Unsung Podcast

Christmas and New Year are very much in the rear view by this point, but due to our schedule having shifted due to ransomware attacks and COVID, we only managed to record parts two and three of our Xmas special last week. Usually part two is where we really get cooking. The booze is starting to kick in, the takes are at a reasonable level of spice, and we’re still largely coherent. That is, of cou...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Due to COVID we recorded part one of our Xmas Xtravaganza remotely, so this is a relatively subdued affair both in terms of banter, hilarity and searing hot takes. But we do get through a fucking TON of your questions, and that’s awesome. Thanks to every single person who sent us some in December. We’ve got two more episodes to record, which we’ll be doing TOMORROW (Jan 2nd) in per...

IT’S CHRISTMAS! Is this our first ever Christmas day episode drop? Possibly. But don’t quote us on that. It’s been six years. So it’s likely we’ve done it before…anyway, this week is NOT part one (or two) of our Xmas Xtravaganza, but it’s part TWO of our karaoke mixtape! Last week we spoke all about the history of karaoke. This week we’re chatting about a couple things: are artists who tour using...

Karaoke is a divisive artform. In fact, even calling an “artform” is divisive in itself. For most people it’s a fun thing to do with friends, and for that reason it is hugely popular around the world. Inspired by Chris’ recent birthday night out that ended in a karaoke booth, we thought we’d do something FUN and explore the history of karaoke. In part one we talk about how it began, its success an...

This week we have a guest! Grant Donaldson from Moni Jitchell (and many others) joins us to talk about the debut album by ‘68. Launching almost immediately after the abrupt end of the critically acclaimed Christian Metalcore The Chariot, ‘68 are a very different proposition indeed. At various points channelling equal parts southern blues, angular punk rock and noise rock, they couldn’t be further...

This week we talk about something positively wintery indeed, as we explore the foreboding sounds of Swedish sonic sorceress Anna von Hausswolff. Tracing influences from baroque pop storytellers like Tori Amos through to the cavernous industrial churn of Swans, we chart Anna's evolution across a series of bold studio works and her new live album. While early piano-led efforts drifted into listless...

We're back! After over a month away due to technical issues, the Unsung Podcast has returned with an explosive new episode on metalcore pioneers Poison the Well and their 2003 album 'You Come Before You.' Joining Chris and Mark for the first time in many months is Dave, who chose Poison the Well as his band for the episode. Hailing from Florida, Poison the Well helped define the metalcore genre in...

We have no new episode this week due to Chris' ransomware calamity. However, we do have something to share. A wee while ago Chris was on the excellent Sh*t You May Not Have Seen podcast talking all about the Bobcat Goldthwait film God Bless America. Enjoy! We'll be back in a few weeks.

Good news, folks! Chris has managed to recover the audio files needed to get our interview with Jan Alkema, drummer from The Drum, out the door! The quality might not be up to the usual standard, but we're so happy to share this with you. Just over a year ago, we did an episode on The Drum's only album/China Drum's third album, "Diskin." As a result, a few members of the band reached out to us on...

Let's get down to brass tacks here, folks, there is no episode this week. Last week, Chris was subject to a randsomware attack which has unfortunately resulted in a complete loss of data from his laptop. In fact, it has rendered his entire laptop unusable. Not only that, but they gained access to all his accounts, and even our shared Dropbox folder, where the hackers also ruined all the files on i...

This week we get into the meat of Spotify streaming manipulation. We’ve already discussed the history, but how did Spotify become so influential? And why? The advent of music streaming opened new avenues for questionable promotion tactics to thrive. While piracy dealt a blow to record sales in the 1990s and 2000s, streaming's growth led to playlists becoming hugely influential. Getting on a top Sp...

Everybody wants to get famous. Or so they say. Fact is, for many emerging artists these days there’s a direct correlation between fame and the number of streams your tracks have on Spotify. As with anything online though, streaming figures can be manipulated. So over the next two weeks we’re going to tell you all about the phenomenon of playola, why it exists, how it works and the ways it has chan...

This week’s episode is a very special interview with the legendary Eugene S. Robinson. Perhaps best known as the vocalist of the experimental rock band Oxbow, Eugene has not only played in various projects over the years, but has worn various different hats outside of music too. A renowned writer and journalist, he’s just about to release his memoir A Walk Across Dirty Water and Straight into Murd...

It comes down to this, really - is Incesticide an unsung classic? We’ve added to the discourse around Nirvana’s back catalogue, with the exception of this album. Hopefully we’ve said something different, or offered a new, enlightening perspective. Or maybe we’re just talking unlimited rubbish. Either way, on the face of it it seems quite unthinkable to call anything by Nirvana unsung. It’s hard to...

The sheer volume of ink spilled on Nirvana could reach the sun – that’s why a nuanced view is needed when re-examining their discography. So in part two of our Incesticide three parter, we’re going to do just that. If you missed it, part one can be found here. Rarely do appraisals both lionize a band yet conclude “I can’t listen anymore.” But Nirvana inspires this relationship. Their impact was su...

Who would have thought that there would be a lot to say about one of the biggest bands in the history of music? This week, and for the following two weeks, we’ll be talking all about Nirvana. Our discussion has been brought on by Chris picking Incesticide by Nirvana. He thinks its an unsung classic, of course, but before we get into the band’s discography, there’s the small matter of their history...

We're back and we're talking about The Armed. But not just The Armed, we're also talking about anonymous bands/pseudo-anonymous bands, speculating about who has been in/played with/responsible for The Armed and, of course, the marketing campaigns that have accompanied all of their releases. 

At the mercy of poor train WiFi so keeping this brief. Still on holiday. Back this week, when normal service will be resumed. This is a Patreon bonus episode. To hear more like it join us at www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Chris and I are on holiday this week (and possibly next week too). We aimed to have something done this week and next week but we’ve actually been quite busy working on a couple of really interesting episodes. One’s an interview with a noise rock legend, and the other is a detailed journalistic episode about Spotify. So to make up the short fall, we’ve reached deep back into the catalogue of bonus...

Let’s take a trip back to 1994, when Chris was 13 (Mark was 7), and he was busy creating custom Headswim t-shirts around Stirling while discovering the brilliance of that band's debut album. The album in question was "Flood," and it left a profound impression on Chris. While we often discuss the albums that have influenced us, it's uncommon for us to bring one of these into the Unsung spotlight. S...

What’s this? A regular episode? LIKE THE OLD DAYS?! Yes folks, it’s been a little while since we did a regular, one album one band episode, and this week Chris has chosen the odd choice of Give You the Ghost by POLIÇA. Why odd? Well, it’s a bit of a spoiler I guess, but after this album the band’s star started to fade. Pretty rapidly. Even the reviews of every subsequent album after this agree. Th...

This week, we're fulfilling a promise we made when we started the Unsung Record Club - featuring episodes on the albums we've included in the club. We're excited to discuss four records available to record club members - two digital and two vinyl. From the digital selection, we have The Burnt Tapes' "Never Better" and Adam Stafford's "Imaginary Walls Collapse." These albums are a true delight, sho...

This week we have our longest episode yet as we take a deep dive into the work of Rick Froberg, the singer of Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu and Obits who sadly passed away in June 2023. Enlisting the help of post-punk encyclopaedia, and literal Doctor in punk music, our friend Ferruccio Quercetti, we take a real good look at the work of Nick Froberg through the lens of Hot Snakes. With work on their...

We conlcude our one album wonder mixtape by diving headlong into four of our own personal favourite one album wonders, and also by exploring two of the catagories we set out in the last episode. As a reminder, we're talking about bands that have had only had one album. We’re not talking about bands that are on their debut album, but acts that were one and done. The categories are: Bands that seeme...

Now that we’ve set music festivals to rights (for this year) we thought we’d follow up on our White Town episode - a true one hit wonder - with a one album wonder mixtape. Which, as is our wont, turned into a two parter. So the remit is simple here - bands that have had only had one album. We’re not talking about bands that are on their debut album, but acts that were one and done. To bring some o...