No Filler Music Podcast

We chat about Modest Mouse before Float On put them on the map. From the very first track on their debut album, Isaac Brock and his bandmates blended any and every genre with their alt rock roots to create a sound all their own. And Brock carried on the loud-quiet-loud dynamic that the Pixies created just a few years prior to weave in sporadic outbursts into each track. By the time we get to Float...

Piggy-backing off our Talking Heads and Sonic Youth episodes, we explore another trailblazer of the alt-rock post-punk variety. When Pixies released Doolittle in 1989, they carried a confidence into the studio that was missing from their first record. With melodic, simple song structures and Black Francis' sporadic, neurotic outbursts sprinkled throughout the record, they created a new dynamic kno...

With every Whatcha Heard episode there's always a few left turns, and at least a 180 that takes us from, for example, vaporwave to doom metal. On this episode however, we managed to bring 10 tracks that work so perfectly together, you'd think we must have planned it. Maybe it's the changing season, or maybe our twin connection was especially deep these past few weeks. Either way, tune in for a col...

Join us as we chat with Rolling Stone Senior Writer David Browne, author of the definitive Sonic Youth biography, Goodbye 20th Century. We talk about how the band's "cool kids" persona carried them from the no-wave movement of the 70s and 80s into the 90s where they finally signed to a major label. We play tracks from Goo, Dirty, and Experimental Jet Set (the Geffen Years), and dissect their evolv...

Describing Talking Heads groundbreaking 1980 record Remain In Light after hearing it for the first time can be challenging. Or after hearing it for the 2nd, 5th, or 20th time for that matter. The group almost called it quits after the success of Fear Of Music, but quickly found themselves experimenting with African polyrhythms, funk, and electronics in the idyllic Compass Point Studios in the Baha...

We're kick-starting our dive into post-punk & new wave with a look back at our episode on Television's debut record Marquee Moon from 1977. Alongside Blondie, The Ramones, and other bands that shared the stage at the birthplace of punk in New York City, CBGB, Television was lumped into the punk rock category, and for good reason. But their jazz-improv guitar stylings and sporadic vocals was a pivo...

We wrap up our batch of episodes devoted to all things downtempo with 10 more tracks from 10 different artists under the downtempo umbrella and it's many adjacent styles. From the classics like Portishead and Massive Attack to video game scores and underground DJs, this is our final attempt to convince our listeners that downtempo is a genre worth paying attention to. Kick back and chill out with...

Our monthly mixtape is back with 13 tracks ranging from 70's funk to a couple of brand new shoegaze tunes, new wave to no wave, and even a dreampop track from a Tokyo horror film tossed in for good measure. Tracklist: Courtney Barnett - Before You Gotta Go Stove - Graduate and Congratulate Strawberry Switchblade - Who Knows What Love Is? Strawberry Switchblade - Michael Who Walks By Night Lucid Ex...

After a decade of success in the vibrant British electronica and techno scene, Underworld reinvented themselves in 2002 when Rick Smith and Karl Hyde released the dark and beautiful A Hundred Days Off. The record remained true to the duo's dance floor roots with a house and techno backbone, but introduced ambient and downtempo elements to the mix. Add Hyde's dreamy and drone-like vocal delivery, t...

If the name Thievery Corporation sounds familiar, you might remember "Lebanese Blonde", the track featured on the 2004 indie film Garden State. On this episode, we dive into the album that came before Zach Braff introduced the D.C. duo to hipsters everywhere: The Mirror Conspiracy. The album effortlessly blends elements of reggae, dub, bossa-nova, middle-eastern psychedelia, and even some Spanish...

On this episode we explore the album that solidified Quentin's love for downtempo music: Quantic's The 5th Exotic. From start to finish, Will Holland (aka Quantic) skillfully fuses elements of jazz, soul, funk, dub, and hip-hop all into one seamless trip-hop journey. And the record came out just as the producer turned 21, signaling the start of a very prolific career for one of the busiest artists...

Something was in the water in Norway in the early 2000s. Two of our favorite duos dropped their first records: Kings of Convenience and Röyksopp. We chat about the latter's debut record, Melody A.M., it's impact on pop culture, and how it's blend of ambient, dreamy downtempo with a dance-floor drive made it a truly stand out record in the downtempo landscape at that time. Tracklist: So Easy Remind...

It's that time again: grab your favorite pair of headphones and carve out an hour to jam out to our monthly mixtape. As is the goal, we bring a pretty decent mix of genres from dronegaze to vaporwave. But we don't often decade-hop quite like we did on this tracklist, from 80s post-punk to the latest disco-leaning track from Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Join us for our favorite monthly tradition on th...

By the time 2005 rolled around, the garage rock heavy hitters had already made their mark. The Strokes and Interpol were both working on their 3rd records at this point, and bands that started with "The" were a dime a dozen. Bloc Party put their own stamp on the genre with elements of dance and Brit-rock infused into their sound, and a passion and energy in their delivery that made their debut rec...

In the early 2000s Mark, Tom and Travis were the kings of pop punk. And we knew them all too well: three goofballs who ran naked through the streets of California and sang about masturbation and diarrhea. But the boys of Blink-182 were ready to break out of that box and finally be taken seriously. So when they went into the studio to record what would become the untitled 5th record they only had o...

Our relationship with Kings of Convenience goes back nearly 20 years, and we've been waiting more than half that time for new music from them. Their new album "Peace Or Love" feels like catching up with a dear old friend, or a home cooked meal after months of travel. No matter how much time passes, the reunion is always worth the wait. Tracklist: Rumours Angel Washing Machine Killers Catholic Coun...

If there is one takeaway from this month's Whatcha Heard, it is that Catherine Wheel is an amazingly under-appreciated shoegaze alt-rock band from the 90s and you should listen to them immediately. And we learned that in the wide world of vaporwave, of course there's a subgenre called "mallsoft", and it's actually pretty amazing. From doomgaze stone metal group Torche's triumphant 2019 return with...

We chat about the one-and-only Hives and what made them such a force to be reckoned with in the garage rock landscape. With their origins as more of a straightforward punk group and their love for new wave acts like DEVO, they took the garage rock sound and merged it with those 2 elements to create something that was truly unmatched and became one of the greatest live acts of all time. Buckle up:...

From album one, The Walkmen carved out a unique space in the garage rock landscape. They did so by following a few unspoken rules. One of those was to insist on using only vintage equipment, including a decades old piano and hollow-body guitars. Add Hamilton Leithauser's vocal stylings that ranged from intense to intimate, and the result is a catalog of music that elevated The Walkmen above their...

If you were a garage rock, post-punk band from the 2000s, chances are your music was going to be compared to The Strokes, or Interpol, or fill-in-the-blank heavy-hitter from that era. For the French Kicks (a band from you guessed it: New York), they couldn't shed the comparisons, and their moderately popular releases never caught on like their fellow New Yorkers did. So on their self-produced four...

Our monthly mixtape is back with maybe our most varied tracklist yet. We start with the latest single from our favorite Norwegian folk duo Kings of Convenience (their first new track in 12 years). We then bounce from downtempo hip-hop to 90s emo to a Shins bluegrass cover to ambient jungle techno, with plenty of other stops along the way. Tracklist: Kings of Convenience - Rocky Trail Little Dragon...

No Filler Rewind: Just a few months before grunge took over the 90s, Smashing Pumpkins were carving out their own space in rock music with an album that perfectly bridged the alt-rock and post-punk sounds of the 80s with the heavy shift that was just around the corner. On this episode we talk Pumpkins' debut album Gish, and discuss the album's perfect blend of psychedelic, shoegaze, and hard rock...

Built To Spill had already released 3 records and signed to Warner Bros before putting out their definitive record Keep It Like A Secret in 1999. From their 2nd album There's Nothing Wrong With Love to their 3rd record Perfect From Now On, the band transitioned from quick-witted indie pop to more progressive experimental indie rock. Keep It Like A Secret combined the two, resulting in the quintess...

You've heard "Dreams" and "Linger". You've probably heard "Zombie" close to a gazillion times by now. But as we like to say around here, it's often the tracks between the singles that need another listen (or for some - a first listen). We dive into The Cranberries' first three records and marvel over how unmatched Dolores O'Riordan's powerful and unique vocals were in the 90s rock landscape, and h...

From sitcom reboots to the return of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, if you grew up in the 90s you can't take a step these days without falling into a rabbit hole of never-ending nostalgia. For us, the beloved slapstick buddy comedy Dumb & Dumber is a film we watched over and over again throughout our youth, and it's no exaggeration to say the 90's alt-rock soundtrack helped shape our musical journey from...