Unsung Podcast

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.

Interview time part 2! In case you missed it, here is part one, where we discuss Andy’s career in mclusky and Future of the Left. In this episode we asked Andy to pick three albums he thinks are unsung classics: Jarcrew - Breakdance Euphoria Kids (which you will find version of on Spotify simply titled Jarcrew) The God Machine - Scenes from the Second Storey New Kingdom - Paradise Don’t Come Cheap Three very different albums that Andy picked for different reasons, as we go into at length on the episode. From friends and future band mates, to tortured alt-metal and all the way through to psychedelic hip hop, there’s not a huge amount that really link these albums at first blush, but that’s part of the intrigue! All in, we spent about 3 and a half hours recording with Andy for these two episodes. It was a long but lovely evening, and we’re very appreciative of him and his time. Normality returns next week as we invite friend of the pod Ferruccio Quercetti on to talk about Hissing Prigs in Static Couture by Brainiac.

Interview time! It’s been a wee while since we did one of those so we got one of our favourite musicians, and general lovely bloke, Andy Falkous from mclusky, Future of the Left and Christian Fitness on to have a good ol’ yammer. In part one we chat about IKEA furniture, tiny cans of Diet Coke, why you shouldn’t put beer in the fridge and many other things. Including his musical career thus far. Which we talk about at length and it’s bloody lovely. We touch on just about every part of his career here. We go in depth about mclusky and what it was like. Then we touch on FOTL and some of the tunes that he feels have gone under appreciated in his canon of cracking tunes. All told, Andy is great banter and we cover way, way more than what I’ve just written here. If you’re a fan of any of his music, this is essential listening. If you’re a general Unsung fan, you’ll also love this. Go forth, listeners, and have a bloody good time.

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.

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.

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…

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…

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.

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.

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.

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!

ESG are without a doubt one of the most unsung bands we’ve covered on this podcast. You may never have heard of them, but you have definitely heard them. Particularly if you like hip hop, dance or house music. There’s an absolute ton of literature devoted to sampling in music, including the ethics of it and the affect it has had on many artists. We won’t go into that here, but suffice to say some of the most well known beats in hip hop coming from this band’s first EP and their first album Come Away with ESG. Dave brings this to the table with the full weight of that in mind, leaving both Chris and Mark shocked at the sheer influence this album has had on people even though the band are little known. Not only did they have a massive impact on sample culture, but their sound inspired any number of post-punk and indie bands, including everything from Gang of Four to LCD Soundsystem and beyond. This band of four black women from the South Bronx originally began as a group that simply wanted to turn the vibe you get from a James Brown bass and drum breakdown into full songs. They largely achieve this, weaving spares funk in alongside snippets of Motown and of course post punk. On this episode we go deep on the band’s back catalogue and discuss the importance of this album, their career afterwards and exactly where they’re at today. You decide: Come Away with ESG by ESG – is this truly unsung?

There’s a bunch of bands from the late 90s punk and emo scene that are hugely influential. Of them though, one could argue that Lifetime are the least well known. Which is odd given that many huge bands are on record as stating that they were directly influenced by this album in particular. Everyone from Saves the Day to Fall Out Boy, Thursday and Taking Back Sunday have all voiced their appreciation for this album over the years. Which until we did this episode, was news to Mark as he had always thought of them as more of a melodic hardcore band. This week we dive into the band’s rather short back catalogue. We talk about their beginnings, their break up, their reunion ten years later and their subsequent silence after releasing a “comeback” album in 2007. Resident punker Anna Goldthorp joins us this week to give her take on this album too, so we get a variety of opinions on here also. Jersey’s Best Dancers came out in 1997, which was an important year for emo as a whole, so we take some time to dig into this and talk about the other bands that were floating around the emo scene at the same time. Mark also gives us a potted history of Lifetime guitars Dan Yemin, his influence, the bands he formed after Lifetime and the way he helped shape an entirely new genre of hardcore on the back of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite and Paint in Black. But as ever folks, you have to decide the key thing here: is this an unsung classic? You decide. Vote below.

The ABBA-geddon comes to an end this week in part two of our ABBA mixtape. If you missed part one, listen here. We listened to everything ABBA ever wrote in order to devise a comprehensive list of the best, most unsung ABBA songs and yes, it was a complete joy, before you ask. Over the course of 8 albums, ABBA explored pretty much every facet of 70s pop music. They swung from stomping glam rock to disco floor fillers, and from mad prog rock excursions into weird baroque pop. They even experimented by pan pipes and shit. In the 80s the began to incorporate synth pop into their sound, and their final album (to date?) The Visitors is truly ahead of its time. It seemed to predict the sound of pop music in the 80s before the decade had truly begun and had we known just how great of an album it was before we did this mixtape, we might very well have did an episode on itself it is truly an unsung classic. Absolutely worth spending time with, in our view. Listening to their discography is pretty fascinating. Many people don’t think ABBA are terribly eclectic, but they are, and we’ve tried to demonstrate a fair amount of that with our selections. We also asked a few regular contributors for their choices, so we hope you enjoy hearing Ferrucio Quarcetti, Crag Carrick and Hazel Burgess giving us the lowdown on their favourite ABBA songs and why they chose them. Also, after doing the AXIS OF ABBA last week, we thought we’d include our version of it below. We hope you managed to get close to it!

Oh lord it’s another two parter. However, you should rejoice as it is our long promised ABBA mixtape and boy is it a TRIP. First of all, thanks to Tommy Smith for first suggesting that we should do an ABBA episode. Initially we scoffed at the idea - ABBA? They’re not unsung! - but Chris suggested they could be ripe for a mixtape. Eventually, we said we would do it but only if we got ten new subs. Well folks, we got them in the end and here we are. Once we’d dived deep into ABBA’s catalogue - which is, by the weird, a truly strange collection of music in places - we realised that their final album, The Visitors, could actually have qualified for this show as it is brilliant and very unsung. Alas, we’d already committed and thus agreed that each of us would pick three tunes each for a playlist. We then added in some friends in the form of Ferrucio Quarcetti, Crag Carrick and Hazel Burgess. Which is a little bit of a spoiler for what will come next week. This week, we have a game. Observe the graphic below: This is the AXIS OF ABBA. We each took turns at placing one of the 18 songs at either side of the screen somewhere on this axis. It generated some good banter and some nice thoughtful discussion too. Particularly about the pan pipes and shit. Yes, that was a thing. Sometimes it’s great, other times it’s a big WTF but that, as you will come to learn (if you weren’t already aware of course) is ABBA. Next week - our picks, some words from friends and more.

Last week was part one of our Faith No More two parter and it is, as it turns out, quite easy to dedicate the best part of three hours to Faith No More and their music. We did try to keep it brief but how many times have we said that and failed miserably (AHEM XMAS SPECIAL AHEM)? To wit, this week we’re covering the band’s output from 1995 to this very day. As is our wont, we dive into Album of the Year and Sol Invictus before swinging back around to King for a Day, giving that album the usual unsung once over. You may have heard, in this and the last episode, that we have resurrected our tip jar! If you’re not a fan of longer term subscription (and we don’t blame you!) then you can now make a one off donation to us. Go to www.unsungpod.net/donate to chuck us so some cash. Or if you are a fan of commitment, you can also find our Patreon there too! Anyway, back to the point - is King for a Day…Fool for a Lifetime Faith No More’s unsung classic? Vote below. Next week - ABBA MIXTAPE.

Mike Patton is now officially the first ever artist to have been nominated twice for this podcast. His previous inclusion was in the guise of Tomahawk, and their second album Mit Gas. The public rightfully decided that this was worthy of inclusion in our discography. Now it's time to see if Faith No More's fifth album, King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime, will join it. Chris has been talking about doing this album for bloody ages. Him and Mark are huge FNM fans and Chris has a very compelling case as to why this album is their unsung classic. Similarly, Dave has dabbled with the band in his past - enjoying The Real Thing and Angel Dust in particular - so for him it was something of a trip down memory lane. We talk very extensively about this band, as you'd expect. Which means we're gracing you with another two parter. That's right, we're over a month and a half into 2021 and we've yet to do a single album in one episode. Whoops. We talk about the band's history and give their albums a good going over here. As usual it is replete with interesting facts, questionable patter and snippets of banging tunes. Enjoy!

All good things must come to an end. This week we finish our round up of DOOM’s career and cover the wonderful, influential and (so far) only Madvillain album, Madvillainy. If you’re familiar with DOOM you’ll no doubt have seen scores of articles about his influence and legacy, about how he remains a rapper’s rapper. There is, of course, not much more we can add to that but my god to we try. So tune in for Mark and Weaver getting geeky over the album, Chris being somewhat of a bystander and some enlightened discussion on the many face of Daniel Dumile. Is Madvillainy worth of a place in our discography? Vote below.

We’d always planned to do a hip hop episode after the Cocteau Twins, but after the sad passing of MF DOOM was announced on December 31st 2020, we decided to switch focus from The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox to one of DOOM’s finest hours - Madvillainy by Madvillain. Madvillain is one of many collaborative projects that MF DOOM embarked upon throughout his career, with this particular one being his first collaboration with legendary undergroun hip hop producer/DJ/MC Madlib. One of Daniel Dumile’s many personas, DOOM was born out of frustration with the music industry, ad Dumile sought to “destroy that which had created him” following the death of his brother and the unceremonial dismissal of his first project, KMD by then label Elektra records. Until Madvillainy, we had only properly been seen on the first MF DOOM album Operation: Doomsday in 1999. After creating albums under the names King Geedorah and Viktor Vaughn in the period leading up to this record, Madvillain saw DOOM bring his “main” persona back into the spotlight, and there it remained until his untimely death last year. In this episode we cover DOOM’s career right up until 2004, whilst also waxing lyrical on the tendency of some journalists to project their own ideas onto art in order to cack-handedly “legitimatize” something that is already very legit. Part two is next week, and we’ll cover his career from DANGERDOOM onwards, and then get torn into Madvillainy.

We feel that, by this point, you’re aware of everyone’s positions on this band so far, but there’s still a little twist at the end that you’ll want to stay tuned for as we take some (a lot of) time to chat about the legendary Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins. A lot has been said about this album of the years. It’s highly lauded by just about anyone that has an affection for shoegaze, dreampop, 80s goth and even goth-grandad himself Robert Smith. Their influence is huge at this point, even if upon reflection they had a rather cantankerous relationship with the media and their fans. But the fact remains, is any artist beyond reproach? We look at it from all angles - someone who loves it, someone who hates it and someone who’s indifferent. The truth for some may be in the middle. Or maybe at least one of us is talking absolute tosh. Either way, it’s an entertaining listening so join us as we say hello, and goodbye, to Heaven or Las Vegas.

IT LIVES! Sorta. After all the silly bastard nonsense of the Xmas Xtravaganza, we decided to re-record the episode we lost on our 3rd birthday. Welcome to our Cocteau Twins analysis, as we talk about their career and the album Heaven or Las Vegas. As fans will recall, our first attempt at this episode was scuppered by some tech issues, and we were unable to recover it. In some ways, it’s kind of a shame because there was a great dynamic on the episode as Chris and Mark played their cards close to their chest before letting rip at the end. Sadly, that tension is gone cause we already know each other’s positions, but it’s still a really good analysis of the band’s music, career and then of course, following next week, Heaven or Las Vegas. Please enjoy our return to normality!

It’s time to bring this whole sorry four parter to an end. Christmas is now well in the rearview and to be honest folks, after the chaos this descended into, we’d really like to put this behind us too. We talk a whole lot of pish here, including Chris talking about some of 2020’s most highly rated albums that he thinks are not that good. We also, finally, after three years, get a complete history of Weaver’s high school band INCLUDING some actual goddamn music. Which is a truly stunning turn of events, I’m sure you’ll agree. Ben also tells us what Kayne album is best, and we talk about some local bands that we think should have made it. Things are capped off by Anna telling us why Chris is so angry all the time, and then it just…doesn’t end. There is no ending. Something happened. The ending failed to record, and Dave’s backup was lost due to a hard drive error so we finish with Chris and Mark burbling completely nonsense. We’re sorry folks. So very sorry. Hopefully you can forgive us for this mess, and join us next week as we take a second run at Heaven or Las Vegas by Cocteau Twins.

Happy new year folks! Hopefully the Brexit chat last week didn’t make you feel depressed. I mean, it probably did but hey, everything’s fucked anyway right? This week we go down the Taylor Swift rabbit hole when we ask Jonah Matranga what’s better - Evermore or Folklore? We then get into a very drunken heated debate about just how much agency Taylor Swift has in the corporate process of her image and songwriting, then we talk about some of our favourite albums of the year. We’re also incredibly drunk, which is kinda fun for you lot but was hellish for us to listen back to. Things go off the rails quite spectacularly towards the end, so you’re gonna wanna stick around for that. Part four of this entire shambles will be with you on Thursday. Then we can call get back to our lives.

Before we got in the room to record this whole debacle, we planned out the questions to that they would cover two parts. In the end, we recorded for 5 hours or so, and that two parter became a three parter in the room, and is now a four parter after the edit. Merry Christmas?! Anyway, we go in hard on Brexit right at the top of this episode. No stone left unturned, as they say. We drop some realness on how it will affect bands and music both in the UK and the EU. It’s not a pretty picture. Vicki and Ben also join us to answer a couple of the questions you folks submitted, and we also got introspective about what music makes us feel old. This episode is the “goldilocks zone”. We’re not quite smashed, but we’re still drunk and coherent. It's honestly a really fun time, and things go spectacularly off the rails in the next two episodes, so you still have that to look forward to. Have a great New Year (to those who listening on day of release) and we’ll see you in 2021 with two episodes in week one.

Christmas is a time for cheer, and a time to eat, drink and be merry with family. For a lot of folk, some of these things may not be possible this year, which is why we felt even more duty bound to continue our very own festive tradition of getting really bloody silly at the end of the year. For the first since March, we decided to get in a room together and stare in lovingly into each other’s eyes to record this mega three parter. In the weeks leading up to this, we asked people to submit questions, ridiculous or otherwise, to us so we could turn this self serving nonsense into something for you lot. The results were…really messy. We also asked some of our previous guests to contribute too, so you’ll get to hear from co-hosts Anna Goldthorp and Vicki Henry, as well as from Ben Power of Blanck Mass, Jonah Matranga and of course, the most knowledgeable musical mind we know, Ferrucio Quercetti. In part one we answer a handful of these questions and have some of these co-hosts chip in. We start to get drunk and honestly, it’s a real fun time. Part two will drop next week where, as luck would have it, we address a bunch of questions about what Brexit will hold for touring bands going forward. Prescient stuff.

It seems our argument that Metallica are the “acceptable” version of thrash has gained a little agreement on all of the internets on which we are present, which is nice. Of course, after the abomination (?) of St. Anger, Metallica returned to their “roots” with Death Magnetic and Hardwired… to Self Destruct. Which as Dave points out on this episode, is now a bunch of (mostly) old dudes trying to be young again. As if they ever really grew up anyway… To wit, this is part two of our Metallica exodus, wherein we talk about the band’s career from Damage. Inc up until the present, including a very brief sojourn into the weirdness of Lulu, which is an album that does not get better with age, despite Lars confidently proclaiming that it would. Man, that was a long sentence… Nevertheless, we do give St. Anger a chance, and Dave does genuinely like this album, faults and all. In the end though, it all comes down to what you think. It’s worth saying at this point that we will never ever revisit this band ever again. So, if you do think Metallica deserve a place in our discography this is the only chance you’ll get to vote them in. Have your say on Twitter. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

We’re three bloody years old today. THREE. Can you believe it?! As is tradition, we do something a bit silly around our birthday. In year one, Chris decided to take things very seriously do the album Meantime by Helmet, because the name of this podcast comes from one of the songs on that record. In year two Mark subjected the world, and a room full of actual live human beings, to the ridiculous pop punk mixtape. Soon after, covid-19 was discovered. A coincidence? We think not. The world hasn’t been the same since. This year it’s David’s turn, and he saw it was time to force St. Anger upon us, much like Metallica did when they released this album on the unsuspecting human populace. Much like the impact of covid-19, the world has never been the same since, and nor have Metallica themselves. Look folks, it’s silly season. We’ve actually touched upon this band before in our ill-fated foray into the world of radio, so to say some of us were primed for this is an understatement. What you get across these two episodes are three men who hate Metallica talking about Metallica. Except Dave actually, genuinely likes this album. May god have mercy on us all. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

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?

This week we take a critical look at the discography of LA noise/electronic/pop/metal/dance/whatever band Health from good ol’ Los Angeles. Perhaps best known to some as noise rock band, their sound has changed a fair bit over the years. After releasing two acclaimed DIY noise type records they went away and did the soundtrack to Max Payne 3. When they returned years later they had fully embraced the electronics that they had begun to incorporate in their second album “Get Color” and fully enhanced their presence within their music. Of course, that’s only part of the story. They’re a band who had always had a penchant for a remix or two - indeed every album of theirs has had an accompanying remix record called DISCO - so to say their movement into the realms of industrial and electronica was a surprise would of course be an understatement. On this episode we chat about their third album Death Magic. Things get a bit heated this week as - shocker - we don’t agree on this album at all. But hey, that’s the kinda content you’re here for right? Does Death Magic deserve a place in our discography? You decide. Vote below. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

One of the things that we find quite gratifying about these double episodes is the amount of time we can spend talking about a storied band’s large back catalogue. Of course, in many ways that’s the entire raison d'etre of this whole damn enterprise, but it feels particularly good when you’ve spent a bunch of time learning about an artist and can just splurge all this knowledge out in a way that (we hope) is enlightening and educational. Our new pod friend Ferruccio is back this week and we finally dive into Pink Flag in itself. Many argue, many punk and hardcore luminaries no less, that it is the most important punk album of all time. Indeed, in many ways one could argue it’s the only proper punk album Wire have ever made (relative to the scene at the time). Either way, there is no denying how influential this album has been, but we suggest here that this album, and my extension Wire as a band, are more of a band’s band. As ever, we give the record a good once over and Ferruccio brings in some top tier post-punk knowledge to lend us an air of credibility. Of course, the real question here is: does Pink Flag deserve a place in our discography? Vote below! DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

We hope you like Wire. Or, at the very least we hope you’re interested to hear about Wire because we have a lot to get through with this. David couldn’t join us this week, but we were able to get a post-punk expert to join us for this mammoth two parter, so say hello to Ferruccio Quercetti of the Italian punk band Cut. He is a true font of knowledge and he provides a ton of context here, which frankly is worth the price of admission alone. Anyway, Chris has been talking about nominating Pink Flag for years. Literally years. He made it known that he was thinking of pulling the trigger on this a few weeks back, which is just as well as this band have a lot of albums. That’s why this ends up as a two parter. We cover about half of their career in this episode. The crux of Chris’s argument here is that Pink Flag is one of the most important and under recognised punk albums ever written. Coming out at the height of punk in 1977, it’s clear from the outset that their approach was different from many of their contemporaries, looking to psychedelia and America instead of what was going on over on these fair shores at the time. On this episode we talk about their history, chat about the Ramones influence (and more), and cover about half of their discography. It’s a great episode, and the second part is also a doozy so come back for part two next week! DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

This week we welcome back our good friend Vicki as we finally get with the programme and talk about the impact covid-19 and the ongoing global pandemic are having on music and the arts right now. It is Unsung vs the Coronavirus and by god are we coming out swinging. A word of warning though, there are some slight audio issues. Still working out some of the kinks that are inevitable parts of our guest’s setups. Looking forward to being able to get back in a room together so that the only issues we need to worry about are when someone farts. Anyway, to wit - this week we’re chatting about how arts funding and the careers of many artists are in jeopardy given the current state of that world. It’s something that not only opens us up to the possibility of many venues closing, labels going bus and bands ceasing to exist, but it also calls into question the very nature of arts funding (as well as who gets and why), as well as the general sustainability of being an “artist”, whatever that means. It’s clear that there are certain kinds of artists out there whose livelihoods are at risk in the midst of the ongoing global bastard. We go deep into who the affected are, why they are affected, and ponder more generally on the notion of art as a commodity. We go deep in this one folks. Things get philosophical. And ranty. But it’s fun! We’re hoping to do some more of this kind of content in future (not about covid but more probing content in general) so do let us know what you think! DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Welcome back friends to our first ever podcast crossover as we welcome back Mitch Bain from the excellent Strong Language & Violent Scenes podcast. If you missed it, part one is here. Just a wee reminder to everyone, Strong Language & Violent Scenes is is about giving genre films a second chance which, as they put it, may or may not deserve it. They’ve produced well over 200 episodes on this point, and have managed to build a lovely community by regularly bringing guests on to talk about films and by doing live shows at Frightfest. Since we do music and they do films, we felt an acceptable crossover was to combine do the mixtape format with a movie bent, and as such we asked Mitch to pick 8 of his favourite movie needle drops, as well as two songs he thinks would make perfect needle drops but haven’t (to our knowledge) yet been used in film. We then picked 3 songs of our own, as well as a wild card. In part two we continue to go through each other’s lists, and cover some real good films (and film theory) as a results. Some cracking songs in here, ranging from films such as sweet indie drama It’s Kind of a Funny Story, to the brutal You’re Next, and even down to bloody Bill & Ted’s Bogus Adventure. We cover a wide range of genres on this ep and it’s a right good laugh into the bargain. As is customary, we also do the nexus whereby we need to link David St. Hubbins from Spinal Tap with one of our wildcard artists. A fun, fun time indee. So please, enjoy part two of Mitch’s Movie Mixtape, and then go check out his podcast too! DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Welcome friends, one and all, to our first every podcast crossover as we welcome Mitch Bain from the excellent Strong Language & Violent Scenes podcast. Put simply, his show is about giving genre films a second chance which, as they put it, may or may not deserve it. They’ve produced well over 200 episodes on this point, and have managed to build a lovely community by regularly bringing guests on to talk about films and by doing live shows at Frightfest. In recent times Mitch has also scored a couple of feature films too, which mean that it absolutely made sense to have him come on and talk about some of his favourite needle drops. Therein, dear friends, lies the crossover – we’re talking about music from films. As if that somehow wasn’t obvious by this point. We asked Mitch to put together a list of his 8 favourite musical moments from films, then asked him to also pick a couple “wildcard” songs that had not yet been featured in a film but would make for excellent needle drops. The also picked three of their favourite songs and one wildcard each. With so many tunes chosen between us (and many more aside) we felt it was only right to make this a two parter. So please, enjoy part one of Mitch’s Movie Mixtape, and then go check out his podcast too! DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Released to critical acclaim, Marissa Nadler’s third album, Songs III: Bird on the Water, is a record which sees the her begin to expand her sonic palette. Joined by folk-cum-psychedelic rock outfit Espers on a few of the tracks (the album was produced by founding member Greg Weeks), her sound is augmented with hints of synth, electric guitar, cello, percussion and harp. For the first time she really begins to truly channel the American gothic vibes that she’d be tagged with for years, and the results are pretty interesting. As it turns out, her back catalogue was much bigger than Mark initially realised, so with that in mind we give as much of discography a going over as we can, bar the odd bandcamp only release. The results are mixed, with split opinion amongst the troops about Nadler’s oeuvre. So what do you think? Is this an unsung classic or is it just a wee bit meh? Vote on Twitter below. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Deep Politics is Grails’ 8th album, and is it turns out it’s one that proves to be particularly divisive on this episode! Chris and David both found this band at different points, with Chris being a fan from the early days and David joining a bit later. What results is a pretty cool discussion around this band’s discography, the highlights and lowlights, as well as providing insight into how people’s views of bands changes over the course of their lives. Grails do a pretty good job of splicing arcane psychedelia and krautrock with large swathes of Constellation style/Spiderland-era Slint post rock. Something they do to (mostly) good effect. Depending on who you ask, of course… This album - actually scratch that - this band has received their fair share of critical acclaim over the years. Despite the fact all three of us don’t quite agree with the critics, some illuminating conversation does follow! So what do you think? Vote on Twitter below. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Rumour has it that Thom Yorke plays in another band called Radiohead, but we found it increasingly difficult to find out about this band. Has anyone ever heard their music? Apparently they’ve released a few records. Yes, this is probably stretching the concept of this very show to breaking point, but the argument here is that this is perhaps the least well known thing that Thom Yorke has done. It also wasn’t met with the same kind of critical praise that greets most Radiohead albums, or indeed the two (three) albums that followed this. So we’re gonna talk about it, alright? The Eraser is probably the most “human” sounding solo album by Thom Yorke. A nice marriage of electronica and (subtle) art rock weirdness, it feels a lot more organic and played than the albums he’s released since. The result is something just as paranoid as you would expect from a man whose music often reeks of it, and that’s a very good thing indeed. Is it unsung? Should it be added to the discography of classics? That’s up to you. NOTE: FACEBOOK have removed their polling feature. It’s gone. Kaput. Erased. So please vote below. Or on Twitter.

It’s kinda crazy to think it’s taken us this long to touch a Saddle Creek band, but we got there in the end. This week Mark has picked Cursive’s seminal fourth album The Ugly Organ for inclusion in our discography. A weird mashup of emo, alt-rock, cabaret and more, it’s an album that the band themselves thought might be a bit too weird for a label that had spent many years releasing classic emo records from the likes of Bright Eyes et al. But no. It went on to sell 170,000 copies and it received serious critical acclaim. Yet, despite this, Cursive remain a band’s band. One that never went on to reach the heights of some of their contemporaries and in the end, they seem quite alright with that fact. To those in the know, this might not seem like an unsung classic but if you’re the kind of person that likes emo, or the kinda of indie emo stuff that the American midwest seems to churn out by the dozen, it’s probably somewhat baffling that this band aren’t huge. Or not, as some will argue. Not a contentious episode by any means, this one, but good chat nonetheless. What say, dear listeners: unsung or not?

Part one can be found here. Whatcha gonna do when Double Glazing run wild on you? Polish up those pythons and take your vitamins pod fans, cause we’re dropping part 2 in the same week as part 1 because we’re just that goddamn crazy. On this ep we talk a little more about wrestling entrance music, WWE Studios, WWE music in general and more. We also pick our top five favourite entrance songs and also pick three songs each that we think would make excellent ring music. We also do our own create a wrestler type thing for those songs and the results are…wild. Also, this week’s nexus is a monster so do stick around for that. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

David ended up in jail last week, so Mark and Chris had to concoct an entirely different episode at short notice. The result? An episode on wrestling entrance themes. Long time fans of the show have probably heard Mark and Chris talk about wrestling from time to time on the show. Turns out that they’re actually pretty big fans of Vince McMahon’s house of big sweaty men and women. However, instead of just chatting about the world of wrestling for ages, because there’s already plenty of great podcasts that do this, they did what they do best and focused on the music. What transpired was two episodes about the history of music in wrestling that segue very nicely into them talking about the purpose of music in wrestling, and chatting about some of the more notable theme tunes. Which is to say that even you’re not a wrestling fan you should definitely stick with this one because it’s really entertaining and will be time well spent. Part two will follow later this week (we’re not gonna spread this one over two weeks like we normally do with our two parters). ENJOY. DON’T FORGET - You can subscribe for $2 a month to access to our episodes a few days earlier, as well as regular bonus content and access to our AAA backstage Facebook group. Head on over to our Patreon to learn more: www.patreon.com/unsungpod

Surprise! Here’s another interview for ya’ll. We’re delighted to bring you this interview with the wonderful KateJane Garside. Well known for her staggering voice and stunning stage presence, KatieJane has been involved in a number of musical projects since the late 80s, most notably the garage punk outfit Daisy Chainsaw in the early 90s and ferocious noise rockers Queenadreena from 99 to 2010. She subsequently went on to form Ruby Throat with her life partner Chris Whittingham, a much more subtle neofolk affair, before marrying the noise and the folk together with their latest album under the name Liar, Flower, called Geiger Counter. We were lucky enough to catch KatieJane as she was on dry land, and she was kind enough to lend us a generous amount of her time so we could talk about her life and career. We cover everything from Daisy Chainsaw to the present day, digging into her life story, some of the things that make her tick as a musician and getting some pretty great tales in the process. This is one for the books so we hope you folk enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed recording it. We’re back next week with Mark’s choice of The Ugly Organ by Cursive.

We seem to say this every time we do an electronic record, but…it’s been a while since we did an electronic record! Lord of Dance (not of the dance, although having seen him cut shapes, we can attest that this may also be somewhat accurate) David Weaver has chosen this seminal dubstep album from the influential UK garage and dubstep artist Burial. If you hear the words “dubstep” and think Skrillex, or hear UK garage and think Craig David then we got news for you folks - this ain’t like any of that. On his debut album, Burial crafts intricate, dystopian soundscapes that paint brief and claustrophobic picture of South London. It’s truly nothing like Skrillex, but that’s what makes it so interesting. Does his debut album warrant a place our discography? Vote below.

Chris was ill this week so we decided that we would release of the bonus episodes we recorded for subscribers back at the end of last year. This one was a lot of fun. We talk about some of our favourite guilty pleasures. We hope you enjoy - some truly brilliant and also hideous stuff in here. Next week we return with Burial’s self titled album!1

Why donate to our Patreon? Well, if you’re made enough to donate a Crag ($50) then we’ll make an episode on an album of your choosing. Then we’ll let folk hear it. That’s exactly what happened here. Well, kind of. Our aim with this episode was to release this to subscribers only but it turned out so damn well that we asked my Rayce Bannon, the man that asked us to talk about this album, if we could release it to the general public but to be honest, we’d already decided we were going to do it anyway. It’s that good. For the first time you will get to hear Chris’ complete noise rock nerdiness on display. It’s…it’s quite something. We also talk about the band, obviously, and more. The nexus in this episode contains a reference to Erin Brockovich, which to those who listened last week, will know that Dave also made the same bloody reference. That’s why were confused and thought we’d done Anneka Rice before. We hadn’t, we’re just idiots. We hope you enjoy this episode. Are we right or wrong here though, does Pissed Jeans’ 4th album deserve to be entered into our discography?

Chris picked a hip hop album. Chris. Chris Cusack. The whitest man in Scotland. He did a good job too. This is Saul Williams’ second album, but it’s the first one where he true voice begins to emerge. It’s a huge clash of styles too, equal parts punk rock, noise, industrial, spoken word and hip hop. His true eclectic style is born on this album, and what a ride it is. Saul would later go on to work with a bunch of acclaimed artists from across a variety of genres, but this album really helped push him into more alt-rock circles, and it’s easy to see why too with Zack De la Rocha, Serj Tankian and Isiah “Ikey” Owens all contributing to this album. The case could easily be made that Saul Williams is himself unsung, so what we want to know is if you think this album is worthy of inclusion in our discography. Vote below.

We really did go down the rabbit hole last week, eh? Well, grab your cave diving gear cause we’re going deep on The Gray Race and The Process of Belief. Much to the complete indifference of Anna and Weaver. Anna in particular is on top form here, which results in perhaps the funniest goddamn episode we’ve ever produced. Chris and Mark go head to head on their choice of unsung BR album, and they each make an impassioned case not just for their album, but also as to why this band are important. Again, much to the indifference of Anna and Weaver. C’est la vie. Wank jokes and monkey’s aside, you fine folks need to decide which album is better: The Gray Race or The Process of Belief. So go do it. Do check out Anna’s radio show on Radiocore too, where on the last Friday of every month her and a pal talk about their experiences DJing and spin some cracking rhythm and blues bangers.

Chris and Mark have threatened Dave with a Bad Religion episode for years, so we felt it was time to put him out his misery. We decided on a head to head, as the band have so many albums that it’s quite difficult to pick just one unsung record (we fully admit that they have a few sung albums). Dave’s indifference to the band and, well, to a lot of punk music, meant that we had to get a punk in to level the playing field. Enter our good pal and frequent guest Anna Goldthorp. A true punk, but also absolutely not a Bad Religion fan. Thus began our epic quest to cleave through Bad Religion’s back catalogue. Epic is indeed the word cause this fucker ended up taking almost 3 and a half goddamn hours to record. Both parts one and two are pretty heavy on the Bad Religion chat (obv) and trivia (double obv) so unless you’re a fan of the band, this episode may very well be a test of our listerns’ mettle. In part one we talk about all of the band’s albums and toss around facts like they’re going out of style. Note: this episode and next week’s are two of the funniest episodes we’ve ever made, so hopefully you’ll stick around for the whole ride even if you’re not a fan.

You can hear part one here. Alright, this is where shit gets real. Like really real. This is when our guest and the concept of our podcast collide to create a thing of singular beauty. There is a meeting of minds. There are moments where agreement is reached, and unsung music appreciated. On part 2 of our interview with Steve Von Till, he goes into detail about Neurosis, Neurot Recordings, some of the records he really digs and, as true to the ethos of the show, picks an album he thinks is unsung. That album is Life of Crime by Laughing Hyenas, and we get into the weeds about the bands, the sound, the scene around them and why they’re truly unsung. Which then puts us in the position that we always put ourselves in. The position in which we ask you, the listener, to vote on whether you think this album unsung. When you listen, you’ll know what we think. But the power in your hands. So use it wisely.

It sure took us a wee while to get around to doing another interview, eh? Well, we’re taking steps to resolve that and (hopefully) bring you more in future. The first of those steps is this two parter with the influential Steve Von Till. The truth is that we weren’t actively planning interviews - it was just one of those things where we would occasionally float the idea of doing one but would never follow it up. So when we got asked if we’d like to interview SVT, being fans of Neurosis, we thought we’d be daft to pass up the chance to do it. And the rest is history. Steve has a new solo album landing on August 7th called No Wilderness Deep Enough. We won’t say much about the album itself in this here blog (cause you totally need to listen to the podcast to get the lowdown) but suffice to say, it’s rather good, and also a bit of a different vibe for him. Alongside the new album he’s releasing his first collection of poetry called Harvestman: 23 Untitled Poems and Collected Lyrics. It’s very good. We also chat about it on this very episode. Steve fills us in in on the inspiration for the album and poetry book, and as is tradition with out interviews, we chat to Steve about some of his back catalogue. Part two will drop later this week. We’re stoked to share this with you. Enjoy!

Hey folks. We’ve been away preparing for a series of really cool episodes we’ve got coming, and we thought we’d take a small break from our regular recording schedule to do some research. But fear not - we’ve decided we’d drop one of our exclusive subscriber bonus episodes for all you non-subscribers. Our Split 7” series is when we take a listener suggested topic and wax lyrical on it. We recorded this back in September last year, and is a great example of the kinda of freewheeling shit we throw together with a near infinite amount of love for our fans. If you like this, we have a bunch more hiding behind out patreon page, which you can access for as little as $2 a month. We regularly ask our patrons for ideas for this content, and you can contribute to this too! On this episode, friend of the pod (and Mark’s flatmate) Craig Brown suggested we talk about our favourite closing tracks. It provided some…interesting discussion, to say the least. Hopefully you fine folk dig it! We return with something a bit special, and a bit different, next week.