Bad Music Hertz: Recent Episodes

The Barrowclift Sibs

Three siblings celebrating and discussing their favorite records.

View Details

Support the Official ReleaseYou can listen to Carpenters’ self-titled 1971 release on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase the LP on:

  • Amazon Music

Notes Carpenters’ discography up to their self-titled: + 1969’s Ticket to Ride + 1970’s Close to You * Carpenters’ Christmas Portrait, which we discussed at length in Episode 18. * Eagles’ Desperado, which Michael wrote on at length here. * The Beatles’ self-titled, most commonly referred to as simply The White Album. Marc mused off-hand that Carpenters’ strikingly simple album art reminded him of The White Album’s cover art. * Craig Braun—credited for the design of Carpenters’ iconic typographic logo—is most well known for his work on the The Rolling Stones’ “Tongue and Lips” logo. * Michael mused that Carpenters’ logo reminded him of Lucasfilm’s logo, which similarly showcases typographic symmetry. * Richard’s ridiculous shirt in the LP’s gatefold. * Despite his love of the record, Michael said Lord Huron’s Strange Trails sometimes drags (mentioned when noting how brisk and easy Carpenters is for any given listen). Listen to Episode 2 for a full deep-dive. * John Bettis, who shares in songwriting credit with Richard throughout the album. * Gerry Rafferdy, Randy Newman, and Devendra Banhart to Marc’s ears all had similar inflections or delivery to Richard. * Paul Williams and his original performance of “Rainy Days and Mondays”, which caught Michael’s ire since to his ears Paul’s delivery had an unusual cadence and timing that failed to properly match the backing instrumental. * The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine”. Fun song, terrible anchor for a Jimmy Buffett concert. * Lord Huron’s Vide Noir & Tame Impala’s Lonerism Michael felt both rode the fine line of being almost too over-baked, but were able to stick the landing and make it work. * “Groupie (Superstar)” by Delaney & Bonnie, which while performed adequately, Marc & Michael both felt didn’t capture the track’s core essence like Carpenters did. * “Superstar”’s backing instrumentals were performed by none other than the Wrecking Crew, famous collection of studio musicians who performed for the likes of Sonny & Cher, The Mamas & The Papas, and of course the Beach Boys on Pet Sounds. * Don’t lie, you love that scene from Tommy Boy, too. * Abbey Road’s Side 2 Medley, arguably the most well known rock medley in history. * Lonesome Dove, the miniseries Michael mentioned on the show and has been trying to get me to watch for years. * The Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle, which Marc felt “Druscilla Penny” could slip right into. * Henry Menchini, highly regarded as one of the greatest film composers in history. * Go home, Apple Music, you’re drunk. * 1970’s Lovers and Other Strangers, featuring the original recording of “For All We Know” by Robb Royer and Jimmy Griffin. * Michael found Fighting Shadows by Jefferson Bethke and Jon Tyson to share similar themes in its use of “shadows” as Randy Sparks’ use in “(A Place To) Hide Away”. * In “For All We Know”, Michael found it shared some lyrical connections with Fleet Foxes’ “Montezuma”. * Lord Huron’s Lonesome Dreams*, a record Michael similarly finds to be extremely familiar, comforting, and extremely easy to listen to start to finish.

References Karen’s performance on “Superstar” was recorded in a single take: the first one. * The Wrecking Crew getting their name from the grey hairs at the company that felt “Rock ‘n Roll” would ruin the industry. * Carpenters were indeed the first to record Sometimes. The instrumental recording Michael referenced was released in 1972, a year after Carpenters’ performance on their self-titled. * “Sunday Firesides: Be Someone’s Atmospheric Getaway” on Dying Breed, which Michael said exactly described the way Carpenters makes him feel; Carpenters* is an emotionally warm sonic getaway.

“What are you telling your partner? Well as far as I can tell if you live with someone [prior to the commitment of marriage] here’s what you’re saying to each other: ‘you’re the best I can manage at the moment’.”
Dr. Jordan B. Peterson in “Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Live With Your Significant Other Before Marriage”

Art♫︎

View Details

Support the Official ReleaseYou can listen to Jimmy Buffett’s Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes on:

  • Amazon Music

Links Michael’s writeup on Jimmy Buffett’s A1A mentioned during the show. * Kenny Chesney, the other artist that was on heavy rotation during family vacations while growing up. * Only you can stop ruining songs by mindlessly repeating them: + “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, among the heaviest played Journey tracks and one which Michael famously detests as a result. + “Yesterday” by The Beatles, among the heaviest played Beatles tracks and one which Marc famously detests as a result. * Steve Goodman’s “Banana Republics” * Jimmy Buffett’s autobiography A Pirate Looks at Fifty, which Michael references throughout the episode. * “Johnathan Baham, songwriter of Lovely Cruise”, the BuffettNews.com forum discussion of the mysterious songwriter mentioned on the show. * “In the Shelter”’s many appearances + 1971’s High Cumberland Jubilee + 1977’s Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes + 2003’s Meet Me in Margaritaville* * Jesse Winchester’s “Biloxi” * The Toledo Blade front-page interview with Fingers Taylor on his departure from the band.

References

“Key West is like an old dirty carpet; you shake it out and everything falls to the bottom. Everybody from the whole East Coast wound up at the end of the road in Key West at one point or another.”
Jimmy Buffett quoting friend P.J. O’Rourke in the Delaney “I Have Found Me A Home” video interviews

“The pavement runs out at the little village of Tambor, and we stop for cold drinks. Where the pavement ends and the dust begins is also the place where the time warp takes over. It has been only two days since we were opening Christmas presents in Palm Beach, but now we are bouncing along a dirt road in another world. When you are traveling on a trip like this in the right frame of mind, time and space will change. Things that seemed absolutely necessary two days ago slip from your mind. You find yourself looking out the window of the plane, boat, or car and daydreaming about going native. Time becomes something to be used, not saved. Many years ago, when I first experienced this feeling, I wrote a song about it called ‘Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes.’ It worked then, and it’s working now, as we drive west to the ocean in the land of pura vida.”
Jimmy Buffett’s autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty

“As we drive to the airport the next morning [in Guadeloupe], we talk about the sentimentality we both seem to hold about the places we came from. Kino is a world traveler, but he is still attached to his roots in Guadeloupe. That kind of connection to the land is also a very Southern trait. I too move around the globe in an almost constant state of motion, but when I think of home, I think about Pascagoula and the eastern shore of Mobile Bay, not Long Island or Florida. Home is where you come from. It is not where you live at the present time, and though I doubt I will ever live in Alabama again, I will always think of it as home.”
Jimmy Buffett’s autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty

Taylor is proud of the musical achievements of Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band, particularly the first three albums, but he feels that somewhere along the line their leader became more interested in making money and using gimmicks onstage than in making quality music.

“We had a lot of fun, but we were always negotiating for more money and of course he’s never been one to let go of that stuff,” Taylor said. “I had some issues with him over money and a retirement fund, which we never had, although he did put a little something together for us eventually.”

The concerts began to lose their appeal for Taylor.

“It had all gotten to be a rote deal. The same old crap, the same show biz stuff, dancing girls and exploding props, this that and the other. I was tired of that. He’s a big-time businessman now and I think that’s what he really enjoys the most. Music is secondary. And music has always been the most important thing to me.”
Fingers Taylor in his interview with the Toledo Blade

“Life is a journey that’s measured not in miles or years but in experiences, and the route your life takes is built not of roads but of songs. How far is it from Key West to Miami? To some it is 147 miles. To me, it is about eleven songs.”
Jimmy Buffett’s autobiography, A Pirate Looks at Fifty

Art♫︎

View Details

Support the Official ReleaseYou can listen to Band of Horses’ Infinite Arms on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Infinite Arms on:

  • Amazon Music

Links Marvis Pro, the iOS music player Michael mentioned using to see his play counts. * Vacationer’s Relief, the only album that came close to Infinite Arms’s play count number in Michael’s library. You can read Michael’s previous review on the record here. * Michael mentioned having a Fracture print of Infinite Arms, which is a picture printed directly on glass for a minimal, sleek presentation. This is his current collection. * Sun Kil Moon’s Benji, the album Marc claimed to be a perfect foil to the easily digestible and repeatable Infinite Arms. You can listen to our previous discussion on the record in Episode 8. * Band of Horses’ new lineup during Infinite Arms, and would remain unchanged for years—the first “true” Band of Horses lineup: + Benjamin Bridwell + Creighton Barret + Ryan Monroe + Bill Reynolds + Tyler Ramsey * The star at the center of the pivot point in the album art is Polaris (more commonly known as the “North Star”). The star seems to stand still in long exposure photography while the rest of the northern hemisphere stars spin around it due to the North Star being in a (mostly) direct line with the Earth’s rotational axis with respect to the North Pole. * Christopher Wilson, the Photographer for Infinite Arms’s cover art and all the band’s album art up to that point. (information courtesy of the Albums app on iOS). * Michael’s insane graph of “vibrancy”/”energy” by track number * Infinite Arms was nominated for “Best Alternative Music Album” for the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011, the same year Arcade Fire famously secured Album of the Year with The Suburbs. You can read Marc’s thoughts on The Suburbs here. * Marc found “Factory” to share similarities with Paul McCartney and Wings’s “Let Me Roll It” off 1973’s Band on the Run and Vacationer’s “Turning” off 2018’s Mindset. You can read Marc’s review of Band on the Run here or listen to our discussion on Mindset in Episode 14. * “Factory” utilizes both a Memotron and Theremin. The Theremin also appeared in Lord Huron’s “Love Like Ghosts” & “Way Out There” off 2015’s Strange Trails, and you can listen to our previous discussion on that record in Episode 2. * Michael’s writeup on Jimmy Buffett’s A1A mentioned during the show can be found here, the finest publication on the site thus far. * The Last Bison’s Quill, a record Michael felt was similar to “Compliments” since they both are high in character and charm in large part because of their imperfections. * Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House, the record Marc felt similarly leaned into “everything & the kitchen sink” production. * Eagles, a classic rock band Michael could very easily see playing “Laredo” * ChrisCorradi’s comment on the “bullet in my Kai Lorenzo” lyric on genius.com * “Band Of Horses Survived… Barely”, The SPIN interview Marc mentioned where Ben touches on his then-recent separation with his spouse. * “Grumpy Old Men” (the 1993 film) and “Old City Bar” by Trans-Siberian Orchestra both evoked similar feelings and visuals in Michael as “Blue Beard”. * The Explorer’s Club, a classic rock & roll and classic pop-influenced band that Marc found strikingly similar to Band of Horses’ experiments in “Blue Beard” and “Dilly”. * “I need more cowbell!” * Long in the Tooth and Repo Records referenced in the show are Marc’s favorite record haunts in the Philly area. Support your local music stores! * Marc kept saying “Dilly” was very “70’s” but meant to say “60’s” (oops). * Ludo’s “Good Will Hunting by Myself”, the song Michael mentioned takes the stereotypical “I’m better off without you, anyway” attitude from pop breakup songs and cranks it up to a comical extreme. * Admiral Fallow, the band Michael mentioned was also sometimes similarly “rough” in vocal delivery like in “Evening Kitchen” and also works because of those edges. * Arcade Fire’s “We Used To Wait”—which explicitly and intentionally makes the audience “wait” for a final chorus that never again returns—Michael cheekily claimed to be the antithesis to the infinitely repeating chorus in “Older”. * “Basement Shows” (also known as “House Shows”), a staple of Philadelphia college life. * “Are You My Neightbor?”, a deep cut Marc made to the classic VeggieTales episode. Yes, this was a real thing. * Grizzly Bear’s “Colorado”, a song Marc found just as boring as “Neighbor”. Yes Michael, I will* put it down there. * The Arcade Fire lyric Marc was flopping around trying to remember is “Took a drive into the sprawl / To find the house where we used to stay”, where their usage of “house” instead of “home” is meant to communicate emotional distance and lack of attachment to the physical place they grew up. * Please use a good podcast player! * Rooibos tea is best tea. * Premium Steap and August Tea are incredible tea suppliers and are “Marc & Michael Approved”. Don’t just drink Lipton and say our tea tastes like soap, anonymous coworker of Michael’s.

ReferencesListed in order of reference on the show.

“We actually started with a tonne of songs—about twenty-five or so—so we didn’t even know which ones would make it, or which ones were good or bad really. So you don’t really know until you’re recording them, because we weren’t really playing a lot of them live, so once they’re recorded you’re like, ‘Okay, this actually sounds like a real song, and this one sounds like a joke’—we’re just taking the piss out of some soul song or something, you know? So we kinda learned as we went, like, ‘Oh wow, is what the record sounds like’.”
“Band Of Horses Interview”, CLASH

“‘We have this time off before we gotta go back out on the road again—let’s just go do it ourselves. We’ll get another engineer… We think we know what the songs sound like—let’s just go for it’. And so we were like, “This is actually really fun”. That’s when we really discovered we don’t have to beat each other up on this, we can just have fun with it and enjoy the process.”
“Band Of Horses Interview”, CLASH

“I did stretch myself pretty much to being broke, at the same time we didn’t have to worry about anybody even coming in and hearing mixes or anything, we could really take our time with it.”
“Band Of Horses Interview”, CLASH

“It’s the first time the line-up hasn’t been this revolving door. With this record it’s a real band that I’m part of. No one’s going anywhere, everyone’s contributing to the songwriting process and this is our coming-out party.”
“Band of Horses: Infinite Arms Q&A with Ben Bridwell, Uncut Magazine (archive)”

“… But that’s the best part about it—the fact that it is a mystery. People get the lyrics wrong—I do that all the time with my favorite songs. You read the lyrics five years later, or hear it differently, and you’re like, ‘Oh, I always kinda sang something to that effect when I was singing along, but I didn’t really realize what they were talking about’, you know? In a way it’s like little hints come around and the mystery kinda reveals itself, but the fact that people don’t really know is my favorite part, because that’s what I appreciate about songs as well.”
“Band Of Horses Interview”, CLASH

[With Regards to “Factory”] “I was listening to a lot of Nick Drake and was really enamored by the string arrangements in his songs. Also, I was trying to make it a bit dramatic sounding in a Bittersweet Symphony kinda way.”
“Track-byTrack: Band of Horses’ Infinite Arms”, THE SKINNY

“I was actually out writing songs for the new record, and I had some crazy stuff going on. That song just kind of ended up tapping me on the shoulder. Even though some of it is a bit maybe too autobiographical for my own tastes, a lot of it dances around subjects like all my songs do. I try not to be too specific.”
Infinite Arms: A conversation with Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell”, Mike Ragogna of HuffPost Entertainment

“We got to the point where we were touring so much that nowhere was really home. So I figured, at least if I’m gonna come home after these long stretches of traveling, it would nice to be around my family; my parents, and my brother and sister are having babies. So it was like, when I come home, at least I’m close enough so I get to see them at least twice a year compared to like maybe once a year.”
“Band Of Horses Interview”, CLASH

“This song [‘Infinite Arms’] deals a lot with the major theme of the record, and being the title track that’s maybe a little obvious, but this is one I’m not quite ready to unveil the mask on. But I can tell you that it almost didn’t make the record.”
“Track-byTrack: Band of Horses’ Infinite Arms”, THE SKINNY

“We went bonkers with Infinite Arms, because we could. It was a challenge to see what we could do, but we also overcooked some shit.”
“Band of Horses: Mystery Riders”, Magnet Magazine

Art♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Carpenters’ Christmas Portrait on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Christmas Portrait on:

  • Amazon Music

  • Carpenters’ “Superstar”, featured in this classic car ride karaoke scene from Tommy Boy.
  • Episode 3: “The Christmas Draft”, where Marc drafts “Merry Christmas Darling” & discusses at length with Michael & Aimee. Check it out for a more thorough discussion on the track.
  • Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys
    • Brian Wilson (self-titled, 1988). Certain segments and tracks on this record strongly resemble Richard’s on tracks like “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear”.
    • That’s Why God Made the Radio (2012), which Michael felt too strongly resembled Richard’s vocal style (and not in a good way).
  • We listened to Christmas Portrait (Special Edition) from 1984, which is a compilation of select tracks from…
    • Christmas Portrait (original 1978 release)
    • An Old-Fashioned Christmas (1984)
  • Karen’s voice type is contralto, which is a somewhat rare vocal range you might recognize from artists like…
    • Niko
    • Beach House’s Victoria Legrand
  • May Crowning, you know, where songs like “Ave Maria” actually belong.
  • “Is ‘Ave Maria’ really a Christmas song?” by Marc Minter, a senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Diana, TX. The correct answer is, “it’s not.”
  • Michael’s “A Christmas Song” judgements
    • S Tier: Nat “King” Cole
    • So close! Amy Grant (see Episode 3 for the context behind Michael’s “branded by an iron” joke)
    • Honorable Mention: Bing Crosby
    • Clunker: Christina Aguilera
    • Surprisingly Good, But Blows It: Shawn Mendes
    • Just No: Pentatonix
    • Self Important Rubbish: Michael Bublé
  • More on the history behind Merry Christmas Darling
  • The app Michael mentioned is Marvis Pro, one of the finest music players available today
  • “It’s Over 9000!”
  • HBO’s The Last of Us Trailer (Marc was confusing it with the HBO 2023 Lineup trailer)

♫︎

View Details

Our shuffle results (Spoilers!)

  1. Marc: “Michicant”, off Bon Ivers’ self-titled
  2. Michael: “Empty Room”, off Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs
  3. Marc: “Who Can I Turn To?”, off Tony Bennett & Bill Evans’ Together Again
  4. Michael: “Won’t Want for Love (Margaret In the Taiga”, off The Decemberists’ Hazards of Love
  5. Marc: “I Want To Tell You”, off The Beatles’ Revolver
  6. Michael: “Quiet Air / Gioia”, off ~Robin Pecknolds’ solo album~ Fleet Foxes’ Shore
  7. Marc: “Wake Up Sunshine”, off Chicago’s Chicago II
  8. Michael: “Blue Ridge Bazaar”, off River Valley Rangers’ Wide Open
  9. Marc: “It Was A Pleasure Then”, off Niko’s Chelsea Girl
  10. Michael: “This Changes Everything”, off The Last Bison’s Dorado EP

  • Michael’s etched stone slab he calls a laptop, the 15” Mid 2012 MacBook Pro.
  • Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us: Part 1
  • The iRiver iFP-390T, the old MP3 player our sister & honorable co-host, Aimee, bestowed onto Michael many years ago
    • Bewilderingly in a triangular Toblerone shape. What a wild time that was.
  • Link to high resolution Bon Iver artwork to explore the details discussed on the show
  • Deep Blue, the Chess artificial intelligence that was the first to beat Grant Master Garry Kasperof in a game on February 1996 (though Kasparov did indeed pull through and win the overall match that year)
  • No Dumb Questions, Episode 141: “Weak People Make Bad Times”
  • The Incomparable Episode 173z: “Human Santapede”, the undisputed king of all Christmas music podcast episodes where Tony Bennett & Bill Evans’ Together Again was mentioned.
  • My Brightest Diamond
  • Tim Burton
  • Admiral Fallow
  • Paul McCartney & Wings
  • Marc got the name wrong, that repulsive laboratory-clean band is called Pentatonix. It’s bad.
  • The Last Bison’s first and independently released LP, Quill
  • Marc’s a bozo, “I Want to Tell You” is technically in the A major key and simply features intentionally harsh and dissonant chords in the later-half of the verse progression. Please write in to tell him how wrong he is.
  • George Harrison’s “Something” off The Beatles’ Abbey Road and his double LP, All Things Must Pass
  • Fleet Foxes’ current members, as of November 2022:
    • Robin Pecknold
    • Skyler Skjelset
    • Casey Wescott
    • Morgan Henderson
    • Christian Wargo
    • Christopher Icasiano
  • “Wading In Waist-High Water” guest artist is Uwade Akhere, who apparently did record her part in-person
  • Examples of Chicago “Necedah Oldies” at our Aunt & Uncles’ property:
    • “25 Or 6 To 4”
    • “Saturday Tn the Park”
    • “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day”
  • “Gary needs a new pair of shoes!”
  • Special shoutout to Amos Housworth for his kindness at Philadelphia’s World Cafe Live back during the Süda tour, hope to see you & the band again soon!
  • Trixie & Katia’s UNHhhh
  • Check out our site’s new dark theme! Switch your operating system into “dark mode” to view.
  • In contrast to what’s reported in the aftershow, Marc ended up fixing their previous, subpar typeface by replacing it altogether with Work Sans (and did end up regenerating all previous episode art, after all)
  • B.O.A.T stands for Bust Out Another Thousand”, by Dude Dad

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Lord Huron’s Vide Noir on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Vide Noir on:

  • Amazon Music

  • Lord Huron’s discography leading up to Vide Noir
    • Mighty - EP (2010)
    • Into the Sun - EP (2010)
    • Lonesome Dreams (2012)
    • Strange Trails (2015)
  • Berkley (Michael and Kailie’s dog), certified best doggo in the world
  • Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, WI
  • Lord Huron’s “Video Postcard” promotional shorts
  • “Fool For Love” music video from 2015’s Strange Trail
  • Vide Noir 2 minute album teaser
  • Vide Noir’s 30 minute album promo “Products of the Universe with Marsha Tanley”, which among many things spoofs shopping channels from the 80’s
  • Vide Noir’s listing on IMDb
  • Mentioned credits
    • Mixer: Dave Fridmann
    • Masterer: Greg Calbi
  • Fortune teller machines (the one we remember was “Zoltar”)
  • Long Lost, Lord Huron’s 2021 follow-up to Vide Noir (don’t worry, we’ll get to it at some point)
  • Direct link to our Episode 2: Strange Trails conversation where Aimee asked where we thought the band would go next for their then-unannounced third LP.
  • Jesca Hoop’s Memories Are Now
  • The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
  • IMDb’s Vide Noir page
  • Michael’s Easter Egg Hunt
    • “The Night We Met” Official Lyric Video
      • CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: EMERALD STAR CC SERVICES
      • Flash of the Emerald Star at the very end (watch closely!)
    • “Products of the Universe with Marsha Tanley”
      • “Spiritual Advisor to Ms. Tanley: GEORGE RANGER JOHNSON”
  • “Brain Scratch”, Cowboy Bebop’s 23rd episode
  • Hannah Hillam’s relevant comic

Quotes

“Balancer’s Eye” is one we created ourselves, making up our own myths as we go. We’re trying to keep it so all that stuff is still around in this world too. You’ll see things that appeared on other records, ideas or names cross over to [Vide Noir]. In movies and literature and comic books, I’ve always liked where there’s connectedness or crossover. We need someone to control the lore and keep tabs on it [laughs].

Inverview with Ben Schneider in Stereogum’s “A Look Inside The Insular World Of Lord Huron”, by Ian Cohen

SCHNEIDER: You know, I guess I haven’t had to yet, so I’m not sure, at least with “Strange Trails.” On “Lonesome Dreams” there was kind of a central character named George Ranger Johnson, who is this really underappreciated, prolific author.

BLOCK: Who you invented, yeah.

SCHNEIDER: Who I invented, yes. But he - yeah, I do kind of miss George. You know, he might pop back up again some time.

BLOCK: You haven’t seen the last of him yet?

SCHNEIDER: Haven’t seen the last of George Ranger Johnson, no.

Interview with Ben Schneider in NPR’s “Lord Huron Wants You To Dance At The Apocalypse”, by Melissa Block

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Grizzly Bear’s Shields on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Shields on:

  • Amazon Music

  • Grizzly Bear’s discography
    • Yellow House (2006)
    • Veckatimest (2009)
    • Shields (2012)
    • Painted Ruins (2017)
  • “Damn BOI HE THICC”
  • Albums: available now for free on the iOS App Store
  • Mentioned credits:
    • Ben Wilkerson Tousley
    • Richard Diebenkorn
    • Michael H. Brauer
    • Ryan Gilligan
    • Bob Ludwig
  • “That Guy” is Real Estate’s Alex Bleeker, who famously writes a token song per album, such as:
    • “Wonder Years” from 2011’s Days
    • “How Might I Live” from 2014’s Atlas
    • “Diamond Eyes” from 2017’s In Mind
  • Shields: B-Sides
  • Aftershow: The Last of Us Part II. If you haven’t played it, play it. It’s a masterpiece.

Quotes

Chris Bear and I went to Mexico for a month. It was in Baja, this cute little cheap place. There was no one around, no cell reception. We could focus on doing stuff. We wrote ten songs and were so stoked. Then we brought it to the other two guys and they were like, “We’re not understanding what you’re going for here. This isn’t really our vibe.” We were deflated. The only song from the Mexico sessions that made it was “Yet Again.”

Ed Droste, genius.com

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Supertramp’s Breakfast In America on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Breakfast In America on:

  • Amazon Music

  • Michael’s review on 2014’s “Relief”
  • Vacationer’s Discography leading up to Mindset
    • Gone (2012)
    • Relief (2014)
  • Phoenix
    • Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (2009)
    • Entertainment (2013)
  • Kenny’s other projects
    • The Starting Line
    • Person L
  • “Mindset” Cannabis strain merch
  • Paul McCartney & Wings’ “Let Me Roll It”
  • WALK THE MOON
  • Mumford & Sons
  • LUDO
    • HalLUDOween

Quotes

“And that’s one of the things that I really enjoyed, was that first time I’d hear him hunting for a chord change and I’d think ‘Man, he’s just gone right off the edge because he’s not ever gonna get close. He’s way out there in some area that’s just–he’ll never get back. And if he’s successful, gets out of there, people are going to say, I’ve lost my tone center, don’t know where the hell I am and stuff. And then, eventually, he’d figure out what it was he wanted to do. A lot of it was just hunting and pecking, the way some of us type.”

“Tony Asher Interview”, AlbumLinerNotes.com

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Supertramp’s Breakfast In America on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Breakfast In America on:

  • Amazon Music

  • I Spy book series by Scholastic
  • Breakfast in America chart position data
  • Supertramp discography leading up to Breakfast In America:
    • Supertramp (1970)
    • Indelibly Stamped (1971)
    • Crime of the Century (1974)
    • Crisis? What Crisis? (1975)
    • Even in the Quietest Moments… (1977)
  • Hello Internet
  • High-level Supertramp biography from AllMusic.com
  • Wurlitzer keyboard
  • Calvin and Hobbes’ “Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs” (the beanie arc)
  • Learn about Muzak, listen to Muzak, become one with Muzak
  • Sturgill Simpson’s “Call To Arms”
  • Lord Huron’s “Ghost On the Shore”
  • Similar, but different
    • Supertramp’s “Child Of Vision” compared to Gorillaz’s “Empire Ants” ft. Little Dragon
    • Blondie’s “Heart Of Glass” compared to Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II (Mountains Byeond Mountains”)
    • Arcade Fire & Debbie Harry of Blondie performing “Heart Of Glass” together then gracefully segueing into “Sprawl II” in Coachella 2014
  • Gym Class Heroes’ “Cupid’s Chokehold” ft. Patrick Stump

References

Q: Was the goal going into the sessions to create the kind of record that could be that sort of huge commercial breakthrough for you?

A: Well, you know, it was no different to other albums. I was usually the one who chose the songs and tried to create the best 40-minute listening experience. With “Crime of the Century,” it was a much more introverted kind of deep. I don’t know what to call it. It was an introspective journey, maybe. And then with “Breakfast in America,” Rick (Davies), the other songwriter, we wrote separately, and I had to really look at what songs he had and he wasn’t as prolific as I was. I’ve always had 40 or 50 songs in my pocket to choose from. And so, I kind of saw what he had written and then kind of dipped into my bag and chose the songs that matched his and created the best kind of listening journey. ‘Cause that’s how I viewed it. It wasn’t, “What’s the hit on this album?” The song “Breakfast in America,” I wrote that 12 years before I chose it. But it felt like “OK, this is the collection of songs that this song might belong on.” So we included it. And obviously it was a great album title so we chose that.

Q: What was the appeal for you of leaving England for America? What brought you over?

A: I loved America as a whole but when I landed in California, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I was raised in England. I’d been in England for 23 years. And I was really a young, confused man who really needed to kind of reinvent himself. I was doing a lot of experimenting. I’d become a vegetarian. I was looking into spiritual things. And that was not in vogue in England at the time. So it was very hard for me to be either, a vegetarian or interested in spiritual things. But I landed in California and there was a health food store on every corner. It was like “Wow.” Everyone spoke my language. I just loved it. The space and the weather. For a very introverted Englishman, it was wonderful. It was very medicinal. And I kind of started to reinvent myself and reawaken sides of me that had been dormant up until that point.

“Interview: Roger Hodgson of Supertramp looks back on ‘Breakfast in America’”, azcentral

“In three days with the band, I don’t think I saw Davies and Hodgson converse once, other than to exchange courteous greetings.”

Harry Doherty in The Supertramp Book, by Martin Melhuish

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Father John Misty’s Pure Comedy on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase The Epic on:

  • Amazon Music

  • Father John Misty’s other discography mentioned in-show:
    • 2012’s Fear Fun
    • 2015’s I Love You, Honeybear
  • Josh Tillman’s history with Fleet Foxes
    • The New York Times’ “How the Fleet Foxes Frontman Got Out to Get Back In”
      • “We all started hating each other. There were a lot of tears.”
    • Robin Pecknold’s AMA (1, 2)
  • Fleetwood Mac’s “Little Lies”
  • Reddit’s /r/im14andthisisdeep/
  • Bo Burnam & “Repeat Stuff”
  • Jimmy Buffett
  • Fleet Foxes’ Helplessness Blues
  • Omnipotence Paradox

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Kamasi Washington’s The Epic on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase The Epic on:

  • iTunes
  • Amazon Music

  • Thundercat
  • Call and Response (music)
  • Kamasi Washington’s Harmony of Difference EP
  • Cherokee (a.k.a. “Indian Love Song”) by Ray Noble, 1938
  • University of North Texas One O’Clock Lab Band covering Ray Noble’s “Cherokee”
  • Clifford Brown and Max Roach covering Ray Noble’s “Cherokee”
  • We continue to get our instrument solos mixed up in “Clair de Lune”, the solo we disliked was Miles Mosley on the acoustic bass. Sorry cello players!
  • Malcolm X’s Eulogy, as delivered by Ossie Davis at Malcolm X’s funeral February 27, 1965
  • Malcolm X’s last public speech, the same night his house was bombed and only days before his assassination.
  • “Battery Kinzie”, Fleet Foxes Helplessness Blues
  • Last song wouldn’t be complete without us once again getting our instrument solos mixed up; The solo we loved from “The Message” was the electric bass solo played by Stephen Bruner.

Referenced Quotes

“Malcolm’s Theme”—when I was younger I got caught up in gangs and I was headed down that path. I had two things that brought me out of that, I had a cousin give me an Art Blakey mixtape and I was in this program and we read Malcolm X’s autobiography. I always wanted to give that same thing back. It had such a profound effect on me that maybe I could help someone else. If I could do something that people would look back on the message he was giving during his life, with the music.

“Interview: Kamasi Washington”, Spectrum Culture

Michael’s Track Order Volume 1: The Plan

  1. Change of the Guard
  2. Askim
  3. Isabelle
  4. Final Thought
  5. The Next Step
  6. The Rhythm Changes

Volume 2: The Glorious Tale

  1. Miss Understanding
  2. Leroy and Lanisha
  3. Clair de Lune
  4. Seven Prayers
  5. Henrietta Our Hero
  6. The Message

Volume 3: The Historic Repetition

  1. Re Run
  2. Cherokee
  3. Re Run Home
  4. Malcolm’s Theme
  5. The Magnificent 7

Marc’s Track Order Volume 1: The Plan

  1. Change of the Guard
  2. Isabelle
  3. Final Thought
  4. The Next Step
  5. Askim

Volume 2: The Glorious Tale

  1. Miss Understanding
  2. Leroy and Lanisha
  3. Clair de Lune
  4. Seven Prayers
  5. Henrietta Our Hero
  6. The Magnificent 7

Volume 3: The Historic Repetition

  1. Re Run
  2. Cherokee
  3. The Rhythm Changes
  4. Malcolm’s Theme
  5. Re Run Home
  6. The Message

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Kamasi Washington’s The Epic on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase The Epic on:

  • iTunes
  • Amazon Music

  • Cherokee (Ray Noble song from 1938)
  • Vinyl release track order
  • Marc got the bass solos mixed up, the acoustic bass solo by Miles Mosley was first (the one he didn’t like), then the electric bass solo by Stephen Bruner, a.k.a. Thundercat (which he did like).
  • Disney’s Fantasia
  • Kamasi Washington’s Harmony of Difference EP
  • Bad Music Hertz Episode 9: The Explorers Club’s Grand Hotel
  • Henrietta Lacks: the cancer patient whose cells were the starting point of the HeLa immortal cell line used in scientific research.
  • Jimmy Buffett’s “A Pirate Looks At Forty”
  • Wikipedia article on “authorial intent”
  • Lindsay Ellis’s video essay on authorial intent, “Death of the Author”
  • Kill Bill: Volume 1 & Kill Bill: Volume 2

Referenced Quotes

I also loved “Leroy and Lanisha,” it had a similar calm energy to it. For some reason it reminded me of a lullaby. Like, I had never heard it before, but it felt like I had, like someone had sang it to me, or something.

That was my homage to Charlie Brown, it was my version of “Linus and Lucy.”

That makes sense! When I was listening to it, it reminded me of the books my mom read to me when I was a kid, it felt very nostalgic.

Yeah that’s exactly what that was. I always loved Charlie Brown growing up—Vince Guaraldi, you know? I was listening to that and I started playing around with that melody.

“Interview: Kamasi Washington”, Spectrum Culture

“The Magnificent 7” is actually about a homage to a band I was playing with a lot. That was the band I started writing a lot of songs for this album with. “Henrietta Our Hero” is about my grandmother, who was a very powerful figure in my family. She was a little small woman, but she did a lot with a very little. She struggled with some mental illness and stuff like that, but even with all that, she helped my dad and all his brothers buy their first homes, she got me my first car, she got my brother his first car, she did a lot for someone who didn’t have much to work with.

“Interview: Kamasi Washington”, Spectrum Culture

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Kamasi Washington’s The Epic on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase The Epic on:

  • iTunes
  • Amazon Music

  • Vinyl release track order
  • Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly
  • Flying Lotus’s You’re Dead!
  • Gilles Peterson’s 2015 “Album of the Year”
  • 2015’s American Music Prize for Best Debut Album
  • NPR’s 2015 Interview with Kamasi Washinton
  • Brainfeeder
  • Lord Huron
  • Cowboy Bebop
  • Fleet Foxes’ The Shrine / An Argument

Referenced Quotes

His recent triple album, “The Epic,” is a nearly three-hour suite for a 10-piece jazz band, backed by a 32-piece orchestra and a 20-person choir.

“Kamasi Washington’s Giant Step”, The New York Times Magazine

Art

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to Sun Kil Moon’s Benji on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Benji on:

  • iTunes
  • Amazon Music

  • Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs
  • Anthony Fantano @ theneedledrop.com
    • Sub Kil Moon - Benji ALBUM REVIEW
  • Beats Music (RIP)
  • Reddit
  • “Mumble Folk”
  • Fleet Foxes Crack Up
  • The Explorer’s Club Grand Hotel
    • Bad Music Hertz Episode 7 “Grand Hotel”
  • Dynamic range compression
  • Double tracking
  • “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Band Aid 1984
  • “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” by John & Yoko Plastic Ono Band
  • Sufjan Stevens
    • Example Song Title from 2005’s Illinois: “The Black Hawk War, or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You’re Going to Have to Leave Now”
  • Tenderloin, San Francisco

♫︎

View Details

You can listen to The Explorers Club’s Grand Hotel on:

  • Apple Music
  • Spotify

Or purchase Grand Hotel on:

  • Bandcamp
  • iTunes
  • Amazon Music

  • The Beach Boys
    • SMiLE
    • The SMiLE Sessions
    • Carl Wilson singing “God Only Know”
    • Surf’s Up
  • Boston’s self-titled LP, Boston
  • Mark Linett, one of the producers on Grand Hotel.
  • The Explorers Club’s debut LP, Freedom Wind

  • What exactly is “music production”?

  • The Last Bison’s sophomore LP, VA (pronounced “Virginia”)
  • Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass’s Whipped Cream & Other Delights

  • “The Girl From Ipanema”

  • Paul Anka’s “Times of Your Life”
  • The Bee Gees
  • Lord Huron and their sophomore LP, Strange Trails
  • Motown
  • Vacationer
  • Guitar World’s interview with Jason Brewer.
  • Sturgill Simpson and “Welcome To Earth (Pollywog)” from A Sailor’s Guide to the World
  • Other “vingette” songs:
    • The Beatles’ “Her Majesty” from Abbey Road
    • WALK THE MOON’s “Lions” from their self-titled record.
    • The Beatles’ “Wild Honey Pie” from The Beatles (The White Album)
    • Paul & Linda McCartney’s “Ram On” from RAM
    • Tame Impala’s “She Just Won’t Believe Me” from Lonerism
    • Vacationer’s “Farther” from Gone
  • Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
  • Kenny Chesney’s cover of Lord Huron’s “Ends of the Earth” (NOT GOOD)

Marc’s suggested, alternative album order:

Side 1:

  1. “Apaculco (Sunrise)”
  2. “Run Run Run”
  3. “Anticipatin’”
  4. “I’ve Been Waiting”
  5. “Grand Hotel”
  6. “Go For You”
  7. “Any Little Way”

Side 2:

  1. “Acapulco (Sunset)”
  2. “Sweet Delights”
  3. “It’s No Use”
  4. “It’s You”
  5. “Summer Days, Summer Nights”
  6. “Weight of the World”
  7. “Open the Door”

♫︎

View Details

Note: Some of the singles picked and sampled throughout the episode contain explicit lyrics and/or content.


  • Marc’s first Bad Music Hertz article on Helplessness Blues containing his “Lovers In Japan” story.
  • Tim Convy on “Trip To The Lou”
  • Tommy & The High Pilots → Beta Play Announcement
  • Chris Hadfield performing Space Oddity on the International Space Station

Aimee’s Singles The mixtape

  1. Van Halen - “Right Now”
  2. The Goo Goo Dolls - “Iris” & accompanying music video
  3. The Wallflowers - “One Headlight”
  4. Looking Glass - “Brandy You’re a Fine Girl”

Mistakes

  • Destiny’s Child - “Survivor”
  • Nelly & Tim McGraw - “Over and Over” and assorted pop country

Marc’s Singles The road-pavers from the iTunes catacombs

  1. Coldplay - “Lovers in Japan” & accompanying music video
  2. Counting Crows - “Mrs. Potter’s Lullaby”
  3. P!nk - “God Is a DJ” & accompanying music video
  4. Spring Awakening - “The Bitch of Living”

Mistakes

  • Cascada - “Everytime We Touch”
  • Trace Adkins - “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk”
  • Michael W. Smith - “Secret Ambition”
  • All American Rejects - “Move Along”

Michael’s Singles Familiar, old favorites

  1. WALK THE MOON - “Quesadilla”
  2. LUDO - “Hum Along”
  3. Tommy & The High Pilots - “Where to Start”
  4. LUDO - “In Space”

Mistakes

  • Paula Abdul’s “Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow” & accompanying music video

Referenced Songs, Albums, and Artists * The J. Geils Band - “Centerfold” * Coldplay + Mylo Xyloto + Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall EP + Example electronic “stepping stone”, “Midnight” + Example experimental “stepping stone”, “Easy To Please” * Radiohead * MisterWives * LUDO + “Ode to Kevin Arnold” + “Lake Pontchartrain” * Ninja Sex Party. They’re not good. * Tommy & The High Pilots + American Riviera + Only Human

♫︎

View Details

You can find Caity Cooper at caitycooper.com. You can also find her every Thursday updating her thrilling paranormal investigation web comic, Bloodhound.

  • ProZD’s YouTube Channel
    • Going from cutscene graphics to in-game graphics
    • Games where only the cutscenes have full voice acting
  • Yuna’s Sending Ceremony – Final Fantasy X Remaster Cutscene

Caity’s Top 3

1st Pick: Final Fantasy X (Remastered)

  • “Zanarkand”
  • “Sending”
  • “Path of Repentance”

2nd Pick: Mario Odyssey

  • “Steam Gardens”
  • “Bowser’s Castle (Courtyard)”
  • “Forgotten Isle”
  • “Lake Lamode”
  • “MechaWiggler Battle”
  • “Jump Up Superstar”

3rd Pick: Night In The Woods

  • “Main Title”
  • “Astral Alley”
  • “Knife Fight”
  • “Food Donkey”

Honorable Mentions:

  1. Undertale
    • “Waterfall”
    • “Ruins”
    • “Megalovania”
      • Fan metal cover
      • Fan a capella cover
    • “Undertail”
    • Live at Grillby’s - Fan Cover Album
      • “A Date With Demise (It’s Raining Somewhere Else)”
      • “The Incinerator (Another Medium)”
  2. Pokémon Sun and Moon
    • “Iki town”
    • “Malie town”
    • “Guardian Deity battle music”
  3. Horizon Zero Dawn
    • “Planned Obsolescence”
    • “Prologue”
  4. Journey

Michael’s Top 3

1st Pick: The Last of Us

  • The Music of The Last of Us
  • Title Screen Song
  • “All Gone”
  • “Forgotten Memories”
  • “The Choice”
  • “The Path”

2nd Pick: LittleBigPlanet

  • “Get it Together”
  • “Seregama Sun”
  • “New Delhi Dawn”
  • “Volver a Comenzar”

3rd Pick: Kingdom Hearts II

  • “Dearly Beloved”
  • “A Fight to the Death” and “Darkness of the Unknown”
  • “Passion”
  • “Dive into Heart - Destati”

Honorable Mentions:

  1. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater just for the opening track, “Snake Eater”
  2. Uncharted II: Among Thieves
    • “Nate’s Theme 2.0”
    • “Helicopter and the Tank”
    • “Warzone”
  3. Sonic 3D Blast for the pure 16 bit nostalgia.

Marc’s Top 3

1st Pick: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3

  • “Hush”
  • “Ace of Spades”
  • “If You Must”
  • Bam Magera’s Skater Clip

2nd Pick: Pokémon: Black and White

  • “Victory is Right Before Your Eyes!”
  • “Route 10”
  • “N Decisive Battle”
  • “Ghetsis Battle”
  • Ending Credits

3rd Pick: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (The Twilight Symphony fan cover album)

  • “Overture (Intro)”
  • “Hyrule Field”
  • “Kakariko Village”
  • “Rutela’s Wish”
  • “Midna’s Lament”
  • “Dark Lord Ganondorf”
  • “End Credits, Part I & II”

Honorable Mentions:

  1. Pokémon: Red and Blue (The Pokémon Reorchestrated: Kanto Symphony fan cover album)
    • “Mt. Moon”
    • “Red’s Journey (The Road To Cerulean City)”
  2. Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core
    • “The Burdened”
    • “The Mako City”
    • “Fulfilled Desires (End Credits Theme)”

♫︎

View Details

Sturgill Simpson Discography 1. High Top Mountain (2013) 2. Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (2014) 3. A Sailor’s Guide to Earth (2016)


  • TheNeedleDrop - “The Internet’s Busiest Music Nerd”
    • Review of A Sailor’s Guide To Earth
  • Cymbal - The social media app Marc couldn’t remember
  • Phoenix - Ti Amo (NOT GOOD 👎🏻)
  • Pop Country
  • Traditional Country artists mentioned
    • Merle Haggard
    • Johnny Cash
  • Pop Country artists mentioned
    • Luke Bryan
    • Dierks Bentley
  • Kenny Chesney
  • Nelly - “Over and Over ft. Tim McGraw” (Trust us, you’ve heard it)
  • Fantastic demonstration of top Pop Country songs from 2014 all using the exact same chord progression - Sir Mashalot: Mind-Blowing SIX Song Country Mashup.
  • A Sailor’s Guide to Earth as the 59th Annual Grammy Awards (2016) “Best Country Album” winner.
  • Bo Burnham - Todays Country Songs, all Pop Country lyrics are the same.
  • All Country album cover art looks the same.
  • The Ludo Video Thing Episode 12 - “There are 5 people who know how to play it. One of them invented it, two of them are in rentals, and the other two are Japanese.”
  • LUDO - “In Space”
  • Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
  • Nirvana - “In Bloom”
  • Toby Keith - “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)”
  • Father John Misty

Referenced Quotes

My paternal grandfather, when he was in the army in World War II — he was over in the South Pacific and he thought he was gonna die. And he wrote a letter to my grandmother and their newborn son, thinking he wasn’t gonna come home. And years later, after he was dead, and then once she’d passed, I was at her house and I just decided, “I’m gonna read this letter.” And I probably learned more about him in those few pages than I ever could have sitting in a room with him. I remember going down the road on the [tour] bus one day and thinking, “What if I could just write a letter to my kid, telling him exactly who his dad was?” Like, everything I’m going through right now, at this point in my life. It was just like, “Ok, I’m gonna go make this really pure and beautiful thing for my son and incorporate all this music that I loved, outside of and other than country or bluegrass,” which is all I’ve really had a chance to represent up until now.

NPR Interview: Sturgill Simpson Shares His “Guide To Earth”


♫︎

View Details

Look, up in the sky! It’s an EP! It’s a holiday draft! It’s BOTH!

With the fire roaring and hot cocoa piping, join the Barrowclift siblings as they go head-to-head to see who can create the best Christmas EP. Whose is the best? You decide!

  • EP (“Extended Play”) and LP (“Long Play”) format types.
  • “The Christmas Song” - Michael Bublé
  • “The Christmas Song” - Amy Grant
  • “The Christmas Song” - Bing Crosby
  • White Christmas (film) starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen
  • Home Alone (film)
  • “Sleight Ride” - TLC: Infuriating dads everywhere since 1993™
  • “Laughing with the Moon” off Coming Home by Jeanne and Richard Cotter
  • A Charlie Brown Christmas in the Library Of Congress
  • Musical Theme (Also called “Subject”): “A recognizable melody upon which part or all of a composition is based on.” (Wiki)
  • The one and only “White Winter Hymnal” - Fleet Foxes
  • Dominick the glorious Italian Christmas Donkey

Be sure to let us know which EP is your favorite! Also, what would your Christmas EP be? You can reach out on Twitter, with an email, or on badmusichertz.com’s contact form. Merry Christmas!

SPOILERS Michael’s EP Focused on capturing the “distinct sound” of Christmastime by utilizing beloved classics and instrumental pieces.

Listen to the full Youtube playlist

  1. “The Christmas Song” - Nat King Cole
  2. “Carol of the Bells” - The Last Bison
  3. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” - Amy Grant
  4. “O Tannenbaum” - Vince Guaraldi Trio
  5. “Somewhere In My Memory” - John Williams

Marc’s EP Strived to make a cohesive, well-paced EP composed of both nostalgic favorites and new favorites alike.

Listen to the full Youtube playlist

  1. “Merry Christmas, Darling” - The Carpenters
  2. “Christmas Time Is Here” - Vince Guaraldi Trio
  3. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” - Jeanne Cotter
  4. “The Night Before Christmas” - Amy Grant
  5. “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” - Perry Como

Aimee’s EP Honored fond memories of decorating the tree when we were little with an emphasis on cozy, chill nostalgic favorites.

Listen to the full Youtube playlist

  1. “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” - Bing Crosby
  2. “Please Come Home For Christmas” - Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes
  3. “Emmanuel” - Amy Grant
  4. “O Holy Night” - Mariah Carey
  5. “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” - Judy Garland

♫︎

View Details

  • Previous episode - Bad Music Hertz Episode 1: Lonesome Dreams
  • Michael the Marmot
  • Strange Trails “Teaser Trailer”
  • Strange Trails No. 7 “The World Ender” Comic Book
  • Paul McCartney’s RAM
      1. Ram On
      1. Ram On
  • Stephen King’s 11/22/63
  • William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience
  • “The World Ender” - Official Music Video
  • Major, minor, and diminished chords explained (with examples)
  • Song titles to lyrical speaker, as noted on the LP labels:
    1. “Love Like Ghosts” - Francine Lu
    2. “Until the Night Turns” - D. Redmayne/Phantom Riders
    3. “Dead Man’s Hand” - Buck Vernon
    4. “Hurricane (Johnnie’s Theme)” - D. Redmayne/Phantom Riders
    5. “La Belle Fleur Sauvage” - Remy Fusil
    6. “Fool For Love” - Buck Vernon
    7. “The World Ender” - D. Redmayne/Phantom Riders
    8. “Meet Me in the Woods” - Francine Lu/Claude Fox
    9. “The Yawning Grave” - Traditional
    10. “Frozen Pines” - H.W. Justine
    11. “Cursed” - Buck Vernon
    12. “Way Out There” - Traditional
    13. “Louisa” - Buck Vernon
    14. “The Night We Met” - Francine Lu
  • “Fool For Love” - Official Music Video
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
  • Planetarium by Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, and James McAlister

Definitions * Reprise: “The repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition.” (Wiki) * Theme (Also called “Subject”): “A recognizable melody upon which part or all of a composition is based on.” (Wiki) * Rockabilly: “One of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South … The term ‘rockabilly’ itself is a portmanteau of ‘rock’ (from “rock ‘n’ roll”) and ‘hillbilly’, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style.” (Wiki)

Referenced Quotes “Yeah I definitely let things spin off into fiction. But, my sort of approach or philosophy has always been to begin with something that happened to me, or to someone close. There’s always something at the centre that’s from a real experience. To me that feels like the only way for the work to be true.” - AAA Backstage interview with Ben Schneider

“All the stories on the album are either about my life or the lives of people who are close to me. I look at them through a fictional lens, but they all come from stuff that’s happened to us.” - LA Music Blog interview with Ben Schneider

Marc’s Sophomore LP Categories and Examples: * Sophomore Slump 👎🏻 + Mumford & Sons - 2009’s Sigh No More → 2012’s Babel + Florence + The Machine - 2010’s Between Two Lungs → 2011’s Ceremonials * Sequelitis 😐 + Real Estate - 2011’s Days → 2014’s Atlas + Phoenix - 2009’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix → 2013’s Bankrupt! * Transformative 👍🏻 + Fleet Foxes - 2008’s Fleet Foxes → 2011’s Helplessness Blues + Sturgill Simpson - 2014’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music → 2016’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth


♫︎

View Details

A celebration and analysis of Lord Huron’s debut LP, Lonesome Dreams.

  • Lord Huron websites
    • Lonesome Dreams (Internet Archive)
    • George Ranger Johnson’s webpage
  • Video “postcards”
    • “The Ghost on the Shore” music video / postcard
    • Youtube Playlist (includes those from Strange Trails)
  • Strange Trails comic book
  • NPR Interview with Lord Huron’s Ben Schneider


♫︎