Discologist

Despite having released only three albums in their relatively short career, The Sundays remain one of the most influential bands of the 90s. With Harriet Wheeler’s undeniable voice at the fore, the quartet perfected the “indie-pop” that the 80s gave rise to and turned it into something timeless, idiosyncratic, and perfect.  Thirty years after its release,  Reading, Writing and Arithmetic...

Since its inception in 2015 as the soundtrack to the end of the Grateful Dead's long strange trip, Neal Casal's Circles Around The Sun has evolved and grown into something much greater than the sum of its parts (keyboardist Adam MacDougall, bassist Dan Horne, and drummer Mark Levy) and original mission. In August of 2019, tragedy struck when Casal took his own life, but he didn't exit this world w...

Saxophonist and poet Alabaster Deplume is a true man of the people. With a focus on human interaction and togetherness, Deplume’s music, both on record and in live performance, serves one purpose, and one purpose only: To bring us all together. We’re taking a look at this legend-in-the-making’s remarkable  To Cy & Lee: Instrumentals, Vol. 1,  and uncovering some answers as to why mus...

More important than the fact that Dan Deacon is a motherf***ing wizard is that he is a human. And on his fifth LP Mystic Familiar, the genius from Baltimore is melds man and machine to remind us all how great it is to be alive and, more importantly, that we’re all in this together. PLUS! Washington, D.C.’s the back with big plans for the future! We’re spinning their latest single “Freaks” just for...

On her fourth LP  Myopia, Danish musician/composer Agnes Obel is looking deeper into herself than ever before. As an artist, Obel requires isolation to create, but what happens when that self-created world cannot be trusted? Love, death, and our relationship with the world around us all take a seat at the table on this atmospheric journey into the self. PLUS! Who, or what is Maximilian and Th...

Peter Gabriel’s sixth solo LP,  Us , might be the music icon’s finest hour, but it was born from some of the lowest points in his life. Fueled by the pain of his divorce, estrangement from his daughter, and a growing awareness of an unraveling world around him,  Us  takes an unflinching look at the messiness, pain, and beauty that make up our relationships to not just those closest...

John Moreland songs always could hit you straight in the heart, but on his latest effort, his deep baritone is resonating even deeper. His first album working with a producer (Matt Pence),  LP5 , finds new sounds and instrumentation seeping into what his fans have come to love about his music. The results are as surprising as they are revelatory, painting a picture of an artist who, twenty ye...

For over twenty-five years Austin, TX’s …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have been crafting atmospheric, psychedelic, supercharged rock n’ roll. On their tenth album  X: The Godless Void and Other Tales , the core duo of Jason Reece and Conrad Keely are getting further out than ever before, delivering an exciting new chapter in this legendary groups history. Self-proclaimed super-fa...

Guitarist Jeff Parker is best known for his work with Chicago post-rock gawds Tortoise . But anyone who has followed his career knows that he has a long history of sharing the spotlight with heavy hitters like Joshua Redman, Meshell Ndegeocello, and more while continuing to occupy the more experimental corners of the jazz world with the likes of Makaya McCraven and the new Chicago jazz scene.&nbsp...

For their debut album Bonny Light Horseman (Anais Mitchell, Eric Johnson, Josh Kaufman) — a supergroup that is ACTUALLY super — leaned heavily into a shared love of English folk music, updating sometimes centuries-old songs that still feel as relevant today as that did in an EXTREMELY pre-internet world. Wes Covey sits in this week as we explore why this music resonates still, the supreme power of...

Since 2008, Futurebirds have been stunning audiences with their potent mix of cosmic country, psychedelia, and good old rock and roll. Recorded “all over the place,” their new album  Teamwork  is the culmination of years of refining their craft and a testament to the bond they’ve forged not just between the band and their fans, but the family that Futurebirds has become in the process. W...

How do we know if a piece of music is good? How do we know if it is bad? How do we know  why  we feel the way we do about the songs that soundtrack our lives? Those are the questions that we’ve asked over and over for almost 500 episodes on Discologist. As we enter our 10th season, it’s about time we found some answers. On the season premiere, Kevin and Eduardo are digging into legendary...

After garnering national attention and widespread acclaim for  Astral Weeks: A Secret History of 1968  – one of the best books ever written about rock music, Van Morrison, Boston, or possibly all of the above – singer/bandleader Ryan Walsh knew that his next project would be a new Hallelujah The Hills album, and now  I’m You,  the band’s magnum opus is here. A travelogue of ind...

Twenty-five years ago, R.E.M was practically the biggest band on the planet. “What could they possibly do next?” was the question on everyone’s minds after the Athens, Georgia quartet’s career-defining double-shot of  Out Of Time  and  Automatic For The People , and the answer, for many, was perplexing. Throwing glam-rock, psychedelia, punk, avant-garde, and a dash of pop sensibilit...

Getting stalked Getting eaten alive  Getting shot in cold blood Getting murdered by someone you trust Getting cut to pieces Getting hung Getting murdered while people stand by and do nothing Getting home invaded Getting treated like an animal. Meat. Instead of like a human being These are some of our greatest fears on Halloween…or everyday if you’re a person of color in America in 2019. clipp...

Thirty years after the fact, Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” remains a landmark achievement of both songcraft and video artistry, but what about Heart Shaped World, the album that spawned it. Take a journey with us into the heart of hunkiness as we explore Isaak’s career and legacy, why “looks” are (unfortunately) an integral component of how we qualify our art, and much more. We’re part of the Osiris...

If bands like Little Feat, The Allman Brothers, and NRBQ tend to take you into outer space, then transatlantic “supergroup” One Eleven Heavy — featuring James Jackson Toth on guitar/vocals, Nick Mitchell-Maiato on guitar/vocals, Dan Brown on bass, and Hans Chew on keys — has got an album for you.  Desire Path  takes the band’s shared love of psychedelic-tinged “classic” rock and blasts i...

On their eighth LP Wave , Patrick Watson (the man) is figuring out how to stay afloat as personal tragedy and loss threaten to drown him in an ocean of hopelessness and despair. Lush, sophisticated, and at times transcendent, Wave isn’t just Patrick Watson’s (the band) best album, its ability to speak to not just personal pain, but the existential threats many are facing in 2019 make it a late ent...

On The Good Graces new LP  Prose and Consciousness , Kim Ware’s trademark wonder and wit are front and center. Tempered by love, loss, and a love of songwriting, this collection of songs is the strongest of Ware’s career and establishes her as an essential voice in the southern songwriting community and beyond. Tune in as we chat with Kim about storytelling, making it in the music industry, a...

Part razor-sharp condemnation of our modern world, and part journey through Jana Hunter’s recent re-identification as “they/he,” Lower Dens’  The Competition  utilizes the power of the dance floor to make a case for love and acceptance not just in dangerous times, but as the law of the land. It’s a powerful and ultimately uplifting statement from this revered Baltimore-based band and not...

2015’s  Star Wars  and its 2016 follow up  Schmilco  delivered a shot in the arm to one of indie-rock’s most lauded and revered acts: Wilco. Both were shaggier affairs then what had come before — 2011’s  The Whole Love , while it had its moments, was a more near-miss-than-hit power-pop extravaganza. And both showed that, at least for Wilco,  smaller albums  neces...

Over 40 years ago, photographer and filmmaker Jay Blakesberg embarked on a long, strange trip that would find his lens in front of some of the most legendary acts in rock ‘n’ roll history. In his new book Jerry Garcia: Secret Space Of Dreams , Jay — a life-long, and self-avowed Deadhead — is taking a journey through his history with the band, and in the process capturing the deep humanity of one o...

Washington D.C.’s Broke Royals have worked HARD for their success and with their new LP Saint Luxury, they’re taking one step closer to being the superstars they were born to be. We’re sitting down with one of America’s best-dressed bands to talk about the importance of searching for answers, the rising pop scene in the nation’s capital, and much more. We’re part of the Osiris podcast network. Osi...

On his 12th studio album under the moniker Hiss Golden Messenger southern soul-poet MC Taylor is singing as if it’s his last song. Terms Of Surrender is an intimate and vulnerable look inward that finds Taylor grappling with the smaller fears that creep into our relationships, parenthood, and day-to-day life in this 21st century. Special guests J.M. Hart ( Brokedown Podcast ) and Wes Covey ( The T...

From the ashes of legendary Australian punk mainstay The Drones has risen the mighty Tropical Fuck Storm! On their follow up to 2018’s A Laughing Death In Meatspace , Gareth Liddiard and crew are tearing at the walls of sonic reality yet again, this time as they stare straight-faced into the coming apocalypse. Special guest PJ Sykes joins us to dissect one of the most raucous, and maybe most essen...