Unsung Podcast

Here’s a story. When you start a podcast you kinda want people to listen. I mean, we wouldn’t be making the bloody thing if we didn’t think we could offer something interesting and/or entertaining. You never really expect people to do it though, and so when you start to ask the people you didn’t expect to listen to give you money for the whole damn endeavour it feels a bit like daylight robbery. Y...

After the eclectic weirdness of Butthole Surfers things are taking quite a dark turn with Chelsea Wolfe’s fourth (or fifth depending on who you ask) album ‘Abyss’. It’s a heavy album. Musically, it’s heavy and muscular in an almost doomy way, and in terms of content it could give Robert Smith a run for this money. Chelsea plays with a lot of different influences on this record; the aforementioned...

There are screeds and screeds dedicated to the Butthole Surfers. For most of their career they were a law unto themselves musically, and for a large part of their early career they were also a law unto themselves physically. Their 80s gigs are the stuff of legend, such was the level of disregard for human decency and safety. Yet most stories are bookended with just how good they were live. Not bec...

Whether you know them as purveyors of 80s synth pop goodness or pre-post rock (yes, we understand that pre-post rock is a strange way to put it) pioneers, Talk Talk have left an indelible mark on music. Bands from all genres cite their influence. From the likes of No Doubt to Interpol, Sigur Ros to AFI, Talk Talk’s influential status is resolute. Well, it’s resolute to most people. On this episode...

It’s punk-o-rama this week. Well, it’s not actually the punk-o-rama compilation or anything, but it is the first punk record we’ve covered a little while. Mark’s choice is ‘Black Sails in the Sunset’ by AFI, a band whose career has shifted in unexpected ways since their inception in 1991. From snotty skate punk to eyeliner soaked, Misfits aping goth-punk, straight through the mid 00s emo trend rig...

We all love this record. Let’s just get that out of the way right now. It stands out in Devin Townsend’s oeuvre as being perhaps the single most focused and heaviest thing he’s ever done. It’s tight, almost organic feeling, and not a single not feels wasted. Townsend’s back catalogue is massive, so in this episode we wrestle with it as best we can, all whilst returning to the drive of the man hims...

One could say that W h o k i l l is, objectively speaking, a musically fascinating record. Whether or not these compositions and style resonate with you is a different matter. On this episode Chris picks this record and says it’s his “purest” musical choice yet. The reasons why are fairly clear - great hooks, weird song structures and composition that don’t feel overbearing, a multitude of differe...

Yourcodenameis:milo are one of the most fondly remembered bands which were part of the post hardcore influenced Britrock that made up the popular end of the British alternative music scene at the start of the century. And rightly so, they packed a ton of ideas into their music and were years ahead of most of their contemporaries when it came to the more technical aspects of the craft.    This week...

Sometimes we talk about popular records on this podcast. By popular we mean “has sold a boatload of copies” and La Roux certainly falls into the category of having sold a boatload of copies. Indeed, the Mercury Award nominated, Grammy Award winning, platinum selling artist could also be comfortably described as popular in just about any capacity you care to think of. Chris, whilst not disagreeing...

If you like hardcore/metalcore/mathcore/heavy music you know of Botch. You know how good this record is. You don't need us to convince you otherwise. If you haven't heard it, then you should rectify that immediately. Botch set the blueprint for modern metallic hardcore as we know it. Most bands since have taken a lot from this record. Listening to it now, especially if you haven't heard it before...

More hip hop is good for the soul. Or something. This week we take on our third hip hop album in the form of Sage Francis' 'A Healthy Distrust'. This album, his second, was his first release on Epitaph records, marking the label's first foray into hip hop.  Showcasing a darker sonic palette than his previous release, 'Personal Journalist', this record finds Sage doubling down on the political and...

To borrow a quote from the episode? "Why the fuck are we talking about Iron Maiden?" "Because they're fucking Iron Maiden!" It's a fair point. Can a band as big as Iron Maiden ever be Unsung? Weaver pulls out all the stops as he puts forward the case as to why the first Iron Maiden album is not only their unsung classic, but their best album without question.  We really get into it with this episo...

Warren Ellis and co. have contributed quite a lot to the Australian musical landscape. Indeed, many would say that it is Ellis' penchant for Celtic rhythms and Eastern European grooves that gives Dirty Three an identity that stands apart from the weird, seemingly generic landscape or Australian music. His work with Nick Cave on both the Bad Seeds' music and film scores cements him as a kind of of...

Usually we like to wait a few days before dropping another part of an episode, but this one is proving so hot that we decided to drop it earlier. On this episode we chat with Breagha Cuinn from the band Bratakus, as she gives us a slightly different take on riot grrl compared to Anna. Then we talk about our individual choices for the discography. Chris chooses 'Fontanelle' by Babes in Toyland; Dav...

In a change to our regularly scheduled programming, here is the first part of our Riot Grrl Mixtape. That's right, three straight white man are going to pontificate about Riot Grrl because we're utterly confident that has NEVER happened on a podcast before. In all seriousness, we'd been trying to get this episode off the ground for a while but we found it very difficult to get women to come on and...

This week we're talking about yet another band with a huge, varied oeuvre. We try, god knows we try, to engage with all of it. You can be the judge of how successful we were. Boris have released something in the region of 24 albums in their 25 years career. That's a lot of records. Their genre hopping madness goes from drone to noise and everything in between.  On this episode Chris and Weaver tak...

Richard D. James is perhaps one of the most prolific and elusive electronic artists ever. His discography is so vast that other work is often mistaken for his. He's been around for decades, yet very little is known about how. Most importantly though, he like to mess with people. AFX is a compilation of AFX and Aphex Twin songs. In his mind, the name he releases music under is irrelevant. We approa...

Marnie Stern is an obscenely talented musician. That's probably something we should mention from the get go. Her guitar playing and songwriting nous is remarkable, and the result of her skill is four very good albums, most of which could be considered for out discography. However, Mark makes a case for her third self titled album as being the one which should be added to our canon of classic album...

In his somewhat short life, Jason Molina recorded a lot of music. In fact, as discussed in the podcast, he treated songwriting like a job, dedicating 8 hours a day to the craft. It completely explains why he was able to release something in the order of 16 albums and many EPs.  This album is often considered his magnum opus. By his own reckoning, this was his crowning achievement and after 'The Ma...

Mark and Weaver were fairly sure that Chris was trolling with this selection, but they couldn't be sure until they gave Moby's wacky, idiosyncratic fifth album 'Animal Rights' a spin. Results are...varied. To be sure, this is not like any other Moby album. There are guitars and shit. There's screaming. There's drums. It's like digital hardcore meets Nine Inch Nails with the occasional spattering o...

Back to metal. Metal-ish. Metal...ish? Baroness started off as a sludge metal band and on this, their second album, start to bring in influences from other genres. Here, Mark makes the case for this at their best album. In all its cheesy, metal cliche, psychedelic, riffy glory. With a revolving door of musicians, John Dyer Baizley has remained the sole consistent member of the band, and perhaps th...

Surf vibes, garage rock vibes...simple songs delivered well? Not everyone thinks so. It's been a while since we've had a disagreement about an album and this one splits the group. Chris comes out swinging with some serious criticism of Best Coast, whilst David and Mark are happy to talk about how the record is just good, simple stuff. It's true, there is a lot to be said about Best Coast, their in...

We highly recommend checking out part one before you get into this episode. It provides some much-needed context to grunge as a musical and cultural phenomenon. On part two of the Grunge Mixtape Chris, David and Mark pick their three albums and make each their case as to why it’s the best representation of grunge music. David goes first and explains why Badmotorfinger by Soundgarden is not just hi...

It's the moment you've all be waiting for. Well, that some of you have been waiting for. Maybe only a few of you, now that we think about it. That's right, it's time for our Grunge Mixtape. This is part one, where we dive deep into the history of grunge, its formation in the Aberdeen and Seattle, the key players, and how it change, evolved and became more corporate. We talk about some of the most...

Godspeed You! Black Emperor don't really do brevity. They do epic, sweeping, often joyous, always elaborate, suites of music that are designed to move you. They're thorough, crafting songs with painstaking attention to detail. In keeping with the spirit of the band, we thought we'd do the same, so we present to your our longest episode yet. But trust us when we say that it's probably up there with...