Completely Conspicuous

Part 2 of my conversation with Phil Stacey about choosing 10 artists to listen to for the rest of your life if you were stranded on a desert island.  Show notes: Bowie would pivot from one persona to another Phil: The Stones, but leaning heavily on the 1965-1981 period The Stones and the Who have so many compilations out In the Stones vs. Beatles argument, the Stones have the edge as a live band J...

Celebrating TWENTY YEARS of podcasting with part 1 of my conversation with Phil Stacey about choosing 10 artists to listen to for the rest of your life if you were stranded on a desert island.  Show notes: Started this show in August 2006! Instead of Desert Island Discs, we each chose 10 artists that we'd be limited to hearing on a desert island Mixing up genres Jay: I ruled out a lot of classic r...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite American artists. Show notes: Our favorite American artists since 2000 Phil's honorable mentions: Black Keys, Dead & Co., Gary Clark Jr., Jack White, Kurt Vile, MJ Lenderman, My Morning Jacket, Parquet Courts, Raconteurs, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, St. Vincent, Them Crooked Vultures, Vampire Weekend, Waxahatchee, Yeah...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite American artists. Show notes: Jay's take after seeing Goose Took us a while to get into the show Phil's #6: Phish took over the jam band crown from the Dead Jay briefly met Trey Anastasio at UNH before they got famous Goose hasn't been accepted by the entire jam band audience Jay's #6: Originally had Van Halen ranked highe...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite American artists. Show notes: Recorded in the CompCon HQ backyard studio America's 250th birthday  Looking at our favorite American singers and bands, pre-2000 and post-2000 Starting off with our top 10 of bands who debuted pre-millennium Sticking to rock artists for the most part Phil's honorable mentions include: B-52s (...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling as we count down our favorite music of 2026 so far. Show notes: Breitling's #6: Kurt Vile's love letter to Philly KV writes songs about nothing and they're great Kumar's #6: Great album from Chicago's Ratboys Leading the wave of bands with sweet female vocals and rocking instrumentation Breitling's #5: 17-track compilation from the Laughing Chimes...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about the best music of 2026 so far. Show notes: AI music is apparently a thing on streaming services Saxophone Colossus, mfer (RIP) Blue dot syndrome: Tours getting canceled because of poor ticket sales Who woulda thunk Kiefer Sutherland couldn't sell out concerts? Many artists are trying to fill venues that are too big We're going to a lot of co...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos. Show notes: Continuing our top 10 Phil's #9: Trey Anastasio of Phish stretches out No studio version of the song Jay's #9: The concise awesomeness of Alex Lifeson A virtuoso in a band of virtuosos Phil's #8: Back to the jam with RIck Mitarotonda of Goose Another band that saves their best for the live setting...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos. Show notes: Occasional chiming in from CC intern Lily Rolling Stone recently released a top 100 solos list Phil likes the long jammy solos Solos can go along with a riff or go off on crazy tangents Steely Dan used many guitarists Jay used to be into '80s speed guitar Vinnie Vincent went way over the top Charl...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we celebrate the return of the MLB season by counting down our favorite baseball hats.  Show notes: On to our top 10 Phil's #10: Reaching back to the '50s with the Phillies Jay's #10: Mid-90s Mariners  Good use of seafoam green '90s uniforms had a lot of bold colors: Teal, purple Phil's #9: The simplicity of the SF Giants hat Hat designs got pret...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we celebrate the return of the MLB season by discussing our favorite baseball hats.  Show notes: We've both purchased many hats over the years Back in the '70s and '80s, you didn't have a lot of viewing choices for baseball games Baseball cards were a big factor in figuring out the hats and logos you liked Hats can fade, especially the dark blue...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite underrated albums.  Show notes: Jay's #6: The Spinanes with a decidedly not-grunge album on Sub Pop Female singer-songwriter teamed with kickass drummer Phil's #5: Power pop that never hit big from Boston's Gigolo Aunts Got a song on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack Jay's #5: Another power pop gem from the Velvet Crush Saw them...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite underrated albums.  Show notes: First episode of the year! Recorded right after the gold medal men's hockey game What is underrated? A well-known artist's less popular release or lesser-known artists Phil: Neil Young has a few underrated albums among his vast catalog Other Phil honorable mentions: Big Star, Bob Mould, Best Co...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025. Show notes: Counting down the rest of our favorite albums of the year Kumar's #8: Indie rock godfather Bob Mould is still pissed off and rocking Mould has also reunited his '90s band Sugar Kumar's #7: Triumphant return for Mclusky Falco and crew having fun ripping on various targets Breitling's #6: Superchunk keep...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025. Show notes: The 17th annual year in music review AI-generated music is lame Especially fake music that purports to be by real artists Spotify is a juggernaut that still sucks Checking out other services (Qobuz, Amazon) You don't get to own downloads via streaming services The kids love the K-pop Only a handful of...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs released in the 21st century.  Show notes: Phil's #6: Frenetic assault from Parquet Courts Definite late '70s post-punk influences Jay's #6: A bold move into electronic sounds by Radiohead Phil still doesn't get Radiohead Phil's #5: Slacker guitar hero vibes from Kurt Vile Stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach Jay's...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs released in the 21st century. Listen to the episode below or download directly (right click and "save as"). Show notes: We're a quarter through this century Phil: Thought this would be easy but came up with a long list What about a song grabs you? Jay: Original top 10 list was all songs from the 00s Songs that didn't ma...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs by randomly selected artists. Show notes: More of our favorites from artists picked out of a hat Phil: Pretenders Overcoming the deaths of half the band Jay: James Brown Love the '70s funk era Prince was able to replicate JB's dance moves in concert Phil: Parquet Courts Built a great catalog over the last 13 years or so...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs by randomly selected artists. Show notes: Phil's idea: Blind rankings We each pick 10 artist names out of a hat and name a favorite song for each Phil picks names from N-Z, Jay gets A-M No prep time for our answers Phil: Velvet Underground Plenty to choose from Trying not to choose popular songs Jay: B-52s They made the...

This week, I'm joined by fellow podcast pioneer Brian Salvatore as we discuss the first 20 years of podcasting.  Show notes: Brian: First heard about podcasts in 2004 Started making the FrankBlack.net Podcast in 2006 Jay: Got my first iPod in 2004 and then learned about podcasts Brian: The internet was so much better 20 years ago Great for digging into niche interests Jay and Brian met through the...

Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about songs we hate to love.  Show notes: Our top 10 songs we hate to love in no particular order Phil: A song from the infamous Great White One of the many bands who tried to sound like Zeppelin Jay: Rupert Holmes somehow got cheesier than the "Pina Colada Song" Classic AM gold shizz Phil: A big hit for the Carpenters Originally written for a bank...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about songs we hate to love.  Show notes: Surprised at how good the Who were in concert despite their advanced age Songs we hate to love, not necessarily guilty pleasures Things we were embarrassed to say we liked when we were in school Most of our picks were from when we were kids Jay: I liked hard rock and metal and would never admit I liked poppi...

Part 3 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see.  Show notes: Jay: Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust tour in 1973 Never saw Bowie Phil: Grateful Dead's famous Cornell show 5/8/77 The Holy Grail for Deadheads Jay: Canadian art rock weirdos Max Webster in southern Ontario 8/9/79 Band split up in 1981 as singer-guitarist Kim Mitchell went solo Opened for...

Celebrating 19 years of podcasting with part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see.  Show notes: On to our top 10 shows Phil's are in chronological order, Jay's in no particular order Phil: Neil Young and Pearl Jam on their short Euro tour, 8/26/95 in Dublin PJ standing in for Crazy Horse The Velvet Sundown, lame AI band Jay: The Clash from...

Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey about concerts we'd like to go back in time to see.  Show notes: We're taking advantage of time machine technology That time Zebra opened for their own Zep cover band We're listing specific shows So many great artists to choose from YouTube makes it easier to see a lot of shows you missed Honorable mentions Jay: Surprise show by the Stones at a smal...