Completely Conspicuous

Celebrating 13 years of podcasting with part 1 of my conversation with guest Gary Barth as we discuss the concertgoing experience...while we drive to a concert. Show notes: - Recorded in Gary's car on the way to the show - Driving to an Iron Maiden concert at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, MA - Gary's first concert: Huey Lewis and the News in 1985 - Huey's got rock cred - All the big shows back in the '80s were at hockey rinks - Many bands now play smaller theaters and clubs - Jay: Used to go see arena shows only back then - Arenas in Worcester, Portland, Providence - Shows were cheaper back then, but we had less money - People would get really wasted before concerts - The guy who sat behind us and still missed the entire Maiden show - Getting rides to concerts from parents - Gary plays in a Grateful Dead cover band, Deadbeat - Listening to some "nice hahd rawk" - Jay's (very) short-lived high school band - Jay: Liked a lot of metal and hard

It's part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Breitling's #6 - Changing his take on "Steve Miller Band for millennials" - Kumar's #6 - Band recently relocated to Nashville - Breitling's #4 - Another accomplished Boston indie rock act continues to evolve its sound - Kumar's #5 - Don't call it a comeback; fuzzy power pop from low-key indie rocker - Breitling's #3 - Reissue of mid-'90s release from San Jose hardcore trio - Definitely check out the reissue of Silkworm's In the West - Kumar's #3 - Scrappy pop punk from Toronto band - Breitling's #2 - Veteran act with inspired new release - Kumar's #2 and Breitling's #5 - Inspired by '80s riff rock - Breitling's #1 and Kumar's #4 - A triumph from a legendary rock god - Possibly as good as anything from his previous bands - Kumar's #1 - Out of left field for me, but a great sweeping folk po

It's part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we discuss our favorite music of the year so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Breitling's bubbling under albums: Purple Mountains, Katie Dey, Ava Luna, Coaches, Fennesz, William Basinski - Kumar's not-quite top 10: Swervedriver, Piroshka, Cherry Glazerr, L7, Jenny Lewis, Flat Worms, Hash Redactor, Versing, Kiwi Jr., Business of Dreams - Breitling's #10 - Veteran indie pop act from Seattle - Kumar's #10 - Fuzzy power pop that's short and sweet - Breitling's #9 - Shout out to Matt Graves - Glittery guitar pop from Austin - Kumar's #9 - Vital post-punk noise straight outta Dublin - Breitling's #8 - Shoegaze from prolific LA band - Kumar's #8 - Welcome return from indie rock veterans - Breitling's #7 - Blistering EP from great Boston indie act - Perry Farrell's face - Kumar's #7 - Western Canadian stoner rock - Next week: Our top 6 albums of the year so far Completely C

I'm joined by guest Jay Breitling as we discuss the year in rock music so far. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Back for the attack - Kumar: Just back from Philly - Coming up in December: We pick our favorite music of the decade - Apple is doing away with iTunes, but it's not that big a deal - Some people are freaking out, but there are other options - It was good for making playlists - Kumar: Still need downloads to build radio show playlist - People don't need to own music anymore - Kumar: Use free versions of Spotify and YouTube to stream - Somebody stole a bunch of Radiohead outtakes, band responds by putting it up for sale on Bandcamp - Breitling's curb vinyl haul - The Dio hologram tour is ongoing - Our verdict: Stay home - The festivals keep going - The Woodstock 50 debacle - Our verdict: Festivals suck - Breitling may want to choke you - Reality show people are annoying - Ja Rule explains it all - Both of us have gone to

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album Wake of the Flood. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Jay: Knew nothing about this album until recently - First album on the Dead's own label - New phase for the Dead: No Mickey Hart, the Godchauxs arrive, Pigpen had died - Shades of jazz fusion - Three years after their last studio album, American Beauty - Material was well-honed in concert before making it to studio recording - Horns featured throughout - Phil: Live versions of these songs are better - Two big shows with Allman Brothers and the Band that summer - The rise of Frampton - Nobody cares about live albums anymore - "Stella Blue" is a standout track - On the merits and demerits of Rush - Back when AOR stations would play album sides - Pulled back on the country influence of previous two albums - No immediate "hits" - Touring is one of the few ways bands can make money nowadays - Ultimately, not one of thei

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's live triple album Europe '72. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Triple album documenting the Dead's European tour - Displays new Americana sound - Mickey Hart's gone, Keith and Donna Godchaux join - Full tour was documented on a 73-CD box set - Letting it all hang out at an Oregon show - Garcia and Weir released solo albums this year - The Dead's influenced ranged wide, eventually including members of punk/indie acts like Black Flag and Meat Puppets - Greg Ginn, noted Deadhead - The greatness of "Jack Straw" - Later covered by eventual guest keyboardist Bruce Hornsby - Grateful Dead keyboardists : Spinal Tap drummers - "A long f-ing album" - Unrelated: The Dirtbombs rule - "China Cat Sunflower" sounds very different here than the original - This is Peak Dead - The band captured the communal live experience and attracted a huge following - When you party too hard before the

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's album American Beauty. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Cover art could also be read as "American Reality" - Also released in 1970; recorded a few months after Workingman's Dead came out - Even more countrified, Americana-sounding - Mickey Hart was on his way out, less involvement - Featured on Freaks and Geeks episode where Lindsay gets into the Dead - Half the album features "hits": Box of Rain, Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia, Ripple, Truckin' - Very low-key record - Play Ripple at Phil's funeral - On 50th birthday playlists - Phil's idea for a playlist: 5 songs from every year of his life, no repeat artists - Around this time, the Dead started really growing their fanbase - Dead fans started following them on tour - A lot of guests, including David Grisman - This album isn't as dark as the previous one - Another fairly concise record - The Dead played the old Boston

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's 1970 album Workingman's Dead. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - First show of the new year - Workingman's Dead is the band's 4th studio album - First of two releases in '70 - Recorded in nine days - Stripped down sound, less psychedelic - Garcia and Robert Hunter wrote the whole album - Folk, country, Americana elements - Rock was moving away from psychedelia, toward singer-songwriters and acoustic sounds - Bookended by two of the band's biggest songs - More of an emphasis on vocals like Crosby, Stills and Nash - "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" as a torture device - Phil: Prefer live Dead, but still break out the studio albums on occasion - Warm sounding record - "New Speedway Boogie" is about Altamont - Recently covered by Courtney Barnett - Hunter's solo releases are all over the place - Jay: Only heard two songs before - Fairly concise album; not much jamming - Moved away from acid

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube - On to our top 5 selections - JK's #5 - An unexpectedly great album from a member of the Strokes - JB's #5 - Weird shoegaze straight outta Philly - JB's #4 - More excellent Philadelphia indie rock - JK's #3 - Angry, angular UK rock act that has listened to the Fall - JB's #3 - "I had difficulty finding fault with this record" - Esteemed YoLa-ologist in the house - YLT keeps doing its own thing - JK's #2 - Another fine double album from an interesting Toronto act - Where hardcore meets prog - Lots of guest vocalists - JB's #2 - Sweeping orchestral material, hot jams - Bands still make videos for some reason - Picking and choosing from the catalog - JK's #1 - A political record released early in the year that still resonates - Fiery live show to go with the album - Co

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube - JB's #10/JK's #9 - On-again, off-again band led by Steve Hartlett - Ah, the old "sweatpants-with-beers-stuffed-down-the-legs" deal - Reminiscent of "Bug"-era Dino Jr. - JK's #10 - Labelmates of Parquet Courts with similar sound - The downside of "Music Limited" - JB's #9 - Boston act traffics in "millennial mopery" - Lo-fi, self-released effort - Stickin' it to the Man with his Bandcamp URL - JK's #8 - Released on 1/1/18 - Fueled by political frustration and anger - A "fun protest album" - JB's #8 - Brand new record from a UK supergroup - Long-awaited followup to 2007 debut - Rhythmically diverse look at British culture - Whither Gorillaz? - JK's #7 - The 12th studio album from power-pop masters - Four songwriters who each wrote three songs - Consistently great - Th

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2018. Show notes: - Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ - Featuring special guest/studio audience member Ric Dube - The decline of rock's popularity - Album sales are way down - That time the Melvins hit the Top 200 albums chart - Apple's going to work with the Amazon Echo soon - Breitling pays for the Amazon Music "Talky Talky" - The youths don't pay for physical media anymore - Ric's family has Spotify, he has dedicated streaming of his own collection - Modern country is doing big business, relatively speaking - Pop music is doing well - Most rock acts make money through touring, not albums - The Stones are still touring - Mick and Keith were considered "old" in their mid-30s - Breitling: The year's music really picked up in the second half - New Mary Lattimore release is enjoyable - Ric: Enjoying Brian Eno's latest release, which is a $30 app - Kumar: Honorable mentions include

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's first official live album, Live/Dead. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Live/Dead was released in 1969 - There weren't a lot of live albums released then - The band did it as a make-good to the label after some poor-selling albums - Recorded at the Fillmore West - Songs evolved in live setting - At the time, it was unusual to play extended jams - Music fans really focused on albums back in the heyday of vinyl - The first thing you hear on the album is 23-minute "Dark Star" - Now for the tuning section - Phil: Have listened to 250-300 Dead bootlegs - Bootleg tape trading was huge in the '70s and '80s - Archive.org, Nugs.net have tons of Dead shows - On a lot of '70s-era live albums, bands went in and re-recorded songs or parts of songs - Some bands perfectly recreate their studio sound - "Death Don't Have No Mercy" is reminiscent of Zeppelin's "Since I've Been Loving You" - Whe

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's third album, Aoxomoxoa. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Aoxomoxoa was released in 1969 - A big year for rock music - Tons of legendary albums came out: Zeppelin, Who, Beatles, Neil Young, Stooges, MC5, Stones - First two Dead albums were commercial failures - Went way over budget in studio, stuck to their guns - Very experimental sound - Robert Hunter contributed lyrics to most of the album - Songs featured eccentric characters, way out lyrics - Plenty of drugs were part of the process - The old West, the devil, the rose were recurring themes - First album ever recorded using 16-track technology - Band spent $180k on the album - Jay: A lot to like about this album - "Dupree's Diamond Blues" sounds like a Kinks song - "What's Become of the Baby" is 8 minutes of weirdness that should have been left off album - When bands release unnecessary hits compilations - There was a defi

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we discuss the Grateful Dead's second album, 1968's Anthem of the Sun. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Anthem of the Sun was recorded in 1967, released in '68 - Very experimental, similar to Zappa's song splicing in the '70s - Studio and live performances mixed together - An early concept album - Songs would evolve through the years in performance - Robert Hunter makes his first appearance as a lyricist on this album - Producer grew frustrated with the band and left during the recording - The sound of "thick air" - Triple kazoo attack - The Dead must have been a shock to fans of bubblegum pop - Live, the Dead mixed up their shows every night - This album sounds more jammy, like you would expect a Dead album to sound - A lot of covers of bluegrass, country, jug bands, blues - Pearl Jam adopted the Dead practice of releasing official bootlegs of shows - The Dead used to do more audience banter, but recent inc

I'm joined by guest Phil Stacey as we dig into the catalog of the Grateful Dead, starting with the band's 1967 debut. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Other podcasts have focused on catalogs of U2, R.E.M., Phish, The Tragically Hip - Looking at the Dead album by album - Phil's a tie-dyed in the wool Deadhead, Jay has only superficial knowledge of the band - Phil: Got into the Dead in the mid-'80s, saw them live in '89 - Attracted by the musicianship, lyrics - Live is where the band really shines - Every show was different - The solo work from Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir was pivotal as well - Songs would be played live years before it showed up on an album - Band's biggest hit, "Touch of Grey," was first played live in '82 but became a single five years later - Jay: More into hard rock, metal as a kid - Got into alternative and punk - Would hear some Dead songs on classic rock radio - The tribute comp Deadicated introduced me to more Dead songs -

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our rock n' roll regrets. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Jay: Gave away a bunch of vinyl in the '90s - Price gouging vinyl-loving hipsters - Looking for bargains - Young entrepreneurship gone wrong - Taping music off the radio - In praise of Barooga Bandit - Phil: Wish I'd seen shows at some historic venues - Jay: Bands I once liked that I now regret liking - There should be no guilty pleasures - Coming to terms with disco - Some early '90s radio staples now ring false - Getting rides to concerts from parents - Jay: Not going to club shows earlier - Only went to hockey arenas and amphitheaters 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.

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about our rock n' roll regrets. Show notes: - Recorded at CompCon world HQ - Phil: Bands I never got to see - Missing artists before they died - Sometimes it's for budgetary reasons - Jay: Saw Neil Young last month for the first time - The time Phil got dosed at a Cure show - Phil: Not being old enough to see certain artists in their prime - Following bands on tour - Jay: Not sticking with the guitar - Been playing on and off for decades - Short-lived band experiences, including Bea Arthur's Revenge - Phil: Giving away CDs and mixtapes - Mixtapes can tell a lot about someone's personality - Jay: Still have all my cassettes - 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.

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2018. 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

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2018. 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 t

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the first half of 2018. 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