Sub Titles

It seems impossible at this point to talk about a Kanye West album without first reckoning with Kanye West the person. This is particularly true of the deeply personal, often immensely self-aware, and always uncompromising My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye’s gargantuan classic. As Kanye pulls out all of his tricks on MBDTF , so too do Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Anthony Gonzalez of...

Tim and Matt discuss the eternal allure and rot of Los Angeles as Tim guides us through two movies that share absolutely nothing besides presenting L.A. in all it’s toxic glory: Speed and My Brother’s Wedding . Join us, also, in attempting to figure out the best scene in Pulp Fiction , a movie that still thrills all these years later.

The highest entry on the Spin list from a woman! Perhaps surprising but well-deserved for Liz Phair's sexually evocative and uncompromising Exile in Guyville . Matt discusses Exile's wit and power before introducing two other examples of Whip-Smart Women in the righteous fury of Alanis Morissette's immortal Jagged Little Pill and Courtney Barnett's literary and guitar shredding Sometimes I Sit and...

Tim takes us through rampant contagion and people wearing masks, people too afraid to live in the world, a "great" man only concerned with himself, and questions of legacy. Movies from the 1952, 1971, and 1994, so sort of a meta Cold Comfort that we've been dealing with these problems for decades. After introducing the overshadowed yet crucial film The Last Picture Show , Tim offers Safe and the T...

The episode Matt has been preparing for for years, really. The one where he discusses the beautifully apocalyptic tones of OK Computer and Radiohead's prescience and then talks about, and even slightly defends nu-metal. One band, System of a Down, is one many of us agree is good. The other, Korn, is a poster child for a genre many of us hate. So get excited for talk of the best song on Toxicity ,...

This episode has everything: high school chemistry lessons, an appearance by the Podcat, the moon. Tim guides us through that famous, and brilliant, Spike Lee Joint Do the Right Thing and the impact of Tight Quarters. Next he offers The Diary of Anne Frank and Apollo-13 as replacement titles that show how pressurized, terrifying, and even boring tight spaces can be. 

Everyone knows The Smiths are great and that The Queen is Dead is probably their most important work so Matt and Tim try to revel in the smaller things - the genre digressions, the mispronunciations, the"oh God here he goes" moments (you know who) - as they discuss what makes The Smiths so beloved, even while they hate each other so much. Then Matt introduces two often misunderstood albums by othe...

In our continuation of episode 4, Tim talks through the brilliance and beauty of Blade Runner and the category of Becoming Human Again. He and Matt discuss the casual charm of Beauty and the Beast, a movie that's been with us our whole lives and teaches us the importance of the soul, and the insane charm of Big Trouble in Little China , a movie that informs our humor and wrestles with the relation...

Join us in part one of episode 4 wherein Matt takes us through his odd relationship with Daft Punk and their Cosplay on Discovery (2001) before introducing the animated front and pop haven that is Gorillaz and Gillian Welch's warm embodiment of Appalachian roots and folk music. 

For various reasons, Tim and Matt need to wait a week before posting the next full episodes. We didn't want to leave listeners hanging, so we've whipped up an episode about a few titles we're sad to not have in our pools of replacement titles. Tune in for talk of the subversive noir of The Phenix City Story, Los Campesinos! vibrant wit on Hold On Now, Youngster, Sally Field's union efforts in Norm...

Matt begins with talk of Prince's inimitable Sign O' the Times and other artists who shouldn't be made analogies in David Bowie and Joni Mitchell, offering Blackstar and Night Ride Home , as substitutions. Tim explains the brilliance of John Ford and Thermonuclear Jimmy before looking to other prime examples of Playing Against Type in Fort Apache and Milk . 

Tim takes us through Play Time as he makes the cases for Greta Gerwig's wonderful retelling of Little Women (2019) and Stand By Me (part of the glorious Rob Reiner Run) as replacements for the underrated-by-AFI Toy Story . Then for something completely different as Matt discusses the business and musical impact of Wu-Tang Clan's ever powerful debut Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), suggesting Digit...

First, Matt offers up Alice in Chains' Dirt and Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger as potential replacements for Nirvana's game-changing album, Nevermind, in the category of Grunge Forefathers . Then, Tim offers up Johnny Guitar and Morocco as possible subs for Ben-Hur for the theme of Queer Subtext. 

In this intro episode, Matt and Tim explain the concept of Sub Titles. We talk about how each episode will work, why we chose lists from Spin and AFI, respectively, discuss special considerations, and give a short preview of future episodes.