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.
This week, we review OneRepublic’s third studio album, Native, followed by an overview of common lyrical formats, implementation, and lyrics’ capacity to strike a bigger chord than the chords that support them.
This week we dive into last year’s LP, Swing Lo Magellan, by Dirty Projectors. Then we preface the topic of “interpretation” by hashing out the distinctions between artists’ music and their visual affectations.
This week is full of throwbacks and smokestacks as we get down to the brassiest of tacks with the steampunk stylings of Steam Powered Giraffe, and their latest full-length, The 2¢ Show. Then we talk a little about music’s therapeutic capabilities, while gauging the polar extremes of musical receptivity.
As the year presses on, we finally get around to reviewing our first 2013 release, the—wait for it—SIXTEENTH studio album by They Might Be Giants, called Nanobots. Join us for a peek at what they’ve been up to. From there, we begin to speculate on the next big “paradigm shift” for music (if indeed it’s coming or if it’s right around the bend).
This week we have quite the mixed bag. For starters, we’re presenting our first-ever “NO pick” review, for Green Day’s third and final installment of their trilogy, ¡Tré! Then we talk a little about the staying power of music on things such as breakups, recoveries, and fond memories — followed by a fun tangent on hipsterism!
It’s finally time to tackle our first EP, an original work by Walk off the Earth called R.E.V.O., which we discuss alongside a selection of self-released covers. This rare combo-review comes courtesy of our guest, the enterprising thespian known as “Joe Rude” of The Kings of Karaoke and of The Society of American Fight Directors. He tells us a bit about Karaoke as a business, and also as a haven for quelling inhibitions, one show at a time. Stick around at the end for a treat performance!
Welcome, welcome… or should I say, “thank ya, thank ya,” because this week we’re traveling to the bygone days of Lawrence Welk with his 1960s compilation album, The Champagne Music of Lawrence Welk. This review is brought to us by today’s guest, the lovely Hazel Honeysuckle, a talented NYC-based burlesque performer who enlightens us with her unique perspective on music as an on-stage tool, as well as a brief history of burlesque and its resurgence as a popular performance art.
This week we dive into a review of Break It Yourself by Andrew Bird. Then we talk a bit about our emotional connections with music, what we seek to gain, and the implications we ascribe to certain styles and genres.
This week, we review Sublime Currency by Abandoned Pools, and then we press on with last week’s discussion of intelligence vs. creativity.
This week, our review is Take the Crown by Robbie Williams, followed by an intense discussion on intelligence vs. creativity.
