Bill and Brian take a break from going deep on a single album (because, you know, the holidays...) and instead bring you 10 great songs from some not-so-great albums. Bill shows you exactly how uncool he is by sharing 5 of his favorite tracks from underated late-90s bands. Brian shows you exactly how cool he is by giving you 4 songs written by dead dudes (you know they're cool because they're no longer living) and 1 song by a band we can't go a single episode without mentioning. Seriously, I think Murray the dog lost his job as podcast mascot to REM.
Bill and Brian return to the classic dynamic duo format to discuss The Hold Steady's Boys and Girls in America (2006, Vagrant). Listen for Bill having issues with a stupid cable as we talk about every song on this album. But mostly, this episode can be summed up by Brian's apt quote, "It's like Angus Young joined the E Street Band."
Bill and Brian have Erin Lamy, Bootstrap Bandits' vocalist (bootstrapbandits.com), come on to talk about one of her favorite albums, Our Lady Peace's Spiritual Machines (2000, Columbia). As it turns out Bill loves this album too! And Brian found himself enjoying it despite the fact that he previously lumped OLP in with all that other late 90s alternative schlock. Ray Kurzweil, AI, the Singularity, time travel, and Art-with-a-capital-A are all discussed.
Brian and Bill welcome Jeff Fiedler (sleepingsatellites.bandcamp.com) back onto the podcast to revisit one of our favorite bands The Replacements with their major label debut Tim (1985, Sire). The guys get serious and straightforward because there's no other way to tell you how awesome The Replacements are. Despite the up and down structure of any 'Mats album, we still talk about every single song on this album, one at a time!
Bill and Brian are solo again as they delve into one of Brian's favorite albums by one of his favorite artists. This here is the music that got adolescent, turtle-neck wearing Brian out of the Jazz LPs section of his local Borders and turned him into the indie pop-rock lovin' hipster we all know and love today! There's a lot of Wikipedia level knowledge on this episode as Brian spent way too much time trolling the message boards of benfolds.org back in the early aughts. And, as always, we talk about every single track on Ben Folds Five's Whatever and Ever Amen (1997, 550/Epic)!
Bill and Brian are joined by writer, actor, comedian, musician, friend, and lover Drew Novelli (check out his web series Just a Cop, Just a Surgeon, and How To With Drew!) to discuss Green Day's breakthrough album Dookie (1994, Reprise). All three reminisce about their formative years and how this album made such an impact. Also, the great "Peter Buck" stops by to give his opinion on a couple songs! As is our norm, we break down Dookie (ew) track-by-track.
Bill and Brian hang out with Small Planet Radio's (smallplanetradio.com) Andrew Kolbenschlag and discuss Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002, Nonesuch). The finer points of pressing vinyl, the then-timely Cosby scandal, and Wilco's inner turmoil are all examined in detail. And, of course, a track-by-track discussion of the whole album!