Vinyl Four Podcast

Shawn and Craig arrive at the halfway point of Rolling Stone’s Top 500 with their fourth Sweet 16 recap , revisiting the winners from Rounds 13–16 and taking a deeper look at how each bracket shook out. From Craig’s corner, this stretch of the bracket showcases the cinematic sprawl of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain , the psychedelic firepower of The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Axis: Bold as Love , the at...

Shawn and Craig hit the halfway point of Rolling Stone’s Top 500 with Round 16 , and the bracket is officially unforgiving. Sixteen albums stepped into the arena — but only four advanced. This week’s battlefield included landmarks like The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s Axis: Bold as Love and The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , alongside heavy hitters such as Paul Simon’s Gracelan...

Shawn and Craig return for Round 15 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, squaring off against another deep and emotionally charged set of 16 albums pulled from Rolling Stone’s Top 500. At this stage, every decision feels heavier — and every matchup has consequences. This round moves effortlessly between raw vulnerability , genre-pushing ambition , and timeless songwriting . Touchstones range from the aching in...

Shawn and Craig return for Round 14 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, facing another heavyweight bracket pulled from Rolling Stone’s Top 500. With 16 albums spanning decades, genres, and creative extremes, the margin for error continues to shrink. This round invites comparisons across wildly different musical worlds — from the emotional pull of Talking Book to the raw tension of The Downward Spiral, from th...

Shawn and Craig return for Round 13 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, facing another deep and diverse field of 16 albums as they battle their way toward this week’s Vinyl 4. This round lives in contrasts and collisions — think confessional songwriting , street-level grit , and late-night soul sharing space in the same bracket. Along the way, the discussion draws energy from artists like Joni Mitchell , Funk...

Shawn and Craig are back with Recap #3 , taking a deeper dive into the winners from Rounds 9 through 12 as the Vinyl 4 field tightens and the stakes continue to rise. With four full brackets now in the books, the conversation shifts from rapid-fire decisions to reflection, context, and why certain records continue to stand the test of time. This stretch of the bracket evokes everything from The Cl...

Shawn and Craig are back for Round 12 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, staring down another heavyweight set of 16 albums as they battle their way to this week’s Vinyl 4. This round defies easy categorization. Picture ambient jazz tension , hardcore punk urgency , and classic soul storytelling colliding — then throw in curveballs inspired by artists like Led Zeppelin , Dr. Dre , and Simon & Garfunkel (t...

Shawn and Craig return for Round 11 of the Vinyl Four Podcast, diving into another loaded bracket pulled from Rolling Stone’s Top 500. Sixteen albums enter the arena, and after plenty of debate, only four survive. This week’s matchups span a wide emotional and stylistic range — from the hushed intimacy of Nick Drake’s Pink Moon to the raw, arena-shaking power of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruc...

Shawn and Craig enter Round 10 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, and the bracket has officially reached “no easy choices left.” This week brings another powerhouse set of 16 albums — a mix of groundbreaking classics, cult favorites, and genre-defining masterpieces. The lineup includes Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model , D’Angelo’s Voodoo , The Beatles’ Rubber Soul , and Pixies’ Doolittle — plus Kiss , Buff...

Shawn and Craig dive into Round 9 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, taking on another wildly eclectic set of 16 albums pulled from Rolling Stone’s Top 500. This week spans blues legends, rock icons, hip-hop pioneers, and avant-pop innovators — all battling for just four coveted finalist spots. The lineup includes John Mayall with Eric Clapton, Grateful Dead, The Clash, Derek and the Dominos, Al Green, Buddy...

Shawn and Craig return for Episode 10 , the second recap installment of the Vinyl Four Podcast . This time, the guys revisit the winners from Rounds 5–8 — the next four brackets — which together form the newest Sweet 16 . It’s a heavyweight spread: the soul and genius of Ray Charles , the stadium punch of U2 , the rootsy warmth of The Band , the thunder of AC/DC and Led Zeppelin , and the legacy o...

Shawn and Craig return for Round 8 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast — and the bracket just keeps getting weirder (and better). This week’s 16 albums stretch the boundaries of genre, from Dr. John’s swamp-rock voodoo to Sonic Youth’s experimental noise, from Kiss’s arena-rock theatrics to James Brown’s timeless funk and soul. Throw in Radiohead’s ambient modernism and Meat Loaf’s operatic bombast, and you’ve...

Shawn and Craig are back for Round 7 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, where the musical contrasts are sharper than ever. This week’s 16-album bracket bridges wildly different sounds — from Brian Eno’s avant-rock experiments to Bonnie Raitt’s soulful Americana, from Nas’s hip-hop mastery to The Byrds’ folk-rock shimmer, with Jane’s Addiction and Love rounding out the chaos in style. Avant-rock collides with...

Shawn and Craig are back with Round 6 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast, and this one might be the wildest yet. The 16-album lineup stretches across genres and generations — from the smooth harmonies of The Carpenters to the hardcore punch of Black Flag , the soulful energy of Jackie Wilson , and the raw garage revival of The White Stripes . Throw in LL Cool J , The Band , Bonnie Raitt , and U2 , and you’ve...

Shawn and Craig are back for Round 5 of the Vinyl 4 Podcast! Another batch of 16 albums, randomly selected from Rolling Stone’s Top 500, go head-to-head as the guys narrow it down to 4 more finalists. This week’s bracket spans genres and eras — from Carole King’s timeless songwriting to the country-rock of The Flying Burrito Brothers, the classic charm of Patsy Cline, and the sharp, rhythmic pulse...

Shawn and Craig return with a special edition of the Vinyl Four Podcast! This week, the duo revisits the winners from Rounds 1 through 4 — 16 albums that have survived the bracket gauntlet so far. From the soul-shaking power of Aretha Franklin to the clever edge of Elvis Costello , the melodic punch of Big Star to the heavy roar of Black Sabbath , it’s a lineup spanning decades and genres — from f...

Shawn and Craig return for Round 4 of the Vinyl Four Podcast, pulling another 16 random numbers from Rolling Stone’s Top 500 albums list and battling it out to narrow things down to 4 new finalists. This round spans generations and genres — from Bob Dylan’s poetic folk to N.W.A’s raw power, The Byrds’ jangly harmonies to Green Day’s pop-punk punch, with stops along the way for both British heavy m...

Shawn and Craig are back for Round 3 of the Vinyl Four Podcast! Another set of 16 random numbers from Rolling Stone’s Top 500 albums sets the stage for fresh matchups and tough decisions, as the bracket narrows toward the next four finalists. This week’s musical spread is all over the map — from punk pioneers The Ramones to the soulful brilliance of Lauryn Hill, from timeless Christmas classics to...

Shawn and Craig are back for Round 2 of the Vinyl Four Podcast! With the first four finalists locked in from Episode 1, it’s time to build the next half of the bracket. This week’s lineup brings the heat — from Bob Marley’s reggae spirit to Hank Williams’ country soul, AC/DC’s hard rock thunder to Eminem’s lyrical fire, plus the genre-bending soundscapes of Massive Attack and the legendary riffs o...

Shawn and Craig kick off the very first bracket battle with 16 wild card picks pulled straight from Rolling Stone’s Top 500. From the electric fire of Jimi Hendrix and the grit of Bruce Springsteen to the soulful harmonies of The Drifters and the psych-rock of Moby Grape, some matchups feel like slam dunks, while others sting to let go.  The playoff runs its course until each host lands on their “...