Listener's Guide

We've reached the end of another season of everyone's favorite show about the Portland label Big Secret Records. This one's a real treat—it's not even about the song! Thanks for listening. 

Listener’s Guide is back! We kick off season 2 with a rousing look at leaving your hometown and how great it would be if everyone was cool when you came back to visit. There’s also some music talk in there. Have a great time listening, folks!

Hear how a song about emails came together. We’re talking about how bands and relationships collapse under their own ambition and how Pueblo, Colorado has the right conditions for youngsters to experience both things.

Take a drive around Pueblo, Colorado with Berkley and hang out in poet Juan J. Morales’s rec room as they explore driving around as a pastime, Juan’s musical legacy, and returning to sites of high emotional energy. TW: this episode discusses suicide.

Join Berkley and his friends at the sock hop in this dive into vintage radio airchecks, memories that shake you but that you can’t shake, and the perils of making music your identity.

Welcome to Pueblo! Maybe the most “about Pueblo” episode yet: talking about what it’s like to fall in love in town, thinking that you’ve found yourself, and, once again, local bands. TW: this episode discusses drug use and death.   

We’re covering the last two tracks on Bob Cummins Jr.’s debut album, Shakewelle in this season finale. We’re talking Switch Pt. 1 and Pt. 2, which takes us into ambient music, The Beach Boys (yet again), and staying true to yourself (and your school). Soak it in cuz this is it!

Learn what Jon Brion song doesn’t have any piano in it, what happens when you put on your songwriting pants, and get ready to hear Randy Newman string arrangements interpreted for MIDI instruments. Get ready to LISTEN.

Discover the occult connection the self-titled track to Bob Cummins Jr.’s debut album Shakewelle has to The Smiths, the wonders of Ms. Johnson’s Bakery in Austin, Texas, and the secret origin of where the title Shakewelle came from. Gather 'round and let Bob tell you the tale….

Encounter the return of Steve Reich, and learn what you actually can like about The National, and how to make wacky sounds, Bob Cummins Jr. style. Take notes.

Discover the details of the lost music video for Onli Onli by Bob Cummins Jr. from his debut album Shakewelle, how to fuck up analog tape, and what “Disney on a budget” sounds like. Check it out!

As the world  prepares for Bob Cummins Jr.'s remastered and expanded debut, Shakewelle, the quivering masses can prepare with Listener’s Guide, a new audio series from Big Secret Records. Each season leads you deep into how the label’s releases were made with the artists who made them. Hosted by label owner and operator Andrew Jones from the label’s home base in Portland, Oregon, season one introd...

Today you’ll discover the history of the first single from Bob Cummins Jr.’s Shakewelle, and get a look at the unorthodox recording practices that made the track, and how the hell Bob translated the recording to something a live band could play.

Discover the influences that led to this fun-sized pop song by Bob Cummins Jr, what it's like playing hard parts live, and how to build weird guitar sounds note by note. Enjoy!

Today in our exploration of In Th Meantime by Bob Cummins Jr., you’ll discover what is and what is not a real musical instrument, the recipe for the perfect fuzzy sound, and this song’s connection to the blockbuster cinema classic starring Gary Oldman as a young man: Meantime.

Discover the inner workings of I See Steven in Th Morning Light by Bob Cummins Jr, including how NOT to mix a song, the presence of Steve Reich, and the tough choices one faces when adding a key change to the end of a song. Have fun!