No Filler Music Podcast - Best of 2022 - Part One

Episode Date: December 12, 2022

Join us all December as we count down our favorite tracks from 2022. Animal Collective - Dragon Slayer CMD094 - Hard Breath Nilüfer Yanya - L/R Waving A White Flag - The Smile Ebi Soda - Soft Peng Upright and Even - Mr Twin Sister Fleshwater - The Razor's Apple Meshuggah - Ligature Marks Who Has Seen The Wind? - David Byrne, Yo La Tengo Magic Shoppe - I Feel High This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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of our best of 2022, right? That didn't happen, obviously, because you guys had a rewind episode in your feeds last week. Which, a great episode, Cranberries. Yeah, I thought that was really. Glad we were able to drop it this month. Yeah, exactly. So you're about to hear what was supposed to come out last week, but there was some some life events that got in the way, I guess, if you want to call them that, Q?

I would call it that, yes. So I lost my cat of 17 years. Her name was Sloan. You may have heard her in the background of an episode. She was a sweetheart, man. A real sweetheart. And, dude, you had her as far back as when I moved, I was living with you. And I was crashing at your place.

Think about that, man. She was there. I think I had her for 17 years. I've been saying 17, 18 years. Because, yeah, it was a long time, dude. A long time. It was our first apartment that when I got, so you were, you were still living in that apartment with me?

Yeah, I remember her being there. Yeah. Yeah, so 17, 18 years. But yeah, anyway, she had some sort of, some sort of bone cancer. It's what it ended up being. So we took her in for what we thought was like a broken leg. kind of thing and you know some x-rays later revealed that it was more nefarious than that cue so we decided to end the suffering and not prolong the the pain and the stress and all that stuff that because she yeah

she hated hospitals doctor visits yeah medicine you get yeah you all did the right thing and i don't know if i've ever mentioned on the podcast but i i used to be a vet tech so i'm all too familiar with that whole process. Yeah, you've heard that story before. Yeah, it's a difficult decision, but you know, you guys, you guys definitely did the right thing. Yeah. When they presented the alternatives, it's like any other option would have been just selfish on our part. You know what I mean? It's just trying to keep her around for me, you know? Yeah, and we had a lot of clients where I just, like, I wish we could be that direct with him. Frank with him, yeah. Yes. Yeah. So that's, you know, that's why. And so we figured to keep us.

us on track. This is going to be a two episode week, which means you're about to hear part one, which was supposed to come out last week. And then you'll get a second episode, probably Wednesday or Thursday, which will be part two, which is what we're about to record right now to give you a peek behind the curtain. All right. So that's that. We just wanted to, you know, give you a little give you a little explanation here as to what happened last week. And yeah, so now we're going to, we're going to get back on track here. You're about to hear part one, like I just said. And yeah, and then, you know, check your, check your feeds in a few days and you'll have part two of our best of 2022. All right, Q. I'm going to cue that up. We will see you guys on the flip-flop.

And welcome back to No Filler. The music podcast, dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gems that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Travis. We've got my brother Quentin with me again. And this is part one of our best of 2022 episodes every week this month. We're going to be bringing five tracks each as we count down to our top five each of the year. I'll tell you right now, dude.

it's probably going to be damn near impossible for me to really have a top five. From week to week, I'm just going to be kind of bouncing off of your songs, you know, and maybe try to have a nice flow going. I do have five artists in mind that I think deserve to be considered like my top of the top. Artists or albums, I guess I would say, from particular artists. So I'm going to try to save those for week four. But yeah, it's going to be tough, dude. I'm kind of the same.

I mean, I have my five picked out as my favorite. And then I've got just a bunch of others that I'm just going to be, you know, sprinkling kind of from week to week. And I might do the same, like, just bounce off of whatever track you're playing, right? Yeah, yeah. But I still haven't, I still haven't narrowed it down to 20, right? Because it's going to be 20 tracks each. I still don't have my, my,

completed list but I have a long-ass playlist of you know favorite tracks from this year but I need to go through just the saved albums that I have and just you know sniff around for more albums from this year that maybe didn't make it on my you know running playlist and just give them another listen because and dude and like I need to go back and listen to some of these albums all the way through because there are so many great albums that came out from artists that I fell in love with rather recently through No Filler. And they just dropped killer albums this year. You know, so like it's hard for me to even pick one song from that album.

So I'm going to have to go back and spend some time with these albums before I really narrow it down to my favorite five. but for those of you who are joining us for the first time, this is No Filler podcast. What we usually do is pick an album or pick an artist, and sometimes we'll play multiple albums from that artist and play our favorite non-singles from that album. And once a month, we do what is called our What You Heard episode, where we each bring five songs to the table of just songs we've,

heard in between our recordings throughout that month. And that's kind of what this format is for our best of for each year, you know, but we bring songs that we fell in love with over the year. So that's what this is today. It's basically all songs considered, you know, NPR. That's what this is. And I'm excited, dude. Christmas comes early every year, you know, because this is my favorite, my favorite part of the show. Yeah, this is, yeah, no, this is, yeah, this is great, man. This has been I don't know, three, four years in a row maybe that we've done something like this. Yeah. And yeah, it's just fun because it's just the most music heavy that we get, right?

I mean, happens once a month with our What You Hear'd format, but this is back to back to back to back. 10 tracks each episode, 10 different artists each episode. Like you said, Christmas comes early, right? And this is, we're recording this on December 1st. So, you know, this really is, we're kicking off December with this first episode. So, yeah, it's, you know, in the style of, you know, I guess a rapid fire style, you could say. So, yeah, these will come at you fast. We won't give too much on the artist itself, you know.

But, you know, we'll give you a little background and then we'll play the track and then we'll move on, you know. It's just a lot of music coming at you. and I think you're kicking us off. Is that right, Q? I'm kicking us off, and I thought I would kick us off with a banger. So I'm jumping right into Animal Collective, dude. Ooh, okay. Because, you know, this band is no stranger to this pod.

It's no secret that I'm a huge Animal Collective fan. It must have been 06-ish that I first got into them. I've been a huge fan ever since. Sung Tongs was my first introduction to the first introduction to them. No, actually, I think it was feels. Yeah, I heard feels first. Anyways, they dropped a new album this year and it was early, early on. And very beginning of February, so I have two or three songs from this album. You know what? I think Animal Collective was the first, like when I thought, you know what, I should go ahead and start on my best of 2022 playlist. They were the first

ones on the list, dude. Did you bring a track from this record for what you heard or is this? Yes, we did one of these songs as like an intro for our watcher heard. So that's kind of what we did this past year with our watches. We may have done it the year before. We would intro our watcher heard songs with whatever the latest single was from an artist that we loved. Yeah. And this made the cut.

Man, you know what? I wish, I don't remember what the song is. So I'm hoping that it's not the same song I'm bringing right now. but I did give myself a pass on singles for these best ofs. I might be bringing some singles from these artists. Please forgive me. So I don't think Animal Collective needs an introduction. I bet most of the people that listen to this podcast are fans.

So let's just jump right into it, dude. So I'm going to play the first song on Time Skiffs. This song is called Dragon Slayer. They'll ever be a band like Animal Collective. ever. They are one in a million, you know. The only way to describe animal collective is to, you can't. You just say it's animal. Yeah. Right. Right. They're just so, yeah, unmatched with like, like, nobody, nobody can hold a candle to their experimentation and like vocal play and like harmonizing. And the way that they, they use their, really just the way that they use

their voices is just what makes them so great and so unique and so enjoyable to listen to it. And like his lyrics too, I've always loved his lyrics. I think we talked about that when we did the Panda Bear episode and probably when we did the Animal Collective episode because I know we've done at least one or two animal collective episodes. We did Sung Tongs. I believe we did Maryweather. Right. And I think, and I know we did Panda Bear.

And then we did, yeah, person pitch with Josh. Right. the first time I heard sung tongs, which is one of the early albums, immediately I thought, like, I've said this on, I've said this on the pod before, but if you're, you know, in the thick of the jungle and you find yourself chopping through the thick of it and you find, you stumble upon like a indigenous tribe and you find their way to their music circle, this is what they're going to. be making do like i i just makes me think of like yeah well and that's ancestral music i think that's yeah and that's part of part of what they're going for right i mean isn't that why they're called animal collective because like well they used to wear animal masks oh well there you go when they played um like cheap plastic animal masks yeah and their name matches that twisted musical language perfectly and it's animal collective yeah yeah and what's funny about this record is it this

this sounds like a evolved, like this sounds like the natural progression of animal collective. You know what I mean? It sounds more sophisticated, more mature, I guess, but it's still animal collective. Yeah. What I like about this one is, you know, there was this sort of progression from like Sung Tongs on, I'd say. Each album got a little bit more melodic in a way, like in more almost structured, if you can call it that with Animal Collective. Maryweather Postpavilion being the most like danceable you know and and then they just for a few years let me shit Maryweather came out in 2009 for a while after that they went heavy experimental and weird and noise heavy and then timeskifts feels more like coming back to what they did with Maryweather which I like a lot you know I like that the more

structured, melodic kind of stuff like what you heard on Maryweather. It's not so like drawing. The drawing is what I fell in love with, but yeah, I like this coming back to kind of that dancey kind of stuff that they did

on Maryweather. It's a fantastic album, of course it is. And yeah, dude, it was already like a no burner. This one's, this album's making it on my best of 2022. And so I decided to play him first. That was, again, Dragon Slayer off of Animal Collective's time skiffs.

And I'm going to pass it to you, brother. Which is going to be your first one? All right. So for my first pick cue, I'm going to do, I'm going to be quick with this one because there's not much on this guy. But you have heard his music before on the pod. if you have listened this year to our What You Heard's. But I believe I brought a track from one of his side projects.

So this is a Ukrainian ambient producer, dream punk producer, I guess is the proper genre, which is kind of an offshoot of vapor wave and chill wave. Not really chill wave, more vapor wave offshoot, the more darker side of vapor wave. but he goes by the name CMD-094 but he also collaborates with another producer named Panta Ray under the name Kuro-Ame and I want to say I brought a track of theirs

this year for what you heard but anyway he put out this record called ARIA and I don't know if it's attached to a video game or not but you know it's got this pixel art cover which should be makes it feel like it's for some indie game or something like that, but it might just be the style of the sort of like the theme of this record and like the story that's being told with this record.

And it's got kind of a video game kind of soundtrack vibe to it, which you know, I love. So anyway, this song is off of CMD's Zero 94's record titled ARIA. The name of the track is Hard Breath. Here we go. I can always rely on you to remind me what I'm missing out on when I don't give music like this more of a deep dive. Oh, this is my bread and my butter, dude. Now, would that be considered, I mean, I could say 8 bit, right, or chip tune. The thing about chip tune, I feel like the term chip tune to me is, like this is beyond that even because it's mixing in.

more than just that straight up, just chip tune sort of like onslaught of like chippiness. But I mean, yeah, it's in the same general category. I was reminded of disaster piece, which is an artist that I think we both fell in love with. Oh, yeah. That artist was the first that I really, the first artist, you know, that I heard and realized like, oh, you can do a lot with this kind of music. Yeah. And I mean, you can do.

Since you mentioned it, I mean, disaster piece has gone on to. to do all sorts of movie soundtracks. He's kind of exploded. He did, it follows in 2015, but this year he did Marcel the Shell with shoes on. Actually, let me say the full name. Marcel the Shell with shoes on, which is a A24 film that looks really interesting.

And then he did bodies, bodies, bodies. What does A24 mean? I just heard that the other day. It's a studio. That has done a ton of great kind of like, I guess you could almost call them like art house. Okay. Sort of like indie films, right? But I mean.

Yeah, because I read a headline today, actually. I don't know his name off the top of my head, but the main actor, the star in The Bear, that show that we both fell in them with. He's going to be on an interesting. The headline read that he had gotten, he's been a. approach to do like two or three A24 films since the bear came out. That's great. Yeah. Yeah, A24. I think like notable, notable films that you probably would know of is everything, everywhere all at once. That was an A24 film.

Still haven't seen it, but it's great, man. Yeah. Hereditary, the lighthouse, midsumar. A lot of horror films. Like, this is more like, you know, they call them like, more sophisticated horror, quote unquote. Yeah. But, you know, they also did stuff like I'm trying to think of what. Lady Bird. Do you ever see Lady Bird? No.

The Florida Project. No. I watch a lot of movies, Q. I think that's what it comes down to. Anyway, but yeah, Q, there's a whole world of stuff like this out there, dude. And, you know, obviously there's actual video game soundtracks that still sound like this. But then there's artists like this guy, CMD Zero94, where they just make music that gives you this kind of this vibe, right?

This like it puts you in this sort of like, it's like listening to a video game. It's almost hypnagogic in the sense that like because it uses and approaches music in the same way that video game composers from the 90s, 80s and 90s, the equipment that they use to make video games, it evokes that same memory, you know, even if you never, it's not a game you played. Anyway, yeah, I love this kind of music, obviously. Yeah, that's great, man. That was great. The whole soundtrack is like that. And I call it a soundtrack.

It's not a soundtrack. But the whole album is like that. So again, it's called ARIA. Check it out by CMD-094. And I'm going to throw it back to you, Q. Now, we were saying we were going to be rapid-fire. And we're just over here, just yapping our brains out. So, well, let's time, dude, let's do it.

All right, this artist was brought to my attention from one of our, I'd call him a dear listener, Kenneth Fugatti. He's brought us, I mean, he shares music with us all the time. Earlier this year, he brought up this album that came out earlier this year called Painless by an artist named Nalufir Yanya. how you pronounce that. And man, I was blown away by this album. I don't know anything about this artist. So this was all brand new to me, like her singing style.

This is one of those artists and sounds that I can't really describe, right? So let's just fucking jump right in it. It came out in March of this year. So I'm going to bring my favorite off the record. This track two. This song is called L slash R. Catchy as can be. I don't want to say A-F, because, you know.

You can say that on here. That's a lot. I know it is, but I feel like I use that too much. Catchy as all get out, which just... That's even worse. You know what? Let me say it again. It's catchy A-F.

It's hard not to bob your head along to that. And like, I love the lyrics. I was following along with the lyrics. And, you know, I was certain, we've said this about Britt Daniel before, but there are certain lyricists who know how to put words together in a catchy AFWAQ. And that's, I don't know how it's the cadence, man. Yeah, the cadence. It's really unique. Yes.

Yeah. It's, it's, it, you can't help but pay attention. Exactly. Yes. Thank you. And that's the whole album, dude. Like, it's so. different, you know. It's really, really fresh.

Right, yeah. And that's a cheesy. That's, I don't like that. No, that's good, though. It is fresh. But it's fresh, man. It's good. It's good. It's different. And I wouldn't be surprised if this album makes it on a lot of, a lot of best-ups. Best-ups from this year, yeah. Yeah. Well, we've said it over and over again, dude, like, this is, uh, there's a lot of great, a lot of great female artists out there putting out music right now doing really unique things most of my list is and that was the case for last year too yeah doing really really different and unique things with with with with indie rock dream pop you know shoegaze yeah this is a great time for indie music man great time definitely so again that was l slash r left right from nilufur yania's album

painless. Thank you again, Ken, for the tunes, man. And keep them coming. Keep them coming. Really appreciate you. All right, I'll pass it to you. What's track number two? Track number two for me.

For you. For you. But it's hard not to talk about this record. So this band, they're called The Smile, and it is a supergroup, if you will, consisting of Tom York and Johnny Greenwood, which we mentioned earlier, which kind of funny, of Radiohead. I haven't listened to this yet, man. There's some great stuff on here. Now, I did bring a, what you heard, one of their singles from earlier this year. I see that Nigel Godrich is the producer.

Of course he is. And that's, of course, what makes it great. Of course. You spilled my beans, dude. I was going to see that later. My bad. I'm sorry. I just got too excited.

But, yeah, of course, Nigel Goddrick is a producer, right? But yeah, they put out a couple singles earlier this year, and then they put out the full length called a light for attracting attention. And, I mean, what more do you need to know, right? The drummer on the record is not Philip Selway of Radiohead. They brought in this guy named Tom Skull. Skinner, who is known as the drummer for this jazz band called The Sons of Kemet. So there you go. They brought a jazz drummer into the mix here.

But I'll just say this. The band incorporates elements of post-punk progressive rock Afrobeat and electronic music. Oh, you know what, dude, I have heard at least one song from them. And I remember right off, maybe you brought it as what you heard. But the bass lines and the feel, it was very crongbin, which I was not expecting. I was delighted to hear it. Yeah, that song was called The Smoke, and that was one of the singles. So I am playing another track off of the record.

So here we go. This song is called Waving a White Flag. Out of my side Out of my side Out of my side Out of my side Out of my side couldn't get the breath in

That kind of Mark Carson Mark Carson joined Radiohead Yeah, that's funny Because that's exactly what I was thinking Like that 70s soft synth sound Yeah Or even John Carpenter

Yeah Long kind of intro had almost like a classical composition kind of vibe to it, you know, like Apragios and stuff like that. Greenwood and Tom York both have done movie soundtrack before. So like, you know, they're used to writing like cinematic compositions, right? And that kind of had that kind of quality to it. And I love how the drummer just kind of snuck in there toward the, right before the chorus or toward the end of that first verse.

I mean, that didn't really have a traditional like verse. chorus structure to it. But yeah, it's great, right? Of course it's going to be great. You know, Tom York is, and it will always be like one of my favorite singers of all time. Like his voice is just so compelling. It's just so beautiful, you know. Oh yeah, dude. No one like Tom York. Yeah. And they never will be. No, they're never, you know, along the same lines as Animal Collective. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's one of the best, best musicians of our lifetime, certainly. Anyway, so that was the smile. It goes without saying that it's an amazing record. Check it out. If you're a radio head fan, it's kind of a must listen, right? But yeah, that record is called A Light for Attracting Attention.

And I want to throw it back to you, Q. What do you got for us? All right, well, I wasn't sure when I was going to play this one, but when you mentioned Tom Skinner being in a jazz group, I figure I want better time than now. So this is a group called E.B. soda. Maybe it's Ebby Soda. I don't know. But it's a jazz funk quintet from Brighton. Bring in some jazz, dude. Bring in jazz. I feel like there's not enough of it on this pod. And according to Spotify, in their little bio, I love this dude. It says, Ebysoda, make that music, man, with the sounds in that. there's nothing else to say to that that's great that's perfect as it is nothing else needs to be said

nope so this album came out back in april it's called honk if you're sad and man this is this is the kind of jazz for me i think i've brought this up before with jazz it's like i either i can't stand it or i freaking love it and there's not a lot of jazz music that I really get into. Yeah. But when it hits, it's perfect. When it hits, it's perfect. It's one of those albums.

There's nothing better, right? Exactly. All right, so this is track four off the record. The song is called Soft Ping. That's, uh, I hit the spot, cue. Nice, dude. Real nice. And it just kept on hit that.

Uh, great drums, great bass. which you've got to have those two things for a good jazz song right Yeah this this band reminds me a lot of Snarky Puppy which is one of my favorite jazz groups Modern jazz groups Yeah And yeah man the whole album's just a really fun listen

Hit you right in the right Right in the right yeah Right in the right in the right Well I don't know what that means It just doesn't mean it makes sense Right in the field dude Right in the field yeah it works

Well, here we go, Q. I am switching up my planned track list for today because... Oh, we're going right into it, dude. We're jumping right into the next. Yeah, we are. We are. I like that. Because I have another jazz song that I was going to play either next week or the week after,

but I feel like we got to stick, we got to stay jazzy right now. Sure. We've got to keep rolling with it. So, of course, this band was going to show up on this list because they put out new music this year. They were on last year's best of. I'm talking about Mr. Twin Sister Q. You mentioned them dropping a record soon.

That was like a month ago. And if you didn't know this, then you haven't listened to our episode on Mr. Twin Sister. Or than many times I've talked about them. They are probably one of the most talented group of like indie musicians. like that just happened to like find each other and make music together. They, they do jazz. Like, you know, we saw them live.

Q, you and I saw them live. And then I saw them live with my wife a few years ago. And yeah, this is not a surprise to anybody who listens to their music. They will throw on the occasional saxophone and stuff like that, like just into their songs, right? Well, anyway, they put out this record. They kind of just snuck it out. It just kind of came out of nowhere. It's a little EP called Upright and Even.

and essentially it's songs that came out of the same sessions as last year's record that they put out, Al Mundo Azul. And here is the perfect description of this record from the band themselves. This is a quote. They said, with that record, referring to last year's record, we were very absorbed with the idea of making something that sounded like a hot afternoon in a crowded place. Upright, which is this new EP, sounds like nighttime after the shops have closed. Ooh, I like that. And this song is that sentiment exactly. Nighttime, shops have closed.

And this is just, again, this is a, for the most part, like electronic, dancey, indie pop band, right? That used to make dream pop songs way back on the 2010s, right? and they're always experimenting and always evolving with their sound. And yeah, this is just a straight jazz song and it's amazing. So here we go. This is the title track off the EP. So again, this song is called Upright and Even. So I had zoned out when reading up on this leading up to you playing the song.

Dude, I forgot that we were listening to a twin sister song. Because how different it is. Yeah. But man, that was awesome. I mean, and that, the song's halfway over. Like, eight minutes long. Is there any, I had to let it play up. Any vocals?

Vocals, yeah, on that song? No, no. And forgive me, because I did zone out, dude. Is there a full album out yet? It's an EP. Okay. So, yeah, this is literally just a collection of songs that didn't make it on to last year's record that they just kept kind of working on.

Because it didn't fit the overall vibe that, they were going for. Gotcha. So they just kind of put them aside and they came up with the collection of songs that have this kind of different vibe. Now, Upright and Even is the only one that's this just straight jazz, very moody kind of song. There's a pretty dancey song on here.

But I guess they just were kind of the leftover tunes from last year's record. But here's a quote just to kind of explain this really well from the band. upright and even is disoriented and ambiguous lounge music. We wanted to play the conventions of a faux jazz quartet and then smear that image. And I think that's perfect, man. Yeah, that's great. If you hear these things that happen every once in a while in the song, they kind of feel electronic almost. A faux jazz quartet, that's awesome.

Yeah, yeah. Anyway, but this is why I love these guys, man. They are always reinventing themselves. They are able to, and, you know, a bang, a band. that can make a song like that, the fact, you know, they take those types of elements of like true jazz and like, you know, all that stuff and they incorporate them into their poppy, dancey, electronic indie kind of avant-garde music, right? So like these guys are bona fide musicians, right?

You can't make a song like that. Yeah, exactly. And so that's why their music is always so interesting and compelling. And not to mention, it wasn't showcased here, but the singer, Andrea Estella, or Andrea Estella, is one of my favorite singers of the last decade. She's so great. Yeah, and similar to what I had read about Animal Collective, Mr. Twin Sister has also, like, crafted their own unique musical language. Like, there's no one like Mr. Twin Sister. Yeah, no doubt.

And that's why they make it to our best of the year list. I mean, I think they made it last year. as well. Or it may have been the year before. If they put out something in 2020, they did. Basically, any year they put out something new, they're probably going to find their way onto our best-up list. You know, it's just, it's impossible for them not to show up. Yeah.

Because I just, I love everything about them. They're one of my favorite groups, hands down, of all time. Well, they go, okay. So now, I mean, we're going to have to pivot, I think, from here, because we've probably exhausted our jazz for, for 2022. to where are you going to take us? Because I've got a 180 in the, in the chamber, dude, ready to go. Oh, dude, I've got a 180.

Yeah, I'm bringing the first one of the night. Good. Yeah. So, dude, and you're going to fucking love this, dude. Love it. Okay. I'm ready, dude. All right.

So this album just came out this month or last month in November. Have you heard of a group called Fleshwater? Fleshwater. Say that again. Yes, dude. Oh, my God. Let's see if this is the same. This is going to be one of my top five.

Are you about to play closet? No, I'm going to play another one. Okay. Well, then maybe we'll have two songs. I didn't hear from Flashwater because I actually had a couple of songs from Flashwater. Yeah, this record's amazing. Yeah, dude. And you probably love it the same reason I love it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the album is called We're Not Here to Be Loved. And this is a great write-up on Pitchfork about this group. I love this first line here. It says, we're suddenly in a world. where every hardcore band can emulate the styles and sounds that only the most privileged of their 1990s forebearers could afford. Yeah.

I think I read the same article, actually. Yeah, yeah. So this is kind of like a mesh, mismash of, mismash of members from other groups that are all that kind of like this more hardcore metal scene, you know, that these guys were a part of. And they joined together to do a side project called Fleshwater back in 2020, and they dropped a demo called Demo 2020. And reading on with this pitchfork article, it says, The demo definitely had songs, hooky, kinetic compositions that went far beyond snoozy, quote,

hardcore band goes shoegays stereotypes. But it lacked the crisp precision that the style demands. So then they dropped this album, We're Not Here to Be Loved, and they brought in another guitarist to join the group, and that's when things just kind of cemented for them. So, again, this album is called We're Not Here to Be Loved by a group called Fleshwater. It's a hardcore group that turned shoegaze, dude, but they freaking are nailing it, man. This is track three off the record. This song is called The Razors Apple. Well, Q, I was prepared to talk about this song in three weeks. But that wasn't the song.

I was actually. Was it? Yes, it was actually. I was going to play, well, here we go. I was actually going to play closet and let it lead into Razors Apple. I was going to have two songs. So in three weeks, we're going to hear another track off this record because I'll play closet in three weeks.

I think it's worth it, man, to play it to bring two tracks from this album because. Yeah, I mean, that was my plan. but no what I love about it now but here's a good thing yeah go ahead what I love about it dude this is like

it reminds me of early 2000s hardcore like the Mars Volta or Coheed and Cambria what I hear is like a hint of some 2000s era

emo music too right and that's what I mean I kind of lumped them into the same you know hardcore emo same from the early 2000s. And you'll definitely

hear that on the track that I'm going to bring in three weeks called Closet. I love it, man. Where it has this dynamic that's very similar to, and what we love about, Emery's the Weeks End record, the cleaner vocal guy,

there's two singers, right? There's a screamo dude and a clean vocal delivery dude. They do that dynamic on this record as well with her, the main singer, and this other guy that does the screamo thing. And it It's this, yeah, it's pitch perfect, 2000s era emo and hardcore and stuff like that. And it's great.

Yeah, it's just, I mean, the pitchfork article, like, yeah, it's spot on. And I've heard that same sentiment about, you know, all the other bands we've talked about this year. Indy bands these days have purchased all the right guitar pedals and the right amps and it got their humbuckings, you know, to quote that dude that quote from that movie extract you remember that you're going to love these humbuckings yeah exactly they're they're they're called humbuckers number one so I don't know what those guys are doing working at a guitar store anyway yeah I was I took my my took my sweet time getting getting around at my point here I got sidetracked by extract but yeah what pitch perfect I keep saying pitch perfect what pitchfork is saying is spot on where it's like all these

these bands that are making the grunts, bringing the grunts sound back, right? Bring in the hardcore sound back. They're doing it in a way where it's like, it's like they just, they were handed the formula of like, here's the guitar pedals that you need to buy,

here's the amps you need to use, here's, you know, the setting on your guitar, here's the pickup that you need to use to get this, to literally sound exactly pitch perfect like a band from the 90s, right? And that's that's what's happening in indie music right now and it's amazing right yeah dude totally and it's

coming back in all the right ways anyway so three weeks look forward to another track from them because this was one of my top five so anyway all right cue i've got to i was i was thinking that i wouldn't be able to play this song this week because i wouldn't be able to find a song to chain it to but you may have just opened the door just a smidge for me to play. Oh, you're welcome. You're not going to be saying that in a second. Oh, no. Oh, no.

But here we go, Q. I'm sorry to do this to you, but... Meshugga put out a new record this show. Oh, bless American pie. Now, listen here, dude. Somebody in our group of listeners, our small group of listeners out there, is as big of a metal head as I am, and they're going to love this for the next two to three minutes.

Will they? Everybody else? If you don't, yes, they will. Maybe you'll even come around too, okay? I purposely picked a song that didn't have too much of the vocals, because I know that's probably the part of this that you don't like. I appreciate that. Which means there's a chance here that you might like this.

So anyway, Mishiga, they are this. very, very well-known, almost iconic, legendary, heavy metal band from Sweden that essentially came up with this sound, this guitar sound, that they, or sort of their signature, it's called Gent, D-J-E-N-T. And it's a whole subgenre of metal now. Anyway, I am probably in the same boat, I think, as a lot of people maybe, that found their way to Mishiga because of the Doom 2016 video game soundtrack. Because basically, the composer McGordon, who did the Doom soundtrack in 2016, used the gent guitar technique to make one of the best game soundtracks of all time and one of the

best metal records of all time. So I was like, I like this gent stuff. Let me see what else we got. Oh, Meshigua. They're like the ones who invented the sound. So that's how I stumbled upon these guys. and I've been a huge fan ever since then. And yeah, there's really no one else like him.

So I'm going to shut up because, you know, cute. I know you don't really care. I know you're going to hate this. But I have to do it because, hey, this is my best of 2022. And I can't just get this. Dude. Not cute. Just, you know, go into this with an open mind, right?

Okay, so this is a song that made it on your list of the best of the year. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. All right. This song. Go ahead. You know what? Open mind.

I got an open mind. We'll see how you're feeling about it here in a second. All right. This song is called ligature marks. You pumped? I mean, I enjoyed the music, dude. But like... You can't do the vocals.

Is that it? I don't. I don't understand, dude. I don't understand. What part of it do you not understand you? Let me try to help. I just don't see the appeal and... The vocals.

The vocals are even fine. It's the lyrics. I'm just not... I don't want to hear about tearing at flesh to scar. But here we go, Q. We've had this combo before. Metal is to music as horror is to movies. Right?

It's the same subject matter. It's just like... It's cheesy to me, dude. Well, a lot of people would say that about horror movies, right? that like a lot of slasher horror movies are kind of cheesy right especially if you think about like you know freddy grueger and so like that realign the weaponry of your mind and a surgical strike nothing left to find sorry dude i mean dude you want to talk about cheesy lyrics we were just talking about two 2000s era emo music you want to talk about cheesy lyrics no i know but i don't know

man, I just can't do it. You know, I think it's all, it's all part of the, it's all part of the package. You know what I mean? That's what I like about metal. You're going to, you're going to deal with themes, lyrical themes that you're just not going to hear in any other genre. You know what I mean? And that's what I like about it. Yeah, sometimes they're cheesy as hell, dude.

But sometimes they're also really deep and like meaningful. I mean, maybe that this song. But I can tell you right now, dude, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's, lyrics that stopped me in my tracks, man. Well, I liked it, dude. I liked what I heard otherwise. Okay. Even his voice, I get it. It's an choir taste.

It's, you know, and that's what I've learned about metal music, because back in the day, I would skip over a band like this because of the vocals. But once you've kind of listened to a few songs like that and sort of like dipped your toes in the water, then you start to be. like, you know what, the water ain't so cold or it's nice and warm, whatever. And then you start waiting around. We've talked about the kiddie pool cue. Yes, I've been waiting around in it for years.

Yes, you got your floaties on. Nowhere near ready to go into the deep end. I think you're starting to get ready, dude. You just told me that you'd like that song. I didn't say that. Maybe if I didn't have the lyrics pulled up, I wouldn't have turned you off. You know what I mean? Jeez.

Because you probably wouldn't be able to hear those lyrics. Like, you probably wouldn't be able to pick him out if you just, had the song plan. Yeah, you're not really doing a better job convincing me to give this any more of a listen, dude. You know what, dude, if you just don't pay attention to the lyrics, you can't understand what it's saying anyway. So just enjoy it. Exactly. Or listen to the Doom 2016 soundtrack, because there's no words at all.

It's just that style of metal and more atmospheric stuff on some of the tracks because it's a video game soundtrack. But I'm just really drawn to that guitar style. and I think his vocals are a perfect match for it. Anyway, if you don't like metal, I'm sorry that I put you through that. But fans of metal, you know, hey, I got, you know, I'm here for you. I'll sneak it in as often as I can. But that was Mishiga. That was their 2022 release, Immutable.

These guys have been around since 85, almost as long running as Metallica. Speaking of, they just put out a new set. single too. And I got news for you. It's not as good as this. Um, but Metallica's getting ready to put out an album and do this massive tour. You got to. And dude, you want to talk about a band that put out a disappointing single this year that should have stopped a long time ago. Blink 282. Oh, ho. I don't even know why I brought it up. Dude, I still haven't even listened to it. I can't. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. Do not do it. Anyway, uh, all right, Q. Well, I got a palette a cleanser for us, dude, to, for my, for my last, uh, pick of the next.

night. I purposely didn't want to end with it because I also have a nice, a nice song to close this out. But what do you got to cute? It has to be a 180, right? Pretty much, yeah. So, um, now, I just found out that this was actually, this is actually a cover of a Yoko Ono song because I don't know anything about her music, um, you know, and love or hate her, whatever. I don't know enough about her music. I do know that this cover is fan-freakantastic. And back in February 18th, actually, on Yoko's 89th birthday,

a compilation record came out, and this was actually curated by none other than Mr. Benjamin Gibbard, Tethkev for QD, lead singer, the main guy behind that group. And he brought together bands like Deerhoof, the Flaming Lips, Sharon Van Aten,

Japanese breakfast J-SOM Among others I like J-Som I love J-Som The compilation record is called Ocean Child Songs of Yoko Ono

And guess who else happens To make a pop-in On this record Who's popping, Q? A little group called Yola Tango who I've been meaning forever to get more into

because they're so intriguing to me but a little guy by the name of David Byrne joins them on this song. Oh, that okay. And it's freaking great.

So, again, this is a cover of a Yoko Ono song with David Byrne joining Yoletango. This song is called Who Has Seen the Wind? Other iconic vocalist. And I really like the

Beach Boys kind of harmonies. Uh-huh. I know nothing about the actual song, the original from Yoko. But what a treat, dude. Yeah, that's a great, great little number there, Q. And like you said, a real palate cleanser after that onslaught. I'd say a much-needed one. To your eardrums that I brought with the sugar.

But I don't know why, but it's just really blown my mind right now that Yoko Ono is just out living her life. I don't know why. I don't know why, dude, but she's been, she's just there, dude. She's just been doing Yoko Ono stuff for like decades. Still doing it, man. Still doing it. Is she, like, has she been putting up music or like what, like, like, what, because the life of Yoko Ona has to be interesting. So like, what has she been up to? Because just living life, man. I know, but like, what is she doing? Just being Yoko Ono. That's what I want to find out. Yeah, I don't know, dude.

And she's 89, by the way. She turned 89. Okay, wow. Okay. Cool, cool. Well, yeah. All right, well, I've got to decide how to end this because I have a song that was my planned final track for today. And I think I'll stick with it.

This is a good song to end us on. All right. So I think I brought this as of what you heard. Shout out to Nathan, Nathan Forster, who's been on the show. A few times now. Friend of the pod. He recommended this band to me, and I think this record was great. The band is called Magic Shop.

The record is called Monolake. And they're just kind of like this shoe-gazy, alternative rock band. That's all you really need to know. And this song is called I Feel High. Stir up the quiet beast that's been hanging out deep in the recesses of the last two years of my existence, maybe longer. What? And I'm about to want to dive. Let me just finish that.

Even if that doesn't make sense, it's going to make sense when I finish this sentence. Okay. Remember when I only listen to psychedelic rock. Yeah. Do you call that a psychedelic track? Yeah. that 60s kind of 60s pop. Okay.

Yeah. Like, like a cytar kind of sound. Okay. Almost like a, almost sitar kind of sound. Almost like in the background. Yeah, okay. Yeah.

It was because, you know what? I considered that a beast, a musical beast that took over my brain. Yeah, I remember. It was right when we started the pod. So it must have been like 2018. Every week, each of us were being one track as of what you heard. And yeah, yours was. almost consistently either a psychedelic song or a song you heard on KXT or KK, not KXT.

Oh, K-E-X-P. Whatever the local state. K-E-X-P, yeah, it was one of the two. Darwin, shut up, dude. Or a song you heard on, you know, all songs considered or whatever. But yeah, it was always psychedelic, like almost consistently. So, yeah, I mean, maybe I just shoved you back into that hole, dude. I think you may have, dude.

Well, anyway, that's kind of a standout track on the record. The rest of it is a little bit more shoe gazing, I think. But, yeah, you know, I think it's a good song to end on. It kind of has a feel-good vibe to it. Yeah, it was great, dude. I love it. I wanted to send us out, send us floating that. Love it.

Totally. All right, well, you know, I think that was a little bit longer than I expected it to be cute. We're sitting at an hour and a half-month-month-month-old. yeah so we'll try to make these a little bit quicker uh in the in the next few weeks uh as we count down our best of 2022 so um yeah follow us on instagram if you don't already and hey you know what just real quickly it is the spotify it's that time of year guys for spotify wrapped so you probably have looked at yours um if you're a spotify user because that's the first thing do. This is Christmas

come early for me too, dude. I love Spotify Reped. But I just wanted to say thank you to the listeners out there because we saw another increase in listenership and streams and

everything, right, on Spotify. So thank you for listening out there. We were the number one podcast for 105 of you. out there. That's no handful, dude.

Top 10 for 518. So there you go. We're kind of giving you a peek behind the curtain here as far as like number of listeners. Fans, I guess, is what they call them on Spotify. But I think there's more than that. But of the, you know, there's about a thousand that they sort of gave us a rundown that we were at least somewhere in the top. 10 for you. So, hey, thanks. You know, that's pretty cool, right?

Yeah, that's awesome. Love it. But anyway, thanks for listening. And we will come at you next week with our next 10 tracks. And yeah, we're just going to keep this trend going. And yeah, as always, like I said, follow us on Instagram. Just search for another filler podcast. We'll pop right up. And, yeah, reach out to us. Hey, you know, I forgot to do this this year. but maybe actually I do have a song we could play but what we wanted to do this is what we did last year

if you follow us on Instagram send us a message with some of your favorite tracks from this year and we'll pick a track to play as our outro from somebody you know what I mean yes if you're the only one who messages us and your song isn't complete garbage we'll play it you know what I mean we won't tell you if we don't like it. But if we do, we'll play it as an outro. So, yeah, message us. And we'll see about getting your song on the pod. I actually reached out to some of my coworkers

because we have like a music channel in our Slack where we all kind of share music. And I sort of opened it up for submissions. And I was telling everybody that we were doing this and could use some suggestions. So I do have a song to play us out from one of my workers. Her name is Aneed, and she's a front-end developer just like me, Q. Anyway, she recommended a song by a fella named Andrew Bird, and I think that's a name that rings a bell

to me, right? And this is actually a pretty dope song. So yeah, Andrew Bird put out a new record this year called Inside Problems, and we're going to close out the episode with a song called eight, which ironically is the ninth track on the record. Anyway, all right, Q, join us next week as we continue our countdown of the best of 2022 as far as we're concerned. Thanks as always for listening, everyone. My name is Travis. And I'm Quentin.

See you guys next week. Just reach for her gun to slumped in the corner. It's making a plea for someone to adore her. Six, he's out on the street throwing bricks now, seven, let's just skip over seven, shall we, and get to eight. To shine, ten stuck is the boulder. Eleven's my two-legged brethren, twelve is a hoda. He has a secret and is ready to burst now. Want to play The Sims?

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