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In 1991, teenage Louisville, Kentucky band Slint recorded 'Spiderland', a brooding, sinister record that helped invent post-rock and influenced a generation of musicians. This week's guest Jay Reeve (Muteant Sounds Net Label) joins Rob to dissect this darkly mysterious album. As Steve Albini wrote in a 1991 Melody Maker review: "It's an amazing record, and no one still capable of being moved by rock music should miss it. In 10 years' time, it will be a landmark and you'll have to scramble to buy a copy then." Songs featured in this episode: Groin - AG Davis; My Black Ass - Shellac; Ron - Slint; Thursday - Squirrel Bait; I Found That Essence Rare - Gang Of Four; Safari - The Breeders; Discipline - King Crimson; Shadow Of A Doubt - Sonic Youth; Mouth Breather - The Jesus Lizard; We Are 138 - Misfits; Breadcrumb Trail, Nosferatu Man, Don, Aman, Washer, For Dinner..., Good Morning, Captain - Slint; Heroin - The Velvet Underground; Moonbeams - The For Carnation; Half The Man I Used To Be - Stone Temple Pilots; Barricade - Interpol; Un tout petit cheval - SYLVAIN GUÉRINEAU & JEAN ROUGIER; Washer (Live in London, 2013) - Slint

For this week's episode, we climb aboard the rock-and-roll mothership that is Led Zeppelin and their mysteriously untitled fourth album. What more could possibly be said about this ubiquitous classic-rock staple? This week's guest Ralph Cavallaro describes how the record/band went from seminal hard rock touchstone in his youth to bloated, uncool anachronism in his college years to one of his all-time favorites today. Along the way we dig into the sonic artistry and groundbreaking recording techniques that make this a stone cold classic. Songs featured in this episode: Anymore - Quit; The Song Remains The Same - Led Zeppelin; Terrible Lie - Nine Inch Nails; Icky Thump - The White Stripes; Rocks Off - The Rolling Stones; Detroit Rock City - KISS; The Pretender - Foo Fighters; Black Dog - Led Zeppelin; Oh Well - Fleetwood Mac; Cinnamon Girl - Neil Young; Keep a Knockin' - Little Richard; Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin; Book Of Love - The Monotones; Rock and Roll (Live) - Foo Fighters; The Battle of Evermore, Stairway To Heaven, Misty Mountain Hop, Four Sticks, Going To California - Led Zeppelin; California - Joni Mitchell; When The Levee Breaks - Memphis Minnie; When The Levee Breaks - Led Zeppelin; Time - Pink Floyd; Whole Lotta Love (Live) - Prince; Rock and Roll (Live) - Led Zeppelin

When this week's guest Kristen McLean's parents were raising the beams of their house in Worthington Massachusetts in 1971, Crosby Stills Nash & Young's 'Deja Vu' was the soundtrack. The angelic melding of CSN&Y's voices belied the often-dark mood of the record, as the members personal struggles and the tattered remnants of the Summer of Love colored every note within. "One morning I woke up and I knew you were really gone..." Songs featured in this episode: No Irish Need Apply - Don McLean; Sliabh Russell - Mary Bergin; Hidden Lake - Gold Dust Lounge; Honeysuckle - Waikiki Swingsters; Find The Cost of Freedom, Marrakesh Express, Carry On, Teach Your Children - CSN&Y; Father & Son - Cat Stevens; Almost Cut My Hair, Helpless, Woodstock - CSN&Y; Woodstock - Joni Mitchell; Deja Vu, Our House, 4 + 20, Country Girl, Everybody I Love You - CSN&Y; In The Morning - Bee Gees; Know You Got To Run - CSN&Y

Formed in 1976 by husband-and-wife duo Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, The Cramps forged their own unique niche in the early punk movement with their raucous brand of rock-n-roll psychobilly. This week's guest, art gallery owner and music fan Brook Dorsch, brings us their debut full-length 'Songs The Lord Taught Us'. "Well, come on little mama, let's tear this damn place up!" Songs featured in this episode: Human Fly - The Cramps; Dark Entries - Bauhaus; Health Fanatic - John Cooper Clarke; The Ballad Of El Goodo - Big Star; Teenagers From Mars - The Misfits; TV Set, Rock on the Moon, Garbageman, I Was a Teenage Werewolf - The Cramps; Rumble - Link Wray; Sunglasses After Dark - The Cramps; Ace Of Spades - Link Wray; The Mad Daddy, Mystery Plane - The Cramps; Terror Couple Kill Colonel - Bauhaus; The Way I Walk - Robert Gordon; Goo Goo Muck - The Cramps; The Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett; Zombie Dance, What's Behind the Mask - The Cramps; Strychnine - The Sonics; Strychnine, I'm Cramped, Tear It Up, Fever, Lonesome Town - The Cramps

Sociologist, Appalachian scholar and activist Alana Anton is a southern girl at heart, and when she first discovered The Highwomen - the debut album by the country music super-group of the same name composed of Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris, and Amanda Shires - it immediately brought her back to her country roots. The at times gut-wrenching collection of songs is a stunning celebration of women in country music, full of equal parts high comedy and high pathos. An instant classic! Songs featured in this episode: Highwayman - The Highwaymen; Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus; Can I Get An Outlaw - Luke Combs; Hold On - Yola & The Highwomen; The Highwomen - The Highwomen; Washington Bullets - The Clash; White Feather - Amanda Shires; She's An Eagle - Dolly Parton & The Highwomen; Redesigning Women - The Highwomen; Romeo - Dolly Parton; Loose Change - The Highwomen; Daddy Lessons - Beyonce (featuring the Dixie Chicks); Crowded Table, My Name Can't Be Mama, If She Ever Leaves Me, Old Soul, Don't Call Me, My Only Child - The Highwomen; If You're Gonna Play In Texas - Alabama; Heaven Is a Honky Tonk, Cocktail and a Song, Wheels of Laredo, The Chain - The Highwomen

Singer/songwriter Greg Franco (Man's Body, Rough Church, Ferdinand) has a dark secret. Even though he came up in the early-80s LA punk scene listening to bands like Dead Kennedys and Black Flag, he's also completely enamored with the music of British pop band Prefab Sprout and it's founder Paddy McAloon. Join us as we discuss their 1990 release: 'Jordan: The Comeback' Songs featured in this episode: I Don't Want To Grow Up - Descendents; Contact Sigh - Man's Body; Appetite - Prefab Sprout; Absolute Beginners - David Bowie; Don't Sing, When Love Breaks Down, Looking For Atlantis, Wild Horses - Prefab Sprout; Machine Gun - Jimi Hendrix; Machine Gun Ibiza - Prefab Sprout; I Heard Ramona Sing - Frank Black; We Let The Stars Go, Jordan: The Comeback, Moon Dog - Prefab Sprout; She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby; Jet Song - Stephen Soundheim; Take A Chance On Me - ABBA; The Ice Maiden, All The World Loves Lovers, One of the Broken, Mercy, Scarlet Nights, Doo Wop In Harlem - Prefab Sprout; Clasically Mine - Man's Body

For this special bonus episode, I asked my Patrons to send in a song they kind of love by a band/artist they kind of hate. It's: That ONE Song By That Band/Artist I Don't Really Like Got Me High! As usual, they did NOT disappoint!! Songs featured in this episode: Superstar - The Carpenters; Viva La Vida - Coldplay; Stranglehold - Ted Nugent; Crazy Horses - The Osmonds; No One Like You - Scorpions; Peace Frog - The Doors; Heard 'em Say - Kanye West; Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Bonnie Tyler; Plainsong - The Cure; Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots; I'm Against The Eighties - Denim; Your Smiling Face - James Taylor; Haitian Divorce - Steely Dan; Fix You - Coldplay; Waves Of Fear - Lou Reed; California Stars - Billy Bragg & Wilco

Singer/songwriter...musician...producer...et cetera...et cetera Jim Camacho sat down to discuss a record that got him high over 35 years ago and continues to inspire him today: 1985s 'Hounds Of Love' by the incomparable Kate Bush. The songs on this record are at once dramatic, moving, wildly adventurous and undeniably Kate! "Do you want to feel how it feels?" Songs featured in this episode: Hounds of Love - The Futureheads; When The World Stops Spinning - Jim Camacho; Free Man In Paris - Joni Mitchell; To True To Be Good - The Goods; Adagio - Johann Sebastian Bach; Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel; The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush; Problems - The Sex Pistols; Heartattack and Vine - Tom Waits; Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Hounds of Love - Kate Bush; Ophelia - Jim Camacho; Change - Killing Joke; The Big Sky, Mother Stands for Comfort, Cloudbusting, And Dream of Sheep - Kate Bush; Trapped Under Ice - Metallica; Under Ice, Waking the Witch, Watching You Without Me, Jig of Life, Hello Earth, The Morning Fog - Kate Bush; Roaches - The Goods; I'm So Old - Jim Camacho & Rob Elba (featuring Fernando Perdomo, John Camacho, Erik Fabregat and Juan Davila)

Emmy-winning writer Jeff Greenstein (Friends, Will & Grace, Parenthood, Desperate Housewives) knows a thing or two about comedy. So it's no surprise that a record that got HIM high as a young impressionable adolescent ALSO made him laugh. A lot. The songs on 'More of Tom Lehrer' by singer-songwriter/satirist Tom Lehrer combine wickedly-clever wordplay with an absurdist - at times dark - sense of humor that clearly influenced Jeff's future work.  "And we will all go together when we go..." Songs featured in this episode: I'll Be There For You (Theme from 'Friends') - The Rembrandts; Sail Away - Randy Newman; Country Song (Pandering) - Bo Burnham; Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, Bright College Days, National Brotherhood Week - Tom Lehrer; Stein Song - Rudy Vallee; Homeward Bound - Tufts Beelzebubs; Land Of The Glass Pinecones - Human Sexual Response; A Christmas Carol - Tom Lehrer; O Tannenbaum - Vince Guaraldi Trio; The Elements - Tom Lehrer; I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General - Gilbert & Sullivan; Oedipus Rex, In Old Mexico, Clementine - Tom Lehrer; Clementine - Jan & Dean; It Makes a Fellow Proud to Be a Soldier, She's My Girl - Tom Lehrer; Rockaway Beach - Ramones; Crazy - R.E.M.; Venus In Furs - The Velvet Underground; The Masochism Tango - Tom Lehrer; Kiss Of Fire - Caterina Valente; We Will All Go Together When We Go - Tom Lehrer; My Bologna - Weird Al Yankovic; Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life - Eric Idle; We Will All Go Together When We Go - Red Leicester Choir

As teens growing up in Summit, New Jersey in the late 70s, NY Punk Godfather Jack Rabid (Big Takeover Magazine) and his likeminded friends would sneak off to Manhattan to catch shows by the exciting new bands and punk legends they were reading about. Even at 17 they knew Johnny Thunders and his Heartbreakers were something special, and the blistering live document 'Heartbreakers Live at Max's Kansas City' is a prime example of why they rarely missed a show.  "I don't know why you just don't... Let go!" Songs featured in this episode: The Sound - Springhouse; High School Confidential - Jerry Lee Lewis; Kill - Even Worse; Born To Lose - The Heartbreakers; White Lightning - George Jones; Looking For A Kiss - New York Dolls; Trash - Morrissey; Pills - Bo Diddley; Too Much Junkie Business, Milk Me, Chinese Rocks, Get Off The Phone - The Heartbreakers; God Save The Queen - The Sex Pistols; Safe European Home - The Clash; London - The Heartbreakers; My Way - Sid Vicious; Take A Chance - The Heartbreakers; She Does It Right - Dr Feelgood; I'm A Man - The Yardbirds; One Track Mind - The Heartbreakers; Love Comes In Spurts - Richard Hell & The Voidoids; The Beat Generation - Bob McFadden; All By Myself, Let Go - The Heartbreakers; Johnny Thunder - The Kinks; Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramones; I Love You, Can't Keep My Eyes On You, I Wanna Be Loved, Do You Love Me - The Heartbreakers; Bomber - Motorhead; Pipeline - The Heartbreakers

In 1993, British alternative/shoegaze band Catherine Wheel paired-up with producer Gil Norton (Pixies) to create a record that fused the atmospheric beauty of their debut with a crushing wall-of-sound: 'Chrome'. The feedback-drenched tales of beauty and paranoia caught the ear of this week's guest, artist/poet Nate Levine, and he joined us for a deep-dive into the sonic muck. Songs featured in this episode: Black Metallic - Catherine Wheel; Sweetness & Light - Lush; Man In The Box - Alice In Chains; Cherrie Pie - Warrant; The Act We Act - Sugar; Run To The Hills - Iron Maiden; Kill Rhythm, I Confess - Catherine Wheel; Debaser - Pixies; Everything Zen - Bush; Crank, Broken Head - Catherine Wheel; Plush - Stone Temple Pilots; Range Life - Pavement; Pain, Strange Fruit - Catherine Wheel; Feel So Real - Swervedriver; Freak Scene - Dinosaur Jr; Chrome, The Nude - Catherine Wheel; Ana - Pixies; Ursa Major Station - Catherine Wheel; Souvlaki Station - Slowdive; Time & Time Again - Robert Fripp; Fripp - Catherine Wheel; Wish You Were Here - Catherine Wheel; Half Life - Catherine Wheel; Happy - Neds Atomic Dustbin; Show Me Mary, Spirit Of The Radio - Catherine Wheel

This week, activist and co-host of 'The Muck Podcast' Hillary Dougherty takes a break from smashing the patriarchy to bring us a record that made the pandemic slightly more bearable for her: 'Punisher' by indie-rock sensation Phoebe Bridgers. It was a fun, lively conversation and no guitars were destroyed! Songs featured in this episode: Dylan Thomas - Better Oblivion Community Center; Motion Sickness - Phoebe Bridgers; Sad Songs (Say So Much) - Elton John; Waltz #2 - Eliott Smith; DVD Menu, Garden Song, Kyoto, Punisher, Halloween, Chinese Satellite, Moon Song, Savior Complex, ICU, Graceland Too, I Know the End - Phoebe Bridgers; Halloween - Siouxsie & The Banshees; Bullet With Butterfly Wings - Smashing Pumpkins; Me And My Dog - boygenius; Into The Great Wide Open - Tom Petty; Rebel Without A Clue - Bonnie Tyler; Criminal - Fiona Apple; I Know The End (Tiny Desk Home Concert) - Phoebe Bridgers 

Returning guest, producer, experimental/noise music pioneer and curmudgeon Frank 'Rat Bastard' Falestra invited us to his South Beach, Miami studio for a crash course on pre-eminent British singer/songwriter Sandy Denny. In her short life, Denny left an impressive body of work both with the UK folk rock band Fairport Convention and solo releases.  File under: essential listening. Songs featured in this episode: Untitled - Rat Bastard, Mark Morgan & Thurston Moore; A Boy Called Rat - The Rat Opera (featuring Diane Ward); No More Was Needed to Inflame My Balls - TLASILA; Nothing More - Sandy Denny; Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Fairport Convention; I'm A Dreamer - Sandy Denny; The Battle of Evermore - Led Zeppelin; Listen, Listen - Sandy Denny; I'll Keep It With Mine - Fairport Convention; Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Cat Power; Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Sandy Denny & The Strawbs; Autopsy, Fotheringay - Fairport Convention; Come All Ye, The Sea, John The Gun, Late November, The Sea Captain, Next Time Around, It'll Take A Long Time, At The End Of The Day, All Our Days, Take Me Away - Sandy Denny; Pink Moon - Nick Drake; Fight Fire With Fire - Metallica; Wild Thyme - Jefferson Airplane; Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine, 24 - Red House Painters; The Daily Mail - Radiohead; So Far Away - Carole King; No One Is There - Nico; Man Of Iron, Take Me Away (live from the Royalty Theatre, 1977) - Sandy Denny

Frequent guest and music lover Camila Risso is always on the lookout for sounds that move her...or make her want to move! When she discovered then-25-year-old Leon Bridges and his debut album 'Coming Home' in 2015, she was immediately drawn to his smooth, soulful voice and deeply personal songs. You can brand it as 'retro', but the sound he created with Austin Jenkins and Josh Block of the Texas psych-rock band White Denim is both meticulously old-school and profoundly timeless. Songs featured in this episode: These Arms Of Mine - Otis Redding; Loveable - Sam Cooke; I've Got So Much To Give - Barry White; Oogum Boogum - Brenton Wood; Coming Home, Better Man, Brown Skin Girl, Smooth Sailin', Shine, Lisa Sawyer, Flowers, Pull Away, Twistin' & Groovin', River - Leon Bridges; Let's Talk About It - White Denim; Motorbike, River (live) - Leon Bridges

For this BONUS Valentine's Day episode, we asked our Patrons to send us a song that broke their heart. Because sometimes, love stinks! Songs featured in this episode: Love Hurts - Nazareth; Alone Again, Naturally - Gilbert O'Sullivan; Operator - Jim Croce; Whatever (Folk Song in C) - Elliott Smith; If I Didn't Love You - Squeeze; Things - Paul Westerberg; I Am The Cosmos - Chris Bell; 1963 - New Order; Don't Dream It's Over - Crowded House; It Makes No Difference - The Band; Mardy Bum - Arctic Monkeys; Bridge on Fire - Shovels and Rope; Carry Me Ohio - Sun Kil Moon; Apologize - The Enablers; Valentine - Old 97’s; Not Big - Lily Allen; Like Lovers Do - Lloyd Cole; Here (Wish You Were) - Overseas; Anthrax - Gang Of Four; Nothing In Return - Roky Erickson/T Bone Burnette

A self-professed band geek whose first instrument was trumpet, this week's guest - bassist extraordinaire Dan Bonebrake (Dashboard Confessional, The Lightworkers, Vacant Andys, Quit, Honest Liars...) - brought us a record that for him is an amalgamation of everything he loves about music: "Allroy's Revenge" by ALL. 3/4 of legendary CA punk band Descendents (Bill Stevenson, Karl Alvarez, and Stephen Egerton) teamed up with singer Scott Reynolds in 1989 to create this powerfully melodic, infectiously catchy collection of songs. Turn. It. Up. Songs featured in this episode: Again I Go Unnoticed - Dashboard Confessional; Wendy - Descendents; Hybrid Moments - Misfits; YYZ - Rush; Could You Be The One? - Hüsker Dü; Million Bucks - ALL; Building - Sense Field; Commando - Ramones; Gnutheme, Fool, Check One, Scary Sad, Man-O-Steel, Box, Copping Z, - ALL; Hot Rod Lincoln - Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen; Hot Rod Lincoln - ALL; No Resurrection - Radiobaghdad; Police Truck - Dead Kennedys; Another Nail In My Heart - Squeeze; She's My Ex - ALL; I'll Be You - Replacements; Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) - Buzzcocks; Bubblegum, Mary - ALL; Mary - Pavers;  Los Angeles - X; Net, No Traffic - ALL Carnage - The Ataris; Carnage - ALL; I Didn't Think About It - The Lightworkers

This week's guest Bob Fay (Sebadoh, Deluxx, Cardinal) has played on a wide swath of punk/indie releases, so it makes perfect sense that the album he chose to discuss was 'Songs in the Key of Life' by Stevie Wonder, right? Right?? Both Elton John and Michael Jackson sited it as a personal favorite, and Prince simply called it the best album ever recorded - so Bob may be onto something... Songs featured in this episode: Temptation Tide, Ocean - Sebadoh; Glory Halleloo - Reverend Blind Gary Davis; Love's in Need of Love Today, Have a Talk With God, Village Ghetto Land, Contusion, Sir Duke, I Wish, Knocks Me Off My Feet - Stevie Wonder; You Know What I Mean - Jeff Beck; Maniac - Michael Sembello; Split Red - Minutemen; Gangster's Paradise - Coolio; Summer Soft, Ordinary Pain, Isn't She Lovely, Joy Inside My Tears, Black Man, As - Stevie Wonder;  Paper Planes - M.I.A.; Take The A Train - Duke Ellington; Sforzando! - Sebadoh

We ventured once again into the Rat's lair - otherwise known as the South Beach studio of Frank 'Rat Bastard' Falestra - and sat down with Miami-via-Pennsylvania singer/songwriter Nick Mencia a.k.a. Nick County to discuss the stunning "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" by Lucinda Williams. The soul-baring songs of Williams transcend any alt-country/American roots-rock labels, and the album is truly a stone cold genre-defying masterpiece!  Songs featured in this episode: If You Still Love Me - Nick County; Mexico - Rachel Angel; Cold Cold Heart - Hank Williams; Right In Time, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten, Drunken Angel, Concrete and Barbed Wire, Lake Charles, Can't Let Go, I Lost It, Metal Firecracker, Greenville, Still I long For Your Kiss, Joy, Jackson - Lucinda Williams; Me and the Devil Blues - Robert Johnson; Return of the Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons; Can't Let Go - Robert Plant & Alison Krauss; Daddy's Robe - Oly; I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend - Ramones; Simple Twist of Fate - Bob Dylan; You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley - Mississippi John Hurt; Jesus Is Dead - Nick County

What do Guns N' Roses, Young Frankenstein and Johnny Rotten all have in common? They are all name-checked in this episode as we take a deep dive into guitar prodigy - and former GnR member - Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal's 7th solo release, 'Abnormal', with special guest Larry Smith. Come for the over-the-top musicianship and quirky-but-catchy songs, stay for the self-effacing humor and Axl Rose shade. Songs featured in this episode: Maskholes - Socially Distant; Sweet Child o' Mine - Guns N' Roses; Babalon - Andrew W.K.; Through The Fire and Flames - Dragon Force; Goodbye Divinity - Sons of Apollo; Abnormal, Glad To Be Here, Objectify, Some Other Guy, Jenny B, Last Time, Simple Days, Conspiracy, Piranha, Guitars Still Suck, Green, Misery, Redeye, Dash - Bumblefoot; Mr. Brownstone - Guns N' Roses; Eruption - Van Halen; Pretty Vacant - Sex Pistols; Spaghetti - Bumblefoot

When our guest Steve Carroll was a North London lad of fourteen in 1979, the Virgin Records window display of Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces' (his 2nd album with the Attractions and 3rd overall) caught his eye, but he wasn't quite ready for the record to catch his ears yet. The heady mix of catchy melodies, fierce musicianship and ultra-clever wordplay eventually won him over a few years later, and he leads us on a deep dive into the snakes and ladders of this monumental release.  "Oh, I just don't know where to begin..." Songs featured in this episode: Boy Genius - Love Canal; Alison - Elvis Costello; Nobody Hurts You - Graham Parker; Radio Radio - Elvis Costello and the Attractions; Dancing in the Moonlight - Thin Lizzy; Accidents Will Happen, Senior Service, Oliver's Army, Big Boys, Green Shirt, Party Girl, Goon Squad, Busy Bodies, Sunday's Best, Moods for Moderns, Chemistry Class, Two Little Hitlers - Elvis Costello and the Attractions; All My Loving - The Beatles; I'm Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & The Supremes; Dancing Queen - ABBA; Leader of the Pack - The Shangri Las; You Never Give Me Your Money - The Beatles; Sex & Drugs & Rock-n-Roll - Ian Dury & The Blockheads; Heart of the City - Nick Lowe; Couldn't Call it Unexpected - Elvis Costello; (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding - Elvis Costello and the Attractions