Random Old Records

I'm few weeks late this time, but hopefully this selection of jams will be worth the wait! September brings the great news that Memphis weirdo blues rockers the Grifters have reissued their classic 1994 LP, Crappin' You Negative. This hot mess of ugly distortion, bent guitar duels, and loose-limbed grooves might be a bit dated, but it still bleeds passion and grit through the speakers like it did back then. I was lucky enough to see them on a reunion tour last year, and the addition of age, wisdom, and increased precision made them even more powerful. Here's tp the hope that they make more music!Episode #55 of Random Old Records starts off with the Grifters aptly enough, then goes all over the map. You'll hear an absolute jangle-pop earworm from Paperhead bassist Peter Stringer-Hye, a classic Aussie punk jam from Kim Salmon and The Scientists, a brand-new song from Rangers, and a gross, Flipper-lovin' punk plod from Cleveland's Rubber Mate. Finally, in honor of my recent viewing of the Amphetamine Reptile/Tom

Another month has passed, and Random Old Records Podcast has returned with another hour's worth of jams! Earlier in the year, I acquired the amazing 3 disc compilation on Cherry Red Records called Dust On The Nettles. This set goes deep into the UK's psychedelic folk scene, from big names like Pentangle, Fairport Convention, and Vashti Bunyan, to complete obscurities. This is a genre I knew very little about, and it totally blew my mind open! Also, my favorite artist of 2015, Ryley Walker, just released his brand new album, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, and it is loaded with way out folk explorations as well.On episode #54, "The Roundabout" by Walker mingles with tracks from Dust On The Nettles, along with other folky favorites from the time period by Ramases and Mike Cooper. You will also hear brand new tracks from old favorites Night Beats and Klaus Johann Grobe, a sizzling jam from Columbus' Counter Intuits (featuring Ron House from Thomas Jefferson Slave Apartments!), and more from The Lavender Flu do

Well, I spent a little over a month going through my modest collection of 7" vinyl and have picked out 28 tracks, both A's and B's. Episode #53 of Random Old Records is dedicated to the EP, the single, the 45, the seven inch vinyl record! Though it sometimes sucks to get up and flip a record over every couple of minutes, the 7" is unmatched in its ability to get the heart racing. Like a slap in the face, the best singles make their mark, get in, and get out. You can grab the latest episode HERE.The singles I pulled for this podcast mostly fall into three main categories. First is a batch of mid-90s era punk rock, from back when the ads in Maximumrocknroll were my primary source of record shopping in my small Ohio town. I used to fold up my lunch money in a piece of paper, mail it across the country, and wait 6-8 weeks for these jams, and I'm not about to launch into a crabby old man bit about how it made me appreciate them more, If I had been offered a Paypal account and tracking numbers back in 199

Just got home from work, and it's so warm and muggy and gross that the outside feels like the inside of a sewer. YUCK! Luckily, Random Old Records Podcast is back with a brand new episode containing 58 minutes and 7 seconds of chilled-out jams that feel like a blast of sweet A/C to the face. You can download it for free HERE.Episode #52 starts off with some recent blissed-out ballads from the likes of Martin Courtney, Salad Boys, and The Lavender Flu, then flows into two sizzling sets of 60s sunshine pop and soft psych. You'll hear the brooding and tense "Her Name Is Melody" from Adrian Pride (a pseudonym for tripped-out troubadour Bernie Schwartz), recently featured on the Nuggets: Hallucinations comp re-released on Record Store Day 2016. You'll also hear the fuzzed-out "Bad Dream" from the heavily mustachioed Dick Domane, included on Pet Records' essential Mystic Males collection, and the chiming folk-rocker "Leaving It All Behind" by The Toads, included on Pet Records' also essential It's Zimmerman's World

Hey, folks!! Another month has gone by, and now here's a brand new episode of Random Old Records Podcast to (possibly) bring some joy to your life and (hopefully) break up the monotony. This time around, it starts off with a run of classic country and country-rock, including the maddeningly catchy "Mare, Take Me Home" by Wildweeds, and the acoustic beauty of "She's My Girl" by UK rockers Help Yourself. Then, there's a detour into the amazing new Numero Group compilation Cosmic American Music for a track by private press journeyman Allan Wachs, which is bursting with spooky highway Seger vibes.Elsewhere, you will hear tough-edged power pop from Mama and Mother's Children, a track from the underrated last Warm Soda LP, and a set of blazing old and new hardcore from around the US. On the tour is Cincinnati's own Everyday Objects, Rüz from St. Louis, Stuck Pigs from DC, and Poison Idea from Portland. Finally, you get a set of goth-pop including three of the best vocalists in rock n' roll today: Hether Fortune of

To be honest, one of the reasons I started doing Random Old Records Podcast again was because I was so close to episode #50 when I went on my hiatus. To be so close to that milestone when I gave it up never really sat well with me. Well, here we are, and I'll probably do another 50 before I'm done.In that spirit, there's no looking back in this episode. No compilation of the "best" songs I've ever played or the best in-between bits I've scavenged and put together. They're all supposed to be the best anyway, right? Soon all of the old episodes will be back online and then you'll be free to check those out any time. If you scroll down, you'll see that episodes #2 and #3 are back online for the first time in years. Episode #3 features a run of classic Dischord Records jams from Void, Embrace, and The Make-Up, while episode #2 takes a trip from The Rezillos to The Gun Club to The Lovin' Spoonful ("6' O'Clock", what a song!). Don't forget to check back frequently to the Podcast Archive below for more old episodes.

If you follow Random Old Records on Facebook, you know that episode #48, the first new episode of Random Old Records Podcast in TWO YEARS, was posted to Soundcloud back in February. This isn't just a temporary thing. ROR IS BACK! Expect to see a brand new episode every second day of the month from here on out. The reasons I quit and came back are convoluted and not very exciting, so I'm not going to go into great detail. The main takeaway is that my podcast host Mevio went out of business two years ago and took down everything I had online, and it's taken me a long time to get the time to fix that mess the right way. Below this post you will see a box to subscribe to my brand new mailing list. Since the venues to freely advertise something like a podcast are drying up (lookin' at you, Facebook!), signing up to the ROR mailing list is the best way to keep up. The ONLY time you will get an email from me is when a new episode is posted. That's it! Put your email in, click Submit, and you'll be the first to

Hello, and welcome to the first episode of Random Old Records Podcast in two years! If you liked this podcast before, then you will like this one. If you have no idea what this is, or who I am, this is as good of a place to start as any. EPISODE #48 contains an hour of songs about growing up, growing out, driving trucks, taking the corners easy, and summer for whatever reason. Featured artists include Ryley Walker, Meg Baird, Colleen Green, Palehound, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, and loads more. Thanks to everyone who has followed this podcast and blog since the beginning, and everyone who ever said "what the hell ever happened to your podcast?!" I do this all for free, so nice comments are really what keeps me going.Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Random Old Records via iTunes, Google Play, or RSS. If you like the show, please rate it and write a review! You can also go the traditional route and stream or download the episode below. As always, thanks for listening!Random Old Reco

I've written dozens of these little blog posts hyping my latest podcast, so what more can I say at this point? RANDOM OLD RECORDS #47 has got the jams, an hour of them to be exact. It's got classics by Nada Surf, The Posies, and Teenage Fanclub. It's got brand new ones by Morgan Delt, Tony Molina, and California X. There's some of the most vital punk rock going these days from Life Stinks and Cheap Time. There's fuzzy, giddy powerpoppunkrock from First Base and Backseat Virgins. There's sleek synth jams from Minks and Gap Dream. There's some downright offensive commercials from 70s TV. There's also MUCH, MUCH MORE!Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Random Old Records via iTunes, Google Play, or RSS. If you like the show, please rate it and write a review! You can also go the traditional route and stream or download the episode below. As always, thanks for listening!Random Old Records Podcast #47Released 02/19/2014DOWNLOAD HERE (Right-Click, "Save As")1. Nada Surf - "Concrete

Episode #46 of Random Old Records Podcast is absolutely LOADED front to back with killer jams. We're talking an hour of old and new synth-punk, power pop, punk rock, psychedelia, and straight-up rock n' roll from the likes of Mikal Cronin, Potty Mouth, Missing Monuments, MERX, Rockin' Horse, Informatics, Heavy Times, Roky Erickson, and MORE! If you're still listening and following along and enjoy what I do, then I offer my sincerest thanks. Hope you like this one, it was a blast picking out the tunes and putting them together.Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Random Old Records via iTunes, Google Play, or RSS. If you like the show, please rate it and write a review! You can also go the traditional route and stream or download the episode below. As always, thanks for listening!Random Old Records #46Released 12/13/2013DOWNLOAD HERE (Right-Click, "Save As")1. Potty Mouth - "The Gap"(Hell Bent, Old Flame 2013)2. Joanna Gruesome - "Sugarcrush"(Weird Sister, Slumberland 2013)3. Mikal Cronin - "Shout It Ou

It's been about six months since I last did a podcast, and over a year since I did these with any regularity, but a funny thing happened several weeks ago. I had figured returning to podcasting would be damn near impossible at this point. I hadn't done them monthly in forever, so where the hell was I gonna start?! I think I've bought and listened to something like three hundred records in the past year, and all of them are worthy of your attention in some way. So, I sat down and made a list, and by the time I was done I had filled both sides of a piece of paper and started writing more names in between the cracks. The simple theme of Random Old Records #45 is "things that blew my freakin' mind since the last one."To be more specific, this episode features music that is slightly bent, cracked, or mutilated, with nothing much resembling standard pop, rock, or punk music. You'll hear freaky prog-folk from original Vertigo label acts Cressida and Tudor Lodge, blown-out punk noise by Flipper, Running, Obnox, and S

I've been sorta hibernating for the winter, so this is as good of time as any to put together a new podcast. Random Old Records #44 is the first one I've done since September 2012, and it's an uninterrupted hour of whimsical psychedelic pop from the 60s to the present. This is nineteen tracks from one man band weirdos, forgotten heroes, new wizards, and everything in between. There's two Creation covers, obscure compilation tracks, and at least two legit chart hits. I hope everyone likes this as much as I did when I was putting it together. Thanks for listening!Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Random Old Records via iTunes, Google Play, or RSS. If you like the show, please rate it and write a review! You can also go the traditional route and stream or download the episode below.Random Old Records Podcast #44Released 02/13/13DOWNLOAD HERE (Right-Click, "Save As")1. XTC - The Ballad Of Peter Pumpkinhead2. The Marble Vanity - Assemble3. Gene Clark - So You Say You Lost Your Ba

Random Old Records Podcast is back from its summer vacation! Not gonna try to make up any crazy excuses, the truth is that I was running low on inspiration after 3+ years of blogging and doing a monthly podcast, and decided to put it to rest for awhile instead of cranking 'em out just to keep the streak going.Considering that it was four months in the making, EPISODE #43 of Random Old Records is a one hour MONSTER of fresh rock n' roll for your ears. It starts out with some ugly, noisy jams from Puffy Areolas and the K-Holes and crucial new punk rock from White Lung and Dikes Of Holland, hits the best tracks from the latest releases by The Fresh & Onlys, Ty Segall and Thee Oh Sees, and highlights some psych pop newcomers like The Marble Vanity and Jacco Gardner. This edition hits all the bases from the noisiest free-form freakouts to tight power pop and everything in between. It's simply a collection of the best shit I've heard all year, and I hope you all have as much fun listening to it as I did putting

So yeah, after over three years and 41 monthly episodes, I needed a little break from Random Old Records Podcast. When I started thinking about EPISODE #42 back in March, there was just too much shit going on, and the inspiration wasn't there, so I figured it was best to take a break (my first!) and stack up tracks for awhile. I never imagined that I would actually get e-mails from people asking when the next episode would be out. Well, it was only two, but still! You guys rule, and I can't thank you enough for listening to Random Old Records and patronizing this blog, even though I haven't posted a goddamn thing for months.Anyway, Random Old Records #42 is out, and I'm super proud of this one. This episode functions as a sort of "BEST OF 2012 SO FAR"-type playlist, featuring new tracks from Wax Idols, Natural Child, Gentleman Jesse, Nobunny, Heavy Cream, and Sugar Stems, a bunch of new releases on Trouble In Mind from The Resonars, The Paperhead, Hollows, and Estrogen Highs, Record Store Day Exclusives from

Holy moly, things are crazy in the midwest right now! Tornadoes, hail, sunshine, and a huge pile of badass rock n' roll records to listen to are among the highlights. EPISODE #41 of Random Old Records features an hour of rad jams from what is shaping up to be one of the best music years on record. This is also South By Southwest week, so #41 features a bunch of bands playing the annual music orgy plus so much more!We're talkin' amazing pop tunes from La Sera, Frankie Rose, and Summer Twins, raging punk from LA slackers FIDLAR, the noisy Ramones trip of Terry Malts, and the Denton weird power pop of Mind Spiders. We're talkin' brand NEW tracks from Portland's Mean Jeans and Guantanamo Baywatch, whose new LPs won't be out for another month. We're talkin' brain-frying psychedelic rock n' roll from The Sufis and Ketamines. Most of all, we're talkin' about a track called "Conversation" from one of the most impressive debut LPs I've heard in forever, the 60s sunshine pop/psych hybrid known as OUTER MINDS. Seriously

Woah! 2012 is less than two months old, and there's already so much kick-ass rock n' roll coming out that it's making my head spin! So yeah, this time around Random Old Records Podcast #40 is an uninterrupted hour of straight-up jams because there just wasn't any room for the quirky soundbytes you all know and love. HAHA. This fat stack of tracks features one song each from the latest batch of HoZac Records releases, including The Band In Heaven, Radar Eyes, Teledrome, and Bare Mutants, which all rule as usual. Teledrome's super-catchy electro-punk is the real gem this time around. Seriously, give this dude a proper studio and budget and he'll be on the cover of magazines in a year. Mark my words!Random Old Records #40 also features an EXCLUSIVE track from the upcoming second LP by killer Wisconsin garage punk duo The Hussy! It's called "Mind Alright," the LP is called Weed Seizure, and it's set to be released by Tic Tac Totally sometime next month. This record is a monster folks, just check out the sick artw

Hey folks! We're entering the fourth year of Random Old Records Podcast, so what better way to kick off 2012 than EPISODE #39, which is packed with more killer rock n' roll than ever before?!This time around, you'll hear the second straight KILLER single from ex-Mika Miko sisters Bleached, a selection from the current crop of garage punk releases from Wisconsin's Dusty Medical Records, hazy glam-psych from Cleveland weirdo Gap Dream, stellar tunes from Mark Sultan, Wheels On Fire, Digital Leather, Burnt Ones, Coasting, Mikal Cronin, Xray Eyeballs and more! It's a crucial sixty minutes that is the perfect soundtrack for blasting your way out of the winter blahs.Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE to Random Old Records via iTunes, Google Play, or RSS. If you like the show, please rate it and write a review! More classic episodes from the past ten years are being added to the feed as well, so check those out as well. You can also go the traditional route and stream or download the new episode

[12/2/2019 note: When I uploaded this episode eight years ago, it contained an audio error that cut off the last several seconds. It has bugged me ever since. So, I went back a couple weeks ago and completely remixed, remastered, and recreated the episode from scratch. I got married a month ago, and these songs were the soundtrack of my wife and I's first year together. They will remind me of that time forever, and I am glad the episode is finally complete.]2011 is almost over, and oh my goodness where did the time go?! The past twelve months were filled with all kinds of good things for me on the life front, and much like last year, there were SO MANY crucial rock n' roll records released and a bunch of killer shows that damaged my eardrums even further. EPISODE #38 of Random Old Records cuts away all of the extra padding and somewhat clever soundbytes and presents an hour of my personal favorite songs of 2011 with no interruptions!You'll hear all the songs I've been raving about since January, including hea

Hey folks, I've been on VACATION! Yeah, it's been a year now since I got a full-time grown-up job, so I finally decided to cash in and take a week of paid vacation. Lemme back up a bit and be honest. I didn't just go nuts and check out for awhile, I went nuts and impulsively bought tickets to the Friday night show of the Norton Records 25th anniversary celebration at the Bell House in Brooklyn! I just couldn't miss the Reigning Sound, Mark Sultan, the Great Gaylord, Jackie and The Cedrics, Mighty Hannibal, Andre Williams, and an all-star band led by Mick Collins on guitar. What a lineup! After a five day weekend in NYC that involved much record shopping (original pressings of the second New York Dolls LP AND PiL's Flowers Of Romance, YES!), a midnight show at the KILLER Spectacle Theater, a trip to Coney Island for a Nathan's Famous, and a few moments of clarity in a garden on top of a seventeen story building, I'm back and proud to present Random Old Records Podcast #37, which also happens to be the third an

Woah, is it really October already?! Judging by the clock at the bottom right of my computer screen and the flannel shirt wrapped around my torso, it must be. Where has all the time gone? It seems like April was only a few minutes ago, and now the year is damn near over. I've been to a bunch of shows, crossed a couple of folks off my live bucket list (New York Dolls, Wanda Jackson), and spent probably a few grand on records, and what do I have to show for it? Slightly more damaged eardrums and a whole buncha physical media that will be a real pain in the ass to lift if I ever move into a new place, I reckon. Seriously though, 2011 might have already topped 2010 as one of the best music years since the mid-90s, and it's not over yet!Random Old Records Podcast #36 is out now, and it's loaded with just over an hour of jams, starting off with the raging opening salvo from Let's Wrestle's new LP, "In Dreams Part II." It sounds so much like the aforementioned mid-90s that you'd swear that 15+ years of godawful over