The Crash Chords Podcast is an eternal war for artistic scrutiny. Follow along with our intensive album analyses by diving into the album yourself first — using our Spotify play buttons, when available — and then join us in asking the hard questions. Expect guest panelists, broader topics concerning music as an art form, episode specials, and surprise performances.
Sift through this archive more efficiently by checking out our “At-a-Glance” sub-menu, complete with episode hyperlinks, albums, topics, and our final rating chart.
To inaugurate “Season 2″ of Crash Chords Podcast, we dive into something a little more complex: The Envisage Conundrum by the Welsh Prog trio, Godsticks. Then we talk a bit about the developing interactive capabilities of music, how marketable they are, and whether or not they’ll be a positive move for the industry.
Well, we’ve made it! Fifty episodes of previews, reviews, interviews, and issues. After covering such a variety of styles and subjects, we’ve decided to take a step back and look at the larger picture. Music is, after all, a single art form—a favorite of ours, as you might imagine—which is why we feel the need to have a little intervention. We shine the spotlight on music and objectively compare it against all the other arts, humanities, and disciplines out there. What do they share? Where do they differ? Are any of them more versatile? These questions and more get hashed out on this special edition of Crash Chords Podcast.
At the cusp of our one-year anniversary, this week’s episode looks toward the future by first glancing at the past. We review the recent Daft Punk LP, Random Access Memories, an original work that chronicles Electronica through the decades. From there, we jump to a heavy conjecture-driven debate on the future of mainstream music (as once imagined, and as we perceive it today). We explore how paragon shifts hinge on cultural phenomena, such as technology, invention, adaptation, and revolution.
This week we’re joined by the indomitable Gary Oransky and Nate Rider (a.k.a. Gary_O & JediN8) from the Average Intelligence Podcast. Apart from taking our weekly digressions to even scarier frontiers, they also deliver us our first music-comedy album, “Weird Al” Yankovic’s biting answer to the 1990s, Running with Scissors. Afterwards, Gary and Nate discuss their panoptical role on Average Intelligence as the self-described “bastard children of Pop Culture and Momma Media.” And so, what better way to wrap up a pop culture discussion than to sit back and gab about film sequels!
This week we venture into pure Hip-Hop territory with an especially dense review for an especially dense album: The Heist by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. Afterwards, we touch upon what it means to be an independent label, and then play fisticuffs with the ineffable vs. the naked truth.
This week, prepare to unleash your inner goth for a review of Tears on Tape by the Finnish “Love Metal” band, HIM. Then, listen in while we wrestle the topic of overseas music culture and the far-reaching impacts of globalization.
Today we’re delighted to welcome another charming burlesque artist, the creative and talented Kita St. Cyr, who presents us with our album of the week: Tabu! Volume 1, a 1960s compilation of Exotica, Rockabilly, Blues, and you name it! We also receive a fascinating lesson on Exotica as a genre, and of course get the inside scoop on Kita and her art.
Today’s rowdy gathering of antics and philosophy is brought to you by a local Brooklyn talent and treasure, self-described “Celt-ish” cover band, The Waysties. Join us as we interview them on everything from the band’s origins to their influences, side-projects, hobbies, interests, and much more! We also dive into a big discussion on Steampunk as a movement and a form of expressionism. To top it all off, the band treats us to some live performances, so stay on your toes!
This week we mellow out to the crooners of the Great Lakes, Low, and review their tenth studio album, The Invisible Way. Don’t have the album? We got you covered — follow along with our new Spotify widget! Then stick around for a whopper of a debate on the influential power of art, exploring music’s sociopolitical relationship with prejudice, conscience, and choice.
This week we’re excited to be reviewing Paramore’s latest self-titled LP, their fourth studio album and first full-length since 2009, Paramore. We also send out a head-nod to Adam Schartoff with Filmwax Radio and then take some time out to speculate on Paramore’s discographical future.
