The Beaten Track

We return with a bumper episode, recapping our favourite albums of 2024 with Louis and Joe's top ten albums list. Ignore the other lists, this really is the only one (well two actually) that matters. Will Charli XCX reign supreme or will there be surprises at the top?

We're back (again) to recap our favourite albums from 2024 so far. Join us as we take you through the best albums month by month, including albums from The Smile, Charli XCX, Adrienne Lenker, and Vampire Weekend.

We're back for our end of year round up. It's the only end of year list that matters, forget the rest. Who will come out on top of Louis and Joe's 2023 list? Will there be fights or will there be harmony? Featuring albums from PJ Harvey, Caroline Polachek, King Gizzard, Lana Del Rey, and Olivia Rodrigo.

This week we talk all things Manchester and the region's significant contribution to music. We focus in on A Certain Ratio's Sextet, a classic experimental album from the early Factory Records era. Contemporaries of Joy Division, this album saw them branch out into a new world music influenced sound. Elsewhere, Joe names his favourite Mancunian, Louis talks about the Verve for too long, an...

We're feeling a little bit of nostalgia as two giants of the old radio rock world have come back with new albums recently. Queens of the Stone Age and the Foo Fighters have both supplied acclaimed new records and Louis and Joe discuss their favourite tracks, the differences between the bands, and some truly terrible song titles. Elsewhere in the episode we discuss our Glastonbury favourites an...

This week we discuss our new website and platform beatentrackpod.com . There's a discussion of what we're listening to at the moment including but not limited to; Wednesday, Model/Actriz, Pet Shop Boys and Queens of the Stone Age. We also touch on Kakashi, an ambient jazz record from Japanese composer Yasuaki Shimizu. Oh and yes, there's a really bad quiz at the end as well.

We're throwing out the rule book. If the Beaten Track has been known for anything it's a maverick attitude and unwillingness to bend to the popular will. Joe and Louis are back to take you through 2023 so far and in the new format we're not just talking one album, but multiple. We take you through our favourites of the year such as Boygenius, Lana Del Rey, Black Country New Road, Carol...

It is an exact science. Don't listen or read any other album round ups. This is the only one that matters. Joe and Louis count down the definitive top ten albums of 2022. Will BCNR top Joe's list two years on the bounce? Will Arctic Monkeys take each of the ten spots available for Louis? Listen to find out..

The long awaited collaboration between the acclaimed producer Danger Mouse and Philadelphia's legendary Black Thought. Embracing old school hip hop soundscapes and dipping into 60s and 70s soul, psych and jazz sounds, this record is a triumph in producer/rapper collaborations. Joe and Louis discuss their favourite tracks on the record, including the feature from the late MF DOOM. Oh, and the quizz...

This week it was a band that both Joe and Louis have great affection for. Canadian Indie Poppers Alvvays followed up their fuzzy and nostalgic debut in 2014 with Antisocialites, released in 2017 it brought more sugary hooks, delightful melodies and wonderfully crafted pop tunes. We talk you through each and every track on this all flawless record and finish off with the Superheroes of BMX.

Industry industry industry. This week we discussed the pioneers of industrial sound Throbbing Gristle and their ironically titled 20 Jazz and Funk Greats. Featuring a classic Beachy Head album cover and some of the most immersive and honest industrial sounds ever recorded. In tribute to the bands use of samples, listen out for the dog barking we cut into this weeks episode...

And like a bolt from the blue it's 3 episodes in 3 weeks for the best alternative music podcast out there. And this week it's a beautiful, bright, noisy, pummelling, maelstrom of sound from Rhode Island noise duo Lightning Bolt. Creating a wall of pulsating sound with just drums and pitch shifted bass (oh and some distorted vocals from inside a ski mask) they took their cue from the Japanese noise...

What a Killer! Miraculously Louis has waited 65 episodes to choose a Neil Young album to discuss but finally the moment has come. With over 3,000 studio albums and over 1 million if you count the live ones, lost ones and archives it can be difficult to choose a starting point but we managed. The 1975 record Zuma signalled the return of his backing band Crazy Horse and was a momentous record for th...

After a short break we're back to what we do best, diving head first into a shoegaze swirl with this 1996 album from Swirlies. With an impressively long album title and even more impressive experimental songwriting, the album provides an alternative form of this distortion heavy sound. We discuss fuzzy guitars, drum machines and vocoders, whilst Joe's motorsport knowledge is put firmly to the test...

It's a whopping great double album for Louis and Joe to dive into this week. Big Thief's big album demands big praise. After two albums in 2019 from the Indie Folk outfit they spent the pandemic recording an eclectic collection of songs across four different recording sessions. The result is an immense display of songwriting talent, boundless exploration and boingy harp sounds. Oh, and Joe actuall...

Plunging our feet into the sludge this week with the young dinosaurs. With wild, distortion heavy, flanged out guitars and sugary hooks Dinosaur Jr. led the move away from the hardcore punk of the 80s. An iconic band in terms of their influence upon underground music, their 1987 effort saw them at perhaps their most raw and powerful. With an unbalanced mix and a dangerous edge, this slacker band s...

A compilation? Gospel music? Are you sure? Yes, do not adjust your sets we're venturing into the gospel universe through the lens of a compilation record released on David Byrne's Luaka Bop label in 2019. Wonderfully crafted and combining the more soul and R&B elements of the 70s gospel scene, the record surprises and delights in it's more personal image of gospel music. Joe and Louis only ref...

Don't you wish you never, never met her. Although we'll never know what the PJ stands for (pearl jam? percy jackson? personal jesus?), we know that her discography stands as one of the very best of modern times. Erupting from the 90s alternative scene and admired by John Peel and Rolling Stone alike, Harvey has gone on to become one of the most iconic and singular artists we have. Joe and Louis us...

Black Country, New Album! Joe wasn't going to let us miss this one was he? Our latest episode tackles the second album from the offbeat and multi-instrumental Cambridgeshire outfit. Its release has coincided with the departure of frontman Isaac Wood but he, along with his teammates provided us with a monster record to show for his time. And in tribute to this, we cap off the episode with a pretty...

BOO! Scared you didn't I... Well get used to it cos this week we've got some ghostly garage rock from the Wytches. Released in 2014, their debut album Annabel Dream Reader fused doomy atmosphere, monster riffs and spooky surf rock. Louis and Joe discuss this graveyard infused record and place Sabrina the teenage witch in a band of her own.

On the last day of 2021 we bring you a ranking of our favourite albums of the year. Will there be harmony across the camps like last year or will there instead be mild disagreement and bickering? 

Ho Ho Ho. What better way to celebrate the festive season than a slice of Australian Post Punk? Rowland S. Howard cuts a murky figure in the alternative guitar scene, as the former lead guitarist of the Birthday Party he had perhaps slipped into the shadow of his former bandmate Nick Cave. But before his passing he left us with a debut solo album to remember. Joe and Louis discuss their favourite...

I know a secret or two about Goo. For our 55th episode we address the legends of alternative noise music, Sonic Youth. On the back of their breakout record Daydream Nation the band moved to major label Geffen, but lost none of their subversive sound. Listen as Joe and Louis get caught in the slimy, gloopy, wonderful mess that is Goo.

This week we conceptualise the concept album. Made popular in the days of prog excesses, concept albums have made a sort of mini comeback in recent years. Join us as Joe provides us one of his great big lists and we focus in on the best concept album of the 2000s. The Streets' sophomore album A Grand Don't Come for Free mixed Mike Skinner's idiosyncratic flow with everyday storytelling. It's a pre...

Serge Gainsbourg once said 'I am incapable of mediocrity'. Who better then to discuss his output than a podcast enveloped in mediocrity. Louis and Joe take you through France's controversial cult legend and his 1973 album Vu de l'extérieur. A record packed with gorgeous melodies, gentle instrumentation, and a light smattering of toilet humour. Oh and also, there's some bad quizzing at the end.&nbs...