Stuck In Thee Garage #508: December 29, 2023

With only a few days left in the year, I'm using this week to reflect on 2023. Some highs and some really low lows, but there was definitely a lot of good music to go around. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, it's part 1 of my look back at my favorite music of the year. And in case there is any doubt, I am the eldest boy.

The playlist of succession:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Bully - Days Move Slow/Lucky For You

Screaming Females - Desert Train/Desire Pathway

Ron Gallo - Entitled Man/Foreground Music

The New Pornographers - Really Really Light/Continue as a Guest

Quasi - Nowheresville/Breaking the Balls of History

Yo La Tengo - Sinatra Drive Breakdown/This Stupid World

Sleaford Mods - UK Grim/UK Grim

Pile - Loops/All Fiction

The C.I.A. - Impersonator/Surgery Channel

Quiz Show - Almost Famous/Quiz Show

Geese - Cowboy Nudes/3D Country

Yves Tumor - God is a Circle/Praise a Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume

Eyelids - They Said So/A Colossal Waste of Light

Near Beer - Forced Perspective/Single

Washer - Threadbare/Improved Means to Deteriorated Ends

Hour 2

The Hold Steady - Sixers/The Price of Progress

The Country Westerns - Knucklen'/Forgive the City

Gord Downie and Bob Rock - In the Field/Lustre Parfait

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Death Wish/Weathervanes

Shame - Six-Pack/Food For Worms

Mudhoney - Move Under/Plastic Eternity

The Dirty Nil - Nicer Guy/Free Rein to Passions

Boygenius - $20/The Record

The Reds, Pinks and Purples - Mistakes (Too Many to Name)/The Town That Cursed Your Name

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Anonymous @1:34/Heaven's Off EP

Blur - The Narcissist/The Ballad of Darren

Dyr Faser - Symbolized/Karmic Revenge

Cable Ties - Time For You/All Her Plans

Iguana Death Cult - Pushermen/Echo Palace

Low Praise - Gate/Dressing

Guardian Singles - Manic Attraction/Feed Me to the Doves

Fucked Up - I Think I Might Be Weird/One Day

Model/Actriz - Pure Mode/Dogsbody

Protomartyr - For Tomorrow/Formal Growth in the Desert

Put a theoretical dime in the jukebox HERE, home slice.

Completely Conspicuous 628: 2023 and Me

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of 2023. Listen to the episode below (or download directly).

Show notes:

• We're in there like swimwear
• On to the top 10 lists
• Breitling's #10: Return to from by Fog Lake
• Breitling's #9: Frog's new release unexpectedly has received critical praise 
• Kumar's #9: Another consistenly great album from Protomartyr
• Breitling's #8: Minimalist excellence from Colleen that tests Jay's French pronunciation skills
• Kumar's #8: After an 11-year absence, the Hives' formula de rock still kicks ass in 2023
• Breitling's #7 and Kumar's #10: Yo La Tengo still bringing the heat, opening the album with 7-minute feedback-laden ripper
• Kumar's #7 and Breitling's #6: Supergroup is actually super, Voltroning into a monster act
• Kumar's #6: Return of the rock with Queens of the Stone Age, chock full o' bangers from a super-tight band
• Breitling's #5: Philly represent with Golden Apples dropping indie pop/rock with the fuzz bass and some wooder ice
• Kumar's #5: SF's Pardoner brings an assortment of guitar sounds from the last 50 years to their latest slack masterpiece
• The '90s sound (and look) is still thriving
• Breitling's #4: More of the Philly goodness with Purling Hiss with the lo-fi hooky guitar rock
• Kumar's #4: Indie power-pop supergroup Eyelids delivers the super-catchy goods
• Breilting's #3: Bay Area shoegaze concern Blue Ocean returns with a weird and rewarding album
• Kumar's #3: Sharp, concise indie post-punk from Kansas-via-Boston act Sweeping Promises  
• Breitling's #2: Ohio-based indie act Connections connects with melodic rockers; RIYL GBV, Feelies
• Kumar's #2: New Zealand post-punk that smashes through with punchy, catchy rippers
• Breitling's #1: Long-awaited reunion album from American shoegaze icons Drop Nineteens does not disappoint
• Kumar's #1: Going into Hellmode with Jeff Rosenstock, who has been consistently releasing excellent albums for the last several years; additional layers of maturity and depth make this release all the more satisfying 

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 #507: December 22, 2023

The holidays can be a trying time: deadline pressures from work and to get presents, traveling under crazy circumstances, dealing with relatives you'd rather not, having to hear certain songs ad nauseum. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played two hours of Christmas rock songs that you won't hear at Grandma's house. 

The well-decorated playlist:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Snoop Dogg - Santa Claus Goes Straight to the Ghetto/Christmas on Death Row

Run the Jewels - A Christmas Fucking Miracle/Run the Jewels

Run DMC - Christmas in Hollis/Tougher Than Leather

Spoon - Christmas Time (Is Here Again)/Single

Superchunk - Child's Christmas in Wales/Misfits & Mistakes: Singles, B-Sides & Strays 2007-2023

Eldridge Rodriguez - Baby, I'm Alone Tonight (Christmas Time)/Christmas on the Allston-Brighton Line

Deer Tick - All Alone on Christmas/Hit Kringles

Hallelujah the Hills - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas/Puritan Garage Howlers 2022-23

The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song/Maybe This Christmas Tree

The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)/Live at Hammersmith

Twisted Sister - Deck the Halls/A Twisted Christmas

Letters to Cleo - Father Christmas/OK Christmas

Descendents - Christmas Vacation/I Don't Want to Grow Up

Chubby and the Gang - Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)/Single

Melkbelly - Hating You For Christmas/Simply Having a Wonderful Compilation

Hour 2

Low - Just Like Christmas/Christmas

Sloan - Kids Come Back Again at Christmas/Single

Pearl Jam - Santa God/2007 Christmas Single

The Sonics - Santa Claus/Here Are the Sonics

Cheech & Chong - Santa Claus and His Old Lady/Santa Claus and His Old Lady

The Pursuit of Happiness - Santa Claus is Back in Town (live)/Love Junk Deluxe

Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody/Single

Broken Social Scene - Handjobs for the Holidays/Broken Social Scene

Beeef & Gift - I Wish It Was Christmas Today/A Very Allston Christmas Vol. 5

The Dollyrots - Messed Up Xmas/A Very Dollyrots Christmas

Dirty Sidewalks - It's Xmas (and Everyone is Miserable)/Single

St. Vincent - At the Holiday Party/Daddy's Home

Minus 5 - Your Christmas Whiskey/Dear December

Future of the Left - The Real Meaning of Christmas/How to Stop Your Brain in an Accident

Piebald - Do Good Stuff/Piebald Presents to You a Musical Christmas Adventure

The Smithereens - Auld Lang Syne/Christmas With the Smithereens

The Damned - There Ain't No Sanity Clause/The Black Album

Unwrap the episode HERE, kids! 

Completely Conspicuous 627: The Year in Music, Let It Bleed Edition

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

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky HQ
• The 14th year of "Year in Music" episodes
• Taylor Swift is big, but not bigger than Starbucks
• Breitling making fun of Croz
• Perfect synergy: The Stones tour sponsored by AARP
• Hall v. Oates
• KISS passes the torch to digital avatars of themselves
• The "new" old Beatles song
• Check it out on the YouthTube
• Spotify blows
• The kids love the streaming and whatnot
• Check out Parcheesi Redux Tuesday and Thursday on Mixcloud
• Also check out Brad Searles' show The Almanac on the first Wednesday of every month
• Shout out to the Rollins Archive
• Breitling's honorable mentions: Ted Pauly, Everything But the Girl, Cupid and Psyche, Everasting and Zilla, Superchunk
• Kumar's honorable mentions: Pile, Model/Actriz, Yves Tumor, Fucked Up, Shame, PJ Harvey, Peter Gabriel, Marnie Stern, Replacements' "Tim" reissue, Breeders' Last Splash reissue, Feelies live album of VU covers
• 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 #506: December 15, 2023

Time is a flat circle, or something like that. You don't really notice it at the time, but it flies by and then all of a sudden, you're 20 years in the future. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 2003 and it simultaneously feels like they just happened, and they're distant memories. Spread the word, baby.

Dig the playlist:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Hit Bargain - Hair Trigger/A Dog A Deer A Seal

Shiverlane - I Get Nervous/Single

Paws - Helen Back/Paws

Sleater-Kinney - Say It Like You Mean It/Little Rope

A Giant Dog - In Rainbows/Bite

Frog - Black on Black on Black/Grog

Circus Devils - Street Toughs/Squeeze the Needle

Golden Apples - Waiting for a Cloud/Bananasugarfire

Genesis Owusu - Stay Blessed/Struggler

The Smile - Wall of Eyes/Wall of Eyes

Peter Gabriel - i/o (Dark-Side Mix)/ i/o

Car Colors - Old Death/Old Death

Sleaford Mods - Under the Rules/More UK Grim

Superchunk - Total Eclipse/Misfits & Mistakes: Singles, B-Sides & Strays 2007-2023

Mikey Erg - Landmines/Love at Leeds

Hour 2: 2003

British Sea Power - Apologies to Insect Life/The Decline of British Sea Power

Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage!/Fire

Ween - It's Gonna Be a Long Night/Quebec

Gordon Downie - Figment/Battle of the Nudes

The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Gonna Run/Gallowbird's Bark

My Morning Jacket - Run Thru/It Still Moves

Mark Lanegan Band - Message to Mine/Here Comes That Weird Chill

The Twilight Singers - The Killer/Blackberry Belle

Drive-By Truckers - Sink Hole/Decoration Day

The Riverboat Gamblers - Ice Water/Something to Crow About

Stephen Malkmus - (Do Not Feed the) Oyster/Pig Lib

The Wrens - This Boy is Exhausted/The Meadowlands

Matthew Sweet - Dead Smile/Kimi Ga Suki Raifi

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - Bleeding Powers/Tell Balegary, Balgury is Dead

Sloan - Reach Out/Action Pact

TV On the Radio - Staring at the Sun/Young Liars

Crank up the rock machine HERE.

Stuck In Thee Garage #505: December 8, 2023

You don't have to look too hard to find someone playing a cover. People hear songs they love and want to play them. Jimi Hendrix infamously played a cover of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" three days after it came out. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played cover songs in hour 2 (in addition to new hotness from Ducks Ltd., Buffalo Tom, Arcwelder and Frog and a tribute to some fallen greats in hour 1). And I didn't realize until after I put the show together that I had mistakenly said "Show Me" by Soundgarden was a cover; it was their cover of Devo's "Girl U Want" that I meant to include. Oh well, shit happens. 

This playlist will make you want to slappa da bass in the garage!

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Ducks Ltd. - Hollowed Out/Harm's Way

Buffalo Tom - Helmet/Jump Rope

Arcwelder - Take It Slow/Single

Peter Gabriel - The Court (Bright-Side Mix)/ i/o

Frog - U Shud Go 2 Me/Grog

Kurt Vile - Cool Water/Back to Moon Beach

Golden Apples - Little Bronco/Bananasugarfire

Hit Bargain - Immaculate Vaxxer/A Dog A Deer A Seal

Circus Devils - Getting Better/Squeeze the Needle

Coastal Pigs - Cowboy Shoes/Glass Crime Terror

Paws - Disenchanted/Paws

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Hot! Heat! Hot! Wow!/Fronzoli

Alex Vile - Stainless/Single

The Veldt - Aurora Borealis (feat. Elizabeth Fraser)/Single

The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God/If I Should Fall From Grace With God

April Wine - You Could Have Been a Lady/On Record

Paul McCartney and Wings - Jet/Band on the Run

Hour 2: Covers

Ty Segall - The Loner (Neil Young)/Fudge Sandwich

Soundgarden - Show Me (NOT A COVER, DAMMIT)/No Alternative

Drive-By Truckers - The KKK Took My Baby Away (Ramones)/The New OK

The New Pornographers - Your Daddy Don't Know (Toronto)/FUBAR: The Album

The Afghan Whigs - All the Way From Memphis (Mott the Hoople)/Demo

The Cure - Purple Haze (Hendrix)/Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix

Living Colour - Love and Happiness (Al Green)/Biscuits

Mission of Burma - Get Off (METZ)/ Good, Not Great/Get Off

Bullet Lavolta - Sonic Reducer (Dead Boys)/Force Majeure: The RCA Anthology ('90-'92)

Fu Manchu - Six Pack (Black Flag)/Something Beyond

Tanya Donelly - Frozen Lake (Buffalo Tom)/Big Love Bends Time

Jesse Malin - You Can Make Him Love You (Hold Steady)/On Your Sleeve

Sloan - Dignified and Old (Modern Lovers)/Recorded Live at a Sloan Party

Queens of the Stone Age - Christian Brothers (Elliott Smith)/Sick, Sick, Sick

The Clash - Brand New Cadillac (Vince Taylor and the Playboys)/London Calling

Sonic Youth - Rowche Rumble (The Fall)/4 Tunna Brix

Husker Du - Chinese Rocks (Ramones)/Savage Young Du

The Feelies - That's the Story of My Life (VU)/Some Kinda Love: Performing the Music of the Velvet Underground

Uncover the rock HERE, pally!

Stuck In Thee Garage #504: December 1, 2023

Poison has been around pretty much forever, whether as a weapon, in nature as a defense mechanism, or as an accidental cause of mayhem or worse. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about poison in hour 2, in addition to new hotness from Emerald Comets, Car Colors, Hotline TNT and Killer Mike in hour 1. Watch out for those envelopes!

The toxic playlist:

Hour 1

Artist - Song/Album

Killing Joke - Eighties/Night Life

Emerald Comets - Silhouette/Single

Car Colors - I'll Bear/Old Death

Drop Nineteens - Another One Another/Hard Light

Hotline TNT - Son In Law/Cartwheel

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Nootmare (K.I.L.L.I.N.G.) Meow!/Fronzoli

Marnie Stern - Earth Eater/The Comeback Kid

Killer Mike -YES!/Michael

Sabatta - To Love Me is to Know Me/How to Get Even

Guided By Voices - Stabbing at Fractions/Nowhere to Go But Up

J Mascis - Can't Believe We're Here/What Do We Do Now

The Kills - Kingdom Come/God Games

Speedy Ortiz - Who's Afraid of the Bath/Rabbit Rabbit

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Doom Boom/Data Doom

The Menzingers - Hope is a Dangerous Little Thing/Some of It Was True

The Hives - Two Kinds of Trouble/The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons

Hour 2: Poison

Bell Biv DeVoe - Poison/Poison

ABC - Poison Arrow/The Lexicon of Love

Charles Bradley - Change for the World/Changes

The Sonics - Strychnine/Here Are the Sonics

Modest Mouse - Poison the Well/Single

Bob Mould - Irrational Poison/Sunshine Rock

David Nance Group - Poison/Peaced and Slightly Pulverized

Stephen Malkmus - Leisurely Poison/Discretion Grove

Sonic Youth - Poison Arrow/The Eternal

Oh Sees - Poisoned Stones/Face Stabber

Pile - Sun Poisoning/Dripping

Mudhoney - Poisoned Water/Tomorrow Hit Today

Wylde Ratttz - She's Like Poison to Me/Wylde Ratttz

Cherry Glazerr - Sip o' Poison/Apocalipstick

Chastity - Sun Poisoning/Home Made Satan

Kraftwerk - Radio-Activity/The Catalogue

Black Midi - Eat Men Eat/Hellfire

Protomartyr - The Chuckler/Relatives in Descent

OFF! - Toxic Box/OFF!

Rock the Casbah RIGHT HERE, HOLMES!