Unsung Podcast

by Unsung Podcast

Episode 233 - Head to Head: The Blackened Air vs You Follow Me by Nina Nastasia (Side A)

This week we have the first of two episodes on Nina Nastasia, as we go deep into her career, decision to vanish from the public eye, recent events and much, much more. It’s been a wee while since we did a head-to-head episode, but Chris and Vicki couldn’t agree which of her albums was the best, so here we are. Vicki has chosen her second album, The Blackened Air, whilst Chris has gone for her 2007 collaboration with The Dirty Three’s Jim White, You Follow Me. But there’s a bit of an elephant in the room here that we felt we had to address. As of writing (September 2022), Nina is in the midst of wrapping up press for her most recent album, Riderless Horse. It’s a landmark album for her in two ways: One: it is her first album in over a decade. In the time between this album and 2010’s Outlaster, she essentially vanished from the public eye, except for one single that she released in 2018 called Handmade Card. Two: it is the first release since the suicide of her partner Kennan Gudjonsson. She has openly stated in interviews recently that Kennan had a lot of input into almost all aspects of her career, so this album, in her view, is also her first ever “solo” album as it is the first time she’s ever made music without her former lover. In the press surrounding Riderless Horse Nina has gone into a lot of detail around the nature of her relationship with Gudjonsson, particularly with regards to his controlling, manipulative behaviour and how long it really took her to see it. Needless to say, there was no way we couldn’t bring this up in any conversation about Nina Nastasia’s music given how integral Gujonsson was, by her own admission, to her music. On this week’s episode we chat about some more biographical elements of her life, focusing on her relationship with Gudjonsson, how it effected the music, her personally and the overall trajectory of her career. There is discussion of abuse in this episode, so please bear that in mind before listening. Next week: we talk exclusively about her music, so tune in!

Episode 204 - Outside the Simian Flock by Millionaire with Babs from Over/underrated Music Podcast

We’ve asked our friend of the pod Babs from the Over/underrated music podcast back to talk about one of her favourite bands - Belgium’s weird alt-rock quartet called Millionaire. This all came about because when we last had her on for our episode on Origin of Symmetry by Muse, it turned out that she and Chris shared common ground in the form of this band. It just made sense that an episode would follow. Millionaire are one of many projects by the Belgian artist Tim Vanhamel. Tim keeps some interesting company, having previously played with Eagles of Death Metal and working with Josh Homme. He’s also closely linked to another weird Belgian group (that you’ve probably heard of) called dEUS. Outside of their home country, not many people seem to be aware of Millionaire. They’ve released four albums, the most recent being APPLZ ≠ APPLZ in 2020. There was a lot to cover in this episode besides their four albums though. We go deep into the Belgian rock music scene, as Babs talks about the different sounds that come from different parts of the country, as well as some of the acts that are huge over there but seem more or less unknown in other parts of the world. So, aside from a deep dive into Millionaire, you can also consider this your deep dive into the Belgian rock music scene. Outside the Simian Flock is Millionaire’s debut album and it’s equal parts alt-rock, indie and funk. Sound weird to you? Well, it basically is. Is it an unsung classic though? You decide.

Episode 232 - Demolicious #2

Once, a little while ago, Chris, Dave and Mark decided to review their first ever demos. Soon after we asked people to send this their first demos so that we could have a wee listen and (probably) a wee laugh at what other people got up to in their first bands. Well, we’re happy to say that we revisit this concept this week with some listener submissions! We have demos from long time fans Greg Love and Thomas smart, as well as a demo from our very own co-host Crag Carrick. Glassjaw, Thrice, Funeral for a Friend and Alexisonfire are real touch points in all three demos, so that absolutely should clue you into the era that all of these were recorded and released. Despite our overall slagging of the demos, they’re actually way better than we thought. Even better than some of the stuff we did ourselves way back when, which is humbling. And probably why Chris went so hard on a few of the songs… But we digress. We’d love to do this again! So if you’re interested in sending us your first demo then do drop us an email at unsungpod (at) gmail (dot) com! Next week we chat about Nina Nastasia with Vick. Get ready to get sad.

Episode 231 - Covermount Mixtape: Metal Hammer Brutal Bunch Vol. 2

With Chris off on tour and Mark having just returned from holidays, we needed to do something fast that didn’t require a lot of research. Mark also had to find a host because, for the first time ever, Chris was not available to do a show. In stepped Crag, and with it the idea of doing another covermount CD. You may remember that, at the end of the last one we did back in April (also with Crag) Chris plunged his hand into the great big covermount bag of doom and extracted Brutal Bunch volume 2. Well, if you do remember that – good work. If you don’t, well, you’re about to get real familiar with it real quickly. From what we could gather in our research, Metal Hammer only issued 4 Brutal Bunch covermount CDs, doing so over 1995 and 1996. Much like the last covermount we did, the MO is very different from what Kerrang! Would do with their CDs: Brutal Bunch featured established (to a greater or lesser degree) bands, the majority of which appeared to be on major labels, big indies or offshoots thereof. Volume 2 featured the likes of Korn, Helloween, Prong, Cradle of Filth among others, whereas the other 3 volumes impressively featured the likes of Alice in Chains, Skunk Anansie, Fear Factory, Silverchair and many more. Unlike the Uncut covermounts though, all of the music on these CDs was current, coming from the bands’ recent releases. Is it “brutal” though? Well, no, not especially. There’s some metal of course – it can be a Metal Hammer CD without some of that – but there’s also far too much MOR and post-grunge too. So grab a drink, sit back and relax as Mark and Crag take you on a journey through this aural hellscape of a covermount CD.

Episode 230 - The Singer by Diamanda Galás (Side B)

With Chris now off on tour with his rather excellent band, Outblinker, we decided to split our Diamanda Galas episode into two as both of the bois were passing each other like ships in the night this last fortnight. So this week Chris and Vicki dive deep into The Singer by Diamanda Galás and a whole lot more…

Episode 229 - The Singer by Diamanda Galás (Side A)

With Mark currently whirling his way around Europe, this week's (and next week's) episode fell to Chris and Vicki. The choice is somewhat...strange, and in this episode they take a look into the wild career of Diamanda Galás and all that weird noise she makes.

Episode 228 - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New (Side B)

Taking a canter through the career of a band is often one of the best and most enlightening things about doing this podcast, and we hope it’s something you appreciate too. In fact, we know it is, cause that’s why most of you tune in. But when it comes to going through the back catalogue of Brand New, well it can start to feel a little icky. Once again, emo scholar and new friend of the pod Marisa Androvik joins us to dissect the band and in particular their acclaimed third album. We touched on the ickiness of some of the band’s lyrics during last week’s episode, of course, particularly on the first two Brand New albums. Things do get a little better towards the end of their career, but much to no one’s surprise there’s also a lot of questionable lyrics on The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me. Or, we say questionable - there’s perhaps a knowingness in them, the admission that clearly Jesse knew there were skeletons that might come roaring out of the closet one day. Indeed, even the title of the album itself hints at a darkness within, and a darkness which surely did lead to his downfall back in 2017. Can we really say this album is an unsung classic though? Well, that’s truly the bone of contention here - yes, it may be their most celebrated album, but now that they’re cancelled can they ever be taken as a noted influence by bands ever again? Should we even be platforming them by discussing them in this way? Some of these questions are addressed in this episode. Some aren’t. You’ll need to listen to find out which.

Episode 227 - The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me by Brand New (SIde A)

A couple of weeks ago we joked that we had been cancelled. We haven’t (to our knowledge), but it did lead us to ponder - can we talk about a cancelled band? How would people react to that? And which band should we talk about? The answer wasn’t immediately clear to us at the time - there were a few options of course - but it became clearer when we spoke to someone we’ve wanted to have on the show for a while… So we enlisted the help of emo scholar and all round wonderful person Marisa Androvik. Having completed her masters thesis on this very album, and being a die hard fan of the band much like Mark was before the whole cancellation thing, it felt that Brand New would be our first shot at talking about a band “no one” listens to any more. As it turns out, we had way more to talk about than just the band’s albums and the misdeeds of Jesse Lacey. So we hope you’ll tune into part one of our Brand New retrospective.

Episode 226 - For All the World to See by Death

It’s crazy to think that this music went unheard for so long, and only properly came to the public’s attention in the late 00s. One listen to Death tells you that they had all the ideas that punk bands are STILL using way back in 1974. Before punk was even a thing. Indeed, a large part of this episode is dedicated to punk before punk was punk. Or rather, to proto-punk. Dr. of punk rock Ferro joins us this week and we go deep into the world of proto-punk, whilst also talking about the staggering legacy Death narrowly missed out on having due to their name, and just how great this album is. It still sounds vital even today. They are indeed truly unsung.

Episode 225 - United Nations by United Nations

We’re back in superground territory (?) this week as Mark brings the debut album by mysterious, psuedo-anonymous screamo band United Nations. Fronted (at least, on most of the songs, albums and live shows) and partially conceived by post-hardcore legend and Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly, in the early 00s, for a long time he was the only “official” member of the band. When they were sued by the actual United Nations in 2010 around 30 people were listed as being involved with the band, but for the most part Rickly has been the one to do interviews. With a couple of exceptions in more recent years. Because in more recent years, with the release of their second album The Next Four Years in 2014, it was later confirmed that Jonah Bayer and Lukas Previn were also members of the band. That remains the case, with various members of other bands playing live shows with them. In 2017 they released a single called Stairway to Mar-a-lago which features an entirely different vocalist. Meaning the mysterious nature of the band remains somewhat intact. Conceived as a throw back to the chaotic 90s screamo of Orchid, Rites of Spring etc, the band weld together various styles of extreme music to some impressive results. But are they unsung? That’s what we try to figure out. Come along on the journey with us.

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