The BlackSheep's Top 2025 Albums

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
I don't want to stand in this kitchen anymore.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Shake the sugar beg, throw it on the floor, mainline, Danner, time,
straight into my arm, dog with the milkman, Take it
to the farm, Ran to the well, well the.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Well, ran drive, take a bucket to the lake for
a press.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
Now I lost dat set.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Side today, We've got our friends Lindsey, Joe, Justin Uh,
and then well, I would say Colin, but he's not
really a friend of the podcast. He's just a co
host of the podcast.

Speaker 4 (00:42):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
We are gonna do our top albums of twenty twenty five.
I'll just say upfront, guys, I don't know about you all,
but twenty twenty five maybe the best year of music
I've ever had in my own.

Speaker 5 (00:55):
Life, Mason said. He says it, yeah, every year.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
I do. I do think I say that every year,
but I do think definitively this year actually does take
the take take take the cake, you know, Colin, I
remember years ago we did like this kind of like
best years of at least of music listening years for us,
best years of albums that we've ever had. And I
remember like maybe it was like twenty eleven or twenty twelve,

(01:20):
that like kind of took the cake at that time
of the best years. I'm just saying for me, like
I remember twenty eleven, incredible year of albums. I think
twenty twenty five now is my top year. Like I
truly believe that.

Speaker 5 (01:34):
I think you said that exact same thing last year.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, well, even if I did, I don't believe it anymore.

Speaker 5 (01:40):
Recncy bias, Mason, that's what it is.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Well, I love a good litwer recency bias. So anyway,
twenty twenty five incredible year, at least for me. We'll
find out from these other great, incredible people. But yeah,
we're just gonna go through our top three albums, so
each one of us in order, so like from least
favorite of the three albums that we're about to list. Obviously,
all of these albums we love, but we're gonna go

(02:04):
from least favorite to the best album for each one
of us of twenty twenty five. So we're gonna go
in order. Uh well, we'll do three, two and one,
and then we'll mention some honorable mentions. So yeah, we
got some great people here. Before we dive into all
of that, I do think it's worthwhile to let each
one of these incredible people introduce themselves and say whatever

(02:25):
they want to say about themselves. So, lindsay, you're clearly
the coolest looking person on the screen right now with
your talking head shirt.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Uh, thank you, those.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Those over the ear headphones. Yeah, say say more about yourself, lindsay,
what do you what do you do in the world? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (02:44):
What do you?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
I don't know, whatever you want to say.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
I am, lindsay, that's me.

Speaker 3 (02:49):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
I live in Saint Louis, Missouri, like slightly outside of
Saint Louis, Missouri.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
I am a writer. I like am.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
A professional blogger. That is my job, but i also
do a lot of writing on the side. And I've
got three kids. And I think the only notable thing
I've really done this year is I have successfully bleated
art museum. So that's pretty much it.

Speaker 5 (03:14):
Holy hey art, Lindsay, every time that you write on
the side, do you ever say, yeah, I've got my
side piece I got to work on right now.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, I say that pretty single time. Oh, I've got
a side piece going, at least two side pieces usually, yeah,
So that's always got a side piece and my regular piece.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
You're also probably the biggest Foxing fan of all time.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Right and the biggest probably Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 6 (03:41):
Know my bands killed them. Oh no, wait, no, I'm scarddy.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
It's just my band recently opened for them in Alabama
and we've been making the joke that they broke up
because of us.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
Probably.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
I loved that they did that. I thought that was
so cool. Were they basically they broke up?

Speaker 3 (04:02):
You're a big fan of breakups.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
It's not that. No, I am not. In every single
city that they toured on for their self titled album,
they had a different local band open up for them,
but they're a Saint Louis band, and they had their
farewell show on Saturday, and I cried multiple times and
it was great. I loved it, and thank you so
much Justin for killing them.

Speaker 5 (04:27):
I will say it was like one of the coolest
like farewells. Like hey, we're not saying we'll never make
music again, but like also like this is just healthy
for us to take a little too.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
I cannot take Colin seriously, he looks like PC principle.
I know I've already made that joke before we started,
but oh my god.

Speaker 3 (04:46):
I can't.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
I can't.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
I can't take him seriously.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
I'm just gonna get home strong woman.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
You know what will really help you all is just
never take Colin seriously and then you're you're going to
understand Colin way better once.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
How do I look like the Rock? Nope, not even
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (05:10):
All right, Joe, you're next on my screen. Joe, what
do you do in the world?

Speaker 5 (05:15):
I work in tech, and.

Speaker 4 (05:24):
I do some music, and I listened to music and
that's pretty much it.

Speaker 3 (05:33):
You're just maybe you're also maybe the like the biggest
teddy bear of a human being that there ever has been.

Speaker 4 (05:43):
I would hope, so, I would hope.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
So, uh, Joe, can we can we maybe like give
a little teaser about what you're working on at all? Please?

Speaker 4 (05:59):
Okay, I'm working on a new music project and it'll
probably unveil in late twenty twenty six, maybe about a
year from now before.

Speaker 6 (06:15):
The next Stottle Threat records.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Hell very stoked about it. I think, I mean, I
think most of y'all have heard it. I think it's
a little bit more intense than my previous outing and
aggressive lyrically. It's definitely I'm definitely not holding back. I'm

(06:41):
pretty pissed, so I'm pretty stoked. And then there's some
stuff that sounds a little familiar for those folks who
are familiar with light Worker, but there's also some parts
that are straight up like you know, melodic death metal.
So I'm pretty I'm pretty stoked. We have about three

(07:02):
songs written musically, two of them need vocals, which are
putting on this weekend, and pretty cool guests already wind
up yep, hell yeah.

Speaker 5 (07:14):
And for those who aren't aware, like Joe is legitimately
one of the most talented vocalists I've ever heard, like,
and that's not just like glazing him right now, even
though he's out of focus right now on my screen.

Speaker 6 (07:25):
At least, I'm gonna glaze Leona.

Speaker 5 (07:28):
Yeah, that's right, Joe. Bring it on, Nuts, Joe Nut, I'm.

Speaker 4 (07:37):
Gonna give you a j Nut.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
For real.

Speaker 5 (07:42):
Though, if you haven't heard light Worker, go listen to
light Worker. And if you have heard light Worker, be
on the lookout for Joe caderon coming to your headphone sooner.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
I mean.

Speaker 3 (07:54):
The new project is called Joe Nut, right.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
Yeah, absolutely, And it's all in that like scratch you
like death metal, black metal, like font you know, it's.

Speaker 7 (08:06):
Except oh like like a glazed donut exactly, or a
glaz jonnut all right.

Speaker 3 (08:17):
And last but not least, Justin Jones JJ, as you're
known to me.

Speaker 6 (08:24):
I'm I'm basically one of the co hosts of this
podcast at this point. I've been on like a dozen times.
But Hi, my name is Justin and I'm an alcoholic.

Speaker 8 (08:34):
And uh I I work at a grocery store and
I'm a counselor in the afternoon to work with a
bunch of kids.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
And then I'm a very part time, part time, part
time member of a part time band called Idol Bretts.

Speaker 5 (08:54):
No, you're you're a full time member of a very
very very very part time band. That's true.

Speaker 9 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, So I don't know, like we should have
I love how I've said this literally two years in
a row, but we should have a record count in
the next.

Speaker 6 (09:12):
Like a little bit. So hopefully by the new year.
I don't threat has new music, but we'll see. I
still think we're gonna get GT six before then.

Speaker 5 (09:24):
Maybe you'll be in GTA six. That's what you're holding out.

Speaker 6 (09:27):
For, Dude, that'd be so sick. But there's there's no way,
there is no way.

Speaker 5 (09:31):
You're right, But here's the other deal. Again, Justin has
showed at least most of us the new tunes, and
they are so much better than the last record. And
the last record was pretty damn good. So be on
the lookout for some idle threat sometime in the next decade.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
I've leaked it to everybody, so just just DM me.
I'll probably send it to you.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
It's that easy. It's that easy.

Speaker 5 (10:03):
Don't let the higher ups here that though.

Speaker 6 (10:05):
Oh yeah, for legal purposes.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
That was a joke.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
I don't do that. That's right.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
You heard that, tooth and nail. No you didn't, because
you don't listen to this podcast. But all right, then
let's do our top three albums of twenty twenty five.
I'm so excited to hear you all because I again,
I just love this year so much. I'm sure there's
gonna be a lot of overlap. It's totally fine if
there's overlap in this episode. But yeah, I'm just so

(10:32):
so so excited to hear what you all were listening
to and jamming out too. So who wants to go first?
What was your third favorite album of twenty twenty five?
Who wants to start out with?

Speaker 5 (10:43):
I think lindsay should go first.

Speaker 1 (10:44):
Yeah, for sure, I'm good that My number three a's no,
you can't do that signal anymore. My number three.

Speaker 5 (10:53):
A's hold on. What signal did you do?

Speaker 2 (10:57):
No?

Speaker 5 (10:57):
Wow?

Speaker 6 (10:58):
And you said, I I think.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Everything's been co opted by white supremacist.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
What did you do? The okay? Symbol?

Speaker 3 (11:08):
Number three?

Speaker 1 (11:08):
But I've been like this number three.

Speaker 5 (11:11):
You want to know how my son does it. This
is how my This is how my son does three.

Speaker 3 (11:16):
Oh no, it's like a referee, referee.

Speaker 5 (11:19):
I know, it's the coolest thing in the world. I'm like, Jude,
You're the best.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Kids are awesome. Anyway.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Number three is pd USA is the yips.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Oh yes, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
So this is an album if if people are not
familiar with him, he is basically a very like he
has a TikTok, but he's not a TikTok musician, like
he has a comedy TikTok meals has music, and he's
really good at like taking really masculine stereotypes and making
them very vulnerable. And with this album, he.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Worked with Chris wall of her from Death Cap.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
For Cutie and like a lot of that influence comes through,
like with the guitars and all that, because from what
I understand, Chris actually went into the studio and did
a lot of the guitar works that Pete could just
focus on making the music and the result is just
a very stellar album. Like pretty much every single song

(12:24):
from that album at a different point has been my
favorite song, and it's just like constantly cycling through. So
like God in the Gray is a really good one.
There's a song called When Two People Dripped Apart where
it's talking about like basically friendships and like the friendship breakup,
and I think it's maybe one of the best songs
of maybe the only song I've ever heard of that.

(12:45):
But it's a very heartfalt album, and I just think
that he did a fantastic job. I got Relli into
him through his last album USA from Meg Ryan, the
previous guest on this podcast. She told me about him.
So then after that, I just haven't stopped listening. And

(13:06):
then you put on a new one it I can't
stop listening to that one either.

Speaker 5 (13:09):
Hell yeah, yeah, he was et at furnace Fest too.
We saw at Yeah, it was fantastic one.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, one of my favorite furnesce Fest sets. So PD
so what's funny. So one of my most listened to
songs this year was a pet song. It wasn't from
the Yips, and I've got a thing to say about
that for in a second, but that don't tell the boys. Boys,
Holy cow. I remember when I first heard that song

(13:38):
earlier this year. I was like going through some like
really difficult stuff in my life at that time. I
think I might have even texted you justin with that song,
because I was I was texting every like guy friend
in my life that song because I just was like
so emotionally vulnerable at that moment, and I was like,
this song is life changing for me. And then obviously
the Yips comes out Still to this day for twenty

(14:01):
twenty five, one of my favorite songs of twenty twenty
five is the Milkman from the Yeps. So great album,
Such a Lindsay album. So glad that you picked that
one too. It's such a great album.

Speaker 1 (14:12):
I'm gonna be really honest. I tweeted about PDUSA so
much as somebody who actually worked on the album knew
about him because they followed me. They're like, Hey, I
think I'm actually gonna work with him. I'm like Okay, awesome,
He's like, thanks for tweeting youbyes so much. So if
you have music that you're passionate about, you should just
keep tweeting about them because it will influence their next stuff.

Speaker 3 (14:35):
It's true, great pick, great pick, all right, who's next?

Speaker 5 (14:43):
Joseph Okay, sure, Jon Nutt.

Speaker 3 (14:47):
And jonnut Yeah, I love go.

Speaker 5 (14:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
So number three.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Is uh pruning of the lower limbs by moving mountains
For me?

Speaker 5 (15:00):
Oh yeah, that the back half.

Speaker 4 (15:02):
Of this year has been extremely difficult for me, and
I feel like this is the album that really just
embodied a lot of that feeling and while still being
very accessible and and but lyrically I could really relate,

(15:26):
especially to everyone who is happy and nothing is good
Blue and then wedding clothes and it just yeah, just
really it hurts so good, I guess you could say.
And I think, yeah, the only reason why it's not

(15:47):
higher on the list is, I mean, it's it's my
most listening to album of the year in terms of like,
you know, like going back and looking at your wraps
or you know, recap or whatever it is that you have.
But yeah, phenomenal album. Much welcome return because they've been
absent for quite some time.

Speaker 5 (16:08):
Yeah, it's been a while, and but.

Speaker 4 (16:10):
Yeah, just an absolutely gorgeous record.

Speaker 5 (16:15):
Great call, man, great call. Yeah. I can see why,
you know, knowing kind of like where you've been at
in like a mental space recently, why that album would
really mean a lot to you right now.

Speaker 4 (16:26):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. You know, Actually my ears perked up
when Lindsay mentioned about like kind of like a like
a a song about friendship breakups, because I feel like
some of these songs could actually be interpreted in that

(16:48):
way as well, totally, and and in fact, I'm writing
about one and gonna be laying vocals down on one
later this weekend. So that's just definitely been a theme
that has been woven inside the record. And yeah, very

(17:09):
special record.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
Do you at this point? Is that the song that
goes backstabber, fuck you, fuck you? No, it's not that bad.
I'm just kidding, man, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3 (17:24):
Maybe I have to dedicate a song to Justin Joe
and that's.

Speaker 4 (17:30):
Goodness, Okay.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
But basically, like while we were getting all this set up,
I had already done my like top twenty five for
the year, and just to make sure we didn't have
overlap in my head. I was just gonna, like, as
you guys were picking, I was gonna make sure that
I didn't pick something that y'all had, so like I
have it. This list is like up behind my setup

(17:54):
right now, just to make sure that I don't pick
something that y'all do. But yeah, my number three this
year is actually my most listened to record, and that
would be Deftones Private Music. Yeah, so dude, I freaking
love deaf Tones. Sorry I meant, but yeah, it's if

(18:21):
I'm not mistaken. It's their tenth studio album, and they
did it with the same producer that they did and
Diamond Eyes with, so I felt like it kind of
bridged the gap between and then, like, you know, no

(18:41):
disrespect to Gore and Ohms, but I didn't love those
records as much as you know, some of their earlier discography.
But I really liked Private Music. I thought all the
singles were great. I loved all the artwork that came
with it, even all the little like production like you know,

(19:02):
like toys and all that kind of stuff. It was
It's just a fun record. I feel like they got
back to making music that I would hear on like
a Tony Hawk pro skater game. So yeah, I really
really really enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
I feel that it was one of my favorite albums
of the year as well. I haven't my top ten.
I forget exactly where in the top ten it lands,
but yeah, great album. I do think there's a few
songs from Oms that I like more than any of
the songs in this album. But as a cohesive unit,
it probably is, in my opinion, better than Omes as

(19:42):
a cohesive unit. So but incredible album. Also, the album
artwork is so sick. So that's that green snake with
that white background. So cool? Hell yeah, all right, so
my turn for top three.

Speaker 5 (19:57):
Yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
I'm actually gonna make a last second change here because
looking at my third and fifth album, actually I kind
of want to make a little switch. This is what
like twenty twenty five, it was such a hard year
for me to like actually get things ranked, Like I
kind of had a good sense of what my top
ten was, but like getting something where like this is

(20:23):
my third and this is my second and this is
my first, Like that was really tough. I think I'm
actually gonna make a change though, last second and my
number three now will be from the World is a
Beautiful Place and I'm no Longer Afraid to Die and
the album is called Dreams of Being Dust. Okay, So
to just say a little bit about this album the

(20:45):
last there was a few albums like in the mid
twenty tens from the World is Beautiful Place that I
really really liked, including Harmless, which I think was twenty fifteen,
so literally a decade ago. That album potentially a top
fifty album all time for me, Like, I love that album.
I listened to it pretty regularly multiple times a year still.

(21:10):
But then the last like number of albums that have
come out from them since then, I'm like, I've been
sort of okay on but nothing has really captured my
imagination like that album. But they've kind of increasingly became
a little bit more inde popish and they kind of
ticked the route that Foxing took. And lindsay, you'll appreciate this, right,

(21:31):
so you know for a while, you know, obviously a
world just beautiful Place, very kind of like was that
fourth or third Wave? I always forget which one it
is of Emo? You would probably know better than history, lindsay,
But whatever it is, third or fourth wave of Emo?
Probably fourth wave, I think Foxing's kind of in that
same ballpark of the same world of Emo. And then

(21:55):
they each one of those bands kind of got a
little bit popular, a little bit poppuler with each album,
and then all of a sudden, Foxing last year, which
I think was maybe my top album last year. I
forget exactly it was so good. They all of a
sudden just like went post hardcore. And that's exactly what
The World Is a Beautiful Place did on this album,

(22:17):
to the point where it's not even just like post
hardcore in some parts of the album, it's just straight
up hardcore. It's like some of the heaviest hardcore riffs,
some of the heaviest like hardcore screaming you've ever heard
in an album. Yeah, it's incredible. So that album is
truly I just was not expecting that at all, and

(22:39):
then they just went this hardcore post hardcore route, and
it's some of the best you've ever heard in your life.
I mean, it's all the things you love about the
World is Beautiful Place and post hardcore and hardcore. It's
just super cool. So anyway, that's my number three.

Speaker 5 (22:53):
Yeah, I dig that. That's a good pick, Mace, very
good pick. That was on my Honorable Mentions list as well.
I do have a quick question are we going to
allow EPs this year? Because I mean usually I usually
give you shit for picking EPs, and I don't usually
have a pick EPs because I'm like, it's albums of
the year, not EPs of the year. But so we're

(23:14):
okay with EPs? Sure, Okay? This is not an EP.
Modern Worries by Tyson Mottson Baker I think was an
absolutely fantastic album that blew my mind. Last album was good,
Milk Teeth was great from a couple of years ago.
But this record is it spoke to me in a

(23:34):
completely different way. It's very lyric forward. So this record
was recorded in a way that was just really really
interesting to me because it feels like Tyson Mottson Baker
is like, you know, like the fruit furry people or
maybe maybe some of you guys, maybe me. Every once
in a while, you you ever do like those like

(23:56):
meditations like where you try to like open your third
eye or whatever. You know what I'm talking about. Anybody,
you're muted justin no, no one knows.

Speaker 1 (24:09):
Okay, fine, okay, isn't a lot of meditation?

Speaker 5 (24:12):
Well, I dove into it quite a bit back when
I was in like college and stuff like that, and
a lot of like guided meditation. We'll talk about like
trying to open your third eye, like you like start
like feel warmth all down your body and everything like that.
But like the way that it's recorded, it feels like
Tyson Motts and Baker is like sitting or like singing
from like my third eye. So I don't even know

(24:34):
how to explain that in like a more succinct way,
but that's kind of how it feels. So it feels
like it's almost coming from your own self, but it's
like the voice that lives with inside you. So it's
a really really uh interesting way that he recorded it.

(24:54):
But the but lyrically is where it really like hits
me in a completely different way. So much so many
like fresh and unique lyrical pieces here, the themes of each
song are completely different. It's like talking about like how
do you love someone in a world that is like
so weird right now? And how do we how do

(25:18):
we just like unplug from the digital world and maybe
aliens are real and things like that, So it just
it gets really really strange and esoteric, but it never
feels ungrounded in any singular way. It just hit me
in a completely new way that made me feel like
this is kind of a record that I've been needing,

(25:40):
especially in this moment in life. So that's my number three.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
When we interviewed him, that honestly was like probably a
top ten interview we've done ever. I for me, I
think it's.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
Just I think that's our best interview ever. Not not
because of us by any means, but just because the
way he's able to express his thinking as a musician
and as a lyricist is it's unrivaled to anything I've
I've or to anyone else that we've ever talked to.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Yeah, he just was so open and honest about just
his thought process around obviously the album, but just like
his own anxieties, his own dreams, all of that. It's
just it was it was so well done. I just yeah,
this album was incredible. Obviously the musicianship of it is
incredible too. So yeah, it's a great album. And true

(26:36):
he's such a solid singer.

Speaker 5 (26:37):
Songwriter yeah, and a genuine soul Yeah.

Speaker 3 (26:42):
So great great album, great pick.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
Thank you all right.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
Number two lindsay you want to take it away again?

Speaker 1 (26:50):
Yeah, Okay, I'm gonna go like really kind of basic
with mine, but I feel really good about it. Number
two is Haley Williams's ego death at the Bachelor Party.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Not basic at all? What are you talking about?

Speaker 1 (27:03):
I know, I know it, just I feel like it's
like really mainstream. But I at this point, but I
just cannot stop listening to this damn album. It's just
like it's some of the best songwriting that I've ever heard,
Like there are just so many verses that just take
me out, Like True Believer, Every single verse is fantastic,

(27:26):
like the Jimmy Fallon performance that she did and to
do it on the Jimmy Fallon Show, Like there are
just so many layers that were happening there, Like there
there are some like really fun lines. There are, like
I like, it's a hard people are talking about their
favorite songs and I can't choose a favorite. That's like
choose I could probably choose one of my favorite kids

(27:49):
easier than I could choose one of.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
Her favorites right now, right now, you rank your children?

Speaker 1 (27:57):
Chester, who's my dog, but like they know he's eleven
years old, she doesn't have much longer. But no, so sorry,
I'm making like six different jokes I shouldn't be making anyway.
So Hailey Williams ego death at a bachelor party. Did
you see that in the garden performance that she did

(28:19):
have killed me?

Speaker 5 (28:19):
No?

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Okay, you guys need to do it because at the
in the like she goes into the second verse and
then she starts incorporating what is the song?

Speaker 4 (28:32):
But like.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
She doesn't mute without You song, she incorporates and me
without You song inter performance and it goes back into yeah,
I'm gonna I'm gonna have to send the link. But
it's just phenomenal, Like she incorporates so many different influences
and there it's an important album at a time when
we need to have music like that, and the work
that she's doing alongside it, like basically saying if you're homophobic,

(28:56):
if you're transphobic, you're not allowed at my shows to
like go out like talk about radical racial justice and
like say things like the South will not rise again
until it's paid for everything. I think it's maybe one
of the most important albums of the year, and it's
definitely one of my favorites. I just I cannot stop.
I just love it. I love her, I love everything
about it.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
It's it's it's the record other than the Deftones record.
It's probably the second most listened to on the list
that I have, and my girlfriend and I we just
like constantly have it playing at our apartment and stuff.
So it's and like being a Nashvillian, it just it
resonates a little differently too. So I don't know, I'm

(29:39):
just I'm super proud of her for doing her thing
and just kind of taking her own lane and running
with it.

Speaker 5 (29:43):
So I think there's something to be said as well.
Like I don't know about you guys, how big a
like Paramore fans you are but massive? I never was.
I never was a very big Paramore fan, but I
really really do like this record.

Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah. I was talking to somebody and he's like, I
swear like if this is like if she just breaks
up Paramore and just does this, I'm a huge Paramore fan,
but I'd be fine with it. Yeah, And that's how
I feel too, And I like, I seriously cannot stop.
I was talking with Keigan Ozenski because I had, like,
I shared all of my most played albums of the year,

(30:21):
and she goes, it's crazy that that's your top most
played album and it came out two months ago, and
it's like, I just I'm not taking it off of
my rotation, Like really, it's just a constant loop. The
second that I hit Parachute and then whatever new out
song she's adding to the end of it, and that's
another one's parachute. Like I seriously have never heard the
emotions that she brings to the second verse, like she

(30:44):
is locked in, and it feels almost bad listening to
it because you're like, I don't know if I'm supposed
to know this, Like it's like just like rage and
anger and like sadness, just all ball. It's so good.
The vocal work on there is exceptual, the writing on
there is exceptional. It's just a testic album, and I
love her.

Speaker 5 (31:01):
I will say Mason and I have kind of a
bone to pick with Haley because.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Oh, do you not get the tickets?

Speaker 5 (31:08):
No, we were hoping to have her on at some
point and Mason desperately wanted to ask her about the
Chariot and like her time hanging out with them and
stuff like that, and she went on a podcast, not
our podcast, and discussed, uh, somebody had asked her about

(31:29):
maybe it's maybe as actually a listener of our podcast,
who knows, because we I can't imagine anyone else would
have like thought about this in particular. But he asked
her about the Chariot and Me without You and like
those formative years, and she like talked about it like
decently at length about it. So you know, that's, uh,
that's something that I'm kind of upset that she didn't. Yeah,

(31:54):
he was.

Speaker 4 (31:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
The second you hear her on like the it's just
you know, I don't know, like go on the is
and shot each other on so good the fiance. Yeah,
I just I love her. I love that woman. She
is holding my sanity in her hands like a little
baby bird.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
She is true. I honestly I've not listened to the
album yet, but she's like truly one of a kind.
Uh just yeah, overall, I think I've heard like maybe
like some little bits and pieces here of the album,
but my goodness, like and I will say I was
really disappointed I did not get a ticket to the

(32:37):
show because she like was playing these like smaller shows,
like there's still like big venues, at least in my
opinion of venues here in the Twin Cities. But she
ended up getting a venue here in the Twin Cities
that was still, to me, really big, but way too
small for her caliber. And the tickets were outrageous, like

(32:57):
they were like five hundred dollars each or something.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
Oh my gosh, I can't imagine.

Speaker 3 (33:02):
And that's yeah, that's general emission for like five hundred
dollars each. I was like, yeah, I can't.

Speaker 5 (33:06):
I'm not gonna like when they when they do more
intimate settings like that, how do they How do they
make money if they don't jack up the prices? Like
I saw Lana del Rey in a two thousand cap
room that's right after she came out with Norman fucking Rockwell,
and it was incredible because the tickets were only like

(33:29):
twenty five bucks. It felt like it felt like I
was like stealing.

Speaker 1 (33:38):
Yeah, that's inside. I feel like I was telling my
husband this earlier because I bought David Burnon tickets for
April today.

Speaker 5 (33:47):
I want to I want to go se.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
I like every time I log in the ticket Master,
I feel like I am entering a war zone and
like I come out with a little bit of trauma.
I'm not trying to discredit people's experiences but I feel
like it's I feel like it's comparable. I'm just going
out tonight. I'm getting canceled. I kinda have no social

(34:12):
media presence after tonight. I'm gonna love it.

Speaker 10 (34:18):
Uh justin number two albums, number two, I really can't decide,
but I'm gonna go with.

Speaker 2 (34:32):
So White Reapers only slightly empty. It's gonna be my
number two. So I had kind of been flip flopping
the Deathtones record with that one, but this record is
just really fun. Do any of y'all listen to White
Reaper at all? Like just pulling the class, Okay, So

(34:54):
they're kind of in that like like class of bands
like military, Gun, drug Church, Like, oh yeah, that kind
of thing. Like White Reaper's been in some like taco
bell commercials and stuff like that. Like, but this new
record is just like fun and it's fuzzy in the
right spots and like, I don't know, like you know,

(35:16):
there's some people online that complain that like the vocalist
is like acquired taste or whatever, but it's I don't know,
it's just like it it kind of does this weird
thing for me where it's like almost nostalgic, where it
makes me want to like go run around outside and
like I don't know, play sports in the summertime, or
like pick up a skateboard again or something like that.

(35:38):
So they're just a really fun band, and I really
recommend them to anybody trying to just you know, get
a scope of like modern like fun punk music.

Speaker 5 (35:49):
Oh yeah, we.

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Check it out, Yeah, please do.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
I just have to say, I don't know anything about this. Man.
If you were to tell me to, like name a
band that start in a Taco bell commercial, White Reaper
would be.

Speaker 5 (36:05):
Turnstyle.

Speaker 2 (36:06):
Yeah, but like I would throw them in that. Like,
like I said that, like class of bands like they
they just they're just fun.

Speaker 3 (36:17):
So my number two album is a band that I've
been listening to for a number of years now, and
I don't know what it is about h this band,
But their previous albums, I you know, enjoyed them. You know,
I've seen them live and I've enjoyed them. But this
album in particular just really did something for me. And

(36:38):
it has all the things that I think each one
of us love in music. It has all the metalcore
elements that you would love in music each one of
us love and music. It has all the Matthew things
that we all love in music. And I think what
this album does differently than their previous albums is they
really add a lot of emo elements, and not just
emo elements that are the sort of like Jim World

(37:00):
kind of guitar riffs that are emoe, but they also
like vocally do kind of the fun like orchestral kind
of vocal elements that we hear, like even in something
like My Chemical Romance. And so anyway, the band is
the Cowstow Boys and the album is called I Don't
Want to See You in Heaven. It's just incredible. Albums

(37:21):
kind of has this sort of concept y thing going
on where like you know, you get the first song
is kind of not really a song, it's kind of
this intro thing and they've got the outro thing. Just
every moment in this album feels like a full cohesive album.
It's so good. It has everything again that I think
each one of us love about alternative music. It's just

(37:44):
great all around. Just there are so many songs in
this album where it's like literally you would like mosh
to this in a way where like you've never mashed before.
Like it's just it's so heavy, and then there's parts
of this album where it feels like the most emo
thing ever, where it literally it could have been a
rip off of a my Chemical Romance album. There's just

(38:05):
it's got everything, and it does it so cohesively. It's
done so well. Anyway, Well my number two album for sure.

Speaker 5 (38:15):
Yeah, good, pick good, pick it. It's one of those
that should be on all of our lists.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
I'm surpris I wouldn't be surprised if, like I either
stole it from one of you for your number one
or potentially for an honorable mention.

Speaker 4 (38:29):
But it's such I've actually never listened to them before. Dude, Joe,
I gotta, I gotta check it out because I I see.
But the thing is that, not to go off on
a tangent here, but I've actually intentionally been trying to
limit how much new music I listened to because I

(38:50):
feel like in this streaming age, I don't I have
been able to connect to music as much as I
want to, and so I really limited limit how much
new music I get exposed to. Like I'll tell people
if they send me something, I'm just like, don't take
it personally if I don't listen to it, I just

(39:12):
I really want to absorb the music like I used
to back when I would walk down the street with
my walkman and I only had enough money to have, like,
you know, buy one CD a month, you know, and
so that CD was the CD I absorbed and so
and so it's nothing. I mean, I'm sure it probably

(39:34):
like I'm sure it's it's awesome. There's so much good
music out there. I just I just I misconnecting with
music like the way that I used to, you.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
Know what, Joe. That actually brings up a really interesting
point that I think is super important for everyone to hear,
because you know, we do these we do these top
albums of the year, and Spotify makes it such a
big deal, like, yo, you got to share that one
post a year that you know, you show, you know,
how many hours you've listened to X artist or whatever.

(40:08):
But that's really not all that important, right. It comes
down to, like what speaks to you and what's important
to you? What what is it about whatever record that
you're listening to. It doesn't matter if it's you know,
a couple of years old, or if it's brand new,
or if it's you know, fifty years old, if it
speaks to you. It speaks to you, and you shouldn't

(40:31):
force yourself to listen to something else if there's something
speaking to you in that moment.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
Exactly. I mean, that's how sleep Token ended up on
my top to moot stream songs. It was funny because
two of the songs really just captured me. I I
enjoyed them find but I wouldn't say that I was
really surprised they were on there because I think they

(40:59):
measure these listens by minutes, not by like song clicks.
So and their songs, the songs that the two songs
that really stood out to me are really long. So
because by no means did their new album make it
in my top ten. So, I mean, I'm not that's

(41:21):
not hating. I like I said, I like them just fine,
but they it wasn't a top ten album for me.
But anyway, Sorry, I didn't mean to to take us
off into a tangent there.

Speaker 5 (41:32):
No. No, I think it's an important thing.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
But you also should feel guilty ofn't listened to the
COWVI stuff.

Speaker 4 (41:39):
No. I will definitely check it out. It's I mean,
it's the exact same thing with There's that band that
you roll a TOMASI like, I listened to it, I'm like,
this is incredible. But I think for me, if if
it's something like I could hear it and I'm like,
this is technically amazing, you know, but I need I'm

(42:03):
a very much a lyric person, so if I can't
connect with that, and and again, especially with the back
half of this year being pretty brutal, you know, uh,
it's it's uh it kind of falls by the wayside,
which is so unfair to the artists, you know, because

(42:25):
they I so much work goes into writing and recording
these songs, and I'm just kind of like, dude, like
I I I'm just I really wish I could just
I wish Google would pay me just to listen to
music all day. That would be sick, Like, you know,
just sit there and then you just absorb it and

(42:45):
then you know, and and just reflect on it. But sorry,
I don't. I don't mean to derail our combo.

Speaker 5 (42:53):
No good good good call there. Yeah, all right. My
number two is uh, it's one that I did not
know was going to be a big record this year.
I think a lot of a lot of music outlets
are claiming it to be one of the best albums
of the year, and it's Bleeds By Wednesday, Lindsey got excited.

(43:18):
I love it, dude. It's so cool. It's so cool.
It's like an indie emo country gaze record. Which does that?

Speaker 1 (43:30):
Do you say it's for the games, for the gaze,
for the gaze, for the gays.

Speaker 5 (43:35):
I think it's for everybody. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's such
an interesting record, and I feel like it touches on
so many nuanced positions in in the music world but
also like in real life, so like genre wise, I mean,
you can't really fit it into any like into any

(44:00):
particular box, right, but the way that they've weaved these
multiple genres in so many cool ways is so impressive
to me. And Carly Hartzman, who's the lead singer and
stuff like that. She she goes from like this like
twenty kind of like nineteen fifties style, Patsy Kleine esque

(44:24):
type singing, and then all of a sudden, the very
next line she'll be like straight up screaming, and it
is It's a combination that I've just never heard and
I know this is like their sixth studio album, right,
I've listened to their I've listened to one of their
other albums. This one though, like just captured me perfectly.

(44:46):
And there's a couple different songs that like, you know,
transport me to like certain places. There's a song called Townies,
and I just imagine myself at my small town bar
and just like everything that goes on there is exactly
what I imagine in this in this in this song. Yeah,

(45:07):
it's just it's great, great record. You have to go
check it out. Super experimental but being very very accessible
at the same time. I've shown it to like my
country loving neighbors where I live out here in the
middle of nowhere, and everyone just listens to country around
me and they're like, this is really cool, and they're

(45:28):
even okay with like the screaming parts, which is pretty neat.
So and you could you could also play it, you know,
downtown Minneapolis or Chicago or whatever else and it would
fit right in there too.

Speaker 1 (45:38):
So can I nerd out about this record?

Speaker 5 (45:41):
Please do?

Speaker 4 (45:42):
Please do?

Speaker 5 (45:43):
You're probably gonna nerd out way better than I would.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
I think that Carly Hertsman is maybe one of the
best like lyricists on the scene today, Like Rat Saw God,
the last album she like I just I it's like
William Faulkner, but less problematic for today's world. Like yeah,
it's just like so American Gothic. But she has this
line on fish Pepsi where it's we watched we watched

(46:07):
a fish concert and human centipede, two things now I
wish I had never seen.

Speaker 5 (46:12):
It's just.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
I had that on while I was in the gym
and I like just lost it. Like I'm just like
sitting there and I just like had to stop what
I was doing and laugh. But there we had.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
A very similar situation there. I was in the middle
of doing bench press and I dropped the weight on
me because I heard it, and I'm like, wait what.

Speaker 1 (46:33):
It's like one of those ones where like you remember
exactly where you are when you hear that, Like Townis
has a line where it says you sent everybody in
my nudes, but I don't care because you died or
something like that. And then like Elderberry line is maybe
one of my top playing songs where it's so pretty
and like she has the line about like said, I

(46:54):
want to have your babies because you freckle, and I
tan I found comfort in that. Angels just don't give
a damn Like there's just sweet parts, but it's funny
and it's every genre like Wasp is a crazy song. Yeah,
I had tickets too.

Speaker 5 (47:10):
I love that you said American. I love that you
said like American Gothic. Like there's this kind of idea
that like American authors have like their own completely different
style of writing altogether, right, Like if you think about
like your your John Steinbeck's and individuals like that, where
they're kind of capturing like this this unique heart of
America and this strange culture that we have. She fits

(47:34):
into that perfectly perfect.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah. Yeah, Corey from her last album I think is
one of the best examples where it's just like describing
a town where it's like kids in a pool, like
a blow up pool with lice in their hair and
their parents are outside arguing on the It's like I
grew up in that neighborhood. Like it's just perfectly described,
and I just I love them. I think they're one
of the best bands on the scene right now.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they get they deserve all the flowers
right now.

Speaker 4 (48:02):
I think the way the way that you guys talked
about that album and then the p d U s
a like really like I've made notes. I'm just like,
I'm gonna go check this ship out. It's it's awesome.
I love I love the passion. Uh so I'm just like, fuck, dude,

(48:22):
I don't want to I don't want to miss out.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
So yeah, those are two ones where like, if you're
a lyric person, I think you'll really like those. They're
just lyrically phenomenal.

Speaker 4 (48:34):
Hell yeah, I love it.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
All right to our number one? Were ready, lindsay?

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Oh did I sorry?

Speaker 3 (48:44):
Sorry Joe, Joseph, that's all yours? Sorry? Yeah, what's your
number two? Joe?

Speaker 4 (48:51):
It's a band uh from Arizona called uh Darkly and
uh sorry what you said?

Speaker 5 (49:01):
I said? Jimmy world think of did you say through
the Glass Darkly?

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Through a Glass Darkly? And the album is I think
it's I don't know, it's weird. It's like I think
it's Latin Speramus Meliora Resurgate sinder Ribis.

Speaker 5 (49:25):
Yeah, I feel like I'm in Catholic mass right now.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
Yes, And it's it's an album that kind of like
it was a left hook, like I didn't see it coming.
And but it's kind of like this post rock, post
metal kind of combo and you just really get lost

(49:54):
in it. And I don't think sometimes I think as
much as I love lyrics, I think sometimes music just
says things that lyrics can't even convey. Yeah, and it's
totally it's you know, completely instrumental, and I mean they have,

(50:17):
you know, the songs on there called like from Our
Wounded Heaven with frayed prayers and quiet hopes of absolution,
and there's this despair and then kind of this despondent
kind of feeling that just and I think it just
really reflected you know, where I've been at. And they'll

(50:43):
just repeat the same like measures of music for just
like two minutes. And yeah, I think all their songs
are like freaking yeah. The shortest song on this record
is six minutes and thirty five seconds, so it's it's

(51:04):
it's very immersive, but and it's about an hour, and definitely,
I don't know, I really kind of get lost in it,
and I think it's really good to take a walk
or drive and just I just yeah, I just kind

(51:27):
of float somewhere else and not to pay devastatingly haunting record.

Speaker 5 (51:37):
Love it.

Speaker 3 (51:38):
Great album, Great album, Lindsey. Now to your number one.

Speaker 1 (51:45):
Okay, have you guys been Geese Killed yet?

Speaker 5 (51:49):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Yes, it's Geese Getting Killed is my number one. I
cannot stop listening to this album. I didn't see it
coming either, because I literal I think I've listened to
them like one other time and it just was not
a band I thought was for me. And then everybody
started talking about the new album Getting Killed, and I
put it on and I just it didn't leave my rotation.

(52:12):
I listened to it all of the time. I think
that like it's one uh like lyrically it's a very
good album because I think that especially it's like for
me coming from religious, like from a very religious but
sort of negative background with religion, it's really interesting because

(52:34):
it feels like this is what religion could be if
it's not traumatizing, like it's somebody who finds like later
in life, it's like actually comforting. And he has like
this line where it's like like the like Joshua in
the streets of Jericho, I'm gonna kick your ass up
and down the streets or something like that, where it's
like he just weaves religion and in like really unexpected ways.

(52:56):
It's they have the song at the end Long Eye
and City Here I Come makes me feel like I
can probably break through every single brick wall that's in
front of me, like just full speed, just running. And
I every single day I find like a new song
to just hyper focus on. I feel like it came
out in October and I just cannot stop with it.

(53:19):
I that song's there. It starts out with this song
where it's just like kind of jazzy, kind of bluesy,
and then all of a sudden, he's screaming in the background,
there's a bomb in my car. It's like so weird.
But and like Cameron Winter's voice is very odd. It's
very apryic and lovely at times, but then just like

(53:41):
very deep and bluesy and at other times. And it's
like the most New York City art kid album I've
ever come across, where it should be pretentious, but it's
so accessible and I just I love it. I love
it very much.

Speaker 5 (53:58):
Good Call, Good Call. Yeah, I have to check that
one out. I've listened to quite a bit of Geese,
but I need to check it out much more in
order to kind of get that same feeling that you're
talking about.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Yeah, it's I did not expect I did not see
it coming because I like and I've started going back
and listening to their previous album, Three D Country since
then and Cameron Winter's solo stuff as well, and it's
really great. But getting Killed is just where it's apt
for me.

Speaker 3 (54:28):
Does it have seven? Clearly I've not been geese pilled.
Does it have kind of like a does it have
like a brother sister or like it's all crazy vibe
from you without You?

Speaker 5 (54:40):
I would not say.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
No.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
But his voice is weird, so you're right on the
money with that.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
But but even like the instrumentation is not as kind
of like art artsy because when I think of like
brother sister or it's all crazy, the the instrumentation is
pretty to me, like pretty art rock, you know.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
I actually I can kind of see parallels and it's
all crazy. And what's the one where it's there's the
Fox and the Crow I have. I just spent all
last week listening to Me Without You on repeat and
I can't think of any of the song titles, which
is insane. But the Fox and the Crown, the Cookie

(55:25):
or whatever. It kind of does do that sort of
talking guitars at places, and it can be it's pretty artsy.
But watching videos of them perform. Have you ever, like
watched the videos of MGMT at the beginning of their
career doing kids to like it has those vibes, It
has those vibes where you're like, oh, this is going

(55:46):
to be the next big thing in music. I truly
believe that. Like, if you're not hearing about Geese right now,
next year, you're gonna get really tired of hearing about them.

Speaker 5 (55:57):
That's a good way to put it.

Speaker 4 (55:58):
It's great.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Uh JJ, what's your number one album of the year.

Speaker 2 (56:05):
So I'm gonna kind of cheat. I have a tie.

Speaker 5 (56:11):
And if you say the albums, yeah, I can't do it.
It's Pupil Slicer. Come on.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
So if you say two albums, the Idle Thread album
gets delayed one year more, that's.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Fine, But yeah, it is Pupil Slicer's flesh work. And
then also Gray Havens Keep It Quiet.

Speaker 5 (56:35):
But both are great records, but one you gotta choose
one of them. You can.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
If there if there, if there is a gun to
my head, I would probably say it's Grey Havens Keep
It Quiet. This this is a band that is just
aging like a fine wine. And I don't know, the
record just feels like, I don't know, it feels like

(57:03):
I'm watching a movie from start to end. It just
kind of it's this nice little ride where like there's
heavy moments, there's melodic moments. I don't know, it's just
it's their best work. And then I just freshly saw them,
like on on that album release tour two. So maybe
there's some recency bias there, but this band just can't

(57:26):
do anything wrong and they're they're just so talented and
all the singles are great. I know some people thought,
you know, some of them were a little weird or whatever,
but yeah, if you know, again trying to be concise,
but like, if if you haven't listened to Grey Haven
and all, this is a great place to start and
then work your way backwards because they're one of the

(57:48):
best bands doing it right now, which is I know
I already said that with the cals Dowboys, but literally,
like Gray Haven and the cals Dowboys are like right
up there.

Speaker 5 (57:59):
So they finally got some good album artwork for this
record too.

Speaker 4 (58:06):
Gray Haven is awesome, dude. I really like the new record.
My only regret is that I haven't had enough time
with this record yet, So that's the only reason why
it hasn't It isn't. It's in my top ten, but
it's not cracking the top three. But I can definitely regon.

Speaker 5 (58:24):
It's definitely a record you have to take time with too, right.

Speaker 4 (58:27):
And and the thing is, I feel like that's who
they are, especially you know, uh after I would say,
starting with the record before this, they they've got so
many dimensions to them and they're just what I like
about them is that they clearly have their influences, but
they just absorb it in such a way that's just

(58:48):
undeniably just themselves. Like, yes, you can cite like you know,
kind of like the math core kind of stuff. But
like Brent's voice is very unique, especially his singing. You know,
he sounds like a man's man, you know, like kind
of vocal like look a you know, straight up dude.

(59:09):
He doesn't have like that high pitched kind of emo voice.
I guess you know that is in a lot of
these kind of like heavier bands. But yeah, just you know,
I technical color Blues just awesome.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
Yeah, And I just want to quickly touch on Pupil
Slicer too, unless culin if that's like your record but.

Speaker 5 (59:34):
I love People Slicer, but it's okay, it's a little
bit lower.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Do my list for me cool so quickly. This is
a band that, ironically enough, I've found out about on
this podcast thanks to you, Colin, and this record came
out and I've probably texted you a dozen times, just
like I can't stop listening to it. It's just it's
just heavy in all the right places, and then there's

(59:57):
just some like weird little things to that I just
like love like the little like noises and stuff in
the background, and like, I don't know, it's just I
I've been driving to that record a lot, uh you know,
if I'm like working in the mornings and like doing
some like physical stuff or whatever. Like I've had it
on in my headphones a time. It's just it's such

(01:00:19):
a great record. I've been telling all my heavy music
pals about it.

Speaker 5 (01:00:23):
But I don't know a band that does like a
full frontal assault better than Pupil Slicer but doesn't like
completely turn you off with it or make you feel
scared or make you feel like all right, I can
only listen to so much of this, Like you can
listen to it pretty much indefinitely.

Speaker 4 (01:00:44):
What are the what are the top like you say,
two tracks off this record, because I heavy music's my shit, so.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
So I really like it's like I'm gonna say it wrong,
it's like stark Agains or whatever. Yeah, do you know
what it's called.

Speaker 5 (01:01:03):
I think it's called and then the other one that's
what it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:08):
Is, yes, okay, and then I really liked Gordian as well.
But the whole record is great. You could throw a
dart at that list and you would enjoy it.

Speaker 5 (01:01:19):
So I love their Their tagline too, is trans inclusive
radical Hatred. That's brilliant.

Speaker 3 (01:01:34):
Great albums. Uh, Joe, what's your number one?

Speaker 4 (01:01:40):
Yeah? So this band I think is at the forefront
of having music right now. I think they've just released
their best work.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
There. They're from Scotland and uh is it Maga It's uh,
it's Zenith by Bleed from Within and it's got everything

(01:02:14):
that I like about heavy music, but also it's you
know accessible there. I mean there's even a guest vocal
from Brawn from a masted On on one of the songs.
It's just pure groove. Uh, it's you know, there's moments

(01:02:35):
where it's Pantera without the racism, you know, like and
then there's moments where it's just complete thrash, and you know,
the lyrics aren't the most complex. But I think my
favorite thing about Scott Kennedy's ability is that every time
I hear him like scream or or do that kind

(01:03:00):
of like pitch screaming thing, is I believe him. Like
it's like, okay, because there's a lot of vocalists out
there that are great, but I feel like they're just
you know, kind of going through the motions. But this
is a dude that I feel like, oh shit, like
especially with some of the lyrical content, because a lot

(01:03:22):
of their lyrical content has to do with like Scotland
being like an independent country and whatnot. And and he
just yeah, like I love his voice. And they're also
one of the bands that they'll have like twenty different

(01:03:44):
kinds of riffs for one song, and so it's just
kind of like and then they and especially if you're Ali,
Richardson's also just one of the best drummers in the
scene right now. You can't fuck with him. He's also
in Silosis, so you know, so he's technical, but he's
got groove and uh, it's just uh, for if you're

(01:04:12):
if you're just like pissed, just a break fucking record.

Speaker 5 (01:04:19):
Hell yeah, dude, I need to listen to this, dude.

Speaker 4 (01:04:24):
Like the first song just goes off until like it's
like heavy heavy, and then it just goes off into
another corner. But it's just like, oh, now this is
the other side of heaviness that we do and it's
just and we I mean it just they just don't
hold back, and uh, I'm just kind of like, fuck yeah, dude,

(01:04:46):
And I think you'll really like it if you know,
if you know, it's uh. I love how they also
kind of in a sea of metalcore bands that are
kind of like doing a lot of the octane kind
of like stuff. These guys are like take like bringing

(01:05:08):
kind of more of a metal core. They're not even
I would say they're heavier than metal core, but they're
not quite like death metal or anything. But they also, uh,
they're bringing thrash in there. They're bringing groove metal, like
I said with Pantera, without the racism, and it's just yeah,
it's just fucking it's just straight up just balls, big

(01:05:32):
hairy balls, and I you know, as a big hairy dude,
I'm like yeah, but.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
Wow, that sounds like an album that you've been pring too.
Pring oh, Joe, Like you haven't like deadlifted to this
song yet.

Speaker 4 (01:05:55):
This, dude, I'm probably record. I don't the only thing
I lifted.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
I mean, maybe you've eaten more hot dogs than any
other time to this album. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:06:08):
Yeah, I do one of these, Joe.

Speaker 2 (01:06:13):
All right, Joe, I love dog into some riffs.

Speaker 5 (01:06:17):
Here comes Joey Chestnuts.

Speaker 3 (01:06:21):
I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure. Justin maybe like a
month ago sent me a TikTok or a reel of
a guy, or like the reel was like the type
of guy who eats hot dogs for the shape, not
for the taste. I'm just saying, Joe, you might not beating.
You might not be beating the allegations.

Speaker 5 (01:06:45):
Beating is an interesting word to use there.

Speaker 3 (01:06:50):
All right, a couple more here, Colin. Do you want
to go first? You want me to go first?

Speaker 4 (01:06:54):
Sure? All right?

Speaker 5 (01:06:56):
My final record is an EP. This is totally an
unexpected record for me. I don't know how I found
this band, but they're called Spars and their EP is
also called Spares. It is a self titled EP. I

(01:07:19):
don't know if you guys are a fan of Interpol
at all, but think Interpol as if they were a
hardcore post punk band, so like super angular riffs, really
like JANKI almost almost like grungey punk basslines and stuff

(01:07:46):
like that. Every once in a while they're gonna throw
in like some like weird like minus the bear kind
of situation. It almost doesn't make sense. But then also
like it's like the guy who's saying, I don't know
his name because this is an insane the small band.
I think they're out of Oregon.

Speaker 3 (01:08:04):
The guy who's it's crazy that your top album of
the year is an album where at least on Spotify
there's three hundred monthly listeners.

Speaker 5 (01:08:12):
Is that it?

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
Wow?

Speaker 11 (01:08:14):
Spotify?

Speaker 5 (01:08:14):
So I don't know. This record is insanely slept on though,
Like I've listened to this just about as much as
any other artist this entire year. That's that's that's saying
a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:08:32):
I think.

Speaker 5 (01:08:34):
It's so well produced, it's so well written, it is
so much fun. I am still very upset because we
asked if they would come on and they said no
because you're a Christian adjacent podcast. But I still really
really dig this band.

Speaker 3 (01:08:51):
We gotta stop getting Justin Jones on this fucking podcast.

Speaker 5 (01:08:55):
Yeah you're killing so Yeah, Like I was saying, they'll
have like these like the the singer has like this
like Interpol. I don't know the guy from Interpol, like
the lead singer from Interpol, but he kind of has
like that kind of like tambre to his voice. But
then every once in a while he'll sound like the
Idols guy, the lead singer from Idols, and then like

(01:09:17):
he'll go into like this like guttural scream that just
it's like a yelling scream that kind of comes out
of nowhere and it sounds so delectable. And then every
once in a while they'll be like this like cool
like Russian circles, kind of like riffage. It's just really
really out there but feels very grounded, very easy to

(01:09:41):
listen to. It feels like a record I've never heard before,
or an EP I've never heard before, or anything like it.
Even so that's that's my number one. I really hope
that this band takes off because they deserve too big time.
I'm I know I've talked to Mason about that.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
I was about to say, you've definitely sent me their
stuff and Yeah, it's great. It's great. It truly is great,
all right, My number one totally opposite direction of three
hundred monthly listeners. Uh and a band that many people
have not heard of, and Taylor Swift. Not quite not
to that, not quite.

Speaker 5 (01:10:23):
I did notice that on our on our Spotify rapped
or whatever that you sent me that many of our
listeners are big fans of Taylor Swift.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
Yeah, it was very strange.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
I think those numbers.

Speaker 3 (01:10:35):
You, whoever that is, you better, you better come forth,
all right. The artist and the album, there's my number one.
This is an artist that came out with an album
just a few years ago, uh, became one of the
biggest albums of the year, became one of the biggest
rock bands of the year. And I think they've just

(01:10:57):
followed this up with an even better rack. I think
whatever they're they've already kind of struck gold with They've
even gotten better at that.

Speaker 5 (01:11:06):
Oh, but they just say it it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
Is Turnstile, It's never enough. It's it's such a good album.
Everything I loved about glow On, it's everything about that
is better with this album. In my opinion, all their
softer stuff is getting softer and more like pretty and
like kind of eighties like almost like post punk like
New Wavy, and all their hardcore stuff that they've done,

(01:11:32):
especially from like glow On or even like the album
that The Real Thing is on it, I forget what
that Maybe the album is called Real Thing. All their
hardcore stuff is gotten even more hardcore, like they just
they just mix it so well. It's so well done.
They have some songs where it's like it's a combination
of both of those things, where it's like you get
this like very eighties like kind of SYNTHI stuff, and

(01:11:54):
then you get like right into a like a hardcore riff,
and it's just it's so cool. It's so well done.
I just I love this album through and through. I've
listened to it so much. I think on Spotify it
was my most listened to album this year. It's just
it's so well done. I I just I cannot praise
this band enough. A few months ago, Colin and I
were at their concert and I still have a one

(01:12:17):
of my toenails got bruised and it's still too. I
still I could show you all, like I still got
a bruised toenail from a short turn style. No we
don't need to see it. Colin, all right, we're gonna
see it three Oh yeah, oh god, finally we're gonna

(01:12:39):
get monetized. Anyways, it's just incredible album.

Speaker 4 (01:12:47):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:12:47):
One of my favorite shows I've ever been to was
that Turnstile show a couple of months ago that Colin
came up to. Uh, and my youngest brother or sorry,
my middle brother came up to and he literally had
never been to a hardcore show in his life, and
he just fell in love with it. He just he
was all into it. It was just so cool. I
broke my glasses, lost my glasses. These aren't new pair

(01:13:08):
of glasses, so I everything about it. It's just it's
all incredible. It's so good. I love it. Turnstile is
the best.

Speaker 4 (01:13:15):
Turnstile is also another band that I've never listened to.

Speaker 3 (01:13:21):
Joe Joe, just get on Spotify once. Just get on
Spotify once. See what happened?

Speaker 4 (01:13:28):
You know what. I am going to listen to each
one of these records that I that I haven't listened
to before. I really like the way that you guys
are like standing for them, so it's you know, I mean,
there's clearly something special about these records. And that's why
I love doing like these kind of countdown things and
seeing what other people are into.

Speaker 3 (01:13:51):
Well, clearly a lot of people are into Turnstile because
Culin so much so he's even gotten his foot polished
by them.

Speaker 5 (01:13:59):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (01:14:00):
They were. They were the first band to do a
stage dive at a tiny desk con.

Speaker 3 (01:14:03):
That is true. That is true.

Speaker 5 (01:14:06):
What's that? What's that riff? Though? That? It's like an
early two thousands pop hit Dad Dan Dan Dan Dan
or whatever. Do you guys remember that?

Speaker 3 (01:14:21):
That sounds familiar?

Speaker 4 (01:14:22):
Yeah, that sounds familiar. I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 5 (01:14:25):
Keep on dancing or whatever. Oh I think so is
it that song that the riff from uh Birds or
whatever is like the exact same almost I know, but
I'm I'm blanking right now. I'm I'm just blanking right now.
But it's almost the exact same riff from that early

(01:14:45):
two thousands pop hit.

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
So it makes sense why dancing?

Speaker 5 (01:14:50):
I think it's sound, but I could be wrong. Yeah, dude,
I know what you're talking about.

Speaker 4 (01:14:55):
I just can't remember.

Speaker 3 (01:14:56):
Yeah, it would make sense then why they're riffs and
obviously like just Brennan's like vocals, they just they're so catchy.
It's because they literally are just like taking like pop
stuff and turning them into hardcore riffs and hardcore vocal melodies.

Speaker 4 (01:15:12):
Yeah, oh, it's the Gwen Stefani song.

Speaker 5 (01:15:16):
Sorry, that's it. That's it, that's it.

Speaker 3 (01:15:19):
That would make sense. Ye, that would make sense. So
all right, well that's my number one. Let's just mention
a couple honorable mentions, because there are a few albums
that have not been mentioned that I definitely want to mention.
I would imagine you all want to just briefly mention too,
so very very very very very quickly. What are a
few albums that you want to mention?

Speaker 5 (01:15:38):
Start us off, dude, I can start us off. Does
that work?

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
Do it?

Speaker 4 (01:15:42):
Do it?

Speaker 5 (01:15:43):
Okay? We had failed son on earlier on in the year.
Denu mint is how I think it's supposed to be pronounced.
That record was killer. That would really set me off.
Magic Alive McKinley Dixon one of the coolest hip hop
records I've heard in recent memory. Shish by Portugal the

(01:16:04):
Man was a huge surprise. They pulled off some like
metal all of a sudden, randomly out of nowhere, threw
me for a loop. And they did it well, like
full on screams and everything. The future is here and
everything needs to be destroyed by the arm. Yes, killer record,
and it also got the the thumbs up by Iggy Pop,

(01:16:29):
so you know it's got the cool factor as well.
And last, but not least, I'll also say The Bad
Fire by Maguay and Magua has always been in my
top five most listened to artists every single year, and
I see them whenever they're anywhere nearby. The Bad Fire
is a killer record.

Speaker 3 (01:16:48):
So great album. Just a couple that I want to mention.
One that got removed out of my top five or sorry,
top three back to top five, but still obviously one
of my favorite albums of the year. Flesh Waters two
thousand in search of Yeah, Endless Sky record they haven't.

(01:17:10):
They have a song on there called the Last Escape,
probably my most listened to or at least certainly without
a doubt, my most favorite song of twenty twenty five.
Such a great album they ended up I think it
was either earlier this year or maybe it was late
last year that they ended up touring with Deaftnes. They
were like an opener for deaf Tones, super big deal

(01:17:33):
for them. I saw them earlier this year, I think
sometime in November. One of my favorite shows I've been
to earlier this year. Such a great such a great
live show, such an incredible album. It's one of those again,
this is one of those years where it's like I
got to do a top three, but it's like really
especially like for that like number three spot. It's really

(01:17:53):
hard to compete for a that's an album that really
should have been number three, but there's so many other
great number three albums, so that's right there for me.
And then again one of those other albums that should
have been there for number three in most other years
but just couldn't quite make the cut this year, Movie
Mountains Pruning of the Lower Limbs. They also had one
of my favorite songs this year on that album. And

(01:18:17):
this is a band that has not I don't think
they've released anything for twelve years and just came out
of retirement out of nowhere, released one of the best
albums of the year. It's just everything you love about
indie emo. It's just it's so well done. It just
they're everything I ever love about EMO and they do
it all really well. And so anyway, Movie Mountains I

(01:18:39):
was gonna mention Gray Haven, obviously Jju already mentioned them.
The only other album I'll mention that hasn't been mentioned before.
Thrice released an album this year, Horizons West. Great album.
In fact, one of potentially my favorite Thrice song ever
was on this album. It's called Nash. It is so heavy,

(01:19:01):
it is so hardcore, it is so punk. It's so
well done. I saw them play it live. It was
chaos in the pit, it was it's so cool. So
they do have like you know, obviously, you know, Thrice
has really kind of gone into this like more ambient route.
They do that, but they also clearly do some of
this hardcore stuff still and that is all represented on

(01:19:21):
this album. So great album. Just couldn't quite make such
a great year. So anyway, those are my honorable mentions.
Other honorable mentions.

Speaker 4 (01:19:33):
Joseph Okay, yeah sure for me, uh, I would say
advance God is the End. Yeah. I like, if if
I was like a little inebriated that that was playing,
I'd probably end up in jail, like just because it's

(01:19:55):
so fucking heavy and just like it's it's awesome them,
which is kind of the exact opposite of what the
lyrics are about but hey, it's all good, and then
hammocks nevertheless gorgeous lush. I mean, I'm a huge post metal,

(01:20:16):
post rock fan, so yeah, they they and they've been
dropping albums like every year and a half and uh
but it's just uh it's brings a lot of peace.
Uh uh. But in a different way than the Through
a Glass Darkly record does extortionists uh stare into the

(01:20:41):
Seething wounds. This is the first band that I've heard
that does death core but with very very strong nineties
alice and chains like vibe and it's just like I've
never heard something like I don't know, it's just such
a like specific like area of rock that they're combining

(01:21:06):
their kind of deathcore with. I'm just like, that's really cool.
And there is shout out to hope deferred darkenst Remains.
I just love how brutal that record is. Don't agree
with some of the lyrics, but definitely loving uh just

(01:21:27):
the sheer brutality out of it. Rivers and Nile their
self titled record. I'm just a sucker for melodic death metal.
What can I say? Just great stuff And I think, man,
I think to myself, they would pair so well with

(01:21:49):
a band like Becoming the archetype because they kind of
have like a similar vibe in terms of like kind
of that progressive flow. They're definitely do in their own thing.
I'll mention a couple more. There's an EP called The
Laura by kind of like an R and B artist

(01:22:10):
named el iLiads, and it's just amazing baby making music,
you know, like it's just I mean, I love DiAngelo,
I love Maxwell, you know, like just that kind of
like vibe is just I love it.

Speaker 5 (01:22:31):
So and everybody leave the room.

Speaker 4 (01:22:34):
What's that?

Speaker 5 (01:22:35):
Everybody leave the room. It's time for Joe Town.

Speaker 4 (01:22:39):
It's time for Joe Nuts. But and then the uh
last two I want to shout out are Explosions in
the Sky. They did the soundtrack for American Primeval, which

(01:23:01):
I thought, yeah, it's really really good. It's the first
Explosions in the Sky record that I've listened to in
a long time that I actually felt moved by. No
shade towards them, I just you know, didn't connect. But
this one, as I was watching American Primeval, while I

(01:23:21):
was just like, dude, this sounds like explosions and then boom,
lumbhold and the top honorable mention is Hopefully I don't.
I mean, it's the name of the band, but they're
called I Have a Friend in the band and they're
like a cool blend of kind of like punk with pop,

(01:23:43):
not pop punk, but it's like punk with pop elements
and also like a heavy nineties influence. They've released two
singles and they're called counttrol so cun t rl and
and you might also recognize her in her other band

(01:24:06):
called I Set to Kill Oh yeah, and so it's
and it sounds completely different than that band, but Anissa
is the front person for Control, and I'm very stoked
on it. She's kind of got that gravelly, kind of
like shouty voice that's so sick and I yeah, I'm yeah,

(01:24:31):
just I'm It's I almost kind of like imagined like
if they were to hit the road, I they would
pair really well with something like The Bronx, which is
one of my favorite bands. So but yeah, there you go.

Speaker 2 (01:24:45):
Sick, great list, Janes, I'll burn through mind pretty quick.
But I just want to point out this is like
the third time I think i've I've done an Album
of the Year list with the guys, and I did
not put a rap artist in my top this time,
so let's get into that. So there's a lot of

(01:25:10):
really good rap this year, especially from Freddy Gibbs. He
put out Alfredo too, Tyler Creator did Don't Tap the Glass,
and then like, I don't know, like outside of like
wrap the rap world, Like there's a lot of really
good pop music. And I know we were texting before
this and I made a joke about Sabrina Carpenter, but

(01:25:32):
Man's Best Friend is one of the best records that
came out this year. I have no shame. And then
like Doja Cat put out a really good record, Lady
Gaga put out a really good record. Probably my favorite
pop record that came out this year was Kesha. She
put out like Period, and honestly, that's probably the favorite.

(01:25:54):
My favorite show I've been to this year was seeing
her in Nashville. But that record, and then from there
like with like the more heavier stuff, like Whitechapel's new
record was great. Full of Help put out a really
good record, Your Spirit Dies put out a really, really
really good record, Spirit Boxes Tsunami se is awesome.

Speaker 5 (01:26:20):
How is that one didn't get more of a mention
on here?

Speaker 2 (01:26:23):
Yeah, I'm I'm shocked. I so it's sitting on like
six on my list, but I was thinking that one
of you guys would take it, so I just kind
of let that one go.

Speaker 11 (01:26:32):
But but yeah, other than that, like I mean, there's
some good country that came out this year, like Jason
Isbel did Foxes in the Snow, Tyler Childers did Snipe Hunter.
Like the entire spectrum of music this year was so
fun and it's really hard.

Speaker 2 (01:26:47):
To articulate like how great this year has been. But
the the biggest honorable mention I have, if you know,
if I can like really push for somebody on this list,
is a band called Slow Joy put out a record
called a Joy so slow at times that I don't
think it's coming, And if you haven't listened to that band,

(01:27:07):
you should check that record out. So yeah, that's my
twenty twenty five run through.

Speaker 5 (01:27:14):
Dude, I always love your your top ten list because
I'm all over the place, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
Lindsay, Okay, I was making sure I had all mine.
I went like a lot more mellow this year, and
I think I just kind of needed it mentally, spiritually,
emotionally everything. So the ones that I really connected with
this year were the Japanese Breakfast New One Melancholleague.

Speaker 2 (01:27:38):
Yes Me So good.

Speaker 5 (01:27:41):
That's definitely on my list.

Speaker 1 (01:27:44):
I can't it scratches a certain part of my brain,
like on Magic Mountain and like Whenever. She also sings
the title line, Oh I love it, horse Girl, phonetics
on and on, where it's like very simple music, but
it's also very interesting, like just a lot of repetition.
That one I was just like at the beginning, I
didn't take it off. I recently got really into the
Great Death album Die in Love. I had never heard

(01:28:06):
of them. They opened for Foxing. They are fantastic, and
country Girl is just like a song that I'm not
gonna stop listening to for the next three months. Mama
My Blue Sky, which is like ninety sort of poppy
rocky like they they remind me a lot of the band,
a band that you would have seen on the OC
if they would have been around them and the OC

(01:28:27):
was happening. And also in that vein the Best Metals,
I love that one. There was an album that came
out at the beginning of the year named Ela Minus Are.
The artist's name is Ella Minus and the album is
Dia I think she is a Brazilian artist where it
just it feels like apocalyptic pop, which is a very

(01:28:50):
good sort of like thing for the year of twenty
twenty five. And then my summer album was Daughter of
Swords Alex where it was just like kind of like
poppy and fun and a little sleazy and a little
like just a little catchy, and yeah, I loved it.
A really good year in music, and I had a
really hard time making a list.

Speaker 5 (01:29:10):
Yeah, I feel that. I feel like this year has
been the most difficult year for me to make any
kind of ranking.

Speaker 2 (01:29:20):
Say that every year.

Speaker 5 (01:29:22):
I don't say that every year. Mason's the one that
says that.

Speaker 2 (01:29:25):
Well, okay, yeah, Mason definitely does.

Speaker 5 (01:29:27):
But I have pushed back on Mason numerous times in
the past where I've said, no, this year was actually
kind of booty cheeks when it comes to making a
list because it was too easy because there's like three
good records that I liked this year. There was a lot.
There really was a lot. Now, I do concur with
Mason from earlier on in the episode when he said

(01:29:48):
that this is, in my opinion, one of the best
years for music since twenty eleven. Maybe I don't know.
Music is healthy and it's going in the right direction.
It might not be economically all that healthy for the
music makers, but it is certainly a treat for us listeners.

Speaker 3 (01:30:10):
Truly, truly one of the best, one of the best
years for me. Whether whether it ends up in hindsight
becoming the best year, it's at least one of the
best years. And I think we can all definitively say that. So, uh,
what incredible year. I'm looking forward to next year. We'll
see what happens. I'm sure there's already there's already kind
of teases of what might end up coming out. I'm

(01:30:32):
excited for it.

Speaker 5 (01:30:33):
So just want that Blindside record, That's all I care.

Speaker 3 (01:30:35):
You never know, you never know.

Speaker 5 (01:30:36):
That'll be my one through ten all.

Speaker 3 (01:30:40):
Heh, yeah, I never know, you never know. So well,
thank you all for joining us. What an incredible year
for music, and uh yeah, I look forward to next
year and we'll we'll we'll see what happens.

Speaker 5 (01:30:53):
Round of applause to you beautiful people.

Speaker 2 (01:30:56):
Day.

Speaker 3 (01:31:02):
This is that it feel.

Speaker 7 (01:31:03):
Sex did not feel anything.

Speaker 2 (01:31:09):
This is what it feel.

Speaker 1 (01:31:10):
Sex did not feel anything.

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