Stuck In Thee Garage #486: July 28, 2023

Longevity in music isn't necessarily a novel thing. There are plenty of artists who have had long careers. But how many continue to make strong albums after the first few? Not as many as you might think. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from artists' fifth albums in hour 2. You may not be able to handle the truth.

You need this playlist on that wall:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Militarie Gun - Life Under the Gun/Life Under the Gun

Rancid - Tomorrow Never Comes/Tomorrow Never Comes

Geese - 2122/3D Country

The Pink Spiders - Freakin' Freakin' Out/Freakazoid

Sweeping Promises - Connoisseur of Salt/Good Living is Coming For You

Emerald Comets - Castle Inside/Homemade Time Machine

Cloudland Canyon - Gimme Tension/Cloudland Tension

Squid - Swing (In a Dream)/O Monolith

Annie Hart - Boy You Got Me/The Weight of a Wave

Depeche Mode - Wagging Tongue (Wet Leg remix)/Wagging Tongue (Remixes)

Pardoner - Are You Free Tonight?/Peace Loving People

Guardian Singles - Pit Viper/Feed Me to the Doves

Bully - All This Noise/Lucky For You

Big Joanie - Taut/Back Home

Protomartyr - Polacrilex Kid/Formal Growth in the Desert

Model/Actriz - Donkey Show/Dogsbody

Low Praise - Forget That It's Summer/Dressing

Hour 2: Fifth

The Clash - Car Jamming/Combat Rock

Guided By Voices - Quality of Armor/Propellor

Dinosaur Jr. - Out There/Where You Been

Peter Gabriel - This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)/So

The Afghan Whigs - Blame, Etc./Black Love

Husker Du - Sorry Somehow/Candy Apple Grey

Led Zeppelin - Over the Hills and Far Away/Houses of the Holy

Neil Young - For the Turnstiles/On the Beach

Black Sabbath - Killing Yourself to Live/Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

Arctic Monkeys - RU Mine?/AM

Beck - High 5 (Rock the Catskills)/Odelay

Parliament - Dr. Funkenstein/The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein

Prince - Delirious/1999

The truth is HERE, pal. Crank it up!

Completely Conspicuous 617: Let There Be Rock

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2001. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Jay's non-top 5 albums: Von Bondies, Radiohead, Sloan, Frank Black & the Catholics, Guided By Voices, Fugazi
• The joy of shopping for imports
• Phil's #5: Great distillation of classic rock from Sweden's The Soundtrack of Our Lives
• Jay's #5: Indie folk-rock on first solo effort from Gord Downie includes spoken word
• Phil's #4 and Jay's #3: Breakthrough album from the White Stripes blew up several months after it came out
• Jay's #4: The Strokes led the return of guitar rock with a NYC-centric sound
• Highlighted in the book and documentary Meet Me in the Bathroom
• Phil's #3: Spoon with a strong release after getting dropped from a major 
• Phil's #2: Another great album after getting dropped came from Wilco
• Phil's #1 and Jay's #2: A masterful double album about the duality of the Southern thang by Drive-By Truckers
• Jay's #1: Impressive release from Ted Leo & the Pharmacists showcased a melding of diverse rock styles
• Favorite songs: "Timorous Me" (Jay), "Ronnie and Neil" (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 #485: July 21, 2023

Nostalgia can be fun, but it can also be misleading. You put on those rose-colored glasses and remember things to be much better than they actually were. Nevertheless, for a radio show, it's valuable to go back and revisit the music of yesteryear every so often. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 1998 (TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO!) in hour 2. It was enjoyable and successful, unlike this overstuffed finale:

This playlist isn't locked up:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Pardoner - Deadbeat/Peace Loving Parade

Palehound - Eye On the Bat/Eye On the Bat

Mac Krol - For Some Other Reason/Single

Who Is She? - Thursday/Single

Genesis Owusu - Tied Up!/Struggler

PJ Harvey - A Noiseless Noise/I Inside the Old Year Dying

Fishbone and NOFX - Estranged Fruit/Single 

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - When We Were Close/Weathervanes

Superviolet - Infinite Spring/Infinite Spring

Strange Ranger - She's On Fire/Pure Music

Andrew Hung - Ocean Mouth/Ocean Mouth

The Smile - Bending Hectic/Single

Snooper - Pod/Super Snooper

Queens of the Stone Age - Negative Space/In Times New Roman...

Guardian Singles - Nightmare Town/Feed Me to the Doves

Hour 2: 1998

Pulp - Glory Days/This Is Hardcore

PJ Harvey - The Sky Lit Up/Is This Desire?

The Afghan Whigs - Uptown Again/1965

Beastie Boys - Intergalactic/Hello Nasty

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Bernie/Acme

Rancid - Cash, Culture and Violence/Life Won't Wait

Sloan - Iggy & Angus/Navy Blues

The Tragically Hip - Vapour Trails/Phantom Power

Spoon - Minor Tough/A Series of Sneaks

Frank Black & the Catholics - Steak 'N' Sabre/Frank Black & the Catholics

Rocket From the Crypt - Back in the State/RFTC

Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution/Yield

Queens of the Stone Age - The Bronze/Queens of the Stone Age

Jerry Cantrell - Between/Boggy Depot

Cat Power - Cross Bones Style/Moon Pix

Beck - Nobody's Fault But My Own/Mutations

Fire up the rock machine RIGHT HERE!

Completely Conspicuous 616: Imitation of Life

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about the music of 2001. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• In 2001, Jay found out he was going to be a dad and also went back to his old employer
  
• Jay turned 34, Phil turned 32
• Phil got divorced
• 9/11 was a defining generational moment
• Jay: Saw concerts by Radiohead, Gord Downie, Tragically Hip, PJ Harvey, Built to Spill, Buddy Guy
• Apple launched iTunes music store and the iPod
• Napster got sued into oblivion
• Pop was big but garage rock started getting popular
• Lifehouse had the #1 single of the year?
• Scott Stapp wrote a pump-up song for the Marlins
• Phil got recruited by a Scientologist
• Phil's non-top 5 albums: Gorillaz, R.E.M., DMB, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Fugazi, Stephen Malkmus, Pete Yorn, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan 
• 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.

Stuck In Thee Garage #484: July 14, 2023

The definition of "rebel" has evolved over the years. What used to be someone sticking it to The Man is now just some dope talking smack on social media. Whatever the case, I played songs about rebellion in hour 2 of Stuck In Thee Garage this week and generally stayed with the anti-authoritarian vibe for the most part. At the start of the show, I also paid tribute to a genuine rebel, the late great Rick Froberg.

Much like the life of a repo man, this playlist is always intense:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Drive Like Jehu - New Math/Yank Crime

Hot Snakes - Kreative Kontrol/Audit in Progress

Obits - Two-Headed Coin/I Blame You

Drive Like Jehu - Here Come the Rome Plows/Yank Crime

Pardoner - My Wagon/Peace Loving People

Guardian Singles - Com Trans/Feed Me to the Doves

Protomartyr - Fun in Hi Skool/Formal Growth in the Desert

PJ Harvey - August/I Inside the Old Year Dying

Oceanator - Part Time/Single

Bully - Hard to Love/Lucky For You

RVG - Squid/Brain Worms

Deer Tick - Grey Matter/Emotional Contracts

Blondes - Beautiful World/In Separation

Jeff Rosenstock - Doubt/Hellmode

Queens of the Stone Age - Carnavoyeur/In Times New Roman...

The Dirty Nil - Stupid Jobs/Free Rein to Passions

Hour 2: Rebellion

Fugazi - Repeater/Repeater

Japandroids - To Hell With Good Intentions/No Singles

Gang of Four - To Hell With Poverty!/ Another Day/Another Dollar

Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl/New Radio

The Runaways - Cherry Bomb/The Runaways

Rancid - Roots Radicals/And Out Come the Wolves...

The Clash - The Guns of Brixton/London Calling

Run the Jewels - Close Your Eyes (and Count to Fuck) (feat. Zach de la Rocha)/Run the Jewels 2

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - The Message/The Message

Black Sabbath - The Mob Rules/Mob Rules

Ozzy Osbourne - Rock 'N Roll Rebel/Bark at the Moon

Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Comin'/Screaming For Vengeance

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion - Attack/Acme

Future of the Left - Arming Eritrea/Travels With Myself and Another

The Jam - Going Underground/Single

Check out the big show RIGHT HERE...or don't, whatever dood.

Completely Conspicuous 615: All Killer, No Filler

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2023. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Running down our favorite albums of the year so far
• Kumar's #10: Pile diversifies its sound
• Breitling's #9 and Kumar's #8: Yo La Tengo keeps on Yo La Tengoing 
• Kumar's #9: Dangerous sounding debut from Model/Actriz
• Breitling's #8: Continued excellence from Protomartyr
• Kumar's #7: Excellent third release from Washer, giving off Meat Puppets vibe
• Another great act on Exploding In Sound
• Breitling's #7: Fog Lake returns with a compelling slowcore release; may or may not be Shady Canadians
• Breitling's #10 and Kumar's #6: Perennially pissed off hip hop from UK Grim
  
• Breitling's #6: Lo-fi folk rock stalwarts Hands and Knees return with a strong release
• Kumar's #5: Yves Tumor mixes shoegaze, alt-rock and funk into a powerful concoction
• Breitling's #5 and Kumar's #4: Legit supergroup Boygenius delivers the goods
• Breitling's #4: Bully with another excellent rock album
• Tom Cavanaugh tangent time
• Kumar's #3: Catchy hardcore from Fucked Up represents a more spontaneous recording process
• Breitling's #3: Quick collection of rippers from New Zealand's Guardian Singles
• Kumar's #2: UK act Shame pushes out of their post-punk comfort zone
• Breitling's #2: Going back to Philly with Purling Hiss, bringing hooks and attitude to the party
• Kumar's #1: Power pop awesomeness from the indie all-star band that is Eyelids
• Breitling's #1: Jangly indie pop straight outta Columbus with Connections
• Kurt Loder tangent 
• Anticipated/newer albums: Drop Nineteens, Speedy Ortiz, Palehound, PJ Harvey, Queens of the Stone Age, Jason Isbell, Jeff Rosenstock, OSees, Blur 

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 #483: July 7, 2023

Luck may nor may not exist depending on who you talk to, but it definitely has inspired plenty of art over the years. This week, Stuck In Thee Garage featured two hours of songs about luck: good, bad and in between. Although you may not have a good feeling about luck when you're stuck on a planet fighting the Alien Queen.

This playlist is game over, man, game over:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Betty Davis - If I'm in Luck I Might Get Picked Up/Betty Davis

Lene Lovich - Lucky Number/Stateless

PJ Harvey - Good Fortune/Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea

Eels - Beginner's Luck/Hombre Lobo

King Khan & the Shrines - Better Luck Next Time/Idle No More

Dntel - Dumb Luck/Dumb Luck

Sloan - Lucky For Me/Live at Vermonstress 10/11/92

The Middle Ones - Lucky/Odd Box Weekender V

Speedy Ortiz - Lucky 88/Twerp Verse

The Twilight Singers - Get Lucky/Dynamite Steps

Those Pretty Wrongs - Lucky Guy/Those Pretty Wrongs

Ben Folds - The Luckiest/Rockin' the Suburbs

The Strokes - Trying Your Luck/Is This It

Protomartyr feat. Kelley Deal - Wheel of Fortune/Consolation EP

Cosmonauts - Good Lucky Blessing/A-OK!

Radiohead - Lucky/OK Computer

Hour 2

The Capitol Years - Lucky/Let Them Drink

Dead Bars - Lucky/Regulars

Joyer - Lucky/Perfect Gray

Momma - Lucky/Household Name

Kurt Vile - How Lucky (feat. John Prine)/Speed, Sound, Lonely KV EP

The Black Crowes - Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye/The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion

Pardoner - Lucky Day/Came Down Different

Lo Tom - Bad Luck Charm/Lo Tom

Alice Bag - Lucky/Sister Dynamite

Sloan - 13 (Under a Bad Sign)/Commonwealth

Rye Coalition - Hard Luck/Hard Luck

Paw - No Such Luck/Death to Traitors

Iggy Pop & the Zig Zags - If I'm in Luck I Might Get Picked Up/Light in the Attic 10th Anniversary

If you want to listen to this show, YOU'RE IN LUCK, PAL.

Completely Conspicuous 614: The Midway Point

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the first half of 2023. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as").

Show notes:

• Recorded at CompCon HQ
  
• Concerts are back
• TicketMaster is still a mess
• Nobody's buying CDs
• The Beatles and AI
• Parcheesi Redux is in its third year
• Talking about the band Toronto and their hit "Your Daddy Don't Know," covered by the New Pornographers
• The kids are alright
• Rock music is still around, although it's a minor part of the music business
• Breitling's bubbling under albums: Everything But the Girl; Depeche Mode; Sharp Pins; OK Cool; Reds, Pinks and Purples; Pile; Squitch; Mui Zyu
• Jay's bubbling unders: The Hold Steady; The New Pornographers; Ron Gallo; Quasi; Mudhoney
• 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 #482: June 30, 2023

Reading may be fundamental, but sometimes you wonder if people read books anymore. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs inspired by books in hour 2. There are more than you think. Sadly, I couldn't find anything about this classic:

Time for some fancy book learnin':

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Queens of the Stone Age - Paper Machete/In Times New Roman...

Protomartyr - We Know the Rats/Formal Growth in the Desert

PUP - Smoke Screen/Single

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Save the World/Weathervanes

Allah-Las - The Stuff/Zuma 85

Deer Tick - Forgiving Ties/Emotional Contracts

Wye Oak - Every Day Like the Last/Every Day Like the Last

Immaterial Possession - Mercy of the Crane Folk/Mercy of the Crane Folk

Bully - How Will I Know/Lucky For You

The Dirty Nil - 1990/Free Rein to Passions

Guardian Singles - Ground Swell/Feed Me to the Doves

Low Praise - Hollow Ego/Dressing

Guided By Voices - Face Eraser/La La Land

Model/Actriz - Maria/Dogsbody

Shame - Orchid/Food For Worms

Washer - King Insignificant/Improved Means for Deteriorated Ends

Hour 2: Books

The Buzzcocks - Everybody's Happy Nowadays/Singles Going Steady

David Bowie - 1984/Diamond Dogs

Bloc Party - Song For Clay (Disappear Here)/A Weekend in the City

The Ramones - Pet Sematary/Brain Drain

Nirvana - Scentless Apprentice/In Utero

St. Vincent - Birth in Reverse/St. Vincent

Pixies - Gouge Away/Doolittle

XTC - Dear God/Skylarking

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand/Let Love In

The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me/Zenyatta Mondatta

R.E.M. - Disturbance at the Heron House/Document

The Twilight Singers - Martin Eden/Blackberry Belle

Protomartyr - Maidenhead/Under Color of Official Right

Modest Mouse - Tiny Cities Made of Ash/The Moon & Antarctica

Smashing Pumpkins - Tristessa/Gish

Read (or listen) all about HERE!