Episode 15: The Wildest! - Strange, Outsider and Contradictory Music

After a number of podcasts which barely addressed the subject, we've finally got an episode on strange, outsider and contradictory music.  This is material that is out of step with normality, either just a tiny bit or more substantially.

For your convenience, a direct download and torrent download of this episode.

Your All-Time Great Album word cloud this week is: In The Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson!


Categories covered:

• 13 A really creepy song (Creep by Radiohead not permitted)
• Jon: They Told Me I Was a Fool - Jandek - Are You Ready for the House?
• Turner: Doll's Polyphony - Geinoh Yamashirogumi
• 43 A song you feel 'set the world on fire while no one was listening' (similar to, but not on, the Wire's playlist)
• Turner: Such a Color - Shugo Tokumaru - Night Piece
• Jon: Epitaph - The Kaplan Brothers - Nightbird
• 44 "Avant-garde" or super strange song
• Jon: Can I Poke You There (On Facebook) - J.J. Kitty and the Jimble Express - Tracks and Tricks to Slay the Compsbeast {FREE to download, if you dare}
• Turner: Victory - Daan - Simple
• 50 Song that most defies genre classification
• Turner: Bring on the Lettuce - Factory of Angst - Plague Years: The Best of Factory of Angst
• Jon: Myr Myr Myr - Jgimblypuff and the House Kattz - Tracks and Tricks to Slay the Compsbeast {Another FREE download}

Cultural reference links:

• The "Guide to Jandek" might help you understand this mysterious art project.
• The combination of the song with this clip:is what makes "Doll's Polyphony" so creepy.
• The Wire's "100 Records that Set the World on Fire (While No One Was Listening)"
• Info about Myrmidons

Episode 14: I Open at the Close - Starting and Ending Songs

Episode 7 was a general guide to sequencing, but we couldn't leave this fertile subject alone.  This episode focuses on opening tracks and closing tracks.  Do you know how to start a party?  Do you know how to end one?

For the convenience of our dedicated listenership, here is a direct download and a torrent download of the episode.

Your extra-special bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River!


Categories covered:

• 119 BOOKend: a pair of songs that perfectly open and close an album
• Jon: Gimmie Shelter - The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed
• Turner: Black Sheep Boy - Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Definitive Edition)
• 26 Best track that opens a great album
• Jon: Teenage Riot - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation
• Turner: A More Perfect Union - Titus Andronicus - The Monitor
• 155 Least conclusive closing track
• Turner: As You Said - Warsaw - Warsaw (Demo)
• Jon: Run for Your Life - The Beatles - Rubber Soul
• 25 Song that isn't the last one on an album, but it should be
• Jon: Maggot Brain - Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
• Turner: Love Love Love - The Mountain Goats - Sunset Tree
• 49 Most conclusive closing track
• Turner: My Body is a Cage - Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
• Jon: All Apologies - Nirvana - In Utero
• 120 bookEND: the second part of #119
• Turner: Last Love Song for Now - Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (Definitive Edition)
• Jon: You Can't Always Get What You Want - The Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed

Cultural reference links:

• Stabbed at a Rolling Stones concert!
• Maslow's Hierarchy of needs
• The woman singing on "Gimmie Shelter" is named Merry Clayton, and she rocks the house.
• Lit Crit is the shit
• Lyrics to "Teenage Riot", so you can be sure that the kids are the ones setting up a free speed nation

Episode 13: I'm a Bad, Bad Man

We looked at music that was socially unacceptable in episode 12, but this time we're looking at songs that are about concepts that are socially unacceptable: lying, cheating and stealing.

Because we love you and want you to love us, here is a direct download and torrent download of this episode.

Your bonus All-Time Great Word Cloud: Funeral by Arcade Fire!


Categories covered:

• 103 Song about stealing
• Jon: Steal My Sunshine - LEN - You Can't Stop the Bum Rush
• Turner: Wolf at the Door - Radiohead - Hail to the Thief
• 104 Song about lying
• Jon: Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire - Funeral
• Turner: Revolution's a Lie - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
• 105 Song about cheating
• Turner: Fancy Clown - Madvillain ft. Viktor Vaughn - Madvillainy
• Jon: The Card Cheat - The Clash - London Calling

Cultural reference links:

• Our songs about lying are thematically like the two halves of Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who
• MF DOOM wears a big metal mask
• Check out the hilarious old TRL site
• Stagger Lee!

Episode 12: That Sh*t Cray!

We delve into some weird stuff this time, talking about nutty, nasty and socially unacceptable music.

For your convenience: a direct download and a torrent download

Your weekly bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Spiderland by Slint!


Categories covered:

• 97 Sleazy beats
• Turner: Your Retro Career Melted - The Faint - Danse Macabre
• Jon: Emerge - Fischerspoonder - #1
• 152 Song that is bonkers
• Turner: Wham City! - Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
• Jon: Coming to a Radio Near You - Supie T. - Getdown Airwaves: Coming to a Radio Near You
• 130 Potty humor song
• Jon: My Ding-a-Ling - Chuck Berry - The Anthology
• Turner: Who Farted? Pt. 1 - Sage Francis - Sick of Wasting...
• 131 Song for a Rube Goldberg Machine
• Turner: Bird Flu - MIA - Kala
• Jon: A Night on the Tiles - Disco Inferno - It's a Kid's World EP

Cultural reference links:

• Why is this episode called 'That Shit Cray'?  It's just yet another reference to this song!
• What is a Rube Goldberg Machine?
• Check out this real-life RGM!
• Electroclash: what is it?  Who makes it?
• Chuck Berry's music went into space as our first ambassador to alien species - which I think is a good choice!
• But it's so sad that 'My Ding-a-Ling' was Berry's only #1 hit...

Episode 11: The Care and Feeding of Musical Obessives

It should be pretty obvious by now that we're musical obsessives.  In this week's episode we'll take a look at what exactly that means: how and why we collect music.

For listening anytime, download the episode directly or by torrent.

This week's bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Closer by Joy Division!

Categories Covered:

• 21 Great song you know I have never heard before
• Jon: Premonitions (Fantasy) - Bobb Trimble - Harvest of Dreams
• Turner: Let it Go - araabMUZIK - Electronic Dream
• 29 Great song on a compilation (and that compilation is the only thing you have by that artist)
• Turner: De-Orbit - Speedy J - Artificial Intelligence
• Jon: Qhude Manikiniki - Umahlathini Nabo - The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
• 113 Last song recorded by a dead person
• Turner: Ceremony (Tour Rehearsal Session, Manchester April 1980) - Joy Division - Heart and Soul Box Set Disc 3
• Jon: Black-eyed Dog - Nick Drake - Time of No Reply
• 124 Best version of the song you have the most versions of
• Turner: Heroes and Villains - The Beach Boys - Smile Sessions Box Set
• Jon: Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys - Smile Sessions Box Set

Cultural reference links:

• araabMUZIK making a beat on his MPC
• Robert Christgau, who is referenced but not explained in this episode, is a major music critic.  Jon loves him, Turner is skeptical of him.
• Christgau absolutely LOVES The Indestructible Beat of Soweto
• Our dead persons:
• Ian Curtis
• Nick Drake

Episode 10: You Have Your Whole Life to Write Your First Album...

This time we're taking a look at musical careers: development and maturation or stagnation and decay?

If you don't want to listen from this site but would instead like to download this podcast directly for listening at your convenience, THIS is a direct link and THIS is a torrent download.

All-Time Great Album word cloud of the week: Slanted and Enchanted by Pavement!


Categories covered:

• 2: Best song from an all-time great band's worst album
• Jon: Tight Connection to My Heart - Bob Dylan - Empire Burlesque
• Turner: Dramamine - Modest Mouse - This is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About
• 28: A band's overall best track that's not on their best album
• Jon: How Soon Is Now - The Smiths - Meat Is Murder
• Turner: Rattled by the Rush - Pavement - Wowee Zowee
• 63: That one song from a great band's first album that sounds out of place on their debut but is totally standard for their following albums
• Turner: Here - Pavement - Slanted and Enchanted
• Jon: About a Girl - Nirvana - Bleach

Cultural Reference Links:

• Nirvana released Bleach, then Nevermind, then In Utero
• Pavement released Slanted & Enchanted, then Crooked Rain Crooked Rain, then Wowee Zowee, then Brighten the Corners, then Terror Twilight
• The Smiths released The Smiths, then Meat is Murder, then The Queen is Dead, then Strangeways Here We Come
• There is no way I am doing a list of Bob Dylan's bajillion albums
• Lots of artists' careers function like a bell curve (a.k.a. a normal distribution): they start immature, get better, hit their prime, are kind of okay for a while and then decline.

Episode 9: The Beat, The Funk and The Rock - A Musical Trinity

In this episode we reveal our carefully crafted theology: a musical trinity containing The Beat (The Father: rhythm), The Funk (The Holy Spirit: groove) and The Rock (The Son: the riff).

If you don't want to listen from this site but would instead like to download this podcast directly for listening at any time you'd like, THIS is a direct link and THIS is a torrent download.

All-Time Great Album word cloud of the week: Electric Ladyland by The Jimi Hendrix Experience!


Categories covered:

• 140: Song that best represents The Beat
• Jon: Niggers are Scared of Revolution - The Last Poets - The Last Poets
• Turner: Guns of Brixton - The Clash - London Calling
• 141: Song that best represents The Rock
• Jon: Back in Black - AC/DC - Back in Black
• Turner: Rock the Casbah - The Clash - Combat Rock
• 142: Song that best represents The Funk
• Turner: Overpowered by Funk - The Clash - Combat Rock
• Jon: Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - James Brown - Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine Single
• 143: Song that best represents The Beat, The Funk and The Rock
• Turner: Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock? - Funkadelic - One Nation Under a Groove
• Jon: Voodoo Child (Slight Return) - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland

Cultural Reference Links:

• The Trinity explained (almost)
• Eros and Thanatos, the sex and death drives.

Episode 8: The Mans Do What They Cans - The Best Album of 2012

Turner and Jon amazingly agree on what album was the best one of the previous year: Open Your Heart by The Men.

In our first non-scavenger hunt episode we'll go through it track by track and discuss how it succeeds and fails on the themes we've focused on in other TEP episodes: sequencing, lyrics, surprises, musical careers and influences and more.

As a bonus, here's a word cloud of the lyrics of the album:

On an administrative note, The Eternal Playlist has been updated until this point based on when episodes are finished editing.  This meant that you'd get a cluster of three episodes at once and then maybe nothing for a couple weeks (or months in this particular case).  No longer!  We're now on a set schedule: one episode per week, no more and no less.  We've also got a few new weekly features coming soon.  Stay tuned.

Resources:

• Some guy named Fuzzy Material has posted the entire album, song by song, on YouTube.  I'm sure this will be taken down eventually, but until then here's a 'try before you buy' way of listening to the album.
• And here are the lyrics to the album (some of them may be slightly wrong, but it's the best set I've found so far)

Episode 7: Playing God

In this episode we discuss another neglected aspect of music: album sequencing.  When you're making an album, what goes first and what goes last?  Obviously you should put the worst song first!

Bonus All-Time Great album word cloud: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd!

Categories covered:

• 20 great song which is the shortest one on a sub-40 minute album
• Turner: Breaking Glass - David Bowie - Low
• Jon: Intro - Bad Brains - Bad Brains
• 51 & 52: Best one-two punch on an album (consecutive songs that just hit you hard)
• Jon: While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Happiness is a Warm Gun - The Beatles - The Beatles (White Album)
• Turner: Love -> Building on Fire and Memories Can't Wait - Talking Heads - The Name of This Band is Talking Heads
• 59 song that gets much worse when taken out of its album context
• Turner: Fitter Happier - Radiohead - OK Computer
• Jon: Eclipse - Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

Cultural reference links:

• Even though Stylus is dead, they still provide an archive of their old postings.  Here's the column 'Playing God', which inspired and named this episode.
• Dramatic structure, which is Turner's archetypal method of sequencing albums.
• The lyrics to Fitter Happier, because they're just so cool and full of anticapitalist ennui 
• And speaking of anticapitalism, we mentioned Naomi Klein and her book No Logo, which was a big influence on Radiohead during the recording of OK Computer.

Episode 6: Steve Albini For President

Production is a vital but infrequently discussed aspect of making music.  We aim to fix that, so we're spending a whole episode on various aspects of production!

For listening at your convenience, a direct download is HERE and a torrent download can be found HERE.

Your weekly All-Time Great Album word cloud: Let it Be by The Replacements!


Categories covered:

• 14 Rap song where the beat is much better than the rapping
• Turner: POWER - Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• Jon: The Breaks - Kurtis Blow - The Breaks
• 15 rap song where the lyrics are much better than the beat
• Turner: Follow the Leader - Erik B. and Rakim - Follow the Leader
• Jon: I Ain't No Joke - Erik B. and Rakim - Paid in Full
• 87 song that benefits from bad recording/production
• Turner: The Truly Great Thing - Sebadoh - III
• Jon: Androgynous - The Replacements - Let it Be 
• 88 song that is harmed by good recording/production
• Turner: Calgary - Bon Iver - Bon Iver, Bon Iver
• Jon: Bastards of Young - The Replacements - Tim

Cultural reference links:

• Steve Albini, the person for whom the episode is named, has produced an insane amount of music
• A way we didn't mention that production can harm not only a single song but whole genres of music: The Loudness War
• Info about lizard people from a reputable source
• And a disreputable one
• More about voting for 'lizard people'

Episode 5: I Am A Scientist

It's time to apply the scientific method to our musical taste and try to frankly assess some songs we have never heard before or didn't like in the past.

For your listening convenience, a direct download and a torrent download of this episode.

Your weekly bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Ágætis byrjun by Sigur Ros!  Obviously this one is not in English.


Categories covered:

• 34 Your most-played song in the last year that I have not heard
• Turner: The Vowels Pt. 2 - Why? - Alopecia
• Jon: Emma's House - The Field Mice - Where'd You Learn to Kiss That Way?
• 57 song you've never listened to (don't listen to it while picking)
• Turner: Hold it in - Jukebox the Ghost - Live and Let Ghosts
• Jon: A Stare Like Yours - The Thermals - Fuckin' A
• 66 song you totally hated until you didn't
• Turner: Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
• Jon: Svefn-g-englar - Sigur Ros - Ágætis byrjun

Cultural reference links:

• Required 'reading' for budding musical scientists
• 'I Am A Scientist' music video, for which this episode is titled
• Last.fm, the only musical statistics site you should ever need
• Turner's Last.fm
• Jon's Last.fm

Episode 4: The Anxiety of Influence

Turner and I rip apart some remixes, covers and mashups as a means to discuss the way musicians use the influences of artists and styles that came before them.

Because we love our listeners and want you to take The Eternal Playlist with you wherever you go, here's a direct download and a torrent download of the episode.

Your bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips!


Categories covered:

• 5 cover/mashup which improves on the original
• Turner: Where Did You Sleep Last Night - Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York
• Jon: Ceremony - Galaxie 500 - Blue Thunder EP
• 10 remix that totally ruins the original
• Turner: Romantic Rights (The Phones Lovers Remix) - Death from Above 1979 - Romance Bloody Romance
• Jon: Satisfaction - The Residents - Third Reich and Roll
• 11 remix that does NOTHING to the original
• Turner: Killer Mirror (Mysplice the Third Remix) - Arcade Fire, The Killers, Mysplice the Third - Stereogum & team9 Present...Mysplice III
• Jon: Waitin' For A Superman - The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin
• 37 Song where the remix is better
• Jon: Ignition (Remix) - R. Kelly - Chocolate Factory
• Turner: Money Folder (Four Tet Remix) - Madvillain and Four Tet - Four Tet: The Madvillain Remixes

Cultural reference links:

• Wikipedia on The Anxiety of Influence by Harold Bloom
• Or you could buy his boring book!
• Jangle Pop!
• The Hype Machine, for all the mediocre remixes of modern Indie music that you can stand!
• Sigur Ros pronunciation guide, because not everyone wants to eat word salad.

Episode 3: Loud, Fast, Slow, Sad: Key Qualities in Music

In this episode we discuss the key qualities that music can have: volume, speed and emotive content.

Take The Eternal Playlist on the road with you: a direct download and a torrent download of this episode is only a click away.

Bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Illmatic by Nas


Categories covered:

• 38 "Loudest" song
• Jon: Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell - Iggy and the Stooges - Raw Power (Iggy Pop Mix)
• Turner: 0078h - M83 - Dead Cities, Red Seas and Lost Ghosts
• 39 "Fastest" song (not to be confused with shortest)
• Turner: Playing with Pink Noise - Kaki King - Legs to Make Us Longer
• Jon: N.Y. State of Mind - Nas - Illmatic
• 40  "Slowest" song
• Turner: Maggot Brain - Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
• Jon: Words - Low - I Could Live in Hope
• 41 Saddest, most depressing, soul-crushing song
• Turner: John Wayne Gacey Jr. - Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
• Jon: The Eternal - Joy Division - Closer
• 42 A song of fragile beauty that makes you feel contemplative
• Turner: A Stone - Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
• Jon: Nightswimming - R.E.M. - Automatic for the People

Cultural reference links:

• Just so you can keep all the various mixes of Raw Power straight in your mind
• The just-noticeable difference explains why your music is always too loud when you turn the car on.
• Because it deserves a complete guide, here's Rapgenius's guide to Illmatic by Nas
• Someone even wrote an academic examination of Illmatic!
• The Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop is a book about how rap lyrics are structured, as we mentioned when talking about Nas and Rakim
• What is slowcore?
• What are some slowcore artists?
• James K. Polk.  When the Democrats ran Franklin Pierce a few years later they used the slogan "We Polked you in '44, We shall Pierce you in '52"
• John Wayne Gacy Jr.
• The book Turner read about serial killers

Episode 2: Who Needs Lyrics in Rock Music Anyway?

In this episode we talk about the place of lyrics in modern music.  Are good lyrics required?  Optional? Totally pointless because no one cares about them anyway?  Join us as we settle this important question for all eternity.

Take The Eternal Playlist with you: download this episode directly or by torrent.

Bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Graceland by Paul Simon


Categories covered:

•  32 Best-written lyrics
• Jon: It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding) - Bob Dylan - Bringing it All Back Home
• Turner: The Splendor of the Bender - The Deadly Gentlemen - The Bastard Masterpiece
• 45 Song with great instrumentation but terrible lyrics
• Jon: Live Forever - Oasis - Definitely Maybe
• Turner: Goldie - A$AP Rocky - Long. Live. A$AP
• 69 best vocals that aren't saying any words (ululations and such)
• Jon: Homeless - Paul Simon - Graceland
• Turner: The Hounds of Love - The Futureheads - The Futureheads

Cultural Reference Links:

• P.D. Eastman, worker of miracles with simple language.

Episode 1: You May Manipulate the Prompt

In our first ever episode, we discuss what the scavenger hunt playlist is and why it's so damn much fun.  Join us, won't you?
For those who don't want to listen via this site, here's a direct download and a torrent download of this episode.

Bonus All-Time Great Album word cloud: Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices!

Categories Covered:

• 70 best misdirection of the listener
• Turner: Sweet Jane - The Velvet Underground - Loaded
• Jon: Smoke it the Pot - Gene Marshall - I Like Yellow Things: MSR Madness Vol. 5
• 77 song that reveals a weird obsession of the author
• Turner: Lust for Life - Girls - Album
• Jon: No More Hot Dogs - Hasil Adkins - Out to Hunch
• 90 song about a murder
• Turner: Buzzards and Dreadful Crows - Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand
• Jon: Video Killed the Radio Star - The Buggles - Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's
• 106 song that incorrectly describes science or natural processes
• Turner: Buggin' Out - A Tribe Called Quest - The Low End Theory
• Jon: Miracles - Insane Clown Posse - Bang Pow Boom

Cultural Reference Links:

• Off the Charts: The Song Poem Story
• The video for Miracles by Insane Clown Posse, so you have some idea what all the fuss is about.  You're only about two years late.
• Can you believe that 'Smoke it the Pot' by Gene Marshall is available for free at WFMU's Beware of the Blog?  I couldn't either!
• The Internet Archive isn't just for hosting this podcast, it also includes topical public domain material such as Reefer Madness.