CCP Ep. #238: Drunk by Thundercat

At the behest of listener (and former guest Devin Jackson Mullen of Anxious Kids Make Good People), today we’re taking on Drunk, the latest project by Thundercat, the stage name of grammy-award winning bassist Stephen Bruner. Composed by Bruner, but with the help of long-time collaborator Flying Lotus and a myriad of guest artists, Drunk is a 23-track wormhole that explores the inventive and demented mind of the talented bassist — under any and all of life’s circumstances. Let’s explore the album together before broadcasting a monster monologue [@2:19:21 – @2:40:24] covering the ethics of criticism, a response to an artist, and some changes to the format of the series.

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CCP Ep. #221: “Awaken, My Love!” by Childish Gambino

Happy New Year from Crash Chords! Due in part to the holidays, but mostly to flu season, we took a short break and now it’s time to play catch up! It’s the race to Ep. #225 as we kick off the year with FIVE consecutive days of the Crash Chords Podcast. Today we commence with the first in the lineup by following through with our December guest’s own listener pick. Many thanks to Mike Rugnetta for spurring us to tackle the third signed album by Childish Gambino—that is, the stage name and alias for actor and comedian Donald Glover—euphorically titled “Awaken, My Love!” Come join us for an analysis of the album and also for a discussion on music suggestions that always seem to come with warnings and caveats.

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CCP Ep. #206: Stranger Things Have Happened by Clare Maguire

This week, our project is an album called Stranger Things Have Happened by English singer/songwriter Clare Maguire—on the face of it, an album that’s split in tone, and potentially in theme. Can we wrestle our hearts with an album like this? We hope you will, because the gems are without a doubt, a reward in themselves. Partially influenced by jazz, lounge, soul, and dreampop, we encourage you to experience this album with us and join us in pondering its many distinctive flavors. Afterwards: film soundtracks and the power to save the film in question. A pipe dream? Are soundtracks tethered at the hip, or fiercely independent?

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CCP Ep. #190: Everything You’ve Come to Expect by The Last Shadow Puppets

The April 1st comeback of the 2007 supergroup The Last Shadow Puppets (formed by Alex Turner and Miles Kane) has unveiled Everything You’ve Come to Expect, an album brought to us courtesy of listener José (Nokjaw). Let’s all dive into the album together before confronting our topic [at 1:41:15], which explores the physical limitations of musicians and how certain artists have managed to overcome them.

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CCP Ep. #173: Surf by Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment

To close out this review season, we bring you the debut album by the most ambitious collaborators we’ve ever looked at… Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment. Although they began with a core of five members, the band’s debut album Surf certainly lives up to their name, The Social Experiment, by introducing MANY more musical minds to the table. Offering the album up for free (exclusively on iTunes), the band appears to be as magnanimous as they are community-driven. Enjoy this thorough analysis along with, lastly, some quick thoughts on contemporary music trends — verily on our minds as we fast approach the 2015 year in review.

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CCP Ep. #128: Black Messiah by D’Angelo and the Vanguard

Courtesy of Mark H., we welcome our first fan-pick of the year by taking a trip through the long-awaited Black Messiah by D’Angelo and the Vanguard. Breathing new life into R&B and blending it with modern themes, D’Angelo’s re-emergence after a 14-year hiatus has appeared to pique critics’ interest in just about every corner of the field. Following the album, we then say a few words on the oldest theme in the book: LOVE. In any form, the ‘L’-word’s thematic presence in music is so ubiquitous as to almost be shrugged off. What keeps “love” fresh, and why the compulsion to wear one’s heart on their CD-sleeve?

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