Bandsplain

I listened to the Pixies one recently. Gina Arnold! Route 666: On The Road to Nirvana had the exact same impact on me that it did Yasi. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and finding that book exposed me to SO MUCH. It gave me a shopping list for my BMG/Columbia House orders. During the episode, Arnold talked about how nobody read the book except Yasi, so I wrote her an email telling her how much it meant to me. She wrote back a sweet reply. I printed it and tucked it in the book. I did a search and she doesn't get a lot of love around here, but she opened music up for me.

The Cure episode was really good. During the Pixies episode Yasi mentioned that she will do The Breeders in the future which I'm pretty excited about.

i requested Ginas book from the inter-library loan system after that Pixies episode, it’s next on my reading list!

xp that's awesome <3

I checked out Gina's book on Amazon, and stumbled on this gem in the reviews section:

my one problem is i found a number of discrepencies such as her naming chuck dukowski as the drummer of black flag? sorry sweetheart, he was the bass player.

(coincidentally(?), I also just started Yasi's podcast with the Liz Phair episode, where she describes her experiences with condescending gatekeeper rock dudes)

i went back and listened to the Gram Parson episode with John Strohm. Super-good episode. Strohm’s a huge fan but also brings a lot of musical insight, and he has a lovely chill vibe w Yasi.

Parsons*

Misfits was probably my least favorite. It was informative, but there was no chemistry between the hosts.

Randy Newman, on the other hand, was fabulous. Molly Lambert and Yasi almost broke my brain with the multi-layered vocal fry. They were having so much fun together that it was infectious, especially in the back half when they had loosened up and were getting into Randy's awkward years ("Masterman and Baby J").

The 24 Question Party People with Liz Phair also did this, but less so.

Radiohead episode blew my mind; they had a dude who knows a lot about music composition and it gave me new respect for a band that I already loved.

Molly Lambert is great - her podcast Heidiworld about Heidi Fleiss was so good

Radiohead episode blew my mind; they had a dude who knows a lot about music composition and it gave me new respect for a band that I already loved.

― Cow_Art, Tuesday, August 1, 2023 12:44 AM (nine hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

If you liked that episode you should listen to his podcast Dissect. It's rap focused and insanely detailed, occasionally ridiculous, but all around a great listen if you like the album he's dissecting.

The Talking Heads episodes with Rob Harvilla are a good time and well worth a listen. Yasi cracks me up, and they have a great dynamic together. The Paramore episode was interesting, as I'd known some but not a lot about their start and band turmoil, but I found the guest a bit short on insight.

I have to admit that the "new" format with short song snippets is a big improvement...Since I only really listen to the episodes of acts I already dig, I'm not sure there was much benefit to 1-1.5 hours worth of music I already know well being mixed in.

I had to bail out of the Dave Matthews Band Redux episode (part 1) after a couple of hours. I had already heard the original (shorter) version, and it was just too much DMB, who I don't like at all. I would get interested in the story and feel invested, and then they would play a clip and fuuuuuuuck no, it's just the wrong sound for my ears. Every instrument sounds like the worst version of that instrument. Nope nope nope

The Misfits episode wasn't too great, mainly because the guest was kinda humorless and thinks Danzig is a lyrical genius or something.

I'm enjoying this but only listening to ones about bands I like. Maybe I'll try others once I run out of those, I dunno if the vibes are enough to carry me through hours of DMB talk. Really enjoyed the epic Cure one, liked Jane's Addiction and Paramore.

I enjoyed the first part of the Talking Heads one, but I pretty quickly found the second one a little self-satisfied (even by the standard set by the first episode). I think I found it frustrating that so much of it is really well researched and funny/perceptive, but there are also these gaps that they (sometimes amusingly) just have no interest in filling. I dunno, felt kinda like a sober episode of Drunk History. I'll probably still finish it, though, it's mostly pretty enjoyable. And I really want to hear the Cure one.

The Cure one is so good. I never had any sense of their social band dynamic and it was fascinating. Poor Lol.

My favorite ones are about bands that I like that I haven't done deep dives on already. I've probably read most of the source material they used for the Talking Heads episodes, so it just didn't have much new stuff for me.

I tried the Songs That Explain the 90's (Birdhouse In Your Soul) and I couldn't get into it. Something about the cadence of the guy's voice. He dipped into that a little during the THeads episode but not enough to bother me too much.

PJ Harvey is probably still my favorite.

I actually find the length of these a plus rather than a minus, because I can just dip into it here and there — in the car, at the gym, mowing the lawn etc — over the course of days or a week.

I am a lapsed DMb fan. Became an outright DMB hater after a fan shushed me at the the one concert i attended lol

but I found yasi’s DMB deep dive pretty charming! I have encountered quite a few women my age recently talking about their DMB fandom (incl my fave writer Samantha Irby) & it has made me think that i should attempt a re-appraisal & maybe revisit what i liked originally idk

by the same token though i can’t say it would convert absolute haters … i think you have to be at least slightly open to them

I'm slightly open to DMB in the sense that I more or less enjoyed a long set by them at Bonnaroo, under sufficient influence of my jam-band-loving friends and assorted friendly substances. But I could not tell you a single thing about the actual music. But I know from her frequent namedropping of them that Yasi is a huge head, so maybe it would be fun to listen to her go on about them.

plus yasi coming at their music so passionately & from a lyrical/emotional appraisal rather than pure music-nerd definitely helps in these on the fence situations

like if it had been just the guest dude Grayson telling me about them i would have noped out STAT lol

it has made me think that i should attempt a re-appraisal & maybe revisit what i liked originally idk

i still like before these crowded streets and the lost record/lillywhite sessions which i guess by proxy means busted stuff but i still have never heard those versions out of stubborn devotion to the first leaked and unreleased record i ever downloaded

just think there’s a ton of good songcraft and dope band interplay and arrangement work on those albums still, e.g. “the stone” in particular, totally his best song. crowded streets contains prob my favorite alanis vocals ever on both her features. lillywhite sessions sound so defeated and strange to their extreme benefit

i'd rather listen to people talk about/splain bands i don't like than the ones i already do like and do not require splaining for -- i don't need anyone to tell me what's great about bands i already love but the ones i truly cannot understand are more interesting. for that reason i enjoyed the DMB ep i listened to.

mostly i am not interested in hours of splaining if i already know why i like a band (personally)

Yeah it probably depends on the depth of your fandom. I've loved the Cure forever but honestly never really delved much into the backstory. So I learned a lot. Same with Paramore, where everything pre-2013 was kind of a blank for me. Jane's Addiction I knew more about, but honestly I can listen to tales of L.A. debauchery for hours happily. (And plenty I didn't know about, like the weird movie Perry Farrell and Casey Niccoli made with Warner Bros. money.)

yeah same

That’s what I loved about the Mats ep, which features the guy that literally wrote the band’s history.

Re: DMB, the Bandsplain ep gave me the push to revisit after a fifteen year hiatus, and though I’m perfectly glad to have outgrown that phase, I maintain that Dave and Tim Live at Luther College is a goddamn gorgeous beautiful album. Nearly every version on there is better than the band’s.

I really enjoyed the Mats ep too; Mehr is such a great ambassador for the lore of the band, and he & yasi clicked so well

Almost done listening to Mats part one right now and yeah, even if there’s very little new to me, still enjoying hearing Mehr go over it once again and the chemistry between the two of them.

The turn in the conversation now is making me think about similarities between Paul and Robbie Robertson.

Theme music by Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast?

the one & only
she also guests on a v enjoyable No Doubt episode

If you are a Jane's fan and you have not seen that movie, you should seriously see that movie.

It is not good by any means, but it's something.

Me and my friends watched that repeatedly in high school, there are lines of it that pop up in my head all the time.

"A lobstah! We dipped it in hot buttah!"

"What is this - grease? I'm sorry. I'm used to gettin' grease on my hands, workin' with pizza and all!"

Television episode is v enjoyable- I like the eps that feature Yasi’s more cantankerous “ugh dudes, why tho” mood lol

also
1 maybe she just brought Evan on the pod to publicly roast him for his behavior at her xmas party & i support it

2 Evan being able to work Dylan into ~every~ conversation thread is so deeply nerdy & wonderful in its way

3 Yasi re Marquee Moon being too long “ok wrap it up bitch” cracked me up

1989 draft episode was fun

super fun! i love how they all dragged caramanica for his wildcard

Yeah, that was great "my wildcard is my opinion" come the fuck on dude. I enjoyed that and the recent Television episode. I gave the Death Cab ep a shot, thinking "maybe this band is more interesting than I give them credit for," but nope, still can't be bothered with 'em.

yeah i have enjoyed Gibbard on the Teenage Fanclub ep & his 24 Questions, and thought maybe i would enjoy the Death Cab deepdive but it turns out i’m still very meh on Death Cab oh well

It's so weird how I hate Gibbard's singing voice but I love Doug Martsch's voice when they're like maybe 85% the same voice

the new two-part episode on The Cure (w/ guest Hanif Abdurraquib) is 7 hours and 27 minutes long.

Dan Carlin's whole series on World War I didn't last much longer than that.

but this is sadder

and BETTER

hanif is a great guest, the runtime is worth it

don’t be a baby

I just can't imagine having that much to say about the Cure.

It's so weird how I hate Gibbard's singing voice but I love Doug Martsch's voice when they're like maybe 85% the same voice

― feed me with your chips (zchyrs), Tuesday, September 19, 2023 11:14 AM (twenty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Never thought about this!

Lou Barlow on 24 Question Party People <3

deeply enjoyable. funny, chill, thoughtful dude

re: the Barlow appearance on 24 Question Party People, was not expecting Sebadoh's "Skull" to have been inspired by a one-and-done night of hard-drug debauchery at Chateau Marmont c/o Evan Dando (that it was aided and abetted by E.D. is of course infinitely less surprising)

Right?!

Excellent easter egg

Interesting, need to hear the show but does have me thinking that the best version of the Lemonheads I saw had Lou's old bandmate Murph in back in '97.

So far have only heard teh Television episode of the main show of taht podcast.

Afghan Whigs episode was really enjoyable- I really didn’t know anything about them except had always gotten a kind of “avoid” vibe from the music somehow, I think bc Dulli seemed kind of bro-y from a distance.

Anyway I may explore some records! I dug the convo a lot, she has v good chemistry w Chris Ryan & he’s got a lot of good insight/knowledge etc. He’s kinda like the “brother” to Harvilla’s “dad” in the Bandsplainverse lol

The Smiths episode was kinda weird? Yasi was often stepping all over the guest host, not giving her much time to talk. Halfway into episode two she chills out a little, but she was really taking up all the space.

During the episode she mentions that she's going through some serious shit, so maybe it was nerves or she was just trying to power through.

idk i really enjoyed it!?

Mel is a reliable “vibes” guest as long as yr ok with the vibe being “kinda cokey” lol

Patrik was so good on the Depeche Mode ep, I knew he would deliver on the Madonna front. excited for who’s up next.

Yeah I thoroughly enjoyed Mel in episode 1, especially when the two of them would break out into song. It was a good way to get the cliffs notes on her biography without doing the work. I had no idea the extent to her scrappiness and how self-made she was. Pretty incredible. Haven't started on Pt 2 yet but it's my favorite "era."

I tuned out on Madonna between "Justify My Love" and "Frozen" so the delving into Erotica and Bedtime Stories was pretty revelatory for me. Erotica is such a sea change from her 80s work - no attempts to be faceted and engage different pop audiences, just straight ahead dance grooves and much more a cohesive statement than that stuff that came before, much more like Ray of Light than I expected. The Sex book felt a bit try-hard at the time (not that I didn't hella enjoy thumbing through a friends copy) but this episode gave a lot of context to show how cohesive her outlook was, how camp the shock tactics were. Even if some her press responses seemed glib at the time, they hold up as ahead of their time. I like how they're knitting together her twin instincts of Pop Icon and Downtown 81 Iconoclast.

I've always been pretty agnostic on Madonna, while recognizing she is vaguely important and MTV and whatnot.

I'm in part 3 and this is one of my favorite Bandsplains and I am absolutely loving it. Her music is still not my thing apart from a handful of big singles, but Yasi has me wanting to see the Blonde Ambition and Truth or Dare documentaries. Is this stuff just not out there through legit sources? It's weird that Blonde Ambition isn't on HBO. A Streaming rights thing I assume.

Part 4 with Caryn Ganz is really good too, made me consider some later stuff I’d dismissed - though some still justifiably dismissed lol

When Yasi clicks with the guests I can listen to them talk about anybody, but this has been exceptional. I have gained tons of respect for Madonna; there was so much I didn’t know.

Collectively, they create plausible formulations of Madonna’s mindset over the decades, making the misfires as logical as the triumphs and her self-awareness more legible.

The 50 song version of the Finally Enough Love comp seems definitive - misfires still sound pretty great as remixes and the title is about as self-aware a mission statement as you could get upon reaching 50 number ones. I recall trying to listen to Madame X and I must have given up before reaching I Don’t Search.

Sidebar: if anyone was a fan of the Stone Roses eps w Miranda Sawyer & John Niven - Miranda now has a fun podcast of her own called Talk 90’s To Me & Niven is a guest on a recent ep talking about his A&R exploits

Collectively, they create plausible formulations of Madonna’s mindset over the decades, making the misfires as logical as the triumphs and her self-awareness more legible.

It would be fascinating to see a comp of Madonna and Neil Young's careers, considering how both artists have traversed a wildly-similar map of turns towards the spotlight and into the ditch, high-highs and interesting misfires

Movie episode is great!

Yasi: Okay, so this one got trashed but it’s really good!

guests: No, it’s not.

Yeah it’s funny how Madge pilled she is from the 4-parter that she’s riding for almost every movie <3

Just reminded of how much Niven enthusiastically saying 'bitch' multiple times wouldn't hit quite like Yasi might

I was unfamliar with Mel Ottenberg prior to listening to part 1 of this thing, and then who should pop up on screen when I'm watching the Charli XCX movie The Moment the other day? great cameo by him.