Friday, October 30, 2015

Stuck In Thee Garage #102: October 30, 2015

Halloween's always a fun time of year, at least if you're into scary stuff and costumes and all that. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I play a full two hours of music for the occasion. There's some scary stuff, some creepy stuff, some quiet stuff...but it's all good.



The Igor-approved playlist:


Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath/Black Sabbath
Bloodrock - D.O.A./Bloodrock 2
Lou Reed - Kill Your Sons/Sally Can't Dance
The Kinks - Killer's Eyes/Give the People What They Want
Radiohead - Bodysnatchers/In Rainbows
The Hives - Die, All Right!/Veni Vidi Vicious
Desert Sessions - Dead in Love/The Desert Sessions Vol. 9 and 10
Misfits - 20 Eyes/Walk Among Us
Eagles of Death Metal - Kiss the Devil/Peace Love Death Metal
Blue Oyster Cult - Hot Rails to Hell/Tyranny and Mutation
Primus - Bob/Pork Soda
The Horrors - Jack the Ripper/Strange House
Alien Sex Fiend - Now I'm Feeling Zombified/Curse

Hour 2
Spoon - The Ghost of You Lingers/ Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Paul Westerberg - Ghost on the Canvas/PW & the Ghost Glove Cat Wings Joy Boys
Rival Schools - The Ghost is Out There/Pedals
Sonic Youth - Ghost Bitch/Bad Moon Rising
Alice in Chains - Them Bones/Dirt
House of Pain/Helmet - Just Another Victim/Judgment Night soundtrack
Faith No More/Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. - Another Body Murdered/Judgment Night soundtrack
Mastodon - Halloween/Once More 'Round the Sun
Metallica - Creeping Death/Live in Toulouse, France 11/22/84
Violent Femmes - Country Death Song/Hallowed Ground
Johnny Foreigner - Eyes Wide Terrified/Waited Up 'Til It Was Light
Joseph Arthur - Killer's Knife/Crazy Rain
Black Francis - When They Come to Murder Me/Svn Fingers
The Police - Murder by Numbers/Synchronicity
Jarvis Cocker - This is the Night/Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Completely Conspicuous 396: Movin' and Groovin'

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Mike Heyliger as we discuss the trials and tribulations of moving. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- Check out Mike's blog Popblerd and his podcast Blerd Radio
- Jay: Haven't moved since 2000, but moved a lot in the '80s and '90s
- TVs used to be a lot bigger and heavier
- People used to always move around September 1
- Jay: Used to borrow the newspaper delivery van for moves
- Mike: Upcoming move back to New York will be like going to a different place
- Narrowed list down to a handful of cities to settle down in
- Mike: Currently conveniently located near Boston-area clubs
- Watertown is a quiet community, but Boston Marathon bomber was caught there
- Tough times for journalism majors
- Mike: Took a while to get used to earlier Boston closing times
- It's easier to stay out super late when you're younger
- Drunken work parties are always interesting
- You don't want to be the drunk one
- Alcohol-fueled fun can lead to awkwardness at work
- Mike: Been working from home for several years
- Looking forward to separating work from home life
- It's tough being the person on the other end of the speaker phone
- Mike: New office will have an open floor plan
- You have to be conscious of people around you in an open office

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Hardly Getting Over It

Bob Mould has had many phases over his 35-year career. The most recent one has been a return to the punishing heavy rock sound he perfected with Sugar in the early '90s. Last month, Mould came through Cambridge to play a solo show at the Sinclair. It was a different look for the Harvard Square club, which had folding chairs set out on the floor for the show.



Jason Narducy, who plays bass in Mould's band and records his own material under the Split Single moniker, opened the show with a solo set of Split Single, Verbow and newer songs. Narducy sang and played solo electric guitar, cracking jokes in between songs. Actually got to meet him briefly before and after the show and he was extremely cool.

Mould came out and got right to work, mixing classic Sugar and early solo songs with newer solo material. He had asked concertgoers to refrain from taking video of the performance because he was premiering nine new songs that were going to be on his upcoming solo album. The songs--whose titles included "You Say You," "Pray for Rain" and "Lucifer and God"--were similar in sound to Mould's recent solo albums, Silver Age and Beauty & Ruin. This, to me, is a good thing, as those albums are terrific. After playing that set, he told the crowd they could film whatever they wanted. He just didn't want the new stuff out on YouTube. I haven't checked, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone in one of the cities he played recorded and uploaded them; that's just what happens these days. Mould finished the show with some classic Husker Du and Sugar material, leaving the crowd excited and looking forward to the next record.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Stuck In Thee Garage #101: October 23, 2015

There's something to be said for short songs. They're quick, potent and done quickly. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs that are 2 minutes long or shorter in hour 2. Many more songs than usual. More bang for your buck, as it were.



The playlist, baby!

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Protomartyr - The Devil in His Youth/The Agent Intellect
Tulips - Hotspur/Doom & Bloom
Ever So Android - Moment/Disconnect
Mike Krol - Neighborhood Watch/Turkey
W-X - Hermit Stomp (Simple Times)/W-X
Drinks - Laying Down the Rock/Hermits on Holiday
LVL UP - Proven Water Rites/Three Songs
Deerhunter - All the Same/Fading Frontier
Greg Dulli - A Crime/Single
Hamilton Leithauser and Paul Maroon - My Reward/Dear God
Arcade Fire - Soft Power/Reflektor b-side
Blake Babies - Dead & Gone/Live 5/9/89
Sweethead - Tunnel Vision Blue/Mortal Panic EP
Swervedriver - Red Queen Arms Race/I Wasn't Born to Lose You

Hour 2: Two Minutes or Less
The Feelies - Fa Ce La/Crazy Rhythms
Neutral Milk Hotel - The King of Carrot Flowers, Part 1/In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Elliott Smith - Big Decision/New Moon
Mikal Cronin - Slow Down/Mikal Cronin
Radiator Hospital - Lose Sight of You/Something Wild
The Nation of Ulysses - Atom Bomb/13-Point Program to Destroy America
Jay Reatard - All Over Again/Singles '06-'07
Hot Snakes - Braintrust/Audit in Progress
Bullet Lavolta - Because You're Mine/The Gift
Boss Hog - What the Fuck/Boss Hog
Teenage Fanclub - What You Do to Me/Bandwagonesque
Sloan - It's Plain to See/The Double Cross
The Pursuit of Happiness - Kalendar/Where's the Bone
Ladyhawk - S.T.H.D./Shots
Frank Black - The Hostess With the Mostest/Teenager of theYear
Guided by Voices - Short on Posters/Self-Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia
McLusky - What We've Learned/McLusky Do Dallas
Future of the Left - Chin Music/Travels with Myself and Another
Nirvana - Been a Son/Incesticide
Queens of the Stone Age - Medication/Lullabies to Paralyze
Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus Forever/The Monitor
Camper Van Beethoven - Payed Vacation: Greece/Telephone Landslide Victory
Beastie Boys - Flute Loop/Ill Communication
Public Enemy - Show 'Em Whatcha Got/It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Dang/Orange
X - We're Desperate/Wild Gift
The Replacements - Lookin' for Ya/Hootenanny
Husker Du - Hate Paper Doll/Flip Your Wig
Minutemen - God Bows to Math/Double Nickels on the Dime




Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Completely Conspicuous 395: Moving in Stereo

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Mike Heyliger as we discuss the trials and tribulations of moving. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").
 

Show notes:
- Check out Mike's blog Popblerd and his podcast Blerd Radio
- Mike's moving to Brooklyn
- Music industry changes led to job change
- Boston's no longer the focus of record labels that it once was
- Moving vinyl is tricky
- A good excuse to streamline and get rid of stuff
- Who watches DVDs anymore?
- Collections can take over your life
- Jay: Used to have a huge comics collection
- Jay: Moved around a lot when I was single
- Roommates can be good or bad
- Mike has lived alone for years
- The shocking state of women's bathrooms
- When beepers were a thing
- In the '80s and '90s, calling cards made it cheaper to make long distance calls on pay phones
- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Trust Fund Challenge #16: ARK II (1976)

This week on Trust Fund Challenge, Ric and I dig into an episode of the 1970s Saturday morning live-action show ARK II. We had fun with the bad acting, the guest appearance from Robbie the Robot and a talking chimp who doesn't talk.


Stuck In Thee Garage #100: October 16, 2015

Stuck In Thee Garage celebrates its 100th show this week with another kickass two hours of rock, including songs about truth in hour 2. We broke out the togas for the big celebration:



The "just a little bit louder now" playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Mike Krol - Less Than Together/Turkey
LVL Up - The Closing Door/Three Songs
Timmy's Organism - Heartless Heathen/Heartless Heathen
Sally Crewe - Chase Tornado/Later Than You Think
Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas - Sorry I Stole Your Man/Secret Evil
Palmas - I Want to Know (Your Love)/To the Valley
Seapony - A Place We Can Go/A Vision
Electric Six - Two Dollar Two/Bitch, Don't Let Me Die
Titus Andronicus - Into the Void (Filler)/The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Tijuana Panthers - Set Forth/Poster
Cold Beat - Am I Dust/Into the Air
Nai Harvest - Sick on My Heart/Hairball
Happy You - Unlucky/EP 1
Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam - Wonderful/Video Dreams, Vol. 1
Richard Hell - Blank Generation/Blank Generation
Lou Reed - Waves of Fear/The Blue Mask
Matthew Sweet - Day For Night/Girlfriend

Hour 2: Truth
The Police - Truth Hits Everybody/Outlandos D'Amour
Sloan - Someone I Can Be True With/Never Hear the End of It
Violens - Totally True/True
The Black Angels - True Believers/Phosphene Dream
Thurston Moore - Honest James/Trees Outside the Academy
Spiral Stairs - True Love/The Real Feel
Lightning Dust - Honest Man/Infinite Light
The Walkmen - If Only It Were True/You & Me
Bill Janovitz - I Know It's True/Walt Whitman Mall
El-P - True Story/Cancer 4 Cure
Eagles of Death Metal - Anything 'Cept the Truth/Heart On
Urge Overkill - Honesty Files/Exit the Dragon
*AM Stereo - Truth is He Lied/When You Wish Upon a Bar
The Jam - Time for Truth/In the City
The Lemonheads - Nothing True/Hate Your Friends
Pearl Jam - Gimme Some Truth/2001 Christmas Single
The Foxboro Hot Tubs - Pieces of Truth/Stop Drop and Roll!!!

 


Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Completely Conspicuous 394: Reeling in the Years, 1994 (Part 3)

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1994. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Jay's #4
- Pavement was a shock to the system at the time
- Malkmus continues to be a solo force
- Brian's #3
- Ween's second-best album
- Brian: Ween made 5 perfect albums in a row
- Jay's #3
- Drive Like Jehu delivers scorching rock
- Brian's #2 and Jay's #2
- Jay: Frank Black's Guided by Voices album
- Black had serious writer's block during the making of this record
- Brian's #1
- Weezer's debut features 10 perfect pop songs
- Videos helped the album take off
- Jay's #1
- One of Sloan's greatest albums got them dropped by DGC
- Abrupt shift from first album's sound
- Other '94 notables: Soundgarden, Nas, NIN, Portishead, Neil Young, Helmet, New Bomb Turks, Pearl Jam
- Also: Magnetic Fields, TMBG, R.E.M., Outkast
- Next up: 1992
- Jam bands became popular
- Jay: Covered the best of the 2000s in CompCon episodes 96-99

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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Friday, October 09, 2015

Stuck In Thee Garage #99: October 9, 2015

The year 2000 was notable for a lot of things, not the least of which was being the first year of the 21st century. Somehow everything didn't end on January 1 despite rampant Y2K fears. And the music industry was undergoing a major shift. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played music from 2000 in hour 2 and it was exceedingly good.



The accurately predicted playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Sally Crewe - Satellite/Later Than You Think
Wild Ones - Dim the Lights/Heatwave
Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Wish/Wish
Potty Mouth - Creeper Weed/Potty Mouth
Childbirth - Nasty Grrls/Women's Rights
Blacklisters - Seas Make Ships/Adult
Donovan Wolfington - Mosquito/How to Treat the Ones You Love
Split Single - Fragmented World/Fragmented World
Bob Mould - Star Machine/Silver Age
Sugar - Your Favorite Thing/File Under: Easy Listening
The Besnard Lakes - Devastation/The Besnard Lakes are the Dark Horse
Ride - Seagull/Nowhere
Red Red Meat - Idiot Son/Bunny Gets Paid
Wilco - Cold Slope/Star Wars
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Baltimore/Real Emotional Trash

Hour 2: 2000
Radiohead - Optimistic/Kid A
Elliott Smith - Son of Sam/Figure 8
The Twilight Singers - King Only/Twilight as Played by The Twilight Singers
The Hives - Main Offender/Veni Vidi Vicious
The Hellacopters - Sometimes I Don't Know/High Visibility
Rollins Band - Get Some Go Again/Get Some Go Again
Fu Manchu - Boogie Van/King of the Road
The New Pornographers - The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism/Mass Romantic
Sleater-Kinney - You're No Rock n' Roll Fun/All Hands on the Bad One
PJ Harvey - Good Fortune/Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
The Tragically Hip - My Music at Work/Music @ Work
The White Stripes - Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me?/De Stijl
Yo La Tengo - Cherry Chapstick/And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
Queens of the Stone Age - The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret/Rated R
At the Drive-In - Rolodex Propaganda/Relationship of Command
Modest Mouse - Dark Center of the Universe/The Moon and Antarctica 



Thursday, October 08, 2015

Trust Fund Challenge #15: Show 'N Tell's "The Story of Animal Warnings"

In the latest episode of Trust Fund Challenge, Ric Dube and I watch a film strip about animal warnings that was part of GE's Show 'N Tell series. Not only is it educational, but it's also entertaining. No, really.


Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Completely Conspicuous 393: Reeling in the Years, 1994 (Part 2)

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Brian Salvatore as we look back at the music of 1994. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").
 
Show notes:
- Recorded via Skype
- Brian:  Enjoyed albums from Tom Petty, Rancid, Sea and Cake
- Beasties were all over the place on Ill Communication--in a good way
- Sunny Day Real Estate's epic album
- Halo Benders teamed Doug Martsch and Calvin Johnson
- The Toadies break through
- Jay: Sebadoh's Bakesale was a good combo of punk and melodic songs
- Jeff Buckley went from hard rock to cabaret on Grace
- Sugar's 2nd full-length was punchy and fun...for Bob Mould
- Green Day's Dookie was a monster hit that nobody needs to hear anymore
- Jay: Foolish was my intro to Superchunk
- Brian's #5
- Nirvana's best album was Unplugged in New York
- Jay saw Nirvana in Springfield, Mass., about a week before the Unplugged show
- Jay's #5
- Bee Thousand is probably the perfect distillation of Guided By Voices
- Brian's #4
- Alice in Chains' Jar of Flies was the first EP to top the album charts
- Jay: "No Excuses" got me through a tough time
- Brian: Jerry Cantrell looks like an uncle now
- 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. Find out more about Senor Breitling at his fine music blog Clicky Clicky. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Friday, October 02, 2015

Stuck In Thee Garage #98: October 2, 2015

Many of us have crucial life memories tied around houses, whether they're the ones we grew up in, or bought, or just had fun times in. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about houses in hour 2. I daresay it's a show good enough to rock a house party.



This playlist is not a money pit:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Sweethead - Mortal Panic/Mortal Panic EP
Video - New Immortals/The Entertainers
Elizabeth Colour Wheel - Move/Single
Froth - Bleak/Bleak
Moving Panoramas - Magic/One
Kurt Vile - Lost My Head There/b'lieve i'm going down
Maritime - Satellite Love/Magnetic Bodies/Maps of Bones
Thee Oh Sees - Poor Queen/Mutilator Defeated at Last
Maserati - Living Cell/Rehumanizer
Barrence Whitfield and the Savages - Angry Hands/Under the Savage Sky
Phylums - I Gotta Know/Phylum Phyloid
Woolen Men - Hard Revision/Temporary Monument
Krill - Theme from Krill/Lucky Leaves
Chandos - Temperance/Rats in Your Bed
Soccer Mom - No One Left/Soccer Mom

Hour 2: Houses
J. Geils Band - (Ain't Nothing But a) Houseparty/Blow Your Face Out - Live
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk is Playing at My House/LCD Soundsystem
Johnny Foreigner - The Houseparty Scene is Killing You/European Disco: Collected B-Sides and Remixes 2008-2010
Fucked Up - Paper the House/Glass Boys
The Breeders - Lime House/Pod
R.E.M. - Disturbance at the Heron House/Document
The Walkmen - Little House of Savages/Bows + Arrows
Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built/Celebration Rock
Future of the Left - The Hope That House Built/Travels with Myself and Another
Mark Lanegan - House a Home/Whiskey for the Holy Ghost
Prince - Housequake/Sign O' the Times
Talking Heads - Houses in Motion/Remain in Light
Arctic Monkeys - This House is a Circus/Favourite Worst Nightmare
Shudder to Think - Red House/Funeral at the Movies
Bad Brains - House of Suffering/I Against I
Van Halen - House of Pain/1984




Day After Day #75: Word Up!

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4). Word Up! (1986) When you watch old music...