Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of the year so far.

Show notes:

• Recorded at Clicky Clicky world HQ

• Plenty of great rock music, but not on the charts

• It's all about playing live; rock radio exposure is nonexistent

• Billy Squier still gets the airplay

• Nobody's figured out how to make money from streaming music

• Get pumped for Husker Du bootleg box set

• More rock deaths: Berry, Cornell, Allman, Geils

• Rise in musical activism

• Albums we want to hear

• Breitling: Ride, Palehound, Wet Trident

• Kumar: Kurt Vile and Courtney Barnett, Ted Leo, Buffalo Tom, Queens of the Stone Age, Deer Tick, LCD Soundsystem

• Bubbling under albums

• Breitling: Tara Jane O'Neil, Opin, The xx

• Lubec's coming to Boston in August

• Kumar: Chastity Belt, Bash and Pop, Cloud Nothings, White Reaper, At the Drive-In, Black Lips

• Our favorite albums so far

• JB: Spirit of the Beehive combines psych and shoegaze

• JK: Run the Jewels keeps on rolling

• Zach de la Rocha's hardcore past

• JB: Yr Poetry is a Johnny Foreigner side project

• JK: Japandroids bring the rock anthems

• JB: Different sound for Pile

• JK: More anthems from Los Campesinos!

• Cello vs. violin

• To be continued

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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.