Hey, Listen to This!

On this week's episode, Matt and Ryan finally take a dive into the world of Bright Eyes. Released in 2005, this album features some of the bands most popular songs "First Day of My Life", "Lua" and "At The Bottom of Everything". The album itself has been ranked by several publications as either the one of the best of the year or the decade. Most notably Rolling Stone placed this album at 50 out of...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take a look at the self-titled debut album from American singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones. Rickie Lee Jones won Best New Artist during the 1980 Grammy Awards. AllMusic said this about the album: "Rickie Lee Jones comes on like the love child of Laura Nyro and Tom Waits on her astounding self-titled debut album that simultaneously sounds like a synthesis of m...

On this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take a look at another 2024 release with the new EP from Bon Iver called SABLE,. This EP sees the group going back to its roots that were found in the 2007 release For Emma, Forever Ago. Bon Iver hit a peak in popularity in 2012 when they won two Grammys for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Album for their self titled LP. The group has been spending the pa...

On this week's episode, the guys go to the year of 1966 to examine the debut studio album by The Mothers of Invention called Freak Out!. This album is often cited as one of rock music's first concept albums. The band takes a satirical approach in this record talking about the American landscape at the time. Blending elements of 70s rock, doo wop and free form rock, this album helped launch the ban...

On this week's episode, the guys take one last trip into the Jack White Multiverse with the debut solo studio from Jack White released in 2012 called Blunderbuss. This album saw Jack in a pivotal moment in his career. In this album, White draws from many different influences that range from country all the way to hip-hop. This album and it's tracks received four Grammy nominations. Tune into this...

On this week's episode, Matt chose the album to review. He chose Warren Zevon's 1978 album Excitable Boy, which contains Zevon's most commercially successful single, Werewolves of London. The album contains unique songs ranging from disco/funk-inspired to pure satire. Tracks like "Excitable Boy", "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Veracruz" will leave an impact on the listener. Tune into t...

On this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take a break from the usual deep dive into an album and turn their attention to The Smashing Pumpkins' discography. The two hosts will take turns picking albums from that discography and see how they rate on All Music. The host that picks the best-rated selection of albums will win bragging rates and have the ability to choose the artist on the next episode of...

In this week's episode, Ryan takes Matt and himself into the Jack White Sphere with the 2003 magnum opus Elephant by The White Stripes. Released at a time when the group broke new ground with popularity, this album saw the group exploring different styles all the while keeping grounded in their blues garage rock roots. The biggest songs from The White Stripes and Jack White come from this album: S...

On this week's episode, Matt picked one of the year's biggest albums with Sabrina Carpenter's Short n' Sweet. The guys decided they needed some backup to review the album and Jamie makes another guest appearance on the show to provide another layer of insight to this record. The album has been highly successful and brought Sabrina Carpenter to another level of pop stardom. This album is layered wi...

On this week's episode, it was Ryan's turn to pick the album as the guys journey further into the Jack White Multiverse. The album is the debut album from The Dead Weather called Horehound. Released in 2009, this album was spawned from an event where Alison Mosshart filled in on vocals during a Raconteurs set. Mosshart did such a great job that group members decided to record songs togethe...

In this week's episode, it was Matt's turn to pick the album to be reviewed, and The Turtles Present The Battle Of The Bands by The Turtles became the choice. Released in 1968, this album sees The Turtles exploring several different styles of music through the lens of parody. The group embodies the musical stylings of The Beatles, Beach Boys, and even themselves. This is a record that Matt...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take their first step into the world of Jack White with The Raconteurs' 2008 LP Consolers of the Lonely. The Raconteurs formed in 2005 due to Jack White and Brendan Benson writing a song (Steady, As She Goes) that ended up inspiring them to further explore their chemistry. Consolers of the Lonely explores a couple of different genres: garage rock, coun...

In this week’s episode, Matt and Ryan look at the 1991 Self-titled LP by Metallica. This album saw the group taking a sonic pivot away from their thrash metal roots and shifting into a more melodic hard rock style. This spawned tracks that have become staples in the metal/hard rock scene: Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, and The Unforgiven. Ultimately this album divided the fan base because of...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan review the 2007 album by Kings of Leon called Because of the Times. Kings of Leon is a rock band that saw a pivot in their sound with this album. This family band saw massive success with their follow-up album Only by the Night. They are covering this album because Ryan cites this as his go-to album from the group. If you like the podcast, please give us a...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan review the third solo studio album by Peter Gabriel. This album is self-titled but referred to as Melt due to its album art. Building off of his previous album, Peter experiments on this album with different genres: post-punk, new wave, and art rock. Ryan has never listened to anything by Peter Gabriel and Matt has never listened to this album from start t...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take a step back from the album deep dives, and look at the discography from the classic rock group The Who. Matt and Ryan take turns picking albums from the entire studio catalog from The Who and see how they rate on All Music. The host with the better-rated selection gets bragging rights and can choose the next artist in this series. Whether you are a hu...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan examine the 2002 release by The Mountain Goats called All Hail West Texas. This album was the sixth album released and like many of the early records by the group, it was recorded using a Panasonic RX-FT500 cassette tape recorder. The Mountain Goats has had a cast of different band members throughout the years but the group's mainstay member has been t...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan explore the 2017 release by a band that they both had the pleasure of seeing live. The group is called Future Teens and the album is called Hard Feelings. Future Teens are self-described "bummer pop" from Boston Massachusetts. This band has a similar sound to bands like The Wonder Years, Camp Trash and Carly Cosgrove. This was their first release...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan tackle one of the biggest pop releases of the summer: Brat by Charlie XCX. This is the sixth album released by the English singer and it has gathered immense critical acclaim from various outlets such as The Needle Drop, Pitchfork, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone. Brat is an incredibly dense album comprising a mix of genres such as electro-pop, club-pop, hyper...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan examine the third album by the Californian R&B and Funk group: Tower of Power by Tower of Power. This album was the most successful release that the group has had. It peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Top Albums chart in 1973. This album marked the debut of Lenny Williams as the lead vocalist. Tower of Power put out three singles from this album: "So Very H...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take a look a record in Ryan's vinyl collection: the 2022 album by Gang of Youths called Angel in Realtime. Record in two countries (England and New Zeland), this record is primarily self-produced except for two tracks. Gang of Youths was inspired to produce this album after the frontman's (David Le'aupepe) father died. Angel in Realtime was fe...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan deeply dive into the 1998 release by Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels on A Gravel Road. The album was recorded and co-produced by Williams in Nashville, Tennessee, and Canoga Park, California, and features guest appearances by Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris. This album explores a variety of genres: country, pop, blues, and folk. The lyrics are very much rooted...

On this week's episode, Matt and Ryan dive into the 2024 release from one of the greatest bands to come out of the Seattle Washington scene: Pearl Jam. The album is called Dark Matter and it is Matt's first exposure to the band (believe it or not). The album has received glowing reviews from various outlets with a score of 81/100 on Metacritic. Eddie Vedder said that this album is their best work...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan look at the 2021 album by Adele called 30. Adele has been touted as the best pop vocalist of the 2010s and onward. She broke out in 2011 with her massively successful sophomore album 21. That album won 11 awards including Album of the Year for the Grammys in 2012. Since that breakthrough, Adele has released 2 more albums: 2015's 25 and the album the gu...

In this week's episode, Matt and Ryan take another adventure into the world of modern emo music with the 2023 album Why Would I Watch? by Hot Mulligan. This band follows the tradition of pop-punk/emo with very creative song titles: No Shoes In The Coffee Shop (Or Sock, This Song Is Called It's Called What's it Called and John "The Rock" Cena, Can You Smell What The Undertaker. The band claims to h...