Author: ernopepper

746. Dark Funeral

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(September 2026) Episode 746 is DARK FUNERAL. I was in Sweden when I started this this Swedish black metal band, because one is supposed to listen to this music while in Scandinavia, right? The titles, lyrics, imagery, and costumes characteristically invoke Satan and Hell as you would expect. The music is an unyielding sonic assault, with vocals delivered in the typical death growl. But the guitar lines are merely speed-picking lines on a single string, which gets tedious after a while, resulting in a same-ness to the music across albums. It lacks the punch and power of more technically oriented metal genres. Note: I did listen to Dark Funeral while walking through a cemetery in Denmark.

Favorite album: The Secrets of the Black Arts

Favorite song: My Dark Desires

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums, The Secrets of the Black Arts, Vobiscum Satanas

745. ABBA

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(September 2026) Episode 745 is ABBA. I began this episode in Stockholm where we visited the ABBA museum. It was craptacular. I learned HOW the group became a global sensation but still do not know WHY they did; why them and not any other Eurovision winner? Admittedly, their big hits are catchy, and while their sound is of the 1970s it does not suffer to become dated. Deeper into their albums, especially the earlier ones, there is more song diversity (yes, the men do sing). It’s mostly pleasant pop, but there is a decent amount of schlock too.

Favorite album: Arrival

Favorite song: Dancing Queen

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The compilation ABBA Gold (one of the top 25 best selling albums of all time) will do you right.

744. Melt-Banana

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(September 2026) Episode 744 is MELT-BANANA. Call it avant-punk. This Japanese group (later a duo) start with a punk foundation of minute and half songs with fast-paced guitar/bass/drums and shouted vocals. The distinctiveness is Yosuka Onuki’s piercing, unequivocal delivery, done in English (although hard to tell) narrating absurdist song titles. Several albums in, they lengthen the songs, add electronics and elevate Ichiro Agata’s guitar wizadry, creating a hyper-energized blast of frenetic noise. I love music where I cannot imagine how anyone could come up with this stuff, and Melt-Banana is all that.

Favorite album: 3+5

Favorite song: Shield for Your Eyes, A Beast in the Well on Your Hand

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: It won’t be to everyone’s taste. Try “Cactuses Come in Flocks” for the earlier simpler material, Teeny-Shiny for a turn to the more complex, or 3+5 for a peak return after a decade off.

743. Jóhann Jóhannsson

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

Episode 743 is JÓHANN JÓHANSSON. This Icelandic composer blended classical, ambient and electronic elements to create sounds and moods that are as much defined by restraint as they are by content. It seems apt that he had success in the soundtrack production, such as for Sicario, The Theory of Everything, and Arrival, as the music seems to want to accompany rather than drive the listener. Minimalism is generally Jóhannsson’s approach in his solo works too, although he offers experimentation in form and orchestration. Sadly, he died at the relatively young age of 48.

Favorite album: Englabörn & Variations

Favorite soundtrack: Arrival

Favorite song: Good night, day

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The soundtracks listed above are good background music, but also try his solo works Englabörn, Fordlandia and IBM 1401, A User’s Manual.

741. Mercyful Fate

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(September 2026) Episode 742 is MERCYFUL FATE, arguably the most famous metal band out of Denmark, which is where I was when I started this episode. With imagery and lyrics focused on the occult, they were among the first wave of black metal bands. Their sound tended closer to hard rock than the speed/thrash that others were going for. While I like King Diamond’s banshee wails, I got turned off by his regular singing style. To be honest, I got bored after a while.

Favorite album: Don’t Break the Oath

Favorite song: A Dangerous Meeting

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Their first two albums are the influential ones, although the several after re-forming don’t stray from the sound.

741. The Kingston Trio

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2026) Episode 741 is the KINGSTON TRIO. If parody is the highest form of flattery, then it explains why I can’t help but think of the Folksmen from the mockumentary A Mighty Wind when I hear the Kingston Trio. All the elements are there – the railroad song, the vagabond song, the Spanish ballad, the shanty, the kinda racist Caribbean song. Indeed, the Kingston Trio played a major role in popularizing folk music in its revival, with all due credit. That said, I get the sense that they were sort of the Coldplay or Nickelback or their time – they sold a ton a records but were also looked down on by snobs and purists. I appreciate it, but it’s not the kind of folk music I return to.

Favorite album: Here We Go Again!

Favorite song: Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: A greatest hits collection is enough; the first five albums provide their core output.

740. Louis Jordan

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2026) Episode 740 of the “opus project” is LOUIS JORDAN. With his band the Tympany Five, the ebullient singer and sax player delivered an energetic blend of jazz and jump blues that bridged the swing and R&B eras, helping lead the way for the explosion of R&B and rock & roll in the 1950s. But his fame was experienced in real time with numerous hits from the late 1930s to early 1950s. It’s sad that he’s not more known today. The music is lively and gets you off your seat; you can tell the performers are having fun.

Favorite song: Choo Choo Ch’Boogie

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: The “Let the Good Times Roll” 2-disc anthology is a good offering.

739. Olivia Rodrigo

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2026) Episode 739 is OLIVIA RODRIGO (or olivia rodrigo, iykyk). Disney child actors-turned-pop stars are not my thing, so this is probably the first and last here. But a few years ago I heard one of her songs and thought it was …. not bad. She writes or co-writes all her songs, so that’s something. And they come with enough diversity in style to keep it interesting, although it’s still in pop packaging. Not unafraid to deploy the f-word. I can see how her lyrics appeal to teenagers, but it doesn’t come off as melodramatic or self-indulgent.

Favorite album: SOUR

Favorite song: bad idea right?

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: I would not have minded my kids playing this music in the car (they were of an earlier Disney (Miley Cyrus) generation.

738. Memphis Minnie

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2026) Episode 738 is MEMPHIS MINNIE (Lizzie Douglas), a singer and guitarist in the Southern country blues tradition who recorded in the 1930s and 1940s. She is known for being one of the few female guitarists to record under her name in that era, starting on acoustic and moving to electric. She co-wrote (with her then-husband Kansas Joe McCoy) “When the Levee Breaks” later made famous (and significantly altered) by Led Zeppelin.

Favorite song: Me and My Chauffeur Blues

Favorite guitar work: Joliet Bound

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Worth a listen if you like country blues

737. Ella Fitzgerald

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(August 2026) Episode 737 is ELLA FITZGERALD. On a Mt. Rushmore of American voices, she’s on it. “The First Lady of Song,” perhaps the most famous female jazz vocalist of all time. I appreciate her art, as I do for all the jazz giants she collaborated with: Gillespie, Armstrong, Basie, Peterson. But … I don’t really like this music. I’m just not into the Great American Songbook. And I can’t stand scat singing, perhaps the form Fitzgerald is best known for. All due respect, of course.

Favorite album: Take Love Easy

Favorite song: Dream a Little Dream of Me (with Louis Armstrong)

Most unorthodox song: Sunshine of Your Love (not quite as far out as Dolly Parton’s Stairway to Heaven, but close)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: I liked best the albums with jazz guitarist Joe Pass, simple affairs stripped of the chrome and glitz of her more iconic big band recordings