December 12, 2025 • 54 mins
Andrew and Dominique look back at their first year cohosting the At First Listen podcast.
We did 43 episodes this year. It was a lot of music to listen to and far too much to remember! So we have to ask: What did we love? What did we forget about? What do we wish we could forget?
Dominique admits that she still listens to Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet weekly. Andrew comes clean about his renewed enjoyment of brutal death metal and deathcore, and he shouts out some of the bands that have come into his orbit this year.
Tell us about your favorite music of the year @AtFirstListenpodcast on Instagram.
Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
This episode includes AI-generated content.
We did 43 episodes this year. It was a lot of music to listen to and far too much to remember! So we have to ask: What did we love? What did we forget about? What do we wish we could forget?
Dominique admits that she still listens to Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet weekly. Andrew comes clean about his renewed enjoyment of brutal death metal and deathcore, and he shouts out some of the bands that have come into his orbit this year.
Tell us about your favorite music of the year @AtFirstListenpodcast on Instagram.
Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to at First Listen, the music podcast for people
who don't always get the hype but want to.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and we're recovering from ours highness infection,
our allergies, our postina will drip. Were moisture in the air?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Where that how close man.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Andrew Mayorani please in twenty twenty six, moisture in the
air all year round? Not too much, yeah, just a
little bit. Our bodies need it.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, I think it's the indoor air.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
The heat, right, oh, in the yeah, the heat.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, you gotta start bringing around your meda fire.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah. But we're back for another episode, maybe the last
one of the year. Maybe it's a two parter, so
we'll put something out next year. We're all a little tired,
and we're all ready for the holiday and whatever chaos
that brings. But of course it's a great time of
year for our retrospective type episode. Dominique, you and I
(01:08):
have done forty three episodes this year for today.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, it's so many.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
It was a lot of scrolling when I was going
through the feed on iHeartRadio to jog my memory of
what we've listened to this year.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
That's plenty. I think that's plenty of episodes.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, so maybe twenty twenty six not so many episodes.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, we don't need as many, I know, because we
tried to do more.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, we wanted to do more, and there were a
couple of weeks there where we were both like, we
did not want to do one this week.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but I've been you know, listeners, please
give us this feedback. But from what I can tell,
people love the many episodes.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah. I appreciate our our superfan Carrie for letting me
know whenever something was wrong in one of the episodes,
if there was a bad at it or a commercial
break that sprung up out of nowhere, oh yeah, which
I try to make not happen. But sometimes what are
you gonna do?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So we're talking today about kind of the musical worlds
in which we live and what we heard this year
that sort of broke through and stuck with us despite
maybe some distance, because this realization that I've come to
over the past few months is that it's really you
(02:32):
can like something a lot, but if it's not in
your general habits of listening. It might not always come back.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
It's hard to remember.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And then the way the algorithms work, they'd rather you
listen to.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
More pop.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
That's like a random artist you've never ever wanted to
listen to and never will listen to, but they will
keep playing it overplaying you something that you actually listen too,
that you like, even had on to repeat. I mean
I was looking at as you might remember, a lot
of my most played was just break up songs, so
(03:15):
I like pretty much forgot about it, which is good.
Oh that's great, not like the breakup.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
But like, yeah, your initial playlist. You sent me a
bunch of things from one of the apps that you
were using, and you're like, so this is like generally
what I like, and this is what I've been listening
to most, which is all breakup songs, songs related to
breaking up.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, that's when Taylor Swift creeps into my listening. Taylor
Swift circa like two thousand and three, but like that's.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
When she did not two thousand and three.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Maybe that's too old. Yeah, twenty ten.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Let's say, I don't know, back when her songs had
homophobia in them.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Those are the ones.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And I yeah, but like once, I'm not doing a
brank up that leaves you know, a lot of songs
with the word survive, you know. So yeah, I agree.
It's like, it's actually very irritating how the algorithms like.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I'm like, do you not?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Can you not just remind me that I like this,
Like why are you playing me some random dude that
I do not care? I mean, I know why because
they want me to listen to that dude, but I
would rather remind me that I that I really didn't
listen enough to some of this other great music.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, so the first thing on my list that I
want to talk about on the show today is the
Hailey Williams record. Everyone loves Hailey Williams right now.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I never would have checked out this album, certainly a
solo album by from a person for a major rock band.
I wouldn't have started with the solo material. But you
suggested it for an episode, and I really liked the album.
So I don't recall if we dealt with this particular
song kill Me on that episode. But let's hear a
(05:15):
second of kill Me.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Miss their Chances to learn the Hardest again and.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Again that's the acoustic version. I don't think we played that.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That's like type of music that I.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
That's going on the next breakup playlist, right, Yeah, I'm
looking at your list here and Dominique has a manifesto
in front of her.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
No, I'm seeing the seasonal depression. There's a lot about
to lose.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah. Yeah. So Cullyus was an artist that a death
metal artist that we covered on a mini episode back
in August. Carnivool, of course, my favorite band of all time.
They released another new song like last week the week
before for their album that's coming out of February. We're
gonna talk a lot more about Carnivool when the time
(06:18):
comes DeAngelo. That episode was pretty fresh, but a couple
songs from that record are now on my playlist of
bass practice songs.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Yeah, for me, it.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Was Nissan Altimo, Get you pick up, fake fake nig
sticks up, Put your sticks up, put a motherfucker princess
wreaks up, chicks up, put your dicks up, getch you
dick's up, Put your motherfucker sticks up.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
The wavery keyboard thing is so good. That's like one
of the best sounds of the year. Totally I could
listen to anything played with that sound. Whoever came up
with that design?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That a plus gorgeous, gorgeous. The Kendrick album what's it called?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
G n X g n X?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, Squabble Up was my favorite.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
This is a record that really grew on me after
after he played the Super Bowl. Let's hear a second
of Squabble Up. I was doggy. Life goes on, Honey,
my babies.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Woke up looking for the Brocley keep a horn one
on the ship.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The bowprint is by me, mister kid off off and
my feet. I have no fucking idea what he's talking
about in this song.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
No, did you see like Sam Jackson was talking about
the super Bowl?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
What does brocli you have to do? BROCCOLI's weed? Okay,
I know that the boogers in my chain, whatever the
line is is about diamonds. I don't know some of
the slang. I think he made it up for poetic license.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
And that's so yeah, And you're the expert on that.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
All of the hip slang by the by the Oakland
Rappers Andrews.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
As they come to him, they say, is this the word?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
But no, Broccoli has been make it so for a
while like, there's that song Broccoli by uh Lil Yachtie.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I think that's a generation hip hop that I completely miss. Yeah,
and SoundCloud era.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
That's okay, but that uh that's a few years ago.
So but yeah, No, Sam Jackson was talking about the
Super Bowl thing and how he also didn't know what
was going on.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He was like Sam Jackson, by the way, if you
don't remember, it was in the performance, he was heavily
featured his uncle Sam.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
He was Uncle Sam is in the performance and he was, Yeah,
he was all dressed up and he was saying the
revolution will be televised or something, and you know, we
were all kind of confused about what exactly Kendrick was
trying to say.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Uh, I think it was general. I still don't even.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
General, like black power America, critical of America, but it
was not really that, which I think. It's like, it's
a super Bowl, you had you couldn't be yeah, too
explicit with it.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
But you also know that whatever you're going to do
is going to make conservative America completely irate and they
will have no idea why.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah and yes, and they are completely oblivious to the
fact that that is the goal and that they are
helping the best.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
The best reaction I saw to that was the category
of conservative people who were like, I like the American
flag that that was in it. Yes, it's like, oh,
that's what you took away from it, Okay, as long
as you.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Liked it, hey that hey no, And that's what a
lot of people's criticism of it was.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
On the other much American Yeah, they're like, you're.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
You know, how can you possibly be counterculture if you're
doing so much American flag stuff? But you know, there's
a history of altering the American flag to represent other things.
But no, actually, this is this is cool to bring
(10:33):
out because this is also like this was the discourse
a while ago. This is like the type of stuff
that you forget about. It's like the music, but it's
also the culture.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And it's so many episodes in particular for us that
it's hard to believe that we covered all of this
in a year. So it's like we're throwing a lot
of stuff at thet like our personal all of musical taste.
So I thought it was interesting to stop down and
be like, what is actually still sort of with us?
So I guess those are a few of our picks.
(11:13):
Did you want to talk about Reina Roberts now or
in a future.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
A future time.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Okay, I guess that's time for a break. We we
burned through that pretty quickly, but I never set up
what we're doing for the whole episode. So that's sort
of some of the stuff that's stuck with us. But
there's a whole, maybe even bigger category of stuff that
we liked but have not revisited for kind of the
(11:40):
reasons we're discussing. So we're gonna come back after the break.
We'll talk about some of that on adverst listen. Welcome
back to a first listen.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And we're talking about the music we encountered this year
that we liked that we covered for the podcast, but
we didn't kind of go back to. And the number
one thing on my list is actually Frank Ocean because
this is a mini episode that we did for his
song solo.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Right, it was mainly about a.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Meme, yeah, which we didn't do that many more episodes
that were meme centric.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's true, there hasn't been like great trends that I've
been seeing. I was so just focusing more on on
Artists Discovery.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, yeah, so let me play a second of solo.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
We too loud of public, the police turned down a function.
Now we outside and the time it's perfect. We gotta
tell you, gotta tell you how much I vibe with you,
and we don't gotta be solo.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
So that was a mini episode. I ended up listening
to the album We Liked It that was on a
road trip. Never listen to it again. And then I
just heard a song from that record like a week
or two ago and was like, oh, yeah, Frank Ocean,
I should go back there. But I still have none, So, you.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Know, listening to this it makes me think of like
the Obama administration. I'm like, this was such a simpler time, Okay,
I mean I was in college, you know whatever. I
don't even know if it really was. It might have
been first Trump, but like.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
It was.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I I like, listen to this album on repeat. Yeah
when it came out, and there's something so wholesome about it.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah. Do you have records from your life that you
were really into that you're still love but also can't
listen to anymore because it brings you too much back
into a certain time in your life.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
A thousand percent, and yeah, I mean honestly, like my
breakup list, I was because I was like going back
and listening to some of those songs, and I was like.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
It's not that I can't listen to them. I'm just
like they're not hitting.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Like they did before, so it doesn't feel the same,
But I do. I do like to come back to
the like there's It'll be a time when I can't
listen to it, and then that'll pass and then I
can listen to it again.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, and then you'll just be like, I need to
listen to this today exactly. Today's the day when Frank
Coosh comes back. We also did a Lady Gaga episode
for her new record What was that called? I have
no idea, but I did like it. We did early
(14:56):
episodes on Chapel Rome and we were both like we
didn't like this person. Now we think she's incredible, and
now I'm kind of like, I'm a little bit sick
of it now. Is it mayhem mayhem.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeaheah uh yeah, uh yeah, Chapel roone, I also feel
the same way. I think she's just she's getting pushed
way too much.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, I think I said on our Grammys episode that
I felt like I was about to dive really deep
into her catalog and it just never quite happened because
I think I soured on the Chapelone cattleg.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I know, but what catalog, Like, how much catalog is there?
Speaker 6 (15:38):
Really?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
She has a few records? Well, because she was signed
and then got dropped, it was like.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Right, right, right right, So I clearly haven't done that.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And like the song Pink Pony Club is not was
not a new song, right, Like that's I think still
getting played on top forty radio. But that was like
the album track that fans gravitated to after Good for You.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
No, that's sung from Dear Evan Hanson, which I love.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I'm now getting her confused with Olivia, with Olivia Rodriguez,
good luck, good luck, babe. After that became such a
massive hit, people were like, we love Pink Pony Club more. Yeah,
And so Pink Pony Club I think is now her
biggest song.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well, I'll say two things about that. She's all over
the the train right now. She's all over New York,
like subway's entire subway, like not just one car, you know,
plastered with her face. And like some stupid tagline. You know,
some copy editor came up with shout out to you,
(16:45):
your job is great.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But it's like.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I feel like they're just She's like not maybe she
is making music, she's not coming out with new music
right now, and they, the record companies, are just trying
to make as much money off of the music that
she has out as they can and get yeah, I
get their money. And then I did spend quite a
lot of time listening to Good Luck Babe, because I
(17:11):
made a parody song of it called good Nap Babe,
and I've been like doing just basically the joke is
that she likes taking naps and that she's a sleepy girl,
and and I just say, like, you know, good Nap
(17:35):
Babe a lot I say other things, but like I
listened to it a bunch and I did. I don't
know if like I don't it's not because I was
like I love this song, I just have to make
a parody of it.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I think I just thought of that.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Sentence also, like I would do like, instead of hot
to go, it's like nap times. So it's like an
apt I Emmy, it is naptime for me, Okay, So
that's how.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I feel about travel right now.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So you sort of forced yourself to examine some of
the hits, yes, and now you hate it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, I I never really liked it, but it has
a lot of like a self inflicted.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Souring.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
It is.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You've got sick of it because of your own, your
own ambition.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And nobody even likes this kid. I really think everyone's like, what.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It's a But I think it's funny, and so yeah,
I did that to myself.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
And then the first episode we did, I think was
the Charlie XCX episode for Brats Charlie, which was not
new this year. That was a twenty twenty four record,
but it was new to me and.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
True to that.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I it was like one of my most played last year,
and it's getting a lot less play this year. I
think it's like I yeah, it's like she was the
it was the moment, it was brat summer.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
You know, are you looking forward to this Withering Heights album?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Absolutely? Oh, I didn't know she was making that.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, she's doing like the soundtrack for the film that's
coming out.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, the movie.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I'm not sounds dumb and I'm not excited about it,
And I was not planning on engaging with it whatsoever,
because it seems like it's a terrible adaptation of the
book with just like tall, hot white people. That's like
not what the book is about. But I am a
fan of Charlie. I'm she's doing like a movie acting
(19:44):
in a movie, Oh, coming up, which I am excited about.
I I mean, that's I think a big thing with
dance music is typically it is of a moment. Uh,
it's not. I don't think it like. I mean, I
listen to these songs all the time at work. It
(20:07):
gets played.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, it's played in the air.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah exactly, I said. Accidentally I was seeing along to
it yesterday. She's like, I don't care what you think.
It's like in one of the songs. But somebody my
boss that I was saying that to her.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Oh, there is a moment from the record that comes
into my head that has just like infect in my brain.
It's the beginning of three six five, and I have
to I have to bring it up. But it's when
she goes okay, okay, okay okay. And in the concept
of that song as being sort of like a drug
(20:47):
fueled sort of faded night. It's great because it's like
she's trying to gather herself right before going to the
next thing, like trying to act normal. But it's also
when I hear people just try to like set up,
like okay, okay, I have come into this room for
(21:09):
what reason.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Exactly totally.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, here we go Okay.
That is such a Yeah. I love her for bringing
British accents into.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And she has such a beautiful accent she does. I
like hearing her talk. Yeah, wherever that's from, that's the good.
That's a good accent.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I would agree, all right.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
I think that's all I have for this segment. What
we liked but forgot about. Yeah, So for me, it's
like all the pop stars, I literally forget a Carpenter.
We didn't mention her.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah, we're avoiding her.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Diamond, We're sick of that ship.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
We're not Andrew Is, and I think everybody else is,
so I'm not gonna on everybody. I listen to that
entire album multiple times a week, and there's a.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Few songs that shorten sweet album, but.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Then Manchild plays next, and I'll skip over a couple
of the ones like that's like, please, please please. I
was listening to a lot for a while just on repeat,
so I'll skip that one.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And it's on there twice.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I think what is grating on me about Sabrina Carpenter
is it's a lot of the same point of view
now where it's like boys are so dumb and I'm
uh the victim. She's kind of like telling the same
story over and over again.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, totally, but.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And not that I disagree with it, but I would
like songs about something else. Can you make another song?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
You're like, can somebody simply scream at me and turn
the volume all the way up?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, we'll get to that. Okay, So do you have
anything to add to this part? Oh, I'm I'm cool,
all right. In our next segment, you're going to hear
so much loud music that you did not ask for
and have not been prepared for by this show because
I've been containing it for so long.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yes, I didn't mean to. I didn't mean for us
to rush through our first segment so fast.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But I think this is great. We're actually we're actually
getting something done. We're not rambling like two jackasses. Okay, good,
and I think people like it. Maybe they have us
playing on two time speed because we just ramble so much.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Okay, you might miss some gold.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, listening to the clips of songs at plus speeds
would be tough, so sorry if anyone is doing that.
But so next, we're going to talk about stuff that
from our personal taste, did not make it into the podcast.
For me, there's a lot of really grotesque heavy metal
for Dominique will find out after the break.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Welcome back to at First Listen. I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And we're talking about some of the music we love
from this year that we discovered that we did not
discuss on the podcast. How Manique, why don't you start?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Well, I'll start with with Raina Roberts. She is a
black country singer and she was on Blackbird with Beyonce.
She was one of the other artists such that Bye
brought on and I was I got interested because you
(24:53):
never hear about these girls, and.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I really like her.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I love her style, and yeah, Louisiana I got really into.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
All right, So let's hear a bit of Louisiana by
A Rena Roberts.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Louisiana from Sweet Home, Alamabama. Father had a heavy hand,
and Mama never put that bottle down. She went driving
full time, doving shy.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
You can picture me listening to that driving. I was
listening to this on my road trip.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I could hear that is driving music.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It's a great like driving through you know, Tennessee in
North Carolina, my in my RAM fifteen hundred, all the
windows rolled down because the AC doesn't work. Truck playing
it on my it's a big truck playing it on
my on my speaker because the radio doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Uh, And.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Like it's actually is nice to listen to, like this
type of country pop that is not racist, like honestly,
it's like you have to dig so much like this
sort of like Americana southern pride and like the world
(26:15):
that that's even in the intro, which I don't know
if you'll keep in very long, but like no.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I will cut that up.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That space is.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Like I it's really it's comforting, it's nice, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, I like that. It actually sounds like country music.
If you listen to modern country music, it's very simply
contemporary pop with an accent and an accent and occasionally
like a telecaster or a fit or a a joe
or something. It is one of the one of the
(26:49):
greatest takedowns I heard of Morgan Wallen was that he
has said and done so many racist things, and yet
his records are are like literally hip hop.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Oh yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
They're completely stolen from like Atlanta hip hop producers, and
he's packaged as country music and what do you know,
it's popular.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, I mean people do that a lot. And he's like,
eminem actually is where I got it?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Nowhere else? What about? Yeah? What else?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Real quick? I will I think, as a white person
in my thirties, I need to listen to the Killers.
So that is kind of a recurring every once in
a while, I'm just like, let me listen to all
the Killers' hits, right, and I just marvel it, Like
how how they created so many like perfect pop songs. Yeah,
(27:50):
Human and mister Bright's Side, of course are a couple
of the standouts.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, I mean bright Side, mister Brightside is it's a
generational hit. Yeah, it's even the gen zs they know
it too.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I'm sure at some point we'll have a guest who
will pick a Killers album and then we'll really dive
into it. So that's one of them.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
I have dived in a little bit at one point
because everyone was like, oh, he's Mormon, and I was like,
and it's like, oh, there was a while when everyone
was saying that The Killers are a Christian band.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So I was trying to people like to say that,
especially for mid two thousand emo bands, because then their
parents wouldn't object to them listening to it. Yes, in
many cases it turned out to not be true.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, no, we're like, hey, is a Christian band and
I do love them, but you Creed is not? That
makes sense and but yeah I don't, They're not. They're
not a Christian band like they he is.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You can have like a religious you know, religionous part
of your life and that not defined your art.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
People learn that about a person and then they're like,
well then all the art must be that too. Yes,
But it's like for some people their religion is like
a personal thing that they keep, you know, in their
personal private life, and that is fine to do. You
don't need to impose it on other people.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Just a suggestion, and maybe the music is better when
you don't work.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It sounds like it's working. Steely Dan is an artist
that forever I'm listening to all the time. Men at
Work was sort of a sleeper band that specifically did
this past year. I heard the song Overkill, which is
a hit from like the I think the late eighties.
(29:45):
It's not their biggest album, I don't believe, but I
think that is one of the great songs of that era.
I'm gonna play a little bit of it now because
a lot of people probably don't know what I'm taing
talking about. I can't get juice.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I think about the implication.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
And possibly the complication fifty six million views on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Actually, well, I mean that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, it's not down Under. Of course they're Australian, so
uh yeah, that was that's their biggest hit down Under.
Loving the saxophone on some you know eighties pop rock. Oh,
but this is just such a beautiful song. It's one
of the rare songs that has basically the same uh
(30:40):
same riff throughout really good album. Men at Work is
sort of written off, I think as a one hit wonder,
but they had at least two hits, and they broke
up and they didn't reform. I think is maybe sort
of the legacy issue with them. But it's great stuff.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yeah, it is. I feel like it's a.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
It's a song you hear if you're watching a movie
from the eighties or nineties, that song will be somewhere
in there.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And then for me, we've teased this a little bit,
but a lot of the music that I listened to
happens when I'm at the gym, and I really only
like to listen to the most brutal, agro, angry metal
when I'm at the gym because it reflects how I feel.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, who needs who needs or replacement there? Who needs testosterone?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
No, your tea goes up when you listen to these bands.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Exactly, Yeah, exactly, that's what it does.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Ten years younger. There's different ways to do a heavy
metal scream. There's like a high pitch screams, like the
low guttural vocal that we associate with specifically with death metal,
and then there's like an even higher screachy thing. And
then there's what what are called like inhales, which I
(32:14):
don't know. I have no idea how they actually produce
the sound, but it sounds like he's inhaling. And the
vocalist for this band, in addition to the music being
totally slamming, the vocalist can do kind of all of
those things, which is really incredible. Here's a song called
ten d x M. I have no idea what that means,
(32:36):
and I'm not gonna look up what it means, because
you never know with metal lyrics how gross they're gonna be. Yeah,
(32:58):
so that just puts a smile on my face.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
It's so silly it is. And then you didn't like
Nightmare Revisited.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
No, you know, I didn't, Actually I didn't. I didn't
watch that.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
It's exactly the same, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Exactly the same.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
It's all spooky, very spooky. A lot of that one.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
That one vocalization it sounded like a bear talk like like.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, if a bear talked, it's very silly.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
So yeah. Dishonest Escape was another one of these artists.
We highlighted that band right in time for them to
break up.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yes, but hey we can still stream.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, there's there's still out there, is any Missy's working
on some more metal, so I'm I'm sure she's gonna
come back with something cool. There's a bunch of other
metal bands that have been I've been fans of for
a long time. Hate Breed was like my number one
audit artists on one of the platforms, sugah, yeah, which
(34:02):
we will go see. We will do an episode on them,
Knocked Loose, Throne, Deaftnes for something that's a little bit
more chill, probably.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
The and and we and we we did discuss these.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, yeah, we discussed them.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I I this brings us back to our earlier topic
about like I liked these bands a lot too, and
but I have no road to them and the music
I'm listening to.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah, it was a conversation I had on the bus
with a friend from the neighborhood who I was not
that stoked about sitting next to me on the bus,
but we had a good conversation and he mentioned, for
an example, that he was going to see Billy Strings
coming up, and he was going because his girlfriend was
(34:53):
a big fan. And he was telling me, like, you
got to check him out. And I'm like, now that
I'm thinking about it, I have a positive opinion of
Billy Strings. I think he's a great player, great singer.
I have like no excuse to encounter his music. He
doesn't get played on the radio unfortunately, and I don't
(35:17):
listen to any similar artists, so it's gonna be hard
for me to find Billy strings if I'm not thinking
about him. And we're talking about it right now, but
we're going to talk about other stuff between now and
when I have an opportunity to listen to more music.
And it's not just not gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, that's it's that's the tricky bit. That's why we
should just go back to vinyl and tapes. You have
a set number.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
You have a CD that if you don't want that,
if you don't want to listen to that in your car,
you got to get the wallet out.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Exactly, well CD wallet exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And you gotta, yeah, pick something else exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
And it's a finite number with that until you until
it gets scratched up enough that you like have to just.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Replace it or yeah, say goodbye forever.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah that and then you just listen to pop only
on the rain and.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
It belongs to your older sibling in the first place,
you shouldn't have it.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
At all, literally, and she's like, where's my CD, Like
I don't know, Yeah, that's what we should do, because yeah,
it's it's and it's true. I look at music that
I actually download like that I actually choose it's so
different because when I'm buying an individual album, it's an
(36:35):
artist that I want to support like that.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I I just reade a hilarious comment on the video
for the next song I'm going to play. Okay, not
to interrupt you, but.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
But it's like, uh, it is such a different like
my collection of music if I was if I. When
I do buy it and it's like mine and it
belongs to me and nobody can take it away when
I like.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Stop paying, and it's a way cooler.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I'm a way cooler person and like a more interesting
and varied selection of artists.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Because I'm not, I'm much.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Less likely to like I will listen to Sabrina Carpento
over and over again. I don't need to go out
and buy her record or even hit play on her. Ever,
I will hear her everywhere I go.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, someone's inescapable, and you just feel like it's okay,
I'm gonna have opportunities to engage with this music as
I go along and the other stuff, even a major
artist like Billy Strings who's playing Arenas. It's just it
exists in a different world and in a time when music,
(37:49):
when you have so much available and you can have music,
any music you want, anywhere. It just we're all sort
of reverting back to the thing we liked, you know,
ten years ago, and that's what I've been trying to
fight back against with doing this podcast and getting people
(38:10):
who are coming from different places.
Speaker 6 (38:12):
Because I want to expand those horizons.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
But yet I still come back to I don't know,
the squa wrack and I need something that's going to
make me angry enough to lift the weight again. And
so that's where the Acasia Strain comes in. This is
a song called Warning Star. They released an album I
don't know two months ago on Rise Records. It's awesome.
(38:47):
Everything that I liked about Traders I like about this
Acasia Strains, a band that's been around for at least
twenty years now. They did not always sound like this,
but yeah, this record absolutely is so brutal. And here's
a bit of morning Star. God, I had that even
(39:20):
a little bit too loud for my headphones. The first
comment on the the official visualizer for this is bad
Day to be Drywall.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
That's good, good.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah. This album, it's such a like complete statement of
extreme rage and sort of the journey that I've been
on since college with heavy metal as there's been like
more of more homogenization in metal music, and there's sort
(40:01):
of this break where some bands are trying to be
more pop and more melodic, and some bands are trying
to be more aggressive and brutal. Is with screaming particularly,
like that is such a hallmark of metal. You don't
really hear that in other genres. But for me, as
(40:22):
someone who is trying to connect with the music, I
don't think you should just scream because that is the
vocal style of metal. I feel like there should be
some genuine statement of anger behind making that sound. And
so a lot of the bands that I've gravitated toward,
(40:43):
the newer metal bands or the metal bands with new
music that I've really liked over the past couple of years,
it's like it screams, but it also as a lifelong
metal fan, it feels angry, So like the scream feels appropriate.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
You know, yeah, you're like, I need authentic rage, right.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Don't be a poser about it, Like make metal because
that's the style of music that you have to make
because no other genre encompasses the palette of sounds and
feelings that metal does. And you know, putting that, like
expressing that rage is a very healthy thing to do.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
But do you think that like in my mind, it's
kind of just like the it's the it's a sound,
it's an instrument in the music. And especially because you
can't understand the lyrics, and the lyrics are not that
great anyway if you do understand them, like they're not
it's not poetry and there's no reason to do I
(41:45):
mean sometimes it is, but very rarely there's.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
It's almost like a you're hiding your poetry, like if
you are actually a really good metal.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Lyrics, I don't want anyone to know exactly like deliberately.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
And there's not that many words, like it's like it's
because each word is so big, But do you think
it's do you think you're being a poser when you
use guitar like or when you use bass or when
you use gain or whatever.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I don't think that it's it's like invalid or something.
I am saying that I have. I find more connection
with artists where it seems like the the sounds match
the idea, the sounds match the concept, and there is
(42:31):
definitely a segment of metal like the next artist that
I'm going to play, which which is just pushing the
envelope to make something that is more terrifying and more insane.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
But still counts as music.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
It still technically counts as music.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah, people are non metal fans are always baffled because
they're like, I could have I could have gotten scraped
like a pan with a knife, and like double that
if I like without learning because without like learning guitar.
Like it's like they do these really complicated just like
(43:14):
requiring a lot of talent and skill music, but it's
all so loud and push together that if you're not
already a fan of it, it sounds.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
You need to. Yeah, there is there is a conditioning
that you almost need to go through as a fan
of what I would just say is extreme music, because
it's not all heavy metal. There's like extreme sounds in
hip hop.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
Chnochno, ambient noise.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, there's just like everyone loves, like, there's things that
you become used to hearing and picking out. So the
next band I want to talk about Infant Annihilator. This
is a trio, but you're gonna end up on a
to my understanding, they have never performed live and part
(44:05):
of the reason is because their songs are so insanely
complex their own they're barely uh pop. It's it's they're
barely playable. So everything is like stitched and edited together.
It's virtually electronic. There's a playthrough, a drum playthrough of
one of their songs from years ago. It has millions
(44:27):
of views actually on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
And it's a crazy.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
There's a there's like a whole genre of videos of
like drum teachers reacting to the video of this song
and it looks completely impossible and it's basically like it's
pieced together by takes. So he plays like four bars
at a time and it's good enough, okay, uh And
the video is like nine minutes long, but the song
(44:53):
is like five minutes. So the last several minutes of
this drum playthrough is all of the the fuck ups.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
That's like a blooper.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
It's basically a blooper reel where he like the sticks
are just flying out of his hands and he's like,
oh no, I was so close to it.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
That's so silly.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Okay. So this song is called Conception a Nameless Fear. Okay,
I think I I think I captured you just laughing
(45:34):
at some.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Point that's insane.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Actually, yeah, it's truly insane. Yeah, no, one can't. You
can't help but laugh.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
I don't think the human body could know like those
beats are they're so fast. Yeah, I feel that they
are sped up even after.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
So they've apparently been offered a lot of money to
actually play some shows and like do festivals.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
And that's I think that people are people. It's like
a bet they're like.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
And it's actually the singer there. They also don't live
in the same place. I think the singer as American,
and the drummer and the guitarists are both from the UK,
and uh, the singer is a touring musician. I think
he's in the band necro Goblecon And he's saying that
(46:26):
he believes that they could get up to the point
as a unit where they could perform the music. But
he said specifically for him as a vocalist, to get
in the kind of shape he would need to be
to perform just the vocals of this this stuff, like
it's even you need to be at a virtuosic level
(46:48):
to do the screams and growls that it takes to
be an infant annihilator.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Oh, it's insane.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
I mean, I love the craft of it and even
making a band. It's like metal is all about, especially
in the modern day, is like pushing the technical boundaries
of what is possible. Most of the like most insane
guitar players that you can think of are metal players
(47:18):
or were inspired by metal players. Like there's a lot.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
Because no one else wants to hear that.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
No one else wants to hear buckethead, No one cares
about that. Besides, like metal music, metal really like metal.
I feel like everyone who's like a real huge metal
fan is a musician, I think, like a guitarist or
a bassis.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
But talking about like the positive influence of heavy metal is, hey,
you you've been inspired to learn music? Yes, oh that's
that's not a useful thing to do. Uh, you know,
learning a skill, being able to express yourself Like well yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Let me but it's like and then you learn you're
like you do a version of it that especially no
one wants to hear, and it happens to be the
one of the hardest genres.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Just figuring out where do you turn that down? I
was like, I'm a little disoriented.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
Oh yeah, no, totally. It's like it is. It is
thankless in a way.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
I feel, you know, just watching my Sister tour, like
cause it's so challenging, and it is such a niche genre,
like there's there's you know, hundreds of thousands or millions
maybe fans, but like it is still ultimately so niche
that and you're putting so much effort into it when
(48:46):
you could you know, go on to you know, garage
band hit a couple buttons, you know, keep that going
for three minutes and like that, you know, and have
a hit that people are playing, you know, in every commercial.
So it is like it's such a musician's genre.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Uh, and it is.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
I think there is interesting because it is like because
you can't you can do a lot of it electronically
now and you can like you know, at it. I
just think there is the part of the coolness of
it is that it is someone does did play it.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I think that's a big part of how I connect
with it because as a metal appreciator, I'm much more
interested like in seeing it live. That's like when I'm
really having a good time. So that then when it's
like insane, like it sounds like you hit two time
(49:49):
speed it's it's a lot to absorb, for sure.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah. So I feel like I hijacked the the end
of the podcast.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Here, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
My little segment of like, this is what we could
be doing, Yeah we can. I make the choice for
us to not do that. Yeah, every day, I choose
to not make the podcast about that.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
And yeah that's yeah, because we saw we could just
play the same song every episode and pretend it's a
different one and nobody would know.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
The different But that's okay. I think there was.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Oh I will say one artist that we didn't talk about,
Gloilla hmm, a big one of my favorite artists right now.
Wanna be or yeah glow.
Speaker 5 (50:45):
Long slippy rap beaches and make your bail home, jig
long card You're mashed nails home.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
You know, this is honestly such a crazy podcast.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Like when I think about it's like you just you
play like the most the hardest metal and then I
just play a lady saying every cuss word and and
it's like very similar vibes. Like I honestly like in
terms of like the vibe just like being pissed. But no,
(51:20):
I mean Glorilla is like having her moment. I think
she's been having her moment. She's such a positive energy
even though she stays mad. I feel like that's what's
great about this music is you get the anger out
in the music and then you go out into the
world and you're a nice person.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Yeah I could have. We could have. I think we
did talk about her a tiny tiny bit.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
I don't think we did, did we not? I think
you and I personally obtain we have.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
Yeah, But I'm I'm a huge.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Because I've been like, why does everyone think she that
Glorilla is so great?
Speaker 3 (51:55):
Because she is?
Speaker 2 (51:57):
And I think that's what you said.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Yeah, I'm and I could go more deeply into it,
but I think she it's a lot of it's her energy,
like she has great collabor like collabs, and also she
just has like her accent, the Memphis accent, And.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
I want to ask you where she's from from Memphis.
Speaker 6 (52:17):
And she.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Is just she's bringing it's like a different it's a
different sound. It's a different style than like most pop
right now, like pop hip hop. And I think that's
part of why everyone's so into it. Yeah, we we
love it all right.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I think that's a good wrap up episode. Dome. Is
there anything you want to add, No, I feel good.
Speaker 4 (52:48):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
We've had a lot of episodes and we could still
we could still like run it back, do another episode
on each band that we've done episode on, and maybe
repeat ourselves a little a little bit.
Speaker 3 (53:04):
But I you know, it's never it's never enough.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
It's yeah, there's so much music out there and we're
just trying to find some of it that we like. Yeah,
and I found a lot of it.
Speaker 1 (53:16):
I'm excited about our next year, our plans for next year.
Speaker 3 (53:21):
Like we've been.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
As we look back on like our body of work
and how it's all shaken out. It's nice to now
be able to fill in the blanks.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
Yeah, that it feels like.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
Talking about what we think work and what it didn't, Yeah,
what we'd like to do more of and yeah, So
this might be the last episode of the year. We'll
see and we'll be be back sometime in twenty twenty
six with some more new episodes of At First Listen.
Thank you for listening to anyone
Speaker 5 (54:07):
Quick
Welcome to at First Listen, the music podcast for people
who don't always get the hype but want to.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and we're recovering from ours highness infection,
our allergies, our postina will drip. Were moisture in the air?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Where that how close man.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Andrew Mayorani please in twenty twenty six, moisture in the
air all year round? Not too much, yeah, just a
little bit. Our bodies need it.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Yeah, I think it's the indoor air.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
The heat, right, oh, in the yeah, the heat.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah, you gotta start bringing around your meda fire.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah. But we're back for another episode, maybe the last
one of the year. Maybe it's a two parter, so
we'll put something out next year. We're all a little tired,
and we're all ready for the holiday and whatever chaos
that brings. But of course it's a great time of
year for our retrospective type episode. Dominique, you and I
(01:08):
have done forty three episodes this year for today.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, it's so many.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
It's a lot.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
It was a lot of scrolling when I was going
through the feed on iHeartRadio to jog my memory of
what we've listened to this year.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
That's plenty. I think that's plenty of episodes.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, so maybe twenty twenty six not so many episodes.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yeah, we don't need as many, I know, because we
tried to do more.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, we wanted to do more, and there were a
couple of weeks there where we were both like, we
did not want to do one this week.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Yeah yeah, yeah, but I've been you know, listeners, please
give us this feedback. But from what I can tell,
people love the many episodes.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yeah. I appreciate our our superfan Carrie for letting me
know whenever something was wrong in one of the episodes,
if there was a bad at it or a commercial
break that sprung up out of nowhere, oh yeah, which
I try to make not happen. But sometimes what are
you gonna do?
Speaker 3 (02:09):
What are you gonna do?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
So we're talking today about kind of the musical worlds
in which we live and what we heard this year
that sort of broke through and stuck with us despite
maybe some distance, because this realization that I've come to
over the past few months is that it's really you
(02:32):
can like something a lot, but if it's not in
your general habits of listening. It might not always come back.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
It's hard to remember.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
And then the way the algorithms work, they'd rather you
listen to.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
More pop.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
That's like a random artist you've never ever wanted to
listen to and never will listen to, but they will
keep playing it overplaying you something that you actually listen too,
that you like, even had on to repeat. I mean
I was looking at as you might remember, a lot
of my most played was just break up songs, so
(03:15):
I like pretty much forgot about it, which is good.
Oh that's great, not like the breakup.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
But like, yeah, your initial playlist. You sent me a
bunch of things from one of the apps that you
were using, and you're like, so this is like generally
what I like, and this is what I've been listening
to most, which is all breakup songs, songs related to
breaking up.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, that's when Taylor Swift creeps into my listening. Taylor
Swift circa like two thousand and three, but like that's.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
When she did not two thousand and three.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Maybe that's too old. Yeah, twenty ten.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Let's say, I don't know, back when her songs had
homophobia in them.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Those are the ones.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
Oh okay.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
And I yeah, but like once, I'm not doing a
brank up that leaves you know, a lot of songs
with the word survive, you know. So yeah, I agree.
It's like, it's actually very irritating how the algorithms like.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
I'm like, do you not?
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Can you not just remind me that I like this,
Like why are you playing me some random dude that
I do not care? I mean, I know why because
they want me to listen to that dude, but I
would rather remind me that I that I really didn't
listen enough to some of this other great music.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
Yeah, so the first thing on my list that I
want to talk about on the show today is the
Hailey Williams record. Everyone loves Hailey Williams right now.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I never would have checked out this album, certainly a
solo album by from a person for a major rock band.
I wouldn't have started with the solo material. But you
suggested it for an episode, and I really liked the album.
So I don't recall if we dealt with this particular
song kill Me on that episode. But let's hear a
(05:15):
second of kill Me.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Miss their Chances to learn the Hardest again and.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Again that's the acoustic version. I don't think we played that.
I love it.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
That's like type of music that I.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
That's going on the next breakup playlist, right, Yeah, I'm
looking at your list here and Dominique has a manifesto
in front of her.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
No, I'm seeing the seasonal depression. There's a lot about
to lose.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yeah. Yeah. So Cullyus was an artist that a death
metal artist that we covered on a mini episode back
in August. Carnivool, of course, my favorite band of all time.
They released another new song like last week the week
before for their album that's coming out of February. We're
gonna talk a lot more about Carnivool when the time
(06:18):
comes DeAngelo. That episode was pretty fresh, but a couple
songs from that record are now on my playlist of
bass practice songs.
Speaker 6 (06:31):
Yeah, for me, it.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
Was Nissan Altimo, Get you pick up, fake fake nig
sticks up, Put your sticks up, put a motherfucker princess
wreaks up, chicks up, put your dicks up, getch you
dick's up, Put your motherfucker sticks up.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
The wavery keyboard thing is so good. That's like one
of the best sounds of the year. Totally I could
listen to anything played with that sound. Whoever came up
with that design?
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That a plus gorgeous, gorgeous. The Kendrick album what's it called?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
G n X g n X?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, Squabble Up was my favorite.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
This is a record that really grew on me after
after he played the Super Bowl. Let's hear a second
of Squabble Up. I was doggy. Life goes on, Honey,
my babies.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Woke up looking for the Brocley keep a horn one
on the ship.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
The bowprint is by me, mister kid off off and
my feet. I have no fucking idea what he's talking
about in this song.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
No, did you see like Sam Jackson was talking about
the super Bowl?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
What does brocli you have to do? BROCCOLI's weed? Okay,
I know that the boogers in my chain, whatever the
line is is about diamonds. I don't know some of
the slang. I think he made it up for poetic license.
Speaker 3 (08:01):
And that's so yeah, And you're the expert on that.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
All of the hip slang by the by the Oakland
Rappers Andrews.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
As they come to him, they say, is this the word?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
But no, Broccoli has been make it so for a
while like, there's that song Broccoli by uh Lil Yachtie.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I think that's a generation hip hop that I completely miss. Yeah,
and SoundCloud era.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
That's okay, but that uh that's a few years ago.
So but yeah, No, Sam Jackson was talking about the
Super Bowl thing and how he also didn't know what
was going on.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
He was like Sam Jackson, by the way, if you
don't remember, it was in the performance, he was heavily
featured his uncle Sam.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
He was Uncle Sam is in the performance and he was, Yeah,
he was all dressed up and he was saying the
revolution will be televised or something, and you know, we
were all kind of confused about what exactly Kendrick was
trying to say.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Uh, I think it was general. I still don't even.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
General, like black power America, critical of America, but it
was not really that, which I think. It's like, it's
a super Bowl, you had you couldn't be yeah, too
explicit with it.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
But you also know that whatever you're going to do
is going to make conservative America completely irate and they
will have no idea why.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Yeah and yes, and they are completely oblivious to the
fact that that is the goal and that they are
helping the best.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
The best reaction I saw to that was the category
of conservative people who were like, I like the American
flag that that was in it. Yes, it's like, oh,
that's what you took away from it, Okay, as long
as you.
Speaker 1 (10:04):
Liked it, hey that hey no, And that's what a
lot of people's criticism of it was.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
On the other much American Yeah, they're like, you're.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
You know, how can you possibly be counterculture if you're
doing so much American flag stuff? But you know, there's
a history of altering the American flag to represent other things.
But no, actually, this is this is cool to bring
(10:33):
out because this is also like this was the discourse
a while ago. This is like the type of stuff
that you forget about. It's like the music, but it's
also the culture.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
And it's so many episodes in particular for us that
it's hard to believe that we covered all of this
in a year. So it's like we're throwing a lot
of stuff at thet like our personal all of musical taste.
So I thought it was interesting to stop down and
be like, what is actually still sort of with us?
So I guess those are a few of our picks.
(11:13):
Did you want to talk about Reina Roberts now or
in a future.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
A future time.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
Okay, I guess that's time for a break. We we
burned through that pretty quickly, but I never set up
what we're doing for the whole episode. So that's sort
of some of the stuff that's stuck with us. But
there's a whole, maybe even bigger category of stuff that
we liked but have not revisited for kind of the
(11:40):
reasons we're discussing. So we're gonna come back after the break.
We'll talk about some of that on adverst listen. Welcome
back to a first listen.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
And we're talking about the music we encountered this year
that we liked that we covered for the podcast, but
we didn't kind of go back to. And the number
one thing on my list is actually Frank Ocean because
this is a mini episode that we did for his
song solo.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Right, it was mainly about a.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Meme, yeah, which we didn't do that many more episodes
that were meme centric.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
It's true, there hasn't been like great trends that I've
been seeing. I was so just focusing more on on
Artists Discovery.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, yeah, so let me play a second of solo.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
We too loud of public, the police turned down a function.
Now we outside and the time it's perfect. We gotta
tell you, gotta tell you how much I vibe with you,
and we don't gotta be solo.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
So that was a mini episode. I ended up listening
to the album We Liked It that was on a
road trip. Never listen to it again. And then I
just heard a song from that record like a week
or two ago and was like, oh, yeah, Frank Ocean,
I should go back there. But I still have none, So, you.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Know, listening to this it makes me think of like
the Obama administration. I'm like, this was such a simpler time, Okay,
I mean I was in college, you know whatever. I
don't even know if it really was. It might have
been first Trump, but like.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
It was.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
I I like, listen to this album on repeat. Yeah
when it came out, and there's something so wholesome about it.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Yeah. Do you have records from your life that you
were really into that you're still love but also can't
listen to anymore because it brings you too much back
into a certain time in your life.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
A thousand percent, and yeah, I mean honestly, like my
breakup list, I was because I was like going back
and listening to some of those songs, and I was like.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
It's not that I can't listen to them. I'm just
like they're not hitting.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Like they did before, so it doesn't feel the same,
But I do. I do like to come back to
the like there's It'll be a time when I can't
listen to it, and then that'll pass and then I
can listen to it again.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, and then you'll just be like, I need to
listen to this today exactly. Today's the day when Frank
Coosh comes back. We also did a Lady Gaga episode
for her new record What was that called? I have
no idea, but I did like it. We did early
(14:56):
episodes on Chapel Rome and we were both like we
didn't like this person. Now we think she's incredible, and
now I'm kind of like, I'm a little bit sick
of it now. Is it mayhem mayhem.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Yeaheah uh yeah, uh yeah, Chapel roone, I also feel
the same way. I think she's just she's getting pushed
way too much.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, I think I said on our Grammys episode that
I felt like I was about to dive really deep
into her catalog and it just never quite happened because
I think I soured on the Chapelone cattleg.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
I know, but what catalog, Like, how much catalog is there?
Speaker 6 (15:38):
Really?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
She has a few records? Well, because she was signed
and then got dropped, it was like.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
Right, right, right right, So I clearly haven't done that.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
And like the song Pink Pony Club is not was
not a new song, right, Like that's I think still
getting played on top forty radio. But that was like
the album track that fans gravitated to after Good for You.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
No, that's sung from Dear Evan Hanson, which I love.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
I'm now getting her confused with Olivia, with Olivia Rodriguez,
good luck, good luck, babe. After that became such a
massive hit, people were like, we love Pink Pony Club more. Yeah,
And so Pink Pony Club I think is now her
biggest song.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well, I'll say two things about that. She's all over
the the train right now. She's all over New York,
like subway's entire subway, like not just one car, you know,
plastered with her face. And like some stupid tagline. You know,
some copy editor came up with shout out to you,
(16:45):
your job is great.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
But it's like.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I feel like they're just She's like not maybe she
is making music, she's not coming out with new music
right now, and they, the record companies, are just trying
to make as much money off of the music that
she has out as they can and get yeah, I
get their money. And then I did spend quite a
lot of time listening to Good Luck Babe, because I
(17:11):
made a parody song of it called good Nap Babe,
and I've been like doing just basically the joke is
that she likes taking naps and that she's a sleepy girl,
and and I just say, like, you know, good Nap
(17:35):
Babe a lot I say other things, but like I
listened to it a bunch and I did. I don't
know if like I don't it's not because I was
like I love this song, I just have to make
a parody of it.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
I think I just thought of that.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Sentence also, like I would do like, instead of hot
to go, it's like nap times. So it's like an
apt I Emmy, it is naptime for me, Okay, So
that's how.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
I feel about travel right now.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
So you sort of forced yourself to examine some of
the hits, yes, and now you hate it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Yeah, I I never really liked it, but it has
a lot of like a self inflicted.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Souring.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
It is.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You've got sick of it because of your own, your
own ambition.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
And nobody even likes this kid. I really think everyone's like, what.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
It's a But I think it's funny, and so yeah,
I did that to myself.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
And then the first episode we did, I think was
the Charlie XCX episode for Brats Charlie, which was not
new this year. That was a twenty twenty four record,
but it was new to me and.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
True to that.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
I it was like one of my most played last year,
and it's getting a lot less play this year. I
think it's like I yeah, it's like she was the
it was the moment, it was brat summer.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
You know, are you looking forward to this Withering Heights album?
Speaker 3 (19:12):
Absolutely? Oh, I didn't know she was making that.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Yeah, she's doing like the soundtrack for the film that's
coming out.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
Yeah, the movie.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
I'm not sounds dumb and I'm not excited about it,
And I was not planning on engaging with it whatsoever,
because it seems like it's a terrible adaptation of the
book with just like tall, hot white people. That's like
not what the book is about. But I am a
fan of Charlie. I'm she's doing like a movie acting
(19:44):
in a movie, Oh, coming up, which I am excited about.
I I mean, that's I think a big thing with
dance music is typically it is of a moment. Uh,
it's not. I don't think it like. I mean, I
listen to these songs all the time at work. It
(20:07):
gets played.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Yeah, it's played in the air.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
Yeah exactly, I said. Accidentally I was seeing along to
it yesterday. She's like, I don't care what you think.
It's like in one of the songs. But somebody my
boss that I was saying that to her.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Oh, there is a moment from the record that comes
into my head that has just like infect in my brain.
It's the beginning of three six five, and I have
to I have to bring it up. But it's when
she goes okay, okay, okay okay. And in the concept
of that song as being sort of like a drug
(20:47):
fueled sort of faded night. It's great because it's like
she's trying to gather herself right before going to the
next thing, like trying to act normal. But it's also
when I hear people just try to like set up,
like okay, okay, I have come into this room for
(21:09):
what reason.
Speaker 3 (21:10):
Exactly totally.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, here we go Okay.
That is such a Yeah. I love her for bringing
British accents into.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
And she has such a beautiful accent she does. I
like hearing her talk. Yeah, wherever that's from, that's the good.
That's a good accent.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I would agree, all right.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
I think that's all I have for this segment. What
we liked but forgot about. Yeah, So for me, it's
like all the pop stars, I literally forget a Carpenter.
We didn't mention her.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yeah, we're avoiding her.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
Diamond, We're sick of that ship.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
We're not Andrew Is, and I think everybody else is,
so I'm not gonna on everybody. I listen to that
entire album multiple times a week, and there's a.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Few songs that shorten sweet album, but.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Then Manchild plays next, and I'll skip over a couple
of the ones like that's like, please, please please. I
was listening to a lot for a while just on repeat,
so I'll skip that one.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And it's on there twice.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
I think what is grating on me about Sabrina Carpenter
is it's a lot of the same point of view
now where it's like boys are so dumb and I'm
uh the victim. She's kind of like telling the same
story over and over again.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
Yeah, totally, but.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
And not that I disagree with it, but I would
like songs about something else. Can you make another song?
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (22:53):
You're like, can somebody simply scream at me and turn
the volume all the way up?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yeah, we'll get to that. Okay, So do you have
anything to add to this part? Oh, I'm I'm cool,
all right. In our next segment, you're going to hear
so much loud music that you did not ask for
and have not been prepared for by this show because
I've been containing it for so long.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Yes, I didn't mean to. I didn't mean for us
to rush through our first segment so fast.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
But I think this is great. We're actually we're actually
getting something done. We're not rambling like two jackasses. Okay, good,
and I think people like it. Maybe they have us
playing on two time speed because we just ramble so much.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Okay, you might miss some gold.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Yeah, listening to the clips of songs at plus speeds
would be tough, so sorry if anyone is doing that.
But so next, we're going to talk about stuff that
from our personal taste, did not make it into the podcast.
For me, there's a lot of really grotesque heavy metal
for Dominique will find out after the break.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Welcome back to at First Listen. I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
And we're talking about some of the music we love
from this year that we discovered that we did not
discuss on the podcast. How Manique, why don't you start?
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Well, I'll start with with Raina Roberts. She is a
black country singer and she was on Blackbird with Beyonce.
She was one of the other artists such that Bye
brought on and I was I got interested because you
(24:53):
never hear about these girls, and.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I really like her.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
I love her style, and yeah, Louisiana I got really into.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
All right, So let's hear a bit of Louisiana by
A Rena Roberts.
Speaker 4 (25:10):
Louisiana from Sweet Home, Alamabama. Father had a heavy hand,
and Mama never put that bottle down. She went driving
full time, doving shy.
Speaker 1 (25:24):
You can picture me listening to that driving. I was
listening to this on my road trip.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
I could hear that is driving music.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
It's a great like driving through you know, Tennessee in
North Carolina, my in my RAM fifteen hundred, all the
windows rolled down because the AC doesn't work. Truck playing
it on my it's a big truck playing it on
my on my speaker because the radio doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
Uh, And.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Like it's actually is nice to listen to, like this
type of country pop that is not racist, like honestly,
it's like you have to dig so much like this
sort of like Americana southern pride and like the world
(26:15):
that that's even in the intro, which I don't know
if you'll keep in very long, but like no.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I will cut that up.
Speaker 3 (26:21):
That space is.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Like I it's really it's comforting, it's nice, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Yeah, I like that. It actually sounds like country music.
If you listen to modern country music, it's very simply
contemporary pop with an accent and an accent and occasionally
like a telecaster or a fit or a a joe
or something. It is one of the one of the
(26:49):
greatest takedowns I heard of Morgan Wallen was that he
has said and done so many racist things, and yet
his records are are like literally hip hop.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Oh yeah, totally.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
They're completely stolen from like Atlanta hip hop producers, and
he's packaged as country music and what do you know,
it's popular.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, I mean people do that a lot. And he's like,
eminem actually is where I got it?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Nowhere else? What about? Yeah? What else?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Real quick? I will I think, as a white person
in my thirties, I need to listen to the Killers.
So that is kind of a recurring every once in
a while, I'm just like, let me listen to all
the Killers' hits, right, and I just marvel it, Like
how how they created so many like perfect pop songs. Yeah,
(27:50):
Human and mister Bright's Side, of course are a couple
of the standouts.
Speaker 1 (27:54):
Yeah, I mean bright Side, mister Brightside is it's a
generational hit. Yeah, it's even the gen zs they know
it too.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
I'm sure at some point we'll have a guest who
will pick a Killers album and then we'll really dive
into it. So that's one of them.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
I have dived in a little bit at one point
because everyone was like, oh, he's Mormon, and I was like,
and it's like, oh, there was a while when everyone
was saying that The Killers are a Christian band.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So I was trying to people like to say that,
especially for mid two thousand emo bands, because then their
parents wouldn't object to them listening to it. Yes, in
many cases it turned out to not be true.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Yes, no, we're like, hey, is a Christian band and
I do love them, but you Creed is not? That
makes sense and but yeah I don't, They're not. They're
not a Christian band like they he is.
Speaker 2 (28:53):
You can have like a religious you know, religionous part
of your life and that not defined your art.
Speaker 3 (28:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
People learn that about a person and then they're like,
well then all the art must be that too. Yes,
But it's like for some people their religion is like
a personal thing that they keep, you know, in their
personal private life, and that is fine to do. You
don't need to impose it on other people.
Speaker 1 (29:17):
Just a suggestion, and maybe the music is better when
you don't work.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
It sounds like it's working. Steely Dan is an artist
that forever I'm listening to all the time. Men at
Work was sort of a sleeper band that specifically did
this past year. I heard the song Overkill, which is
a hit from like the I think the late eighties.
(29:45):
It's not their biggest album, I don't believe, but I
think that is one of the great songs of that era.
I'm gonna play a little bit of it now because
a lot of people probably don't know what I'm taing
talking about. I can't get juice.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
I think about the implication.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
And possibly the complication fifty six million views on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (30:16):
Actually, well, I mean that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Yeah, it's not down Under. Of course they're Australian, so
uh yeah, that was that's their biggest hit down Under.
Loving the saxophone on some you know eighties pop rock. Oh,
but this is just such a beautiful song. It's one
of the rare songs that has basically the same uh
(30:40):
same riff throughout really good album. Men at Work is
sort of written off, I think as a one hit wonder,
but they had at least two hits, and they broke
up and they didn't reform. I think is maybe sort
of the legacy issue with them. But it's great stuff.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
Yeah, it is. I feel like it's a.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
It's a song you hear if you're watching a movie
from the eighties or nineties, that song will be somewhere
in there.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And then for me, we've teased this a little bit,
but a lot of the music that I listened to
happens when I'm at the gym, and I really only
like to listen to the most brutal, agro, angry metal
when I'm at the gym because it reflects how I feel.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yeah, who needs who needs or replacement there? Who needs testosterone?
Speaker 2 (31:44):
No, your tea goes up when you listen to these bands.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
Exactly, Yeah, exactly, that's what it does.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Ten years younger. There's different ways to do a heavy
metal scream. There's like a high pitch screams, like the
low guttural vocal that we associate with specifically with death metal,
and then there's like an even higher screachy thing. And
then there's what what are called like inhales, which I
(32:14):
don't know. I have no idea how they actually produce
the sound, but it sounds like he's inhaling. And the
vocalist for this band, in addition to the music being
totally slamming, the vocalist can do kind of all of
those things, which is really incredible. Here's a song called
ten d x M. I have no idea what that means,
(32:36):
and I'm not gonna look up what it means, because
you never know with metal lyrics how gross they're gonna be. Yeah,
(32:58):
so that just puts a smile on my face.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
It's so silly it is. And then you didn't like
Nightmare Revisited.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
No, you know, I didn't, Actually I didn't. I didn't
watch that.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
It's exactly the same, in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
Exactly the same.
Speaker 3 (33:13):
It's all spooky, very spooky. A lot of that one.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
That one vocalization it sounded like a bear talk like like.
Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah, if a bear talked, it's very silly.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
So yeah. Dishonest Escape was another one of these artists.
We highlighted that band right in time for them to
break up.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yes, but hey we can still stream.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Yeah, there's there's still out there, is any Missy's working
on some more metal, so I'm I'm sure she's gonna
come back with something cool. There's a bunch of other
metal bands that have been I've been fans of for
a long time. Hate Breed was like my number one
audit artists on one of the platforms, sugah, yeah, which
(34:02):
we will go see. We will do an episode on them,
Knocked Loose, Throne, Deaftnes for something that's a little bit
more chill, probably.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
The and and we and we we did discuss these.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, yeah, we discussed them.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
I I this brings us back to our earlier topic
about like I liked these bands a lot too, and
but I have no road to them and the music
I'm listening to.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Yeah, it was a conversation I had on the bus
with a friend from the neighborhood who I was not
that stoked about sitting next to me on the bus,
but we had a good conversation and he mentioned, for
an example, that he was going to see Billy Strings
coming up, and he was going because his girlfriend was
(34:53):
a big fan. And he was telling me, like, you
got to check him out. And I'm like, now that
I'm thinking about it, I have a positive opinion of
Billy Strings. I think he's a great player, great singer.
I have like no excuse to encounter his music. He
doesn't get played on the radio unfortunately, and I don't
(35:17):
listen to any similar artists, so it's gonna be hard
for me to find Billy strings if I'm not thinking
about him. And we're talking about it right now, but
we're going to talk about other stuff between now and
when I have an opportunity to listen to more music.
And it's not just not gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
Yeah, that's it's that's the tricky bit. That's why we
should just go back to vinyl and tapes. You have
a set number.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
You have a CD that if you don't want that,
if you don't want to listen to that in your car,
you got to get the wallet out.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Exactly, well CD wallet exactly.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
And you gotta, yeah, pick something else exactly.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
And it's a finite number with that until you until
it gets scratched up enough that you like have to just.
Speaker 3 (36:02):
Replace it or yeah, say goodbye forever.
Speaker 1 (36:05):
Yeah that and then you just listen to pop only
on the rain and.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
It belongs to your older sibling in the first place,
you shouldn't have it.
Speaker 1 (36:13):
At all, literally, and she's like, where's my CD, Like
I don't know, Yeah, that's what we should do, because yeah,
it's it's and it's true. I look at music that
I actually download like that I actually choose it's so
different because when I'm buying an individual album, it's an
(36:35):
artist that I want to support like that.
Speaker 2 (36:38):
I I just reade a hilarious comment on the video
for the next song I'm going to play. Okay, not
to interrupt you, but.
Speaker 1 (36:46):
But it's like, uh, it is such a different like
my collection of music if I was if I. When
I do buy it and it's like mine and it
belongs to me and nobody can take it away when
I like.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Stop paying, and it's a way cooler.
Speaker 1 (37:03):
I'm a way cooler person and like a more interesting
and varied selection of artists.
Speaker 3 (37:10):
Because I'm not, I'm much.
Speaker 1 (37:13):
Less likely to like I will listen to Sabrina Carpento
over and over again. I don't need to go out
and buy her record or even hit play on her. Ever,
I will hear her everywhere I go.
Speaker 2 (37:25):
Yeah, someone's inescapable, and you just feel like it's okay,
I'm gonna have opportunities to engage with this music as
I go along and the other stuff, even a major
artist like Billy Strings who's playing Arenas. It's just it
exists in a different world and in a time when music,
(37:49):
when you have so much available and you can have music,
any music you want, anywhere. It just we're all sort
of reverting back to the thing we liked, you know,
ten years ago, and that's what I've been trying to
fight back against with doing this podcast and getting people
(38:10):
who are coming from different places.
Speaker 6 (38:12):
Because I want to expand those horizons.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
But yet I still come back to I don't know,
the squa wrack and I need something that's going to
make me angry enough to lift the weight again. And
so that's where the Acasia Strain comes in. This is
a song called Warning Star. They released an album I
don't know two months ago on Rise Records. It's awesome.
(38:47):
Everything that I liked about Traders I like about this
Acasia Strains, a band that's been around for at least
twenty years now. They did not always sound like this,
but yeah, this record absolutely is so brutal. And here's
a bit of morning Star. God, I had that even
(39:20):
a little bit too loud for my headphones. The first
comment on the the official visualizer for this is bad
Day to be Drywall.
Speaker 1 (39:32):
That's good, good.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah. This album, it's such a like complete statement of
extreme rage and sort of the journey that I've been
on since college with heavy metal as there's been like
more of more homogenization in metal music, and there's sort
(40:01):
of this break where some bands are trying to be
more pop and more melodic, and some bands are trying
to be more aggressive and brutal. Is with screaming particularly,
like that is such a hallmark of metal. You don't
really hear that in other genres. But for me, as
(40:22):
someone who is trying to connect with the music, I
don't think you should just scream because that is the
vocal style of metal. I feel like there should be
some genuine statement of anger behind making that sound. And
so a lot of the bands that I've gravitated toward,
(40:43):
the newer metal bands or the metal bands with new
music that I've really liked over the past couple of years,
it's like it screams, but it also as a lifelong
metal fan, it feels angry, So like the scream feels appropriate.
Speaker 1 (40:57):
You know, yeah, you're like, I need authentic rage, right.
Speaker 2 (41:03):
Don't be a poser about it, Like make metal because
that's the style of music that you have to make
because no other genre encompasses the palette of sounds and
feelings that metal does. And you know, putting that, like
expressing that rage is a very healthy thing to do.
Speaker 1 (41:25):
But do you think that like in my mind, it's
kind of just like the it's the it's a sound,
it's an instrument in the music. And especially because you
can't understand the lyrics, and the lyrics are not that
great anyway if you do understand them, like they're not
it's not poetry and there's no reason to do I
(41:45):
mean sometimes it is, but very rarely there's.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
It's almost like a you're hiding your poetry, like if
you are actually a really good metal.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
Lyrics, I don't want anyone to know exactly like deliberately.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
And there's not that many words, like it's like it's
because each word is so big, But do you think
it's do you think you're being a poser when you
use guitar like or when you use bass or when
you use gain or whatever.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
I don't think that it's it's like invalid or something.
I am saying that I have. I find more connection
with artists where it seems like the the sounds match
the idea, the sounds match the concept, and there is
(42:31):
definitely a segment of metal like the next artist that
I'm going to play, which which is just pushing the
envelope to make something that is more terrifying and more insane.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
But still counts as music.
Speaker 2 (42:46):
It still technically counts as music.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
Yeah, people are non metal fans are always baffled because
they're like, I could have I could have gotten scraped
like a pan with a knife, and like double that
if I like without learning because without like learning guitar.
Like it's like they do these really complicated just like
(43:14):
requiring a lot of talent and skill music, but it's
all so loud and push together that if you're not
already a fan of it, it sounds.
Speaker 2 (43:25):
You need to. Yeah, there is there is a conditioning
that you almost need to go through as a fan
of what I would just say is extreme music, because
it's not all heavy metal. There's like extreme sounds in
hip hop.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
Chnochno, ambient noise.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, there's just like everyone loves, like, there's things that
you become used to hearing and picking out. So the
next band I want to talk about Infant Annihilator. This
is a trio, but you're gonna end up on a
to my understanding, they have never performed live and part
(44:05):
of the reason is because their songs are so insanely
complex their own they're barely uh pop. It's it's they're
barely playable. So everything is like stitched and edited together.
It's virtually electronic. There's a playthrough, a drum playthrough of
one of their songs from years ago. It has millions
(44:27):
of views actually on YouTube.
Speaker 3 (44:30):
And it's a crazy.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
There's a there's like a whole genre of videos of
like drum teachers reacting to the video of this song
and it looks completely impossible and it's basically like it's
pieced together by takes. So he plays like four bars
at a time and it's good enough, okay, uh And
the video is like nine minutes long, but the song
(44:53):
is like five minutes. So the last several minutes of
this drum playthrough is all of the the fuck ups.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
That's like a blooper.
Speaker 2 (45:05):
It's basically a blooper reel where he like the sticks
are just flying out of his hands and he's like,
oh no, I was so close to it.
Speaker 3 (45:11):
That's so silly.
Speaker 2 (45:12):
Okay. So this song is called Conception a Nameless Fear. Okay,
I think I I think I captured you just laughing
(45:34):
at some.
Speaker 3 (45:34):
Point that's insane.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Actually, yeah, it's truly insane. Yeah, no, one can't. You
can't help but laugh.
Speaker 1 (45:43):
I don't think the human body could know like those
beats are they're so fast. Yeah, I feel that they
are sped up even after.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
So they've apparently been offered a lot of money to
actually play some shows and like do festivals.
Speaker 1 (45:59):
And that's I think that people are people. It's like
a bet they're like.
Speaker 2 (46:05):
And it's actually the singer there. They also don't live
in the same place. I think the singer as American,
and the drummer and the guitarists are both from the UK,
and uh, the singer is a touring musician. I think
he's in the band necro Goblecon And he's saying that
(46:26):
he believes that they could get up to the point
as a unit where they could perform the music. But
he said specifically for him as a vocalist, to get
in the kind of shape he would need to be
to perform just the vocals of this this stuff, like
it's even you need to be at a virtuosic level
(46:48):
to do the screams and growls that it takes to
be an infant annihilator.
Speaker 3 (46:54):
Oh, it's insane.
Speaker 2 (46:55):
I mean, I love the craft of it and even
making a band. It's like metal is all about, especially
in the modern day, is like pushing the technical boundaries
of what is possible. Most of the like most insane
guitar players that you can think of are metal players
(47:18):
or were inspired by metal players. Like there's a lot.
Speaker 3 (47:21):
Because no one else wants to hear that.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
No one else wants to hear buckethead, No one cares
about that. Besides, like metal music, metal really like metal.
I feel like everyone who's like a real huge metal
fan is a musician, I think, like a guitarist or
a bassis.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
But talking about like the positive influence of heavy metal is, hey,
you you've been inspired to learn music? Yes, oh that's
that's not a useful thing to do. Uh, you know,
learning a skill, being able to express yourself Like well yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:01):
Let me but it's like and then you learn you're
like you do a version of it that especially no
one wants to hear, and it happens to be the
one of the hardest genres.
Speaker 2 (48:13):
Just figuring out where do you turn that down? I
was like, I'm a little disoriented.
Speaker 3 (48:17):
Oh yeah, no, totally. It's like it is. It is
thankless in a way.
Speaker 1 (48:23):
I feel, you know, just watching my Sister tour, like
cause it's so challenging, and it is such a niche genre,
like there's there's you know, hundreds of thousands or millions
maybe fans, but like it is still ultimately so niche
that and you're putting so much effort into it when
(48:46):
you could you know, go on to you know, garage
band hit a couple buttons, you know, keep that going
for three minutes and like that, you know, and have
a hit that people are playing, you know, in every commercial.
So it is like it's such a musician's genre.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
Uh, and it is.
Speaker 1 (49:10):
I think there is interesting because it is like because
you can't you can do a lot of it electronically
now and you can like you know, at it. I
just think there is the part of the coolness of
it is that it is someone does did play it.
Speaker 2 (49:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:27):
I think that's a big part of how I connect
with it because as a metal appreciator, I'm much more
interested like in seeing it live. That's like when I'm
really having a good time. So that then when it's
like insane, like it sounds like you hit two time
(49:49):
speed it's it's a lot to absorb, for sure.
Speaker 2 (49:53):
Yeah. So I feel like I hijacked the the end
of the podcast.
Speaker 3 (49:58):
Here, Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
My little segment of like, this is what we could
be doing, Yeah we can. I make the choice for
us to not do that. Yeah, every day, I choose
to not make the podcast about that.
Speaker 1 (50:12):
And yeah that's yeah, because we saw we could just
play the same song every episode and pretend it's a
different one and nobody would know.
Speaker 3 (50:21):
The different But that's okay. I think there was.
Speaker 1 (50:29):
Oh I will say one artist that we didn't talk about,
Gloilla hmm, a big one of my favorite artists right now.
Wanna be or yeah glow.
Speaker 5 (50:45):
Long slippy rap beaches and make your bail home, jig
long card You're mashed nails home.
Speaker 3 (50:52):
You know, this is honestly such a crazy podcast.
Speaker 1 (50:56):
Like when I think about it's like you just you
play like the most the hardest metal and then I
just play a lady saying every cuss word and and
it's like very similar vibes. Like I honestly like in
terms of like the vibe just like being pissed. But no,
(51:20):
I mean Glorilla is like having her moment. I think
she's been having her moment. She's such a positive energy
even though she stays mad. I feel like that's what's
great about this music is you get the anger out
in the music and then you go out into the
world and you're a nice person.
Speaker 3 (51:40):
Yeah I could have. We could have. I think we
did talk about her a tiny tiny bit.
Speaker 2 (51:45):
I don't think we did, did we not? I think
you and I personally obtain we have.
Speaker 3 (51:49):
Yeah, But I'm I'm a huge.
Speaker 2 (51:50):
Because I've been like, why does everyone think she that
Glorilla is so great?
Speaker 3 (51:55):
Because she is?
Speaker 2 (51:57):
And I think that's what you said.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Yeah, I'm and I could go more deeply into it,
but I think she it's a lot of it's her energy,
like she has great collabor like collabs, and also she
just has like her accent, the Memphis accent, And.
Speaker 2 (52:14):
I want to ask you where she's from from Memphis.
Speaker 6 (52:17):
And she.
Speaker 1 (52:22):
Is just she's bringing it's like a different it's a
different sound. It's a different style than like most pop
right now, like pop hip hop. And I think that's
part of why everyone's so into it. Yeah, we we
love it all right.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I think that's a good wrap up episode. Dome. Is
there anything you want to add, No, I feel good.
Speaker 4 (52:48):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
We've had a lot of episodes and we could still
we could still like run it back, do another episode
on each band that we've done episode on, and maybe
repeat ourselves a little a little bit.
Speaker 3 (53:04):
But I you know, it's never it's never enough.
Speaker 2 (53:09):
It's yeah, there's so much music out there and we're
just trying to find some of it that we like. Yeah,
and I found a lot of it.
Speaker 1 (53:16):
I'm excited about our next year, our plans for next year.
Speaker 3 (53:21):
Like we've been.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
As we look back on like our body of work
and how it's all shaken out. It's nice to now
be able to fill in the blanks.
Speaker 3 (53:32):
Yeah, that it feels like.
Speaker 2 (53:33):
Talking about what we think work and what it didn't, Yeah,
what we'd like to do more of and yeah, So
this might be the last episode of the year. We'll
see and we'll be be back sometime in twenty twenty
six with some more new episodes of At First Listen.
Thank you for listening to anyone
Speaker 5 (54:07):
Quick
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!