Unsung Podcast

Things went pretty well last week as we delved into the formative years of Placebo. The era that many fans consider to be the band’s peak. This week we discuss everything post Meds and our views are…well, let’s just say they are decidedly less rosy. With 2009s Battle for the Sun Brian made a lot of noise in the press about how this was a band searching for, and finding, a new identity. That much is true as the band’s sound is a lot more open, optimistic and less melancholic. Perhaps getting sober played a big part in that? Either way, things sound less nihilistic. Which is somewhat divisive for us because we felt that perhaps they should have continued to plunder on what their signature sound. Or, perhaps, maybe taken other measures… We do end the episode on a thrilling high though as we discuss the band’s self titled debut album at length and folks, it might be 27 years but it still does the business.

After a quick break this week we’re back as Chris takes a journey into his youth and nominates Placebo’s self titled debut album. But before we get to that, we need to talk about the band’s history and their back catalogue. Coming onto the scene when Britpop was ascendant, Placebo were often lumped into with that lot even though they sound nothing like that. Taking cues from The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Depeche Mode and more, they were an alt rock band first and foremost. With breakout hit “Nancy Boy” charting highly in 1997 (almost a year after the self titled debut was released) they went to create quite the name for themselves not just in the UK, but across Europe and in the US too. Between 1996 and their fifth album, 2006’s Meds, the band kept getting bigger, garnering more acclaim and as a result becoming one the UK’s biggest rock acts. A legacy that still seems somewhat true today. In this episode we talk about the band’s pre-history and dive into everything from Without You I’m Nothing to Meds.

It’s been QUITE the week here in Unsung towers, with holidays and various other things happening, we weren’t able to get a regular episode recorded. So we’re dropping this bonus content preview. Please enjoy, and if you like it, consider signing up to our Patreon.

This week friend of the pod Benjamin Power, otherwise known as Blanck Mass, joins us to discuss a record he loves by a band he loves - Broken Ear Record by Black Dice. In this episode we get to grips with the difference between avant-garde and experimental music, ponder what music actually is, and do our best to understand the weird, puzzling world of Black Dice. Strap in. It’s gonna get mental.

Much like Lil Kim, we announced our intention to do an episode on The Gaslight Anthem some time ago. But alas, it did not transpire, and it festered for a wee bit, hung over us, filled us with dread. But we’ve now finally exorcised it from our system with the help of emo scholar Marisa Androvik. Despite coming from the very fertile New Jersey punk and emo scene in the late 00s, The Gaslight Anthem sound nothing like their peers. On the album we’re covering this week, you may very well get hints of Hot Water Music. Perhaps also Alkaline Trio. As far as contemporary points of reference go, that’s about as many as you’ll find. For musicians from New Jersey, Bruce Springsteen looms large. Usually, artists will faintly acknowledge it, merely nod to it. Never embrace it. Unlike those bands The Gaslight Anthem wear the influence of The Boss firmly on their sleeve. Indeed, it is one of the defining features of their sound. But it’s not as pronounced on their first album, 2007’s Sink or Swim. The influence of Bruce Springsteen can certainly be heard, but it’s not as apparent as it would later go on to become. Only a year after their debut album the band released their second record, The ‘59 Sound. Their sound had shifted, they leaned more into their heartland rock/Jersey Shore Sound influences. They became much more evident but not overdone (well, depending on who you ask of course), and their trajectory changed. Rapidly. Once The Boss himself had gotten wind of the band, their star began to ascend at speed. In the albums that would follow (with the exception of their fifth album, 2014’s Get Hurt) they began to incorporate more of Springsteen’s varied influences, not just writing the big obvious rock bangers that he did, but augmenting their sound with elements with the of soul, RnB which always peppered his music. They also added in Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and a sprinkling of Social Distortion to boot. As the acclaim, and the record sales, and the size of their tours, began to grow, eventually Mercury Records came calling and what followed were two big rock records. It was the latter of the two, the aforementioned confused and confusing Get Hurt, that led that band to announce a hiatus in 2015, shortly after its release. As of 2022 they’re now a “full time band” again. What does the future hold? Well, with a new album in their sights, perhaps they can improve on the misfire of their last record and craft something closer to the soaring radio rock of 2012’s Handwritten. Or maybe they’ll go all the way back to the source and become a punk band again like they were on their debut album, which is the subject of this very episode. Who's to say. In the end, only one question really matters - is Sink or Swim an unsung classic? You decide.

Been a wee while since we did a covermount CD so this week Crag joins us from 12 hours into the future to have a look at “Wake Up! (15-Track Guide To New North American Indie)” which comes from the March 2007 edition of Uncut. North American indie at this period contained a hell of a lot of flannel, as well as a shit ton of Americana influence. That kind of thing comes up a lot in this compilation. It’s also quite twee which is a vibe unto itself. It may not be for everyone, of course, but it certainly was for a lot of people back then. As is the case with most of the covermount CDs we have reviewed so far, there is an abundance of well known artists but a sheer lack of good songs by those artists. There are a couple exceptions to the rule on this CD (TV on the Radio’s “Wolf Like Me” is a straight banger and one of their very best songs period), but generally that rule holds well. Duff album cuts from the likes of Metric, Deerhoof, The Shins and Band of Horses can be found on this compilation. They’re slung alongside artists that…well, promptly vanished into obscurity when tastes moved on. Not the worst we’ve done so far, but certainly not the best either. Let us know what you think. Do you remember any of the bands from this era? Still a fan of them?

This week we’re joined by American artist and academic Rebecca Yurivna to talk about the Russian band Shortparis. Shortparis is a Russian experimental rock band hailing from the city of St. Petersburg. The band was formed in 2012 and musically, the band are quite difficult to catagorise. They take in elements of post-punk, electronic, and avant-garde music with traditional Russian folk melodies and lyrics. Their sound is quite unique, and is characterized by intense vocals, complex instrumentation, and a theatrical stage presence. More recent albums are almost exclusively sung in Russian, with the occasional lapse into English and French peppered throughout their career. Chris is fairly new to this band, as are Mark and Rebecca, so it was fun to get under their skin. We also chat about their political stance, which until the recent Russo-Ukrainian war, was somewhat ambiguous in their music. This often contrasts with their videos, which are more overt in their pro-LGBT+, almost anti-Russian stance. Indeed, they’ve become quite outspoken critics of Russia snice the war. In this episode we go through all of their records whilst also touching on the political situation in Russia today, and take a quick look at some other protest music that has cropped up in Russia since the war. Check out Rebecca’s music here, and give her a wee follow on Instagram here. It was great to have her on the show. Hopefully we can link up again soon! Let us know what you think of Shortparis on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Dave is back this week and he brings some seriously heavy vibes from French metal titans Gojira. After seeing the band live recently, he remembers how great their third album, "From Mars to Sirius," is. Mark, who was also at the same show, was pleased to get acquainted with them. Chris had heard of the band but never really took the time to get to know them until now. It's surprising to think that a band like Gojira has become as successful as they are. Starting out as a technical death metal band, it wasn't until their third album that they began to push the limits of what they could achieve sonically. Although some of the core aspects of their sound are present in their first two albums, it was during album number three that they truly came into their own. Their success led them to sign with Roadrunner and tour heavily in America, eventually leading to Joe and Mario Duplantier moving there. On their sixth album, they took their sound in a more melodic direction with 2016's "Magma." However, their signature sound was born on "From Mars to Sirius," which combines the ruthless technical death metal of their first two albums with groove metal and melody to create a unique sound. While it may not be their biggest seller, "From Mars to Sirius" is their most critically acclaimed record and a true fan favourite. Some may still consider it an unsung classic. What do you think? Let us know.

Everyone's got a collection of songs that they're really sick of hearing. Some are quite obvious - Wonderwall, we're looking at you - whereas others are perhaps not so obvious. And that's before we even get into the realms of talking about songs that were cannot abide for deeply personal reasons. What we're saying is that we all think a bunch of songs are overplayed. This week we dive into the world of overplayed songs. We go a little further than simply listing songs that are done to death, though. We go deep into the psychology behind why songs are overplayed, what it is about these songs that lead them to become overplayed, and try to come up with a few categories in which to put certain kinds of overplayed songs. We originally recorded this episode as a bonus episode for subs but it really took on a life of its own. Oh and our new co-co-host ChatGPT makes an appearance because why the fuck not use AI when everyone else is doing it? Any songs you think are particularly egregiously done to death? Let us know!

We’ve taken a small break this week to record bonus content, so we thought we’d drop some of our older bonus content as a way to tease you into subscribing. Unsong is basically THE UNSUNG SINGLES CLUB. In it, we breakdown a single song to talk about why it works so well. On this episode, Mark has chosen Separate Ways by your dad’s favourite 80s band, Journey. If you’d like to get more of this kind of content, consider subscribing to our Patreon. From just £4 you can be a member of the club, and if you really fancy a commitment you can donate a little more and subscribe to our RECORD CLUB. Each month we send out you a record from the host of your choice (or you can do a pot luck if you fancy), either digital or vinyl. It’s a fun wee thing, and we have some great records in it so do check it out! We also encourage subscribing and unsubscribing if you don’t want to carry it on month to month, or simply want to dip in and out as you see fit. Back next week with something a little bit different again.

This week we get a little gloomier, sadder and generally more depressed than usual as we take a trip into the world of The Black Heart Procession. We delved into the band's unique take on indie rock(?), and try to get down to what makes this band work so well. As ever, we delve into the band’s entire back catalogue, and Vicki explains why she found herself torn between two of the band's third and fourth albums: "Three" and "Tropico Del Amore". Both albums showcase the band's ability to craft haunting and melancholic music, but in very different ways. "Three" is a dark and brooding album that is characterised by its atmospheric sound and Pall Jenkins’ haunting, yet beautiful lyrics. Their distinct use of traditional instruments and electronic elements creates a unique and otherworldly sound that is both beautiful and melancholic. On the other hand, "Tropico Del Amore" is a more upbeat (relatively speaking - they are not an upbeat band) album that sees the band pushing the boundaries of their sound by crafting a truly cinematic record - it even had a film accompanying it - and taking their music in new directions. We also discuss some of the band’s side projects before we eventually get to grips with “Three” itself. Don’t worry though, the nexus pops in at the end to bring the energy back up, as ever. What you reckon? An Unsung classic? Let us know!

Let's get properly nerdy. This week, we're talking about his third album Dangerous Days and in this bumper episode we don't only talk about his the dark, sugar rush of his music, but we also talk about the history of synthwave, his place in cybergoth and cyberpunk culture, video games and much more. For the uninitiated, Perturbator is an acclaimed French synthwave musician and producer whose works have been featured in video games and films. His whole catalogue of music is marked by dark and futuristic soundscapes, exploring topics such as cybernetics, robotics, and dystopian societies. Dangerous Days, released in 2014, is Perturbator's third full-length album, and it continues in the vein of his earlier works. The album is a journey into the darkest corners of cyberpunk, cybergoth and synthwave music. In what can only be described as a relentless barrage of power synths, augmented with the occasional vocal track, highlights include “Death Squad” and “Dangerous Days” feature huge, booming synths and relentless drums that evoke a sense of urgency and danger. Other tracks, such as “Future Club” and “Hard Wired”, are more mellow and atmospheric, creating moods that are perfect for a night of cyberpunk partying. Synthwave itself is something of a niche subculture, and Perturbator's fame is (by his own admission) built upon being included in various game soundtracks, most notably the Hotline Miami series. In this episode we chat about his influence, some of his contemporaries and of course, give his entire catalogue the once over. Come with us on a journey to explore the depths of cyberpunk and synthwave culture.

We’re really starting to think that a pound just isn’t very sound at all any more… This week we thought it’d be good to bring back your favourite Poundland £1 album review show. Except, Poundland doesn’t sell CDs anymore (probably a good thing), which means we had to start looking at other places to buy CDs for £1. Which meant going to charity shops and to be honest, that sits just fine with us. We roped Vicki into the latest edition, and instead of releasing it to our subs we thought we’d show people who aren’t subs just exactly what they’re missing by putting this episode on general release. So what do we have in our £1 album bucket this week? Well folks, it’s Deacon Blue, Ed Sheeran and Miss Dynamite. Not sure what else we can say. This went about as well as you’d expect - torturously so. Just…just go with it.

With the history of the band now firmly out of the way, we take this week to dive deep into the band’s entire back catalogue. With Chris and Vicki being avowed fans of the majority of the band’s work, we go on a windy, tangent filled journey through each of their albums, talking about the best tunes, the worst tunes and more. Then the main course: a thorough run down of the band’s fourth album, Lullabies to Paralyze. Coming After Songs for the Deaf, it was always going to be a tall order to follow that record. Not so much sonically - indeed, the band go in a whole new direction with this one - but in critical and commercial acclaim. There is no Dave Grohl. There is no Nick Oliveri. What there is, though, is a line up that would continue, albeit with augmentation, for the next few years and into Era Vulgaris. In fan and critics lists, this album often comes out right in the middle of their rankings. Chris thinks it’s about time you thought about it differently. Is it an unsung classic?

Wow, 250 episodes. That’s crazy. It’s definitely more than that, but as actual episodes go, it’s rather a lot. Especially when you realise that most podcast don’t even make it to 8 episodes… As is our new year tradition, after our regular Christmas shenanigans tanked our numbers (it’s by the fans for the fans, after all) we always come back BIG and this year we’re going to be discussing Queens of the Stone Age’s fourth album Lullabies to Paralyse. But before we get into that, and the band’s entire discography, it’s only fair that we give this band’s history a good once over. So on this week’s episode we talk about the band, its many members, Josh Homme himself, his biography, the controversies and just about everything in between as we attempt to give a good overview of the history of the Queens of the Stone Age.

We were hit with a bout of illness and frankly rubbish personal circumstances over the last couple of weeks, but we managed to get our shit together long enough to sit down with the wonderful, Sibohan Wilson. Siobhan Wilson is a musician from Elgin who has been making music for over a decade. She has released four albums and one EP, the most recent being “Survivre” in 2022. She released the album via her own label, Suffering Fools Records. On today's episode we discuss her career, discography, record label, Patreon, her love for Celtic Connections and experiences in the music industry. She spoke about the struggles of being an independent artist, her experiences with various record labels and what led her to forge her own destiny with her own record label. She also discussed the different methods she's using to reach her fans, including her Patreon and how it has allowed her to connect with her fans on a deeper level. It was a great chat and we're stoked we had her on the show. We hope you enjoy it. NEXT WEEK - Queens of the Stone Age...

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS! For those of you not based here in lovely Scotland, aside from having the 1st of January as a holiday we also get the 2nd, so today is another holiday for us. Which is great if you happen to work for an employer that recognises it. We digress. The wheels start to come off in this episode in quite a fun way, which is why it’s MASSIVE. In this episode we discuss the awfulness of folk metal, Baywatch, Weaver's grammar, nasty Japanese porn comics, Transformers and of course Sir David Attenborough. We also talk about our favourite albums of 2022. Next week we have something quite special (hopefully!) stay tuned…

Merry Christmas folks! Or Merry Boxing Day, I guess. We hope all of you had a wonderful time no matter what you did or who you spent it with. Part two of our Xmas special is a remarkably civilised affair, which you may be shocked to hear, given how these things usually tend to go. Some spicy takes are of course had, and there is mercifully little chat about Jones and Kushner this week, but there are some very cool questions and some cool guest answers too. We’re away to tend to the Xmas leftovers and continue to drink our body weight in booze. Have a good week and enjoy the gootch end of the year. Or barse. Or whatever.

As regulars will know, our Xmas Xtravanganza is when all us have a few half lager shandies and answer questions that you have sent us. This year we had a whopping 35 to get thorough which meant things had to go in a much more orderly fashion than they usually would. Like last year, we’re joined by Weaver and Vicki and a number of VERY SPECIAL GUESTS answered some select questions too. Keep an ear out for them - some subs will be thrilled with who’s answered their questions. In part one we start to get warmed up, and there are a couple of SPICY hot takes right out of the gate. This is our last episode before Christmas so have a great one with your loved ones, folks. We’ll see you on Boxing Day for part two!

We did it, folks. We made it to 5 years. We are now, as of the publishing of this episode, 5. We’re just starting primary school. Our minds are open and receptive to new ideas, new experiences, new cultures… If only that were true. This week we conclude our Kiss vs Motley Crue two parter in banterful fashion, addressing topics like who’s the biggest arsehole in those two bands? What notorious (and notoriously awful) shit did they do? What is their legacy? And we do answer these questions. Mark also tells us which of the bands is “objectively” better by tallying up all the points scored and deducted in his frustratingly oblique point-scoring spreadsheet. Which, by the way, before you ask, you absolutely cannot see. Thanks. These episodes are perhaps some of the most fun we’ve had doing this show in a while (without booze) and y’know, we’re a bit sad it’s over. It felt like old times. Like when we were young and fit and in our prime. After we did these episodes we only kept discovering other mental shit about the bands. Like Eric Carr’s solo project featured Bruce Kulick on guitar and John fucking Corabi on vocals. Or that Eric Carr actually played in Lita Ford’s band, which is just another reason why these two bands are tied together. Who’s really the winner here though? Do you agree with our decision? What facts are you utterly aghast at the fact we missed? Because let us tell you, there’s a lot. A whole lot. Another two parter’s worth, we suspect. Perhaps we’ll revisit this for our tenth birthday…

Whilst our fifth birthday is the 15th of December this (absolutely ridiculous) birthday episode turned into a two parter so we’re dropping part one a week early. The topic for this episode is a call back to an old joke that Mark made way back in February 2018 when we interviewed the wonderful Jonah Matranga. In an attempt at “banter”, he said that Motley Crue were better than Kiss. The reality is of course that Mark has no strong feelings on this, but Chris had VERY strong feelings about it and has brought it up a whole bunch ever since. So in an effort to get to the bottom of this absurd question, we asked Dave to come back and defend Motley Crue whilst Chris defends Kiss. Mark has made a spreadsheet in order to try and make it somewhat objective. The result is, of course, hilarious. In part one we talk about their discography and legacy, amongst a bunch of other topics.

This week we decided it was time to dive into our bag of doom and do another covermount because we’ve somewhat indefinitely postponed our episode on The Gaslight Anthem. So, Crag joins us as we take a dive into this very hip (by 2007 standards) collection of indie, nu-rave and electronica from the 13th June 2007 edition of the NME. Apparently Muse curated this themselves, which is definitely up for debate because there are a fair few bands on this collection that were “cool” and all over the indie press in 2007. Nevertheless, there are a couple of totally bonkers inclusions (Lord Buckley? Lightning Bolt?!) and even an exclusive Muse song…that sounds like it was recorded in the back of a tour bus (cause it was). With this episode we’re now officially entering silly season. Over the course of the next month we’ll be celebrating our 5th birthday and doing the usual Xmas Specials. The birthday episode is a ton of fun, and sees the return of a very much in demand familiar face. Until then though, suffer with us through this Muse “curated” covermount CD.

After last week’s intro to Gene Clark, we continue the voyage into his career before circling back round to look at his wonderful 4th album No Other in its entirety. Whilst seen at the time by his record label, Asylum, as being a creative misfire, time has been incredibly kind to it. Maximalist (?) and refined, he was perhaps right in calling it his best work. Certainly, nothing he achieved before or since it ever came close to matching the overall quality of this album. Unique, daring and above all timeless, do you agree that it is an unsung classic?

This week we’re not doing The Gaslight Anthem due to some scheduling issues, so we’ve pivoted to Gene Clark (y’know, of The Byrd’s fame) and his fourth album No Other. When it was released this album was seen as a bit of a misfire for Gene. It didn’t land well critically, and given that it was turned in way over budget, it appeared that even the label, Asylum records, were keen to drop it in the dust bin of history. Indeed, they deleted the record from their catalogue less than two years after its release. Clark then played things for the rest of his solo career, diving right into Southern fried country rock for the majority of it. In the years afterwards, Clark lamented the lack of success and acclaim for the album and continued to state that it was his masterpiece. It wouldn’t see the light of day again until 1989, when a small German label reissued it around the time Clark’s solo career was on the wane. After his death (and perhaps because of it) interest in his work began to climb again through the 1990s. This led to two songs from No Other appearing on a compilation that was released soon after. Yet it wasn’t until the late 2010s when the album was finally released again, this time given the full 5.1 surround sounds, SACD/Blu ray treatment. This super deluxe treatment, remastered at Abbey Road and loaded with alternate studio version of the tracks, stands as true testament to his genius. He was indeed right all along – it is his best work. We go through his entire career in this episode, talking about the good and the bad. Join us next week as we dive into the album itself.

We really need to come up with a much better name for this weird phenomenon. This week’s episode is inspired by a little known Glasgow(ish) band called Julia Thirteen, an act that gained some prominence in the mid-00s, signed to a major label then vanished into obscurity, only for all of their members to turn up in a bunch of different acts. In some cases, these were acts which were significantly more successful. We get into all of that in this episode. We use this band to talk about other artists that have had the same fortune. Examples include Big In Japan, Green River and….well, so fucking many more to be honest. We dive into a whole bunch of those in this episode whilst also wondering just what the hell to call this thing. Any thoughts? Let us know!

Wasn’t the interview with Lou Barlow himself last week just lovely? If you missed it, you can check it out here. This week we’re going to unpack a lot of what he said in the interview, and give our own reactions to it. We recommend you checking that out before you start that episode. After that, we talk about Sebadoh’s extensive discography, from the lo-fi beginnings to this year’s Act Surprised. And then, of course, we get into Harmacy itself.

Very rarely do the stars align on this podcast. Indeed, given Mark’s absence this week due a scheduling conflict, it’s possible that you could call this another case of the stars failing to align. However, we’re here to disprove that notion entirely because it just so happens that they week we chose to do Sebadoh, Lou Barlow himself just happened to be in town. Which means that our episode on the band’s sixth album. Harmacy, has now become a two parter where in part one, Chris chats to Lou Barlow about the band’s legacy. He reflects on his favourite Sebadoh records, regales us with a couple of stories about the band from over the years, and then goes fairly deep into the whole Harmacy (and to a latter extent, Bakesale) era. A thoroughly amiable chap all around, we’re grateful to Lou for taking some time out of his schedule (he had not long arrived in Glasgow and was due to play with Dinosaur Jr that very evening) and for giving us his true opinion on the album. He answered a few questions we had about the album, yet left us with a bunch more, which we’ll dive into in part two. Next week we’ll chat more fully about the band’s career and of course Harmacy itself.

As fascinating as Lil Kim’s career is, what is also fascinating is the way her music helped to bring female sexuality “into the mainstream”. In part two of our deep dive into her career, we look a little deeper at this aspect of her music, as well as the legacy this particular approach has left. Often touted as a feminist, Lil Kim recently said that feminism has always been something of a grey area for her because first and foremost, for her, it’s all about supporting women. It’s clear that her debut album was ground-breaking in how it brought female sexuality to the forefront of popular music in a way which was equally as lewd as what many male rappers were doing at the time. Is her music empowering? Or does she, by trying to outdo male rappers, become another one of the “boys”, by projecting an image of what men expect a woman to be? And what of her legacy? Many female rappers cite her as an influence, but are Nicki Minaj, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion actually talking the talk (by creating music that is thematically similar to hers) but failing to walk the walk (by making comments in interviews that demonstrate conservative views that are at odds with the message in their music)? We grapple with this and bring in some academic sources both from third parties and our own in house academic Marisa Androvik. We then talk about Hard Core as an album, Chris uncovers his dislike for any kind of humour in music, and we have some properly great nexuses too.

We were supposed to do this episode months ago but we just couldn’t get someone with more than on X chromosone in the room. Once we asked our latest guest host Marisa if she fancied joining us though…well, it was GAME ON. So here we are. Doing an episode on the “controversial” Lil Kim. A protege of Biggie Smalls, she shocked the world with her debut album Hard Core then went onto craft quite the legacy for herself, challenging the norm in the male dominated hip-hop scene and, as some might argue, paving the way for women in rap to be sexual, and not be afraid to talk all sex. We didn’t plan for this to two into a two parter but there’s just so much to talk about when it comes to Kim. From the albums to the beefs, to the feminism and feminist critique of her work, it became clear that we’d need to dedicate some serious time to unpacking all of it. On this episode we chat mostly about her back catalogue and her life outside of the music. There’s plenty of banter and music clips too. We hope you enjoy!

History is littered with bands that went “experimental” for one album and then broke up after said album. A lot of the time, fans and press assume that the reasons for that are simply because they couldn’t stand the rejection from their fans. That’s not always the case. Formed in 1989, The Drum also go by the name China Drum. If you were around in the 90s and read musi mags or followed the Britrock scene at the time, the name China Drum is probably familiar to you. At the end of the 90s, they decided to embrace new technology and new songwriting techniques (spurred by the addition of a fourth member). The result was a radically different sound, which led them to change their name to The Drum and release their third/debut album Diskin. It’s a very different prospect in comparison to the pop punk tinged alt-rock of their previous two albums - Goosefair and Self Made Maniac - but the result is, we feel, thrilling. On this episode we dive inside the band’s career and this album, complete with some first hand testimony from singer Adam Lee himself.

If you were wondering why we had a small break last week and teased you with some of the sweet bonus content our subs get (which you can get access to by signing up at www.patreon.com/unsungpod - starting at £4 a month!) it’s because we needed a little time to get our research hats on. This week we’re bringing you another monster episode and the topic is Donny Hathaway. Donny Hathaway was a remarkable musician. That’s not in dispute. A prodigious talent from a very young age, he transitioned from gospel choir singer to a house songwriter for Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records, whilst also working with a number of seminal soul and RnB artists in the late 60s. As the 70s rolled in, he started to explore a solo career and the rest is, as they say, history. From 1970 to 197 he delivered a lot of output in a very short space of time, before mental health issues began to take their toll, sending him off into creative silence for the remainder of the 1970s. As far as soul and RnB singers go, Donny is one of the most influential you’ve probably never heard of. A real musician’s musician, so to speak, he garnered a lengthy list of admirers in his lifetime, and an even greater list since his tragic passing in 1979. On this week’s episode Crag takes on a deep dive into all of his albums before we discuss his posthumous live collection Songs for You, Live! And get to the bottom of whether or not his truly unsung.

After the EPIC Nina Nastasia two parter we decided take a wee week off. So this week so we’ve gone deep into our catalogue of bonus content and unearthed the next episode in a series that we’re calling Unsong. If you like what you hear, consider subscribing AND joining our record club here. It’s basically THE UNSUNG SINGLES CLUB. In it, we breakdown a single song to talk about why it works so well. On this episode, Chris has chosen Come Undone by Duran Duran. Let us know what you think of this episode. We’re doing more of these in future and we enjoyed the hell out of this! We're welcome to lots of feedback on this. Wanna see more of it? Can we do it differently? What can we improve? Bring on your comments!

It got pretty heavy last week, and whilst we’re not apologising for covering such weighty topics, we do understand that some levity is required. In the form of a mighty two hour opus about Nina Nastasia’s discography. Yes, you read that right - this episode is two hours long. It is perhaps our longest single episode to date. Even though Nastasia has a smaller discography than many of the artists we’ve covered in the past, both Chris and Vicki had a lot to say about her work, so we just let the conversation flow. We cover her entire career here, before doing deep dives on The Blackened Air and You Follow Me. There’s also a fair amount of hilarity too, which we absolutely won’t spoil for you, but suffice to say it really does address the balance after the sombre mood of last week’s episode. What do you folks think? Is The Blackened Air her best record? Or is it You Follow Me? Or is it ANOTHER OPTION? Let us know!

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!

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.

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.

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…

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.

We’d been working hard over the last few weeks to try and secure our next interview and we’re pleased to deliver this wee gem with Chris Spencer from Unsane/Human Impact/Lamb Unlimited (and more). A lot of prep goes into interviews so that’s why don’t do them very often. Also, we get offers to interview people all the time but it’s rarely people who we think might fit the mold of this show. Unsane tick all the boxes as being an unsung band, really. It just so happens that this coincidenes with announcement of a remaster and re-release of their debut, self titled album (due late September).. Our Chris is a huge unsane fan, so to be able to interview this Chris was a real treat. Chris S was game to talk about what he felt are the highlights and lowlights of his band’s career, giving us a bunch of cool details and stories from pretty much all of their albums thus far. Later, he picked an album that he feels is unsung - the self titled debut album from Killing Joke. We had a really fun chat around that too. Catch them in tour in the UK this October, where they will exclusively be playing stuff from their early years. The remastered version of Unsane drops on September 23rd.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ok so the title is more or less a con - we’re not cancelled (we think?!) - but as an increasing number of artists we like/are aware of get cancelled (or in some cases - don’t even though they probably should) we always knew that one day we’d have to address cancel culture itself. But what does that actually mean? For some, it’s a blanket term that simply sees artists dismissed, leaving their credibility in tatters and making the very concept of things like “forgiveness” impossible. On the other hand, there are some artists with huge profiles with scores of allegations and convictions against them who everyone agrees should/are cancelled but whose listening figures on streaming platforms tell a very different story. Is a black and white thing? Is it even a thing? People all across the political spectrum are “cancelled” and “cancel” each other all the time. For those that are fervent supporters of the process there are others that decry it. So what does it mean? What does it entail? Is restorative justice possible? Are there people out there who should have been cancelled but are seemingly uncancellable? We do our best to reckon with all of that and then some in today’s episode as we take a deep dive into the cancel culture, its adherents, its victims, the motivations behind it and artists affected - and unaffected - by it. Strap in. You’ll disagree in places. We’re sure of it.

Your favourite dynamic duo return for the second week in a row as we chat about the soundtrack for Kevin Smith’s debut film, Clerks. This idea came to Chris at about a day’s notice, but it did give us at least enough time to think of a through line for this episode: the Clerks soundtrack is something of an anomaly. Whilst the film itself cost just over $27k to make, the licencing for the soundtrack actually cost more, coming in at $28k. Some of the music on this is used in the movie - Alice in Chains, The Jesus Lizard - and some was even commissioned for the film. For Gen Xers, this soundtrack is about authentic as it gets. Others tried and failed to capture some of the same energy that this one did (Empire Records springs to mind), and one could probably argue that the fact a Gen Xer has brought this Gen X soundtrack to the table, chatting about how it’s very authentically Gen X and “legit” is perhaps the most Gen X thing in the world. Or you could just argue that there’s actually something to be said for how this film, and indeed soundtrack, managed to capture a moment in the way that underground bands sometimes are able to capture the zeitgeist. Or in fact create their own movement out of nothing. What do you think? Defining moment in indie film soundtrack history?

From the mind of one auteur to another - this week things get a little darker and introspective as we discuss It’s a Wonderful Life, the third album by Sparklehorse. The career trajectory of Sparklehorse is an interesting, if ultimately tragic one. Moving from lo-fi, one man band recordings to working with multiple indie music legends, as slowly as Mark Linkous’ career evolved, it did seem as though he was an artist that was genuinely passionate about seeing how many different ways he could make music. Towards the end of his career, he also seemed very interested in making music with more people. Indeed, the last album by Sparklehorse, The Dark Night of the Soul, is not only a collaboration with Danger Mouse but every single song is a collaboration with different singer. It is about as far removed as you can get from the early days of playing every instrument on every song. Chris had a real hard time picking a Sparklehorse album because he felt that there’s not much between the first three albums. Nevertheless, he landed on this and we use this episode as a vessel to explore not just the band’s entire catalogue, but to talk about Mark Linkous’ life and death. So, for those unaware of Sparkhorse, here’s your trigger warning: we discuss suicide in this episode. Is this an unsung classic? Is this even their best album? Have a listen and find out…

This week we are delighted to welcome back our good pal Kapil Seshasayee as he talks about his upcoming album, his latest single and how this particular album by Lithuanian-American musician Vyto B was a huge influence on his early work. Tricentennial 2076 is a contender for being the most obscure thing we’ve yet covered on this podcast. Borning in obscurity in 1976, its existence and the mystery of its creator seemed to grow in the decades since its inception. Due to a couple of exceptional pieces by The Chicago Reader in 2019, much of the mystery of who Vyto B is was made clear to the general public. Which is particularly great for a podcast like ours, and someone as elusive as Vyto B is just catnip for us. He claimed to have written hundreds of songs over the course of his career but most of it remains inaccessible. The music of his that is known though is fascinating. This album is a mixture between 70s acoustic folk and mental free-jazz piano pieces, all wrapped in a barely comprehensible sci-fi story set in post-apocalyptic America. Future records are all over the shop, and nothing at all like this. This week we dive into the man, the myth and the pseudo-legend, and also chat to Kapil about his latest single, which you can listen to here: https://youtu.be/hZqF9DFkW_A Next week - something very different from this indeed.

There’s probably not many podcast out there that would happily slam Meat Loaf, Oasis, Madonna and Cyndi Lauper together over the course of an episode, but that’s just what we do here at Unsung. And this week, things are going to get even weirder as we start to talk about some more of the first records that influenced us. No matter what you think of the albums on the last episode or this episode, the fact is that we are only here because we found them. Without those records, this podcast wouldn’t exist… In part two of our first “Intros” episode we talk about The Offspring, Nirvana, the OST from the film My Girl, Pulp and Sepultura. Let it be known, folks – the whiplash was real for this one. There’s really no fun way to transition from the 70s Motown/soul classics of the My Girl soundtrack into the ferocious groove metal of Sepultura. Neck injuries aside, doing this was a total blast and we can’t wait to revisit this concept with our other hosts, some guests and perhaps YOU GUYS. That’s right, stay tuned cause we’re going to find a way that we can get you to add your voice to our show from the comfort of your phone that is a little more internationally friendly than you simply leaving us a voicemail. Next week we’re either doing weird lo-fo singer songwriter or loud, 90s college rock.

Last week we said we were going to to Lil Kim but we’ve been unable to wrangle together the people needed to tackle it, so we’ve decided to launch a brand new feature instead called Intros. The idea is simple: we talk about the first albums we ever heard. We’ve split this down into three categories: The first one you remember playing a big role in your life courtesy of your parents or a family member; the first one you ever bought; and one that also hold special significance for you and is taken from that same formative period. Vicki joins us this week and in part one we tackle the first albums that made an impression on us that our parents own, before looking a little bit at some of the first albums we bought. We won’t reveal what they are here though: you’ll have to listen to find out! We plan to return to this concept regularly, and we’ll also be hoping for YOU to get involved. Stay tuned for more info on that. We’ll also be looking to get our other guests and some artists involved too, so let us know if you like this episode.

Much like last week, a warning before we begin: this episode contains the discussion of some fairly charged and unpleasant topics, including some deplorable ideas and music. Please be aware in advance that this show features some isolated samples and we’ve added them into this episode because we’re discussing a difficult topic and we trust our audience to exercise their own discretion. Hopefully you find this to be an informative and a cautionary journey. Enjoy! Last week we put Ace of Base in the context of the wider Swedish pop music movement, and how on the face of it, there’s really not that much about them that could lead for people to believe that they are some kind of secret Aryan pop project. This week we place the Nazi politics that Ufe courted in his teens into the wider context of Swedish politics itself. One of the members of that band he was in, Commit Suiside, went on to be the leader of Sweden’s far-right Sweden Democrats party. We interrogate that idea of them being some Nazi pop group and dive into the album The Sign, look at some of the ideas conveyed in the lyrics and also take some very strange articles about this band to task for a multitude of different reasons. And then, we reach our conclusions - are this band Nazis or not? A fun episode, if a little dark. Hopefully you stuck with us. Next week, we’re going in a vastly different direction… REMINDER: It’s record club shipping time and we’re sending some cracking albums to our subscribers. Want free albums every month? Find out more below!