Category: Episodes

446. Earth

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(October 2022) Episode 446 is EARTH.  They are considered a pioneer in drone metal (called ‘ambient metal’ by its constant member Dylan Carlson). The first album (Earth 2) achieves precisely that, with a glacial flow of distorted guitar buzz.  Love it!  But their reinvented sound in the early 2000s is more like slowed down rock music (is this slowcore?), which bores me. Granted, there is a fine line between hypnotic drone and slow boring, but I know what I like. 

Favorite album: Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version

Favorite song: Like Gold and Faceted

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the first album

444. Missy Mazzoli

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(October 2022) Episode 444 of the “opus project” is MISSY MAZZOLI. A contemporary, New York-based composer of chamber and orchestral works and, more recently, operas.  Her works are inventive, never settling on one style, with sounds that can be both jagged and liquid.  Mazzoli also brings in electronics and distorted guitar, giving a sort of indie rock vibe to some compositions.

Favorite piece: Violin Concerto (Procession)

Favorite album: Cathedral City

Favorite chamber piece: Magic With Everyday Objects

Favorite vocal piece: Song for Mick Kelly

Favorite solo instrumental piece: Dissolve, Oh My Heart

Favorite opera: Songs from the Uproar

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: spend some time with her music

443. The Vines

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(October 2022) Episode 443 is THE VINES.  I see them as the garage band version of the classic rock-stomping Jet, both emerging out of Australia 2002.  The garage hooks were good but too few. They developed a lush, overproduced sound that presaged that of fellow Aussies Pond and Tame Impala.

Favourite album: Highly Evolved

Favourite song: Get Free

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: a few of their songs do slay

442. Suicidal Tendencies

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(October 2022) Episode 442 is SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.  I normally dislike fusion in music, but the punk-thrash crossover of Suicidal Tendencies works for me. And it works very well, combining the technical proficiency of thrash metal and the audience-oriented voice of punk. I favored their first album as iconic, although I generally prefer the later metal sound. Despite, or maybe because of, several lineup changes their sound adapts well through nü and funk metal phases.

Favorite album: Suicidal Tendencies (also check out its semi-remake Still Cyco After All These Years for a more metal treatment)

Favorite song: Disco’s Out, Murder’s In

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: should be in both your punk and thrash playlists

440. The Association

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(September 2022) Episode 440 is THE ASSOCIATION.  Sunshine pop with harmonies like a summer breeze. “Windy, “Cherish,” “Never My Love,” were AM rather than FM hits, putting them on the lighter side of my tastes of that time. But there are bits of psychedelia and baroque pop and it’s all 100% groovy.  I’m happy to include them in my Shrine to the Greatest Era of Music (1965-69).

Favorite album: Insight Out

Favorite song: Never My Love

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: a greatest hits album will do

439. Duane Eddy

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(September 2022) Episode 439 is DUANE EDDY.  Famous for inventing the iconic “twangy” guitar sound – low strings playing the melody with heavy reverb. Influential to many rock guitarists and spaghetti western soundtracks.  But … that twang is all there is. Hundreds of recordings with the same sound overlaid on originals and covers, too often in an easy listening mode.

Favorite album: Have ‘Twangy’ Guitar Will Travel

Favorite song: Moovin’ and Groovin’

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: any three songs will give you the full understanding

438. New York Dolls

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(September 2002) Episode 438 is NEW YORK DOLLS.  Proto Punk + glam = should be in my wheelhouse.  But for some reason they’re not, and I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s because Johansen annoys me. They were a phenomenon, that’s for sure.

Favorite album: New York Dolls

Favorite song: Trash

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: the first album is all you need to know

437. Om

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(September 2022) Episode 437 is OM.  Call it stoner metal meditation music. It’s like an equal blend of Pink Floyd’s “Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun,” Buddhist monk chanting, and Metallica’s “(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth.”  Try it.

Favorite album: Pilgrimage

Favorite song: Flight of the Eagle

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: good for both background and foreground listening experiences

436. The Spencer Davis Group

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(September 2022) Episode 436 is THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP.  They’re best known as the launching pad for teen phenom Steve Winwood and a couple classic rock radio standards (Gimme Some Lovin’ and I’m a Man). But that’s about it. They traveled a familiar path for second-tier British Invasion acts – R&B, a psychedelic album and some early 70s boogie rock before fading.

Favourite album: With Their New Face On

Favourite song: Gimme Some Lovin’

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: just those two songs, although devoted connoisseurs of Brit psychedelia may want to check out With Their New Face On