Mon, 21 August 2017
This week, Brian Salvatore and I discuss more musical blindspots. Brian will learn about Iron Maiden while I dig into Frank Zappa. Show notes: - Brian listened to Number of the Beast, Jay listened to Apostrophe - Brian: No surprises on Number of the Beast - Familiar with half the album - Liked the fast and heavy stuff, not the slower songs - Jay: This was my introduction to Maiden - The transition to more epic material - Ozzy transcended the metal downturn of the '90s - The power of album covers, good and bad - The beginning of Maiden's prime - Jay: Apostrophe was Zappa's 18th album - "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" was a hit - More straightahead rock than jazz fusion - Memorable songs: Cosmik Debris, Uncle Remus, St. Alfonzo's Pancake Breakfast - Zappa live albums are different experiences - High-level playing countered by sometimes dumb lyrics - Zappa pioneered sampling and recording techniques - Next up: Sheik Yerbouti for Jay, Somewhere in Time for Brian Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Fri, 4 August 2017
This week, Brian Salvatore and I discuss more musical blindspots. Brian will learn about Iron Maiden while I dig into Frank Zappa. Show notes: - Jay: Somewhat familiar with Zappa's hits and guitar work - Intimidating catalog; more than 100 albums released - Brian: Knew a few Maiden songs but never a fan - Listened to 1980 self-titled debut - Liked the faster songs and Paul Di'Anno's vocals - Enjoyed punk-inspired energy and Steve Harris' bass - Production sounds good - Maiden's sound has evolved over the years - Jay listened to Zappa's 1969 album Hot Rats - Only one song with vocals, and those are by Captain Beefheart - Ian Underwood is major contributor, playing all keyboards and horns - Very different sound than Zappa had in mid- to late- '70s - Next up: Apostrophe for Jay, The Number of the Beast for Brian Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Tue, 18 July 2017
Another installment of Driving With Kumar as I discuss my recent European vacation. Show notes: - Spent over two weeks in London, Paris, Belfast and Dublin - Went to London in '96 - Less drinking on a family vacation - Elderly passenger in distress - Hotel room in London was tiny - Walked nearly 100 miles the entire trip - Ran along rivers in the four cities we visited - Ate a lot of pub food - London has a lot of great history and architecture - Paris was beautiful - Hit the Eiffel Tower on the first night - Major military/police presence at tourist attractions - Several terrorist incidents before we went, but nothing happened while we were there - Only three days of sun the whole vacation - More daylight - Out of the U.S. news cycle - Being aware of your surroundings - Wary while running in Paris and Dublin - Missed American beer - Visited my brother in Belfast - Explored Northern Ireland scenic sites - Saw several Game of Thrones filming locations - Went to the Guinness brewery - Wifi was at a premium - Good to be back home Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Fri, 23 June 2017
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - JB: The Orb released a remix EP - JK: The prolific Ty Segall does it again - JB: Vagabon brings fresh take to indie rock - JK: Boss Hog's first album in 17 years - JB: The evolving sound of Spoon - JK: The consistently excellent New Pornographers back with another winner - JB: Juana Molina returns with a strong, out there release - JK: Mark Lanegan incorporates electronic music into his sound - JB: Snowball II with a release that recalls The Lilys - JK: Afghan Whigs release their best record since reuniting - JB: Tommy Stinson brings back Bash & Pop with hooks galore - JB: Slowdive's reunion album gives the people what they want Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Tue, 20 June 2017
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Plenty of great rock music, but not on the charts - It's all about playing live; rock radio exposure is nonexistent - Billy Squier still gets the airplay - Nobody's figured out how to make money from streaming music - Get pumped for Husker Du bootleg box set - More rock deaths: Berry, Cornell, Allman, Geils - Rise in musical activism - Albums we want to hear - Breitling: Ride, Palehound, Wet Trident - Kumar: Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett, Ted Leo, Buffalo Tom, Queens of the Stone Age, Deer Tick, LCD Soundsystem - Bubbling under albums - Breitling: Tara Jane O'Neil, Opin, The xx - Lubec's coming to Boston in August - Kumar: Chastity Belt, Bash and Pop, Cloud Nothings, White Reaper, At the Drive-In, Black Lips - Our favorite albums so far - JB: Spirit of the Beehive combines psych and shoegaze - JK: Run the Jewels keeps on rolling - Zach de la Rocha's hardcore past - JB: Yr Poetry is a Johnny Foreigner side project - JK: Japandroids bring the rock anthems - JB: Different sound for Pile - JK: More anthems from Los Campesinos! - Cello vs. violin - To be continued Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Fri, 16 June 2017
Part 3 of my conversation with Brian Salvatore about musical blindspots. Brian listens to another Sloan album while I check out a third record from Ween. Show notes: -Win-win situation - Brian had Sloan's "The Double Cross" and Jay had Ween's "Quebec" - Brian: My favorite of the three I listened to - Beatles comparisons - Brian will go back and check out rest of Sloan catalog - No solo albums, but Murphy had TUNS project - Jay: Really enjoyed Quebec - Most cohesive of the three Ween albums Jay heard - Dean and Gene were dealing with some issues - "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" is an epic album closer - Next up: Jay will listen to Frank Zappa and Brian will check out Iron Maiden
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Wed, 7 June 2017
Part 2 of my conversation with Brian Salvatore about musical blindspots. Brian listens to another Sloan album while I check out a second record from Ween. Show notes: - Brian: Impressed with the progression of Sloan's sound - Jay: Hadn't heard anything from The Mollusk previously - Plenty of genre jumping - Nautical theme - Elements of prog, psych - Brian: My favorite Ween record - Ween varies playlists from show to show - Brian: Between the Bridges is steeped in the '70s: Big Star, Sweet, T. Rex, Fleetwood Mac - Interesting sequencing and flow - Confusing the title with Between the Buttons - Last Sloan album gave each band member a side's worth of songs - Brian: Almost exclusively listen to albums in full - Jay: Will listen to albums, but also use shuffle mode on iPod - Brian: Also listen to a lot of music on Spotify - Next up: Quebec for Jay, The Double Cross for Brian Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Wed, 31 May 2017
This week, Brian Salvatore and I talk about delving into the catalog of bands we don't know much about. Brian will learn about Sloan while I dig into Ween. Show notes: - Each of us picks a favorite artist of the other that we don't know much about - Jay listened to Ween's Chocolate and Cheese, Brian listened to Sloan's Twice Removed - Both 1994 releases - Both of us had heard a few songs before - Jay: First heard Ween on Beavis and Butt-head, wrote them off as novelty act - Brian: Twice Removed starts off strong, flows well - Big power pop vibe - The album that got Sloan dropped by Geffen - Each band member writes and sings - Were signed as part of the alternative explosion of the early '90s - Self-release most of their albums now - No indie rock radio stations anymore - Jay: Chocolate and Cheese is great fun - Wide range of styles, from funk to psychedelic to just weird - Great guitar work from Dean Ween - First Ween album done in a studio - Walking the fine line between funny and stupid - Phish has covered "Roses are Free" - Ween plays jam band festivals sometimes - Next up: The Mollusk for Jay, Between the Bridges for Brian Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Wed, 24 May 2017
This week, I talk to guest Brian Salvatore about the legacy of the late Chris Cornell. Show notes: - Brian: Was never a huge fan of Cornell's early singing style - Rediscovered his love for Soundgarden in recent years - Jay: First heard him when Temple of the Dog came out in '91, then got Badmotorfinger - The greatness of Mother Love Bone - Soundgarden was perfect bridge between '80s hard rock and the new sounds of the '90s - Jay: Saw Soundgarden in small club in early '92 and then again a few months later at Lollapalooza - Kim Thayil's guitar playing complemented Cornell's voice well - Jason Everman, the Zelig of grunge - The diverse nature of the Seattle acts of the '90s - The pressure of being the "responsible one" - Cornell's final tweets were upbeat - Hard to read into his lyrics - Most of Cornell's songs were dark - His death hit hard because he was ours - Feels like more '70s touring acts have more living members than '90s bands - The drugs were more prevalent in the '70s and '80s, but the '90s acts paid the price - Cornell's first solo album Euphoria Morning is really good - Less impressed with Audioslave - Soundgarden leaves a terrific body of work
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
Tue, 16 May 2017
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about the evolution of the music blog. Show notes: - Breitling recently shut down his fine music blog Clicky Clicky - Some band reunions shouldn't happen - A whole new target audience for newer live acts - The kids wanna snap - Some bands can make a living selling merch and playing small live gigs - No time for comics anymore - The inflated price of vinyl - Zines were the music blogs of the '80s and '90s - Kumar: A buddy in Washington state got into punk, started a zine - The convenience of blog software - The blog as reference tool - Our work at Webnoize is mostly gone now - Clicky Clicky lives on via Facebook page - The blog had a hardcore audience - Not in it for the numbers - Cutting through the crap on Twitter - Quality, not quantity of posts
Completely Conspicuous is available through the iTunes podcast directory. Subscribe and write a review! The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian. |
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