Completely Conspicuous 568: Go For Soda

It's part 2 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far. Listen to the episode below or download it directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded at CompCon World HQ

- Still with the fan noise

- Kumar's bubbling under picks (aka "Bubblahs"): Lots of cool UK post-punk (Black Country, New Road; Squid; Yard Act; Sleaford Mods; TV Priest,; Dry Cleaning), The Hold Steady, Mdou Moctar, Guardian Singles,Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, Teenage Fanclub, Iceage, McCartney, Ex-Hyena, Fridge Poetry, Glitterer, The Dirty Nil  

- Breitling: We're living in Blade Runner/cyberpunk times

- Regional lingo

- Minor sax resurgence

- Difference of opinions on The Weeknd

- Breitling's #10: Stomp Talk Modstone with a collection of Chinese shoegaze

- Kumar's #10: An EP of lost songs from The Tragically Hip's 1991 Road Apples sessions

- Breitling's #9: Floating Points/Pharoah Sanders/London Symphony Orchestra with a cool collab

- Kumar's #9: Shame's second release is full of fun, fiery post-punk

- Breitling's #8: Fog Lake with a droning take on isolation

- Kumar's #8: Striking collab between Ellen Kempner of Palehound and Melina Duterte of Jay Som

- Breitling's #7: Palberta puts it all together

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts 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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #379: June 25, 2021

Breaking things can be pretty devastating, whether it's a bone, your heart or something valuable. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about broken things in hour 2. If you don't love it, well, you're just another lyin' ol' dirty birdie.

This playlist is your number one fan:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Pardoner - Tranquilizer/Came Down Different

Yard Act - Peanuts/Dark Days

Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses/For the first time

Islands - Carpenter/Islomania

Chubby and the Gang - Life's Lemons/The Mutt's Nuts

Lou Barlow - All You People Suck/Reason to Live

Smile Machine - Shit Apple/Bye For Now

Mannequin Pussy - To Lose You/Perfect

Jim Ward - Blink Twice/Daggers

Squid - Peel St./Bright Green Field

Dry Cleaning - ALC/New Long Leg

Billy Nomates - Emergency Telephone/Emergency Telephone

Bachelor - Sand Angel/Doomin' Sun

Fiddlehead - The Years/Between the Richness

Proper Nouns - Y2K/Feel Free

Dinosaur Jr. - N Say/Sweep It Into Space

The Dirty Nil - Hang Yer Moon/Fuck Art

Hour 2: Broken

Faith No More - Falling to Pieces/The Real Thing

Pixies - Broken Face/Surfer Rosa

Wedding Present - Broken Bow/Going, Going...

Superchunk - Break the Glass/What a Time to Be Alive

Husker Du - Broken Home, Broken Heart/Zen Arcade

The Raconteurs - Broken Boy Soldier/Broken Boy Soldiers

Eldridge Rodriguez - Another Boy With a Broken Heart/Slightest of Treason

Rocket From the Crypt - Break It Up/RFTC

Jesse Malin - Broken Radio (feat. Bruce Springsteen)/Glitter In the Gutter

The New Pornographers - Broken Beads/Twin Cinema

Urge Overkill - The Break/Exit the Dragon

Super Unison - Broken/Auto

Diet Cig - Broken Body/Do You Wonder About Me?

Queens of the Stone Age - Broken Box/Lullabies to Paralyze

The Posies - Broken Record/Amazing Disgrace

Prince - Gotta Broken Heart Again/Dirty Mind

Gorillaz - Broken/Plastic Beach

Beck - Broken Train/Midnite Vultures

Completely Conspicuous 567: Unmasked

It's part 1 of my in-person conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2021 so far. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded at CompCon World HQ

- Apologies for the loudness of the fan! Pretend you're skydiving!

- First time together since December 2019

- Kumar: Check out Mdou Moctar, West African guitarist on Matador

- Rollins and his listening habits

- Breitling: Watching a lot of rock docs

- Concerts are coming back and we're going to some

- Oh great, the Eagles are touring again

- Plenty of reissues out; gotta make money somehow

- Streaming continues to be the main way to listen to music

- Remembering the days of the Walkman and then later MP3 players that held 8 songs

- Breitling's still producing a weekly radio show called Parcheesi Redux

- Internet radio shows and podcasts are filling the gap left by commercial radio's stagnancy

- I'm still doing my radio show Stuck In Thee Garage on BFF.fm

- Breitling's bubbling under picks: Lilys reissues, Mogwai, Fievel Is Glauque, Spirit of the Beehive

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through the Apple Podcasts 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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #378: June 18, 2021

Some people like sweet things, others like sour. Some like both. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about sugar in hour 2. Even if you're not a fan of sweet things, you'll find something to enjoy here. If you are a fan, this will be like going to the land of chocolate.

Everything on this playlist is half off:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Sleater-Kinney - Path of Wellness/Path of Wellness

Wolf Alice - Play the Greatest Hits/Blue Weekend

Jim Ward - Paper Fish/Daggers

Fiddlehead - Million Times/Between the Richness

Con Davison - Postcard/Single

Villagers - The First Day/Fever Dreams

The Mountain Goats - Dark In Here/Dark In Here

Liz Phair - Soberish/Soberish

Mannequin Pussy - Control/Perfect

Billy Nomates - Right Behind You/Emergency Telephone

Bachelor - Spin Out/Doomin' Sun

Adult Books - Holiday/Grecian Urn

Guardian Singles - Tea Lights Exploding/Guardian Singles

Chubby and the Gang - Coming Up Tough/The Mutt's Nuts

Yard Act - The Trapper's Pelts/Dark Days

Squid - G.S.K./Bright Green Field

Black Country, New Road - Science Fair/For the first time

Hour 2: Sugar

Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube/I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One

Fred Schneider - Sugar In My Hog/Just Fred

Sonic Youth - Sugar Kane/Dirty

The Stone Roses - (Song For My) Sugar Spun Sister/The Stone Roses

Echo & the Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar/Echo & the Bunnymen

Sloan - Sugartune/"Is This All I Get?" Live September 20, 1993

The English Beat - Sugar and Stress/Special Beat Service

Barrence Whitfield & the Savages - Sugar/Dig Thy Savage Soul

The Rolling Stones - Brown Sugar/Sticky Fingers

Juliana Hatfield - Sugar/Weird

The Raveonettes - You Want the Candy/Lust Lust Lust

Sleater-Kinney - Buy Her Candy/Dig Me Out

The White Stripes - Sugar Never Tasted So Good/The White Stripes

Masters of Reality - The Candy Song/Masters of Reality

Ty Segall - Candy Sam/Emotional Mugger

METZ - Sugar Pill/Atlas Vending

Paw - Sugarcane/Dragline

Stuck In Thee Garage #377: June 11, 2021

Life can be a blur at times. Blink and a month has gone by...or six months...or a decade. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 2011--TEN years ago--in hour 2. It seems like it just happened, but also like it was a long time ago. The Beastie Boys were still making music, there were new and exciting acts making their mark and some wily old veterans reasserting their greatness.

Pop this playlist in and drive:

Hour 1

Pronoun - I Wanna Die But I Can't (Cuz I Gotta Keep Living)/OMG I DID IT

Enumclaw - Free Drop Billy/Jimbo Demo

A Place to Bury Strangers - End of the Night/Hologram

Squirrel Flower - Hurt a Fly/Planet (i)

Proper Nouns - Post-Everything/Feel Free

Adult Books - Innocence/Grecian Urn

Lou Barlow - Cold One/Reason to Live

Sons of Raphael - Siren Music/Full-Throated Messianic Homage

Mdou Moctar - Asdikte Akal/Afrique Victime

Sports - Don't Get Me Started/Get a Good Look Pt. 1

Iceage - Gold City/Seek Shelter

The Tragically Hip - Crack My Spine Like a Whip/Saskadelphia

Death From Above 1979 - Free Animal/Is 4 Lovers

Bachelor - Anything At All/Doomin' Sun

St. Vincent - Down and Out Downtown/Daddy's Home

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Mirror Song/New Fragility

Juliana Hatfield - Nightmary/Blood

Hour 2: 2011

Wild Flag - Romance/Wild Flag

St. Vincent - Chloe In the Afternoon/Strange Mercy

PJ Harvey - Written On the Forehead/Let England Shake

Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise/Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

TV On the Radio - Caffeinated Consciousness/Nine Types of Light

The Twilight Singers - On the Corner/Dynamite Steps

Foo Fighters - Rope/Wasting Light

Buffalo Tom - Guilty Girls/Skin

Telekinesis - Car Crash/12 Desperate Straight Lines

Wilco - I Might/The Whole Love

Sloan - Shadow of Love/The Double Cross

The Hush Now - Clouds/Memos

J Mascis - Not Enough/Several Shades of Why

Fucked Up - Queen of Hearts/David Comes to Life

Johnny Foreigner - With Who, Who and What I've Got/Johnny Foreigner Vs. Everything

The Dears - Blood/Degeneration Street

Completely Conspicuous 566: Bastards of Young

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we count down our favorite albums of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020

- Phil and Jay's #5: R.E.M. follows up two classic albums with a quirky effort

- Band gradually grew in popularity

- Phil and Jay's #4: The Cult hits the right combination of goth and hard rock

- Ian Astbury's lyrics were appropriately cryptic

- Phil's #3: An out-of-left-field pick with the Dead Milkmen's debut

- "Bitchin' Camaro" was the "hit"

- Jay's #3: Pete Townshend's solo peak

- He's mainly focused on Who tours since then

- Phil's #2: Talking Heads delve into Americana

- Surprisingly, their best-selling studio album

- Jay's #2: Husker Du continues their hot streak

- First of two releases in '85

- Robert Palmer covered "New Day Rising"

- Phil's #1: Conflicted about picking the Smiths thanks to Moz being a d-bag

- Phil was an early fan, at least among his peers

- Jay's #1: The Replacements keep getting better with each album

- The band kept self-sabotaging through their entire career

- Favorite songs: "Bastards of Young" (Jay), "Barbarism Begins at Home" (Phil)

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. 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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #376: June 4, 2021

Life can be random at times. There's an unpredictability that keeps us guessing. With that in mind, I played two hours of randomly selected songs on Stuck In Thee Garage this week.

This playlist goes to 11:

Artist - Song/Album

Poptone - Love Me/Poptone

Eric B. & Rakim - I Ain't No Joke/Paid In Full

Wartgore Hellsnicker - Karl vs. Groucho/Audio Antihero: Five Long Years 

Pixies - Debaser/Live in Vienna 1989

The Stooges - L.A. Blues/Fun House

X - Cyrano DeBerger's Back (rehearsal)/Los Angeles

The Pursuit of Happiness - Tara/The Wonderful World of...

Mission of Burma - Comes Undone/The Sound, the Speed, the Light

Smashing Pumpkins - Sweet Sweet/Siamese Dream

Pavement - Summer Babe/Live at Missoula Copper Commons 4/21/97

Aerosmith - Mia/Night in the Ruts

Living Colour - Solace of You/Time's Up

Dinosaur Jr. - Does It Float (live)/Dinosaur

Sugar - Helpless (live)/Copper Blue

Speedy Ortiz - Sport Death/Twerp Verse

Eels - Not Ready Yet/Beautiful Freak

Hour 2

Matthew Sweet - Lost My Mind/100% Fun

De La Soul - Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)/3 Feet High and Rising

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound/The '59 Sound

Shudder to Think - 9 Fingers on You/Pony Express Record

Tangerine - Tender/Sugar Teeth

John Coltrane - Syeeda's Song Flute/Giant Steps

Vundabar - Acetone/Smell Smoke

The Lemonheads - I Don't Wanna/Hate Your Friends

Drakulas - Panther/Terminal Amusements

The Rock*a*Teens - Billy Really/Sixth House

Ben Folds Five - Do It Anyway/The Sound of the Life of the Mind

Riff Doctors - Say Goodbye/Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987

Tony Molina - No One Told He/Confront the Truth

Dizzee Rascal - What U On/Boy In Da Corner

The Jesus Lizard - Nub/Goat

Kyuss - Conan Troutman/Welcome to Sky Valley

Soundgarden - Room a Thousand Years Wide/Badmotorfinger

Completely Conspicuous 565: We Are the World

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the music of 1985. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

- Recorded IN PERSON at CompCon world HQ for the first time since February 2020

- We were scheduled to record a podcast the weekend that everything shut down last year

- In '85, Jay was 17 going on 18 and Phil was 15 going on 16

- Jay: Finished high school, started college

- The year of rock charity

- We are the World featured a disinterested Dylan

- Dylan starred in the movie Hearts of Fire a few years later

- Live Aid was a huge event on both sides of the Atlantic

- Also, Farm Aid, Sun City and Hear 'N Aid

- DLR left Van Halen

- The PMRC hearings led to those Parental Advisory stickers that told kids where the good stuff was

- Lots of pop on the singles chart

- Phil belted out "Easy Lover" under hypnosis

- Phil's favorite non-top 5 albums: Hoodoo Gurus, INXS, Tears For Fears, Dire Straits, Jesus and Mary Chain, Tom Waits, The Cure, Husker Du, The Pogues, U2, Prince, Sting, Tom Petty, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Del Fuegos, Til Tuesday, Waterboys, Meat Puppets, The Indestructible Beat of Soweto

- Jay's non-top 5s: Robert Palmer, Fine Young Cannibals, Camper Van Beethoven, Big Audio Dynamite, Rush, Robert Plant

- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts. 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.