Somebody Likes It

Before Ozzy Osbourne was a stammering reality show punchline, he really underwhelmed Lester Bangs, and there's something to be said for that, historically speaking. Black Sabbath's eponymous initial record was recorded almost in one sitting on its way to defining a new genre, one minted, in part, by the fact that one of the members' metal shop accidents necessitated a wholesale change in his play, that ended up informing the overall "heaviness" of the metal. Heavy metal was, in fact, created to some degree by actual heavy metal. What the album lacks in track numbers it may make up for in personality, and even old Lester came around eventually. He may have called Black Sabbath "like Cream, but worse," but there was no denying how this record spoke to certain dark corners of the metal community, both then and now. Tune in and find the flashpoint. Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath featuring the song "Black Sabbath" is for sale A Few Minutes With [**Weird Al Yankovic** - Fat][3] A Curr

It's been noted that perhaps Willis Alan Ramsey was Lyle Lovett...before Lyle Lovett was Lyle Lovett, mostly, come to think of it, by Lyle Lovett. That's what happens when your debut album mines the intricate details of the emotional barriers we often erect to stave off matters of the heart, and when you do so from stages where a young future troubadour might connect with your style to the point of honoring it. Ramsey weaves and stitches timeless, folksy yarns that sound, in retrospect, a bit like an antecedent to the tumult of the time they were hatched. And then he did something no one saw coming. He never made another album (well, not one that's been released since, anyway). And the one he did make influenced a varied tapestry of performers who've become household names in their own right. Lend an ear and hear where it all began. Read Joe Nick Patoski's article on Willis Alan Ramsey Willis Alan Ramsey on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**Lyle Lovett** - That's Right You're Not From Texas][3] A Current Affair

As far as it goes with hand claps and cowbells, the majority of people are 2/3 of the way there. With Shane rejoining the podcast after a brief sabbatical, we felt it was a good time for another mixtape episode. But don't fear the reaper, we've collected 12 great tunes that showcase (or don't) the percussive beauty of skin on skin and wood on metal bovine accessory. Enjoy! Round 1 ###[Close To Me][1] - *The Cure* ### This is the first song I can remember noticing hand claps. I mean of course, I had heard them in songs before, but they are so obvious in this one, not to mention I first heard this song around the age when I started really paying attention to music. ###Hair Of The Dog - Nazareth ### This song could have easily been substituted for Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper" in the classic Walken SNL sketch, as it features the the most over-the-top employment of 70's cowbell to ever emerge from a cannabis-fogged van. Scotland's answer to AC/DC--I would so totally go see them today if

As monikers go, Starcrawler might be more a more literal band name than you think: this act, punctuated by art school kids and fronted by the daughter of one of LA's premier rock shutterbugs, slinks and shrieks through their initial release. It seems they were destined for stardom, well, since they were crawling. Yes, that's Beck's daughter on the album cover. Yes, that was the back of lead singer Arrow de Wilde's head featured in a Bleachers anthem video. Yes, it's de Wilde's obsession with Ozzy Osbourne that appears to fuel her messy, frenzied, even occasionally bloodstained turns onstage. But if we're being honest, it's the shredded guitar riffs of 17 year old wunderkind Henri Cash that put the star in the name, and somewhere in this alchemy is a boiling cauldron of now that seems to have stood the LA music scene up on end. Say this for Starcrawler, winner of this year's SXSW Grulke award for Best Up and Coming Act: they're not dull. Pick Up Starcrawler's Album A Few Minutes With [**L7** - Pretend We're

Dear listeners-- If you've been waiting patiently, all your waking life, to immerse yourself in Aussie-bred hard rock featuring a grown-ass-man wearing a Catholic schoolboy uniform with an astonishing level of longevity, well, this is your week. We tackled AC/DC's 1979 record "Highway to Hell" this week, and I'll be damned if I didn't find this record endlessly entertaining. Take early-blues-based rock and roll and turn it up to 11, and you've got a good start. Lead singer Bon Scott would be dead within six months of this release, and if there's such a thing for a relatively young man having a fitting epitaph after an early exit from this mortal coil, this may be it. Tune in and figure it out for yourself, mate. Get on your own Highway To Hell A Few Minutes With [**The Bee Gees** - Too Much Heaven][2] A Current Affair [**Ratboys** - Elvis Is In The Freezer][3]

Working on this podcast as I have for a couple of years, I am often taken aback at albums that completely flew under my radar and yet still had enough buzz around them as to create a massive following. This parallel project for Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen is a fine example of a creative endeavor straight up my alley and yet I would not come to hear it until nearly 10 years after its release. Department of Eagles' (nee Whitey On The Moon UK) 2008 release, In Ear Park, is a beautiful collection of undulating vocal arrangements and gorgeous instrumentation that pays tribute to Rossen's recently deceased father. One can certainly draw comparisons to Grizzly Bear here considering it shares 3/4 of the same personnel, however this is certainly a departure in songwriting and composing. It's not an A&R man's type of record but sometimes a fishing trip is more about the journey and less about the hooks. I have no idea if that analogy makes any sense. Department of Eagles is available on Amazon. A Few Minutes Wi

We all know the country music songwriter's recipe: start with a stretch of hardscrabble backstory, mix in some bad luck with the ladies, stir the bottom of the bottle around, maybe sprinkle in a stint in the pokey for good measure. Rinse. Repeat. Your typical country artist could sing the blues, but somehow this feels heavier. More wrought with shame. Still, scenarios can wax trite. Not so for Travis Meadows, who cut his teeth penning tracks for Dierks Bentley and Eric Church and wrote his first songs for himself after his fourth stint in rehab. And maybe that sounds predictable. But cancer at 14 was a wicked twist, on top of a the broken home that ushered Meadows into an evangelical stint bordered by deep dives into booze and drugs. He doesn't do much halfway. This is his first release produced by someone else, and at times it feels a little pristine. But chances are taken, and hard luck abounds. Join us with a couple of special guests as we see where the dusty roads lead. Pick up a copy of First Cigarette

Years after crafting a sound so unique that a fledgling movement spun up around it, Portishead walked away from notoriety and their Trip hop roots that influenced so many. Away from the dark corners and come hither beats, punctuated by Beth Gibbons' pained yarns of yearning and regret, away from all of it. Until they didn't. Borne to some degree out of the threads they continued to explore after their first two pivotal LPs, the band's literally named Third release finds them still uncertain, still haunted, but still certainly curious and exploratory. Hell, there's even a ukulele that makes an appearance. Pretty sure no one saw that twist coming. What happens if you take the Trip hop out of Portishead? You're about to find out. Amazon has the album for sale. A Few Minutes With [**PJ Harvey** - Sheela-na-gig][2] A Current Affair [**Sylo Nozra** - Felt You][3]

It's a safe to say that if you have been pushing out music for the past 51 years, you've probably got a little something for everyone. It's also a pretty good chance that not everything in your catalog is going to elicit the same enthusiasm from all audiences. For those of you who appreciate early Prog Rock, you probably like Genesis 1972 release Foxtrot a hell of a lot more than 3/4 of us did. Lauded by many to be one of their top three albums, Foxtrot also marked a change in direction for the stage presence of the band, launching Peter Gabriel from a relatively unknown instrumentalist and vocalist into a strange and surreal performance-art superstar. The lyrics are sometimes cryptic and the music devoid of anything resembling a hook, but one can't deny the level of talent and expertise buried these epic arrangements. Here's a place where you can own your own copy. A Few Minutes With [**Genesis** - Mama][2] A Current Affair [**Troye Sivan** - The Good Side][3]

It's hard not to wax a certain amount of nostalgic about the year you're born: it is, after all, what lights the candle of your days. That's not lost on Josh Rouse, who reminds us that much is revealed by the concept albums an artist releases. Rouse has long revealed a wandering attention span, but when it comes to the AM gold of the early 1970s, he lets his gaze linger. But does it land? Pick up 1972 on Amazon. A Few Minutes With [**Folk Implosion** - Free To Go][2] A Current Affair [**St. Vincent** - Los Ageless][3]

As I write this, I am currently consuming the Jim Jarmusch documentary about the Stooges, "Gimme Danger." This means nothing, other than the fact that it turns out the Stooges hung out with Nico, and that ridiculously beautiful German model had a hold (artistically!) with two massively influential bands. She is most known, of course, for collaborating with the Velvet Underground on their first record. Which leads me to my real point: Lou Reed. Lou led the aforementioned VU, and by most accounts, was a cantankerous asshole. Let that not lead one to assume that he was an untalented cantankerous asshole, for he was not. In 1989, Mr. Reed released the solo effort "New York." Suffice it to say, some love love this record, others quite less so. Critics were pretty hip to it, but they aren't always right. Without giving away too much, I'll just say that check in to a spirited debate about a document of pre-Giuliani New York, and decide for yourself. You can buy this album on Amazon, don't you kn

What do you say about Axel Rose? Where do you start? Tiny bike shorts? His interest in guitar players with interesting head gear choices (black top hat with silver conch shells/an upside down KFC bucket)? His Noel Gallagheresqe inability to properly use words when describing things (Noel-"SLOWLY walking down the hall, FASTER than a cannonball"/Axel-"wait for the thunder and the rain to QUIETLY pass me by-yai-yai"? Since his actual nom de plume is W. Axel Rose, off stage, does he prefer to be addressed as W. or Axel? So many mysteries, so little time. Maybe there are answers to some riddles contained within the album Appetite for Destruction, come along on our journey... Pick up Appetite for Destruction on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**Seu Jorge** - Life On Mars][4] A Current Affair [**The Preatures** - Girlhood][5]

You'll never accuse Archy Marshall (better known as King Krule) of waxing trite: Marshall, the artist by way of producer, has always been as versatile and fearless as he has been precocious. He forged a bumpy, art-indulged childhood into unpredictable, relentless artistic visions as a young adult, and it seems to be taking him places: with The Ooz, his latest release, he's constructed a potentially rich opus of personal and sonic deconstruction. It's not an easy listen, but then again, neither are those shady corners of the darkest recesses of our mind that help make us who we are. It's alchemy, and it's messy. Some of the videos we watched during this episode: Check out the video for Dum Surfer Check out the video for Czech One Buy This Week's Vinyl on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**A Tribe Called Quest** - Dis Generation][4] A Current Affair [**Third Root** - Kawhi][5]

We figured out somewhere along the way that our Holiday Mixtape show wasn't an annual tradition, actually. Mostly because we skipped doing it last year altogether. In retrospect, it's probably better this way: Christmas songs tend to feel like abrupt departures from the norm, with a set of rules all their own, and a certain ascribed timelessness that may ensure a somewhat Stepford Wives sameness but also, when the chips fall just right, a perpetual seasonal bonus for the performer in question. Which, let's be honest, is probably why many of the more recent holiday tracks happen. It's with these greater thoughts in mind that we present our 2017 Holiday Mixtape show, in which we unwrap a few ditties you know and a great many you won't. Consider them conversation starters while you're spiking the eggnog. Kevin's Picks ###[I Wish It Was Christmas Today][1] - *Julian Casablancas* ### Mark guessed it was the other way around, but this track's genesis was part of a recurring SNL gag, where [Horatio Sans led a pe

Going to college—in and of itself, sans context—isn't entirely remarkable. Literally thousands of people do it. But when you're the lead singer of a coffee-infused punk band in the early 1980s, and your down time en route to picking up your Ph.D in Biochemistry is spent at the intersection of extended adolescence and minute-long thrash-centric "nerdcore" people tend to notice. And that's before we get to scribbled, iconic mascots. The Descendants Milo Goes To College is an exercise in differentiation: in what happens when we have to grow up, but do so defiantly. And, apparently, in two minutes or less. - Buy Your Own Copy on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**Van Halen** - Jump][2] A Current Affair [**Destroyer** - Tinseltown Swimming In Blood][3]

It's kind of a trick question: when your band sounds a little gloomy to begin with, how can your audience tell when you're despondent? Maybe that's not fair. Maybe it's possible that Bloodflowers, The Cure's 2000 LP and, per Robert Smith, the end of a trilogy that began with Pornography and continued with Disintegration, is less a swan song and more of the meandering treatise you find when your prior formula's brought great fame but there's not much new left in the tank. I, for one, actually enjoyed hearing The Cure in a bit of less popularly refracted light, but the average listener, expecting hits, won't find as many here. Is this album a denouement in disguise? The end of a chapter? You make the call. - Get Your Own Copy! A Few Minutes With [**That Dog** - Minneapolis][2] A Current Affair [**Thee Oh Sees** - Plastic Plant][3]

Start by forgetting all you think you know. Every day is Christmas when you're an LA Garage scene musician, and the songs are presents you can't unwrap quickly enough: they tear through them with reckless abandon, and like musical easter eggs, there always seem to be more in waiting, right around the corner. That same fertile musical playground encouraged the inception of Cory Hanson, who cut his teeth backing linchpin acts like Ty Segall and Mikal Cronin, and the first couple of releases by his act—Wand—only cemented that association. So of course Hanson did something next that no one saw coming. He scrubbed his entire approach. When fans are used to you spitting out two fierce records a year, contemplating a new release to the tune of Plum comes as a surprise. A retooled lineup, thoughtful variances, and shared songwriting duties confounded expectations further. But when the sunlight hits needle on vinyl here, the results are, well, noticeable. Join us as we pull back the curtain. Some additional steps for

Hi-- Let's get into the Dream Syndicate (or perhaps not, as they didn't get into much of anything from the years 1989-2012). Here in 2017, they're back with new work, How Did i Get Here? Spirited discussions ensue as to whether they have moved on from their previous incarnation (ca.1989), from the "Paisley Underground," a scene in Los Angeles that I'm pretty sure I would have been all over had I been a) there and b) of legal age in the eighties (and which also spawned The Bangles, who will forever be my 'band in the closet'). Also, PM Dawn makes an appearance, and this is important. Hey, it beats another sex scandal, right? Buy This Week's Vinyl on Amazon A Few Minutes With [**P.M. Dawn** - Set Adrift On Memory Bliss Of You][2] A Current Affair [**Julien Baker** - Turn Out The Lights][3]

Wolf Alice...Wolf Alice? It's one of those band names like 10,000 Maniacs that reminds you that band names are less about musical content and more about whats funny when you are having beers after band practice... Metallica=Metal+Vodka (not making this up) Was gonna show some more examples, but do I really need to? SO...podcast overlord Chris Cox hates it when I do this, but he's the MAN so fuck it...I'm gonna post some spoilers... Wolf Alice's first LP "My Love Is Cool" (again with the inside jokes?) is one of my absolute favorite records of the last 10 years, I cannot overstate how much I love that album. It is a home run top to bottom. I was hoping "Visions of a Life" by Wolf Alice wasn't a Sophomore slump and when I listened to it I... Podcast Overlord Chris Cox--"Shane!" Shane--"Whatever you're not my real dad..." POCC--"Seriously?! You've been doing this for 3 years!" Shane--"Whatever you're not my real dad..." (inaudible) Upon reflection, I

Are anthems nature or nurture? Maybe that seems a question easily answered, but think again: whereas so many of today's musical tentpoles are crafted to be cranked up to Eleven at your local stadium du jour, Tom Petty's highlighted catalog seemed birthed without the grandiosity later afforded to it by its audience. Petty tracks weren't anthems because they loomed large, they became anthems as they soundtracked our daily to and fro, our impromptu sing-a-longs and rolled down windows. They were easy and omnipresent without overstaying their welcome. This week we take a look back at the legacy of an act just preposterous enough to live next door. He could have been from anywhere, as it turns out, he almost seemed from everywhere. Songs Discussed: [*You Got Lucky*][1] Breakdown Even The Losers Don't Come Around Here No More Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line It's Good To Be King Here Comes My Girl Into The Great Wide Open American Girl