Episode 281 - Brad & Tim talk about The Record by BoyGenius

Brad & Tim talk about The Record (which Brad keeps referring to as The Album) by Boygenius

Episode Transcript

(00:17):
From Jappetto Studios in New Freedom,Pennsylvania. Welcome to the Cosmic Shappetto podcast
your home for inclusive, positive geekculture where we talk about movies, comics,
music, books, and whatever elsewe feel like. Please welcome your
host. They're messy, they're sloppy, and you're just trying to draw blood.

(00:40):
Brad Mendenhall, Hey kids, itis episode two eighty one of the
Cosmic Shapetto podcasts. Dear friend andauthor Tim Burdock returns to talk about the

(01:03):
album by Boy Genius. It isa very cool guy talking about very cool
music. Let's jump in. She'sasleep in the back seat, looking peaceful

(01:33):
enough to me, but she's wakingout inside a dream full of screeching tires
and fire. We're coming back frommy no one loves pretty much just but
he rounds on my pointed out wherethe north stars. She called me a

(01:56):
farken liar k So someone very excitedreturning to the show all the way from

(02:35):
the Czech Republic, Author Tim Burnock, Tim, how you doing? I
am doing fine. We are weare in the final days of April here
and we are just getting ready forWhiches night. Tomorrow night, so everybody's
very pumped and excited for good times. Walk our American listeners through what is

(02:57):
which is night? Basically, inthe Czech Republic, April thirtieth is symbolically
this night where you have this bigbonfire festival and you kind of make a
scarecrow of like a witch and thenyeah, I hate to say it,
you throw her on the bonfire andyou burn her and then everybody has roasted

(03:20):
sausages. And burning the witch issymbolically us saying goodbye to winter, and
then naturally May one is the dayof blossoms, where you are supposed to
kiss your true love under the cherrytree and give her good health for the
coming year. So we are ina transition time of saying goodbye to winter

(03:46):
and saying hello to spring and summercoming soon. I hope. Okay,
that sounds pretty crazy. I meanevery holiday sounds crazy, but yeah,
all right, it is. It'sit's crazy to see because everybody just dresses
up in costumes and you know,last year we went to like an abandoned
coal mine, and yeah, theyhave lots of fun stuff for the kids.

(04:12):
So it's kind of like check Halloweena little bit in the sense that
they get dressed up, but there'sreally no trick or treating or anything.
But it's it's good fun. It'sgood fun as you do. You're one
of our best idea guys. Andyou had your list of Hey, here's
things that we could have an episodeabout, and you suggested having a discussion

(04:35):
about the supergroup Roy Genius. Andyou and I have spoken before about our
fandom of Phoebe Bridgers. Phoebe Bridgers, I don't and it's tough. The

(04:55):
world of music has changed so much. Phoebe Bridgers has become as big a
star I believe is you can becomein the twenty twenties. Oh wow,
we're not really in the era ofmulti platinum album sales or anything like that.

(05:16):
But she is very buzzy. She'sperformed on SNL, her videos get
buzzed. She appears in all themagazine covers. Boy Genius was on the
cover of Rolling Stone magazine. That'sa big deal. Still yeah, yeah,
I mean Rolling Stone is still Idon't know if you'd say it's one

(05:38):
of the last big bastions for musiciansto say they they've made it. But
I don't know what the festival circuitis like in the States, but it
seems like, yeah, it's likeyou're on the cover of Rolling Stone,
and I don't know, I guesswhat I get a vibe from is maybe

(05:59):
if you've headlined Cuochella or I don'tknow if Lallapalooza is still running. But
it seems if you do a coupleof those things, it's it's the big
deal. So yeah, it reallyreally caught my attention when I saw that
those guys were on the front coverof Rolling Stole. Now, Boy Genius
is not just Phoebe Bridgers, aswe said, it's a quote unquote supergroup

(06:20):
with Gillian Baker and Lucy Dacas.Yeah. I'm not going to even embarrass
myself trying to pronounce her name,but yeah, and they are both sort
of most similar ilk they are indiedarlings. It's interesting where they are all

(06:41):
successful in their own ways. Ithink definitely Phoebe Bridgers would be considered the
most successful of the trio. Ithink she's gotten the most buzz. I
think she has the best album sales. But listening to the album and they
had an EP a few years back, but they're the current new album titled

(07:08):
the record It's definitely not. It'sdefinitely not. Phoebe Bridgers and Boy Genius.
They are everything. It shows soundslike they are equal partners. They
trade off vocals, and as bestI can tell, the songwriting and duties

(07:29):
are shared. When I saw youknow, like you said, when I
saw the picture of them on RollingStone, you know, I have to
say that this group has been abig education for me, because you're right,
Phoebe Bridgers is the big name namebrand for the group, and I
thought, oh, here she istaking two fellow indie artists under her wings,

(07:55):
and she is She's the singer.Julian Baker is the guitarist, and
I knew nothing about the other girl, Lucy. I was like, oh,
she looks like she could really naila drum. And then when I
start listening to the album, You'reright, it's it's just hypnotic, and
I'm just like, Wow, thiscan't be Phoebe, only Phoebe. And

(08:18):
then to realize that you're right,they're all taking turns singing. They're taking
turns singing within the same song Iwas. I was just totally totally floored,
and rightfully so, I was verymuch educating myself on the group and

(08:39):
what they could do as performers andsingers and writers. Very cool. How
did you like the album? Itjust very just a generic question. First,
how do you like this album?The record? You're right. I've
listened to the EP of the firstone, and I have to say that
the EP, you know, ithas a couple it has a couple of

(09:01):
strong ones, and I like,you know, bite the hand, But
you're right. With the record,I definitely definitely jumped on what was it?
Let me get the singles when theyreleased what was it? Like,
Emily, I'm sorry? True Blue? True Blue for me is like the

(09:26):
really the flagship song it you know, it just it makes me think of
college and I feel like you knowme, you, Linda, Phil and
a bunch of other people are sittingaround in the living room just talking smack
about something or anything. It justmakes me feel like I'm in college again.

(09:50):
So I think the stru the thesongwriting is really really strong, and
the other stuff like cool about itand not strong enough. I'm still discovering
some of the other songs on thealbum because the kids only let me play
it like every other day when Itake them to school, but they haven't

(10:13):
shouted me down. So the factthat Lillian Oliver will listen to it is
also a good sign. But whatabout you? What are your thoughts on
the album? I think it's excellent. I think some of these songs are
heartbreaking and transcendently good. And alsoit has a real strong top to finish

(10:35):
narrative and point of view that isn'tcommon for albums anymore, because the money
isn't in albums, that money isin single songs. It's definitely an album
where three songwriters who were all inthere like they're all twenty seven, twenty

(10:56):
eight years old, and they're writinga very fresh perspective that and it does
take you back right to college.And I think I completely agree on the
song true Blue, because wow,the chorus of that really does remind you

(11:20):
of the way that you're in collegepost college, where your your relationships in
that point, people can just knowyou in a different way than people can
because your your walls aren't built yet. You don't really have a good filter
on your emotional output, so theparts of yourself that you sort of share

(11:43):
with other people are very different.And the chorus of that, but it
feels good to be known so well. I can't hide from you like I
hide for myself. I remember whoI am when I'm with you. Your
love is tough, your love isdried and true blue and just the whole.
It feels so good to be knownthat well. And that's that's something
that really happens when you're having yourrelationships in your twenties, because you've just

(12:09):
if you're lucky, you've just begunto figure yourself out. The person who
likes you or cares about you oris in love with you, it feels
like they're the first person to everreally understand you, because you, like
you didn't understand yourself. You weren'teven yourself until you hit that age.

(12:31):
And I was like, oh man, that one that hits hard. Yeah,
I like the line in it thatwhen you don't know who you are,
you fuck around and find out basicallythat basically is everybody from like nineteen
to like probably thirty two, youknow, And I just that line.

(12:52):
It doesn't get old for me.You know, like some album some songs
you're like, Okay, I've heardthis one enough, move on, But
when I hear that line, it'sstill I still still gets me. Definitely.
There was another great sort of thethird verse, or I think it's
the third verse. Now you're movingin, breaking a sweat on your upper

(13:15):
lip and getting pissed about humidity anda leaky faucet. You already hurt my
feelings three times in the way onlyyou could. And it's like, oh,
yeah, there are those people whoknow exactly where your soft spots are
and without even knowing it, orwithout having the filter on themselves, go

(13:39):
for wherever your wherever your weakest.And I remember I remember having that argument
with somebody who I had sort ofshared a lot about and they knew exactly
where my trigger points were and argumentsit's like, well, you know,

(14:01):
you're just still obsessed with the girlthat broke your heart ind in middle school.
And I was like, oh wow, And no one else in the
world could take that shot at meknowing that, you know, and I
was, I don't know, eighteennineteen twenty one, so it seemed ridiculous
to be upset about something that happenedwhen you're a eighth ninth grader. But

(14:24):
it wasn't that long before. Yeah, no, they knew to pick out
like, hey, that was hisfirst heartbreak. He's a little tender about
it three four years later because hedoesn't want to get hurt that way again,
and I'll just take a shot aboutit. And I was like,
wow, And you have those peoplethat they're able to, you know,

(14:46):
hit you in the saft spots andthey don't have the self control not to
When you're a little bit more ofa grown up, you know, when
you're arguing with your best friend,your partner, whoever it is, Hey,
I could bring this conversation to ascreeching halt and get the other person
in tears if I just bring uphow crappy a mom they had. But

(15:11):
I'm not going to do that becausethat has nothing to do with the argument,
and that's just being cool for thesake of cool and breaking their trust.
Yeah, there's you know, whenyou get to be an adult,
you just kind of say, likeyou when you have I guess you know
you're right. When you're younger,the arguments are basically street fights. They're
messy, they're sloppy, and you'rejust trying to draw blood just so you

(15:35):
can feel like you won a littlebit. And when you're older and you
you're having a fight with your partner, or whatever you're like, there's no
point in dropping the bomb here onHiroshima. Let's just let's walk. Let's
take a step back, take somedeep breaths, and start tomorrow. You
mentioned the song Emily I'm Sorry,and that's the song on the album,

(16:02):
the first one where Phoebe Bridgers takeslead vocals. I'll be honest, it's
a song I could It's a songon the album that I could skip over
because it's a fine song, butit feels like a Phoebe Bridger song.
Everything else on the album feels likea boy genius song. And I like
Phoebe Bridgers obviously, But what Ilike about this album is it props everyone

(16:30):
up. So you have Phoebe Bridgerslyrics which are so deep and so raw,
so powerful, and you can haveher vocals and she's a she's a
good singer, although she's a verygood singer, sort of in the vein
of Liz Phair. You and Iare Liz Fair fans. Well, Liz

(16:52):
Fair's gig was never being a belter. She was never Adele Whitney Houston,
take your pick, but she soldthe lyrics in a way that those other
performers may not necessarily be their strengths. I like Adela very much. When
you're such a great singer, andAdela is a fantastic singer, but sometimes
when you're that good a singer,it sort of takes it can sometimes remove

(17:15):
you one or two levels from thelistener. And Phoebe Bridges sounds like she's
right in your car with you,telling you very intimate things about herself.
So that's a great part of aboutFew Bridges, and Boy Genie is at
their best has that. But PhoebeBridges also has very bare bones instrumentation behind

(17:36):
her. It feels very stripped down, and that's great. But also I
want to say, with Few Bridgers, the songs from her albums that I
like, I love, and thestuff that I don't love I skip because
there's no flash, there's no guitarsolos. Sometimes it can be she has
this one two one two chord progression. She relies a lot on some acoustic

(18:00):
chords, and sometimes it can allsort of feel like background music with some
great songs that you have to thatI find I like Phoebe Bridgers most when
I'm introduced to the song individually,not necessarily listening to the albums, and
that was the song that most feltlike, Okay, this sort of feels
like background music, while True Bluehad a little bit of a bigger sound

(18:23):
and some more variants in everything elsethan that song. Definitely not a bad
song. Like I don't think PhoebeBridgers makes bad songs. I just think
her strengths are singing and lyrics,not necessarily instrumentation and chord progressions and all

(18:44):
that. It's a bad You're right. When I was listening to the album,

(19:29):
there was certain times when I waslistening to certain songs and I was
like, is this is this likea Phoebe Bridgers thing? You know,
you know, I hear this personwailing away, and you know, I
think about, is this is shegiving me variations on a theme of her
song? This is the end.I tried to think about it, but
then at the end I kind ofjust let it go because I was like,

(19:52):
well, no, I'm just gonnatry to take this as boy genius.
I'm not going to try to figureout or I'm not going to then
my time dissecting the album saying ohthis is a Bridgers thing, and oh
this is a Baker thing. Shedoes this so there's more guitar, so
this is more her, and thenthis is Lucy Dacas and this is you
know, no, I felt likeI was not enjoying the album as much,

(20:18):
but I can I can see whatyou're saying. You know, when
there's certain you know, there's certainthings where you know you hear it,
You're like, Okay, yeah,this sounds like Bridgers. But I just
tried to, like you said,I just tried to maybe take the song
as is and see what it wasdoing. And you're right. Some of
the songs really hit me. Theyopen with an acapella like without You,

(20:44):
without them, like who does that? You know, to start out with
something just so simple like that andthen kick in, kick into twenty dollars
or you know, something else notstrong enough. So you're right, I'm
still I'm still trying to discover moreof the songs, but you're right,

(21:08):
I'm trying to not break it downinto individually, but just see I'm trying
to see what is boy genius.There were a couple of songs that did
that cool about it not strong enough, where their voices meshed together and compliment
each other so well, and youdon't hear that very often. I mean,

(21:33):
you're going back to you know,Crosby Stills, Nash and Young Yeah,
or Beach Boys, where the puzzlepieces of their voices connect to make
something bigger, deeper, and morerich And it was funny. I was
surprised how much I liked them theway their voices merged, because I didn't
think their voices were so different.They're they're all sort of as singers.

(21:59):
They all seem to sort of inthe same range in a similar delivery,
and I wondered if their voices wouldmesh that well without a bigger variety.
You want someone to be in anacapella group normally have the base, the
tenor and whatever to create that fullsound. They don't necessarily have that,
but it still came together so beautifully. So I guess it's a thing of

(22:21):
the slight variants and their voices createda bit of dissonance to give you that
richness. No, totally agree,no one thing I actually hated because I
pulled up the album on I pulledup Boy Genius the record on iTunes,
and they had I guess what youwould consider to be liner notes. Okay,

(22:42):
I don't know who they had writethese liner notes, And I don't
know if it was something that AppleMusic created for them or something that I
don't know who, if it waspart of the marketing their marketing team or
Apple's marketing team, I don't know, but I read. Let me read
the first paragraph of this. Okay, you'll be hard pressed to find a

(23:04):
description of Spoil Genius that doesn't containthe words supergroup. But it somehow doesn't
quite sit right. Blame decades ofhoary prog rock baggage. Blame the misbegotten
notice notion that bigger and more mustbe better. Blame a culture that is
rightfully circumspect about anything that feels likeoverpromising. Blame chicken Foot and Audio Slave,

(23:29):
But the sentiment certainly fits. Teamingthree generational talents at the height of
their powers on a project that issomehow more than some of us considerable parts.
Sounds like it was dreamed up ina boardroom but would never work if
it ad been Leave chicken Foot alone. Oh the hell is chicken Foot?
I know I've heard of Audio Slaveback in the day, but chicken Foot,

(23:49):
chicken Foot, all right? Theyformed in two thousand and eight,
put out two albums, and itis is Sammy Hagar from Van Halen,
Michael Anthony also from Van Halen,Chat Smith, the drummer for Red Hot
Chili Peppers, and Joe Satriani.And Joe Satriani is one of these guitar

(24:12):
God guys. Yeah, yeah,yeah, Joe God. They put out
two albums, chicken Foot and ChickenFoot three because they skip right over two
and it didn't sell very well.Again, it's it's two thousand and eight
to two twelve. It's not likeall these performers are well passed their commercial

(24:33):
peak. It sound like it wasjust four guys that liked each other and
decided to put it out a couplealbums. They didn't have anything else going
on. It just hit me.It's like, and first off, supergroup
is used way too generically. That'snot a supergroup. That's that's four guys
who like hanging out with each otherthat all had an amount of success and
they put an album out together.And it's a bunch of actually, honestly,
it's a bunch of fifth guys inthe fifties, Sammy Hagar, possibly

(24:56):
in his sixties by then making somemusic. Leave them alone. They didn't
hurt nobody. And then Audio Slave. First off, I thought audio slave,
and that is Chris Cornell from SoundGarden, right yep, from Sound
Garden. He and the musical theinstrument guys, the guys who played instruments

(25:18):
from Rage Against the Machine got togetherbecause Chris Cornell needed a band, and
everyone the guys from Rage against Himas Rage against the Machine needed a singer,
and they got together, and Ithought they were successful. The song
like a Stone is one of thebest vocal performances I've ever heard in my
life, So leave them out ofit too. It's like whoever wrote that

(25:44):
should be fired? Yeah. Ibought the album and I don't remember any
of this paragraph that you're reading tome, man, So it sounds like
the Apple marketing team. It doesnot sound to me, you know,
with what I've read about Bridgers andthe other two. It does just does

(26:06):
not sound like their deal. Baker, Bridgers and Dacas. Well, I
don't think you know what Bridgers hasproven she's willing to take to smack back
at someone. Yeah, it waspretty. And there was something else referred
to later in that same rite uptrying to find something comparable to boy Genius
because in one thing, the articleis the rite up is correct. Usually

(26:30):
when you have these quote unquote supergroups, they're not at their peak. Traveling
will Berries put out a couple twogreat albums, but they were all guys
in their fifties, maybe late forties. You know, Roy Orbison at that
point, he was getting close tothe end of his life. He actually

(26:52):
recorded the first album and then diedbefore they could even make the music videos,
and he had been off of thecultural radar for decades. Bob Dillon
was at one of his career lows. George Harrison wasn't making a lot of
music at that point. The onlyperson who had a really active career was
Tom Petty. So these were allguys who were not at their commercial creative
peaks. I was a fan of. And they only made one album at

(27:17):
the Thorns, which was Matthew SweetPete doge Okay, and the other guy,
the guy who did the song Rockabye. Again, these were guys who
were five to ten years removed fromtheir biggest hits. And none of these
guys were consistent platinum songwriters, youknow, the only one who was really

(27:41):
comparable to Hey, they're all theirpeaks. When you go back to Crosby
still snash and young. You know, they were all at or near their
peak and just decided that they weregoing to make some music. They made
some really great music, hated eachother, came back every now and then
to make more music, and justkept remembering that they hated each other.
Which is a very different dynamic becausefrom everything I've seen, the performers of

(28:02):
GUS are really like hanging out.Yeah. I mean, God bless them
because basically what I read about themor you know, was they met each
other and they were told that inthe music industry, they were kind of
hinted that they should be all competingagainst each other. And I don't know

(28:29):
who comes up with these ideas tolike try to mess with musicians heads or
whatever. But then you're right,they just realized, like, hey,
she's really fun to hang out with. Could you open for me? You
know? And I guess, let'sface it, you're a creative person.
You put out stuff. I'm acreative person. I try to put out
stuff. To find somebody that youcan collaborate with, that you can bear

(28:56):
your soul and make it something beautiful. Well that's like one in a million
you can get that to happen.So more power to him. By the
way, I was able to lookit up. It was Matthew Sweet,
and I am an avowed Matthew Sweetfan friend of the show he's been on.
Yes, Pete DROs and Sean Mullins. He was the guy who had

(29:19):
basically a one hit wonder. Hehad a very successful song Lullaby. Yes,
I remember that very good well.And I think it's it's difficult to
keep quote unquote supergroups together. Ithink the money stuff can get weird because
if all the performers are even oneor some of the performers do very well

(29:42):
on their own, they don't reallyneed to try to build up a second
act that may or may not payas well as their solo stuff. Phoebe
Bridgers cells fine on our own,and then they all have individual aspiration and
record contracts and all that stuff.So I could see being a challenge.

(30:04):
Um. It reminds me of theband The Bends. You're Did the Bends
ever work their way to your yourradar? No? I mean other than
the only thing I know is thatthat's the album of a radio Head album,
but no gruel, that's The Bendswith a D at the end.

(30:26):
Okay, the Bends. The be n s is Ben Folds, who
am also who am a big fanof and Ben Lean. Okay, yes,
in two thousand and three, soa long time ago, they got
together and they put out a foursong EP which was excellent. And I

(30:51):
actually had a chance. I wentto see a concert where Ben Queller was
the opener and couldn't have been anynicer guy, and has to talk with
him briefly, and I said it'slike, hey, this was ten years
or later, and I said tohim, it's like, hey, is
there going to be more more stuffon the Bends. He's like, we
would love that. I still talkto the other guys. It's just a

(31:14):
matter of getting our schedules together.And it's been twenty years and there have
been no And I think it's athing where these are three guys that are
successful with their own stuff, andbringing an album together takes a lot.
So a lot of credit has tobe given to boy Genius for the stick,

(31:41):
being able to stick to it,being able to get everything together and
actually put together this really cool album. I think it debuted at number four
or peaked at number four on theUS charts and has done well internationally.
They are I know, what wasit eight in June? They have what

(32:06):
was it a sixteen or date tour? Between fourteen eighteen date tour and they
are coming not too far from me. They're gonna be at get the date
right in front of me there,June sixteenth. They're gonna be at Columbia,

(32:27):
Maryland at the Merryweather Merryweather Post Pavilion, and they are headlining a show.
That's a pretty big venue. Thatis a big outdoor stadium. They
get considerable acts there. To givean idea, Oh gosh, it's probably

(32:50):
being pretty close to ten years ago. I went there to see the ben
Folds five they reunited for an albumBaronaked Ladies and Asture performed there. You
know, I would consider that tobe a pretty major league lineup. And
they're the headliners. And it's notlike the Social and such festival featuring Boy

(33:12):
Genius. It's Boy Genius and ithas They have a couple of you know,
openers. I saw Ryan Adams performedthere sort of rate before his fall
from grace, and he's a prettyconsiderable performer. He was a pretty considerable
performer at that time. They're doingwell. That is a venue that gets.

(33:38):
You know, it's not a baract and it's not a club.
They are going from outdoor. Theyare a step above clubs, a step
below stadiums. That's a pretty goodplace to be. Yeah, I'm totally
jealous because they are they're doing,I think, just big European cities.

(33:59):
So Phoebe Bridgers, I think lastsummer when I was away, she did
a stage at Colors of Ostrava,which is the bigger festival for very diverse
international acts, and I missed herat that. And if I want to
see boy Genius this summer, Ihave either got to hop on a plane

(34:22):
or a train. I think theclosest show for me is like the middle
of August. I've got to goup to Berlin. And you're right,
I was. I'm very hesitant aboutsome of the shows because You're right,
it looks like some of them couldbe festivals, and I don't want to
travel all that way and pay allthat big money if they're just duing forty

(34:44):
five minutes set, you know,and with sixty other groups. But I
think the Berlin show is just themand somebody else opening for them. So
I have to decide if I wantto brave Lyn on my own. Well,
and here's um a little bit morein for me, and I just

(35:05):
looked it up. They are.And this is also something very telling.
At the same venuez Weezer is goingto be there a week later, Boy
Genius is charging more for tickets thanWeezer because the bands sets uh. And
and I'm not a thousand percent dialedinto how all this worked on. My

(35:30):
understanding is uh. And I forgiveme if I'm a little off here,
but the band sort of set theprice that you know, you have to
pay X amount of dollars to getthe band to come in, and then
the venue will charge tickets accordingly.And I'm sure it's much more comp I'm
sure it's much more complicated than that. But Weezer, for the lawn seats

(35:52):
are charging me fifty five dollars apop. That's the lawn seats. Those
are quote unquote the nose bleeds.Boy Genius is charging almost twice that their
lawn seats are going for fifty.First off, good lord, tickets are
concert tickets are crazy expensive anymore.But it just goes to show Wooster had

(36:16):
some big hit songs and they've hadsome platinum selling albums. But Boy Genius
has enough buzz and enough fandom thatthey are going to charge their chief seats
are gonna be twice as expensive.That's not nothing. If you think about
who is their audience, young womenjust starting out, you know they're not

(36:42):
They're not trying to bring in thefamilies or you know, retired couples or
whatever. So the people that they'rethey're their main listeners are people who are
going to have the disposable income orat least sell enough I don't know,
magazine subscriptions or whatever to raise thefunds to get those tickets. You're right,

(37:08):
it could be could be the showof the summer, Cold opened the
kitchen every clarks Dif time you don'ttake j I don't know why I do

(37:52):
not strong to. I try,I s Tim. Do you have a

(38:23):
favorite supergroup? Don't remember a casein the past where whoever it was decided
to cut an album with these otherpeople and maybe it was just they just
everyone went by their own last names, like Christmas, Crosby, Steels,
Nash, and Young, or acase like Boy Genius where they they sort
of gave themselves an individual U name. Do you remember an album like that

(38:52):
where you're like, oh, well, this is pretty awesome. There's only
one group, and like I said, maybe this is the group that influenced
me in the way that I thoughtboy Genius had assigned roles of singer,
guitar player, and drummer, andthat was I was going back and exploring
the Julianna Hatfield catalog, and Ihad seen that way back when she had

(39:19):
performed she had formed a group withone of the ba the singers she was
with in Blake Babies, and theyhad formed a group called Some Girls,
and they had gotten themselves a drummerand they had put out two albums,
and I remember when I listened tothose, I was like, excuse my
language, but I was like,fuck, yeah, this is good.

(39:42):
I can get into this, youknow, this is this is cool,
this is fun, you know.And they're the only ones, off the
top of my heads that really jumpout at me, because most of the
time, you're right, I'm justlistening to rim or Roy Scott, and
you're right, they have they havea guest singer with them. And then

(40:07):
yeah, I discover I discover alot of individual artists that way where I'm
like, oh, oh, they'resinging with, you know, or Michael.
I think when I was in myrim phase, I went out and
found every group that Michael Stipe sanga song with, and so that is

(40:28):
how I found some really amazing stuffthat he did with the Indigo Girls or
Kristin Hirsch and some really really powerfulstuff. But you know, that's that's
the only stuff that pops in mymind. Well, it's funny you mentioned
Juliana Hatfield because she did a verygood album where she teamed up from Paul

(40:50):
Westerberg from the Replacements and they calledthemselves that I don't cares. They put
out on an album called Wild Stab, which was a really good album however,
and a lifetime ago. In twentysixteen when the album came out,
me and Sean Reynolds did an episodeabout it where it basically was a Paul

(41:15):
Westerberg album. Julianna Hatfield sort ofwent through Westerberg's catalog he has just a
bunch of demos in his basement basically, and convinced him to, you know,
make an album. So it wassort of like it was sort of
a Paul Westerberg album with Julianna Hatfieldsort of proud of him to actually make

(41:38):
the music. Julianna Hatfield is verygood at making supergroups. I don't know
what it is about her. Imean, when you go back and look
at her catalog, I will Iwould say that I would kill to have
her kind of output, you know, even just with my writing, if
I could try to match her forevera picture book or a comic book or

(42:01):
book for every album she's put out. My hat is off to her that
she can still tap into whatever thatis inside of her soul and just put
forth amazing stuff. I'm not sayingthat every every album is gonna be like
a Dark Side of the Moon oryou know rival, you know, led

(42:27):
Zeppelin or Queen, but it's stillit says something about the person when they
just keep going. Budge is therecord. I think we're both recommending it.
And I'm going to answer this questionfirst because I worry that we would
have the same answer. And thenI'm a big believer in a lot of

(42:47):
albums, you need to have thatgateway song if you're gonna recommend, it's
like, hey, you should listento this band and be it from the
record or their EP, what songwould you recommend someone listened to first,
it's like, oh, okay,this is it for me, it'd be
true Blue, which we've talked aboutbefore. I think it's just a brilliant

(43:07):
song. I've watched it. I'velistened to it a couple of times.
I've watched it with I've watched thevideo with the lyrics. Also, are
you familiar? They also did somethingpretty neat where they put together sort of
like a promotional video, a fourteenminute long video called the Film that.

(43:28):
It's like a long form video directedby Kristen Stewart. Yep, we got
that right, best known for Iguess the Sparkly vampire movie movies. But
but she's sort of become a sortof well respected indie performer and she directed
it, and it's pretty pretty coolstuff. And it does video. It's

(43:52):
basically like video. It's like threeseparate videos for like their first three or
four songs all tied together. Yeah, Boy Genius. The Film and Space
pay special attention to the True Bluesort of sub video. So, now
that I took True Blue off thetable for you, what would you what

(44:12):
would you recommend to someone to sortof get into this album or to get
into Boy Genius. In general,I would say, for me, this
one of the songs that I wouldgo with is still Bite the Hand that
Feeds You. I admit True BlueYou're Rights is cool, but I would
definitely say Bite the Hand that FeedsYou is still hauntingly good, hauntingly good,

(44:37):
and that is one of their songsthat really demonstrates that they are lyrically
ahead, way ahead of the othergroups in terms of what they have to
say and how they can say it. And they are not writing fluffy,

(44:58):
bubblegum pop that you can sing toin the car or while you're in the
shower. I mean, this isthis is stuff that you you know,
when you're traveling alone at night,driving or you're having a drink. It's
it's good stuff. And Bite theHand that Feeds You is one. And
then I think one of the othersongs we didn't talk about from the album

(45:22):
was Not strong Enough, And alsoyou're right, I've been discovering the videos,
and Not strong Enough I think wasa video that they shot themselves or
they just ran around with camcorders filmingeach other, and it's it's a strange
video in the sense that the ifyou listen to the lyrics. Once again,

(45:45):
I hate to overuse the phrase,it's not a happy, fluffy song.
But the when you watch the videoof the group running around having fun,
they look they looked like they're bestfriends, just goofing off, running
around, and I love how theyhave they present that side of themselves.

(46:07):
I mean, you're right the videos. We've talked about Boy Genius, the
group as you know, writers andsongs and albums, and it sounds like
you and I. In the nextyear, hopefully we'll get to see them
as performers. But the other thingin this day and age is Boy Genius

(46:28):
as a video presence. What imageare they, you know, trying to
present about themselves. And I've seenI've seen the Kristen Stewart the film,
and I remember I really liked it, and I remember that you're right it
it presents an interesting image of theband, you know, because I don't
know, I get tired or Igot tired a long time ago of the

(46:52):
female artist or what do they say, It's like strippercool or you know,
the sex sells. So I'm excitedthat this band. I see three women,
you know, who are wearing themost unappealing stuff and they're just themselves,

(47:15):
you know, they're not. Theydon't have to run around in bikinis
or whatever. They're just themselves andit's not it's their voices that are selling
themselves. It's not their bodies.And that for me is you know,

(47:36):
one definite thing I will always getbehind is that their music tells a story
and their voices. And now I'mjust hoping I get to see them as
performers. And yeah, not strongEnough is a is an interesting video,
but it's also such a fun video. And it's so strange because the song

(47:57):
I think when I listen to itdoesn't I'm like a fun song, but
it's still a good song and Ilove listening to it in my car.
But yeah, I'll be interested tosee where they go in their in their
videos. He said you wanted tofeel a live, so he went to

(48:30):
the beach. You born in Julyninety five and a deadly he. You
say you went to pitch, butsummers in your blood. You can't help
but become the sun. Where youmove to Chicago, spin out when you

(49:02):
don't know how you fin around andfind out when you called me from the
train, water freezing in your eyes, you are happy and I wasn't surprise

(49:24):
and it feels good to be soI can't hide like a hide myself other

(49:52):
than voy genius. And I thinkwe're sort of in a sort of a
neat there's sort of the wave ofneat music coming. So is there is
there anything else new and cool?Not necessarily a new performer, but new
music that you're excited about. Well, I guess for my birthday, I

(50:14):
got the last Subways album. Letme just make sure I don't screw it
up. And yeah, the Subwaysare a British punk band. They have
a new album out called Uncertain Joysthat came out like in January or February,

(50:34):
and I think it's like their likefifth album. And I have to
say that their first two albums werejust amazing and this one is I think
a little bit of a I don'twant to say a return to form,
but it's definitely an album where Ienjoy the whole album, not just one

(50:55):
or two singles and then the restis just filler. But I would say
the Subways and then it's a groupthat I got to see. They still
rock out very hard, so yeah, I'm that would be the other album
that I'm enjoying right now for me. And this is not going to be

(51:15):
a surprise by any stretch of imagination. M But Ben Folds has a new
album coming out soon and oh what'sit called. It It's called What Matters
Most, and it's going to comeout June second, and it's his first

(51:39):
album since twenty fifteen, and twosongs have been released thus far, and
one was a pretty nice song,a straight a, straight ahead, very
ben Fold let me read a verysort of serious ben Fold song called Winslow

(52:05):
Gardens. Really good song. Um, just a nice sort of mid tempo
to a little faster than mid tempo. Uh, it's tred a head song.
It's it's it's really good. Theother song on it is called Exhausting
Lover and it is the neatest,quirkiest, goofiest story song. And ben

(52:35):
Folds is very good at story songs. With a kick ass music video where
at the beginning of the video it'ssort of done as an interview where the
interviewer asked, well, Ben wentMatters Most and he sort of talks a
little bit about music making. He'slike and this song is pretty much auto

(52:55):
autobiographical. This song is exactly whathappened. It's like, oh, well,
what do you do with that?It's like, I turn it into
a musical and then the music plays, and then there's a stage show re
enacting what happened, sort of reenactingthe plot of the song, and you
are sort of left to assume thisis something that actually happened to Ben Folds

(53:19):
during a tour. Now I don'tknow if this actually happened. They're sort
of giving you that implication, andyou forget Tim. You and I are
part of the MTV generation. Musicvideos were really important, and they could
make a song and in a handfulof cases they can actually break a song.

(53:45):
Oh gosh. There was one rocksong and I completely forget the name
of the guy where because he hadthis really doofy music video that it sort
of killed his career. I thinkBilly Squire. Billy Squire was performer,

(54:12):
and yeah, yeah, and therehave been It was a song called rock
Me Tonight, and the music videowas considered to be so bad, so
well thought out, so poorly thoughtout, so poorly executed, that it

(54:37):
just gotted his career. Um,and you know, MTV we were around
during the beginning of MTV. Iremember you and I going for jogs with
a mutual friend and he would wouldbe getting ready, like we would be

(54:58):
stretching or whatever, and he wouldhave MTV the grind on and they would
play music videos while having like,you know, all the twenty something dummy's
dancing and the music video would bea big part of it. And they'd
been playing and we sort of livedthrough the music video era. And now

(55:27):
that YouTube is monetized the way itis and the visuals can be so important,
you have some performers sort of rediscoveringthe format. So I know,
Beyonce has one of her albums.It was released and it was released with
music videos for each song, andeveryone was dissecting the meaning of the videos

(55:52):
as well as the meaning of thesongs and how they intertwined. You have
this for a boy genius, whereyou know, the first fourteen minutes of
the album is turned into its ownsort of mini mini movie. And Ben
Fold, who's always been pretty goodwith the creativity of his videos. I

(56:13):
know he's had weird Al Yankovic directsome of his music videos and has put
a lot of thought, and Ithink it's sometimes been difficult with his with
his record labels because not being happywith the original ideas or how things came
out, and then basically forcing themto refilm some stuff. So it was

(56:37):
it was a nice case where Iliked the song and then I watched the
video, and then I love thesong because he sort of the interaction of
the visuals and the lyrics and thisexcellent song really brought everything home. So
I'm very excited for that album.There will be a podcast about it once
it comes out. So Tim,Yeah, Tim, as always, it's

(57:06):
great having you one. I needyou to plug your plugables. I've just
sent a picture book into a contest, so I would say the only thing
I'm really trying to plug is ifpeople want to send me stuff to put
on my blog, if they arepromoting any of their writing or any libraries,

(57:27):
just send me links or a paragraphand I will put it on my
blog, because that's that's what I'mtrying to focus on right now, besides
just my general writing. We recommendum you know, everyone, We want
everyone to support you. Tim.It's awesome having you on as I keep
basically sitting every episode. Now,we are slowly working our way to the

(57:51):
end of the podcast, but we'regonna be able to get you on one
or two more times and uh,you know, thank you so much for
coming on. No problem. Whatare what are we down to? How
many? How many more do wehave left? Oh, by the time
this comes out will be probably we'llbe we'll be in the two eighties.
So we're ending with three hundreds.So we still got twenty to go.
Twenty or less to go. Itall depends on how fast I get putting

(58:15):
these things out. Okay, coolstuff, all right, man, I
will talk to you soon. ThatRAPS episode two eighty one. Big thanks

(58:39):
to Tim Burdick. He was oneof our first guests and never fails to
bring the goods. Next time.On the Cosmic Japeo podcast, more music
talk, as Sean Reynolds and Idiscussed the new Ben Fowles album What Matters
Most Till Then in the words ofJar Part Seeing the Funny Pages. Subscribe

(59:15):
to the Cosmic Japetto podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever quality podcasts can
be found. Rate and review uswhile there. Follow us on Twitter at
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(59:36):
shappetto. We love hearing your ideasfor upcoming episodes. Email us at cosmic
shapetto at Comcast dot net. Youmaniacs, you blew it up. Oh
damn you, God damn you allthe hell nutt the bott