This months’ theme is ‘entrance music’. We all pick our event or occasion (for us to enter) and a track that suits both us and the occasion (and hopefully something that the other brothers want to ‘spin’, rather than ‘bin’).
I’ve considered a number of different occasions but have picked a very specific event for which I’ll probably need to paint you a picture.
The setting for my story is a powerlifting gym in any unfashionable northern town, pick any, it doesn’t really matter. It’s about 20 mins off the M62 or perhaps off the M61 (again, it doesn’t really matter). It’s on the 2nd floor of the old mill building above a carpet warehouse, the paint’s peeling off the walls and it smells like, well, it smells like a powerlifting gym. There’s just enough room for a handful of family, friends and training partners. They’re either standing against the walls between squat racks or perched on benches.
You’re at your first powerlifting competition, except that word doesn’t really matter, nobody’s competing against each other, just themselves. 18 stone veterans, 7 stone first time teenage lifters and everything in between. Everybody cheers for everybody. Nobody wants to see anyone fail any lift.
Each lifter is allowed 60 seconds to make their lift. Lifters can choose their own music. Anything (but it’s mostly Metallica). So you get a maximum 60 seconds of your chosen track … but in reality you probably don’t want to take that long.
It’s not really ‘entrance’ music as you’re probably just walking from the corner of the room to the lifting platform. It’s not much of an entrance. But your track is your own personal hype-man, slapping you on the back and screaming in your ear. It plays for the time it takes to cinch your belt, chalk up and hit the smelling salts, approach the bar and go through your well practiced max deadlift ritual.
The track has to make you feel something visceral and it has to do it quickly. It has to connect in a way that taps into something real. Something physical. It’s not necessarily about all-out aggression (though it often is), it could be a head nodder, a party anthem or … it could be Tanaka 2 by Joey Valence and Brae featuring Logic;
When I first heard this track, I did what any self respecting friend should do and sent it straight to Nolan. His immediate response was ‘This is a proper Joey track, how much could you lift to this?’ My entrance music and my setting was chosen in one what’s app response.
I’ve hit all of my lifetime best lifts to one of two tracks – Ante Up by MOP feat. Busta Rhymes or Hip Hop by Dead Prez. But what’s the point in picking the obvious tracks that we all know?
I’ve gone for Tanaka 2 as it ticks all the big-lift-boxes. It’s an immediate shot of adrenaline straight into the central nervous system. Massive early 90s vibes with obvious nods to Beastie Boys but also slabs of Public Enemy Bomb Squad production tropes all wrapped up in a contemporary (El-P influenced ?) beat. It’s got a great guest-verse by Logic but the main vocal punch is delivered by Joey Valence in verse 1 and given the 60 second lift limit we won’t need anymore than that.
And also, it’s a brand new music release which is how we like to roll on the pod where possible.
So this month, we’re all choosing a song for our entrance. Our entrance to what? Our own entrance to our biggest party? To our funeral? To our birth? To our wedding? To the beginning of our best DJ set? Well, that’s for us to decide. It’s the moment we arrive, we walk in, we’re wheeled in. It’s our entrance!
I immediately knew what kind of track I wanted to choose, because of my day job. I spend my life collecting tracks that I’d love to use one day in an awesome film or TV script. Of course, it almost never transpires that I get to do that, but it doesn’t stop me imagining. And over the years, I’ve amassed quite a collection. Now and again, I’m either delighted or dismayed (or a bit of both) to see them used in other stuff. Killing Eve’s brilliant use of French Ye-Ye pop, well you can imagine how gutted I was about that!
Anyway, my choice is for an entrance to a fictitious character. A me, but a made-up me. And by sheer coincidence, I actually played this track on this Sunday’s Mondo Pop show. So the Gods are aligned. It was meant to be.
OK, let’s make up some daft scene, off the top of my head. Let’s say it’s 1979, and there’s an English businessman trying to do a deal with the Sicilian Mafia. Thing is, he’s not a businessman, he’s a spy or a diplomat, and the money he’s going to hand over is the first part of an elaborate sting to catch the Mafia head honcho.
So he’s shitting himself. He needs to pull this off. When he gets off the plane to Palermo, and gets in the waiting car, and is driven to the club to meet the man to whom he’s going to hand this money over – this is the song that kicks in as he walks into the club in slo-mo, palms sweaty, eyes fixed straight ahead, trying to keep it cool. Early 70s Italian pop-funk of the highest order, and a song Tarantino would be happy to slide into a soundtrack.
So this is my entrance. It’s the entrance I’m writing for someone who doesn’t exist, in which I get to play the lead role.
And in the meantime, back in the real world, I can at least slip it into our headphones, and walk down the road, in the middle of my own personal movie…
… and the award for the best album title of 2022 goes to … Sudan Archives ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’.
Sudan Archives, AKA Brittany Parks, is a 28 year old, musical force of nature from Cincinnati, Ohio but now based in LA. Natural Brown Prom Queen is her 2nd album and it’s getting significant and well deserved attention from the press, live audiences … and This Is Not Happening. This album is a rollercoaster ride, it’s wild, frenetic, original, chaotic, ridiculously high energy, high concept, totally individual, ambitious, and above all massive fun. It fuses Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Dance, sounds of the 90s, early naughties, contemporary times … and perhaps even the future.
If you’ve not yet heard the album, have a listen here (other streaming platforms are available).
Two pods ago, David chose ‘Topless’, the first single off the album, as his selection for ‘Spin it or bin it’. I think we all ended up spinning it but we had an interesting discussion in getting there. Topless is a brave choice for the albums’ first single as it is so divisive, I can’t imagine anyone not having a pretty strong opinion about this track. I said something along the lines of ‘this is either the best or the worst track that anyone has chosen for Spin it or bin it’. Making your mind up about the track is a lot easier if you only listen to it, when you watch the video too, it’s close to sensory overload. Therefore, I’d recommend you first listen to the track here but you can also dive straight in to the video here …
There’s a lot going on isn’t there? While this track isn’t wholly representative of the album it does point you in the right direction.
The album is 18 tracks and 54 mins long. As Nolan has pointed out, this is pretty much standard Hip Hop / R&B album length these days. But also, this kind of length has caused problems before when we’re digesting previous albums of the month. It’s much easier to digest a tight 35-40 minute album if you’re tackling a new artist or something that’s not your natural musical tastes. Brother Guy, I’m thinking of you here. And the 54 mins of this album can hardly be described as ‘easy listening’. There is so much going on here that it asks quite a lot of the listener, even if this does fall into your natural wheel-house.
For me, the 18 tracks on the album fall into 3 different phases of the album. This is something that we’ve discussed quite a lot on Whats App and I am sure will be a central point of the pod. But here are the ‘phases’ as I hear the album.
Phase 1: Track 1 (Homemaker) to Track 8 (OMG Britt)
Phase 2: Track 9 (Chevy S10) to Track 13 (Do Your Thing)
Phase 3: Track 14 (Freakalizer) to Track 18 (#513)
With such a long album I often get interrupted when I listen and don’t get as many ‘all the way through’ runs with the album as I’d like. Therefore I tend to chop the album up and the above has begun to feel like a natural(ish) division. I don’t think for a second that Ms. Parks designed it like that but it’s the reality of my listening experience.
In short, the first 3rd contains all of the singles – Topless, Selfish Soul and OMG Britt. As with so many albums these days, it’s front loaded with the hook laden, immediate attention grabbing (perhaps not ‘radio friendly’) singles. Let’s take a quick minute to talk about Selfish Soul. This is a mega track. It’s got a similar attitude, vibe and bounce to ‘Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ and like that track is close to impossible to sit still to. But, it’s also weird AF. Or perhaps ‘wonky’ as Brother David would put it. It also touches on subject matter that I’ve never heard covered like this before.
As we always do, we love to share brilliant content from other blogs, websites and pods … I MASSIVELY encourage you to listen to the Song Exploder episode on this track which you can listen to here. It’s fascinating listening to Brittany talk about the recording process – her working alone in her home recording studio and sending the track to producers and remixers who do their thing, totally independently and send it back to her. She then picks and chooses what she likes and what she doesn’t. Whilst I am sure it’s not a unique approach its certainly not a common form of ‘collaboration’ that I’ve come across. However, you can definitely hear the hand of many creatives in this album … but their input seems to be moderated and modulated by Sudan Archives to create the final product that we hear and is totally hers.
One more track to call out from this first third … only cause you’re going to hear us speak about this so much more on the Pod is OMG Britt. David and I love it but Guy hates it with a passion I’m not sure I’ve seen before (sorry Nolan not sure what you think about it yet). Sudan Archives is at her spikiest and most aggressive on this track but for me, it’s a total banger.
So what about the 2nd and 3rd ‘phases’ of this album?
Phase 2 turns to more ambitious tracks of greater scope and scale. Chevy S10 is the perfect example. At over 6 minutes it’s the longest track on the album by some way. This song itself has as many phases as the album, all quite unique, equally ambitious and intriguing. This track reminds me of some of the longer, more experimental College Dropout Tracks in its complete ignorance of the rules that govern so much music in the Hip Hop / R&B genre. Also, I hear shades of Pyramids by Frank Ocean here too?
For me, the second phase contains some of the strongest tracks on the album, ChevyS10, Copycat and Flue are super strong tracks and TDLY is sparkling in it’s oddness and is great example of the violin playing that Sudan Archives has become famous for. This phase ends with the only skit on the album which I can take or leave but its only 50 seconds long and feels like it fits.
The final phase of the album doesn’t let up in it’s vast array of styles and genre influences on display. Freakalizer marries a lovely early 90’s beat with nu-soul early 2000’s vocals in a catchy, funky track with a bunch of vocal hooks. We then move to two, perfectly crafted slow jams (Homesick and Milk Me) before we move to the final two tracks, Yellow Brick Road and #513 that both remind me of late 90’s early naughties R&B and perhaps even Trip Hop influences (particularly #513) but alway with a contemporary twist or nod.
If you can’t tell, I think this album isn’t far off being perfect. I wouldn’t lose a single track and I don’t think I’d change anything about the sequencing. I love the massive list of influences that I can hear here. I love how they’re blended so well. I love the zero fucks given to genre rules and tropes. I am not sure if I’ve heard such a confident presentation of someone doing exactly what they want to do since ‘Smiling with no teeth’ by Genesis Owusu. I think I’d argue that Sudan Archives has achieved an album with a greater level of consistency. But I also appreciate that this is less accessible than ‘Smiling’ and I know for a fact that for one of us on the Pod, this album has been a struggle.
It should be an interesting discussion. Look out for the Pod episode dropping mid November wherever you get your podcasts!
Guess who's back. Back again. TINH's back. Tell a friend. This month, in Part 1 we go deep on this month's Album of the Month by Sudan Archives. In Part 2 we play 'Spin It or Bin It', where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is 'Our own personal entrance music'.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom QueenIt's my (Joey's) choice this month and we've gone with a belter of a sophomore album by Sudan Archives that easily claims the best titled album of the year 'Natural Brown Prom Queen' If you've not heard it and this inspires you … Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some merch – here (personally I've got my eye on the 'I just wanna get my titties out' t-shirt – here)As always we kick off with what we expected from the album and what we got. Then we explore favorite tracks, sequencing of the album, why 'OMG Britt' nearly ruined the whole thing for Guy', the creative process of making the album and the influences that we hear.We mention a few things that we'd highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;A great interview with Fader – 'The World's most confident introvert'Fader interview in Podcast form – hereThe AWESOME Song Exploder episode on 'Selfish Soul' – hereAnd this incredible live performance – WOWZERSPart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | 'Our own personal entrance music'The theme for Spin It or Bin It is a bit different this month. We're choosing our 'Entrance Music' and describing the event or circumstances that we're entering. If that doesn't make too much sense, just listen to the episode! This month, the 4 tracks were …David chose – Adriano Celentano | L'Unica Chance (plus David's blog post)Joey chose – Joey Valance and Brae (Feat. Logic) | Tanaka 2 (plus Joey's blog post)Guy chose – The Beastie Boys | Sabotage (plus Guy's blog post)Nolan chose – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis | Can't Hold Us (plus Nolan's blog post)Next MonthThe big one! The end of year review. Hold on tight. We count down our 10 favourite albums of the year, featuring lots of moaning about David's album scoring algorithm. We also present our tracks of the year. Can you sum up the year musically in one track? It's a lot tougher than you'd think.Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blo
We’re back again this month with our usual format. In Part 1 we go deep on Hot Chip’s latest album, in Part 2 we play ‘Spin It or Bin It’, where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is ‘Dance-Pop’.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Hot Chip | Freakout/Release
It’s Guy’s choice this month and he chooses the one of his favourite band’s latest release. It’s always interesting when one of us chooses a band that they love and have loads of history with.
The chat focuses around our initial impressions, favourite tracks, the difficulty of maintaining relevance and engagement on your 8th album … and we all have something to say on the sequencing of tracks on this album.
Guy has curated a 28 track playlist called ‘Hot Chip’s Hot Hits’ – have a listen to it here
During the chat there were loads of references to Hot Chip side projects, here are a few links for you to check out;
Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | We all choose a Dance-Pop Track
In tribute to Hot Chip, the theme for Spin It or Bin It this month is Dance-Pop. Over the course of the month we all create a play list of our favourite Dance-Pop, a shortlist of 4 tracks and then choose a track to delight (or in my case annoy) the team. This month, the 4 tracks were …
The 16 track playlist of each of our 4 shortlisted tracks can be found here and it’s a belter!
Next Month
I (Joey) will be running the show and hosting the discussion on Sudan Archive’s 2nd album – Natural Brown Prom Queen
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we like and where we clash, and comment if something catches your eye. We’d love to hear what you think
Guess who's back. Back again. TINH's back. Tell a friend. This month, in Part 1 we go deep on this month's Album of the Month by Sudan Archives. In Part 2 we play 'Spin It or Bin It', where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is 'Our own personal entrance music'.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom QueenIt's my (Joey's) choice this month and we've gone with a belter of a sophomore album by Sudan Archives that easily claims the best titled album of the year 'Natural Brown Prom Queen' If you've not heard it and this inspires you … Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some merch – here (personally I've got my eye on the 'I just wanna get my titties out' t-shirt – here)As always we kick off with what we expected from the album and what we got. Then we explore favorite tracks, sequencing of the album, why 'OMG Britt' nearly ruined the whole thing for Guy', the creative process of making the album and the influences that we hear.We mention a few things that we'd highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;A great interview with Fader – 'The World's most confident introvert'Fader interview in Podcast form – hereThe AWESOME Song Exploder episode on 'Selfish Soul' – hereAnd this incredible live performance – WOWZERSPart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | 'Our own personal entrance music'The theme for Spin It or Bin It is a bit different this month. We're choosing our 'Entrance Music' and describing the event or circumstances that we're entering. If that doesn't make too much sense, just listen to the episode! This month, the 4 tracks were …David chose – Adriano Celentano | L'Unica Chance (plus David's blog post)Joey chose – Joey Valance and Brae (Feat. Logic) | Tanaka 2 (plus Joey's blog post)Guy chose – The Beastie Boys | Sabotage (plus Guy's blog post)Nolan chose – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis | Can't Hold Us (plus Nolan's blog post)Next MonthThe big one! The end of year review. Hold on tight. We count down our 10 favourite albums of the year, featuring lots of moaning about David's album scoring algorithm. We also present our tracks of the year. Can you sum up the year musically in one track? It's a lot tougher than you'd think.Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blo
After a little summer break we’re back! We get deep into our Album of the Month, Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights in Part 1. We dig a little deeper than most pods and make sure we’ve spent LOADS of time living with the album. In Part 2 we have one of the best ‘Spin It or Bin It’ that I can remember – we each bring a track and ask each other ‘Spin It or Bin It?’
Part 1: Album of the Month – Steve Lacy’s ‘Gemini Rights’
It’s David’s choice this month and he chooses the intriguing ‘Gemini Rights’. Its a tight, punchy album but gives us loads to discuss Tik Tok, the tension between joyous music and often bitter lyrics, the influence of gender and sexuality on this album and the age of massive change that we’re in.
The chat references loads of music and we highly recommend that you check out the following if you’re not familiar already;
… and my big shout out – Serpentwithfeet’s ‘Deacon’
Part 2: Spin It or Bin It – New Music (tracks from June 2022 onwards)
In Part 2 we get into one of the best Spin It or Bin It? that we’ve had. We each bring a track that meets a different brief every month. This month is simple – ‘New Music’. We then ask each other the binary question ‘Spin It or Bin It?’ and then choose a track of the month from the 4. Here’s our choices …
Guy will be running the show and hosting the discussion on Hot Chip’s ‘Freakout Release’.
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we like and where we clash, and comment if something catches your eye. We’d love to hear what you think.
Guess who's back. Back again. TINH's back. Tell a friend. This month, in Part 1 we go deep on this month's Album of the Month by Sudan Archives. In Part 2 we play 'Spin It or Bin It', where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is 'Our own personal entrance music'.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom QueenIt's my (Joey's) choice this month and we've gone with a belter of a sophomore album by Sudan Archives that easily claims the best titled album of the year 'Natural Brown Prom Queen' If you've not heard it and this inspires you … Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some merch – here (personally I've got my eye on the 'I just wanna get my titties out' t-shirt – here)As always we kick off with what we expected from the album and what we got. Then we explore favorite tracks, sequencing of the album, why 'OMG Britt' nearly ruined the whole thing for Guy', the creative process of making the album and the influences that we hear.We mention a few things that we'd highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;A great interview with Fader – 'The World's most confident introvert'Fader interview in Podcast form – hereThe AWESOME Song Exploder episode on 'Selfish Soul' – hereAnd this incredible live performance – WOWZERSPart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | 'Our own personal entrance music'The theme for Spin It or Bin It is a bit different this month. We're choosing our 'Entrance Music' and describing the event or circumstances that we're entering. If that doesn't make too much sense, just listen to the episode! This month, the 4 tracks were …David chose – Adriano Celentano | L'Unica Chance (plus David's blog post)Joey chose – Joey Valance and Brae (Feat. Logic) | Tanaka 2 (plus Joey's blog post)Guy chose – The Beastie Boys | Sabotage (plus Guy's blog post)Nolan chose – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis | Can't Hold Us (plus Nolan's blog post)Next MonthThe big one! The end of year review. Hold on tight. We count down our 10 favourite albums of the year, featuring lots of moaning about David's album scoring algorithm. We also present our tracks of the year. Can you sum up the year musically in one track? It's a lot tougher than you'd think.Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blo
Our last Album of the Month (AOTM) was the beautiful ‘Life on Earth’ by Hurray for the Riff Raff. This month the This Is Not Happening crew tackle Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’ head on! We get stuck right into this challenging album in Part 1 of the pod. In Part 2, we play ‘Spin It or Bin It?’ where we judge the tracks that we’ve chosen for this month’s theme.
Part 1 – Album of the Month
This month it’s Nolan’s choice, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’ . We discuss the album in length, favourite tracks and their impact on us and other music fans and if there is a missing track from this album.
We want you to have access to great conversations about great music – here are some links to some of the best content on this album that we’ve consumed;
A great ‘explainer’ article from Ambrosia for Heads – read here
NYT’s Popcast Podcast Episode (this one is great for a Kendrick Sceptic view) – listen here
Great Tempo Tribe Podcast conversation – listen here
A shorter listen at 22 mins – the NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast – listen here
This was one of our toughest albums to think and to talk about … but we hope you enjoy it.
Part 2 – Spin it or Bin It
In the second part of this episode we get stuck into 4 tracks representing this months theme – ‘LA Tracks’ – or favourite tracks from LA based artists. We all pick a track, introduce our track and ask the others the painfully binary critical question; ‘spin it’ or ‘bin it?’
We try not to go super-obvious on our track selections each month … this is what we chose to represent LA;
Episode #25 will be with you soon – Guy will be guiding us through ‘We’ by Arcade Fire one of is favourite artists ever … what could go wrong? Have a listen to the album and share some thoughts with us on the blog or on our Insta.
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we like and where we clash, and comment if something catches your eye. We’d love to see what you think.
Guess who's back. Back again. TINH's back. Tell a friend. This month, in Part 1 we go deep on this month's Album of the Month by Sudan Archives. In Part 2 we play 'Spin It or Bin It', where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is 'Our own personal entrance music'.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom QueenIt's my (Joey's) choice this month and we've gone with a belter of a sophomore album by Sudan Archives that easily claims the best titled album of the year 'Natural Brown Prom Queen' If you've not heard it and this inspires you … Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some merch – here (personally I've got my eye on the 'I just wanna get my titties out' t-shirt – here)As always we kick off with what we expected from the album and what we got. Then we explore favorite tracks, sequencing of the album, why 'OMG Britt' nearly ruined the whole thing for Guy', the creative process of making the album and the influences that we hear.We mention a few things that we'd highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;A great interview with Fader – 'The World's most confident introvert'Fader interview in Podcast form – hereThe AWESOME Song Exploder episode on 'Selfish Soul' – hereAnd this incredible live performance – WOWZERSPart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | 'Our own personal entrance music'The theme for Spin It or Bin It is a bit different this month. We're choosing our 'Entrance Music' and describing the event or circumstances that we're entering. If that doesn't make too much sense, just listen to the episode! This month, the 4 tracks were …David chose – Adriano Celentano | L'Unica Chance (plus David's blog post)Joey chose – Joey Valance and Brae (Feat. Logic) | Tanaka 2 (plus Joey's blog post)Guy chose – The Beastie Boys | Sabotage (plus Guy's blog post)Nolan chose – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis | Can't Hold Us (plus Nolan's blog post)Next MonthThe big one! The end of year review. Hold on tight. We count down our 10 favourite albums of the year, featuring lots of moaning about David's album scoring algorithm. We also present our tracks of the year. Can you sum up the year musically in one track? It's a lot tougher than you'd think.Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blo
Last month we shared our thoughts on Small World by Metronomy, all 9 tracks and 35 minutes worth. This month This Is Not Happening ups the ante with ‘Dragon, New Mountain …’, all 20 tracks and 80 minutes worth. In part 1, we deep dive into the density of Big Thief and Part 2 we play ‘Spin It or Bin It?’ where we judge the tracks that we’ve chosen for this month’s theme.
Part 1 – Album of the Month
This month it’s David’s choice, ‘Dragon, New Mountain …’ by Big Thief. Three of us love Big Thief and have much more than a passing relationship with the band … whilst one of us is a Big Thief virgin. There was SO much written about this album as soon as it came out including a number of 100% reviews. As always, we take a slower, more considered approach to criticism, living with this album for a couple of months and letting it really settle in before we reflect and share our views.
You don’t have to look to far to find interviews, reviews and videos on Big Thief and this album but some of the content that we consumed and discussed in part 1 can be found below;
The metacritic review page is always a goo start and can be found here
This is a great listen – ‘Out On The Line’ Podcast
Really insightful take on the album – ‘Taking it Down’Podcast
If you love them … or not, this one’s got you covered -‘NY Times’ Podcast
In the second part of this episode we get stuck into 4 tracks representing this months theme – ‘Not on Spotify’. We all pick a track, introduce our track and ask the others the painfully binary critical question; ‘spin it’ or ‘bin it?’
This month was a little more ‘free form’ than usual … but an amusing listen none the less!
Episode #23 will be with you soon – Joey will be leading the discussion on ‘Life on Earth’ by Hurray for the Riff Raff. If you get the chance we’d love you to have a listen to the album before next month, perhaps share some thoughts with us on the blog or on our Insta. This albums getting a lot of positive attention and we think it’s going to be in a few year end lists.
Guess who's back. Back again. TINH's back. Tell a friend. This month, in Part 1 we go deep on this month's Album of the Month by Sudan Archives. In Part 2 we play 'Spin It or Bin It', where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is 'Our own personal entrance music'.Part 1 | Album of the Month | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom QueenIt's my (Joey's) choice this month and we've gone with a belter of a sophomore album by Sudan Archives that easily claims the best titled album of the year 'Natural Brown Prom Queen' If you've not heard it and this inspires you … Go listen to the album – HereGo watch some videos – HereGo buy some merch – here (personally I've got my eye on the 'I just wanna get my titties out' t-shirt – here)As always we kick off with what we expected from the album and what we got. Then we explore favorite tracks, sequencing of the album, why 'OMG Britt' nearly ruined the whole thing for Guy', the creative process of making the album and the influences that we hear.We mention a few things that we'd highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;A great interview with Fader – 'The World's most confident introvert'Fader interview in Podcast form – hereThe AWESOME Song Exploder episode on 'Selfish Soul' – hereAnd this incredible live performance – WOWZERSPart 2 | Spin It or Bin It | 'Our own personal entrance music'The theme for Spin It or Bin It is a bit different this month. We're choosing our 'Entrance Music' and describing the event or circumstances that we're entering. If that doesn't make too much sense, just listen to the episode! This month, the 4 tracks were …David chose – Adriano Celentano | L'Unica Chance (plus David's blog post)Joey chose – Joey Valance and Brae (Feat. Logic) | Tanaka 2 (plus Joey's blog post)Guy chose – The Beastie Boys | Sabotage (plus Guy's blog post)Nolan chose – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis | Can't Hold Us (plus Nolan's blog post)Next MonthThe big one! The end of year review. Hold on tight. We count down our 10 favourite albums of the year, featuring lots of moaning about David's album scoring algorithm. We also present our tracks of the year. Can you sum up the year musically in one track? It's a lot tougher than you'd think.Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blo
We usually pick a (relatively) new album release to focus on but this month we changed things up. The start of the year is a funny time for album releases and 2022 was no different. We decided that rather than spend a month and a podcast talking about something that we weren’t too passionate about, we’d take a different path. This month is the first TINH ‘Album Club’.
The format for this podcast is simple. The four of us all (randomly) chose someone from the Team-TINH to pick an album for. The album should be from the past 10 (ish) years and should represent something special that the recipient might have missed. A modern classic perhaps.
This episode was loads of fun to make. There’s loads of agreement, a little bit of niggle, a fair chunk of nerdery … something for everyone. The following are the albums that we discussed, who chose them, who they were chosen for and some links that take you to some of the things that popped up in the discussion.
First-up – Joey chose Deerhunter’s 2010 ‘Halcyon Digest’ for Guy;
You can listen to the album here on Spotify … or catch it on YouTube here The ethereal video for Helicopter can be watchedhere … or watch them perform the poptastic ‘Memory Boy’ here
Next-up – Nolan chose Kanye West’s 2016 ‘Life of Pablo’ for David (what could go wrong?);
You can listen to the album here on Spotify … or catch it on YouTube here Nolan highly recommends NORE’s podcast interview with Kanye here… … and if 2.5hrs of Kanye wasn’t enough here’s part 2
Next-up – David chose Wye Oak’s 2011 ‘Civilian’ for Joey;
You can listen to the album here on Spotify … or catch it on YouTubehere Watch a live NPR Tiny Desk performance of ‘Civilian’ here
Finally – Guy chose Enny’s 2021’s ‘Under 25’ for Nolan;
You can listen to the album here on Spotify … or catch it on YouTubehere Watch the video to ‘I want’here … and the video for ‘Peng Black Girls’ here
We hope you enjoy this episode. Let us know if you know these albums. Do you love them? What are your thoughts?
When we started this little podcast, we weren’t really sure how it was gonna go, how long we’d do it for, or who’d be listening. It’s a great surprise and pleasure to still be here, 19 episodes in, with a growing listenership.
However, the eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that our logo was a bit….well, home-made! That’s because it literally was – put together by Guy, who frankly did a brilliant job considering he is very much not a graphic designer.
But as the pod has grown, it’s become clear that we needed a proper logo and fresh redesign – and it’s enormous pleasure to share the new TINH logo with you today. Gorgeous, innit?!
The logo was designed by the amazing Jane Jardine, who’d already done an incredible job with the design for David’s radio show Mondo Pop. We love the retro vibe of our new design, the vinyl sleeve and the way that it feels like an evolution from the original logo. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the results!
So here’s to a very slightly more professional TINH pod and blog – and to many more albums reviews coming your way in 2022…
Irish rappers are still a pretty rare breed, though by all account it’s a fast growing scene. But even those that break out, like Rejjie Snow, end up relocating to the US, and let’s be honest, sounding 100% American.
I first heard Denise Chaila via the unbelievably charming and catchy Chaila tune last year, berating those who can’t be bothered to learn how to pronounce her surname.
I love that she’s got her own distinctive voice and flow, and she’s not just trying to sound like an identkit US rapper, and it’s just so enjoyable to listen to.
But this new track, ANSEO, feels like a step further forward. A proper intro track to her world view and her vibe over a fantastically beefy beat, mixed with the whole chainmail and swords video, it feels like she’s just waiting to blow up. Which is surely what’s going to happen to her….
thisisnothappening.net 