August 7, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of Vinyl Curriculum, Logan and Jim dive into the vibrant world of modern indie music. From basement bands to festival headliners, they explore the genre’s evolution, DIY spirit, and genre-bending sounds that are redefining the music scene today. Expect fresh picks, unexpected gems, and a conversation that unpacks what makes indie feel so personal, and so powerful, in today’s streaming era. Whether you're a longtime fan or just indie-curious, this episode hits all the right notes.
Listen to the Spotify Playlist
Listen to the Apple Music Playlist
Visit the Vinyl Curriculum Landing Page
#VinylCurriculum #Mistakes #Podcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Every record tells a story. Independent labels, I think a
lot of interesting songs came out of that and.
Every generation has a soundtrack.
The only hip you have in your body is made of titanium.
This is the final curriculum with Logan.
Apparently I don't know very much about anything.
Somebody calls her Tay Tay. Hey, it's Logan.
(00:23):
Just a quick heads up before we get into it.
This episode was originally recorded live on WLRA radio
where we are able to play all the songs that we talked about.
Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions, we can't include
the music here on the podcast. So anytime you hear this sound,
that means we're skipping over asong that we originally played
(00:44):
on air. But don't worry, Jim's put
together a playlist with all thetracks from the episode so you
can still follow along. Just check the link in the show
notes. All right, now on to the
episode. Welcome back to another episode
of the Vinyl Curriculum. Logan and Jim here live in the
studio. Jim, how we doing today?
(01:05):
Great. Logan, how are you doing?
Oh. I'm doing fantastic.
Excited for another episode. We've got a good one for you
today. What is the topic for today's
show, Jim? This is going to be indie music,
but the the catch with this one,this is what I'm really excited
about. Logan, this is all within your
time frame. My time frame, your time.
Frame. What time frame is that?
There's a great chance you're alive during all this stuff.
(01:28):
There's a great chance you're going to know these songs, but I
have a high suspicion that you don't.
OK, why would you just? Taylor Swift is not indie, so I
don't think you know indie rock.Can you, I mean, I don't Taylor
Swift is not from Indiana, but Idon't know like what is indie?
Rock, indie rock, it just means it's not the major corporate
(01:49):
labels typically, although there's one of them here that he
is. I'm just had to sneak them,
sneak them in there. But usually, you know, they're
in indie rock. It could be indie folk, it could
be indie pop, just not the big labels.
So that you got a lot more experimental stuff, interesting
stuff. You know, they weren't huge
hits, but they're still great music.
(02:10):
OK. So it it's not necessarily from
that they're from Indiana. Now you know well that they're
not from Indiana. Well, you know, I don't know.
There's a lot of good people, a lot of good artists that come
out of Indiana. David Letterman, Muncie, IN.
Thank you. Seymour, who's from Seymour, IN.
Seymour, I don't know. John Mellencamp OK used to be
(02:32):
John Cougar and then they the they made him change his name to
John Cougar and then he finally got successful enough to where
he went to John Cougar Mellencamp and then now it's
just John Mellencamp. What is then the guy who
proposed to his wife in Chicago?Who is that?
I think that was John Cougar Mellencamp.
He proposed in during a show in Chicago.
I have no idea. No, OK, I don't know.
(02:54):
See, there's that's something I knew and you didn't you?
Don't you proud of? Me yourself, you don't know if
that's. A fact.
OK, well, I'm going to look it up, I guess.
But what let's while I'm doing that, why don't you tell us
about this first song? The song is called Lloyd.
I'm ready to be heartbroken. Wow.
Yeah, Lloyd and Lloyd. Like from Dumb and Dumber.
Apparently there was a song called Are you ready to be
(03:15):
Heartbroken by Lloyd and somebody, Lloyd, Lloyd Cole and
somebody. I forgot what this group was and
this is just the song that they wrote in response.
So, Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken.
Camera. Obscura camera obscura.
You know what that. Is no camera obscura is before
cameras. If you got yourself in a dark
(03:37):
space and you cut a small littlehole, the light that will come
through that hole will be inversed and upside down and you
will see it. And so Michelangelo and Leonardo
da Vinci used to use that to teach themselves about
perspective so it would show it on the wall.
Upside. Down I see so like a pinhole
(03:59):
camera, like when you when you watch the solar eclipse, that's
what you that's like the thing to do is is poke a hole, see the
little projection of it. It just wasn't a camera.
It was just showed it on the wall and they were able to.
Study it. Right, Right.
But you know, I OK. And that's called Camera
Obscura. Yes, There was a show I used to
watch on The History Channel. I, I believe that it was like
(04:22):
the Obscura show. And it was like one of those
shops where you can like buy crazy things like, I don't know,
I like goth. You know what I'm talking about.
No, but I. Think I just I could see it in
your face. You know, I think I just nodded
off. OK, well, this one's called
Lloyd. I'm ready to be heartbroken.
(04:42):
This better be off to a good start.
We you've had a lot of success recently in in some of the
episodes starting off hot. 2006 I didn't mention that. 2006 So
you were how old? I was 80.
I would have turned 8 in 2006. This is Camera Obscura on the
vinyl curriculum. There's a little bit of organ in
(05:11):
that one. It's like old school church.
Is it I don't know or is it likea keyboard?
It was, it was it was kind of churchy.
OK, I don't know. I'm, I wasn't a huge fan of that
one. This works, by the way, on the
(05:31):
vinyl curriculum. We'll hear a little bit of the
song. We're not going to play the
whole song for copyright reasons.
We can't have that on the podcast version.
But if you're listening live here on WLRA, thank you.
You get to hear a little bit more of the song.
And then after we hear the song and Jim tells me a little bit
about it, I will assign it a grade, an impartial grade at
that, as it always is. And is it?
(05:55):
It is, It is. And I'm very fair and honest and
people, many people agree with me.
I get texts all the time. I would love to see a single
text from someone who agrees with you.
Well, if you agree with me or ifyou don't, you can text us
815-733-8517. But I think we're going to start
(06:17):
off not as hot as we normally dowith a just a solid beat.
Well, I mean, is upbeat. It was upbeat it.
Wasn't it? Wasn't it?
Wasn't dance upbeat? I think you could easily dance
to that. I think you could tap your foot
again. You don't have foot.
You don't have to dance, but youcan is upbeat, is happy.
(06:40):
She's ready to be heartbroken. I guess if you.
Can't see further than her nose at this moment.
What? What?
I was just doing the lyrics. Oh.
Can't see What does that mean? You're just so enamored with a
person so. Gushy with this guy that she's
just ready. OK, I don't know.
All right, Camera. Obscura yeah, they kind of,
(07:02):
they're taking a hiatus. I think one of their members
passed away unexpectedly, like in 2015.
So they're on a hiatus, but theyhave a big following.
So I've never heard of them ever.
Well, most of these you might not have.
We OK, but you said these are since I've been a lot.
Well, this was. 2006 If you're listening to Taylor Swift,
(07:22):
they're not going to be on that playlist.
You know, I mean, I don't know, I don't what I don't even know
what an indie radio station would be.
What is I mean, what, what's what station would this play on?
And I'll tell you if this. I like W KCRW out of LA is what
I when I was get my masters W KCRW.
You're listening to LA radio, not in LA.
(07:45):
Well, yeah, 'cause it's online, that's streaming, just like many
people are streaming right now. But anyway, what I like to do,
the way I find the way I find music is if you like a song on
Spotify, you can say play, go tothat song and say play Lloyd,
I'm ready to be heartbroken radio.
And it will find similar songs to that.
(08:07):
And so then you're like, oh, that's cool.
I knew you like that song. And then you go back and you
listen to your like songs and you say, I'm going to listen to
more of that album. So you go back and you listen to
the album. That's how I do it.
The wonders of modern machinery,yes, That lets you just listen
to similar songs and not have tostream radio out of a different
city. Yeah.
You can do either or. Though OK, this next one is
(08:31):
another song about heartbreak. What we're supposed to keep the
vibes high here? And two songs in a row about
heartbreak, I feel like is not doing that.
Well, this one's the pains of being pure at.
Heart the pains, that's the. Name of the album, the group and
I saw them in concert at the Riviera.
That's just one that rolls rightoff the tongue.
Well, they disbanded, so it might have been because the name
(08:51):
was too long. This was called Heart in your
Heartbreak. Very upbeat though, Logan.
I'd expect to see you dancing tothis.
One I, I will, I will. And this is #2 here on the vinyl
curriculum, I think I know what that's from.
(09:12):
That's got to be from a FIFA video game.
That's where I think that's where.
A what? A FIFA.
FIFA Soccer. Why would I ever have played the
soccer video? Game.
I don't know you don't. You checked me as a soccer.
Kind of guy, 60 years old, no, when I was a kid, I don't have.
Nothing to do with enjoy the enjoyment of video.
I don't think soccer was invented when I was in
(09:33):
Mississippi when I was around. Soccer what?
I don't think we had soccer backthen.
We did football and baseball in Mississippi.
That was it. Soccer is an old sport.
I know, but I just don't know ifwe visited Mississippi at the
time. Sure.
OK. Pardon your heartbreak.
That one's better. Yeah, that one's better.
A minus. OK, when I saw them in concert,
(09:56):
I literally was the oldest person there.
I'm not lying. There might have been a guy,
almost. There's a guy that I won't
almost want to say how old are you?
Just to see who was the oldest. Did you?
I mean, well, yeah, I don't know.
You didn't get pushed in and on your wheelchair, did you?
No, I did not. I thought it was a very good
concert. They broke up, but then now
they're touring in Spain. I don't know if they're going to
(10:18):
tour back. They kind of got back together.
They strike me as like a Raviniakind of band.
Where did you see them at? No, I saw them here.
Riviera. Or it might have been Lincoln
Center. In the city.
Yeah, Lincoln Center, I think iswhere it was.
It's a smaller venue and you just kind of walk down and it's
there. Lincoln Center, Is that right?
(10:41):
I don't know. Yeah, I think so.
We're going to say that's what we're going to say.
Also, I need to make a correction from the last.
When I was listening to the lastpodcast and we were talking
about Flautus, remember? No.
Oh, Flautus and I. Said you know who else has a
flute? And I said it was Judas Priest.
And I was, it was I meant to sayJethro.
Tall Jethro. Tall, tall, tall to you.
(11:05):
Tall. He had, he would play the flute.
So I completely screw that one up.
So apologize to people who mighthave run off the road when they
heard that. That's going to be on the
midterm, that question. Yeah, thanks.
So you better write that down. All right, what's up next here?
Now this is this is I wouldn't, this is probably not Indy, but I
love them so much I had to put them on here.
(11:25):
This is bleachers. So with my daughter back in, I
don't know. This is around 2000.
She was in college still, and now she's 28.
And then I saw him last year with my son.
This is called I want to get better.
And Logan, I want you to listen because you need to get better.
That's hurtful. OK, I think I'm pretty good.
This is Bleachers. I want to get better on the
(11:48):
vinyl curriculum. You can't even listen to that
song and just not be happy. That is just makes you feel good
on the inside right there. I knew you're going to like
that. You know why?
Why I knew that? Tell me.
(12:09):
Because Jack. Jack.
Jack Antonoff. Who?
Antonoff is the guy's name. I don't know if say it right,
but he's he's bleachers. He's Taylor Swift's producer and
they've won Grammys before, so Iknew there was going to be a
connection. Yes, see I didn't even know
(12:30):
that. That just made that song 100%
better. He also produced like Lord and
Lana Del Rey very famous when itcomes to that.
He was, he started off remember,fun like.
SSD. Oh, no.
Yeah, yeah, I was singing that other song.
And we are young, you know, thatwas fun.
He was with that other guy and then.
Yes, yeah. Bleachers is one of my
(12:52):
favorites. Like I said, we saw them last
year at the Salt Shed. Yeah, I've always wanted to go
there. Is that how is that venue?
I've just seen pictures. I've only done the outdoor ones.
I'd also did a pizza fest. They're outdoor.
What? Yeah, they call it the
fairgrounds, which is outside venue, but then when the
weather's bad, like it's inside.In the shed.
(13:14):
Inside the shed I've seen inside, I've walked in there,
they were nothing going on in there.
But I've never been to an insideone but.
OK, Yeah. It's kind of fun and there's a
Goose Island has a restaurant slash place right outside.
So my son and I went there firstand it was, by the way, he just
shouted out that that was a goodchoice.
(13:34):
Well that was a good choice. I like that.
A for effort right there. Good for sure.
The next one though. This group is making me nervous.
This is this is a group called Snail Mail I don't use.
I can't remember the last time Isent something through snail
mail. I was thinking about that.
You don't send birthday cards toyour parents.
(13:56):
From the mailbox? Yes.
No. You know how special it is to go
to the mailbox and see a letter that someone took the time to
write to you? Yes, actually, I do.
My family used to call me the mailman because during COVID, I
checked the mail religiously every day.
They're like, you know, we only ever get bills.
I'm like, yeah, but that one time that someone sends me a
card, I'm going to be the first one to get it.
(14:17):
That should be your motivation to do it to your parents.
Make a note. But they don't get the mail, so
it'll sit in the mailbox for four days until.
Well, it'll be extra special when they open the.
Mailman get get mad at him. Snail mail is a It's like a lady
named Lindsay Jordan. Kind of a one person show saw
her. A one woman show.
Well, you know, it's a band, butit's kind of like, you know,
(14:39):
it's not. There's my not.
It's just her love the album, but I saw her in concert and I
it was not a good concert. At all.
So you thought not a good concert.
Let's make this Logan listen to the song.
This song is amazing, though. The album's great.
It's just she, I think she's young and she didn't know this
is what it sounded like. She'd be talking like this and
(15:01):
then you go like that and you should be talking like this and
then go like that, like she didn't know how to project.
And so we were, I think it was at the Riviera and you could the
only reason I could hear it because I could hear people
singing it, like you heard the music and everything, but you
could not hear her voice. It's like, yeah, the Doppler
effect. She's just running, running
across the stage and. You just hear.
(15:21):
Yeah. And it was kind of sad and I
don't know. I mean, it's a great album.
I love this song, too. So let's say what you think.
OK, this is the song called Pristine by Snail Mail and then
another impartial grade coming up right after this.
(15:43):
You know, I think that's given me old school Taylor Swift
vibes. Old school Taylor Swift was
country. Well, I'm just talking about how
she sounds though, like it's just, I don't know, kind of
similar vocal patterns. No, you don't.
You. Don't hear, I do not.
When I hear snail mail, I do notever think of Taylor Swift.
(16:05):
Well, I mean, like love story. Well, OK, you don't.
You don't hear it. No.
Oh. What is your thought?
I try if I'm going to enjoy my music.
I try not to think about Taylor.Well, I think we're going to go,
we'll go a solid. B.
Oh my goodness. Just A.
(16:25):
Just a straight B. That's I think that's just
retribution because I said something tacky about.
Taylor No, I I think this is more quintessential indie.
Like when I if I were to think of indie, it's it's something
kind of softer like this. It's not necessarily bleachers.
That's not soft. Well, yeah, it is.
(16:47):
I mean, it's it's a little toneddown.
It's not like, you know, screamoor like death metal or
something, you know what I mean?Or like Hard Rock, like
Metallica. It's just kind of, it's kind of
like Taylor, you know, we just strum along on the.
Guitar. We've reached our Taylor limit.
We cannot mention her anymore. This is by the way, this is the
(17:08):
best part of the song is barely she starts building up really
cool. Well, I I liked snail mail that
a whole album. So I would suggest you go back
and listen to it loud and then you'll think it's better.
What is the name of the album? Do you have the name of the
album? I think it's.
Might be let me look snail mail,no.
Lush is that that's what we have.
(17:31):
Listed here. Yeah, must have.
Been album lush, yeah. She's got a photo of her like
she's got red face anyway. OK, OK, lighting.
I guess that made her look red. Sure, sure.
All right. This next one, though, I think
you're going to like it because it is upbeat, OK, They're from
Australia. They were kids.
(17:51):
I saw them in this hole in the wall.
I was talking to my son about this the other day.
I don't need, it's called the empty bottle, I think.
And it was some bar in Chicago. I saw they were coming and while
I was there it said it was supposed to start at 9:00.
So of course I got there at 8 and it didn't really start at 9,
it would start like at 10:30. Nerd Alert.
And. Who shows up?
(18:12):
Who Shows? Up Well, when you're in your
50s, kid, you do it 'cause you're respectful of people's
time. But I, as I was sitting there,
these people, these three guys were walking around and they
were, they had potatoes, they were dressed like potatoes.
And I'm like, why are these guysdressed like potatoes?
(18:32):
And they were one of the openingacts.
They were one of the opening acts.
And they sounded like Devo, but it was hardcore crazy.
It was weird, I'm telling you. But then Goon Sacks came out and
like I said, at the time they were.
You're interrupting me. Good Lord, they were.
At the time they were young, like 1718, and you can tell it
(18:57):
like live. They were a little
inexperienced, I thought. The potatoes are.
No, I'm not talking about the potatoes.
They were terrible, but the goonsacks.
But the female is the drummer. There's two guys and a girl,
they're from Australia and one the the singer.
I think the guy who's singing now, I think his dad was in a
group called the Go Betweens, which was like the 80s.
(19:19):
So I went back and listened to some of that.
That was kind of cool, but say what you think about this group.
So this is the Goon Sax. Does that imply that there's
heavy use of a saxophone? No, I don't know what the name
comes from. Oh, all right, well, this is
called Make Time for the #4 love.
So we've got heartbreak and love.
(19:40):
We've got it all here on the vinyl curriculum.
We've got the variety of relationships, They're making
time for love. The other people are
experiencing heartbreak. He's trying to make time.
For love. Oh, doesn't have time for love?
I don't know. He's trying.
(20:03):
Was yeah, that was what like, goes back to what you said about
like the rock'n'roll tours and how everybody, you know, is
singing about how they're in love and now they got to go, you
know, similar vibe. I like that, though.
I think that it's different. Cowbell.
You mentioned it off air and andI'm a big cowbell guy, you know,
(20:24):
got a little got to have more cowbell in the song.
That's twice we've mentioned that A Oh wow.
Salad A. Good.
This is 2018 and so was snail mail was 2018.
That was 2018. Yeah, so were you 10?
I would have turned 10 in 2018. Yes, don't.
Give me like no. Just say yes or no.
(20:45):
I would have turned 20. Oh, OK, so that was recent.
That was, you should have known that song then.
That's what I'm saying. We're going to get you away from
Taylor and you're going to startexperimenting with some of these
new, new bands. I'm sorry, I just Taylor Radio.
That's the only thing that gets played in the car well.
Unfortunately, the Goon Sacks are no longer they disbanded in
(21:06):
2022, but did you see them? In concert.
You did. I did.
I did. That was.
The that was the potato. I'm getting confused.
Yeah. All right, so the next group is
Girl Pool. Girl Pool.
It was two women and I enjoyed their album.
And then I was waiting for a newalbum came out.
(21:26):
It came out. And then it they had added a a
male voice. And then I realized one of the
women had transitioned. And so it was really.
Oh, it was a total. And it's funny how it was a
total different sound for the group.
Yeah. That's interesting.
But they have disbanded as well in 2022.
You know both the Goon Stacks and Girl pool both disbanded in
(21:50):
2022. I wonder what happened?
I don't know. Anyway, this was called Pretty
and I love this one too. This is called Pretty My Girl
Pool. Is this OK?
Well, let's just take a listen, then we'll get some thoughts.
All right, Maybe. There we go.
(22:15):
I see what she's saying. Pretty broken.
Yeah, that makes sense. Interesting though.
You see my this kind of enunciates what I the one of the
issues that I have with this kind of music is a lot of these
songs sound very similar like this genre to me.
(22:37):
Like this sounds very similar toa lot of the other songs like in
this kind of genre. So it's hard for me to
distinguish between different types or different songs in this
genre, which is part of the reason I think why I am not a
huge fan of it. There's not a lot of
(22:57):
individuality to each song. Wouldn't you do the same for
Southern rock or wouldn't you dothe same for like 70's rock?
I mean it's these all are have these that kind of flowy, a lot
of female voices soft. It's not screaming.
It's flowy guitar riffs. That's what this is.
(23:19):
That's what these are, right? Right.
Yeah. But they're kind of all have
that. Yeah.
And they're all female, so that probably doesn't.
Well, I, I don't know, I just itto me they all sound very
similar, more so than even Southern Rock last week.
I mean, I feel like we had a pretty good variety there.
We had some I like, some I didn't like, but this is where
kind of getting to a point wherethey're all starting to blend
(23:41):
together for me, you know, so. That's 'cause your mind is
slowly closing. What?
Yeah, you're you're that impartiality is slowly that you
claim to have is slowly going. I don't.
First of all, I don't claim anything I know as a fact, OK?
I'm very impartial. Well, I guarantee you this one
is not going to sound like that last one.
Well, I impartially give pretty AB so.
(24:02):
See, now you're getting personal.
Personal that with attitude. Man, no, I Jim, I, I have given
out, in my opinion, very generous grades to a lot of
these songs. I I have given.
I don't need your number. Of C's, a limited number of C's.
They've we've had a lot of B's, a lot of just average.
(24:25):
I'm I very even generous in not going too far below average?
It was the way you said it. Well, the facial expressions
were bad. That's what, yeah, that's not
that's what my mom always used to say.
It's not what you said. Is how you said it.
Oh yeah, OK. And that's always been my issue.
So anyway, girl pool pretty. What's the next one?
(24:46):
2018 again future me hates me. A lot of emotions.
By the Beths BETHS. The Beths.
Apart for me to say that Beths. Yep, OK.
And they're. From New Zealand, OH.
Where is New Zealand? Right by Australia.
Thank you. Isn't Australia it's own island?
(25:10):
Yeah, continent. But it's an island, so how can
New Zealand be by an island? What 'cause it could be outside?
That's where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
New Zealand. Oh, all right.
And so this one is called FutureMe Hates Me by the Beths, and
we're just rocking with all the emotions.
(25:30):
We're here till 1:00. We've got some more songs for
you here on the vinyl curriculum.
Just as I say that all the songssound similar, that one then
sounds totally different. Yeah, you might have jumped the
(25:51):
gun on that one. Well, Future Me Hates Me by the
Beths, another group that I've never even heard of.
I'm going to go solid B. Another solid B2 in a row.
I think you should try harder, but OK, it's not terrible.
How I don't understand how I cantry harder at grading.
(26:12):
I'm in signing impartial. Grade This is an.
Ongoing, OK, ongoing argument. This next one, these people are
from Chicago. Oh, and they're very different.
There's it's two guys and a gal.She's, you know how Post Malone
has tattoos all over their face?She has tattoos all over her
(26:34):
face. She's a tattoo artist.
You can I follow her on Instagram and you can reserve
times to have her do tattoos. She's got a very interesting
style. In Chicago, does she?
In Chicago, just all over the place.
But they also go out West too, somewhere in the desert.
But anyway, her the name of the group is dead.
DEHD. Another group I've never even
heard of this. Is called Bad Love 2022.
(26:58):
OK, well, we're I is this again the situation where we're going?
Yeah, we're on time. We're following the timeline
chronological. Thank you.
That's the word I was looking for.
This is dead. Like I said, another group never
even heard of. It's let's just say you don't
know any of these, so let's justexcept for bleachers, all right?
(27:20):
Let's take a listen. Again, another different vibe.
I guess all I had to do was openmy big mouth and say that they
all sound the same and then we have different.
(27:41):
I did a little bit that does that gives more Bleachers vibes.
Back to the FIFA video game we discussed earlier.
I I don't know why FIFA, why arewhat They're playing soccer and
they're listening to all indie music.
We've talked about this before. I I have to have some sort of
association with the song. We're going to go a minus with
(28:01):
that one. OK, well.
That's good. We're improving.
They played, I was looking, theyplayed Lollapalooza a few years
ago. So they're.
Oh, they're up there. Lolla just happened this past
weekend. Have you ever been to
Lollapalooza? I have never been to
Lollapalooza. Really, I feel like that would
be something you would like. Yeah, I almost, I was telling my
son I want to go to Riot Fest this year because there was a
(28:23):
couple of people I wanted to see.
And then I got thinking, I don'tknow, I might, that might be an
age. Limit, that's a, that's an
intense experience, yeah. I know Morrissey was there one
year and I would thought OK, butthen I saw him last year so.
I've never been. I've overlooked it.
The building I used to work in overlooked Grant Park and so we
could like see it, overlook it and see the mainstage.
(28:45):
Couldn't really hear it though, and surprisingly the traffic
wasn't that bad. I thought the traffic would have
been worse going down there. It really wasn't.
Everyone must take the train. They should, all right.
The next one is a Spanish group.Oh.
Molinas and the name of the songis Bang.
I don't know what they're sayingbut I like the song.
They could be cussing me out forall I know.
(29:07):
You don't like? What do you mean?
Is the song not in English? This is Spanish.
Oh, OK. Well, that's a little different,
I guess, right. I think this is the first multi
lingual song that we've had on the show.
So that's. Interesting.
Unless you consider popcorn. I don't know.
(29:27):
If that wasn't English, that was.
That didn't even really have words.
That was from the mistakes episode.
Great episode, my favorite so far.
If you haven't heard it, go back.
It's live on Spotify and Apple Podcast now, but this is a
little, little different vibe. Let's take a listen.
(29:52):
That was giving kind of popcorn vibes.
What are they saying? You know Spanish?
No. Idea.
Not even, not even a little bit.I like it though.
I loved it. Yeah.
Good beat. It's fun.
Like you just said, off air you feel like you have to get up and
dance to that song. Yep.
I agree. We're gonna go a minus, I think.
(30:14):
You're starting to redeem yourself.
I'm happy. That's good.
That's good. Yeah, I like it.
Again, high energy fun. It's it's almost got like a
synth kind of electrical sound. I mean, it's, it's that this has
to be what, 20? 20/20/2020 Something interesting
though it says that they are Spanish language all female
(30:36):
quartet and that did not sound like a male.
That sound like a male to me. Did that sound like a?
Female to you? Maybe.
No. Maybe.
That just surprises me. I haven't seen a video or
anything, but I Speaking of females, yeah.
I don't know, but you can do, I mean, the 2020 A vocal effects
(30:58):
are in, yeah. You know, you can do all sorts
of crazy stuff with your voice. So the next song, they're indie,
but they're super popular, so I'm sure you've heard This is
Not Strong Enough by Boy Genius.OK.
And love this song. Boy genius.
That's all one word from what I'm seeing.
And I'm pretty sure they were nominated for several Grammys in
(31:19):
2023. So they're popular.
Very popular, that's what I'm. Saying are they not Indies that?
Well, they're indie that made it.
Phoebe, it's Phoebe Bridgers. So she's, you know, has some
success on her own and then she teamed up with.
These two other ladies, OK. Lucy Dacus and Julian Baker.
(31:39):
Julian Baker, I see. Yeah, I've never I've heard of
Phoebe Bridgers. I've heard of Lucy Dacus, but I
think you know when I do the Spotify thing, I think it plays
some of her songs. So.
Oh, OK, so this is called boy genius.
Then we'll have another impartial grade coming up right
after this. Can I say once again, Taylor
(32:05):
2.0, but better. Well, the harmony though is
interesting. It's impressive, Yeah.
It's it's like multiple tailors singing.
Together, but it's different people.
That's what makes it better. It's not electronically
produced. I What I like about this song is
as you listen to the album, the song, the backup singer kind of
(32:29):
takes lead singing harmony. Do we know which singer that is?
I think. Phoebe's the first one, and I
think it was the Lucy OK was thesecond one.
I think when you watch the videos, they're just like at an
amusement park riding rides, so there's dozens of everybody
singing. Oh yeah.
Oh, they're not. They're not singing in the.
Music video. No, it's just.
(32:50):
It's just riding on a roller. Coaster Great America or
whatever and just filmed it and.That must be the life.
We just come out with the music.What do you want to do for the
video? I just want to go to the roller
park. The roller, the roller park, the
six fives or something. The skate.
No, just want to ride roller coasters for a couple hours and
you just film it. Yeah.
(33:11):
Boy genius, what do those? I think solid B there.
We're going to go solid BI. Think it a little more
impressive than I had originallythought.
It started off kind of slow, butthat's OK.
Got better as it went on. So I'm glad we listened to
actually more of that than we were planning on.
So yeah, we'll go solid B there.We've got time for just a couple
(33:34):
more songs though. What's the next one?
Well, we're going to skip a couple because I had on that the
playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
I had a bonus track from Royal Otis.
I really liked him a lot. And it's a Do you remember that
song Linger by the Cranberries? No.
Do we listen to that? You might have reckoned, no, she
(33:55):
passed away. But anyway, it's an acoustic
version. He does, they do.
It's a couple like 2 guys. But listen to that on the
playlist. It's amazing.
And we're not, I'm not gonna play motels because I think that
was the kind of a hit too. And we're just kind of running
out of time, so. But I really like Royal Otis.
They're kind of newish. They're from Australia as well,
so. But the next one is called
(34:16):
Overtime. It's a duet with Kacey
Musgraves. You know her the country, kind
of. She's not really country
country, but she's different kind of country.
Yeah, she sang on the Elvis movie soundtrack.
I was a big fan of the Elvis movie.
I did not see that. What?
No, wait, what? I don't watch things like that
typically. If it comes on Hank, says
Colonel Tom Parker. If it comes on streaming I'll
(34:39):
watch it. It's on streaming.
Well then why did I think I watched?
Did you did you watch Bridesmaidlike that was your homework
assignment? Oh no, but that's not on
streaming. I can't.
So you haven't. You were giving me such a hard
time for not seeing Bridesmaids.You haven't seen the Elvis
movie. No.
Anyway, this is a The name of the group is Rainbow Kitten
(35:00):
Surprise. I'm sorry, come again?
Rainbow kitten kitten Surprise. It's called Overtime.
It's a good song though. That, like we talked about Post
Malone, put his name in a rap name generator.
That sounds like something that came out of a rap name
generator. They played Lollapalooza in
2018, so there you go. Sure.
(35:20):
Maybe it was probably with Post Malone.
Maybe they use the same website.You should see what that website
was. OK, this is. 2024 so surprise.
And so Rainbow Kitten Surprise is its own band.
Is Kacey Musgraves part of that?There's.
How does this work? They're singing it with her.
It's parentheses, featuring Kacey Musgraves in parentheses.
OK, you again with the parentheses.
(35:41):
I swear. OK, this is called overtime.
And then another impartial gradecourtesy of me.
Can I call you love? I won't.
Keep in touch. Oh shit.
This is the light. So that's Kasey Musgraves right
(36:01):
there, right? Renmo Kitten Surprise might be
the best name of a group that we've had on the show so far.
But we haven't played in Insane Clown Posse, so a former student
worker used to love them. They're.
Crazy heavy metal. They dress up like clowns.
It is terrifying. That's aggressive.
(36:21):
Yeah, I don't like that. No, I'm scared of clowns.
I am too. Overtime, my rainbow kitten
surprise and Casey Musgraves. I don't know, it's it's kind of
mellow. I think we'll just we'll go
another solid B. OK.
Another solid B right there. I think if you listen to the
whole song, it might have gone up a little bit.
Maybe it's good. Maybe.
(36:43):
So yeah, we the last one I want to end on.
We've already done Bleachers, but Bleachers is the best band
in my mind in the world. So we're going to play, you
know, we got to end up an upbeatsong.
Yes, this is roller coaster. This is roller coaster.
This might be my favorite Bleachers song.
I'm pretty sure it is. I like it.
I knew this before too. Oh.
(37:03):
You're not too proud. This is a good one.
All right, let's take a listen. Man, I like this song.
I like this song a lot. This is an A.
This is an. Easy A OK, good.
This is an. Easy A.
Come on. There's so much fun in concert,
and if you listen to their songs, they have the choruses.
(37:26):
There are a bunch of people singing, so when you see them in
concert, everybody's singing along.
Yeah, and they they have a lot of songs that everyone knows.
This is probably the only group on this list, I mean besides
Casey Musgraves that I knew. Right.
So I like it solid a right there.
I think for the genre as a whole, because this is how we
(37:48):
work, I give an individual's grade to each song and then
we'll give, I'll give a grade tothe whole genre.
And then after that, Jim will give me a little retribution, an
impartial grade of his own. I think we've got to go a minus
for that indie. Since Logan's been born.
(38:08):
Rock we call this. Logan, I think that is an
acceptable grade. You do.
I do think that's acceptable. Wow.
So I will give you an A minus because I think some of these
could have been a little bit higher.
If you listen to it in the car, like turned it out really loud,
I think you would have been OK. You would have got up to an A.
Yeah, maybe I need to work on that because an A minus is still
bringing down the GPA. Well, and the fact that you said
(38:29):
that these all sound the same when they really don't, that
that went into my grade as well.Most of them.
Most of them do sound the same, unfortunately.
No. Maybe two of them might have.
They were back-to-back. Maybe that was.
Maybe that's what it was. I don't know.
I get distracted easy. But yeah, overall, I'd say
pretty good. This is episode #7 of the Vinyl
(38:49):
Curriculum, which is now available on all sorts of
streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcast, pretty much
wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to Jim and I
every single week, live on Mondays, and then the podcast
drops every Thursday. We have links to everything on
our web page. It's vinyl curriculum dot card
(39:11):
dot. Cocard.co.
But the card is CARRD dot Co and.
That's really complicated. I know, but it's free so that's
why we did it. It's free, but if you have any
feedback or comments or want to be part of the conversation,
tell me how wrong I am. You can always text us or call
us, leave us a message. You might end up on air for the
(39:33):
next episode, 815-733-8517. I beg you to leave honest
opinions about Logan. I need to hear.
That all right, right. Well, thanks for another great
episode and we'll catch you on the next one.
Bye.
Every record tells a story. Independent labels, I think a
lot of interesting songs came out of that and.
Every generation has a soundtrack.
The only hip you have in your body is made of titanium.
This is the final curriculum with Logan.
Apparently I don't know very much about anything.
Somebody calls her Tay Tay. Hey, it's Logan.
(00:23):
Just a quick heads up before we get into it.
This episode was originally recorded live on WLRA radio
where we are able to play all the songs that we talked about.
Unfortunately, due to copyright restrictions, we can't include
the music here on the podcast. So anytime you hear this sound,
that means we're skipping over asong that we originally played
(00:44):
on air. But don't worry, Jim's put
together a playlist with all thetracks from the episode so you
can still follow along. Just check the link in the show
notes. All right, now on to the
episode. Welcome back to another episode
of the Vinyl Curriculum. Logan and Jim here live in the
studio. Jim, how we doing today?
(01:05):
Great. Logan, how are you doing?
Oh. I'm doing fantastic.
Excited for another episode. We've got a good one for you
today. What is the topic for today's
show, Jim? This is going to be indie music,
but the the catch with this one,this is what I'm really excited
about. Logan, this is all within your
time frame. My time frame, your time.
Frame. What time frame is that?
There's a great chance you're alive during all this stuff.
(01:28):
There's a great chance you're going to know these songs, but I
have a high suspicion that you don't.
OK, why would you just? Taylor Swift is not indie, so I
don't think you know indie rock.Can you, I mean, I don't Taylor
Swift is not from Indiana, but Idon't know like what is indie?
Rock, indie rock, it just means it's not the major corporate
(01:49):
labels typically, although there's one of them here that he
is. I'm just had to sneak them,
sneak them in there. But usually, you know, they're
in indie rock. It could be indie folk, it could
be indie pop, just not the big labels.
So that you got a lot more experimental stuff, interesting
stuff. You know, they weren't huge
hits, but they're still great music.
(02:10):
OK. So it it's not necessarily from
that they're from Indiana. Now you know well that they're
not from Indiana. Well, you know, I don't know.
There's a lot of good people, a lot of good artists that come
out of Indiana. David Letterman, Muncie, IN.
Thank you. Seymour, who's from Seymour, IN.
Seymour, I don't know. John Mellencamp OK used to be
(02:32):
John Cougar and then they the they made him change his name to
John Cougar and then he finally got successful enough to where
he went to John Cougar Mellencamp and then now it's
just John Mellencamp. What is then the guy who
proposed to his wife in Chicago?Who is that?
I think that was John Cougar Mellencamp.
He proposed in during a show in Chicago.
I have no idea. No, OK, I don't know.
(02:54):
See, there's that's something I knew and you didn't you?
Don't you proud of? Me yourself, you don't know if
that's. A fact.
OK, well, I'm going to look it up, I guess.
But what let's while I'm doing that, why don't you tell us
about this first song? The song is called Lloyd.
I'm ready to be heartbroken. Wow.
Yeah, Lloyd and Lloyd. Like from Dumb and Dumber.
Apparently there was a song called Are you ready to be
(03:15):
Heartbroken by Lloyd and somebody, Lloyd, Lloyd Cole and
somebody. I forgot what this group was and
this is just the song that they wrote in response.
So, Lloyd, I'm ready to be heartbroken.
Camera. Obscura camera obscura.
You know what that. Is no camera obscura is before
cameras. If you got yourself in a dark
(03:37):
space and you cut a small littlehole, the light that will come
through that hole will be inversed and upside down and you
will see it. And so Michelangelo and Leonardo
da Vinci used to use that to teach themselves about
perspective so it would show it on the wall.
Upside. Down I see so like a pinhole
(03:59):
camera, like when you when you watch the solar eclipse, that's
what you that's like the thing to do is is poke a hole, see the
little projection of it. It just wasn't a camera.
It was just showed it on the wall and they were able to.
Study it. Right, Right.
But you know, I OK. And that's called Camera
Obscura. Yes, There was a show I used to
watch on The History Channel. I, I believe that it was like
(04:22):
the Obscura show. And it was like one of those
shops where you can like buy crazy things like, I don't know,
I like goth. You know what I'm talking about.
No, but I. Think I just I could see it in
your face. You know, I think I just nodded
off. OK, well, this one's called
Lloyd. I'm ready to be heartbroken.
(04:42):
This better be off to a good start.
We you've had a lot of success recently in in some of the
episodes starting off hot. 2006 I didn't mention that. 2006 So
you were how old? I was 80.
I would have turned 8 in 2006. This is Camera Obscura on the
vinyl curriculum. There's a little bit of organ in
(05:11):
that one. It's like old school church.
Is it I don't know or is it likea keyboard?
It was, it was it was kind of churchy.
OK, I don't know. I'm, I wasn't a huge fan of that
one. This works, by the way, on the
(05:31):
vinyl curriculum. We'll hear a little bit of the
song. We're not going to play the
whole song for copyright reasons.
We can't have that on the podcast version.
But if you're listening live here on WLRA, thank you.
You get to hear a little bit more of the song.
And then after we hear the song and Jim tells me a little bit
about it, I will assign it a grade, an impartial grade at
that, as it always is. And is it?
(05:55):
It is, It is. And I'm very fair and honest and
people, many people agree with me.
I get texts all the time. I would love to see a single
text from someone who agrees with you.
Well, if you agree with me or ifyou don't, you can text us
815-733-8517. But I think we're going to start
(06:17):
off not as hot as we normally dowith a just a solid beat.
Well, I mean, is upbeat. It was upbeat it.
Wasn't it? Wasn't it?
Wasn't dance upbeat? I think you could easily dance
to that. I think you could tap your foot
again. You don't have foot.
You don't have to dance, but youcan is upbeat, is happy.
(06:40):
She's ready to be heartbroken. I guess if you.
Can't see further than her nose at this moment.
What? What?
I was just doing the lyrics. Oh.
Can't see What does that mean? You're just so enamored with a
person so. Gushy with this guy that she's
just ready. OK, I don't know.
All right, Camera. Obscura yeah, they kind of,
(07:02):
they're taking a hiatus. I think one of their members
passed away unexpectedly, like in 2015.
So they're on a hiatus, but theyhave a big following.
So I've never heard of them ever.
Well, most of these you might not have.
We OK, but you said these are since I've been a lot.
Well, this was. 2006 If you're listening to Taylor Swift,
(07:22):
they're not going to be on that playlist.
You know, I mean, I don't know, I don't what I don't even know
what an indie radio station would be.
What is I mean, what, what's what station would this play on?
And I'll tell you if this. I like W KCRW out of LA is what
I when I was get my masters W KCRW.
You're listening to LA radio, not in LA.
(07:45):
Well, yeah, 'cause it's online, that's streaming, just like many
people are streaming right now. But anyway, what I like to do,
the way I find the way I find music is if you like a song on
Spotify, you can say play, go tothat song and say play Lloyd,
I'm ready to be heartbroken radio.
And it will find similar songs to that.
(08:07):
And so then you're like, oh, that's cool.
I knew you like that song. And then you go back and you
listen to your like songs and you say, I'm going to listen to
more of that album. So you go back and you listen to
the album. That's how I do it.
The wonders of modern machinery,yes, That lets you just listen
to similar songs and not have tostream radio out of a different
city. Yeah.
You can do either or. Though OK, this next one is
(08:31):
another song about heartbreak. What we're supposed to keep the
vibes high here? And two songs in a row about
heartbreak, I feel like is not doing that.
Well, this one's the pains of being pure at.
Heart the pains, that's the. Name of the album, the group and
I saw them in concert at the Riviera.
That's just one that rolls rightoff the tongue.
Well, they disbanded, so it might have been because the name
(08:51):
was too long. This was called Heart in your
Heartbreak. Very upbeat though, Logan.
I'd expect to see you dancing tothis.
One I, I will, I will. And this is #2 here on the vinyl
curriculum, I think I know what that's from.
(09:12):
That's got to be from a FIFA video game.
That's where I think that's where.
A what? A FIFA.
FIFA Soccer. Why would I ever have played the
soccer video? Game.
I don't know you don't. You checked me as a soccer.
Kind of guy, 60 years old, no, when I was a kid, I don't have.
Nothing to do with enjoy the enjoyment of video.
I don't think soccer was invented when I was in
(09:33):
Mississippi when I was around. Soccer what?
I don't think we had soccer backthen.
We did football and baseball in Mississippi.
That was it. Soccer is an old sport.
I know, but I just don't know ifwe visited Mississippi at the
time. Sure.
OK. Pardon your heartbreak.
That one's better. Yeah, that one's better.
A minus. OK, when I saw them in concert,
(09:56):
I literally was the oldest person there.
I'm not lying. There might have been a guy,
almost. There's a guy that I won't
almost want to say how old are you?
Just to see who was the oldest. Did you?
I mean, well, yeah, I don't know.
You didn't get pushed in and on your wheelchair, did you?
No, I did not. I thought it was a very good
concert. They broke up, but then now
they're touring in Spain. I don't know if they're going to
(10:18):
tour back. They kind of got back together.
They strike me as like a Raviniakind of band.
Where did you see them at? No, I saw them here.
Riviera. Or it might have been Lincoln
Center. In the city.
Yeah, Lincoln Center, I think iswhere it was.
It's a smaller venue and you just kind of walk down and it's
there. Lincoln Center, Is that right?
(10:41):
I don't know. Yeah, I think so.
We're going to say that's what we're going to say.
Also, I need to make a correction from the last.
When I was listening to the lastpodcast and we were talking
about Flautus, remember? No.
Oh, Flautus and I. Said you know who else has a
flute? And I said it was Judas Priest.
And I was, it was I meant to sayJethro.
Tall Jethro. Tall, tall, tall to you.
(11:05):
Tall. He had, he would play the flute.
So I completely screw that one up.
So apologize to people who mighthave run off the road when they
heard that. That's going to be on the
midterm, that question. Yeah, thanks.
So you better write that down. All right, what's up next here?
Now this is this is I wouldn't, this is probably not Indy, but I
love them so much I had to put them on here.
(11:25):
This is bleachers. So with my daughter back in, I
don't know. This is around 2000.
She was in college still, and now she's 28.
And then I saw him last year with my son.
This is called I want to get better.
And Logan, I want you to listen because you need to get better.
That's hurtful. OK, I think I'm pretty good.
This is Bleachers. I want to get better on the
(11:48):
vinyl curriculum. You can't even listen to that
song and just not be happy. That is just makes you feel good
on the inside right there. I knew you're going to like
that. You know why?
Why I knew that? Tell me.
(12:09):
Because Jack. Jack.
Jack Antonoff. Who?
Antonoff is the guy's name. I don't know if say it right,
but he's he's bleachers. He's Taylor Swift's producer and
they've won Grammys before, so Iknew there was going to be a
connection. Yes, see I didn't even know
(12:30):
that. That just made that song 100%
better. He also produced like Lord and
Lana Del Rey very famous when itcomes to that.
He was, he started off remember,fun like.
SSD. Oh, no.
Yeah, yeah, I was singing that other song.
And we are young, you know, thatwas fun.
He was with that other guy and then.
Yes, yeah. Bleachers is one of my
(12:52):
favorites. Like I said, we saw them last
year at the Salt Shed. Yeah, I've always wanted to go
there. Is that how is that venue?
I've just seen pictures. I've only done the outdoor ones.
I'd also did a pizza fest. They're outdoor.
What? Yeah, they call it the
fairgrounds, which is outside venue, but then when the
weather's bad, like it's inside.In the shed.
(13:14):
Inside the shed I've seen inside, I've walked in there,
they were nothing going on in there.
But I've never been to an insideone but.
OK, Yeah. It's kind of fun and there's a
Goose Island has a restaurant slash place right outside.
So my son and I went there firstand it was, by the way, he just
shouted out that that was a goodchoice.
(13:34):
Well that was a good choice. I like that.
A for effort right there. Good for sure.
The next one though. This group is making me nervous.
This is this is a group called Snail Mail I don't use.
I can't remember the last time Isent something through snail
mail. I was thinking about that.
You don't send birthday cards toyour parents.
(13:56):
From the mailbox? Yes.
No. You know how special it is to go
to the mailbox and see a letter that someone took the time to
write to you? Yes, actually, I do.
My family used to call me the mailman because during COVID, I
checked the mail religiously every day.
They're like, you know, we only ever get bills.
I'm like, yeah, but that one time that someone sends me a
card, I'm going to be the first one to get it.
(14:17):
That should be your motivation to do it to your parents.
Make a note. But they don't get the mail, so
it'll sit in the mailbox for four days until.
Well, it'll be extra special when they open the.
Mailman get get mad at him. Snail mail is a It's like a lady
named Lindsay Jordan. Kind of a one person show saw
her. A one woman show.
Well, you know, it's a band, butit's kind of like, you know,
(14:39):
it's not. There's my not.
It's just her love the album, but I saw her in concert and I
it was not a good concert. At all.
So you thought not a good concert.
Let's make this Logan listen to the song.
This song is amazing, though. The album's great.
It's just she, I think she's young and she didn't know this
is what it sounded like. She'd be talking like this and
(15:01):
then you go like that and you should be talking like this and
then go like that, like she didn't know how to project.
And so we were, I think it was at the Riviera and you could the
only reason I could hear it because I could hear people
singing it, like you heard the music and everything, but you
could not hear her voice. It's like, yeah, the Doppler
effect. She's just running, running
across the stage and. You just hear.
(15:21):
Yeah. And it was kind of sad and I
don't know. I mean, it's a great album.
I love this song, too. So let's say what you think.
OK, this is the song called Pristine by Snail Mail and then
another impartial grade coming up right after this.
(15:43):
You know, I think that's given me old school Taylor Swift
vibes. Old school Taylor Swift was
country. Well, I'm just talking about how
she sounds though, like it's just, I don't know, kind of
similar vocal patterns. No, you don't.
You. Don't hear, I do not.
When I hear snail mail, I do notever think of Taylor Swift.
(16:05):
Well, I mean, like love story. Well, OK, you don't.
You don't hear it. No.
Oh. What is your thought?
I try if I'm going to enjoy my music.
I try not to think about Taylor.Well, I think we're going to go,
we'll go a solid. B.
Oh my goodness. Just A.
(16:25):
Just a straight B. That's I think that's just
retribution because I said something tacky about.
Taylor No, I I think this is more quintessential indie.
Like when I if I were to think of indie, it's it's something
kind of softer like this. It's not necessarily bleachers.
That's not soft. Well, yeah, it is.
(16:47):
I mean, it's it's a little toneddown.
It's not like, you know, screamoor like death metal or
something, you know what I mean?Or like Hard Rock, like
Metallica. It's just kind of, it's kind of
like Taylor, you know, we just strum along on the.
Guitar. We've reached our Taylor limit.
We cannot mention her anymore. This is by the way, this is the
(17:08):
best part of the song is barely she starts building up really
cool. Well, I I liked snail mail that
a whole album. So I would suggest you go back
and listen to it loud and then you'll think it's better.
What is the name of the album? Do you have the name of the
album? I think it's.
Might be let me look snail mail,no.
Lush is that that's what we have.
(17:31):
Listed here. Yeah, must have.
Been album lush, yeah. She's got a photo of her like
she's got red face anyway. OK, OK, lighting.
I guess that made her look red. Sure, sure.
All right. This next one, though, I think
you're going to like it because it is upbeat, OK, They're from
Australia. They were kids.
(17:51):
I saw them in this hole in the wall.
I was talking to my son about this the other day.
I don't need, it's called the empty bottle, I think.
And it was some bar in Chicago. I saw they were coming and while
I was there it said it was supposed to start at 9:00.
So of course I got there at 8 and it didn't really start at 9,
it would start like at 10:30. Nerd Alert.
And. Who shows up?
(18:12):
Who Shows? Up Well, when you're in your
50s, kid, you do it 'cause you're respectful of people's
time. But I, as I was sitting there,
these people, these three guys were walking around and they
were, they had potatoes, they were dressed like potatoes.
And I'm like, why are these guysdressed like potatoes?
(18:32):
And they were one of the openingacts.
They were one of the opening acts.
And they sounded like Devo, but it was hardcore crazy.
It was weird, I'm telling you. But then Goon Sacks came out and
like I said, at the time they were.
You're interrupting me. Good Lord, they were.
At the time they were young, like 1718, and you can tell it
(18:57):
like live. They were a little
inexperienced, I thought. The potatoes are.
No, I'm not talking about the potatoes.
They were terrible, but the goonsacks.
But the female is the drummer. There's two guys and a girl,
they're from Australia and one the the singer.
I think the guy who's singing now, I think his dad was in a
group called the Go Betweens, which was like the 80s.
(19:19):
So I went back and listened to some of that.
That was kind of cool, but say what you think about this group.
So this is the Goon Sax. Does that imply that there's
heavy use of a saxophone? No, I don't know what the name
comes from. Oh, all right, well, this is
called Make Time for the #4 love.
So we've got heartbreak and love.
(19:40):
We've got it all here on the vinyl curriculum.
We've got the variety of relationships, They're making
time for love. The other people are
experiencing heartbreak. He's trying to make time.
For love. Oh, doesn't have time for love?
I don't know. He's trying.
(20:03):
Was yeah, that was what like, goes back to what you said about
like the rock'n'roll tours and how everybody, you know, is
singing about how they're in love and now they got to go, you
know, similar vibe. I like that, though.
I think that it's different. Cowbell.
You mentioned it off air and andI'm a big cowbell guy, you know,
(20:24):
got a little got to have more cowbell in the song.
That's twice we've mentioned that A Oh wow.
Salad A. Good.
This is 2018 and so was snail mail was 2018.
That was 2018. Yeah, so were you 10?
I would have turned 10 in 2018. Yes, don't.
Give me like no. Just say yes or no.
(20:45):
I would have turned 20. Oh, OK, so that was recent.
That was, you should have known that song then.
That's what I'm saying. We're going to get you away from
Taylor and you're going to startexperimenting with some of these
new, new bands. I'm sorry, I just Taylor Radio.
That's the only thing that gets played in the car well.
Unfortunately, the Goon Sacks are no longer they disbanded in
(21:06):
2022, but did you see them? In concert.
You did. I did.
I did. That was.
The that was the potato. I'm getting confused.
Yeah. All right, so the next group is
Girl Pool. Girl Pool.
It was two women and I enjoyed their album.
And then I was waiting for a newalbum came out.
(21:26):
It came out. And then it they had added a a
male voice. And then I realized one of the
women had transitioned. And so it was really.
Oh, it was a total. And it's funny how it was a
total different sound for the group.
Yeah. That's interesting.
But they have disbanded as well in 2022.
You know both the Goon Stacks and Girl pool both disbanded in
(21:50):
2022. I wonder what happened?
I don't know. Anyway, this was called Pretty
and I love this one too. This is called Pretty My Girl
Pool. Is this OK?
Well, let's just take a listen, then we'll get some thoughts.
All right, Maybe. There we go.
(22:15):
I see what she's saying. Pretty broken.
Yeah, that makes sense. Interesting though.
You see my this kind of enunciates what I the one of the
issues that I have with this kind of music is a lot of these
songs sound very similar like this genre to me.
(22:37):
Like this sounds very similar toa lot of the other songs like in
this kind of genre. So it's hard for me to
distinguish between different types or different songs in this
genre, which is part of the reason I think why I am not a
huge fan of it. There's not a lot of
(22:57):
individuality to each song. Wouldn't you do the same for
Southern rock or wouldn't you dothe same for like 70's rock?
I mean it's these all are have these that kind of flowy, a lot
of female voices soft. It's not screaming.
It's flowy guitar riffs. That's what this is.
(23:19):
That's what these are, right? Right.
Yeah. But they're kind of all have
that. Yeah.
And they're all female, so that probably doesn't.
Well, I, I don't know, I just itto me they all sound very
similar, more so than even Southern Rock last week.
I mean, I feel like we had a pretty good variety there.
We had some I like, some I didn't like, but this is where
kind of getting to a point wherethey're all starting to blend
(23:41):
together for me, you know, so. That's 'cause your mind is
slowly closing. What?
Yeah, you're you're that impartiality is slowly that you
claim to have is slowly going. I don't.
First of all, I don't claim anything I know as a fact, OK?
I'm very impartial. Well, I guarantee you this one
is not going to sound like that last one.
Well, I impartially give pretty AB so.
(24:02):
See, now you're getting personal.
Personal that with attitude. Man, no, I Jim, I, I have given
out, in my opinion, very generous grades to a lot of
these songs. I I have given.
I don't need your number. Of C's, a limited number of C's.
They've we've had a lot of B's, a lot of just average.
(24:25):
I'm I very even generous in not going too far below average?
It was the way you said it. Well, the facial expressions
were bad. That's what, yeah, that's not
that's what my mom always used to say.
It's not what you said. Is how you said it.
Oh yeah, OK. And that's always been my issue.
So anyway, girl pool pretty. What's the next one?
(24:46):
2018 again future me hates me. A lot of emotions.
By the Beths BETHS. The Beths.
Apart for me to say that Beths. Yep, OK.
And they're. From New Zealand, OH.
Where is New Zealand? Right by Australia.
Thank you. Isn't Australia it's own island?
(25:10):
Yeah, continent. But it's an island, so how can
New Zealand be by an island? What 'cause it could be outside?
That's where Lord of the Rings was filmed.
New Zealand. Oh, all right.
And so this one is called FutureMe Hates Me by the Beths, and
we're just rocking with all the emotions.
(25:30):
We're here till 1:00. We've got some more songs for
you here on the vinyl curriculum.
Just as I say that all the songssound similar, that one then
sounds totally different. Yeah, you might have jumped the
(25:51):
gun on that one. Well, Future Me Hates Me by the
Beths, another group that I've never even heard of.
I'm going to go solid B. Another solid B2 in a row.
I think you should try harder, but OK, it's not terrible.
How I don't understand how I cantry harder at grading.
(26:12):
I'm in signing impartial. Grade This is an.
Ongoing, OK, ongoing argument. This next one, these people are
from Chicago. Oh, and they're very different.
There's it's two guys and a gal.She's, you know how Post Malone
has tattoos all over their face?She has tattoos all over her
(26:34):
face. She's a tattoo artist.
You can I follow her on Instagram and you can reserve
times to have her do tattoos. She's got a very interesting
style. In Chicago, does she?
In Chicago, just all over the place.
But they also go out West too, somewhere in the desert.
But anyway, her the name of the group is dead.
DEHD. Another group I've never even
heard of this. Is called Bad Love 2022.
(26:58):
OK, well, we're I is this again the situation where we're going?
Yeah, we're on time. We're following the timeline
chronological. Thank you.
That's the word I was looking for.
This is dead. Like I said, another group never
even heard of. It's let's just say you don't
know any of these, so let's justexcept for bleachers, all right?
(27:20):
Let's take a listen. Again, another different vibe.
I guess all I had to do was openmy big mouth and say that they
all sound the same and then we have different.
(27:41):
I did a little bit that does that gives more Bleachers vibes.
Back to the FIFA video game we discussed earlier.
I I don't know why FIFA, why arewhat They're playing soccer and
they're listening to all indie music.
We've talked about this before. I I have to have some sort of
association with the song. We're going to go a minus with
(28:01):
that one. OK, well.
That's good. We're improving.
They played, I was looking, theyplayed Lollapalooza a few years
ago. So they're.
Oh, they're up there. Lolla just happened this past
weekend. Have you ever been to
Lollapalooza? I have never been to
Lollapalooza. Really, I feel like that would
be something you would like. Yeah, I almost, I was telling my
son I want to go to Riot Fest this year because there was a
(28:23):
couple of people I wanted to see.
And then I got thinking, I don'tknow, I might, that might be an
age. Limit, that's a, that's an
intense experience, yeah. I know Morrissey was there one
year and I would thought OK, butthen I saw him last year so.
I've never been. I've overlooked it.
The building I used to work in overlooked Grant Park and so we
could like see it, overlook it and see the mainstage.
(28:45):
Couldn't really hear it though, and surprisingly the traffic
wasn't that bad. I thought the traffic would have
been worse going down there. It really wasn't.
Everyone must take the train. They should, all right.
The next one is a Spanish group.Oh.
Molinas and the name of the songis Bang.
I don't know what they're sayingbut I like the song.
They could be cussing me out forall I know.
(29:07):
You don't like? What do you mean?
Is the song not in English? This is Spanish.
Oh, OK. Well, that's a little different,
I guess, right. I think this is the first multi
lingual song that we've had on the show.
So that's. Interesting.
Unless you consider popcorn. I don't know.
(29:27):
If that wasn't English, that was.
That didn't even really have words.
That was from the mistakes episode.
Great episode, my favorite so far.
If you haven't heard it, go back.
It's live on Spotify and Apple Podcast now, but this is a
little, little different vibe. Let's take a listen.
(29:52):
That was giving kind of popcorn vibes.
What are they saying? You know Spanish?
No. Idea.
Not even, not even a little bit.I like it though.
I loved it. Yeah.
Good beat. It's fun.
Like you just said, off air you feel like you have to get up and
dance to that song. Yep.
I agree. We're gonna go a minus, I think.
(30:14):
You're starting to redeem yourself.
I'm happy. That's good.
That's good. Yeah, I like it.
Again, high energy fun. It's it's almost got like a
synth kind of electrical sound. I mean, it's, it's that this has
to be what, 20? 20/20/2020 Something interesting
though it says that they are Spanish language all female
(30:36):
quartet and that did not sound like a male.
That sound like a male to me. Did that sound like a?
Female to you? Maybe.
No. Maybe.
That just surprises me. I haven't seen a video or
anything, but I Speaking of females, yeah.
I don't know, but you can do, I mean, the 2020 A vocal effects
(30:58):
are in, yeah. You know, you can do all sorts
of crazy stuff with your voice. So the next song, they're indie,
but they're super popular, so I'm sure you've heard This is
Not Strong Enough by Boy Genius.OK.
And love this song. Boy genius.
That's all one word from what I'm seeing.
And I'm pretty sure they were nominated for several Grammys in
(31:19):
2023. So they're popular.
Very popular, that's what I'm. Saying are they not Indies that?
Well, they're indie that made it.
Phoebe, it's Phoebe Bridgers. So she's, you know, has some
success on her own and then she teamed up with.
These two other ladies, OK. Lucy Dacus and Julian Baker.
(31:39):
Julian Baker, I see. Yeah, I've never I've heard of
Phoebe Bridgers. I've heard of Lucy Dacus, but I
think you know when I do the Spotify thing, I think it plays
some of her songs. So.
Oh, OK, so this is called boy genius.
Then we'll have another impartial grade coming up right
after this. Can I say once again, Taylor
(32:05):
2.0, but better. Well, the harmony though is
interesting. It's impressive, Yeah.
It's it's like multiple tailors singing.
Together, but it's different people.
That's what makes it better. It's not electronically
produced. I What I like about this song is
as you listen to the album, the song, the backup singer kind of
(32:29):
takes lead singing harmony. Do we know which singer that is?
I think. Phoebe's the first one, and I
think it was the Lucy OK was thesecond one.
I think when you watch the videos, they're just like at an
amusement park riding rides, so there's dozens of everybody
singing. Oh yeah.
Oh, they're not. They're not singing in the.
Music video. No, it's just.
(32:50):
It's just riding on a roller. Coaster Great America or
whatever and just filmed it and.That must be the life.
We just come out with the music.What do you want to do for the
video? I just want to go to the roller
park. The roller, the roller park, the
six fives or something. The skate.
No, just want to ride roller coasters for a couple hours and
you just film it. Yeah.
(33:11):
Boy genius, what do those? I think solid B there.
We're going to go solid BI. Think it a little more
impressive than I had originallythought.
It started off kind of slow, butthat's OK.
Got better as it went on. So I'm glad we listened to
actually more of that than we were planning on.
So yeah, we'll go solid B there.We've got time for just a couple
(33:34):
more songs though. What's the next one?
Well, we're going to skip a couple because I had on that the
playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.
I had a bonus track from Royal Otis.
I really liked him a lot. And it's a Do you remember that
song Linger by the Cranberries? No.
Do we listen to that? You might have reckoned, no, she
(33:55):
passed away. But anyway, it's an acoustic
version. He does, they do.
It's a couple like 2 guys. But listen to that on the
playlist. It's amazing.
And we're not, I'm not gonna play motels because I think that
was the kind of a hit too. And we're just kind of running
out of time, so. But I really like Royal Otis.
They're kind of newish. They're from Australia as well,
so. But the next one is called
(34:16):
Overtime. It's a duet with Kacey
Musgraves. You know her the country, kind
of. She's not really country
country, but she's different kind of country.
Yeah, she sang on the Elvis movie soundtrack.
I was a big fan of the Elvis movie.
I did not see that. What?
No, wait, what? I don't watch things like that
typically. If it comes on Hank, says
Colonel Tom Parker. If it comes on streaming I'll
(34:39):
watch it. It's on streaming.
Well then why did I think I watched?
Did you did you watch Bridesmaidlike that was your homework
assignment? Oh no, but that's not on
streaming. I can't.
So you haven't. You were giving me such a hard
time for not seeing Bridesmaids.You haven't seen the Elvis
movie. No.
Anyway, this is a The name of the group is Rainbow Kitten
(35:00):
Surprise. I'm sorry, come again?
Rainbow kitten kitten Surprise. It's called Overtime.
It's a good song though. That, like we talked about Post
Malone, put his name in a rap name generator.
That sounds like something that came out of a rap name
generator. They played Lollapalooza in
2018, so there you go. Sure.
(35:20):
Maybe it was probably with Post Malone.
Maybe they use the same website.You should see what that website
was. OK, this is. 2024 so surprise.
And so Rainbow Kitten Surprise is its own band.
Is Kacey Musgraves part of that?There's.
How does this work? They're singing it with her.
It's parentheses, featuring Kacey Musgraves in parentheses.
OK, you again with the parentheses.
(35:41):
I swear. OK, this is called overtime.
And then another impartial gradecourtesy of me.
Can I call you love? I won't.
Keep in touch. Oh shit.
This is the light. So that's Kasey Musgraves right
(36:01):
there, right? Renmo Kitten Surprise might be
the best name of a group that we've had on the show so far.
But we haven't played in Insane Clown Posse, so a former student
worker used to love them. They're.
Crazy heavy metal. They dress up like clowns.
It is terrifying. That's aggressive.
(36:21):
Yeah, I don't like that. No, I'm scared of clowns.
I am too. Overtime, my rainbow kitten
surprise and Casey Musgraves. I don't know, it's it's kind of
mellow. I think we'll just we'll go
another solid B. OK.
Another solid B right there. I think if you listen to the
whole song, it might have gone up a little bit.
Maybe it's good. Maybe.
(36:43):
So yeah, we the last one I want to end on.
We've already done Bleachers, but Bleachers is the best band
in my mind in the world. So we're going to play, you
know, we got to end up an upbeatsong.
Yes, this is roller coaster. This is roller coaster.
This might be my favorite Bleachers song.
I'm pretty sure it is. I like it.
I knew this before too. Oh.
(37:03):
You're not too proud. This is a good one.
All right, let's take a listen. Man, I like this song.
I like this song a lot. This is an A.
This is an. Easy A OK, good.
This is an. Easy A.
Come on. There's so much fun in concert,
and if you listen to their songs, they have the choruses.
(37:26):
There are a bunch of people singing, so when you see them in
concert, everybody's singing along.
Yeah, and they they have a lot of songs that everyone knows.
This is probably the only group on this list, I mean besides
Casey Musgraves that I knew. Right.
So I like it solid a right there.
I think for the genre as a whole, because this is how we
(37:48):
work, I give an individual's grade to each song and then
we'll give, I'll give a grade tothe whole genre.
And then after that, Jim will give me a little retribution, an
impartial grade of his own. I think we've got to go a minus
for that indie. Since Logan's been born.
(38:08):
Rock we call this. Logan, I think that is an
acceptable grade. You do.
I do think that's acceptable. Wow.
So I will give you an A minus because I think some of these
could have been a little bit higher.
If you listen to it in the car, like turned it out really loud,
I think you would have been OK. You would have got up to an A.
Yeah, maybe I need to work on that because an A minus is still
bringing down the GPA. Well, and the fact that you said
(38:29):
that these all sound the same when they really don't, that
that went into my grade as well.Most of them.
Most of them do sound the same, unfortunately.
No. Maybe two of them might have.
They were back-to-back. Maybe that was.
Maybe that's what it was. I don't know.
I get distracted easy. But yeah, overall, I'd say
pretty good. This is episode #7 of the Vinyl
(38:49):
Curriculum, which is now available on all sorts of
streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcast, pretty much
wherever you get your podcast. You can listen to Jim and I
every single week, live on Mondays, and then the podcast
drops every Thursday. We have links to everything on
our web page. It's vinyl curriculum dot card
(39:11):
dot. Cocard.co.
But the card is CARRD dot Co and.
That's really complicated. I know, but it's free so that's
why we did it. It's free, but if you have any
feedback or comments or want to be part of the conversation,
tell me how wrong I am. You can always text us or call
us, leave us a message. You might end up on air for the
(39:33):
next episode, 815-733-8517. I beg you to leave honest
opinions about Logan. I need to hear.
That all right, right. Well, thanks for another great
episode and we'll catch you on the next one.
Bye.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.