No Filler Music Podcast

This week we tackle The Shins' seminal indie record Oh, Inverted World. James Mercer and company blended 60s pop influences such as The Beatles & The Zombies effortlessly with Mercer's whimsical lyricism and infectious melodies to create a sound that is unmistakably The Shins. Clocking in at just 33 minutes, the record packs a powerful punch as a debut record, cementing the group as one of the mos...

On this week's Sidetrack we're checking out Jake Bellows and his band Neva Dinova, a group that basically wrote songs for no one in particular, until Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes fame) shined a light on them back in 2004, showcasing them on "One Jug Of Wine, Two Vessels". We focus on one song from their 2005 release, "The Hate Yourself Change", and talk a little bit about Jake Bellows' reflection...

Fresh out of the Metal Month oven, we hop onto the cooling rack and chill out with a little Coldplay and their 2000 debut Parachutes. We admire the atmosphere and tone with some tracks that aren't named after a primary color with a look at the dark mood of Spies, the dreamy Sparks, and the hard to ignore Radiohead vibes of High Speed. Perfectly paired with the piano and acoustic melodies of Chris...

On our last sidetrack episode in Metal Month, we take a look at groove-thrashers Prong and their 1990 record Beg to Differ. The band blended their hardcore punk upbringings with a slightly slowed down thrash sound to help start the groove metal movement of the early 90s along with bands like Pantera and Sepultura. Also the question on everyone’s mind is answered: did Quentin learn anything in Meta...

On this, the Eve of Hallow's, we're heading to the graveyard with shovels in hand. We bring along a Walkman and Quentin's CD copy of "We Dig With Finger's Crossed" to help set the ambiance for the evening. One of The Undoing of David Wright's only full-length albums, this little known gem from 2005 tells the story of William Burke & William Hare, the infamous 19th century grave robbers of Edinburg...

On this week's episode we fight fires and summon Cthulhu with Metallica's second album Ride the Lightning. Determined not to follow the metal cliches that came before them, or even the trends that they themselves were setting in thrash metal, Metallica pushed themselves further on Ride, with more complex arrangements and deeper lyrical meaning at the core of the album. Bassist Cliff Burton spearhe...

We're 11 days out from Halloween night, so for our Sidetrack this week we're heading to church. Well, I guess it's maybe more of an anti-church? Cardinal Copia and his Nameless Gouls lead the worship service as one of the most evil metal bands of all time, Ghost. We've made it just in time...The Satanic Mass is about to start. Episode Tracklist From The Pinnacle To The Pit Stand By Him Year Zero C...

Many metal heads remember the time they were truly impacted by a metal song. That's the goal of the Denver-based four-piece, Khemmis: to recapture that feeling with every song they write. Originally thrown in the doom metal camp after their first release Absolution, Khemmis has evolved their signature vocals and dual-guitar solos into a sound that is uniquely them. Phil Pendergast's clean vocal de...

On this week's Sidetrack we buckle up and head to Sky Valley with Josh Homme (HOM-ee) and his band Kyuss, the desert rock gods of the early 90s. The band garnered a cult following by the early 1990s, often driving for hours to isolated locations in the desert and plugging into generators to perform. These events, known as "generator parties", became urban legend among rock subculture. Episode Trac...

On this jam-packed episode, we worship at the alter of desert deity Josh Homme with our deep dive into Queens of the Stone Age and their 2002 release Songs For The Deaf. In a year with such a wide spectrum for rock music (from Papa Roach to The White Stripes, and Avril Lavigne to Wilco), Songs For The Deaf reminded us that rock can still be heavy, while simultaneously providing some of the catchie...

On this week's sidetrack episode, we listen to another track from early prog rockers The Nice. Although short-lived, the group's fusion of rock, jazz, classical music was a key influence of the progressive rock movement throughout the 70s. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode we finally shake ourselves out of the shoegaze daze and pay homage to one of the greatest rock records of all time: 1971's Fragile by progressive rock pioneers, Yes. Before we dive in, we explore two groups that laid the groundwork for the genre and proved to the music world that rock and roll had a lot more to say beyond the 12 bar love song, Days of Future Past by The Mood...

On this week's episode, we listen to a few tracks from our favorite shoegazey dream pop act out of Seattle, Cock & Swan. Johnny Goss and Ola Hungerford have a knack for creating these wonderfully dark & dazey, lusciously lo-fi tunes, often with jerky, slightly odd rhythms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week's episode, we take a deep dive into shoegaze and the album that laid the foundation for the genre: My Bloody Valentine's 1991 album "Loveless". Loveless oozes a sonic balm that first embraces and then softly pulverizes the frantic stress of life;  a challenging storm of bent pitch, undulating volume and fractured tempos. This show is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad...

On this week's Sidetrack we take a quick look at the shoegazing dream pop outfit Slowdive. As one of the early pioneers of the genre, Slowdive's melancholy, druggy & spaced-out ​vibes sound just as fresh and modern today as it did in the early 90s. No Filler is part of Pantheon Podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

​On this week's episode, we take a look at the emergence of chillwave and the role of those dime-a-dozen music blogs of the early 2000s in helping launch this short-lived & blissed-out, shoe-gaze dance genre. Our main dig is on the DIY home recordings of Ernest Greene Hemingway Jr., aka Washed Out, who, along with Toro Y Moi and Neon Indian, were the three main influencers of the chillwave sound....

On this week's Sidetrack we listen to a handful of tracks from Mr. Twin Sister's Eric Cardona. Unlike the band's jazz and disco-tinged pop tunes​, Cardona's solo work is much more personal, often acoustic-heavy, and intimate. We fade out the episode with "3AMFM", Cardona's take on Mr. Twin Sister's "Alien FM". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

​We make the case in this episode that Mr. Twin Sister is one of the most talented acts to come out of the last decade, with a look at their 2014 self-titled 3rd album. Having gone through some rough patches as a band in the previous year (parting ways with Domino Records, lead vocalist Andrea Estella's MS diagnosis, and the entire group surviving a harrowing car crash while touring in Florida), M...

On this week's Sidetrack we take a quick peak at 1970's Zambia and the emergence of its Africa-tinged rock n' roll scene, affectionately named "Zamrock". We dive into the circumstances leading up to its creation, and play some tunes from three of our favorite acts out of Zambia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From bedroom side project to headlining Coachella, Kevin Parker's blend of psychedelic, space rock, and jangly Brit pop has made Tame Impala one of the most unique and highly sought-after acts to emerge out of rock music in the last decade. With Lennon-esque vocals and phase-fuzz heavy melodies, Tame Impala is arguably the most notable acts of the psychedelic resurgence of the early 10s, and as hi...

A young 20-something James Taylor moves to London in hopes of starting a career in music and somehow manages to get himself an audition to play a few of his demo songs for none other than Paul McCartney & George Harrison at Apple Records. Hear the rest of the story on this week's Sidetrack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yeah, we know....it's been a hot minute. But we are back in the swing of things and decided to bring along one of our dearest friends for this one: singer-songwriter Larry Llodra, hailing from Austin TX, to talk with us about one of the most under-appreciated folk artists of the last half century, Nick Drake. In the span of just three years, Nick Drake gave us three incredibly beautiful folk-pop r...

CBGB...Late 1970s...The birthplace of punk rock in New York City. Television was all up in it...at the ground floor. Join us as we dive into their debut full-length album "Marquee Moon" from 1977. Alongside Blondie and The Ramones, Television was lumped into the punk rock category, and for good reason...but their jazz-improve guitar stylings and sporadic vocals placed them on the other side of tha...

Following our Strokes episode last week, we take a look at Balkans, a short-lived act from Atlanta that garnered obscure success with their self-titled debut in 2011. With the rock landscape already having moved past the post-punk revival of the early 2000s, Balkans proved that there was still some juice left in the lo-fi garage sound of their predecessors while still bringing something fresh to t...

​The boys are back together in different time zones to cover one of their favorite bands and albums of all time, The Strokes debut album from 2001, ​"Is This It".​ One of many noteworthy bands to emerge out of NYC during the post-punk, garage rock revival of the early 2000s, The Strokes gave us one of the genres' best efforts from that time. With both croonish and harsh vocals, simple, yet succinc...