's in the, in the, in the physical body of the people of God who's among Christians or among those hearing the word. And for whatever reason, the, the, the seed doesn't, uh, it doesn't even get into the soil. Right, and he compares, Christ compares, um, this not to somebody who is hardhearted, but to someone who doesn't understand, right? That there's an intellectual element to this, right? You think of, um, you know, you think of somebody who hears the scripture and probably understands outwardly what it means, but doesn't ever comprehend it internally. They don't ever really, they don't ever really let it penetrate into their, into their hearts. Um, so it's been sewn into their hearts, but it doesn't actually take root in their hearts in any other sense. [00:31:38] The Role of the Soil in Receiving the Word Tony Arsenal: And this is what's a little bit different from, from the other ones that we're gonna see in all of the other cases. The seed takes root, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: It actually penetrates the ground and begins to grow. Um, it, this is a seed that never even makes it that far. And so it may not be someone who has like a, who necessarily has like a closed fist. I hate the gospel. I hate everything about God, but for some reason they're just not. And when we say for some reason I'm talking, obviously I'm talking la you know, horizontally. Um, we know that the reason that they don't have an open heart is 'cause the Holy Spirit is not open to their heart. But for whatever earthly temporal reason, the word just doesn't penetrate. It bounces off of them. It just doesn't get there. Not necessarily because they're outwardly hostile to it. They just maybe are not interested in it. And so this is where I think that. Along with the evil one, snatching it away. That's actually like one in the same thing. Is, is part of what I think this is getting at is that the, the, the only reason that the, um, that Satan can snatch away the word from their heart or what has been sewn into their heart is because their heart has not received it. And so it's that sort of dual function and, and maybe it's kind of like, almost like, uh, in Exodus, you know, God hardening the heart and then Pharaoh hardening the heart and those two things are happening, you know, by means of concurs that God is doing it in a divine sense. I almost feel like this is an instance where kind of like the, the census or, or with job where Satan is the one who is doing it, but it's ultimately attributed to God as well. It's the hardening of the heart, but it's also the hardness of heart. Um, all of those things are playing a dynamic, but ultimately the point here is that there are those who the word is preached to. [00:33:30] The Sower's Responsibility and the Soil's Condition Tony Arsenal: Um, you know, we will find out in, in a little bit later, like, the sower is Christ in, in these parables here. It's not, it's not generally the sowing of the word. It's Christ who is sowing the word. It's the son who is sowing, uh, the seed of the word. And we can think about that either during his own ministry. This certainly was, um, was true of his own ministry on Earth, that there were some who just did not receive the word and they just, it just bounced off of them. But then also as the son sows the seed through his people, down through the church age, through history, whether it's in the Lord's Day service or personal, witnessing, personal, you know, um, evangelism, it's still God who is sowing the seed. It's still the Lord who is the sower of the seed. But even in that context, there are still some who just don't receive it. So I think what you said earlier is really, is really spot on. This parable is not about. The skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed. Right. And I think sometimes people read this and they, they look at it as though it is actually the sewer's fault. What a dumb sower. He sowed it on the path. Of course it's not gonna take root. That's not the point of the parable at all. The point of the parable, and we learn it just right, this very first one, is that it has to do with the, the soil itself. Which is why, you know, I, I kind of joke about calling it the parable of the soils, and that's a fine way to refer to it. And most of these parables could have multiple different, you know, accurate titles as well. But the point of the parable, or the main point of the parable is that the soil itself is what determines the outcome. Again, you know, we, we don't need to get into all the theological details of how the soil becomes, what the soil is. This show has the word reformed in the title. You can figure out that we're gonna say, well, God is the one that prepares the soil. And that also just fits with the, with the a parable here, right? The good soil is only good because it's been tilled and prepared by the sower ahead of time, right? So I think that's, that's spot on. And, and you know, as I think about the people I know in my life, um, it's very easy to get discouraged when you try to so seed to, to follow through on the metaphor when you try to so seed and it feels like it bounces off. But we shouldn't be surprised at that. We shouldn't be surprised when someone is just not interested because Christ in his very first parable tells us there are people out there like that. That doesn't mean you don't sow the seed, it doesn't mean you don't continue to spread the seed the way that the sower does. And the reason for that is that some of it is going to take, take root, some of it is going to take root and bear fruit and you are not in charge and you don't control which one does which. We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this, so this seed everywhere that he can. [00:36:26] The Reality of Hardheartedness Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there is something there that I think is comfortable about this hardness of the soil, because I think sometimes we underestimate that the normative position of man is to be antagonistic toward God. That's not to say like we're talking about in their every action they take, they're going to refuse to hear the gospel or they're going to fight vehemently or out outwardly against it. But it's true that everywhere we find the scriptures, whether it's this other metaphor about God, again, doing this great surgery, of taking out this height of stone, which is of course hardheartedness or whether we go to like Romans three, where Paul says that there's no one who understands, there's no one who seeks God. So we understand that the default position is, one, nobody's seeking after God. Two, that God is too threatening to us. He threatens ourself. He threatens our ego, he threatens our own way. He threatens our contingency, all of which we try to fight against, like to our own dismay. And you know, basically. You know, it's willing, suspension of disbelief. But it's interesting and I think comforting here that what he's saying is, is exactly what you've just said, which is do not he, he'd almost say like loved ones. Do not be surprised when you find that people are just not that interested. They're just not into the gospel. Because your default position is to be a gospel abuser. To be a covenant breaker. And so because of that, there's just a natural hardness. And that hardness, I think he has to draw out. He has to say it's gonna bounce and Satan's gonna snatch it away because it would be, it's too easy to look at those who are just like vehemently opposed to the gospel that wanna debate. You wanna shut you down, wanna yell at you, wanna put signs in your face, wanna spit on you. That's too easy to be like, well, of course. Those people are not gonna receive it. But what about the quiet people who just don't care? Or, yeah. What about the people who are too caught up in their way of life or their simple behaviors or their patterns, or again, just what? What about those? What about the Mormons? When they come to your door and you can speak into your blue in the face about what Paul says, like the gospel plus anything is anathema, and they're just kinda like, yes. Yeah. Totally. That's fine. Totally down with that. And you're like, yeah, but you're doing, you're doing that very thing. This is great comfort to know that even those situations where you're not at war explicitly with somebody, that it's still comforting to know that this is going to happen. And also I think it's a great reminder that apart from God, apart from that changing of the soil, as you said, Tony, we would be those same people. That's in fact where we start. I, I don't say that. Like there's a progression here. We find in the, from moving from one to four. There is though something like you've said, where it's just interesting that Jesus shows us the very kind of shades of this. And I think, again, we gotta get out of our head like the, the temporality of this or like, well, what length of time are we talking about? Like when we get to the second one, which we should move on to. And there is some sprouting of the seed. Like how much time are we talking about? Like if it's two weeks, are they in camp two, if it's three weeks, are they moved out of that into some other, one of the other schools? Uh, I think it's just to show us that there are really, again, four hearers, one believer, and we can see clearly what the one believer looks like. It's a little bit more difficult to maybe sometimes discern what the other three look like, but it gives us hope and encouragement and basically just a sense of like, this is the way the world works. To know pres positionally, that when we go out, and like you said, I love this already, this is a major theme, is speak the gospel to all people. I mean, in this way, the gospel is for all people. Because Jesus' saying, do not cast the seed here. Go and look at that narrow path and find out, try to keep it off the, the hard ground. Do not let the devil snatch it up. It just says, throw and seed, throw and seed. And so we have to keep doing that stuff. [00:40:10] The Challenge of Shallow Roots Jesse Schwamb: So let's get to number two. What, what? Yeah. What say? Yeah. Tony Arsenal: Let me read it here. This is in verse, uh, 20 and 21. Here. It says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the world, immediately he falls away. So thi this is the person who, um, who has some sort of outward conversion experience, right? It's a person who receives the word, he receives it with joy, um, and appears to sprout, right? This is seed that has taken hold and has, uh, you know, the, the, and we, we can see that it has taken hold. So it's not just some hidden seed that has roots and never breaks the surface. Right. It's a, it's a, it's a plant that has made its way into the soil. It has taken roots of some sort. Um, but the roots are shallow. The roots never actually get, uh, deep enough to, to be able to survive the sun, right. In the, the original parable, it's, it's baked by the sun. And, you know, this is, um, I think what what we're gonna see is maybe to sort of preface your question, and I think probably this is gonna be one of those two parter episodes, even though we planned it to be one parter episode. Um, I think what we're gonna see here is that you can't actually know whether someone is. The hard rocks is the rocks or the thorns. Right? Un until, until all is said and done. Right. Right. And that's part of what's difficult is you, you want to look at a parable like this, and this is where I think maybe this is a good sort of like caution against overinterpreting, the parables, right? Christ is not trying to give us a rubric to identify who is what. Jesse Schwamb: Right. He's Tony Arsenal: not trying to give us like a litmus test to say like, that person is the hard soil. That person is the rocks. That person is the thorns. And you know, this reminds me, I, I recall, I, I dunno how many years ago, it was a couple years ago when Kanye West was going through his like Jesus phase, right? And he, everyone was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that Kanye is a Christian and he's writing this album called Jesus. Jesus Saves. And, and I, I just remember saying at the time, like, guys, there's a parable of the soils here. Like we should be. Um, we should be joyful that it, it appears that this seed is taking root, but there are lots of different outcomes when the seed takes root. And it's funny because I, I don't, I don't remember what episode this was and please don't go look it up 'cause that's a waste of everyone's time. But I remember when that conversation happened and I don't know whether there was an affirmation or a denial or what context came up in, but I remember contrasting him to Justin Bieber. And it's ironic, right, because I actually just read on Twitter today. Let me see if I can find the post during the next time you're talking. Justin Bieber posted this really amazing, theologically astute, mature kind of statement on Twitter today. And I think at the time, if you had asked me, um, is Kanye more likely to be the good soil or Justin Bieber to be the good soil, I would've said Kanye. Right? Just because he's, he was older, he is a little bit more established in himself. Um. Justin Bieber was still very young. He was, he was sort of like all over the place personality wise. He seemed to be changing radically. And it just goes to show like, you can't tell. And, and I'm not even saying right now like, this is, this is where it gets difficult. I'm not even saying right now, Justin Bieber is good soil, although I did right. Retweet his quote and did hashtag good soil. Almost aspirationally, right? But we can take a look at someone's life in retrospect and say, this person is bearing fruit, or this person is not bearing fruit. And, and that's really where this particular, um, type of soil goes. It's not so much the fruit, it's the sprout. And I think when we look at a situation like Kanye and, and. There's hopefully still a lot of life left for Kanye, and that means there's still hope for a con, a genuine conversion and bearing fruit that keeps with repentance that does not appear to be what had happened at the time. Right? He's gone totally off the rails at this point. So we pray for that. We hope, we hope for better things for him. Um, but. At the time, Kanye was, is he, he's going by Y now. I don't even know what to call him anymore. But Kanye was a sprout that grew up with great joy quickly. And what we found through time is that it appears that he, when he was, although maybe he fits better into the second, this next category that we'll have to push off till next week, I think. But either way, like he appeared to have sprouted, he appeared to have taken root and ultimately did not actually bear fruit. And that's the defining feature of these first three ones. It's not so much about what happens with the seed. Does it get in the ground? Does it not get in the grow? Does it sprouts, does it not sprout? It's ultimately about the fruitfulness, right? The final, the final phase of the parable, the final, um, the final type of soil is the one that produces fruit. So we'll get to that in detail, but that's what we need to think about. And again, like I said, it's not as though crisis saying like, all right, here's this checklist of ways to determine whether someone's conversion is correct, is true or not. Because we can't know that until after the fact and well after the fact. We also can't know that it's valid until after the fact. What I think this parable, broadly speaking, gets at is that we have to look at every situation and realize that there are these different possible outcomes. And although I don't know that this is explicitly part of the parable, it also sort of points us to the fact that like, because it's not a foregone conclusion about what's gonna happen, maybe there's also something we can do about it. Right? Right. Maybe when we realize someone might be on the rocky soil. Whether we, we have some reason to believe that or we just want to get out in front of that possibility, maybe there's still room to actually get in there and, and move the seed to a different soil, I guess might be a better way to use the metaphor is to, to just take the seed somewhere else or to till the soil, to get the rocks out of the soil. Although this is not talking about like rocks in the soil. It's talking about a layer, probably a layer of bedrock. Like Yes, exactly. Just under the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Right? So Tony Arsenal: there is an immutability about these, these different categories of, of people, and again, this is where like overinterpreting, the parable can get to be problematic, but we, we see that there are these categories, we can't necessarily know which one of these categories a person is in when they have some sort of outward expression of faith where they've received. I think we can tell the difference between that first category. Someone who just has not received the, the gospel at all, has not received the word of God at all, right? Like it's just bounced off of him. It's made no impact. I think we can see that that's a relatively straightforward, um, situation for us to assess. And of course we can't see someone's heart, but it's, it's usually pretty outwardly, readily available to us that they just have not received the word in any means. Right. When we get to these second two categories, that's not the case. We're talking about two different categories of people who have received the word and it has begun to sprout. It has begun, it actually has sprouted, not just begun to sprout, but it's sprouted. Um, I just think we need to be really careful to sort of not place someone in an immutable category until after we've seen what's gonna happen. Yes. Really across their whole life. Jesse Schwamb: Yes. [00:47:41] The Importance of Deep Roots in Faith Jesse Schwamb: I'm glad you brought that up because we really have to remember that in the last three instances, you cannot tell from the soil what the outcome will be. So it is a little bit, I'm with you, kind of a misnomer in the translation. This idea of like rocky soil. Yeah. If it were truly like rocky soil, the way that probably most of us in the Western think of it like soil mixed with gravel, right? They're probably, the sewer would be like, why would I throw it on there like that? That doesn't make any sense. Certainly again, if you're looking for that, that really fertile, well tilled ground, the one that looks promising, you wouldn't do that. So more than likely, I'm with you. We're talking about like a hired limestone layer that would've been like a few inches below, and as the sun would come down, my understanding is of course, like that limestone would heat up. It'd be like the perfect warm environment for like a seed to immediately like spring up with some hope. And that's exactly I think what Jesus is after here. It's this idea that the seed springs up immediately. People receive the message with joy. There's been no root or development to deeper moist soil though, because it doesn't exist. It gets blocked out. But inci incidentally, like the heat of that rock bed actually is the thing that causes it to germinate and produce at least a sprout really, really quickly. But as soon as like any kind of other heat comes upon it, because it cannot not grow deeper because it cannot set the roots, because it cannot get enough water from deep down, then it's going to be quick to die. I think we see this all the time. Maybe we even see this to some degree, not exclusively and in the same kind of magnitude in our own lives. But you know, we may listen to a sermon with pleasure while the impression produced in us is like only temporary, short-lived. You know, our hearts can be like that stony ground. Sometimes it may yield like a plentiful cop clap of warm feelings and like good resolutions and good vibes. How often do we hear that language? But all this time, there may be no deeply rooted work in our souls. And that first like cold blast of oppression or temptation may cause like all of that to go away. What I see interpret it from this particular group and, and this the one that follows it very much the same is like a conversion to religion. So here where this is where I firmly, like, I think we have a class, and this might trigger some people, but I'm gonna say it anyway. We have a class for this to me is deconstructionism. Yeah. And I think what I've, I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind is that. I'm not sure that we have to be so concerned in this, this metaphor or this great parable about like what's the length of time here? So for instance, is it possible that somebody could be in this place where there is this hard layer of rock, which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end. Yeah, where somebody has heard the gospel message has come into the life of the church and finds that this is generally a pleasant way to believe and to live and to express these ideals until maybe they have a strong voice somewhere or they're confronted with the fact that this, their message now is not very tolerant. And so as soon as there comes against them, this push that maybe what you're saying is too exclusive, that all of a sudden there really is a manifestation that there's no real root there. Yeah, there was no conversion. There was a conversion to religious principle and ideas and insomuch as those things didn't push too much against whatever objectives they had. Not even like going after what happens in the the third instance here with all the pleasures of life and all the temptations of the flesh, but just that there is some challenge. To what they believe and that it would be continually lived out in their actual lives, meaningful enough that it would impact behavior, change their mind, and continue to make them outspoken about the thing in which they're setting their roots into that if those things would cause the death of. That sprouts, then to me, that's where we find deconstruction isn't falling. And so in that case, again, it's comforting because it's not a matter of actual conversion as it were. It's not a matter of actual regeneration that hasn't actually occurred. There's plenty of reasons to come alongside and to give the gospel some kind of favor or to give it some kind of acquiescence because it's good on its own. There are lots of things that are good about it, but the rootedness in that is not merely in the outward manifestations of all the benefits of the gospel. It is getting Christ, as we've said. Yeah. And if we're not abiding in Christ, then we will necessarily die. In fact, Christ says elsewhere when he speaks to himself that even every bad branch that does not bear fruit, the father prunes and throws away. And so here we find that happening. It's, this is traumatic, it is dramatic, but this is where I think we see oftentimes Christians really get unnerved and sometimes it really, I think, rocks them when they see people who've had, like you said, Tony, like some professional faith. And I remember us talking about Kanye, and I remember us saying like, I think you and I were cautiously optimistic. We said like, this is fantastic. God does this very thing where he transforms people. And then we see in the long term, in the long run, the manifestation of that transformation, not in just merely as sinner's prayer or some expression of knowing something about the gospel intellectually, but the living it out so that the plant itself grows up in Christ to know of his great love, and then to share and abide in that love where it bears fruit. And so here I find this again, to be just very comforting because I think we see this a lot and our nerves, a lot of Christians, but I think Christ is giving an example here to say, do not be a unnerved by this. [00:53:10] Encouragement for Sowers and Believers Tony Arsenal: Yeah, maybe one last thought and then we, we can push pause until next week when we come back to this parable. Is. I think it's, there's two words in this, um, this little, these two verses here that really stick out to me. There's the, the word immediately, right? Yes. He immediately receives it with joy. That word is repeated later on when he immediately falls away. So there is a, um, there's a, a sense of suddenness to this, to this kind of, I'm using quotation marks if you're not watching the YouTube to this quotation or this, um, conversion experience, right? I think we all know people who have kind of the slow burn conversion experience, right? That's not to say that those people may not be, um, on hard soil or rocky soil. Right. But the, the person that we're talking about in that crisis talking about is the person who hears the word and has every appearance of an outward, radical, outward conversion of joy. And then joy is the second word that that shows up here. One of the things that drives me crazy, you know, maybe just to, to riff off the, the deconstruction, um, narrative a little bit is it drives me crazy when some sort of, um, high profile Christian falls away from the faith or deconstructs or falls, you know, into deep sin and then abandons the faith or has a tragedy happened in their life and whatever reason they abandon the faith. There's this tendency particularly among, I, I think sort of. I don't know if like, there still are young restless reform Christians out there, but I think it's still a valid descriptor. Kind of like the, I'm trying not to be pejorative, but sort of like the surface level tulip is what I call them, like the five point Calvinists who like heard an RC sprawl sermon one time and think that they are like the def, they're the definition of Calvinism. There's this tendency among that demographic that when somebody falls away from the faith to act as though everything about their experience of Christianity was somehow like an act like it was a, it was a, it was a play they were putting on, they were deceiving everybody. Right. That's that's not real. It's not the, it's not the way that it actually works and, and. I think the, um, the flip side and the caution for us in that is that just because our experience of Christianity and our, our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that like it felt real and genuine and rooted for Derek Webb or for name, name your key, you know, Joshua Harris, name your big profile deconstruction person of the day. Um, there's a caution there for us and I think that's the caution here in this, um, in this, I dunno, part of the parable is. Just as this is saying, the reason that the person falls away immediately is because there is no root in them yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away, right? The cause of this is because there is no route that ca

Andrew Waller from Breaking The Tethers makes an appearance as host again!Playlist: MC5 - Black to commMartin Carthy - Scarborough FairFieldwork - Fire cityWolf People - ThistlesSkullcap - Desert turtlesEternal Drak - Oda a la lunaVolker Lankow - To DarwazCharles Kynard - Smiling faces sometimesBob Dylan - Froggie went a-courtin'Necrambulant - Ineffible tormenting possessionDavid Murray - A love supreme, part I: acknowlegementBlossom Toes - Nobody butLingyuan Yang - The sound of the mountainFreh Khodja - Ken Andi HabibThe Gun - Rupert's travelsGuy Buttery, Mohd. Amjad Khan, Mudassir Khan - Kya baatCrüzer - Pit vyperDálava - Open your ear to the great belowKansas - The spiderLVTHN - Mother of abominations

Send us a textJoin us for an exclusive conversation with Jake Snider, founding member, guitarist, and lead singer of Seattle's iconic indie rock band Minus the Bear. With their groundbreaking sophomore album Menos el Oso turning 20 years old, the band is celebrating with a long-awaited comeback tour.In this episode, Jake opens up about the legacy of Minus the Bear, their influence on the emo and math rock scenes, and the evolution of their sound over the past two decades. We also dive into his passion for guitar gear, songwriting, and his personal journey toward better mental health.Whether you were blasting Menos el Oso in your college years or you're just discovering Minus the Bear now, this episode is a nostalgic yet fresh listen for elder millennials and fans of the indie/emo revival.If you like the Podcast Subscribe! You can find us on all major Podcasting platforms at Welcome to the Scene Podcast.Instagram TikTok Youtube

Andrew Waller from Breaking The Tethers makes an appearance as host again!Playlist: MC5 - Black to commMartin Carthy - Scarborough FairFieldwork - Fire cityWolf People - ThistlesSkullcap - Desert turtlesEternal Drak - Oda a la lunaVolker Lankow - To DarwazCharles Kynard - Smiling faces sometimesBob Dylan - Froggie went a-courtin'Necrambulant - Ineffible tormenting possessionDavid Murray - A love supreme, part I: acknowlegementBlossom Toes - Nobody butLingyuan Yang - The sound of the mountainFreh Khodja - Ken Andi HabibThe Gun - Rupert's travelsGuy Buttery, Mohd. Amjad Khan, Mudassir Khan - Kya baatCrüzer - Pit vyperDálava - DalavaKansas - The spiderLVTHN - Mother of abominations

Playlist: s.g. goodman - i can see the devilneighborhood kids - kids in the cagesjairus sharif - dr. teddy's high testbuildings and food - coastingJolie Laide - honey don'tlittle barrie & malcolm catto - electric warmeridian brothers - quiero le major mara mi huaynoThe Sure Fire Soul Ensemble - the grifterMadeline Kenney - breakdownunknown mortal orchestra - the widowmagma - kobaïa ïs dë hündïnallison russell - demonsEzra Furman - sudden stormEliot Krimsky - time wavesthe weather station - robberPOSTNAMERS - vangamike bagetta, jim keltner, mike watt - this is not a euphemismdirty projectors - zombie conqueror (feat empress of)saul williams - list of remands (reparations)kneecap - better way to live (feat. grian chatten)The Budos Band - behind the curtainerika angell - open eyesoh caroline - spineSamantha Schmütz & Adrian Younge - fietiçosnakefinger - there's no justice in lifeNo Joy - save the lobstersland of kush - sand enigma

Guest host this week: Andrew Waller, from Breaking The TethersPlaylist: Crumbling Ghost - Battle of BarnetBooker T and the MG's - Melting potBrandon Isaak - Black coffeeThe Conet Project - Counting controlAndrew Staniland - The laws of nature - electricity gridBeatles - Dig it (long version)Eric Alexander - The lamp is lowHarvested - Voices of the voidIan Boddy - Gravity wellEmmylou Harris, Jason & The Scorchers - Everything has a costThe Conet Project - Old incantationFriendly Rich - Side B - birds 40 to 76Charles Chen - Zhang fei, fierce warriorsOmar El Shariyi - Enta entaAnthony Pirog - Mori pointAnthony Pirog - BeecherWITCH - Queenless kingCenturies of Decay - A monument to oblivion

Playlist: three-layer cake - what was cut from the negative spacealec k red fearn & the eyestores - st. james infirmary/headless emceeanimal collective - walkermakaya mccraven - autumn in new yorkramon chicharron - bomberobria salmena - stretch the struggleanthony joseph - an afro futurist poemalgiers - bloodSamantha Schmütz & Adrian Younge - revoadasun atoms - idiot speakeradam lytle - black massesUmlaut - bite your tongueHermitess - lines in our handsLucy Dacus - lost timeamy milan - losing youcharles spearin - when tigers used to smokecircuit des yeux - dogmaJon Bentley - movin' further westLaura Hickli - strawberriesPOSTNAMERS - menjoanico - venus in fursdarkblueworld - give me a reasonmatana roberts - her mighty waters runalvaro rojas - talons

Playlist: sons of kemet, kojey radical - hustleharriet tubman - five pointshrsta - swallow's tailasa horvitz/carmen quill/ariadne randall/wayne horvitz - personalityN NAO - echoempanadas ilegales - la danza del vampirofantastic negrito - plastic hamburgerskassa overall - going up (feat lil b, shabazz palaces & francis and the lights)arto lindsay - tangleskee avil - devils' sweet toothThe Allergies - goodbye babyla chiva gantiva - bombonUmlaut - grumpy libraryJamie Lidell - the night i went crazyLa Banda Chuska - ratas y mapachesmick flannery - fuck off worldwilco - happinessaudrey ochoa - bungangasamantha savage smith - in it to winkevin breit - yearning soul rebellionNiloo - sour cherry jamDan Mangan - cut the brakeslittle barrie and malcolm catto - spektatorBedolina - sympathy for a satellitejerusalem in my heart - wa ta'atalat loughat al kalam

Playlist: yamantaka//sonic titan - hungry ghostEzra Furman - sudden stormjorane - errancebuzz' ayaz - efdjiLaura Hickli - call it offSilla - tuniqmichael feuerstack - poor everybodylankum - what will we do when we have no moneytanya tagaq - teeth agapelankum - clear away in the morningLa Banda Chuska - bailando con mi oscuridadSamWoy - si vous trouvez cela je suis au cielangelica garcia - el queEMEL - i'll leavegastr del sol - the seasons reverseHyldon & Adrian Younge - janipapo robotdon byron - satan's bluescate le bon - meet the manpalace music - work hard/play hardking hannah - milk boy i love youhangedup and tony conrad - bright arc of lightthis mortal coil - song to the sirenoh caroline - skin and bonesgallus gallus - (K2-18b)keyon harrold - gotta go (outer space)arto lindsay - tanglescinephonic - temps perdumortimer, be quiet - half my heart left for st. john's

Playlist: Jerry Jeff Walker - About Her EyesChelsea Wolfe - FriedrichshainOra Cogan - Bury MeJack Name - Big MonsoonRiley Downing - Deep BreathPrewn - SystemThe Proper Ornaments - The Impeccable LawnsLeizure - Gunshots in the House of GodPossible Humans - Born StonedStereolab - Tone Burst [Country]Germ House - Cold and UptightJ.R.C.G. - Holy HopeWand - Bee KarmaKikagaku Moyo - Green SugarExploded View - Summer Came EarlyLifeguard - Under Your ReachHellier Ulysses - Destroy What Destroys YouElaine Malone - Dark RoomsFlowertown - Tourist LanguageLeslie Winer - John SaysShould - SpangleThe Telescopes - What You Love

Playlist: the woodshed orchestra - penny + mousie's antidotal lullabyethree-layer cake - deliverdanceMary Halvorson - absinthiankathleen yearwood - for jesse bernsteinreggie workman - what's in your handssquiggly lines, lauren dillen - dailyHalf Gringa - your liesCharles Kynard - lime twigFreh Khodja - kalbou ahzineBlack Country, New Road - for the cold countrymike bagetta, jim keltner, mike watt - this is not a euphemismCosmic Club - mothermùm - evaporate (live in berlin)eric chenaux - an abandoned rosemonophonics, kelly finnigan - last one standingEzra Furman - strange girlasa horvitz/carmen quill - to understand the storymarc ribot - the big foolbernie worrell - dirty (feat. warren haynes)aladean kheroufi - here with meCG tears - i'm falling upbluffing - familiar circlesNatalie Bergman - gunslingerPotatohead People & Slippery Elm - compass roseben shemie - do do do

Playlist: chevreuil - gendarmeHyldon & Adrian Younge - jenipapo robotthe neighborhood kids - kids in cagesdeltron 3030 - virusMary Halvorson - carved fromsam lynch - piece of youchaba zohra - ki bghitouni nabrastef.in - juan sotoshn shn - new horizonsbria salmena - stretch the struggleJolie Laide - saw the wavekishi bashi - a meal for leavesfrazey ford - the kids are having none of itHalf Gringa - anywhere you find meThe Folk Implosion - park dubJapanese Breakfast - little girlexhaust - two years on welfarechad vangaalen - nightmare scenariobeth custer - break a law a daydominique fils-aimé - mind made upGerald Clayton - space seasSalami Rose Joe Louis - insidehelado negro - pais nubiadodirty projectors - self design

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Playlist: postnamers - the prophet of wormscarla kihlstedt, tin hat trio - a cloud on a leafrebekah higgs - parablesthe weather station - robbersofa surfers - broken togethershannon lay - recording 15Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes - between usLido Pimienta - ahoraethel cain - punishdirty projectors - work togetherHyldon & Adrian Younge - jenipapo roboteric chenaux - these thingsSamWoy - diamond eyesBrian Eno & Beatie Wolfe - and live againkairo creatures club - exileal-qasar - bissaha tiaqaynanilüfer yanya - kneeldumama + kechou - wessi walking mamaalgiers - hymn for an average manJolie Laide - old collapserMary Halvorson - absinthianLes Abranis - akoudarEzra Furman - veil song

Playlist: tackhead - what's my mission now?cyril cyril & meridian brothers - diablos de chuaoparkland - abbygastr del sol - the seasons reverseEzra Furman - strange girlGoddess - diamond dustchantal vitalis - around youmartha wainwright - bloody mother fucking assholeObongjayar - instant animalsuper duty tough work - hypnoticbad omens, bob vylan - terms & conditionshrsta - swallow's tailkassa overall (feat. sullivan fortner) - darkness in my mindsun city girls - caravanmassive attack - paradise circusSpike Wilner Trio Contrafactus - hey, open up!ghostface killah - daily newsthe souljazz orchestra - dog eat dogThanya Iyer - i am here nowFemi Kuti - last maguEye of Newt - outside job, inside jokesonghoy blues - dagabiland of kush - broken maqams

Playlist: big star - kangarooora cogan - secretlow - wordsal-qasar - bissaha tiaqaynathumbscrew - emojis have consequencesSUUNS - witness protectionjerusalem in my heart - layali al-raststeve lehman - 23cbeth gibbons - reaching outroyal canoe - show me your eyeselizabeth fraser - mosesmanu dibango - waka juju part 2violent femmes - country death songpanda bear - anywhere but heresharon van etten - femme fataleviolent femmes - gone daddy gonel'rain - uncertainty principlekevin breit - yearning soul rebellionlittle scream - dear leaderalsarah & the nubatones - soudanibasia bulat - the moonjeremy dutcher - jeremy dutchermatana roberts - her mighty waters run

Playlist: thievery corporation - culture of fearblack midi - welcome to hellFemi Kuti - chop and runceramic dog & marc ribot - the activistwihtikow - homeelizabeth anka vajagic - when you wandernehiyawak - disappearcombo daguerre - les assassinsthe sure fire soul ensemble - impeach the presidentcopperhead - touchFrog Eyes - the open up dream on a lost receiptviolent femmes - black girlsLes Abranis - mmliyi kanVivienne Wilder - wrong herotanya tagaq - teeth agapeBria Salmena - hammerJolie Laide - small thingsdakh daughters - i wantChaepter - promisesemiliana torrini & the colorist orchestra - the illusion curseBADBADNOTGOOD - ways of seeingthe heavy - how you like me nowdelvon lamarr organ trio - acesStella - too poorharamia tapes - harper

Playlist: alabaster deplume - what can it takeyaya bey - 12 houses downalgiers - a hymn for an average manHyldon & Adrian Younge - jenipapo robotkev carmody - pillars of societyBLVD NOIR - ready or notoranje - memoMogwai - volcanosMiramar - no puede serBonnie Prince Billy - guns are for cowardsdoubleheader - criadora feat samitoN Nao - destinJolie Laide - old collapserkee avil - rememberMotherhood - moatthe weakerthans - plea from a cat named virtuteTawni Bias - coolantt. gowdy - anonymous vbetty davis - nasty galadrian sherwood - trapped herecold specks - venus in piscespugs & crows - not my circus not my monkeysdaniele luppi & parquet courts - pretty prizescircuit des yeux - ride blindland of kush - sand enigma

Playlist: saul williams - list of demands (reparations)melvin gibbs - message from the streetsgil scott-heron - the revolution will not be televisedadrian younge - revolutionizearrested development - revolutionmary ocher - i am the occupationthalia zedek band - fighting seasonEthel Cain - punishJolie Laide - wharwolfBria Salmena - hammermarin patenaude - taste the painThe Harpoonist - good peopleManu Dibango - waka juju part 1makaya mccraven - black rhythm happeningthanya iyer - let the smoke clearcécile doo-kingue - riot & revolutionSonghoy Blues - battomarc ribot (feat tom waits) - bella ciaosargeant x comrade - black ninjasJeannie Piersol - shot me throughFrog Eyes - television, a ghost in my headEye of Newt - outside job, inside jokeBlack Country, New Road - happy birthdaymike baggettta, jim keltner, mike watt - everywhen we goPOSTNAMERS - the best little disco in texasdirty projectors - holy mackerelcarolyn mark - go get lost

Guest host : Andrew Waller from Breaking The Tethers!Playlist: Whispering Worlds - Serpentine suspensionHenri Texier - VarechJimmy Farace - Signs of springLes Abranis - AkoudarHacked Apart - Embalmed, to be kept aroundEd Palermo Big Band - TarkusStereolab - Electrified teenybop!Hitman Blues Band - Blood alleyAnthony Braxton & Marilyn Crispell - Part 3Markus Reuter - Aurora drift, pt. 4They Might Be Giants - Snowball in hellHiromi - XYZThe Smile - Eyes & mouthLadom Ensemble - Romanian folk dancesFrantic Amber - Jolly JaneReginald Cyntje - Shattered structuresErik Emil Eskildsen - Be kindIconoclast - Opposites contractSheldon Agwu - Archean

Playlist: bruire - you've changedbig/brave - i felt a funeralmarc ribot (feat astrid hadad & ohene cornelius) - ratos de los patasadrian younge presents the delfonics - enemiesFarnaz Ohadi - persian folk songJolie Laide - wharwolfHalf Gringa - supervisionIconoclast - the spy upstairsJapanese Breakfast - mega circuitmelvin gibbs (feat kokayi) - message from the streetsarto lindsay - tanglescarl hancock rux - lamentationssandro perri - god blessed the foolking hannah - this wasn't intentionalexhaust - metro mile endglissandro 70 - bolan muppetsThe Folk Implosion - wide webBlack Country, New Road - salem sisterseric chenaux - however wildly we dreambluffing - fragile egobuzz' ayaz - efdjieye of newt - bot for teacherHyldon & Adrian Younge - jenipapo robot

We revisit Foals for the first time in over 7 years, with their debut record Antidotes being one of the very first albums we covered on this record. Picking up where we left off we cover their next 2 records, Total Life Forever and Holy Fire and explore the slow evolution from complex math rock to stadium-worthy anthems, always with a pop-forward lean tinged with a punk attitude. Tracklist Foals - Inhaler Foals - Two Steps, Twice Foals - Black Gold Foals - After Glow Foals - What Remains Foals - Everytime Foals - Providence This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guest-host again this week: Andrew Waller from Breaking The Tethers!Playlist: Healing Force - Oh! Love of lifeDave Robbins Big Band - Sixes & sevensShiri Zorn & George Muscatello - PrayerThe Mothers of Invention - Dog breath, in the year of the plagueJay Farrar, Will Johnson, Anders Parker, Yim Yames - Old L.A.Billy Cobham - Last frontierNour Symon - Je mourrai dans une piece fermeeSin of God - Cerebral malfunctionJoe Henderson - Joe's boleroPaul Kantner and Jefferson Starship - Have you seen the stars tonite?Ki Oni - Floating with an elephant, sealThe Jam - CircusIllusions Play - Under shining moonBill King - The river's edgeEve Egoyan & Mauricio Pauly - Height

Guest-host this week: Andrew Waller from Breaking The Tethers!Playlist: Metaphump - Pyramid songMorbific - Crusading necrotizationBrian Baggett - Ojos verdesAzteca - Can't take the funk out of mePhilip Glass - WarszawaPhilip Glass - AbdulmajidPhilip Glass - African night flightRaggadeath - Dance with the devilPlanet D Nonet, Doctor Professor Leonard King - Some of this 'n' some of thatSoft Machine Legacy - Black and crimsonJames Zito - Time zoneMartin Tétreault - Deux choralesBrainwash Epiphany Center - Double dutchMahavishnu Orchestra - Eternity's breath, pt. IIMartin Tétreault - Terry's electric guitarDirk Schlomer - DilemmaTakuya Kuroda - Hung up on my babyJohn Surman - Way back whenTom Wakeling - Lotus blossom

Playlist: here are the sonics - have love will traveladrian younge - revolutionizelos bitchos - the link is about to dieJolie Laide - wharwolfHalf Gringa - supervisionbuzz' ayaz - efdjitanya tagaq - teeth agapegodspeed you black emporer - grey rubble - green shootsnina nastasia - ugly faceYHWH Nailgun - tear pusherelizabeth anka vajagic - whymike bagetta, jim keltner, mike watt - everywhen we gocymande - the messagemoor mother - black flight (feat. saul williams)Salami Rose Joe Louis - dribs and drabsdrywall, stan ridgeway - buried the popeJoni Void - vertigopugs & crows - not my circus not my monkeysivo dimchev - i cureJolie Laide - old collapserkid koala - decadesJennifer Castle - fractal canyonthee silver mt. memorial orchestra & the tra la la band - horses in the sky

Playlist: dark orchard - bourbon mythscinephonic - l'exitastral swans - sympathy for the stupidShabaka - i've been listening (feat. ELUCID)Devarrow - picturesceramic dog & marc ribot - the activisty la bamba - cenizaeric krasno, stanton moore - you know i'm no goodthe cinematic orchestra - a caged bird/imitations of life (feat. roots manuva)hermitess - celestial bodieskneebody - repeat after mePOSTNAMERS - the womb of abrahamDestroyer - hydroplaning off the edge of the worldBria Salmena - hammerlong gone lonesomes - angel eyescyril cyril and the meridian brothers - diablos de chuao/navajo bogotaStella - can i sayDirty Projectors, David Longstreth, stargaze - opposable thumbdesertion trio - powersemily wells - adagiojung people - sleeping near the wilt warmthkassa overall - show me a prison (feat. j hoard & angela davis)The Ostara Project - dreams and olive treesodd job - foxy ladyjosé gonzález - el inventodo make say think - all of this is true

Playlist: Asa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz - desirepere ubu - life stinksalabaster deplume - what can it takeCatherine Lamb & Ghost Ensemble - VInick cave & the bad seeds - red right handjed arbour - completeblack midi - welcome to hellpigbag - dozo donmichael feuerstack - nobody knowslightning dust - loaded gunc'mon tigre & seun kuti - the botanistSleepytime Gorilla Museum - salamander for two worldspere ubu - and then nothing happenedsamantha savage smith - quicklyN Nao - corpsifriqiyya electrique - he eh lallaknitting - sleeperStella - omorfuo mouMEGAFAUNA - ghosts and other hauntsfyear - misconceptioncharles spearin - rutting seasonpere ubu - non-alignment pactthe innocence mission - the camera divides the coast of mainemarin patenaude - namelessdavid thomas & the pedestrians - happy to see you

Playlist: dakh daughters - insha mistoalabama 3 - speed to the sound of lonelinesskee avil - devil's sweet toothDirty Projectors, David Longstreth, stargaze - uninhabitale earth, paragraph oneBria Salmena - stretch the struggleDestroyer - hydroplaning off the edge of the worlddoubleheader - criadora feat samitojeff parker - go awayben shemie - differentlymarc ribot (feat fay victor) - we are soldiers in the armyWarmduscher - too cold to holdfantastic negrito - platypus dipsteralgiers - bloodSun Atoms - idiot speakerN Nao - echodeltron 3030 - madnesskid koala feat emiliana torrini - beneath the heatThumbscrew - fractured sanity

Playlist: do make say think - the landlord is deadSonghoy Blues - garibouselci - modern worldCousines like Shit - transformationLaurie Anderson - india and on down to australia (feat. anohni)the ex, tom cora - stupid competitionsMEGAFAUNA - ghosts and other hauntsMary Ocher - museum of childhood terrorthe ex, getatchew mekuria - musicawi slitBrûlez les meubles - conscience du tragiqueadrian younge - revolutionizecrime of passing - hunting knifeshad - the revolution/the establishmentthe cranberries - zombieelle pf - exhaleheliocentrics - human zooMarlaena Moore - unfadedvisibly choked - mother tonguezoon - manitoubeverly glenn-copeland - la vitaburnt sugar the arkestra chamber - fearWarmduscher - body shock - feat lianne la havasSharp Pins - you don't live here anymorehellenica - the blood of toadvineanimal collective - prester john

Playlist: aidia victoria - stuck in the southcarla kihlstedt - flinchAsa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz - the great birddark blue world - displaced personsPanda Bear - defenseN Nao - echolankum - what will we do when we have no money?jairus sharif - 9-5 silverclinton st. john - hollock on a devil's shoreJeannie Piersol - shot me throughsmokey AB - ready to dieMogwai - hammer roombeth gibbons - reaching outcolin stetson - lord, i just can't keep from crying sometimesMia Dyson - golden lightandrew bird - bloodlessfieldwork - ofSun Atoms - mandatoryDavid Ivan Neil - little birdPOSTNAMERS - the prophet of wormsmarc ribot - bella ciaoAl-Qasar - desse baramandidi o - no mercyprefuse 73 - complete rejectionsunset rubdown - all alrightkue varo - gates of helllaurence-anne - strange feeling

Playlist: gordon grdina, jim black - a monkey could do itdakh daughters - i wantLeif Vollebekk - mississippidark dark dark - something for myselfomar khorshid - guitar el sharqking krule - underclassdark orchard, kevin breit - bourbon mythcopperhead - heavensons of kemet - blackdoubleheader - dub conqueroSacred Wolf Singers X Simon Walls - sneak upanimal collective - walkerMary Ocher - pulsebluffing - this ideamarc ribot - the big foolminutemen - the glory of mankairo creatures club - exileArt d'Ecco - mersault's walkPanda Bear - defensepanda bear & sonic boom + adrian sherwood - gettin' to the point dubSleepytime Gorilla Museum - we must know morethe innocence mission - the camera divides the coastlinetorres - forever homeking hannah - the mattresshannah juanita - fortunekira roessler - nervous breakdownclara engel - thievesWayne Patrick Garrett - after partyDan Moretti & Brazilia - speak no evil

Playlist: asa horvitz, carmen quill, ariadne randall, wayne horvitz - desireafrican head charge - no, don't follow fashionJune McDoom - the cityjerusalem in my heart - ko71 El-3einAda Lea - heard youalec k. redfearn & the eyesores - smoking shoesmarc ribot - rata de los patas (feat astrid hadid)47SOUL - dabke systemMary Ocher - museum of childhood terrorAl-Qasar - desse baramaSun Atoms - stand up citizenanimal collective - walkerclinton st. john - acrobat fighteradam lytle - the fatal sharewe are winter's blue and radiant children - rats and rosesshearwater and sharon van etten - stop draggin my heart aroundcombo daguerre - les assassinsemiliana torrini & the colorist orchestra - the illusion cursealvaro rojas - reclusivelana winterhalt - mind the gapora cogan - the deviltorres - ugly mysteryyoo doo right - marché des vivantsThe Harpoonist - yusef lateefndidi o - no mercydaniele luppi & parquet courts - café flesh

Playlist: funki porcini - this ain't the way to livedeltron 3030 - virusmatana roberts - her mighty waters rungastr del sol - the seasons reversesandro perri - god blessed the foolTotal Gadjos - the godsTakuro Okada - taco beachbrazilian girls - we stoppedthievery corporation - culture of fearkronos quartet - phenomenon (laurie anderson, marshall allen)st. vincent - pay your way in painparagon cause - fantasizeManu Dibango - waka juju part 1haramia tapes - harperkee avil - underhrsta - ...and we climbSteve Lehman - L.A. genesAsa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz - personalityMarinero - pocha pachangabria salmena - stretch the struggleFRIGS - wasteCutouts - path of totalityPrism Shores - southpawMarlaena Moore - running on empty

Playlist: blood meridian - i wonder what that windshield tastes likecyril cyril & meridian brothers - diablos de chuaotruck violence - he ended the bender hangingelizabeth fraser - mosesOMBIIGIZI - oil spillshelado negro - imagining what to dodark blue world - melancholiqueRoberto Occhipinti - tuaregPOSTNAMERS - father alphabetdesertion trio - powersnoga erez - dance while you shootkid koala - 10 bit bluesemily wells - symphony 10: could this really be the end?Stucco - cash outfiona apple - newspaperSuki Waterhouse - think twiceThe Linda Lindas - yo me estresoKOKOROKO - higherfanny - ain't that peculiarSeun Kuti & Egypt 80 - emi aluta feat. sampa the greatexhaust - two years on welfareSun Atoms - stand up citizenThe Sarandons - long reporterAsa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz - drown in mattersamantha savage smith - fake nicekairos creatures club - exileleon lamont - dust

Playlist: charles spearin - sometimes it hurts to be aliverebecca bruton & katie streibel - crude velocityadia victoria - stuck in the southPOSTNAMERS - mother of godben shemie - differentlybria salmena - green rocky roadthe innocence mission - midwinter swimmersLTLeif and APB - grubby ghostThe Harpoonist - good peopleSleepytime Gorilla Museum - you must know moreBluffing - natureAda Lea - hometowndo make say think - the landlord is deadMary Ocher - pulsealabaster deplume - what can it takealec k redfearn & the eyesores - smoking shoescalexico - cumbia del polvocymande - chasing an empty dreamcarl hancock rux - living roomdrums and tuba - this is the pointAl-Qasar - kisisel isa (personal jesus)big star - femme fatale and o, danaAladean Kheroufi - sinking shipcircuit des yeux - ride blindkronos quartet - images suite (steven bernstein, laurie anderson, sexmob)

This week, with guest host, from Breaking The Tethers, Andrew WallerPlaylist: Volker Lankow - ArcticThe Frantics - Ti kwan leepSugar Brown - Grim reaperWayne Shorter - Super novaAl-Qasar - Deese bamaraDr. John - Croker courtbullionCalgaréal - CercleCircles Around the Sun - Mountains of the moonNicole McCabe - Foraging for truthThe Beatles - Buddy girlFucked Up - Tell yourself you willJoe Zawinul - In a silent wayPaul J. Botelho, Jeff Kaiser - For Alvira, part IINight Court - Gong showHitman Blues Band - Death letterLEIBA Trio - BailongoDavid Bowie - HeldenDavid Bowie - HérosLeander Reininghaus, Rainer Frey, Bernhard Wostheinrich - Polyphony performance series 004-20240220Sanctums - Posthumous/Brass towers

Playlist: black country, new road - concordeleif vollebekk - hot tearskhrungbin - if there is no questionmyriam gendron - threnodythe delfonics - enemiesadrian younge - revolutionizeSimon Fisher Turner - thrashing it outc'mon tigre - teen age kingdom (feat xenia franca)Zamilska - golden toothTORRES - happy man's shoesAmmar El Sherei - abgad hawazthe innocence mission - the camera divides the coastBADBADNOTGOOD - ways of seeingaquakultre - questionable intentionsharriet tubman - where we standbeverly glenn copeland - this side of gracendidi o - no mercyXOCÔ - guerrathe allergies - mash up the soundN Nao - corpsFontaines D.C. - nabakovjolie laide - no shape i knowbluffing - familiar circlesAsa Horvitz / Carmen Quill / Ariadne Randall / Wayne Horvitz - still regent of the deadthe cougars - right onpranatricks - fallingAlvaro Rojas - prehensile dreamben shemie - a skeleton

Grunge. Flannel. Generation X. In 1993, Seattle was the capital of the world, Nirvana was king, and slackers were everywhere. When the Red Hot organization, a group of activists dedicated to raising money and awareness of AIDS, released their third compilation CD featuring the biggest bands of the era--Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, The Breeders, Nirvana and more it quickly became the touchstone of a generation. Rolling Stone called No Alternative a "jaw-dropping compilation of musical gems." This book takes a look back at what happened to the bands involved with No Alternative. It includes new interviews with the musicians and others behind the record, and chronicles the downfall of an industry, the taming of a devastating illness, and the arrival of another global pandemic. It's about growing up, saying goodbye, and proving once more that you can't go home again (even if that's where you left all of your CDs). Jeff Gomez has been writing about the worlds of Generation X and alternative music for over 25 years and is the author of several books including Zeppelin Over Dayton: Guided By Voices Album By Album and Math Rock. Jeff Gomez's website. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM and is the director of its music film festival. His forthcoming books are Frank Zappa's America (Louisiana State University Press, June 2025) and U2: Until the End of the World (Palazzo Editions, Fall 2025). Bradley on Twitter and Bluesky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/music

Grunge. Flannel. Generation X. In 1993, Seattle was the capital of the world, Nirvana was king, and slackers were everywhere. When the Red Hot organization, a group of activists dedicated to raising money and awareness of AIDS, released their third compilation CD featuring the biggest bands of the era--Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, The Breeders, Nirvana and more it quickly became the touchstone of a generation. Rolling Stone called No Alternative a "jaw-dropping compilation of musical gems." This book takes a look back at what happened to the bands involved with No Alternative. It includes new interviews with the musicians and others behind the record, and chronicles the downfall of an industry, the taming of a devastating illness, and the arrival of another global pandemic. It's about growing up, saying goodbye, and proving once more that you can't go home again (even if that's where you left all of your CDs). Jeff Gomez has been writing about the worlds of Generation X and alternative music for over 25 years and is the author of several books including Zeppelin Over Dayton: Guided By Voices Album By Album and Math Rock. Jeff Gomez's website. Bradley Morgan is a media arts professional in Chicago and author of U2's The Joshua Tree: Planting Roots in Mythic America. He manages partnerships on behalf of CHIRP Radio 107.1 FM and is the director of its music film festival. His forthcoming books are Frank Zappa's America (Louisiana State University Press, June 2025) and U2: Until the End of the World (Palazzo Editions, Fall 2025). Bradley on Twitter and Bluesky. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/popular-culture

Playlist: fantastic negrito - night has turned to dayharamia tapes - harperthe heavy - short change heroThumbscrew - emojis have consequencesWarmduscher - immaculate deceptiondaniele luppi & parquet courts - soul and cigarettekue varo - just don't carepelada - ya fue (feat aquiles navarro)kahil el'zabar - how can we mend a broken hertfishbone - party at ground zeroTEKE::TEKE - hoppekathleen yearwood ordeal - the work of the spiderjoni void - disposableky - revolving doorjimi hendrix - if 6 was 9Al-Qasar - blue tataouineMary Ocher - i am the occupationdon byron - leopold, leopoldmonsieur doumani - pissourinDavid Zucchi - mandinina nastasia - ugly facemeggie lennon - mind games

Playlist: marianne faithfull - the ballad of lucy jordanpere ubu - final solutionMary Ocher - sympathizeBluffing - natureburial - spaceapecircuit des yeux - strangerlittle axe - little axeSunset Rubdown - reappearing ratMarlaena Moore - running on emptySimon Fisher Turner - barefeetnilufer yanya - paralysedAvril Jensen - nowhere to be foundPrefuse 73 - complete rejectionastral swans & chad van gaalen - shine the light insidebeast - satanfarah kaddour - madd ou jazrLeaf Rapids - velvet paintingblack midi - welcome to hellmarc ribot - rata de dos patas (feat astrid hadad & ohene cornelius)charles spearin - rutting seasonWarmduscher - body shocklos bitchos - this link is about to expirethe minutemen - the anchormarianne faithfull - working class heroamplified - head for the amber lanterns

Playlist: alec k. redfearn & the eyesores - smoking shoesbig/brave - canon:in canonbadge epoque ensemble - unity (it's up to you)Morricone Youth - sleeping beautydark dark dark - daydreamingThe Sarandons - long reportersharon van etten - jupiter 4Lia Kuri - highlandalabaster deplume - what can it takealgiers - a hymn for an average manTrendafilka - po poryudeltron 3030 (del the funky homosapien, dan the automator, kid koala) - pay the priceSleepkit - flower thru yr headaudrey ochoa - bungagablack pumas - a firemelvin gibbs - message from the streetssimon fisher turner - the "special relationship"Prefuse 73 - la parte centralenemahsis - coloured concreteMichael Sarian & Tomás Kidd - zazaWarmduscher - body shock feat lianne la havasbig star - kangarooblack country, new road - concordehabitat - the botanist (feat seun kuti)charles spearin - when tigers used to smokefly pan am - discreet channeling

Playlist: amythyst kiah - hangover bluesanimal collective - summertime clothesAladean Kheroufi - here with meJoel Jeschke - koskelabeverly glenn copeland - ever new (reworked by joseph shabason & Thom Gill)emily wells - i'm numbersMaclayne - pastel palaceBADBADNOTGOOD - city of mirrorskee avil - see my shadowthe bad plus - comfortably numbsuzanne debussac - misbehaving mamamorricone youth - another one for the fireSUUNS - timebenderStraw Man Army - mass production of lonelinessMother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Co - the continuing story of counterpoint part 7elizabeth anka vajagic - when you wandermarla dixon/falling bullets - DJD call and responseben shemie - chanteWayne Patrick Garrett - reflectionsbadge epoque ensemble - the sound where my head wasSGO - pieces of youAl-Qasar - personal jesusPyPy - poodle escapeyamantaka//sonic titan - hoshi neko

There's a guest host this week: Andrew Waller, from Breaking The Tethers!Playlist: Janel and Anthony - Surf the deadFilii Nigrantium Infernalium - Chuva douradaZal Yanovsky - Lt. SchtinckhausenLuis Tovar - CriollsimaGenesis - Back in N.Y.C.Brûlez les meubles - Paradoxe de la joieHitman Blues Band - Green thingRadio Massacre International - Galactic furnace part 2 (radio edit)Alfredo Santa Ana and Miranda Wong - Lessons for oblivionTipula - Wake upNicole McCabe - Nicole McCabeShirley Collins & the Albion Country Band - Murder of Maria MartenG-bolo - Hard to breatheThe Former Yugoslavia - Setup ambienceThumbscrew - KnotsPat Metheny - Part 4Joel Jeschke - ExperimentationsGrachan Moncur III and the Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Angela's angel

Lords: * Ryan * Cort Topics: * Is it possible to make a "meat flavored" potato chip that's not disgusting. * Meandering Pico-8 tracker jabbering * Do you think anyone has ever used the "Add or Remove Programs" interface to add a program? * Tommy C * https://genius.com/Dan-le-sac-vs-scroobius-pip-tommy-c-lyrics * Advent calendars are just tiny bulk-rate loot crates Microtopics: * Ryan Ike Audio on Instagram. * How to make music and have balance in your life. * If there's nothing to fail at, what are you bad at? * Stand Elsewhere, an Oregon Trail-like. * Converting 50s pop songs to chunky four channel chip tunes. * The Pico-8 Splore database. * Asking a friend to make music for your PiCoSteveMo game, and having to explain what a PiCoSteveMo is, then Pico-8, trackers, music, sound, air, matter, and existence itself. * Potatoed Chips. * Romanian Beef Bolognese Flavored Potato Chips. * Abuela's All-Day Braised Carnitas potato chips. * Hate-buying a terrible flavor potato chips over and over so you can make everybody you know taste them. * Raw Hamburger flavored potato chips that moo when you eat them. * The Doritos Brain-hack. * Looking at the box of Frosted Mini-Wheats with a shrimp on the box and thinking "that's a little shrimpy" * Cool American Doritos. * Eat the cool. They knew the risks. * A bowl of M&Ms with a single Skittle in it. * Fresh Meat Potato Chips. * Walking into the Frito-Lay factory, dangling your jaw open and waiting for come what may. * All Night Nippon Shredded Abuela's Braised Carnitas. * The Taki's One-Chip Challenge. * Inviting all your friends over to try the new Strawberry Mochi Dill Pickle potato chips. * Explaining to your daughter's friends' parents that we're going to give your children tablets I got on the Internet and then we're going to eat lots of food and it's going to taste really weird. The FDA doesn't allow you to put this in food but I need you to dissolve this on your tongue. * Par-boiling your soft palate in lemon juice because it tastes so amazing. * Reprogramming your tongue to remix your palate. * What to do if you love both music and spreadsheets. * Art tools that make your tummy feel icky. * Mr. Lee by the Bobbettes. * What trackers are good at. * An extremely Bojangles tracker configuration. * Trying to do Math Rock in the Pico-8 tracker. * Triggering patterns 0 through 7 as instruments. * Whether the Add or Remove Programs interface can add a program. * Windows Sandbox. * Jacking your whole life up but your Windows desktop is pristine. * Getting a burner desktop for write-ins. * Inventing a guy named Dampiel and getting mad at him even years later. * Classic Dampy. * Renaming your game to doom.exe and suddenly Nvidia cards run it way better. * Putting a comment in your shader saying "Dear Nvidia, please make this shader look rad." * The Valve guy refusing to tell you how the math is wrong. * A selection of gags, hand movements and facial expressions. * Dying onstage while the audience applauds. * Feigning death so often as part of your comedy act so when you really die during your routine it'll be hilarious. * Death: just a bad deal all around. * Not my birth mom, but my robo-mom. * Having a death so weird that even as an extremely minor celebrity you end up on TMZ. * Doing extensive R&D so that you can somehow be murdered by a flamingo. * A bloodied flamingo wearing Ryan Ike's glasses. * Walking through the zoo looking for opportunities for environmental storytelling. * Accidentally doing an immaculate 360 Christ Air and then dying on impact. * Thinking of one funny scenario a month. * A treat that's busting the seams of the Advent Calendar door. * A sack of little handmade animal ornaments. * The Joy of Mastery. * Empty Advent Calendars. * Going shopping for used candy after Halloween. * Terrible Novelty Potato Chip of the Day. * One big Advent calendar the size of a barn door with 365 doors in it. * The Mayan Advent Calendar. * Automats. * Wheel of Fortune except you're assembling a wheel and not a phrase. * Spin the wheel, make a deal! * The first podcast of the rest of your life.

Playlist: a-wa - habib galbichevreuil - gendarmealec k. redfearn & the eyesores - smoking shoesWayne Patrick Garrett - cumulonimbusSUUNS - breathe (feat. jerusalem in my heart)Al-Qasar - bissaha tlaqaynaThumbscrew - waywardbig/brave - chanson pour mon ombreKing Hannah - this wasn't intentionalSun Atoms - bus stop gospelbruiré - you've changedBen Tizzard - 1963waxahatchee - evil spawnRuby Singh - snarebeans feat. hamid drake and william parker - 4julien fillion - saharaAnastasia Coope - woke up and no feetblack dice - bad betwendy eisenberg - lasikAlvaro Rojas - reclusivenina nastasia - ugly facePeggy Lee & Cole Schmidt - gloopbrad shepik and ron samworth - bent houseAladean Kheroufi - sinking ship

Playlist: NOVEL - will to powerEMEL - I'll leavedaniele luppi & parquet courts - cafe fleshvieux farka toure and julia easterlin - masters of warpelada - ya fue (feat. aquiles navarro)kieran hebden and steve reid - the sun never setsfyear - pt 1 trajectoryPACKS - her gardenmyriam gendron - the red dressBrûlez les meubles - argentiqueDavid Zucchi - awayFather John Misty - she cleans upBrimheim - no liver, no lungsWarmduscher - body shock - feat. lianne la havasastral swans and chad vangaalen - frogmanjed arbour - parasitekassa overall - so happy (feat laura mvula & francis and the lights)nilûfer yanya - heavyweight champion of the yearDan Mangan - four chords (from FLOAT)josé gonzález - inventolittle scream - dear leaderKairos Creature Club - exileAhmed Moneka - 90 daysSoundwalk Collective with Patti Smith - pasolini

Some crazy Christmas stuff this week (plus more). Guest-host: Andrew Waller, from Breaking The TethersPlaylist: Traffic - You can all join inAzteca - Can't take the funk out of meBent Spoon Duo, Jay Crocker - XmasKeith Jarrett - Spheres, 2nd movementLuis Tovar - Caracas trafficWayne Butane - Xmas (excerpt)Martin Terrault - Terry's electric guitarLuis Tovar - Cafe con panMother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company - Anatidae/C-A-G-E IIIJames Taylor - GreensleevesHusker Du - Hare KrsnaJerry Garcia, David Grisman - God rest ye merry gentleman jamMachine and the Synergetic Nuts - MonacoJ.J. Hrubovcak - O come, o come, AzraelThinking Plague - A light is on and name the worldJames Brown - Hey AmericaDavid Vest & Terry Robb - Ex-mas timeKahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio featuring Billy Bang - Return of the lost tribe

Some crazy Christmas stuff this week (plus more). Guest-host: Andrew Waller, from Breaking The TethersPlaylist: Traffic - You can all join inAzteca - Can't take the funk out of meBent Spoon Duo, Jay Crocker - XmasKeith Jarrett - Spheres, 2nd movementLuis Tovar - Caracas trafficWayne Butane - Xmas (excerpt)Martin Terrault - Terry's electric guitarLuis Tovar - Cafe con panMother Mallard's Portable Masterpiece Company - Anatidae/C-A-G-E IIIJames Taylor - GreensleevesHusker Du - Hare KrsnaJerry Garcia, David Grisman - God rest ye merry gentleman jamMachine and the Synergetic Nuts - MonacoJ.J. Hrubovcak - O come, o come, AzraelThinking Plague - A light is on and name the worldJames Brown - Hey AmericaDavid Vest & Terry Robb - Ex-mas timeKahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio featuring Billy Bang - Return of the lost tribe

Yesness is a 2-piece featuring Damon Che (Don Caballero) and Tristan Dunn (El Ten Eleven). We discuss their formation, writing and recording their debut album "See You at the Solipsist Convention", math-rock, post-rock, other dirty words and lots more. Topics Include: Formation of Yesness Kristian and Damon struggle to find musicians to collaborate with The “California No” Making an album from different parts of the country Meeting for the first time in the recording studio Over recording and having a lot of material to work with Working with instrumentals vs music with vocals Album title origin story Songs start as riffs, song titles come much later Strange song titles Using extra songs for b-sides Origin of the band name “Yesness” The band almost became “Keister Island” What does Damon think of the title “Math Rock”? Genres become limiting Not listening to Post-rock or Math-rock What's on heavy rotation and playlists? The Spotify algorithm still struggles to satisfy El Ten Eleven's “New Years Eve” coming after 3-LP set “Tautology” “New Years Eve” and “Valley of Fire” were conceived together The “Yesness” debut always needed to be a full length LP Can the Yesness LP be played live? Yesness challenges playing live – equipment stuffups Will they tour overseas? Selecting the album cover Damon recently upgraded his vinyl system Looking for records Status of the Don Caballero  master tapes and reissues Damon's YouTube video channel Grab all the pressings of your favourite albums “Everything in between the speakers and stylus is snake oil” Interview wrap up Vinyl copies of Yesness "See You at the Solipsist Convention" can be ordered here. Photo by Berto Campus Extended, Commercial-Free & High Resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide Listen on Apple: https://apple.co/2Y6ORU0 Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/36qhlc8