Unsung Podcast

por Unsung Podcast

Episode 99 - When Animals Attack by Cable

You 90s kids probably heard Cable in a Sprite advert. They weren’t particularly fond of their decision to make this move, in retrospect. Which kinda sums up a lot of this band’s story; screwed over by the mechanations of an industry that they thought would help them achieve at least some semblance of success. But when you think about it, given how obtuse a lot of this band’s music is, the fact they even made it as far as getting a song synced to an advert in the first place is no small miracle. Even though they were really only a properly active, touring unit for about four years, their influence on dozens of British post-hardcore bands in the early and mid 00s is legion. When Animals Attack is often seen as the band’s finest hour. Their sound is a confident, often playful mixture of late 80s/early 90s Dischord post-hardcore, with a dollop of grunge for good measure. If you’re unacquainted with this truly unsung band, we suggest you remedy that immediately. Are they good enough to enter our discography though? You decide. Vote below.

Episode 98 - History Will Absolve Me by billy woods

It’s hard to see a picture of billy woods’ face. At least, it’s hard to see an “official” one as it’s often censored. It might seem like an odd thing to start with, but we bring it up because his music is so identifiable, so recognisable that it really doesn’t matter if you know what the guy looks like or not; the art speaks for itself. Yes, that is Robert Mugabe on the cover. And the text is stark. The whole aesthetic of this record is confrontational. It’s ironic. It’s a bit dingy. It’s dark. It’s also staggering that billy woods is not more well known because he’s just as vital as many popular hip hop artists today. History Will Absolve Me is woods’ second (possibly third) album, and it came at a time when he was questioning whether a music career was really for him. In this episode we talk about not just his discography, but the man himself. Over the years he’s taken part in many projects, but we focus almost entirely on his solo output. An unusual move for us, but the album is so deep that we thought we’d spend a little more time talking about the content and themes within. For Weaver, it’s a close race between this album and his fourth album Today, I Wrote Nothing. This record is the one that he freely admits helped put him and his record label, Backwoodz Studioz, on the map. Is this his definitive statement? You know what to do.

Episode 97 - Pass the Flask by The Bled

If you’re not too young, and it’s not too painful, cast your mind back to 2003. The studded belts. The big fringes. The eyeliner. The teen angst. The legions of identikit metalcore bands. It was a different time. It can also be viewed as a most regrettable time. For fashion. For music. For everything, really. The Bled were a little known band from this period who seemed to unleash this album onto this world with no really thought as to what would happen next. Are they a true anomaly of this period? Probably not. Mark and Weaver listened to a bunch of shit like in their youth. Both moved on, but Mark felt it was time to address this period in music history and thus chose The Bled. We go over their career, the weird emo/metalcore scene they were born from, and everything in between. We have no real desire to come back to this genre, or period, of music. But it was important, and this is our stab at an unsung classic from that era. Should it go into our discography? There’s a plot twist at the end of this episode, incidentally…

Episode 96 - Remind Me Tomorrow by Sharon Van Etten

True to type we return to moody, melancholic indie this week. Only this time it’s a little more diverse, as Sharon Van Etten’s fifth album ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’ augment her usual folk-ish indie rock sound with everything from trip-hop to 80s synth pop. This album was released in 2019, which makes it the newest record to be nominated for our discography. Whilst it is a pretty good record, some of our attention turns towards wondering if we can call an album unsung when it is an artist’s latest release. Particularly when that release has been the recipient of its fair share of critical acclaim. Elsewhere, we due the usual due diligence on her back catalogue, and also discuss some of the female artists that sprung up around the same time as Sharon Van Etten. Is ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’ worthy of a place in our discography? Vote below, and if you’re unfamiliar with her work Chris has chucked together a few choice cuts from her back catalogue alongside a raft of influences and influencees.

Episode 95 - Variety by Mariya Takeuchi

Hoo boy. This week’s episode is tasty. Some more savvy internet users may vaguely recognise the song ‘Plastic Love’ by Mariya Takeuchi. It’s a song that literally millions of people have heard due to the vast amount of memes that popped up in 2017 after a YouTube user used the the song in one of their videos. Apparently though, that’s not what led Weaver into the arms of the strange 80s J-Pop genre of City Pop. To say that anyone here actually thinks this album is good would be an outright lie, but Weaver brings this to the table to talk about this weird genre, and its even more baffling resurgence. We’re always keen to expand the number of genres we cover on this show, but does that mean this record will get a place in our discography as a result of this?

Episode 94 - Figure 8 by Elliott Smith

What’s not to love about three white men prattling on about sad indie music? Wait, didn’t we just do that? Well, we’re at it again. Sorta. Elliott Smith is more singer songwriter/college rock/alt rock but he’s by far and away sadder than Interpol. Which seems to be our MO for the past month. Look, we’re not necessarily saying that Figure 8 is his best album (but it might be), but we’re definitely arguing that it’s his most unsung album. Yes we know, it’s on a major label. He was not as obscure as he was when Either/Or came out, but we reckon that particular record is widely regarded as his best by fans. Mark brings this sad boi music to the table this week. Which, we’re sure you’ll agree, is not entirely unsurprising given some of his past choices. We talk about Elliott’s career, tragic life and as ever, dive into his discography to see what’s what. Some people still consider this man underrated, y’know. But even if he’s not, is this his unsung classic? Vote below.

Episode 93 - Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol

If there’s one thing you can rely on when it comes to alternative music podcasts is that at some point they will inevitably cover Interpol. There will be some (usually straight, white) men in a room somewhere, huddled round their microphones, discussing the clever intricacies of their music, waxing lyrical about their coolness, and producing a well rounded chat on their influential status. We do some of that here too. Chris believes that this is not only their best work, but that it is one of the most important indie rock albums of the century. The aloofness, the distant nature of the band, their calculated, oddly catchy, interesting, dynamic music is something that he, and their legions of fans, utterly adore. It’s an argument well made about a band who were almost unquestionably one of the most interesting acts to come out of that early 00s NYC, Joy Division/New Order inspired indie scene that spawned, and still spawns, a myriad of imitators. One thing we learned from this episode is that fans of Interpol tend to agree with the idea that they are an important band. But as we also learned, your mileage will inevitably vary given how much you enjoy indie generally. The band left a dent, that much cannot be denied. They exploded into alternative music consciousness with this record, and their profile has only increased in the time since. They are by no means an Unsung band, but this record may very well be their music Unsung collection. Is it worth of a place in our discography? That is, as ever, for you to decide.

Episode 92 (Part 2) - Somewhere Along the Highway by Cult of Luna

You can find part one here: https://www.unsungpod.net/episodes/episode-92-somewhere-along-the-highway-by-cult-of-luna-part-1 Now it’s time for part two. After some lively discussion about their discography we pick things up as Chris talks about how fans generally rank their records, which then moves on to talk about the band’s status within metal music today. Weaver also talks about why he loves this record so much and we give the whole thing a good once over to boot. For many it’s a toss up between Salvation and Somewhere Along the Highway as to which is Cult of Luna’s best work. Do you think this record is the one for our discography? Vote below!" As our first proper foray into post-metal, we’d love to know what other albums of this kind you’d love for us to cover. So do let us know!

Episode 92 (Part 1) - Somewhere Along the Highway by Cult of Luna

Hey, look guys, sometimes we can be relevant to current musical trends! If those trends are simply the result of us covering bands who have just released new albums… This week we cover one of Dave’s all time top 3 favourite bands, a band he reckons haven’t produced a bad record. A band called Cult of Luna. Amongst the die hards, the title of best Cult of Luna album swithers between this and Salvation, the album directly before this one. Salvation marked the band entering new territory, incorporating more dynamics, augmenting their post-metal vibes with elements from post and prog rock. Somewhere Along the Highway those is where they really took it up a gear. In part one, we talk about the band’s history, laying the groundwork for why we think this is the best album from an unsung band. Part two can be found here: https://www.unsungpod.net/episodes/episode-92-part-2-somewhere-along-the-highway-by-cult-of-luna

Episode 91 - Caution by Hot Water Music

Earnest, occasionally angry music by straight white men? Sounds like a punk band Mark likes. And so it is, as this week we talk about the gruffest men on earth, Hot Water Music. Ostensible a punk band, their throaty yelling and cathartic choruses have had a huge influence on so many punk bands over the course of the past 15 years. Alternately called things like gruff punk, or beard core, or even gravel core, all of these ridiculous pseudo-genres bring to mind men with beards and plaid shirts. Which is entirely accurate, really. Formed in 1993, they’re celebrating their 25th anniversary this year and have been a hugely inspiration band for punks all around the world. This week Mark picks their fifth album ‘Caution’. Not a fan favourite, and definitely their “most well known” release, it’s their second release for Epitaph, and marks perhaps their most popular period. They landed great tours, the band were on a hot streak and it looked like things might actually be happening for them. From a musical standpoint, fans may well disagree that this album is the correct choice for inclusion in our discography. Do you agree, or is this the right one? Vote below. ANNOUNCEMENT We have launched a Patreon! You can donate here: www.patreon.com/unsungpod This is also the last podcast we will release on a Friday - starting Monday 7th of October we will be moving to a Monday release. Still want to get em on a Friday? Subscribe on Patreon for early access, bonus episodes and much, much more!

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