Pretty Good Vibrations

Part 2 is here! (Part 1 aired last week) Get comfortable, focus on your breath, slowly close your eyes, and imagine you are looking at a Hot Topic wall of band t-shirts circa 2008: My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, Yellowcard, The All-American Rejects, The Used, Dashboard Confessional. It used to just be you and your friends who knew bands like this, but now you hear them every time you turn on the...

Get comfortable, focus on your breath, slowly close your eyes, and imagine you are looking at a Hot Topic wall of band t-shirts circa 2008: My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, Yellowcard, The All-American Rejects, The Used, Dashboard Confessional. It used to just be you and your friends who knew bands like this, but now you hear them every time you turn on the radio in your 1999 Toyota Camry (which do...

** Check out Part 1 from last week first ** Throw your oilcloth rucksack full of seed catalogs and aspen twigs over your shoulder, pick up your pawn shop acoustic guitar, and join Kristen Tideman and me for a brisk early Spring walk through the fascinating and brilliant music career of Justin Vernon, AKA Bon Iver. Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7rw8qbpdHxd4...

Throw your oilcloth rucksack full of seed catalogs and aspen twigs over your shoulder, pick up your pawn shop acoustic guitar, and join Kristen Tideman and me for a brisk early Spring walk through the fascinating and brilliant music career of Justin Vernon, AKA Bon Iver. Part 2 releases next week. Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7rw8qbpdHxd46EhOtu5sIN?si=ee8...

**Listen to Part 1, last week, first** Calling all head-to-toe-Converse-and-Dickies children of the 90s! All hail the $2.99 Epitaph/Fat Wreck Chords sampler! Santa Cruz native Ben Bishop joins me as 32 -- yes, THIRTY-TWO -- punk rock bands from the 1990s compete for bragging rights in a March Madness-style bracket tournament. Think NOFX, Rancid, Green Day, Social Distortion, Lagwagon, MxPx, Face t...

Calling all head-to-toe-Converse-and-Dickies children of the 90s! All hail the $2.99 Epitaph/Fat Wreck Chords sampler! Santa Cruz native Ben Bishop joins me as 32 -- yes, THIRTY-TWO -- punk rock bands from the 1990s compete for bragging rights in a March Madness-style bracket tournament. Think NOFX, Rancid, Green Day, Social Distortion, Lagwagon, MxPx, Face to Face, The Offspring, and so many more...

*This episode is not about trauma-focused music therapy, but rather the language festival-goers use around trauma and healing* In today's dual-feed release (also on my You Have Permission feed), ethnomusicologist and author Nathan Myrick (Ph. D., Baylor University) joins me to discuss his research project studying the community surrounding Furnace Fest, a faith-adjacent heavy music festival held i...

Part 2: my friend and former bandmate David Stuart joins me to discuss Joy Division, Interpol, Public Image Ltd., LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads, and even... U2?  Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xxSVMhdV2sYoC1ABzS58g?si=bb9848304a3d467c&pt=c6e520a4a0744150ad6d758940a1df6f Dan's music licensing library: https://dankoch.net/library Email Dan: prettygoodvibrat...

My friend and former bandmate David Stuart joins me to talk through the coolest of all rock movements: Post-Punk. Grab a Hamm's tall boy and pull up a bar stool as we discuss Joy Division, Interpol, Public Image Ltd., LCD Soundsystem, Talking Heads, and even... U2? Part 2 releases next week. Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2xxSVMhdV2sYoC1ABzS58g?si=bb9848304...

Ellen Mauro re-joins me for Part 2, as 18 indie bands from the 2000s compete for bragging rights in a March Madness-style bracket tournament. Part 1 aired last week -- start there! Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6OjzY1t7DjobhdoPKhASs6?si=3b9df32dbac84f2f Dan's music licensing library: https://dankoch.net/library Email Dan: prettygoodvibrationspodcast@gmail....

Calling all 30-something (sub)urbanites! The detached irony of Spoon, Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, and TV on the Radio are competing for your affection with the reverb-soaked calls of Band of Horses, My Morning Jacket, and Grizzly Bear. Ellen Mauro (my former co-host of the Depolarize! Podcast) joins me as 18 indie bands from the 2000s compete for bragging rights in a March Madness-style bracke...

Jimmy Eat World's Clarity gets the rest of its full treatment this week. Drummer and artist manager Clay Hunt joins me to break down the album track by track, considering it both musically and autobiographically.  Dan's Year-End 2022 playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5tmZY6PDHhKnlMD61H5Twn?si=e967dd10fd254bb2 Dan's music licensing library: https://dankoch.net/library Email Dan: prettygoo...

Jimmy Eat World's Clarity gets the full treatment this week and next on Pretty Good Vibrations. Drummer and artist manager Clay Hunt joins me to break down the album track by track, considering it both musically and autobiographically. Part 2 drops next week! Dan's music licensing library: https://dankoch.net/library Email Dan: prettygoodvibrationspodcast@gmail.com Follow Dan on IG: www.instagram....

January is "Emo Month" on Pretty Good Vibrations! Josh Cain (Motion City Soundtrack) re-joins me to get a little further into the history of emo. This week, we hit Cap'n Jazz, The Promise Ring, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, and more. Next week, we'll start going through Jimmy Eat World's album Clarity track by track! Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playli...

January is "Emo Month" on Pretty Good Vibrations! Josh Cain (Motion City Soundtrack) joins me to talk through the history of emo, originally known as "emo-core," a genre that traces its origins to the hardcore scene of Washington D.C. in the mid-80s. We start there, moving chronologically up through 1994, with a special emphasis on Midwest emo and proto-emo bands. This week, we hit Rites of Spring...

Ben and Joe Bishop, father and son, walk me through the albums Ben most associates with his childhood. We hear how Joe came to be a fan of these records and artists as well as the memories and time periods they call to mind for Ben. Before hitting some of biggest albums of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, we briefly hear clips and talk about 70s Christian albums from Keith Green and Randy Stonehill. Joe's Y...

** Part 2 ** Nirvana. The Smashing Pumpkins. Weezer. Green Day. Rock kids of the 90s had it good as a slew of rock bands like these released excellent, explosive major label debut albums in the early 90s. Aaron Lunsford (As Cities Burn, The Music Draft) joins me to talk about our favorite albums from this period and their place in our lives as emerging musicians and music fans. Spotify playlist fo...

Nirvana. The Smashing Pumpkins. Weezer. Green Day. Rock kids of the 90s had it good as a slew of rock bands like these released excellent, explosive major label debut albums in the early 90s. Aaron Lunsford (As Cities Burn, The Music Draft) joins me to talk about our favorite albums from this period and their place in our lives as emerging musicians and music fans.  Spotify playlist for today's ep...

** Audio on "Sailing" fixed from previous iteration -- how embarrassing! ** ** Part 2 -- listen to part 1 before this ** Calling all middle-aged would-be sailors! The dulcet tones of Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and Hall & Oates are calling your name. Drop that alimony check in the mail on your way down to the docks and hop aboard! Indie songwriter Tyson Motsenbocke...

Calling all middle-aged would-be sailors! The dulcet tones of Jimmy Buffet, James Taylor, Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and Hall & Oates are calling your name. Drop that alimony check in the mail on your way down to the docks and hop aboard! Indie songwriter Tyson Motsenbocker and I pit 16 "yacht rock" artists against each other in a March Madness-style tournament, eventually christening the Ca...

The first of an ongoing series of episodes where a guest tries to convince me of something in the realm of rock music for which I have some skepticism. This week, philosopher Aaron Simmons aims high with a red-hot Blink-182 take! Along the way, we discuss the role of pop punk in our lives and others, how Blink songs hit differently at different stages of life, whether Aaron's college students are...

Part 2 of my conversational journey with John Van Deusen (The Lonely Forest, John Van Deusen) through the history of "power pop." Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sSIpgHJ68L1OfIHowGO2o?si=21630455cf3c4708 Apple Music playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/power-pop/pl.u-e98lGpmHWErEl8 Dan's music licensing library: https://dankoch.net/library Email Da...

John Van Deusen (The Lonely Forest, John Van Deusen) joins me to talk through "power pop," a genre that spans 60 years, from the Beatles and Byrds up through Big Star, Superdrag, and Nada Surf. Part 2 drops tomorrow! Spotify playlist for today's episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2sSIpgHJ68L1OfIHowGO2o?si=21630455cf3c4708 Apple Music playlist: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/power-pop/...

Trailer for Pretty Good Vibrations, a podcast that analyzes and celebrates pop and rock music and its crucial role throughout our lives. Podcast veteran and host Dan Koch (You Have Permission Podcast) has been a professional musician for most of the last 20 years: songwriter for the emo-pop band Sherwood, then as a commercial composer since 2012. Multiple episode styles include bracket-style tourn...