Noise Floor

Was 2013's Burials a return to form or just the next evolution of AFI? This week we explore how the band rebounded from Crash Love with their darkest and most emotionally intense album yet. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF105

Blake Correll of Broken Left Foot returns to the show to discuss AFI's eighth album, Crash Love. Released in 2009 to tepid fan response, this album cycle nearly broke the band while also setting the stage for the latter part of their career. What was it about this turn to more straightforward rock that didn't connect, and how does Crash Love hold up nearly two decades later? We discuss all that an...

Divisive among their fanbase but wildly successful on the back of "Miss Murder," 2006's Decemberunderground was AFI's moment in the mainstream spotlight. We talk about the pressure to follow up Sing the Sorrow, the dream of hearing all 120 song ideas, the Charlotte's Flowers scavenger hunt, and so much more around this massive album. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorp...

Widely considered the band's magnum opus and their most enduring success, Sing the Sorrow finds AFI leveling up in every way. We're joined this week by Dan Bretz (Pelafina, Stingray Central, and more) to talk about the major label transition, the iconic music videos, and the style and sound that formed this foundational document of the mid-aughts music scene. Pelafina on Bandcamp Find us on the in...

This week we're joined by Zak Maybaum of Bleached Cross to discuss The Art of Drowning, AFI's fifth album and their most melodic and adventurous work yet. Bleached Cross on Bandcamp Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF101

It's the 100th episode of Noise Floor! We're celebrating the milestone with a listener Q&A and a discussion of Black Sails In the Sunset, AFI's first album with guitarist Jade Puget, the foundation of their sound going forward, and an enduring and beloved piece of punk history. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com...

With a lineup change and a return to engineer Andy Ernst, AFI began coming into their own on their third album, Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes. We discuss how their style has evolved, the iconography of Davey Havok's lyrics, and much more. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF099

This week we're discussing AFI's sophomore album and Nitro Records debut, Very Proud of Ya. An unwieldy 20 songs and their only work with Michael Rosen, it nonetheless set the band up for a long career in the punk scene. Find us on the internet and send us your questions for our 100th episode Q&A: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF098

This week we're starting a new series on the long and storied career of AFI, beginning with the California punks' debut, Answer That and Stay Fashionable. We cover their high school formation, early releases, and the breakup and reunion show that set the next three decades in motion. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.co...

Our Death Cab For Cutie series is done, but we're spending one more week with Ben Gibbard as we discuss the other half of his monumental 2003, The Postal Service's Give Up. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF096

We're at the end of our Death Cab For Cutie series this week, discussing their latest album I Built You a Tower just a couple months after its release. We also go through a host of fascinating Ben Gibbard interviews and rank the Death Cab discography. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF095

Death Cab For Cutie spent the pandemic lockdown writing exquisite corpse-style and whittled ninety song ideas down into 2022's Asphalt Meadows. It's an album that surprises at every turn, and this week we discuss everything from Ben Gibbard tackling isolation and aging to Troy's least favorite Death Cab song and the acoustic reimagining of the full album. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on...

This week we're covering Death Cab For Cutie's Thank You For Today, the band's ode to middle age and Seattle. There's a lot to talk about in this era of Death Cab, from the process of writing with new band members Zac Rae and Dave Depper to the atmospheric production style to the knockout closing track. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisef...

Our Death Cab For Cutie series continues this week with 2015's Kintsugi, as we break down their first time working with an outside producer, guitarist Chris Walla's departure from the band, and role of divorce and Los Angeles in Ben Gibbard's writing. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF092

This week we're covering Death Cab For Cutie's Codes and Keys, an experiment in minimal lyricism and making rock music without focusing on guitars, as well as the band's least fondly remembered era. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF091

This week we're joined by Broken Left Foot frontman Blake Correll to discuss Narrow Stairs, Death Cab For Cutie's dark and adventurous follow-up to Plans. With two of us fresh from a trip to see the band in Milwaukee, we cover Ben Gibbard's Kerouac-inspired lyrics, Chris Walla's hands-off approach to the production, and much more. Broken Left Foot on Bandcamp Blake's work on Northern Transmissions...

Plans was Death Cab For Cutie's major label debut and remains their most enduring mainstream success. This week, we discuss the production process at the legendary Long View Farm studio, Ben Gibbard's heart-wrenching lyrics about love and death, and the album's impact on our lives to this day. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcas...

We're back to Death Cab For Cutie this week, digging into their momentous, genre-defining album, Transatlanticism. We discuss the themes of distance and longing, the songs that remain playlist staples to this day, and try not to spoil too much of our upcoming Give Up episode. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF088

We're taking a break from Death Cab For Cutie to recap our favorite albums of the first half of 2026 and look forward to the rest of the year. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF087

Our Death Cab For Cutie series continues this week with The Photo Album. Released in 2001, it serves as the transition point between the early days and the massive success that would follow. We get into the rushed production, the TV show placements, and how we both might have liked this album even more had we heard it in high school. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorp...

This week we're discussing Death Cab For Cutie's We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes, a document of post-college life and an "interstitial" time in the band's career. We cover everything from the long process of recording the album at their parents' houses to changing drummers to the follow-up Forbidden Love EP. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us...

This week we're getting into Death Cab For Cutie's Something About Airplanes, their first proper album, their first release on Barsuk Records, and the beginning of their time as a full band. We cover how the highlights from You Can Play These Songs With Chords evolved, vocalist Ben Gibbard's reflections on the album, and more. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast....

Our series on Death Cab For Cutie begins this week with their demo album, You Can Play These Songs With Chords, as we explore the early days of the Pacific Northwest emo pioneers and how their scrappy, self-produced debut formed the foundation of a decades-long career. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF083

This week we're tackling a legendary single-album discography: Operation Ivy. We break down the enduring legacy of Energy, the band's place in punk and ska history, and touch on the EPs and bootlegs, from the pioneering Hectic to the unlistenable Ramones EP. Pick it up! Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF082

Our Mitski series concludes a discussion of her new album, Nothing's About To Happen To Me, from the exploration of a house as a metaphor for the mind to the influence of touring band from The Land on the record's sonic direction. Find us on the internet: @NoiseFloorPod on Instagram noisefloorpodcast.com Send us mail: noisefloorpodcast@gmail.com NF081