Jams and Tea

We're finally back with new release reviews every week starting right now, as we dive into the momentous and magnificent new album from Parannoul, AFTER THE MAGIC, as well as Lil Yachty's auspicious psych-rock pivot with the captivating and colorful LET'S START HERE.   Let us know what you think of these albums over on YouTube !   0:00 Lil Yachty - Let's Start Here. 33:13 Parannoul - Aft...

On this week's NOW episode, Jake, Morgan, and Ryley are embracing the cringe as they each share embarrassing 'guilty pleasure' songs they secretly love. They also discuss the latest in music news, including the new Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees, Matty Healy's comments about Oasis, Ozzy Osbourne's retirement announcement, the tenth anniversary of My Bloody Valentine's MBV and much more. We...

For this week's Record Club, Ryley and Connor are celebrating (a couple weeks early) the 20 year anniversary of one of the most pivotal intersections of the indie world with mainstream success in the auspicious collaboration between Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard and Dntel's Jimmy Tamborello as The Postal Service, GIVE UP. Join them as they break down what makes this album so immediately captiv...

For this week's (shorter) NOW episode, Jake, Morgan and Ryley are reflecting on the earliest albums that shaped them and defined their record purchasing beginnings as the channel celebrates the momentous milestone of 2000 subscribers. Thanks to every single one of you - let us know in the comments what were the first records you remember owning and how they shaped your tastes and love of music.

For this week's Record Club, the gang are breaking down one of the biggest 'career-killer' albums in rock history, Oasis' gargantuan BE HERE NOW - a record that sold millions of copies and represented the logical endpoint of the band's titanic ascendance, but also proved to burst the bubble of Britpop and send its most beloved figures into a downward spiral. Jake, Morgan, and Ryley are somewhat di...

On this week's Jams & Tea NOW, we discuss the new album announcements from The National, Boygenius, Fallout Boy, and Ruston Kelly, new singles from A$AP Rocky, Wednesday, and Metallica, and commemorate the lives of the recently passed David Crosby, Van Conner, and Yukihiro Takahashi. Jake highlights his newfound obsession with Natural Snow Buildings, August shouts out some obscure jazz perfect...

Since we have no new release reviews this week, we're giving you our latest Record Club a few days early, and it is a doozy to kick off 2023 - we are breaking down the stratospheric ambitions and maximalist sound of My Chemical Romance's 2010 smash-hit success DANGER DAYS: THE TRUE LIVES OF THE FABULOUS KILLJOYS. It's an album that reaches for the stars and should be applauded for the attempt but...

On this week's episode of Jams & Tea NOW, Jake, August, and Ryley discuss the latest album announcements, new single drops, and interesting news in the world of music before digging into some recent fixations as Jake gets into Prefab Sprout, August gets into Pharoah Sanders, and Ryley celebrates the eclectic and thrilling new record from Southern emo stalwarts Fireworks - the album of the year...

For our first Record Club of the new year, we attempt the modest task of tackling one of the biggest, if not the single biggest, pop LPs of all time, Michael Jackson's THRILLER, following the recent celebration of its 40th anniversary. How does the record hold up today? As an album, does it live in the shadow of its singles or does it hold up front-to-back? How do those singles land today, and wha...

For our first new release reviews of the year, we discuss into the messy revelations and difficult sprawl of SZA's underwhelming S.O.S., and we unpack the raw expression of Little Simz's emotional and cathartic NO THANK YOU, the two releases that dominated December 2022. Let us know what you thought of them in the comments on YouTube !   0:00 SZA - S.O.S. 25:23 Little Simz - NO THANK YOU

New year, new format (well, sort of...)! The Jams & Tea Podcast is back but we are separating our discussions of what we've been digging recently into a new series called NOW, while our main reviews of new album releases will drop on Wednesday and Record Clubs and other videos on Fridays. We kick off this year by looking forward - listing off our most anticipated releases of the year, as well...

On this week's main episode, Jake, Ryley and Jen are back to review THE RUBY CORD, a bracing, poetic, and dense new 80-minute opus from singer-songwriter and visionary Richard Dawson, whose bleak and ruminative vision of 26th century humanity inspires difficult but potent conversation about the ugly disconnection of present-day society. Also on the slab is a record that's difficult in a very diffe...

For this week's Record Club, Jake and Ryley are breaking down The Cure's 1992 crossover success with WISH, the band's best-selling and most commercially recognized album which nevertheless advances their sound boldly from the trenchant depths of Disintegration's dour mastery. Is it their best album overall, even? Join us as we discuss and make a case for why this deserves to be viewed as a peerles...

This week on the show we're joined by guest Jen to discuss the hotly-anticipated third instalment in Nas's KING'S DISEASE trilogy - is it a threepeat? Has Nas lived up to the promise and expectations he's built? And how does the OG 90s GOAT sound three full decades into his career? Also on the docket this week is the gorgeous, rich, and deeply immersive new album from Weyes Blood, AND IN THE DARKN...

For this week's Record Club, Jake and Morgan are discussing the sole studio album from Team Sleep, the Deftones side project featuring Chino Moreno, Zach Hill from Hella and Death Grips, Rob Crow from Pinback, Gil Sharone from Dillinger Escape Plan and many more. Let us know your thoughts, memories, and favorite songs from this underrated gem! Watch the video version of this episode to support the...

On this week's low-key main episode, we pay tribute to the eternally talented Mimi Parker, one half of slowcore legends Low, who tragically passed away one week ago. We also discuss Jake's head-on dive into every Motorhead album, the exciting fusion of sounds on Devin Townsend's ambitious new Lightwork, the new hardcore Vein.fm side project Fleshwater's bracing Deftones-inspired debut We're Not He...

For this week's Record Club, Jake and Ryley have a blast breaking down legendary modern electronic mastermind Daniel Lopatin's 2015 masterpiece as Oneohtrix Point Never, the abrasive and heavily conceptual Garden of Delete. Join us as we unpack the strange and affecting concept and ideas behind this remarkably unique tentpole of 2010s electronica, and how it threads the needle between the industri...

On this week's main episode we're excited to dig into the latest offering from queen of the hip-hop underground Backxwash, as she delivers yet another scorched-earth exercise in brutal personal storytelling with the stellar HIS HAPPINESS COMES FIRST EVEN THOUGH WE ARE SUFFERING. Also on the docket is synth-punk via hip-hop experimenters Show Me the Body, whose latest album TROUBLE IN WATER is an e...

For this week's Record Club, August and Ryley are discussing a forgotten classic of the metalcore-screamo hybrid, Hopesfall's THE SATELLITE YEARS, as it turns 20. However, what separates Hopesfall with this opus is the incorporation of a more atmospheric and space-rock aesthetic that brings them closer to Deftones than Thursday. Watch the video version of this episode to support the channel.

On this week's main episode, Jake and Ryley are joined by resident Swiftie Rhiannon to review the much-discussed and record-breaking new release from Taylor Swift, MIDNIGHTS! Also on the slab is the new album from Carly Rae Jepsen, THE LONELIEST TIME, plus August joins us to discuss new records from Arctic Monkeys, King Gizzard, Dry Cleaning, Burial, and much more! Watch the video version of this...

A unique episode this Wednesday, today we bring to you something which is technically both a Record Club and a Discography Breakdown: a review of Jeff Buckley's lone studio album, the incredible masterpiece GRACE, as well as the posthumously-released compilation SKETCHES FOR MY SWEETHEART THE DRUNK, which provides some insight into how Jeff may have progressed as an artist if not for the tragic ac...

We're back (this time on a Monday) with August in tow to break down the new and surprisingly short album from The 1975, BEING FUNNY IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. Also, on Ryley's recommendation, the gang discuss indie act Wild Pink's emotional meditation on grieving and dealing with cancer, ILYSM. What do you think of these new records, and what have you been listening to this past week? Watch the video...

For this week's Record Club, we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of one of the most significant records of 90s rock, yet one that goes comparatively unheralded - The Tragically Hip's stellar FULLY COMPLETELY. Join us as we break down everything that makes this album interesting and special, and celebrate the unique vision and songwriting style of the inimitable Gord Downie. Watch the video ver...

For this week's main episode, we're delighted to be raving across the board about the long-awaited return of legendary dream-pop act Alvvays, whose new album Blue Rev is a masterpiece. We also discuss interesting new records from melodic metalcore mainstays Counterparts, garage rock turned jazz-fusion proggers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Irish post-punk noise-rock troublemakers Gilla...

For this week's Record Club, Jake and Ryley are breaking down a bizarre, eerie, and frankly kind of evil masterpiece from legendary psychedelic masterminds The Flaming Lips, their 2013 album THE TERROR. As Jake's favorite Lips LP and one of their most underrated, it's a deeply unpleasant but hypnotically alluring standout in a discography full of surprises. Let us know what you think! Watch the vi...