Completely Conspicuous 489: Social Distortion

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Matt Phillion as we discuss social media dependency. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Check out Matt's book Echo and the Sea
- Back from a little hiatus
- People who use their phones at the urinal
- Matt: Detached from social media while in Canada
- We're online all day for work
- Jay: The kids love the Instagram
- Twitter can be a cesspool
- Let Me Google That For You
- When Star Wars nerds get ugly
- Twitter can often be a license to be a jerk
- People can be "rock stupid"
- The compulsion to tweet
- Arguing with family members on social media
- The mute function on FB is helpful
- Matt: Writer Twitter drives me nuts
- Don't click on the comments!
- Anime geeks solving their arguments in a civil manner
- 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. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.

Stuck In Thee Garage #227: June 8, 2018

Everyone's got habits they'd like to drop, but let's face it, bad habits can be kind of fun. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about bad habits in hour 2. They may not be good for you, but they definitely kick some ass.

This playlist may be habit-forming:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Protomartyr feat. Kelley Deal - Wheel of Fortune/Consolation EP
The Breeders - MetaGoth/All Nerve
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Shiggy/Sparkle Hard
Soft Science - Undone/Maps
Soccer Mommy - Cool/Clean
Courtney Barnett - Need a Little Time/Tell Me What You Really Mean
Albert Hammond Jr. - Tea for Two/Francis Trouble
Parquet Courts - Almost Had to Start a Fight - In and Out of Patience/Wide Awake!
Sloan - All of the Voices/12
Speedy Ortiz - Moving In/Twerp Verse
Hop Along - What the Writer Meant/Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Wye Oak - The Instrument/The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
Nostalgist - Present Tense/Disaffection
Preoccupations - Espionage/New Material
Modern Time Machines - Hot Wheels/MTM

Hour 2: Bad habits
Thin Lizzy - Bad Habits/Thunder and Lightning
The Pursuit of Happiness - Cigarette Dangles/The Downward Road
Greg Dulli - Cigarettes/Amber Headlights
O Positive - With You/Only Breathing
Husker Du - Whatcha Drinkin'/New Day Rising
Jawbreaker Reunion - Beer and Loathing/Lutheran Sisterhood Gun Club
Against Me! - Drinking With the Jocks/Transgender Dysphoria Blues
Jeff Rosenstock - Beers Again Alone/We Cool?
The Capitol Years - Let Them Drink/Let Them Drink
Drive-By Truckers - The Fourth Night of My Drinking/The Big To-Do
The Raveonettes - D.R.U.G.S./In and Out of Control
The Monks - Drugs in My Pocket/Bad Habits
Wilco - Handshake Drugs/A Ghost is Born
Talking Heads - Drugs/Fear of Music
A Giant Dog - Sex & Drugs/Pile
Soundgarden - Big Dumb Sex/Louder Than Love
The Buzzcocks - Just Lust/Singles Going Steady

Stuck In Thee Garage #226: June 1, 2018

Let's face it, you're going to win some and lose some. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about losers in hour 2. But that doesn't mean they're not great songs. They'll get you all puffed up with excitement:

This is the playlist of George:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
La Luz - Don't Leave Me on the Earth/Floating Features
Cut Worms - Cash for Gold/Hollow Ground
American Wrestlers - Ignoramus/Single
Poptone - Ball of Confusion/Poptone
Cary Brothers - Crush/Bruises
Mazzy Star - Quiet, the Winter Harbor/Still
Courtney Barnett - Crippling Self-Doubt and a General Lack of Confidence/Tell Me How You Really Feel
Albert Hammond Jr. - Muted Beatings/Francis Trouble
Parquet Courts - Violence/Wide Awake!
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Bike Lane/Sparkle Hard
Blackwater Holylight - Sunrise/Blackwater Holylight
Slow Riot - Burn in the City/Single
Billy & Dolly - Want It/Five Suns
Lola Tried - Steam/Lola Tried
Jo Passed - MDM/Their Prime
Frankie Cosmos - Jesse/Vessel

Hour 2: Losers
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers - Born to Lose/L.A.M.F. - the lost '77 tapes
fIREHOSE - Losers, Boozers and Heroes/Flyin' the Flannel
Beck - Loser/Mellow Gold
The Dambuilders - Teenage Loser Anthem/Ruby Red
The Dears - You and I Are a Gang of Losers/Gang of Losers
Sunset Rubdown - Child-Heart Losers/Random Spirit Lover
Against Me! - Don't Lose Touch/Searching for a Former Clarity
Varsity Drag - Mind Like a Sieve/7" Split with Chestnut Rd.
Dinosaur Jr. - Lose/You're Living All Over Me
Ex Hex - Don't Wanna Lose/Rips
The Clash - Lost in the Supermarket/London Calling
The Buzzcocks - Something's Gone Wrong Again/Singles Going Steady
Arctic Monkeys - Mardy Bum/Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Smashing Pumpkins - Zero/Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
Grinderman - No Pussy Blues/Grinderman
Neil Young and Crazy Horse - F***in' Up/Ragged Glory

 

Stuck In Thee Garage #225: May 25, 2018

Everyone goes through lonely times at some point or another. With any luck, they don't last for very long. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I play songs about loneliness in hour 2. They'll give you something to listen to while you wait for the phone to ring.

This playlist will keep you company:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Albert Hammond Jr. - Far Away Truths/Francis Trouble
Parquet Courts - Wide Awake/Wide Awake!
Poptone - Go!/Poptone
Courtney Barnett - Charity/Tell Me How You Really Feel
Beach House - Dark Spring/7
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Refute/Sparkle Hard
Billy & Dolly - Archies/Five Suns
Shakey Graves - Kids These Days/Can't Wake Up
Lifted Bells - Tragedy Gold/Minor Tantrums
E - Untie Me/Negative Work
King Tuff - Ultraviolet/The Other
Klammer - Modern God/You Have Been Processed
Tancred - Reviews/Nightstand
Infinite Room - Wildfires/Infinite Room EP
La Luz - Greed Machine/Floating Features
Speedy Ortiz - Lean In When I Suffer/Twerp Verse

Hour 2: Lonely
Frightened Rabbit - The Loneliness and the Scream/The Winter of Mixed Drinks
Joy Division - Isolation/Closer
The Replacements - If Only You Were Lonely/For Sale: Live at Maxwell's 1986
The White Stripes - I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)/Get Behind Me Satan
The Smithereens - In a Lonely Place/Especially for You
Screaming Trees - Lonely Girl/Clairvoyance
Silversun Pickups - It's Nice to Know You Work Alone/Swoon
Billy Squier - Lonely is the Night/Don't Say No
Mick Jagger - Lonely at the Top/She's the Boss
Neil Young - Oh Lonesome Me/After the Gold Rush
New York Dolls - Lonely Planet Boy/New York Dolls
Jesse Malin and the St. Marks Social - Lonely at Heart/Love It to Life
The Tragically Hip - The Lonely End of the Rink/World Container
Eagles of Death Metal - How Can a Man With So Many Friends Be So All Alone?/Heart On
Foo Fighters - Alone + Easy Target/Foo Fighters

Stuck In Thee Garage #224: May 18, 2018

The older you get, the more it feels like time is speeding up. That, of course, is not true at all. There are still 24 hours in a day and 365 days in a year, but it seems like you can blink and suddenly 15 years have flown by. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 2003 in hour 2 and it simultaneously felt like they just came out and holy crap, that was a long time ago. Fortunately, I have no plans to go back to school.

This playlist is ready to party:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Lifted Bells - Inevitable Devil/Minor Tantrums
Arthur Buck - Are You Electrified?/Arthur Buck
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Middle America/Sparkle Hard
La Luz - Loose Teeth/Floating Features
Wimps - Garbage People/Garbage People
Hinds - The Club/I Don't Run
Forth Wanderers - Not For Me/Forth Wanderers
Frankie Cosmos - Being Alive/Vessel
Shopping - Shave Your Head/The Official Body
Arctic Monkeys - Star Treatment/Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino
Eleanor Friedberger - Are We Good?/Rebound
Rat Scabies - Floating/P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Debt)
Frog Eyes - Itch of Summer Knees/Violet Psalms
Painted Doll - Painted Doll/Painted Doll
Franz Ferdinand - Finally/Always Ascending

Hour 2: 2003
Ween - It's Gonna Be a Long Night/Quebec
The Riverboat Gamblers - Hey! Hey! Hey!/Something to Crow About
Electric Six - I'm the Bomb/Fire
Dizzee Rascal - Fix Up, Look Sharp/Boy in Da Corner
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - (Do Not Feed the) Oyster/Pig Lib
Joe Jackson Band - Awkward Age/Volume 4
The Twilight Singers - Martin Eden/Blackberry Belle
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - The Ballad of the Sin-Eater/Hearts of Oak
Drive-By Truckers - Hell No, I Ain't Happy/Decoration Day
Cat Power - He War/You Are Free
The New Pornographers - The Laws Have Changed/Electric Version
The Wrens - Everyone Choose Sides/The Meadowlands
Matthew Sweet - Tonight We Ride/Kimi Ga Suki Raifu
Sloan - False Alarm/Action Pact
TV On the Radio - Staring at the Sun/Young Liars
The Shins - Mine's Not a High Horse/Chutes Too Narrow

Stuck In Thee Garage #223: May 11, 2018

It helps to get off to a good start, but finishing well is also very important. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played great album closers in hour 2. Some are short and sweet, some rock, some are quiet and some are long and epic. But they all get the job done.

This playlist throws serious heat:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
The Spook School - Still Alive/Could It Be Different?
Speedy Ortiz - Sport Death/Twerp Verse
Frog Eyes - Don't Sleep Under Stars/Violet Psalms
Okkervil River - Pulled Up the Ribbon/The Rainbow Rain
Pearl Jam - Can't Deny Me/Single
Sloan - Don't Stop (If It Feels Good Do It)/12
Jeff Rosenstock - Beating My Head Against a Wall/POST-
Preoccupations - Solace/New Material
Japan Suicide - Blown Away/Santa Sangre
Modern Time Machines - Alper/MTM
Holy Wave - The Nurse's Tale/Adult Fear
MGMT - James/Little Dark Age
Wye Oak - It Was Not Natural/The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
Hop Along - Somewhere a Judge/Bark Your Head Off, Dog
The Wedding Present - Emporia/Going, Going...

Hour 2: Closers
Camper Van Beethoven - Ambiguity Song/Telephone Free Landslide Victory
The Replacements - Here Comes a Regular/Tim
Pavement - Fillmore Jive/Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
The Clash - Train in Vain/London Calling
Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance/Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
LCD Soundsystem - New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down/Sound of Silver
OFF! - I Need One (I Want One)/OFF!
Living Colour - Which Way to America?/Vivid
Soundgarden - New Damage/Badmotorfinger
R.E.M. - Oddfellows Local 151/Document
David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away/Blackstar
Prince and the Revolution - Purple Rain/Purple Rain

Stuck In Thee Garage #222: May 4, 2018

Hate to break it to you, but life's not a non-stop thrill ride. There are going to be some lulls in the action every once in a while. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about boredom in hour 2. Deal with it, Sporto.

This playlist will put you in detention:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Speedy Ortiz - Buck Me Off/Twerp Verse
L.A. Witch - Drive My Car/L.A. Witch
Dead Meadow - I'm So Glad/The Nothing They Need
Jo Passed - Millennial Trash Blues/Their Prime
Beach House - Dive/7
Frankie Cosmos - Jesse/Vessel
Flasher - Pressure/Constant Image
Neko Case - Hell-On/Hell-On
Melody's Echo Chamber - Breathe In, Breathe Out/Bon Voyage
The Moondoggies - Soviet Barn Fire/A Love Sleeps Deep
Dick Stusso - Modern Music/In Heaven
La Luz - California Finally/Floating Features
King Tuff - Birds of Paradise/The Other
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - Talking Straight/Hope Downs
Okkervil River - Famous Tracheotomies/In the Rainbow Rain

Hour 2: Bored
The Pursuit of Happiness - Bored of You/The Downward Road
Bully - Feel the Same/Losing
Dead Stars - Boredom/Perfect Patterns
Built to Spill - Good Ol' Boredom/There is No Enemy
The Walkmen - I'm Never Bored/Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone
The Feelies - Waiting/Time for a Witness
Father John Misty - Bored in the USA/I Love You, Honeybear
The Beatles - I'm So Tired/The White Album
XTC - Day In Day Out/Drums and Wires
Gang of Four - Glass/Content Value Add
Frank Black and the Catholics - Do Nothing/Snake Oil
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead - Wasted State of Mind/So Divided
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation/Blank Generation
Pointed Sticks - Nothing Else to Do/Part of the Scene
Green River - Ain't Nothing to Do/Live at the Sunset Tavern, 7/10/08
Fu Manchu - Nothing Done/The Action is Go!
Death Angel - Bored/Frolic Through the Park

Stuck In Thee Garage #221: April 27, 2018

A little knowledge can be a powerful thing. It can also be dangerous. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about knowledge in hour 2. You'd be wise to check it out.

This playlist is the one who knocks:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Rat Scabies - Chew On You/P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Debt)
Guided By Voices - See My Field/Space Gun
Painted Doll - Dressing Room/Painted Doll
MIEN - Black Habit/MIEN
Sloan - Year Zero/12
Shopping - My Dad's a Dancer/The Official Body
Franz Ferdinand - Lazy Boy/Always Ascending
Shame - Gold Hole/Songs of Praise
MGMT - When You Die/Little Dark Age
Hop Along - The Fox in Motion/Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Dream Wife - Fire/Dream Wife
Screaming Females - Agnes Martin/All at Once
Lefty's Deceiver - Civvies/Lefty's Deceiver
Buffalo Tom - Freckles/Quiet and Peace
Destroyer - Cover From the Sun/ken

Hour 2: Knowledge
Matthew Sweet - Knowing People/Altered Beast
Ty Segall - Don't You Want to Know (Sue)/Manipulator
The Pursuit of Happiness - Tree of Knowledge/Love Junk
Screaming Trees - All I Know/Dust
Queens of the Stone Age -  Everybody Knows You Are Insane/Lullabies to Analyze
Ozzy Osbourne - I Don't Know/Blizzard of Ozz
Los Colognes - All That You Know/Dos
Arctic Monkeys - Do I Wanna Know?/AM
De La Soul - Eye Know/3 Feet High and Rising
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This is Nowhere/Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Ladyhawk - I Don't Always Know What You're Saying/Shots
Chris Whitley - Know/Din of Ecstasy
Pavement - Secret Knowledge of Back Roads (Peel Session)/Slanted and Enchanted: Luxe and Reduxe
Dinosaur Jr. - Good to Know/Give a Glimpse of What Yer Not
Teenage Fanclub - God Knows It's True/God Knows It's True EP

Stuck In Thee Garage #220: April 20, 2018

Sometimes it's better to get to the point. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs that start with the chorus in hour 2. In other words, don't bore us, get to the chorus.

This playlist is sending its love down the well:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
King Tuff - Infinite Mile/The Other
Painted Doll - Together Alone/Painted Doll
Superchunk - Black Thread/What a Time to Be Alive
Belly - Shiny One/Dove
The Spook School - Alright (sometimes)/Could It Be Different?
Eleanor Friedberger - Make Me a Song/Rebound
Hop Along - How Simple/Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Camp Cope - Animal & Real/How to Socialise & Make Friends
The Breeders - Spacewoman/All Nerve
Preoccupations - Manipulation/New Material
Wye Oak - Over and Over/The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs
Ty Segall - Fanny Dog/Freedom's Goblin
Wet Trident - Slow Tires/Double Exposure
The Shins - Half a Million/Heartworms
Pugwash - Easier Done Than Said/Silverlake

Hour 2: Chorus first
Run DMC - It's Tricky/Raising Hell
Commodores - Brick House/Commodore
Chic - Le Freak/C'est Chic
Brendan Benson - What I'm Looking For/Alternative to Love
The Hold Steady - Southtown Girls/Boys and Girls in America
Modest Mouse - Dance Hall/Good News for People Who Love Bad News
Van Halen - You Really Got Me/Van Halen
T. Rex - Telegram Sam/The Slider
April Wine - You Could Have Been a Lady/On Record
The Beatles - Why Don't We Do It In the Road?/The White Album
Bob Dylan - Tambourine Man/Bringing It All Back Home
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night/Tonight's the Night
XTC - Making Plans for Nigel/Drums and Wires
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!/Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Smashing Pumpkins - Today/Siamese Dream
Pearl Jam (live in Auckland with Neil and Tim Finn) - History Never Repeats/1995 Christmas single

Stuck In Thee Garage #219: April 13, 2018

Down on the street, there's a lot going on. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played street songs in hour 2. It's all good, but make sure you can keep an eye out for cars.

This playlist is endorsed by Baberaham Lincoln:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Preoccupations - Disarray/New Material
Nostalgist - Pendulums/Disaffection
Japan Suicide - Circle/Santa Sangre
Kristin Hersh - Lax (Rough Version)/Possible Dust Clouds
The Afghan Whigs - Toy Automatic (Demo)/Unreleased
Timothy Dark - That Look (The Skin I'm In) feat. Nellie MacKay/Dark Day Afternoon
MIEN - You Dreamt/MIEN
Autumn - The Fall/Chandelier
Shopping - Suddenly Gone/The Official Body
Modern Time Machines - High Noon/MTM
Holy Wave - Adult Fear/Adult Fear
Moaning - Misheard/Moaning
Sloan - The Day Will Be Mine/12
Hot Snakes - Death Doula/Jericho Sirens
Screaming Females - My Body/All at Once

Hour 2: Street
The Stooges - Down on the Street/Fun House
The Saints - One Way Street/(I'm) Stranded
The So So Glos - Fool on the Street/Kamikaze
Rancid - Hoover Street/Life Won't Wait
Joe Strummer - Highway One Zero Street/Earthquake Weather
The Gutter Twins - Front Street/Saturnalia
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Independence Street/Wig Out at Jagbags
Mean Creek - Forgotten Streets/"Best of" Mean Creek
Lifter Puller - Lake Street is for Lovers/Fiestas + Fiascos
Krill - Street Level/Lucky Leaves
The Rolling Stones - Street Fighting Man/Beggars Banquet
Thin Lizzy - Toughest Street in Town/Black Rose: A Rock Legend
Van Halen - Mean Street/Fair Warning
The Dears - Degeneration Street/Degeneration Street
XTC - Respectable Street/Black Sea
Big Star - In the Street/#1 Record

Stuck In Thee Garage #218: April 6, 2018

The '80s were a strange time: Big hair, big colors and big shoulders. Technology was very different; computers were still seen as big, bulky mainframes kept in government buildings. But the music was great. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 1988 in hour 2.

The torture-free playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Sloan - Spin Our Wheels/12
Franz Ferdinand - Lois Lane/Always Ascending
King Tuff - Raindrop Blue/The Other
Beach House - Lemon Glow/7
La Luz - Cicada/Floating Features
Moaning - Tired/Moaning
Shame - Dust on Trial/Songs of Praise
MIEN - (I'm Tired of) Western Shouting/MIEN
MGMT - One Thing Left to Try/Little Dark Age
Of Montreal - Paranoiac Intervals/Body Dysmorphia - White is Relic/Irrealis Mood
David Byrne - Everybody's Coming to My House/American Utopia
The Shins - Painting a Hole/Heartworms
Shannon & the Clams - The Boy/Onion
The National - Day I Die/Sleep Well Beast

Hour 2: 1988
The Pixies - Bone Machine/Surfer Rosa
Dinosaur Jr. - Freak Scene/Bug
Jane's Addiction - Had a Dad/Nothing's Shocking
Sonic Youth - Teen Age Riot/Daydream Nation
The Pursuit of Happiness - I'm an Adult Now/Love Junk
Bobby Brown - My Prerogative/Don't Be Cruel
Living Colour - Funny Vibe/Vivid
Public Enemy - She Watch Channel Zero?!/It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues/Fisherman's Blues
The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God/If I Should Fall From Grace With God
U2 - God Part II/Rattle and Hum
Soul Asylum - Beggars and Choosers/Hang Time
Mudhoney - In 'n Out of Grace/Superfuzz Bigmuff
Soundgarden - Flower/Ultramega OK
Public Enemy - Mind Terrorist/It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back