Completely Conspicuous 524: Your Favorite Thing

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite albums of 2019. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- Breitling's #4
- Former Boston act now relocated to Nashville
- Perfecting her sound
- Kumar's #4
- Introspective album that topped my midyear list
- Sweeping, synth-driven songs
- Breitling's #3
- Worthy follow-up to classic mid-'90s indie pop release
- Expansive and experimental
- Kumar's #3
- Return to rocking from for NJ punk stalwarts, produced by Bob Mould
- Surprisingly succinct from a band known for 8-minute epics
- Breitling's #2 and Kumar's #6
- Majestic final release from artist who tragically took his own life right after it came out
- Backed by the band Woods
- Kumar's #2
- Third release from Toronto punk-pop act
- Writing about frustrations of getting older
- Breitling's #1
- Recently released instant classic from Boston indie rock act
- Frontman Ryan Walsh wrote album after dealing with struggles writing his book about Astral Weeks
- Kumar's #1
- Veteran Canadian power pop act with another great release
- All-star team of musicians
- Darker feel than some of their other albums

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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #301: December 27, 2019

A lot can happen in the span of a decade. Even as it flies by, there is so much music released in that time. Today on Stuck In Thee Garage, it was part 2 of my look at some of my favorite music of the 2010s. Note: I didn't play any music from 2019 because I'm going to dedicate the next two weeks to my favorites from this year.

The NoHo Hank-approved playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise/Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011)
Living Colour - Who Shot Ya/Shade (2017)
The Twilight Singers - On the Corner/Dynamite Steps (2011)
Palehound - Molly/Dry Food (2015)
Ex Hex - War Paint/Rips (2014)
Sleater-Kinney - Bury Our Friends/No Cities to Love (2015)
Car Seat Headrest - 1937 State Park/Teens of Denial (2017)
Spoon - Got Nuffin/Transference (2010)
Divine Fits - Baby Get Worse/A Thing Called Divine Fits (2012)
PUP - DVP/The Dream Is Over (2016)
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Senator/Mirror Traffic (2010)
Drive-By Truckers - This Fucking Job/The Big To-Do (2010)
Jeff Rosenstock - Festival Song/Worry. (2016)
Japandroids - Fire's Highway/Celebration Rock (2012)
Black Mountain - Florian Saucer Attack/IV (2016)

Hour 2
Gord Downie - Love Over Money/Introduce Yerself (2017)
Hallelujah the Hills - Do You Have Romantic Courage?/Have You Ever Done Something Evil? (2014)
Kurt Vile - KV Crimes/Wakin on a Pretty Daze (2013)
Mark Lanegan Band - Drunk on Destruction/Gargoyle (2017)
Destroyer - Tinseltown Swimming in Blood/ken (2017)
The New Pornographers - Dancehall Domine/Brill Bruisers (2014)
Los Campesinos! - Romance Is Boring/Romance Is Boring (2010)
Johnny Foreigner - Undevastator/Mono No Aware (2016)
Krill - Foot/A Distant Fist Unclenching (2015)
Pile - #2 Single/You're Better Than This (2015)
Ovlov - Nu Punk/am (2013)
Stove - Jock Dreams/Is Stupider (2015)
Kuroma - Love Is On the Way/Kuromarama (2014)
Mike Krol - Neighborhood Watch/Turkey (2015)
Beach Slang - Atom Bomb/A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings (2016)
Faith No More - Sunny Side Up/Sol Invictus (2015)
IDLES - Danny Nedelko/Joy as an Act of Resistance (2018)
Death From Above 1979 - Right On, Frankenstein!/The Physical World (2014)

Completely Conspicuous 523: 10/10, Would Count Down Again

It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite albums of 2019. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- The top 10
- Breitling's #10
- A surprising solo debut from a veteran rock legend
- Kumar's #9
- Raw shoegaze effort from Brooklyn act changing its sound
- Breitling's #9
- Electronic album with an analog feel released late in the year
- "Crust ambient"
- Kumar's #8
- Power pop-punk album about the aftermath of broken relationship
- Great album cover
- Breitling's #8 and Kumar's #10
- Strong release from shoegaze pioneers
- Trying some different things
- Breitling's  #7
- Shoegaze duo from California that likes to take its time
- All killer, no filler
- Berniece's sleep aggression
- Kumar's #7
- Second release from indie legend's latest band
- Embracing '80s hard rock sound
- Breitling's #6
- Used to call this band the Steve Miller of indie rock
- Opinion has changed, especially with the latest release
- Sound is augmented by female singers
- Kumar and Breitling's #5
- Latest in an strong stretch of releases from this punk/alt-rock legend
- Sounds as good as he ever has
- Unusually upbeat
- Next: Our top 4 albums

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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #300: December 20, 2019

Three hundred of anything is an impressive amount. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I celebrated the show's 300th episode with two hours of holiday music.

This playlist will light up the neighborhood:

Artist - Song/Album
Letters to Cleo - Father Christmas/OK Christmas
Piebald - Rage With My Friends/Piebald Presents to You, a Musical Christmas Adventure
The Dollyrots - Fairytale of New York/Single
Beach Slang - Jolly Liver/Single
Pearl Jam - Don't Believe in Christmas/2002 Christmas Single
The Minus 5 - Your Christmas Whisky/Dear December
Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - Annunciation Day-Born On Christmas Day/Living With the Living
The White Stripes - Candy Cane Children/Merry Christmas From the White Stripes
T. Rex - Christmas Bop/T. Rexmas!
Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody/Single
Twisted Sister - Deck the Halls/A Twisted Christmas
The Hives and Cyndi Lauper - A Christmas Duel/A Christmas Duel
Neko Case - Christmas Card From a Hooker in Minneapolis/New Coat of Paint
The Knife - Christmas Reindeer/Single
The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song/Maybe This Christmas Tree
Sloan - Kids Come Back Again at Christmas/Kids Come Back Again at Christmas
The dBs - Christmas Time/Christmas Time Again
R.E.M. - Christmas Time is Here/1993 Fan Club Single
Julian Casablancas - I Wish It Was Christmas Today/Phrazes for the Young

Hour 2:
The Hush Now - On Holiday/Single
Frightened Rabbit - It's Christmas So We'll Stop/Single
Yr Friends - Shit Christmas/A Hiss, At Christmas
Lubec - Holiday Traffic/Wilderness Days
Run the Jewels - A Christmas Fucking Miracle/Run the Jewels
Future of the Left - The Real Meaning of Christmas/How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident
Piebald - Rebellion of Winter/Piebald Presents to You, a Musical Christmas Adventure
Green Seas & Taiko Sound - Home Alone Theme/A Very Allston Christmas, Vol. 3
Holiday Music - Family Tree/A Very Allston Christmas, Vol. 4
School Shoes - In the Bleak Midwinter/A Very Allston Christmas, Vol. 4
Moist Boy - You Don't Gotta Be a Good Boy/A Very Allston Christmas, Vol. 4
Letters to Cleo - It Sure Don't Feel Like Xmas Time/OK Christmas
Owl John - All I Want for Me Is You/Owl John
James Brown - Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto/Soulful Christmas

Completely Conspicuous 522: Hey Nineteen

It's part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2019. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- This program is not affiliated with Moviefone
- A decade of talking rock

- Breitling: Had time to listen to a lot more music this year
- The Billie Eilish vs. VH debate has been raging for a while
- Kids don't know or care about music from 10 years ago, let alone 35
- A lot of butthurt older music fans getting worked up for no reason
- Most kids have zero interest in classic rock
- Listen to what you want
- The "OK Boomer" phenomenon
- When music becomes something on in the background
- Breitling needs to see Idiocracy
- The albums that didn't make our top 10 lists
- Breitling: Floating Points, Rroxy More, Top Down Dialectic, Katie Dey, Max Richter
- Kumar: Mikal Cronin, Ty Segall, Mark Lanegan, Trinary System
- Mission of Burma's second act may be done
- Breitling: Juana Molina, Bedroom Eyes, Lubec, DIIV, Tullycraft, She Sir, Snowball II
- Kumar: Sleater-Kinney with a controversial new album; Janet Weiss pushed out of the band
- Breitling: Would have been better received under a different band name like Unicorn Butt
- Kumar: Pixies, Palehound, Kim Gordon, Pile, Black Mountain, Sebadoh, Fontaines DC, Telekinesis, Hold Steady, Desert Sessions, GBV, Wilco, Plague Vendor, Oh Sees, Nick Cave
- Breitling: Better Oblivion Community Center, Florist, Big Thief
- Next: Our top 10 albums

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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #299: December 13, 2019

Time is a flat circle. Everything we have done or will do, we will do over and over again forever. Which means at some point, I will play my favorite songs of the 2010s on Stuck In Thee Garage again. But until then, let this be your playlist and recording. Note: This is part 1 of my decade in review. Next Friday, I'll celebrate the holidays with a Christmas playlist and then will have part 2 of the decade's best on the 27th. And then I'll look back at the best of 2019.

Nietzsche would dig this playlist:


Artist - Song/Album
Superchunk - Break the Glass/What a Time to Be Alive (2018)
Albert Hammond Jr. - Far Away Truths/Francis Trouble (2018)
Parquet Courts - Human Performance/Human Performance (2016)
The War On Drugs - Red Eyes/Lost in the Dream (2014)
Iggy Pop - American Valhalla/Post Pop Depression (2016)
David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away/Blackstar (2016)
Soccer Mom - It's Probably Not Your Fault/Soccer Mom (2014)
Protomartyr - Scum, Rise!/Under Color of Official Right (2014)
Radiohead - Burn the Witch/A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
Courtney Barnett - Elevator Operator/Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?/AM (2013)
Run the Jewels - Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck) (feat. Zach de la Rocha)/RTJ2 (2014)
Bob Mould - The Descent/Silver Age (2012)
METZ - Spit You Out/II (2015)
Mikal Cronin - Say/MCIII (2015)
Ty Segall - The Singer/Manipulator (2014)
Speedy Ortiz - Tiger Tank/Major Arcana (2013)
Savages - I Am Here/Silence Yourself (2013)
The Afghan Whigs - Parked Outside/Do to the Beast (2014)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Bottled in Cork/The Brutalist Bricks (2010)
Sloan - Unkind/The Double Cross (2011)
Queens of the Stone Age - The Vampyre of Time and Memory/...Like Clockwork (2013)
Wild Flag - Romance/Wild Flag (2011)
LCD Soundsystem - Drunk Girls/This Is Happening (2010)
Titus Andronicus - No Future Part Three: Escape From No Future/The Monitor (2010)
Grinderman - Heathen Child/Grinderman 2 (2010)
OFF! - Man From Nowhere/OFF! (2012)
Jeff Rosenstock - All This Useless Energy/POST- (2018)
Fucked Up - Ship of Fools/David Comes to Life (2011)

Stuck In Thee Garage #298: December 6, 2019

Echoing through the years like a Howard Dean scream, rock songs have a timeless quality. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 2004 in hour 2.

That's a bold strategy, Cotton.

Let's see if this playlist pays off:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Hallelujah the Hills - Running Hot With Fate/I'm You
Feet - English Weather/What's Inside Is More Than Just Ham
Death Valley Girls - Dream Cleaver/Single
Hot Snakes - Checkmate/Single
Royal Trux - Waterpark/Quantum Entanglement
Freeloader - Back of the Line/The Path of Least Resistance
!!! - Ur Paranoid/Wallop
Plague Vendor - Snakeskin Boots/By Night
B Boys - Pressure Inside/Dudu
Shana Falana - Darkest Light/Darkest Light
Oh, Rose - 25, Alive/While My Father Sleeps
Sheer Mag - Hardly to Blame/A Distant Call
Marika Hackman - Conventional Ride/Any Human Friend
Ty Segall - I Worship the Dog/First Taste
Oh Sees - Heartworm/Face Stabber
Russian Circles - Arluck/Blood Year

Hour 2: 2004
The Hold Steady - The Swish/Almost Killed Me
Modest Mouse - The Good Times Are Killing Me/Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Eagles of Death Metal - Already Died/Peace Love Death Metal
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Get Ready for Love/Abattoir Blues - Lyre of Orpheus
William Shatner - Common People/Has Been
!!! - When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Karazzee/Louden Up Now
Sonic Youth - Kim Gordon & the Arthur Doyle Hand Cream/Sonic Nurse
Hot Snakes - Audit in Progress/Audit in Progress
Mission of Burma - Playland/ONOffON
The Walkmen - What's In It For Me/Bows + Arrow
Guided By Voices - Window of My World/Half Smiles of the Decomposed
Wilco - Muzzles of Bees/A Ghost is Born
The Twilight Singers - Too Tough to Die/She Loves You
PJ Harvey - The Letter/Uh Huh Her
Mark Lanegan Band - Hit the City/Bubblegum


 

Completely Conspicuous 521: Content Overload

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Going over some of our favorites of the decade
- Jay: Haven't seen a lot of critical faves
- Both enjoyed Blackkklansman
- Toy Story 3 is the best of that series
- Matt: Beasts of the Southern Wild was a stunner
- In the Loop is profanely excellent
- Jay never saw Inside Out; Matt says it's borderline educational
- The traumatic sadness of Disney movies
- Don't ban offensive old movies
- Stereotypes in older movies stick out
- The series 24 was so over the top about torture and terrorists
- Writing for women's roles in the '80s was pretty awful
- Post-9/11 jingoism
- Good Sorkin: The Social Network
- Bad Sorkin: The Newsroom
- When older celebs are trending on Twitter
- Matt: In praise of Monsters
- Timothy Olyphant is great
- Matt needs to watch Justified
- Black Mirror is predicting everything
- The Americans is an excellent show
- Matt hasn't seen Breaking Bad or Better Call Saul
- Orphan Black features an amazing performance by Tatiana Maslany
- Bill Hader elevates himself from comic genius to dramatic auteur on Barry
- Russian Doll came out of the blue
- The People Vs. OJ Simpson was excellent, with a bizarre performance by John Travolta
- The sneaky genius of Legends of Tomorrow
- Dark on Netflix is a German show that is brilliantly out there
- Downton Abbey: Cultural phenomenon that doesn't make sense
- The Leftovers got better when it went beyond the book
- The Marvel shows on Netflix were surprisingly good (except for Iron Fist)
- The fight scenes in Daredevil were intense and creative
- So much content out there that it's impossible to see it all

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get 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 #297: November 29, 2019

Sometimes it may not feel like there's a lot to be thankful for, but when you think about it, you can always find something. On this Black Friday edition of Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about being thankful in hour 2.

Yo, pass the stuffing, dummy!

This playlist is coming, Elizabeth:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Wye Oak - Fortune/Single
Bodega - Truth/Shiny New Object
Liam Gallagher - Halo/Why Me? Why Not.
Lightouts - Yes I Du/Wake
DIIV - Like Before You Were Born/Deceiver
Kim Gordon - Murdered Out/No Home Record
Mark Lanegan - Night Flight to Kabul/Somebody's Knocking
Wilco - We Were Lucky/Ode to Joy
Twin Peaks - Laid in Gold/Lookout Low
Beck - Everlasting Nothing/Hyperspace
Yam Haus - The Thrill/Single
Nane - Always On My Mind/Single
Guided By Voices - Heavy Like the World/Sweating the Plague
White Reaper - Real Long Time/You Deserve Love
The Menzingers - Strawberry Mansion/Hello Exile
Refused - I Wanna Watch the World Burn/War Music

Hour 2: Thankful
Beastie Boys - Gratitude/Check Your Head
Bad Brains - Give Thanks and Praises/Build a Nation
The Pink Mountaintops - And I Thank You/Outside Love
Sly & the Family Stone - Thank You (Falettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)/Greatest Hits
George Harrison - Thanks for the Pepperoni/All Things Must Pass
Led Zeppelin - Thank You/II
Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start - I'll Thank You Later/Worst Band Name Ever
Speedy Ortiz - Thank You/Death to Speedy Ortiz
Mastodon - Thank You for This/Call of the Mastodon
Ty Segall - Thank You Mr. K/Ty Segall
Ben Folds Five - Thank You for Breaking My Heart/The Sound of the Life of the Mind
My Morning Jacket - Thank You Too!/Evil Urges
World Party - Thank You World/Goodbye Jumbo
Drive-By Truckers - The Thanksgiving Filter/Go-Go Boots
Mourn - Thank You for Coming Over/Sopresa Familia

Completely Conspicuous 520: Streaming for Vengeance

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss the decade in TV and movies. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- This decade has flown by
- 10 years ago, Matt was getting ready to move to Ireland
- Hard to rank the best movies and TV because there's so much we haven't seen
- Recording on the day that Disney+ launched
- Some bugs because of the huge demand on day 1
- Biggest change is the move to streaming content
- Binge-watching has become a huge trend
- Spoilers abound
- Jay: Don't read reviews until after I've watched something
- HBO's Watchmen series is pretty good
- So easy to fall behind on a show
- Shows switch to different streaming services
- We're so distracted that many people are doing multiple things while watching a show
- Short seasons are appealing because you can finish them quickly
- Rare to watch shows live
- Matt watched final season of LOST from Ireland, live with his family via a laptop
- Similarly, there's so much new music being released but a lot of it doesn't get heard
- Radio stations play a lot of the same music over and over
- More and more original programming on non-traditional outlets: PlayStation, Amazon Prime, Apple+
- So many streaming services available now
- The end goal is to replace your $200 cable bill with an equal amount spent on streaming services
- Jay: Cut the cord three years ago, went to all streaming
- You can't get everything
- Takes a long time to decide what to watch sometimes
- Sometimes we watch two different things while in the same room
- Seeing movies in a theater is great, but dealing with other people isn't
- Stay off social media if you don't want spoilers
- Jay: 10 years ago, I was watching late night talk shows every day
- Now, watch clips online the following day
- Jay: Haven't seen a Star Wars movie since 1983
- Something to be said for holding onto hard media
- Bringing back dead actors using AI
- Deep fakes are freaky and amazing
- Superhero movies became big moneymakers in the last decade
- The Shining happened because Kubrick was at a low spot and needed a hit
- The new Fantasy Island reboot is a horror movie
- To be continued

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get 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 #296: November 22, 2019

New phone, who dis? Since their introduction, phones have always been an important part of everyday life. But these days, they've become like extensions of our hands...especially if you've got a particular set of skills.

This playlist may or may not find you and kill you:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Liam Gallagher - Shockwave/Why Me? Why Not.
Feet - Petty Thieving/What's Inside Is More Than Just Ham
Sports Team - Fishing/Making Hay
Squirrel Flower - Red Shoulder/I Was Born Swimming
Beach Bunny - Prom Queen/Honeymoon
Torres - Good Scare/Silver Tongue
Lightouts - Disappear/Wake
Guided By Voices - Downer/Sweating the Plague
Juliana Hatfield - Hole In My Life/Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police
Big Thief - Shoulders/Two Hands
Mark Lanegan - Dark Disco Jag/Somebody's Knocking
Desert Sessions - Something You Can't See/Vol. 11 and 12
Pixies - Long Rider/Beneath the Eyrie
The New Pornographers - Colossus the Rhodes/In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
Chastity Belt - Split/Chastity Belt
Rose Dorn - Collar/Days You Were Leaving

Hour 2: Phones
Stove - Dumb Phone/Is a Toad in the Rain
Telekinesis - Courtesy Phone/Ad Infinitum
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers - Get Off the Phone/L.A.M.F. - the lost '77 tapes
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap/Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap
The Dirty Nil - Phone Call/Master Volume
Gluecifer - A Call From the Other Side/Automatic Thrill
Voivod - God Phones/Infini
Husker Du - Don't Try to Call/Savage Young Du
Kiss Concert - Stupid Guy On My Phone/Rick Rude - Kiss Concert split
The Kickovers - Hanging On the Telephone/Osaka
Jellyfish - Calling Sarah (demo)/Fan Club Disc 1
Nazz - Hello It's Me/Nazz
Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number/Pretzel Logic
Hallelujah the Hills - I'm in the Phone Book, I'm on the Planet, I'm Dying Slowly/A Band is Something to Figure Out
Okkervil River - Calling and Not Calling My Ex/The Stand Ins
Arctic Monkeys - Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?/AM
LCD Soundsystem - Call the Police/American Dream

Completely Conspicuous 519: Cornell '77

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead bootleg Cornell '77. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Talking about Dead show recorded on 5/8/77 at Cornell University
- Phil: Listened to this hundreds of times
- Jay: Very impressed by the bootleg
- Phil: The show was so random
- Dead had taken some time off from touring from '74 to '76
- By spring of '77, band was firing on all cylinders
- Phil's parents wouldn't let 8-year-old Phil see the Dead on that tour
- A lot of live albums are unnecessary
- But a great live recording is transcendent
- Phil: Early Chicago with Terry Kath on guitar was a great live act
- The Dylan and the Dead live album was a dud
- Phil Lesh: The Heineken Years
- Clapton's MTV Unplugged album was awful
- Jay: Solo Clapton is terrible
- Phil doesn't like Thin Lizzy
- The Dead has 36-minute versions of songs on their bootlegs
- Phil has around 125 Dead boots
- Figuring out which songs flow well into others
- Phil: The version of "Morning Dew" on this bootleg is the best
- Plenty of snow at that show, inside and outside
- Love when bands change up the setlist every night
- When you get sick of songs you love
- Somehow we start talking about "The Day After"
- AC/DC's music is more complicated than you think
- Phil would set his time machine to 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get 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 #295: November 15, 2019

It's mid-November. Darkness has descended upon us. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I try to ward off seasonal depression with songs about darkness in hour 2. Hopefully it will keep the zombies away.

The dark playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Refused - REV001/War Music
Beach Slang - Bam Rang Rang/The Deadbeat Bang of Heartbreak City
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Mundungus/Single
Destroyer - Crimson Tide/Have We Met
Mark Lanegan - Disbelief Suspension/Somebody's Knocking
R.E.M. - You (Remix)/Monster (25th anniversary reissue)
Lilith - Figure 1 Repeated/Safer Off
Juliana Hatfield - Next to You/Juliana Hatfield Sings the Police
Kate Teague - Gilly/Kate Teague
The Rallies - If You Do/Upside Down
Sean Henry - Surf Song/A Jump From the High Dive
Jeffrey Lewis & the Voltage - In Certain Orders/Bad Wiring
The Shivas - Gloria/Dark Thoughts
Guided By Voices - Unfun Glitz/Sweating the Plague
Mikal Cronin - Caravan/Seeker
Desert Sessions - Noses in Roses, Forever/Volumes 11 & 12

Hour 2: Darkness
Death Lurks - Some Days It's Dark/Kids In the Hall Brain Candy
Ween - Drifter in the Dark/Chocolate & Cheese
Purple Mountains - Darkness and Cold/Purple Mountains
Destroyer - Midnight Meet the Rain/Poison Season
George Harrison - Beware of Darkness/All Things Must Pass
PJ Harvey - The Darker Days of Me & Him/Uh Huh Her
Teenage Fanclub - The Darkest Part of the Night/Here
Jeff Rosenstock - Darkness Records/We Cool?
PUP - Dark Days/PUP
Cloud Nothings - Darkened Rings/Life Without Sound
Japandroids - Darkness on the Edge of Gastown/No Singles
Pods - Blackout/Where I'm Calling From
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Definite Darkness/Lenses Alien
She Sir - Dark Glass Tomb/Rival Island
Natural Velvet - Dark Inertia/Salome With the Head of John the Baptist

Completely Conspicuous 518: Terrapin Station

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1977 album Terrapin Station. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- The Dead's 9th studio album
- Band had signed with Clive Davis and Arista
- Album was produced by Keith Olsen, later known for slick AOR albums by Eddie Money, Rick Springfield, REO Speedwagon, Heart
- Phil: Would get a tattoo of the Terrapin cover
- Cover of "Dancing in the Streets" is pretty lame
- Live, the cover turns into a long jam (duh)
- Donna Godchaux was featured a lot on this record
- Side 2 is an side-long suite written by Hunter and Garcia
- Band didn't tour for this album after Mickey Hart got in a car accident
- The tour before this album was legendary for Dead fans
- Tried songs out live before they made it to studio recordings
- Side 1 closes out with a Donna G. song that sounds nothing like anything else the Dead has done
- The Godchaux marriage was splitting up while they were in the band
- Olsen erased Hart's drums on one song and replaced them with strings
- Lyrics on Terrapin Station are pretty dense
- Relatively short album for the Dead at 35 minutes
- Phil: These songs got better in the live setting
- Jay: A lot of filler on side 2
- Album feels like a contractual obligation
- Dead & Co. plays part of the title suite now
- Phil: Not a John Mayer fan, but he's a good guitarist
- Jay: Not a fan of this album
- Next: Cornell 5/8/77

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and anywhere else you get 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 #294: November 8, 2019

Procrastination is something we all have done at some point. I could give you plenty of examples, but I'll save that for later. Suffice it to say, I played songs about procrastination in hour 2 of Stuck In Thee Garage today and they were pretty good. It's a good accomplishment.

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Mark Lanegan - Stitch It Up/Somebody's Knocking
Desert Sessions - Move Together/Desert Sessions Vol. 11 & 12
Guided By Voices - Ego Central High/Sweating the Plague
Juliana Hatfield - Can't Stand Losing You/Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police
Cherry Glazerr - Call Me (feat. Portugal the Man)/Call Me
Kim Gordon - Hungry Baby/No Home Record
White Reaper - Raw/You Deserve Love
Omni - Skeleton Key/Networker
Angel Olsen - What It Is/All Mirrors
Wilco - Hold Me Anyway/Ode to Joy
Squid - Match Bet/Town Centre
Mikal Cronin - I've Got Reason/Seeker
Dirty Rugs - I Got Your Moves/Two Sides
Bodega - Knife on the Platter/Shiny New Model
DIIV - For the Guilty/Deceiver
Dead Soft - I Believe You/Big Blue

Hour 2: Procrastinate
Ben Folds Five - The Battle of Who Could Care Less/Whatever & Ever Amen
Radiohead - The Bends/The Bends
Foo Fighters - Baker Street/The Colour and the Shape (bonus track)
Arthur Buck - Forever Waiting/Arthur Buck
They Might Be Giants - Dead/Flood Live in Australia
Jane's Addiction - Jane Says/Jane's Addiction
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - I Need to Know/Live '78
Jimi Hendrix - Wait Until Tomorrow/Radio One
The English Beat - Save It For Later/Special Beat Service
Beck - Lazy Flies/Mutations
Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line/Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1
Neil Young - Powderfinger/American Stars N' Bars
Andy Samberg & Chris Parnell - Lazy Sunday/SNL
Dizzee Rascal - Sittin' Here/Boy in Da Corner
Green Day - Longview/Dookie
Sex Pistols - Pretty Vacant/Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols

Completely Conspicuous 517: Top of the Heap

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we conclude our countdown of our favorite albums of the decade. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at CompCon world HQ
- Kumar's #3 of the decade: Parquet Courts cements their post-punk presence (2014)
- Impressive body of work with an art-rock vibe
- Breitling's #2: Johnny Foreigner's self-produced magnum opus (2011)
- Breitling was running a JF-themed blog for a while
- Kumar's #2: A punk explosion of political anger from Superchunk (2018)
- Still vital after all these years
- Breitling's #1: Post-punk legend Walter Schreifels' debut solo album (2010)
- Sincere folk rock with incredible hooks
- Kumar's #1: Bowie's final album was a masterpiece (2016)
- Recorded in secret with an unknown jazz band
- He thought he had more time, but died a few days after the album came out
- That's a decade

Completely Conspicuous is available through Apple Podcasts and just about anywhere else you get your 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 #293: November 1, 2019

Sure, Halloween's over, but the spirit lives on. I played two hours of Halloween music today on Stuck In Thee Garage, and it was just as effective as if I played them last night. Boo!





The frightening playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast/Live After Death
Blue Oyster Cult - Monsters/Cultosaurus Erectus
Queens of the Stone Age - Monsters in the Parasol/Rated R
Joy Division - Heart and Soul/Closer
Poptone - Movement of Fear/Poptone
Radiohead - Climbing Up the Walls/OK Computer
PJ Harvey - Meet Ze Monsta/To Bring You My Love
Arctic Monkeys - Pretty Visitors/Humbug
David Bowie - We Are the Dead/Diamond Dogs
Jarvis Cocker - I Will Kill Again/Jarvis
Charly Bliss - Scare U/Guppy
Flower Girl - Scary Drive II/Tuck In Your Tie-Die
Chastity - Scary/Death Lust

Hour 2
Big Chief - John's Scared/Platinum Jive
High Rise - Monster a Go-Go/High Rise II
Masters of Reality - Kill the King/Masters of Reality
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon/Bark at the Moon
Black Sabbath - Voodoo/Mob Rules
Bullet Lavolta - Birth of Death/The Gift
Kyuss - Demon Cleaner/Welcome to Sky Valley
Black Mountain - Evil Ways/In the Future
Ty Segall Band - Death/Slaughterhouse
The Tragically Hip - Locked In the Trunk of a Car/Fully Completely
Neil Young - Vampire Blues/On the Beach
Dead Moon - Demona/What a Way to See the Old Girl Go
Grinderman - Heathen Child/Grinderman 2
Bad Brains - Fearless Vampire Killers/Bad Brains