Somebody Likes It

HEEEEEYYYYYY!!! We’re back! No, I’m not the Fonz, but I just saw a bumper sticker with that on it, and it made me get a good feeling inside. Mostly, cause the Fonz was supposed to be a TOUGH DUDE, and he was just so god damned cuddly. Ok, on to the business at hand. This week we listened to “Electr-O-Pura” by Yo La Tengo. I liked it quite a bit. Kevin a little less so. But Ryan? Let’s just say somebody took over the first part of this podcast like a drunk fat guy working on a plate of ribs. In fact, I’ll let him tell you a little about it. “On this edition of “Somebody Likes It,” the “Somebody” who “Likes It” is me. A lot. It would be hard to overstate my love for Yo La Tengo’s 1995 release “Electr-O-Pura,” but on this week’s podcast, I definitely give it my best shot. I love this as much as I do “The White Album,” “The Queen is Dead,” or “Fables of the Reconstruction.” If you know me well, you also know that that’s saying a lot. Understandably, Shane and Kevin were less enthusiastic about this record, but,

Air Miami! Before Kevin brought this one up it had long ago been pushed to the sidelines in my brain. I love/hate it when we bring up stuff that directly puts us in a musical paradigm. I just feel as though music (if it’s worth a goddamn) isn’t the sole provenance of the young… There are 12 year olds out there wearing The Smiths and The Doors shirts; 12 year olds that still have crushes on Elvis Presley, John Lennon and Frank Sinatra. But there are bands that are so of their era that, while they were making great music, are so of their moment that they completely date anyone referencing them (Velocity Girl anyone?). Air Miami is one of those. I had never listened to their fey/twee, simple yet gorgeous songs. They paved the way for the (in my opinion) much better fey/twee songwriting of Belle and Sebastian/The Cardigans/The Shins… but they, in an “only could have happened in the 1990s” way, combined a convergence of irony and syrupy that made complete sense at the time.

When I was in 5th grade, the hot girls in my school would choreograph dance routines to Janet Jackson’s “Control”. So naturally I’ve always had a soft spot for that record. I mean, I don’t like the songs, and would never ever choose to listen to them, but for some reason I’ve always thought fondly of it. Nonetheless, Ryan and Kevin had a different take on it. Ryan especially hated it. This week we had our first special guest, Jeff Ryder. Jeff actually thought the record was hot, and he was a fan. Purchase Control on Amazon ### A Few Minutes With ### Jeff was so much a fan of Ryan’s pick for this week’s standalone song, [When in Rome’s heartwarmingly creepy “The Promise”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HI_xFQWiYU). While Ryan, Kevin and I all thought the song was pretty good, Jeff fucking despised it. See, Jeff used to work at a piano bar for many years and had to experience so many drunken sorority girl sing-a-longs set to “The Promise”, the song makes him want to stab his eyes out. Regardless, we loved ha

Oh the things I wanted to say about Vampire Weekend before I was actually forced to listen to their eponymous album (wait for it) “Vampire Weekend”. I was prepared to like it way more than its preppy pedigree (I did)…I was prepared to hear myself deconstruct the album along those lines. But a funny thing happened on the way to getting to where I knew I was gonna get. I ended up really liking the damn thing. Well at least half of it. You can hear all about it in this week’s show. Purchase Manipulator on Amazon ### A Few Minutes With ### Also this week we have a few minutes with one of my personal least favorite songs of the late 90’s [“You Get What You Give” by The New Radicals.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7-CKirWZE) Next week, we have our first guest, Jeff Ryder, and we talk about Janet Jackson’s “Control.” Lovely.

I have a hard time navigating my day if I have more than 2 or three things to accomplish in an afternoon. I do best when I have an entire morning to decide whether it’s gonna be a t-shirt or polo shirt day. So when I read about this Ty Segall motherfucker putting out like 20 albums in the last 5 years, I kind of wanted to punch him in the face. Not just because of his feverish work ethic, but because nobody that puts out that many songs in such a short period of time can possibly write any songs worth a damn (editor note: except Robert Pollard). But then I listened to “Manipulator”, and I have to say I was wrong. I mean the man did take 14 months (I originally typed 14 years, which really would be the opposite of what I’m getting all worked about here) to get this one done, so there’s that, but I went back and listened to some of his earlier stuff, and it’s good too. So now I want to punch the motherfucker in the face for a whole other reason. Well we talked it all out in the garage, really hugged it all out

RONNIE JAMES DIO. It’s nearly impossible to speak the man’s name in any manner other than in all caps. And yeah, the Brothers Newsum met with their ally Shane Bartell in Kevin’s un-air-conditioned lair in order to drink flagons of mead (or chalices of American craft beers) and tell tales of their fallen King, Ronnie James Dio, he of the mighty voice and the tiny legs. Ok, I’m already tired of that schtick. Let’s just say it was only fitting that we discussed “Holy Diver” while sitting in a garage. The humble American garage, where so many Dungeons and Dragons games have been played over the years to a soundtrack of Dio. Not in Kevin’s garage mind you, just in a bunch of other ones. During the course of the show we discovered Ronnie James Dio had an early career as a Doo-Wop singer. Which is kind of mind-blowing. The music wasn’t half bad, but as it’s so rare, we weren’t able to rustle up any tracks to play on air, so you’ll have to look it up yourself. Purchase Holy Diver on Amazon

Holy Shit! Hank Williams Jr. is lazy. I mean, I’m not questioning his actual work ethic or anything (judging from the inclusion of a private jet on the cover of “High Notes”, he probably flies around a lot), no, I’m aiming square at the shit he writes about. Before we took on “High Notes” this week, most of my exposure to Hank Williams had come from his damn NFL stuff, and his penning of the line I consider to be one of the greatest in music EVER: “I’d like to spit some Beech-Nut in that dude’s eye” There has to be some more gems like that one out there right? Not that I can dig up. In fact, that’s pretty much what this week’s show amounts to, us discussing how lazy these songs are. Check the box of just about any requisite country song topic circa 1980 and Williams has got a paint by numbers version of it ready for you here. So I thought when I was writing this, I would go online and pull up some more hilarious examples of his lyrics. But the thing is, they are all pretty much just as lazy and imagination

THE SUPER BADASS LABOR DAY MIX-TAPE SHOW!!!! So, after last week’s show (where-in we discuss the objectively god awful “Live Through This”), Ryan, Kevin, and Myself were having a well-deserved post-show beer (look, this shit is hard…not like lifting a car over your head hard, more like convincing your nephew that there’s no more “rest of the candy” hard) and we decided to do something special for our Labor Day show. Kevin wisely pointed out that no-one would even hear the show until like 10 days after Labor Day, but I didn’t see any reason to act like it didn’t even happen (yeah, apparently Kevin is spearheading a “War on Grilling Out”…where’s your outrage Bill O’Reilly?). After all, we could just tell everybody what the deal was. Eventually, I won this argument. We settled in to discuss the format. Several weeks ago we had begun entertaining the idea of a companion show. Well, not really a companion show, rather a Chester the Terrier to our Spike the Bulldog. The idea basically would be where we normally tal

Few court controversy like Courtney Love. Whether we’re talking about her fiery role as Mrs. Kurt Cobain, her occasionally (and reputedly) laissez-faire turn as maternal figure, or, perhaps, her grunge-to-glam trajectory as lyricist and lead singer of the band Hole, Courtney and company lit a twisted fuse of stardom, baggage and frayed anger on Live Through This that seems to stalk her to this day. Though we can’t help but wonder…is all the praise surrounding this release, well…warranted? Buckle in for some spirited chatter in our latest episode of Somebody Likes It. Elsewhere: EXPERIENCE the magic as we discover how a jar of Rodney Dangerfield’s sweat (kept, posthumously, and refrigerated by his wife) is like the Declaration of Independence (or not). RELISH the fervor with which Shane shakes an angry fist at this record, whereupon he suggests that screeching is too kind a word, really, to use when describing Courtney Love’s pipes. HEAR some Dad jokes that are both A) terrible and B) groan-worthy, and discove

What does one say about Josh Tillman? He is an odd dude. That said, the three of us kind of had a love-in discussing the Father John Misty Album “Fear Fun”. I earned back some good-will after the whole Bon Jovi incident (which I’m gonna need when they see what I have planned next.) A few Josh Tillman quotes: On the writing of Fear Fun: “I got into my van with enough mushrooms to choke a horse and started driving down the coast with nowhere to go. After a few weeks, I was writing a novel, which is where I finally found my narrative voice…. It was a while before that voice started manifesting in a musical way, but once I settled in the Laurel Canyon spider-shack where I’m living now, I spent months demoing all these weird-ass songs about weird-ass experiences almost in real-time, and kind of had this musical ‘Oh-there-I-am’ moment, identical to how I felt when I was writing the book.” On the name “Father John Misty”: “I had to give it a name, so I kind of wanted to confuse people with this ridiculous red her

So… some people have called me out because in our last installment I teased this week’s show with the wrong artist. I said it was gonna be Father John Misty, when in fact it is Pavement. Ok, let’s just say that I was that somebody…nobody but me actually knew about that snafu, cause this show hadn’t been posted yet. But credit where credit is due I think! Shout out to Shane Bartell for not continuing to ignore his fuck-up. Well, you’re welcome, Shane, getting a little too comfortable with picking up the pieces for you by now… please quit screwing up so we don’t have to do this one again. Ok! Now that this embarrassing incident is behind us, let’s get on to the story. For some of us that came of age in the 90’s, Pavement pretty much defined the middle part of that decade ( for a whole hell of a lot of people it defined the whole decade.) I fall somewhere in the middle of that line of thinking…Pavement was everywhere but always in the background. I have many fond memories set to their soundtrack. For this episod

Hey everybody, check this shit out! We’re back! We haven’t gotten fired yet, and I don’t know about you guys, but as far as I’m concerned, that is NOT a familiar feeling. Thanks Chris and Brian! Finally somebody has faith in my crazy ideas! (I’m looking at you Mom). This week we take on the truly groundbreaking 1988 classic, “Straight Outta Compton”. I was tempted to write this in some clever fashion, with lots of puns and references to how white we are, but as funny and subversive that kind of humor is, I guess I’m just feeling a little blasé this week. I do want to comment on how hilariously silly the lyrics to this album are, and how much things have changed in the intervening 25 years since Straight Outta Compton was released. What seemed scary and “other” has been so co-opted, that now even the unintentionally hilarious is just as funny as the intentional. In fact, sometimes it’s hard for me to discern between the two. When we were recording I kept trying to remind myself to tell a story but I eventually

EXCERPTS FROM SHANE BARTELL’S DIARY Dear Diary, I’ve never felt sadistic until right now. I’ve told Kevin and Ryan that the next album I’ve chosen for us to discuss is Bon Jovi-“Slippery When Wet”. I know we’ve all been friends for many years, and I know that SHOULD provide some goodwill…but will they actually/eventually forgive me? Can I forgive myself for making them cram that nonsense into their ears…we’ll see. —Shane > **Dear Diary,** After attempting an initial listen, I now know that the goodwill I was counting on might not be enough. Even now, I’m steeling myself for a second dive into this cesspool. So far I’ve only been able to stomach 2 songs. I’ve already gotten a few late night texts from Ryan about how much he hates me for making him do this, and while I think he’s kidding (mostly), I really can’t tell anymore. —Shane > **Dear Diary,** What was I thinking? I thought this would be funny, and though it is, I can say with all seriousness that I wasn’t counting on the fact that I ALSO HAVE

Hello everyone, so nice to see you all again! Allow me to welcome you to Round 3 of “Somebody Likes It”, wherein your three hosts gather in Kevin’s garage and try not to die from heat stroke. It’s summer time in Austin Texas, and for some unknown reason, not one of us remembered that without an air conditioner in Kevin’s garage, things were bound to get a little steamy. And I don’t mean like in a Sexy Movie way. Even leaving the beer fridge open was no help. At one point I almost lost an arm when it stuck to recording table. For our third episode, we decided to tackle “Rumors” by Fleetwood Mac. At first glance it seemed kind of an odd choice to me (Ryan’s turn to choose), but when I was listening to it I realized that so many of the songs had become like wall paper to me. Their ubiquitous nature had removed any emotion from them. However, this is one of the bestselling records of all time. At 40 million sold (and counting) somebody really fucking likes this. I think we all came to the realization that the bac

Welcome back dear listener for another edition of “Somebody Likes It”, the show that every week takes a purposefully ambiguous concept and rambles in circles obscuring it even more. The reviews are in from the first show and they are resoundingly MIXED! That right, some of you found our stories hilarious and some of you just wanted us to get to the point. I will say that I feel confident that as the weeks go on we’ll be pulling those two extremes together, right now we’re still figuring this stuff out. So there. Ok, on to this week’s show. This week we’ll be discussing Paul’s Boutique, the record that set the stage for the second act of the Beastie Boys career. I think after the show we all walked away with a better understanding of why Ryan thinks the Beastie Boys are always yelling at him. Purchase Paul's Boutique on Amazon ### Coming Up ### Fleetwood Mac and their FM Radio Juggernaut “Rumors”. Some people out there really like that record.

Hello my little chickadees, and welcome to “Somebody Likes It”…the show that takes a slippery idea and wanders around aimlessly, all the while attempting to keep that idea as slippery as it possibly can be. Now, there’s a couple of ways to view this concept. The easiest target to hit, and also the closest to our original intention, is that the 3 of us will drink copious amounts of liquor and talk about an album that, while very important to a lot of people, none of us have really spent any time with. This doesn’t mean that said record is a cult classic, nay dear reader, as our intent is quite contrary to that line of thinking. Our idea is to dig into music beloved by a swath of humanity, but not necessarily us; which is not to say we don’t like the music, or that we’re unfamiliar with the music. Rather, the 3 of us want to become more familiar with it…imagine you’re sitting in a garage with your 2 best friends and somebody opines “Hey, you don’t really know the Kinks, cause you never really listened to a Kink