Completely Conspicuous 493: Stick It to the Man

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2018. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- Our top 5 albums of the year so far
- JB's #5
- Post-rock quartet from Philly
- JK's #5
- A New Year's gift
- Channeling post-election angst
- JB's #3
- Hook-laden pop from Kevin Kline's kid
- JK's #4
- Back to basics from power pop masters
- JK's #3
- Hot rawk from a dependably excellent band
- JB's #2
- Sprawling lo-fi indie folk
- JK's #2
- Came out of left field
- Punchy power pop
- JB's #1
- Exhilarating release for this band's Saddle Creek debut
- JK's #1 and JB's #4
- Very political record
- Please save us, Fugazi
- JB: Still surprised at the lack of political music

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 #231: July 20, 2018

Going solo is a rock rite of passage. Nearly every successful band has seen members go their own way to release their own music. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs by solo artists in hour 2. The more, the merrier. It's a good listen.

This playlist is in high fidelity:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Dilly Dally - I Feel Free/Heaven
Body Type - Arrow/Arrow
Mourn - Divorce/Sorpresa Familia
Bodega - How Did This Happen?/Endless Scroll
Dentist - Corked/Night Swimming
Idles - Daniel Nedelko/Joy as an act of resistance
Nine Inch Nails - God Break Down the Door/Bad Witch
Arthur Buck - I Am the Moment/Arthur Buck
Jim James - Yes to Everything/Uniform Distortion
Paul McCartney - Come On to Me/Egypt Station
The Damned - Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow/Evil Spirits
The Menzingers - Toy Soldier/Single
Delicate Steve - American Ruse (feat. Wayne Kramer)/Single
Teenage Wrist - Dweeb/Chrome Neon Jesus
Albert Hammond Jr. - Screamer/Francis Trouble
Parquet Courts - Total Football/Wide Awake!

Hour 2: Solo
A.C. Newman - Miracle Drug/The Slow Wonder
Chris Cornell - Flutter Girl/Euphoria Morning
Dave Grohl - How Do You Do/Touch soundtrack
Adam Franklin - Seize the Day/Bolts of Melody
Jarvis Cocker - Caucasian Blues/Further Complications
Graham Coxon - Freakin' Out/Happiness in Magazines
Bob Mould - Star Machine/Silver Age
J Mascis x Kim Gordon - Slow Boy/CONS EP Vol. 3
Jason Loewenstein - Circles/At Sixes and Sevens
Frank Black - Pie in the Sky/Teenager of the Year
Greg Dulli - Early Today (and later that night)/Amber Headlights
Jesse Malin and the St. Marks Social - Black Boombox/Love It to Life
Gordon Downie - 11th Fret/Battle of the Nudes
Willy DeVille - It's So Easy/Miracle
Stiv Bators - Make Up Your Mind/Disconnected
Mark Lanegan Band - Sideways in Reverse/Bubblegum
Lou Reed - Dirty Blvd./New York
Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Coma Girl/Streetcore
Paul Westerberg - Drop Them Gloves/PW & the Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys

Completely Conspicuous 492: Count It Off, Smart Guy

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2018. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- On to the top 10
- JB's #10
- Side project of the late Scott Hutchison
- JK's #10
- Welcome return of alt-rock faves
- The laid-back recording style of Steve Albini
- JB's #9
- Ambient music via Philly
- JK's #9
- Boston alt-rock icons back with a vital new record
- JB's #8 and JK's #7
- Another fine album from an Aussie rocker
- JK's #8
- The evolution of a band's sound
- JB's #7
- No new Johnny Foreigner release, but this works
- JB's #6
- Minimal electronic act from the city of Brotherly Love
- Good chillout music
- JK's #6
- A solid solo release from another alt-rock legend
- Surprising political bent on a few songs
- 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 #230: July 13, 2018

It's inevitable when you live in a four-season area: During the winter, we pine for warm weather, and during the summer when things get hot and sweaty, we wish for things to cool down. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about coldness in hour 2 in an attempt to cool things down a tad.

Mister Ten Below could come in handy right about now:

The frosty playlist:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Mourn - Doing It Right/Sorpresa Familia
Virginia Wing - Be Released/Ecstatic Arrow
The Black Tones - Plaid Pants/Single
Spiritualized - A Perfect Miracle/And Nothing Hurt
Nova Flares - Gut Splinter/Nova Flares
Soft Science - Sooner/Maps
Nicholas Merz - Bulled Rose/The Limits of Men
Tony Molina - Look Inside Your Mind-Losin' My Touch/Kill the Lights
Fred Abong - Rattler/Homeless
Protomartyr - You Always Win (feat. Kelley Deal)/Consolation EP
La Luz - The Creature/Floating Features
Speedy Ortiz - Backslidin'/Twerp Verse
The Rock*A*Teens - Turn and Smile/Sixth House
Poptone - Ball of Confusion/Poptone
Billy & Dolly - Setting Sun/Five Suns

Hour 2: Cold
Monkeywrench - Cold Cold World/Clean as a Broke-Dick Dog
Guided By Voices - 14 Cheerleader Coldfront/Propellor
The Pink Mountaintops - Cold Criminals/Axis of Evol
Beck - Cold Brains/Mutations
Ween - Cold Blows the Wind/The Mollusk
The Gun Club - Cold Drink of Water/Fire of Love
Death From Above - Freeze Me/Outrage is Now!
East River Pipe - Cold Ground/We Live in Rented Rooms
Throwing Muses - Colder/House Tornado
The Cure - Cold/Pornography
Arcade Fire - Cold Wind/Six Feet Under Vol. 2: Everything Ends
Brendan Benson - Cold Hands (Warm Heart)/The Alternative to Love
Screaming Trees - Cold Rain/Even If and Especially When
Boss Hog - Ski Bum/Boss Hog
Thin Lizzy - Cold Sweat/Thunder and Lightning
Van Halen - Stay Frosty/A Different Kind of Truth

Completely Conspicuous 491: Chart Fatigue

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2018. Listen to the episode below or download directly.


Show notes:
- Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ
- The sudden album drop: Drake, Kanye, Beyonce/Jay Z, Rosenstock
- Who needs major labels?
- Charts are meaningless when the kids just stream music
- Country may be the biggest selling genre right now
- Pop tours are struggling
- The flipside of convenience
- YouTube as last resort for streaming
- The floppy disk as music storage device
- Package tours now mix up genres and eras
- Breitling: "I imagine the Wang is sizable"
- Our favorite music: The bubbling unders...or also-rans
- Breitling: Ben Leiper, Kamasi Washington, Speedy Ortiz, GAS
- Kumar: Ty Segall, Hot Snakes, Screaming Females, La Luz, Poptone, Beach House, Janelle Monae, Painted Doll, Judas Priest
- 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 #229: July 6, 2018

The great philosopher Thomas Keifer once wrote, "Don't know what you got till it's gone." That was certainly the case with the year 2008, which seemed like a big pile of dung at the time, but in retrospect, doesn't look so bad now. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs from 2008 in hour 2 and it was quite an enjoyable set of rock jams if I do say so myself.

It was the kind of year that said, "How do you do, fellow kids?"

This playlist is totally not a middle-aged narc:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Red Baraat (feat. Heems) - Sound the People/Sound the People
Protomartyr - Wait/Consolation EP
Poptone - Christian Says/Poptone
The Rock*A*Teens - Lady MacBeth/Sixth House
Eternal Summers - Contenders/Every Day It Feels Like I'm Dying...
The Autumn Stones - Mandatory Love/Emperor Twilight
Calpurnia - City Boy/Scout EP
Dude York - Moon/Moon
Deap Vally - Get Gone/Get Gone
Stars - Ship to Shore/Single
Nine Inch Nails - Ahead of Ourselves/Bad Witch
Smashing Pumpkins - Solara/Single
Tombstones in Their Eyes - Silhouette/Nothing Here
The Oysters - I Don't Want Anyone to be Around Me/Single
*repeat repeat - Everybody's Falling Love/Floral Canyon
Tony Molina - Jasper's Theme/Kill the Lights
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever - The Hammer/Hope Downs

Hour 2: '08
The Hold Steady - Constructive Summer/Stay Positive
King Khan and the Shrines - Torture/The Supreme Genius of...
Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks - Cold Son/Real Emotional Trash
The Gutter Twins - The Stations/Saturnalia
TV on the Radio - Dancing Choose/Dear Science
The Dirtbombs - I Hear the Sirens/We Have You Surrounded
Black Mountain - Stormy High/In the Future
Ladyhawk - Corpse Paint/Shots
Sloan - Believe in Me/Parallel Play
The Raconteurs - Salute Your Solution/Consolers of the Lonely
Drive-By Truckers - Daddy Needs a Drink/Brighter Than Creation's Dark
Eagles of Death Metal - Anything 'Cept the Truth/Heart On
The Raveonettes - Dead Sound/Lust Lust Lust
Frightened Rabbit - Head Rolls Off/The Midnight Organ Fight
Dead Meadow - What Needs Must Be/Old Growth
Jay Reatard - Always Wanting More/Matador Singles '08

Stuck In Thee Garage #228: June 22, 2018

We live in a loud world. There's noise coming at us in all directions all the time. It can be difficult to get away from it. This week on Stuck In Thee Garage, I played songs about loudness in hour 2. They're not all loud, though.

This playlist is not a toomah:

Hour 1
Artist - Song/Album
Jo Passed - Glass/Their Prime
King Tuff - Neverending Sunshine/The Other
Hot Snakes - Psychoactive/Jericho Sirens
Kristin Hersh - Breathe In/Possible Dust Clouds
Neko Case - Bad Luck/Hell-On
Beach House - Girl of the Year/7
Shopping - Overtime/The Official Body
Franz Ferdinand - Feel the Love Go/Always Ascending
Camp Cope - UFO Lighter/How to Socialise & Make Friends
Screaming Females - Soft Domination/All at Once
Dream Wife - Right Now/Dream Wife
Shame - The Lick/Songs of Praise
Lifted Bells - Wheel of Fortunates/Minor Tantrums
Eels - Today is the Day/The Deconstruction
Pugwash - What Are You Like/Silverlake
MGMT - TSLAMP/Little Dark Age

Hour 2: Loudness
Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise/Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
Eric B. & Rakim - I Know You Got Soul/Paid in Full
Public Enemy - Louder Than a Bomb/It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Living Colour - Talkin' Loud and Sayin' Nothing/Biscuits
Art Brut - Pump Up the Volume/It's a Bit Complicated
Frank Black and Teenage Fanclub - The Man Who Was Too Loud/The John Peel Session EP
Stephen Malkmus - Loud Cloud Crowd/Face the Truth
T. Rex - Bang a Gong (Get It On)/Electric Warrior
MC5 - Kick Out the Jams/Kick Out the Jams
AC/DC - Rock n' Roll Ain't Noise Pollution/Back in Black
Motorhead - The Chase is Better Than the Catch/Ace of Spades
Queens of the Stone Age - In My Head/Lullabies to Paralyze
The I Don't Cares - Love Out Loud/Wild Stab
Pylon - Volume/Pylon Live
Pointed Sticks - Part of the Noise/Part of the Noise
Piebald - All You Need is Drums to Start a Dance Party/If It Weren't for Venetian Blinds, It Would Be Curtains for Us All

Completely Conspicuous 490: Social Disease

Part 2 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
- The political climate is disturbingly fascinating
- O, Canada?
- It used to be easy to fall out of political favor
- Howard Dean's scream
- The lack of competition
- No alternative party
- Navigating social media to victory
- Coming up with an escape plan
- Watch out for gators
- Connected to social media all day but don't look at it all the time
- Your info is constantly being collected by FB, Google, Amazon, etc.
- Wandering through the social media graveyard
- FB Messenger was banning people based on supposedly private conversations
- Matt's adventures with drunken late-night purchases like the Ab Zapper
- Buying swords on QVC
- The desperate need for social media likes
- Matt: No withdrawal symptoms when disconnected from the internet
- Consequences for social media faux pas can come quickly

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.

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