Caesura: The Music Explorer's Podcast

This week we close things off, and have a big retrospective finale. It's been a great few years, but unfortunately we need to stop the podcast (our boy Scoot's gonna be a daddy!). Thanks so much to everybody for listening! 

Favorite Albums from the Podcast:

• Scott: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds—Let Love In
• Elaine: Xiu Xiu—Girl With Basket of Fruit

This week we break out the spiky hair as we discuss, of all things, anime and manga, and generally nerding out about it!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Miles Davis—Black Beauty: Live at the Fillmore West
• Elaine: Tony Conrad—Slapping Pythagoras

This week we get visual (a bit of a problem since this is a podcast), and talk about some of our favorite album covers.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Viagra Boys—Cave World
• Elaine: Greg Puciato—Mirrorcell

This week we talk about Music 109 by Alvin Lucier: a book detailing the thought process and inspiration behind some of the most interesting American experimental music compositions of the last century or so.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Dinosaur Jr.—Without A Sound
• Elaine: Gillian Welch—Hell Among the Yearlings

This week we went to Armageddon Shop in Cambridge (MA), and talk about our findings!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: The Goo Goo Dolls—Dizzy Up the Girl
• Elaine: Perfume Genius—Ugly Season

This week we load up the flux capacitor, get the Delorean to 88 miles per hour, and talk about some of our favorite albums of the glorious decade that is the 1980s.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Silver Apples—Silver Apples
• Elaine: The Melvins—Bullhead

This week we have a mashup of some album anniversaries that were released in May and June (or around then), including releases by The Cure, Kyuss, Biosphere, and The Prodigy. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Rage Against the Machine—Battle for Los Angeles
• Elaine: Leonin/Perotin—Sacred Music From Notre-Dame Cathedral

This week we take a bit of a break from music, and talk about some of our favorite books, along with a string of honorable mentions, and little topics that go off the rails almost immediately. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Das Racist—Relax
• Elaine: Sonic Youth—Confusion is Sex/Kill Yr. Idols

Inspired by podcasts like Essential Tremors and Crucial Listening, we talk about six albums (three each) that were particularly important to our own musical journeys.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Pusha T—My Name is My Name
• Elaine: Pyrrhon—The Mother of Virtues

This week we talk about some new album releases, including material by Florence + the Machine, The Smile, Cave In, and Scalped.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Bathory—Blood Fire Death
• Elaine: Mobb Deep—The Infamous

This week we're talking about albums with big birthdays from last month, including albums by Stars of the Lid, Thelonious Monk, Porcupine Tree, and Squarepusher. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Three 6 Mafia—Mystic Stylez
• Elaine: Isis—Oceanic

This week we get loosey-goosey about our topics, and just let the conversation take us: from vinyl collecting to tastemakers/gatekeepers, to a brief survey of lyrical pet-peeves. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Penguin Cafe Orchestra—Music from the Penguin Cafe
• Elaine: Fela Kuti—Zombie

This week we give into the internet trendiness yet again, and rank every Mars Volta album. Get ready for some interesting ranking!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Spawn of Possession—Incurso
• Elaine: Cocteau Twins—Treasure

This week we bring back an oldy but goody: album dares! In particular, we're talking about AFI's Decemberunderground and Linkin Park's A Thousand Suns. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Immolation—Majesty and Decay
• Elaine: Behemoth—The Apostasy

This week we talk about something we brought up briefly in our recent Unpopular Opinions episode, as well as in a previous incarnation of this podcast: what do artists owe their fans? And, conversely, what do fans owe their artists?

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Mogwai—Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
• Elaine: Linkin Park—A Thousand Suns

This week we bring back out Album Anniversaries segment (documenting albums with "big" birthdays this month), and talk about work by Philip Glass, Iron Maiden, The Mistfits, and Prince.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Guided By Voices—Vampire On Titus
• Elaine: Pan Sonic—Aaltopiiri

This week we go, yet again, to Bull Moose in Salem NH and get some nice music—however! We have a guest this week: our friend Andrew, whose purchases we also discuss! Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Anderson Paak—Malibu
• Andrew: Marlowe—Marlowe
• Elaine: Barshasketh—Barshasketh

It's time for that a e s t h e t i c. This week we explore the vast meme that is vaporwave, and report our findings. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Miles Davis—Dark Magus
• Elaine: Yes—Close to the Edge

Opinions are like butts: we all have them, and they all stink, and this week we have a whole litany of unpopular musical opinions to subject—er, for you to listen to! Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Elaine: Mastodon—Remission
• Scott: Slayer—Seasons in the Abyss

This week we’re talking about another music book, in this case, Improvisation: Its Nature and Practice in Music by Derek Bailey: an overview of improvisation in both idiomatic and experimental contexts.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: The Cure—Seventeen Seconds
• Elaine: Einstuzende Neubatuen—Haus Der Luge

This week we discuss some interesting February releases, including new stuff by Sasami, Dan Rosenboom/Tina Raymond/Jake Vossler, Blood Incantation, and Black Country New Road. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Car Bomb—Mordial
• Elaine: V/A—This Is Boston Not LA

This week we bring back our old Album Anniversary segment, talking about albums with "birthdays" from the likes of The Allman Brothers Band, Nick Drake, Pharaoh Sanders, Tangerine Dream, and Bad Brains. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Prince—Controversy
• JimJam: Nine Inch Nails—Year Zero

This week we go on yet another CD buy! This time brings with it some humorous incidents, as well as getting off the rails topic-wise in some great ways.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Deftones—Koi No Yokan
• JimJam: Nile—Ithyphallic

This week Book Club takes a turn toward the fictional, as we discuss the latest novel by Mountain Goats frontman (and established author in his own right) John Darnielle, Devil House.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Tuneyards—Whokill
• JimJam: Sheng Jie/Sheng Jing—Parallel Weaving

We end January with some freeform bullshit. Some topics include: pandemic-related album postponements, when to give up on completionism, and the utility of collections.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Tanya Tagaq—Tongues
• JimJam: Amon Duul II—Phallus Dei

We kick off 2022 album reviews with some heavy hitters as well as a few less-known titles, including work by Rachel Beetz, Boris, FKA Twigs, and The Weeknd.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Fallujah—Dreamless
• JimJam: Tom Waits—Rain Dogs

We continue (and conclude) our Caesura On Caesura interview series this week with Scott interviewing JimJam. Some areas of conversation: Discogs customer service, modular synth gear, and the mystery of why Iron Maiden's latest album shows up on so many year-end lists. Enjoy!

JimJam's Album of the Week: Gaza—No Absolutes in Human Suffering

We change things up this week, and bring you not a discussion of music (per se) nor a musical topic, but, rather (selfishly, perhaps), a topic we're very familiar with: ourselves. This week and next week, we'll be interviewing each other, and while the topics will most likely remain around music, there will be some drift into other territory as well. This particular week finds Scott going under the gun!

Scott's Album of the Week: Pig Destroyer—Book Burner (Deluxe Edition)

We start 2022 off right by returning to our old Album Dares segment, this time going over two releases that couldn't be more different: Tom Waits's Nighthawks at the Diner and Slipknot's debut album.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Beherit—Drawing Down the Moon
• JimJam: Cluster—Cluster 2

Well, this is it! Our last episode of the year, and probably the one most people were looking forward to the most: our albums of the year! We split this episode into three general sections: (1) our methodology for our choices, (2), honorable mentions, and (3) our top 10. Below you can view our respective lists if you're curious. Thanks to everybody who listens, and we'll be back in 2022!

Scott's AOTY:

1. Floating Points & Pharoah Sanders—Promises
2. Black Country, New Road—For the first time
3. Magdalena Bay—Mercurial World
4. Japanese Breakfast—Jubilee
5. LLNN—Unmaker
6. كدرة كدرة [Guedra Guedra]—Vexillology
7. Plebeian Grandstand—Rien ne suffit
8. black midi—Cavalcade
9. The Mountain Goats—Dark In Here
10. Victory Over the Sun—Nowherer

Scott's Honorable Mentions:

• Archspire—Bleed the Future
• Bent Knee—Frosting
• Horsey—Debonair
• Kurushimi—Chaos Remains
• Sleep Token—This Place Will Become Your Tomb

JimJam's AOTY:

1. Horsey—Debonair
2. Squid—Bright Green Field
3. Otay:onii—Ming Ming
4. Jason Sharp—The Turning Centre of a Still World
5. Jon Hopkins—Music for Psychedelic Therapy
6. Ryan Van Haesendonck—Vauville
7. Floating Points/Pharaoh Sanders—Promises
8. Bent Arcana—Moon Drenched
9. Xiu Xiu—Oh No
10. Iglooghost—Lei Line Eon

JimJam's Honorable Mentions:

• Black Country New Road—For the First Time
• Alessandro Cortini—Scuro Chiaro
• Alexis Marshall—House of Lull. House of When.
• Monobody—Comma
• ZAÄAR - Magická Džungl’a

We start off our very short end-of-year content with our favorite "discoveries": albums that weren't released this but which nonetheless came onto our radar for various reasons.

Scott's Discoveries:

• Black Keys
• Cynic
• fun./The Format
• Limp Bizkit
• MIA
• Psyopus
• Sublime
• White Stripes
• Slipknot [post-All Hope is Gone]

JimJam's Discoveries:

• Active Child—You Are All I See
• Boris—Boris At Last/Feedbacker
• Coil—Love’s Secret Domain
• Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty—The Beloved Music
• The Mountain Goats—Tallahassee
• The Upsetters—Blackboard Jungle Dub
• Oneohtrix Point Never—Rifts
• Eliane Radigue—Opus 17
• David Tudor—Rainforest
• V/A—No New York

In our final Book Club (and regular episode) of the year, we discuss How Music Got Free, a book detailing the rise and (sort-of) fall of music piracy.

Final Albums of the Week for 2021:

• Scott: Antony & the Johnsons—I am a Bird Now
• JimJam: The Cars—The Cars

With this week comes our final album reviews of the year, and we've got some heavy-hitters today, as well as some unpopular opinions, as we talk about new releases by ZAÄAR, Jon Hopkins, Aesop Rock/Blockhead, and Converge/Chelsea Wolfe!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Limp Bizkit—Significant Other
• JimJam: Prince—Sign O' the Times

This week we get together and go music shopping, and talk about our purchases, ranging from the esoteric to the deliciously normie. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: El-P—Fantastic Damage
• JimJam: Oneohtrix Point Never—Betrayed in the Octagon

This week we talk about some albums with big birthdays this month—except that we made an oopsie, and only one of them actually came out in November. But, nonetheless, we're talking about seminal albums by Sonny Rollins, Black Flag, Talk Talk, and Oneohtrix Point Never. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: The Faceless—Autotheism
• JimJam: Rancid—…And Out Come the Wolves

This week we talk about the book Perfecting Sound Forever: An Aural History of Recorded Music, about...well, music recording, and you know we have some hot takes on the analog vs. digital debate! Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Dying Fetus—Stop At Nothing
• JimJam: The Upsetters—Blackboard Jungle Dub

This week we talk about some albums that came out in October, including new releases by Kayo Dot, BadBadNotGood, Fortresses, and Black Dice. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Ben Browning—Turns
• JimJam: Eliane Radigue—Opus 17

This week we dive into the sonically vast catalog of New York's Sacred Bones Records, and talk about our findings.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Agent Fresco—Destrier
• JimJam: Coil—Horse Rotorvator

This week we're talking about some album birthdays, including releases by Soundgarden, Suffocation, Fugazi, and My Chemical Romance. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Sleep Token—This Place Will Become Your Tomb
• JimJam: Billy Joel—Turnstiles

This week we're talking about poptimism: a critical methodology proposing that pop music deserves just as much attention and critical evaluation as other music. Except it's more complicated than that. Much more complicated. Join us as we try to make more sense of this argument and discuss our own thoughts on the subject.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Slipknot—Slipknot
• JimJam: Squid—Bright Green Field

This week we bring back our Book Club segment and talk about Meet Me in the Bathroom: an oral history detailing New York rock in the early millennium, including bands like The Strokes and Interpol. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Earth, Wind & Fire—I Am
• JimJam: The Weeknd—Thursday

This week we talk about some September releases, including new albums by Carcass, Amon Tobin, Low, and Injury Reserve!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Nirvana—Bleach
• JimJam: Tim Hecker—Radio Amor

This week we dive deep into some albums with big birthdays, including (but not limited to) Nirvana's Nevermind and Mastodon's Blood Mountain!

Albums of the Week:

• JimJam: David Tudor—Rainforest
• Scott: The Fall of Troy—Doppelganger

This week we get all whacky and topic-free, and discuss...well, whatever's on our minds! Which, this time, happens to include, among other things: artist prolificacy and diminishing returns, the Sun Ra Arkestra being active without Sun Ra (and similar examples), and our inability to understand the hype around the new Turnstile album. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: John Frum—A Stirring in the Noos
• JimJam: Sun Ra—Space is the Place

We bring back our Exploration segment this week, talking about dance music and all the convoluted genre tags that come with it and our miscellaneous foibles in exploring eleven (five and six albums, respectively) EDM albums. Enjoy!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Bon Iver—Bloodbank EP
• JimJam: Tim Buckley—Starsailor

This week we talk about some albums that came out this month, including releases by Wolves in the Throne Room, Jason Sharp, Horsey, and Leprous!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: The Black Keys—Brothers
• JimJam: Waylon Jennings—Honky Tonk Heroes

This week we go back to a topic we covered over a year and a half ago, and discuss a few of our favorite lyrics!

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Boredoms—Pop Tatari
• JimJam: Chris Corsano/Paul Flaherty—The Beloved Music

This week we talk about some nice albums with birthdays, including work by Bjork, Danny Brown, Leprous, and Chelsea Wolfe.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Depeche Mode—Some Great Reward
• JimJam: Bent Arcana—Bent Arcana

We return with our Book Club segment and discuss a text by Kay Larson that's a mixture of music history, biography, and pseudo-comparative religion, all focusing on John Cage and Zen Buddhism. Buckle in: it's a conversation that takes us from thoughts on John Cage to thoughts on performance art and hero worship and the nature of art and music in general.

Albums of the Week:

• Scott: Phrenelith—Desolate Endscape
• JimJam: Moral Collapse—Moral Collapse