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Friday, October 30th, 2009

The Popdose Podcast: Episode 2

by Jason Hare

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Wow! You like us! You really like us! The numbers for Episode 1 of The Popdose Podcast were so high that we knew we had to come back for a second episode. (In all honesty, we were coming back regardless. We had too much fun last time, and none of us know how to take a hint anyway.)

With Halloween just a week away at the time of this recording, we decided to ask ourselves: what scared the crap out of us as children? Although our therapy bills this week have definitely skyrocketed, we hope you’ll find our confessions entertaining — and if not, you can count on plenty — plenty! — of digressions into other topics on the way.

So listen away! You can download here, or subscribe in iTunes (link below). Please leave us your thoughts in the comments, and if you like the show, please leave a review on iTunes. Enjoy!

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 2: Dixie Carter’s Laundry (1:01:36, 56.5 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton.
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You can also subscribe to the podcast’s RSS feed.

Show Notes

0:00 Intro, including an unfortunate digression into having sex with soup.

Theme: Things That Scared the Crap Out of Us as Children (more…)

Tags: Alex Karras, America, Amir Talai, Ayatollah Khomeini, Bananas, Ben Vaughn, Bruce Springsteen, Conrad Bain, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Dave Lifton, Designing Women, Diff'rent Strokes, Disney, Dixie Carter, E.T., E.T. -- The Extra Terrestrial, Extreme, French Onion, George Gaines, Gina Schock, Guggenheim Grotto, Hole Hearted, Jason Hare, Jeff Giles, John Oates, Lawrence Kirsch, Mannequin, Matthew Ryan, Matthew Wilder, Meshach Taylor, Miley Cyrus, Misery, More Than Words, Muammar al-Gaddafi, New England Clam Chowder, Poltergeist, Popdose, Popdose Podcast, Red Dawn, Robbie Nevil, Ronald Reagan, Soup, Space: 1999, The Light in Darkness, The Shining, The Wizard of Oz
Posted in Featured, Featured - Frontpage, Music, Podcast, Popdose | Comments

Monday, October 26th, 2009

Infinite Play: The Rolling Stones, “Let It Loose”

by Dave Lifton

2158f0cdd7a03742aec58110.L._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1] Last week, I took the redeye back from Vegas while still slightly hung over from a blowout the night before. I hadn’t fully recovered a few days later, but that didn’t prevent me from stopping by my regular hangout. I decided to join Giles and Asregadoo on Bourbon Street, and was two sips into my first Knob Creek when I realized I was in the mood for Exile on Main Street by the Rolling Stones. I guess recapping the events of a weekend in Sin City for the staff was the closest I get to that album’s stoned-out decadence.

Unfortunately, the otherwise excellent jukebox lacks this particular masterpiece, and had to wait until I was done for the night when I could crank it up on the journey home. But I didn’t realize that my iPod was set on Shuffle, so after “Rocks Off,” I didn’t get the breathless rush of “Rip This Joint,” but rather “Let It Loose.”

Some albums hit you on first listen. Others remain outside your grasp for years no matter how many times you keep coming back to them. Then, one day, it all starts to make sense, opening up worlds you never thought existed. Exile is one of those albums. I knew “Tumblin’ Dice” and “Happy” from classic rock radio, but, like most double albums, it was too sprawling. The other albums the Stones put out in that period, Beggars Banquet, Let It Bleed, and Sticky Fingers, were more accessible, more compact. Even worse was a muddy mix that made most of Mick Jagger’s vocals unintelligible. I could only pay it lip service, repeating what others had said about it, for fear of losing my credibility. (more…)

Tags: classic rock, Dave Lifton, Exile On Main Street, Keith Richards, Let It Loose, Mick Jagger, Rolling Stones
Posted in Infinite Play, Music | Comments

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

The Friday Mixtape: Popdose Staff Edition

by Ken Shane

mixtapelogo

To paraphrase an old adage: those who can, do, and those who can’t, write. For the last couple of years now, you’ve been good enough to come to our site every Friday and download all the really cool tracks that we’ve selected for the week’s Mixtape. This week we thought we’d change things up a bit. The fact is, a number of Popdose writers are musicians themselves; they can not only write — they can do, too. So we put out a call for songs from our writers, and got a a nice response, and a whole lot of great tunes. The talent level was a surprise even to us. (more…)

Tags: Anthony Hansen, Ben Wiser, Dave Lifton, Dw. Dunphy, Friday Mixtape, Jack Feerick, Jeff DeWester, Jeff Giles, Ken Shane, Lost Causes, Rob Smith
Posted in Music, The Weekly Mixtape | Comments

Tuesday, October 13th, 2009

Infinite Play: Chris Bell, “You and Your Sister”

by Dave Lifton

This is a series I began on my blog, Wings for Wheels, a few years ago under the awkward title Songs I Never Get Tired Of. When I begged asked Jeff Giles if I could move it over to Popdose, I also asked if he had a better name. He came up with Infinite Play, which is, um, infinitely superior. I guess that’s why he’s in charge.

Essentially, this column will look at a different song each week, but unlike, say, Scott Malchus’ incredibly moving Basement Songs, I won’t be dealing with my personal connections to the songs. There will be some of that in there, but, for the most part, I’ll be focusing more on the songwriting aspects, breaking down crucial parts of the music and lyrics to get a better understanding of why, in the words of Craig Finn, certain songs get so scratched into our souls.

Although I have yet to purchase it, the new Big Star box set (thanks in part to Ken Shane’s excellent review) has put that much-celebrated, little-heard band into my head over the past week. But while the first song of the new Infinite Play series is on that set, it’s not by the seminal power pop band, but by founding member Chris Bell. “You and Your Sister” was originally the B-side to “I Am The Cosmos,” the only solo release by Bell in his lifetime.

The song functions as a sort of response to Alex Chilton’s classic “Thirteen,” from Big Star’s debut, #1 Record. Both are gentle acoustic ballads and are even in the same key (Bb, played in G with capos on the third fret). I don’t know if that was intentional on Bell’s part, but it does help in understanding why Chilton and Bell were such a perfect match for each other. Let’s look at the second verse of both songs. (more…)

Tags: Alex Chilton, Big Star, Chris Bell, Dave Lifton, Infinite Play, power pop, You And Your Sister
Posted in Infinite Play, Music | Comments

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

The Popdose Podcast: Episode 1

by Jason Hare

This is something we’ve been talking about doing for a long time — in fact, we really thought we’d be debuting the Popdose Podcast over a year ago. It wasn’t until we were finally able to trick our friend Dave Lifton into shuttering his long-running and wildly popular Wings for Wheels series that our plans came together — with the technical savvy necessary to edit our nonsensical jabbering into pure audio entertainment, and a strong enough personality to keep the entire podcast from dissolving into a giggling fit of mom jokes, Dave was the crucial final ingredient we were waiting for all along.

So open up your pod, baby, and let us in — and remember, this is only our debut. Even television classics like According to Jim didn’t enjoy their finest moments until they’d had a little time to hit their stride, and you have no idea what we have in store for you during the coming months. (Note: neither do we.) Like what you hear? Hate it? Drop us a line in the comments and let us know. And now, without further ado…

The Popdose Podcast, Episode 1: Donkey Eatin’ a Pony (1:09:49, 64.9 MB), featuring Jeff Giles, Jason Hare, and Dave Lifton.
You can also subscribe to the podcast’s RSS feed.

Show Notes

0:00 Intro, including digressions into the end of Guiding Light, and Jason’s ass.

5:05 Jeff Giles discusses ASCAP and BMI demanding fees for 30-second samples on iTunes, plus, how Popdose may be affected.

18:53 Dave Lifton discusses hipsters ironically nostalgic for the ’80s, which leads to digressions into Lionel Richie, J-Stache, his taint and Richard Marx sniffing it, the Michael McDonald/Grizzly Bear collaboration, Jason Lytle covering Billy Joel, Daryl Hall’s expensive house, and Smokey Robinson & George Michael singing “Careless Whisper.”

38:20 Jason Hare credits Terje Fjelde’s awesome Popdose podcast contributions, then discusses Mariah Carey appearing on Oprah and covering Foreigner. Digressions continue into Mariah’s “All I Want for Christmas is You,” Journey, The Saw Lady, and Wing.

54:31 Popdose Endorsements (official title yet to be determined; offer your suggestions in the comments!): Jeff endorses fun. (song clip: “Benson Hedges”)

57:06 Popdose Endorsements: Dave endorses Robbie Fulks (song clip: “Papa Was A Steel-Headed Man”)

58:51 Popdose Endorsements: Jason endorses the Damnwells and Tragedy: An All-Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees (song clip: “Stayin’ Alive)

1:02:00 Outro: Jeff highlights his interview with Zach Curd of Desktop (song: “My Boo,” a Popdose exclusive track)

Tags: ASCAP, Bee Gees, Billy Joel, BMI, Daryl Hall, Dave Lifton, Desktop, Foreigner, fun, George Michael, Grizzly Bear, Guiding Light, iTunes, J-Stache, Jason Hare, Jason Lytle, Jeff Giles, Journey, Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey, Michael McDonald, Oprah Winfrey, Popdose, Popdose Podcast, Richard Marx, Robbie Fulks, Saw Lady, Smokey Robinson, Terje Fjelde, The Damnwells, Tragedy: An All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees, Wing, Zach Curd
Posted in Featured, Featured - Frontpage, Music, Podcast, Popdose | Comments