Discord and Rhyme: An Album Podcast

The phrase “so-and-so band needs no introduction” is incredibly overused, but if there’s a single band for whom the phrase holds true... it’s the Beatles. However, if there are two bands that it holds true for, it’s the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Many associate the Stones with “good old-fashioned rock and roll,” but that isn’t really true. Sure, the band has been locked into its trademark sty...

Buckle up and run a systems diagnostic, because this is a long one. Where do you go after revolutionizing electronic dance music twice in a row? Daft Punk’s albums Homework and Discovery spawned a whole generation of imitators, way too many of whom were content to just copy their source code. The duo’s response was to load up Random Access Memories, an album that looks back to the sounds of the gr...

It's the last episode of this Motown disc! This one includes the theme song from Berry Gordy's directorial debut, the last we'll hear from any of the Temptations for quite a while, and that time Motown decided to be a country label for a hot second. •The Commodores - Slippery When Wet •The Jackson 5 - Forever Came Today •David Ruffin - Walk Away From Love •Diana Ross - Theme From Mahogany (Do You...

Born in the USA isn't Ben's favorite Bruce Springsteen album. In fact, it's not even his favorite Bruce Springsteen album whose name begins with Born. So why the heck are we covering it here? Well, despite selling 30 million copies in the last 37 years, it's sometimes unfairly dismissed as Bruce's vapid radio album. But there's real depth on Born in the USA: politics, heartbreak, angst, humor, and...

Continuing our Motown party with the next batch of songs you never hear on the radio anymore (but are largely awesome). • The Miracles & Billy Griffin - Do It Baby • Stevie Wonder - You Haven't Done Nothing • Stevie Wonder - Boogie On Reggae Woman • The Temptations - Happy People • Eddie Kendricks - Shoeshine Boy • The Temptations - Shakey Ground • Smokey Robinson - Baby That's Backatcha Co-ho...

As we’ve discussed on this show before, rock critics are sometimes terribly, terribly wrong. When Paul and Linda McCartney released Ram in 1971, not only was everyone still mad about the Beatles breaking up, but the album was just innovative and groundbreaking enough that plenty of the tastemakers of the time just didn’t get it. Fortunately, the general public has known for quite a long time that...

Motown time is here again! Listen as we discuss some mediocrity, some absolute trash, and two of Stevie Wonder's best songs. • Stevie Wonder - Higher Ground • Eddie Kendricks - Keep On Truckin' • Stevie Wonder - Living for the City • The Temptations - Let Your Hair Down • Eddie Kendricks - Boogie Down • Diana Ross - Last Time I Saw Him • The Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine Links: • "Dancing Machi...

Mahavishnu Orchestra, the brainchild of guitarist and prominent Miles Davis sideman John McLaughlin, spent roughly two years (1971-73) playing an incredibly intense brand of cutting-edge jazz-rock fusion and became bonafide rock stars in the process, before their comet-like rise to fame led to the group members hating each other and going their separate ways. In this episode, John (host), Phil (mo...

Time for our third annual Q&A episode! In this one, we talk about whether we'll take album recommendations from listeners, the art of album sequencing, how to separate music from lyrics, and our favorite TV theme songs, among other important topics.  Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers, Chris Willie Williams Theme music: The Moody Blues - Question

Since this podcast's very beginning, there was only one real option for our 69th album: 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt’s three-disc 1999 opus. It's a seemingly impossible romp through dozens of musical styles that could be hilarious, heartbreaking, mocking, sincere, or all of the above in one big clump. This is the third and last episode of this series, so get your bottle of gin and join us! NOTE:...

Since this podcast's very beginning, there was only one real option for our 69th album: 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt’s three-disc 1999 opus. It's a seemingly impossible romp through dozens of musical styles that could be hilarious, heartbreaking, mocking, sincere, or all of the above in one big clump. This is the second of three episodes we've recorded, one for each disc. Come on and kiss us lik...

Since this podcast's very beginning, there was only one real option for our 69th album: 69 Love Songs, Stephin Merritt’s three-disc 1999 opus. It's a seemingly impossible romp through dozens of musical styles that could be hilarious, heartbreaking, mocking, sincere, or all of the above in one big clump. We've recorded one episode for each disc, which we'll be releasing over the next three days. Pl...

Finishing up the Yellow Pills series! We hope you've enjoyed our discussion of great power pop songs no one has ever heard of.   Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/67MbIIImCx9MRdYZuel6MG?si=wdezwl38ReuBtYAb36rgZw Co-hosts: Rich Bunnell, Amanda Rodgers, Dan Watkins • The Trend - She's Hi-Fi • LMNOP - Forever Through the Sun • Jack Stack a Track - Good Time Music • Randy Winburn - Sunshine...

One day in September 1976, fueled by cocaine, peppers, and milk, David Bowie entered a Los Angeles recording studio, and then emerged a couple months later remembering nothing about what had just happened. Discord & Rhyme is here to fill in the blanks for you: He spent those two months recording Station to Station, a transitional album between his funk and experimental art rock periods that ma...

Finishing up the Yellow Pills comp, this is the first batch from disc 2.   Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/67MbIIImCx9MRdYZuel6MG?si=wdezwl38ReuBtYAb36rgZw Co-hosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Dan Watkins • The Toms - (I Wanna Be A) Teen Again • The Bats - Not Easy For Me • Treble Boys - Julie-Anne • Tommy Rock - Dream Rocker • The Sponsors - Love I Can't Wait • The Colors - Growing U...

This week, Dan, Mike, and Rich take a break from the usual state-of-the-art Discord & Rhyme studio, dust off the four-track, and head down to the basement with a case of beer for a no-frills chat about Guided by Voices. After percolating as 37-year-old school teacher Robert Pollard’s side hustle for over a decade, GBV (as we refer to them for 99% of the episode) suddenly found themselves on th...

Continuing our series on the Yellow Pills compilation, featuring returning special guest Dave Weigel! Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/67MbIIImCx9MRdYZuel6MG?si=wdezwl38ReuBtYAb36rgZw Co-hosts: Rich Bunnell, John McFerrin, Dave Weigel • Randy Winburn - Somebody Else's Girl • Luxury - One in a Million • The Toms - Sun • Luxury - Countdown • The Colors - Rave it Up • The Speedies - 1-2-3...

Frank Zappa is an awfully difficult man to summarize. He recorded dozens and dozens of albums with numerous different bands in countless different genres. He was a relentless innovator, never sticking with one style for long and always pushing forward into completely new musical territory, whether he thought his audience would be willing to follow him or not. Where do you even start discussing a m...

Time for a new comp series! This time around we're tackling Yellow Pills: Prefill, a collection of overlooked power pop songs. Come for the insightful commentary, stay for the catchy pop music. Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/67MbIIImCx9MRdYZuel6MG?si=wdezwl38ReuBtYAb36rgZw Cohosts: Rich Bunnell, Mike DeFabio, Chris Willie Williams • Luxury - Green Hearts • The Tweeds - I Need That Rec...

Can you hear those towering walls of amped-up guitars in our latest episode, accompanied by aching lyrics you can barely hear? That’s because we’ve loaded it with Sugar! After pioneering alternative rock in the hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü, frontman and guitarist Bob Mould briefly went solo, then formed a new power trio named after a stray packet of sugar that caught his eye while eating at a Waff...

Elle King is a tough, scrappy, incredibly talented musician who doesn’t get nearly as much attention as she should. Rather than being dismissed as a “one-hit wonder,” which has unfairly (and inaccurately) already happened, she should be appreciated as a versatile artist who can rock your face off with enormous guitars and drums one minute, then turn around and break your heart with a banjo ballad...

Happy New Year! In the last episode of this round of Motown tracks, Stevie Wonder steals a song from Jeff Beck, Gladys Knight & the Pips get done wrong again, and Rich attempts to seduce Ben and John. Stevie Wonder - Superstition Gladys Knight & the Pips - Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye) The Temptations - Masterpiece Stevie Wonder - You Are the Sunshine of My Life...

Hey, hey, it’s Discord & Rhyme! If, as alleged, the Monkees were a fake band, you’d never know it from listening to their 1967 album Headquarters - on which they wrote (most of) the songs and played (most of) the instruments. On this episode, Ben leads a discussion about this fascinating and fun anomaly in the career of the Pre-Fab Four. He’s joined by Micky, Peter, and Mike — oops, we mean by...

This episode is 57% Michael Jackson, including the song Ben Marlin was named after! (This is probably not true.) The Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) Michael Jackson - Got to Be There Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin Michael Jackson - I Wanna Be Where You Are Michael Jackson - Ben The Temptations - Papa Was a Rollin' Stone Get early ac...

It’s our third holiday episode, so why not sit comfortably and talk about a third Moody Blues album? By 1972, The Moody Blues had successfully transitioned their sound from the ’60s to the ’70s without losing their ability to generate top-5 charting albums in both the U.S. and the U.K., but they were also on the verge of total burnout that would lead to them taking a six-year hiatus between new st...