Episodes
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Ep. 76 - L7 - Bricks Are Heavy (with Donita Sparks)
The pioneering Grunge/Punk/Metal band's breakthrough album, Bricks Are Heavy is our latest subject. And to help us get a better understanding of the band and the album, we enlisted the help of chief mayhem maker and band leader, the legendary Donita Sparks to fill in a few of the gaps. Sit back,...
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Ep. 75 - The Lemonheads - It's a shame about Ray (with Evan Dando)
Straight outta lockdown! We had the immense pleasure of chatting with 90’s alt-nation rock royalty - the kaleidoscopic, beautiful and gilded-throated Evan Dando, head lemon of the Lemonheads. Ensconced in his Martha’s Vineyard home, and through an era-appropriate lo-fi phoneline (sorry about…
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Ep. 75 - The Raveonettes - Pretty in Black (with Sune Rose Wagner)
Our last lockdown episode finishes a shitty year with a bang. A real gem of the 2000s, Pretty in Black saw The Raveonettes enlist the help of members of Suicide, The Velvet Underground and The Ronettes to create a dark and poignant, modern rock album indebted to music of the 50s and 60s. Lead...
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Ep. 74 - Mark Lanegan - Interview
Mark Lanegan's 35 year music career has been prolific and diverse, after starting with the Screaming Trees, he has worked with/in Mad Season, Queens of the Stone Age, Gutter Twins, Twilight Singers, Isobel Campbell, UNKLE and countless others. He recently released his engrossing and brutal…
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Bonus Episode - The making of Helmet's Betty - the Page Hamilton interview
The man, the myth, the legend and super-cool guy Page Hamilton joins ask ostensibly to talk about making the Betty album but we also talk about (in order): George Floyd killings, Trump, Waco, seeing a dead body, Helmet on MTV, their non-image, the Betty album cover, his home studio, cancelled...
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Ep.72 - Helmet - Betty (featuring Page Hamilton)
We do 90's a lot. But we've been saving this absolute gem for a while. Helmet's '94 sledgehammer classic release, "Betty" refined the band's bite and helped redefine alt rock and metal for years and genres to come. All muscle, sinew and beer-cool melodies. Plus, Alex tries and fails to keep his...
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Bonus Episode - The making of Daydream Nation - the Nick Sansano interview
Our interview in full with the talented Mr Nick Sansano who moved from hip hop engineering to producing a landmark album in alternative rock. How did that happen and how did they make their masterpiece
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Ep. 72 - Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (featuring Nick Sansano)
Spirit desire... Sonic Youth's 5th album was released on October 18th 1988 and changed the trajectory of rock. Blending the avant garde, dissonant noise rock and punk it was a game changer in alternative rock. We revisit this high watermark for the band and are joined by the man who recorded the...
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Ep. 71 - The Clash - London Calling (part two)
In the second part of our double episode on The Clash's masterpiece, we take you through the back half of the album where things get kinda weird. We discuss the rest of The Clash's catalogue and their acrimonious breakup. Then we look at what the members did in the remaining years and why The…
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Ep. 70 - The Clash - London Calling (Part One)
We finally cover our first double album and our most requested album meaning the favourite album of Album Club listeners. So we decided to give it the treatment it deserved and do a double episode. London Calling is a monumental album in the way it broadened the idea of what punk was and could be...
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Ep.69 - The Gun Club - Fire of Love (featuring Terry Graham)
They came from LA with a sound like no other, scraping up remnants of roots music, blues, country and mixing it up and thrashing it out with a punk sound, everyone scratched their heads for over 30 years until generations of musicians discovered them. Jack White says their songs should be taught…
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Ep.68 - Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane over the Sea
One of the most enduring, puzzling, mythical, personal and unique albums of recent times, In the Aeroplane over Sea continues to find new listeners and increase in stature as a modern classic with each passing year. We take an in depth look at the legacy of this album and the fascinating history…
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Ep. 67 - Ramones - Rocket to Russia
1234! This episode explores Forest Hills' finest punk underdogs' 3rd album and who, why and what TF were the Ramones. We examine how they started and if they were really a punk band at all, why they never got the recognition they deserved until they broke up, the revolving Ramone lineup and the...
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Ep.66 - P.J. Harvey - Dry
The seering debut from the chanteuse of Dorset is the subject of today's dicussion. P.J. Harvey arrived fully formed with album, although she reformed and repackaged herself numerous times in future albums, to bring us a dark, haunting, angry and despondent album about sex, love, death and Sheela...
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Ep.65 - Rage Against The Machine - Rage Against The Machine
They came from L.A. with a message to the world and a huge sound that has never been replicated. Like its cover, Rage's first album was an explosion that set alight numerous bands, movements and genres. Their politics, spat out with the incomparable Zach De La Rocha to the hitherto unheard guitar...
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Ep.64 - Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Oar
In 1968, Skip Spence tried to murder his Moby Grape bandmates with an axe under the influence of acid and black magic. He was put in an insane asylum for 6 months. When he was released he had pages and pages of songs so he bought a Harley, drove to Nashville and recorded an album in 2 weeks. Then...
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Ep. 63 - Moby Grape - Moby Grape
Listen my friends! It's the story of Moby Grape, the band most likely to succeed, that failed, horrendously, though through no fault of their own. Bad management, bad tours, bad drugs, bad production, bad promotion all conspired against this remarkable supergroup. Listen to how they came together...
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Ep. 62 - The Vines - Highly Evolved w. Patrick Matthews (Part 2)
In the second half of the 2 part special on The Vines' explosive debut album, original assist and co-founder of the band, Patrick Matthews takes us through the story behind the album cover artwork, a track by track analysis of the album and we talk about why he had to walk away from the band.
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Ep.61 - The Vines - Highly Evolved w. Patrick Matthews (part one)
We were lucky to have The Vines co-founder and former bassist Pat Matthews with us to talk about The Vines debut smash album Highly Evolved. In part one, we talk about how Pat formed the Vines with Craig Nicholls while working in McDonalds and created an amazing bunch of demos which saw them…
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Ep. 60 - The Libertines - The Libertines
An ending fitting for the start. In part 2 of our Libertines double header we find out what happened after the release of Up the Bracket and follow Pete's descent into heroin and crack hell, and ultimately prison. We also look at the birth of Babyshambles, the reunion and freedom gig and discover...
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Ep.58 - The Who - Who's Next?
Meet the new boss! The Who's 1971 masterpiece is nestled between two rock opera double albums and was supposed to have been the rock opera concept to change the face of music, Lifehouse. Instead, a metal breakdown, a heroin addiction, suicide attempt and a band on the brink meant the ashes of...
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Special episode - Jono Ma of Jagwar Ma interview
We had the privilege of having a good old chinwag with Jagwar Ma founder, video artist, producer and movie scorer Jono Ma. We discuss the story of their early explosion onto the scene and getting signed, the early days of the band, Len Lye, meeting Andrew Weatherall and what happens when a…
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Ep.57 - Jagwar Ma - Howlin
Jagwar who? It's Australia week so it's time for us to cover one of our favourite Australian bands Jagwar Ma and their insane debut album, Howlin. It's dance, it's rock, it's soul, it's Madchester, it's awesome. We discuss how the band turned from a side project into a hugely blog-hyped viral...
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Ep. 55 - The Strokes - Room on fire
Part two of our Strokes double header. We pick up after the runaway success of their debut album and the pressure to follow up. These pressures took their toll on the band but despite all this, they managed to create their second masterpiece. We go through every track and then look at what…
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Ep. 55 - The Strokes - Is this it
The first of a Strokes double header. The band that started the early 00s new garage rock revolution reshaped rock music for the new millennium and smashed open the door for a swathe of incredible bands. We discuss the impact they made and how and why it happened, the unprecedented hype, bidding...
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Ep. 53 - Pink Floyd - The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Time to play The Piper! We delve into the fragile genius of Syd Barrett in examining Pink Floyd's debut album and telling the beginnings of the band and the life of Syd Barrett the crazy diamond
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Ep. 52 - The Cure - Disintegration
This week we enlist the help of a real life former goth to explore the sepulchral behemoth that is The Cure's Disintegration.
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Ep. 51 - Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
We are back! On our first episode in over a year we discuss Joy Division's stark masterpiece, Unknown Pleasures. We talk about its influence on what we now call post punk and gothic rock, the themes of detachment, control and pain communicated through Ian Curtis's tortured lyrics. We also take…
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Ep. 50 - "Labelled: Season Finale"
The season finale everyone's talking about (.... that doesn't involve dragons)! To mark this special occasion, we've decided to do a slightly different episode so, instead of exalting one of our favourite bands, we've decided to salute the people behind the scene(s) who made it possible for us to...
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Ep.49 - David Bowie - The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
This week we welcome Mr. Bowie's most enduring, far out and cosmic, colourful creation, Ziggy Stardust. Strap into your rocket ship as we discuss his origins, arrival, success and how, inevitably, Ziggy lived by the chord and died by the very same (almost taking our David with him), but not…
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Ep.48 - The Doors - The Doors
So what do you do if you have it all? The jaw dropping cat-like sexual allure, the universe-cracking enlightenment of the drugs, and the effortless swagger of the rock'n'roll; exuding poetry, lust, mystery and an irresistible smile that suggests you ARE love, life, death and everything in…
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Ep.47 - Pavement - Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
This week we cut the hair of slacker king Pavements (arguably) greatest album Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (it is so good they had to name it twice, argh!). Is it a chilled out concept album about living the range life in California or is it a not so veiled attack on 90s alternative rock bands and...
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Ep.46 - Metallica - Master of Puppets
Before they were the one of the biggest bands in the world, Metallica were the biggest metal band in the world (sorry Maiden), and while they still remain one of the biggest names in the stadium game, they are unarguably the most important US metal band of all time. Paying the world a service by...
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Ep.45 - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti - Before Today
This week's musical category is….. Damn. (Note to self, never finish a sentence you can't finish). We love talking about big, bad classic rock, pop and indie records, but we've really taken a sharp turn into left field here and "quirky" just ain't gonna cover it. Ariel Pink: one of the biggest...
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Ep.44 - The White Stripes - White Blood Cells
We may outnumber the White Stripes here at Chez Album Club, but there's no way one could possibly outgun them. Not only one of the shining lights of the New Rock revolution at the beginning of this century, the truth is this brother and sister duo (just kidding, we've actually done our research)...
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Ep.43 - Elvis Costello - This Year's Model
To our highly trained ears, the subject of this weeks eipsode, Elvis Costello, sounds a lot like.... well, Elvis Costello. That's all I got. There really isn't anyone like the second most famous Elvis in the music industry. Long before this consummate and staggeringly prolific musician was making...
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Ep.42 - Rowland S Howard - Teenage Snuff Film
This week The Album Club is repping our little corner of the world because we haven't "gone local" since we discussed The Avalanches in Season 1. However, we chose not go for the obvious old school big fish such as ACDC, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, or The Saints (there'll be time for all of…
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Ep.41 - The Kinks - The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
There was a lot going on in rock n'roll in 1968. The White Album and Electric Ladyladyland (to name just a few) were re-shaping the contours and reach of the genre and things were moving pretty fast. So it was a hell of a head-scratcher when Ray Davies and his merry bunch slowed things right…
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Ep.40 - Suicidal Tendencies - Suicidal Tendencies
Hola esses! There's a reason this album never fails to make those "Best punk/hardcore albums of all time" lists.... uhh... it's because it's one of the greatest punk/hardcore albums of all time. Venice Beach's finest cholos were shrouded in folklore and infamy from the get go, with rumours of…
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Ep.39 - Queens of the Stone Age - Songs For The Deaf
A podcast about Queens of The Stone Age's third album
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Ep.38 - Soundgarden (SPECIAL EPISODE)
We didn't want it to be like this. Nor did any of us expect it. We'd kind of been putting off covering Soundgarden for The Album Club, not because we weren't fans; Seattle's finest are well rooted in our collective venn diagram. We just wanted to save such a rich dish for later; the promise of...
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Ep.37 Hole - Live Through This
Love her or hate her (or just scared of her), Courtney Love defiantly smeared her lipstick all over the 90s as one of rock's most outspoken malcontents. Equally blessed and cursed by preconceptions about her marriage with 'that guy', she never got a real shake in her own right. Or maybe she got…
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Ep.36 - Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
This week we get our latex, synths, pinions, drills and other assorted machinery to cover one of the 90's most successful and hard hitting rock bands. We grind through the history of the industrial movement, pull levers to take a peek at the man behind the curtain, give our feedback on all the...
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Ep.35 - Nick Drake - Bryter Layter
After setting our guitars and world's on fire last week, The Album Club takes it down a gear for a leisurely country drive in this episode. To say that Nick Drake was underappreciated in his lifetime is as much of an understatement as it is criminal to underestimate the man's talent. We sift...
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Ep.34 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced
For an artist that defied categorization as brazenly as he did in his short time on this planet, it's pretty awesome that Jimi Hendrix continues to be one the key cultural touchstones for many of the great tenets of Rock'n'Roll. The look, the creativity, the originality, the showmanship and…
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Ep.33 - Tim Presley (White Fence, Darker My Love) SPECIAL EPISODE
This week we mix it up a bit with an interview with one of the best and most prolific songwriters of the decade, Tim Presley - aka White Fence. We talk to Tim about his career in music, from his start in Bay Area hardcore punk band The Nerve Agents in the 90s, into becoming frontman for…
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Ep.32 - Vs - Pearl Jam
Yeah, it was gonna happen right? Part three of our self-imposed Seattle Tetralogy, Pearl Jam get the Album Club deluxe massage this week. It was kind of a toss up between any of the first three records really, but Vs. won out. Why? Well, much like Nirvana's 'In Utero' this is a band, at the…
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Ep.31 - Korn - Korn
No, seriously. This week we're talking about Korn with a K. Despite the fact that this band were wholly responsible for kickstarting the most heinous and vacuous stylistic trend in rock since hair-metal, and some of the most laughably buffoonish looks since…. well, hair metal, no one sounded or...
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Ep.30 - The Velvet Underground & Nico - The Velvet Underground & Nico
The greatest and most important album of all time. Boom! Peel slowly and see how a motley bunch of misfits came together and invented glam, punk, new wave, goth, noise and alternative rock by writing songs about death, sadomasochism, heroin, parties and hangovers. Radiating outsider, NYC, artsy...
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Ep.29 - Oasis - Definitely Maybe
Break's over, we're back and we're mad fer it! And what better way to kick off Season 2 than by tackling one of Rock's finest and most volatile bands of the last 30 years. We discuss the formation of Oasis back in the Manchester's early 90s, Britpop, the leadup and recording of this album, our...
About this show
A deep dive into some of the best albums ever made with a history of the artist, recording of the album, cover art, a track by track analysis and a discussion of what happened next.
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