Tag: rock

718. L.A. Witch

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(April 2026) Episode 718 is L.A. WITCH, the answer to the question: what if Mazzy Star were a garage rock band? This is a contemporary all-female trio out of – you guessed it – Los Angeles. Singer/guitarist Sage Sanchez employs an echo-laden, languid vocal style that evokes Hope Sandoval, with a twangy guitar that gives the Cramps. Their third and most recent album (2025) asks the question: what if Mazzy Star were a new wave band?

Favorite album: Play with Fire

Favorite song: Fire Starter

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: None of this is original, but it is still satisfying.

715. Rotary Connection

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(March 2026) Episode 715 is ROTARY CONNECTION. They occupy a special niche place in late 1960s music: a blues label (Chess) decides to get into the psychedelic scene by concocting a multiracial group of Chicago soul musicians. The result is experimental and a bit odd, like putting a sitar track on a Fifth Dimension song. They never had hits or made music that could have become hits, but there is something compelling in it. Somewhat of a parallel to the Peanut Butter Conspiracy. A lot of the material is fairly radical covers of contemporary songs. It’s where Minnie Riperton got her start.

Favorite album: Rotary Connection

Favorite song: I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The first two albums are the only ones of interest.

714. Banda AL 9

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(March 2026) Episode 714 is BANDA AL 9. A contemporary Brazilian brother duo specializing 60s-style pop-rock songs. They look like a twink version of those guys from Extreme. Their reverent mimicry of the Beatles is obvious; many songs contain riffs or melodic lines lifted from Beatles songs, not unlike the Rutles’ approach (but without the tongue-in-cheek humor). The songs are light-hearted and, by definition, catchy. But after a while, the lack of originality, much less edge, starts diverting my attention elsewhere.

Favorite album: Love is the Law

Favorite song: She Can Do It All

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: It’s like cotton-candy. Sweet, but not enough substance to linger.

704. The Boomtown Rats

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(January 2026) Episode 704 is THE BOOMTOWN RATS. I also started this episode while in Ireland. You may recognize their one U.S. hit, the piano ode “I Don’t Like Mondays.” Americans will likely recognize frontman Bob Geldof from his humanitarian activism through Band Aid and Live Aid, and for starring as Pink in the movie version of The Wall. The Dublin-based group came up in the 70s punk era, and their first album has an angular, snotty, post-punk feel. But their direction was pointing to the mainstream, and subsequent albums offer serviceable but unremarkable 80s pop/rock songs.

Favourite album: The Boomtown Rats

Favourite song: Lookin’ After No. 1

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums have some post-punk/new wave energy, but I found nothing interesting in the rest.

700. The Tubes

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(January 2026) Episode 700 is THE TUBES. When asked which band I would like to have seen live, I list The Tubes near the top, given their reputation for wildness, role playing and parody. Unsurprisingly, their first albums reflect this theatrical quality, often with lampooning lyrics and song titles, epitomized by “White Punks on Dope.” It evokes the stuff Zappa was putting out in the mid-1970s. As the 1980s approached, they shifted to strive for radio/MTV hits, with successes like “Talk to Ya Later” and “She’s a Beauty.” (This was probably the first time in 40+ years I’d heard “Sushi Girl” and “Tip of my Tongue,” but I still sang along!). All in all, they don’t leave much of a legacy. The energy they gave to live shows doesn’t well translate to album, and the later albums are unremarkable 80s pop/rock.

Favorite album: The Tubes

Favorite song: What Do You Want From Life

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums provide some parodic moments and maybe pull up some of those singles for nostalgia, but that’s it.

698. The Edgar Broughton Band

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(December 2025) Episode 698 is the EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND. I came upon them in a list of UK bands considered precursors of heavy metal. They heavy bass and fuzzy guitar place them among the many acts putting out psychedelic/bluesey music in 1968-69. At times Edgar sings in a gravelly Howlin’ Wolf voice, making his band an answer to the question: what would it sound like if Captain Beefheart played with Iron Butterfly? In fact, they mashed up Beefheart’s “Drop Out Boogie” with the Shadows’ “Apache” to create “Apache Dropout.”  The first two albums had a manic quality, evoking the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. But rather than follow peers into boogie rock riches, they mellowed out, producing some good songs (“Hotel Room” would fit right in on Pink Floyd’s Obscured by Clouds), but mostly rather bland stuff. A reformed band put out a synthy concept album, Superchip, in 1982, which has a strange allure.

Favourite album: Sing Brother Sing

Favourite song: Death of an Electric Citizen

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums are good, if odd, period pieces, but all of this is admittedly for deep divers.

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691. The Fratellis

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(November 2025) Episode 691 is The FRATELLIS. This Scottish indie rock’s first two albums from the 00s offer poppy, peppy songs full of melodic hooks. You may recognize “Chelsea Dagger” from its get-the-crowd-singing use by sports teams, including as the goal song for the Chicago Blackhawks. But thereafter, each successive album gets less interesting, devolving into typical 2010s shiny pop-rock where over-production substitutes for creativity.

Favourite album: Here We Stand

Favourite song: Babydoll

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: The first two albums Costello Songs and Here We Stand are a fun listen

688. Iggy Pop

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(October 2025) Episode 688 is IGGY POP. This provides a case study (as with Lou Reed) into whether an extended solo career derives from evolving musical creativity or riding on the fumes of fame earned as frontman with an iconic and seminal group (and image cultivation). With Iggy Pop it’s both. Arguably the strongest are the first two albums done with David Bowie on retreat in Berlin. But that’s followed by a decade and a half of weak offerings including an attempt at new wave. But 1993’s American Caesar was a return to raw power (!) sound that continued through the Stooges reunion in the 2000s. The 21st Century saw experimentation with spoken word and European pop. Overall I’ll say Iggy Pop has proven his stature.

Favorite album: The Idiot

Favorite song: Lust for Life

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The Idiot and Lust for Life (Bowie years) and most of the 90s albums

682. The Peanut Butter Conspiracy

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(September 2025) Episode 682 is THE PEANUT BUTTER CONSPIRACY. Sometimes I think about repurposing the Project into a completist obsession to listen to every recording released between 1965-69. Doing an episode on The Peanut Butter Conspiracy serves that goal as well. They were a short-lived group from the L.A. scene that gets labelled psychedelic, although in the hippy/groovy California sense. I might call it sunshine pop with a fuzz guitar edge. With male and female vocal leads, they have a Mamas and the Papas sound, with a bit of Jefferson Airplane too. Their first two albums are perfect period pieces, as is having a three-word nonsense name.* Their third album, reflecting both personnel changes and 1968’s big shift in musical attitudes, is forgettable.

Favorite album: The Great Conspiracy

Favorite song: Living, Loving Life

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: The first two albums are an enjoyable dip into what’s-happenin’-now groovy tunes.

* Quicksilver Messenger Service, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Chocolate Watchband, 13th Floor Elevators, etc.

681. Los Bravos

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(September 2025) Episode 680 is LOS BRAVOS, one of the few beat groups from a non-English speaking country to have a hit in the U.S.  You’ll recognize “Black is Black” from the radio repertoire of mid-1960s pop songs. They were from Spain, but their lead singer was from Germany and sang largely in English. Their peppy “Going Nowhere” made the Nuggets II box set. At this attenuated stage of the Project, I resort to B-and C-tier acts from the 60s, as Los Bravos shows. The fact that they were from Spain is the most salient feature.

Favorite album: Los chicos con las chicas

Favorite song: Black is Black

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Attention deserved only for completists of 1960s pop and rock music.