Unsung Podcast

by Unsung Podcast

Episode 174 - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture by Brainiac w/ Ferruccio Quercetti

Our good friend Ferruccio Quercetti returns this week, nominating Brainiac’s third and final album, Hissing Prigs in Static Couture. Over the course of their five year career, Brainiac recorded three albums and two EPs as well as a bunch of singles. They’re widely recognised as being one of the most influential post punk/noise rock/experimental rock bands of all time. So much so in fact that a documentary about them was released in 2019. Titled Transmissions After Zero it’s a pretty candid look at the life of the band, from their beginnings until their eventual disbandment after the death of front man Tim Taylor in 1997. Loads of folk in that documentary talk about how influential this band were, and if you google their name you’ll find many more besides. On this episode, we talk about all of their albums, the influence of the band and of course, Ferro puts forward his case as to why Hissing Prigs deserves a place in our discography. Vote below.

Episode 173 - Nite Flights by The Walker Brothers (Side B)

In case you missed it, we discussed The Walker Brothers’ career, and some of Scott Walker’s, in part one, which you can listen to here. This week we dive into the period where Scott gets weird. From 1984’s Climate of Hunter onwards, Scott begins his transformation from 60s pop poster boy to avant-garde legends. He only followed Nite Flights with another 4 albums, but the impact of his work from this period until the end of his life is absolutely massive. We go into this in quite a lot of detail, spending a fair amount of time talking about The Drift and Bish Bosch before we circle right back around to the reason we’re gathered here: Nite Flights. Scott Walker’s four songs on this album are hailed as groundbreaking, and their influence is, well, we said it before, huge. In many ways though, Scott Walker is unsung. He may be influential but he’s always been an outsider. Many of the acts that love his music have gone on to be truly huge. Is Nite Flights the best representation of this underappreciated artist? Or should we come back and discuss one of his later albums? You decide.

Episode 172 - Nite Flights by The Walker Brothers (Side A)

You know how it goes by now folks: artists with big catalogues get two parters, and Scott Walker is no exception here. Weaver has chosen Nite Flights by The Walker Brothers this week, but with a particular focus on the Scott Walker songs on the album, which necessities a deep dive into his catalogue. And what a catalogue it is. It’s so large in fact, that we only get as far as the 1980s. Indeed, this week sees us mostly talk about The Walker Brothers themselves and some of Scott’s early solo stuff. Of course, like his “brothers”, his solo career begins, musically, not too far away from The Walker Brothers’ sound, but with the influence of Jacques Brel very apparent in his lyrics early on, each subsequent album from Scott to Scott 4 peels back the curtain a little as he lets the darkness encroach on his sound more and more. It’s important context because this period in his career would end with Nite Flights, and whilst we will be discussing that album next week, it also sets the stage for his music to get even stranger from the 80s onwards. A fascinating artist, really. He began as a crooner and 60s pop singer, music swathed in strings and Wall of Sound production. But it ended…well if you know, you know. And if you don’t, you’ll find out next week.

REWIND: Episode 95 - Variety by Mariya Takeuchi

Well, this is annoying. We find ourselves without an episode this week due a hideous technical issues which saw an entire two hours of content on Heaven or Las Vegas by the Cocteau Twins sent completely down the drain. To so it was a bummer is a total understatement. Two weeks of episodes, three weeks of research, all lost forever. We will re-do the episode at some point though, so do keep an eye out for it! In the meantime, we’ve decided to do our first ever REWIND. Basically, we’re re-broadcasting an old episode. This week we’re going all the way back to the halcyon days of October 2019, where the world wasn’t as awful as it is right now. Original content follows below. We return next week with St. Anger by Metallica. ENJOY! 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 171 - The Supergroup Mixtape (Side B)

Last week we chatted about a bunch of different supergroups and devised 5 categories that we felt all neatly fell into. If you missed it, catch up by listening here. It occurred to us soon after recording this episode (well, it occurred to Chris, really) that perhaps there should be a 6th category for supergroups that are side projects. Ones that are not ongoing, regular projects for their members. All three of the album’s we’ve chosen could probably fall into this category too. We’ll leave that discussion for another time as we feel that perhaps side projects, and the very concept of them, deserve an episode in their own right. Anyway, this week we talk about the three albums we’ve chosen. Are these our favourite albums by supergroups? Not completely, but they are albums we enjoy. Chris picked The Director’s Cut by Tomahawk, whilst Mark picked Take a Break by Me FIrst and the Gimme Gimmes, and Dave picked NOLA by Down. We can’t help but play to type, it seems. We got through each band’s discography a little on this episode too, although we don’t dive too deep on them. Our albums do of course fall into more than one of the categories outlined in the previous episode but that’s ok! We also have regular guest Vicki Henry making a brief appearance to chat about Queens of the Stone Age too! Next week, Scott Walker and The Walker Brothers…

Episode 170 - The Supergroup Mixtape (Side A)

170 goddamn episodes. Jeez. Y’know, we’ve actually had a chat about supergroups on this podcast before. Twice, in fact. But we’ve had to cut it out of the episode because the discussion just went on for far too long. Which surely meant that we’d need to do an episode on supergroups just to do the topic justice. Or two episodes, as it happens. In part one Chris lays out his five supergroup categories, and we place some of our favourite supergroups in those buckets. It ranges from “Just a band” to “unicorns” and everything in between, including hangovers and desperation. It’s a very handy list, and many bands crossover into more than one category. Including some of our own picks (which we’ll get to next week). We also talk about some good supergroups, some not so good supergroups, in what is essentially just a massive list of bands we like. We also missed a TON, so please don’t take this list as exhaustive and we’re sorry if we missed your favourite ones out. Next week, we talk about the three albums we’ve chosen. You’ll need to listen to the episode to find out what they are though. Not going to give it away that easily. Also shout out to friend of the pod Ferrucio for giving us his brief take on supergroups. He will return. Soon…

Episode 169 - Dumb Flesh by Blanck Mass w/ Vicki

Friend of the pod and very nice chap Benjamin John Power used to make music as part of a duo under the name of Fuck Buttons. However, since 2010 he’s been banging out some solo stuff under the moniker Blanck Mass and boy howdy is it some goooooood shit. In order to dismiss accusations of nepotism, and with Dave away moving house this week, we asked our other good friend of the pod Vicki to pick an album. This was her choice. Naturally we could not decline. Our second ever interview was with Ben, and you can find all three parts of that chat here, here and here. As a result we don’t talk much about influences and such like as he more than covers that in his interview. In this episode we talk about Ben’s career as Blanck Mass, chat a little about his past in Fuck Buttons and then go through each of his albums to decide if his second album Dumb Flesh is indeed the most unsung. What transpires as a delightful conversation about the unsettling, often strange atmosphere in his music, and we also highlight the superb attention to detail in both the production and songwriting across his entire catalogue. Granted, after All Pigs Must Die, this marks two weeks on the bounce where we’ve did intense, malevolent music but hey, it’s our party and we’ll make everyone feel regularly ill at ease if we want to. Is Dumb Flesh worthy of a place in our discography? You decide.

Episode 168 - Nothing Violates This Nature by All Pigs Must Die

Slightly, eh, dodgy name aside, there are few bands as relentlessly heavy as All Pigs Must Die. Their second album Nothing Violates This Nature really encapsulates all of the things this band do best - combining every single kind of metal subgenre you can image with layers of d-beats and hardcore breakdowns in one massive, intense, screamy cocktail. If you’re unfamiliar with the band, they’re basically a supergroup made up of members from various well known Boston/Massachusetts bands. Chief among them is drummer Ben Koller, well known not only for being the dynamo behind Coverge’s feral, emotive sonic assault, but also man of many bands himself, drumming for Mutoid Man, Killer Be Killed and many other projects. The band are rounded out by Kevin Baker, the vocalist for influential 00s hardcore act The Hope Conspiracy, and Matt Woods and Adam Wentworth from the doom band Bloodhorse. More recently they’ve been joined by Brian Izzi on guitar too, from the death and roll/crust punk band Trap Them. The ethos behind this band is fairly straight forward - do it fast, do it heavy, do it intensely. They’re very much a “mood” band in that regard, namely that you’re unlikely to want to sit through an entire album if you’re feeling chipper, but if you’re having a rotten day then this guys might just be your jam. Also suitable for perhaps if you want to bench press 1 million pounds or run to the other side of the country. Suffice to say, they’re full on. They come from great stock, and they write almost all of their music remotely, which probably accounts for the formula. Anyway, they’ve only released three albums and this, Mark contests, is the best example of what they do best - grind all day. Is it worth of a place in our discography though? That’s up to you.

Episode 167 - The Crossing by Big Country (Side B)

Now it’s time to get down to the meaty business of talking about Big Country’s debut album The Crossing. As well as the rest of their back catalogue. We go into a lot of detail on their 80s and some of their 90s stuff too, and it’s interesting to see how this band, and Adamson as a writer, evolved over this period. There’s also a lot of discussion on just what makes this band’s first three albums so good. Each of these first three albums show a distinctly different side of the band, from the post-punk riot of The Crossing to the darker, more emotive Steeltown and then the more upbeat and big guitar rock of The Seer. This period in the band’s history is truly their defining moment, and despite everything that’s been said about them, they were hugely popular for a good reason - they were fantastic players and songwriters. As per, there’s a little more Scottish history in here too, because that’s a big part of the band and, apparently, a bit part of the three of us too, which is weird and only something we realised as we were recording this. The late 80s and beyond a true mixed bag as things go, but in our minds there’s no denying how vital this band were in their heyday and now. The real question is, despite having sold lots of copies and making the band real popular, can we class The Crossing as an unsung classic? As ever, it’s your call. Vote below.

Episode 166 - The Crossing by Big Country (Side A)

When was the last time we did a Scottish band on this show? Too bloody long, if you ask us! This week Chris redresses the balance by humbly submitting The Crossing, the debut album by the Kingdom of Fife’s very own Big Country. This turned into a very nice two parter, so instead of getting one MAHOOSIVE deluge of Big Country, we thought it best to split the difference. This week we talk about the history of the band, Stuart Adamson himself, the band’s origins, their BDE (that’s Big Dad Energy, you filthy minded so and so) and, eh, a fair amount of Scottish fucking history too as both Mark and Chris (mostly Mark) toss out some facts and theories. And in case you want to look it up, it’s spelled Caledonian Antisyzygy. Yes, it is a real thing. Look it up. You won’t be surprised. We don’t really cover the band’s music a whole lot in this episode. Rather, we thought it important to give you, dear listener, some context about the band, where they came from, what they sang about and actually just how big a deal they were in the 80s. Their hey day is long gone, and yes, they are still a band, but these guys were proper rockstars back in the day. Next week we’ll go through the band’s discography and cover all the bases. Including the BDE they have, and talk about some incredible, and some not so incredible, tunes. Enjoy!

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