Bonus Sounds: Anthony Fantano Explains Himself
James delves deeper into the online music community with founder of The Needle Drop and gets him to explain why his WORST album of the decade came from 2016.
Oct 22, 2021•42 min
James Acaster's Perfect Sounds
For James Acaster 2016 is the greatest year for music of all time. Following a breakup James set out to rekindle his love for music by buying hundreds of new and niche releases from 2016. Now he's sharing his obsession with fellow comedians, exploring his favourite albums: from Beyoncé's internet-breaking Lemonade, to Colombian math rock fusion, and everything in between.
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Episodes
Sadia Azmat & Cheltenham Trip Hop
James Acaster talks about one of the many albums he collected from the year 2016 with one of his comedy friends. This week, Sadia Azmat discusses the album One Tusk by Moth Equals. But will Sadia be impressed by the plethora of different influences and Bollywood samples?
Oct 22, 2021•26 min
Nathan Caton & old-school hip hop
James breaks his own rules by picking a 2016 album which sounds "old-school", rapper Westside Gunn's debut Flygod. He discusses it with guest Nathan Caton, plus they delve into Nathan's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles obsession.
Oct 15, 2021•28 min
Sara Barron & retro indie-pop
Sara Barron confesses to James that she has very questionable music taste but is left feeling very Parisian listening to Cate Le Bon’s Crab Day, an album about a fictional day.
Oct 08, 2021•29 min
Thanyia Moore & Rihanna's ANTI
Thanyia Moore goes on a rollercoaster journey with Rihanna's most personal album yet, ANTI.
Oct 01, 2021•28 min
Bonus Sounds: James' dad - Johnnie Frierson - Have You Been Good To Yourself
James sits down with his dad David Acaster to talk about the Johnnie Frierson album Have You Been Good To Yourself. They chat about the records played in the house growing up, the musical game they played when James was young and the 2016 mixtape he made for his dad.
Sep 24, 2021•26 min
Jayde Adams & self-penned gospel
Jayde reminisces life through 'lost album' Johnnie Frierson's Have You Been Good To Yourself which was found by a crate digger in a thrift store.
Sep 24, 2021•28 min
Harriet Kemsley & Krip Hop
Harriet Kemsley warms to Wheelchair Sports Camp's avant-garde rap album No Big Deal. The record features humorous and political lyrics from disabled rapper Kalyn Heffernan, who is part of the Krip-Hop movement which uses hip-hop as a means of expression for disabled artists.
Sep 17, 2021•28 min
Rhys Nicholson & gothic Americana
Despite not expecting to like someone called Marissa, Rhys Nicholson enjoys a negroni while enjoying Marissa Nadler's dreamy gothic American folk album Strangers.
Sep 10, 2021•28 min
Charlie George & Kendrick Lamar's untitled unmastered.
Charlie George is pushed out of her dad rock listening habits, and finds much to love in the lyrical imagery created by Kendrick Lamar, in his sort-of B-side album untitled unmastered.
Sep 03, 2021•25 min
Toussaint Douglass & eccentric indie
Toussaint thinks James hates him after listening to Four Thing, the eccentric indie project based around the number 4, created by Zach Phillips. Four vocalists, singing alternate lines written by four lyricists, to create 16 songs. But does Toussiant’s nan like it?
Aug 27, 2021•27 min
Bonus Sounds: Andrew Falkous - Christian Fitness
James and friend David Trent chat to the man behind Christian Fitness, Andrew Falkous. James delves deep into the album's meaning and David asks if his son can have one of his guitars, (among other very awkward and unsavoury questions).
Aug 20, 2021•36 min
Maisie Adam & comedic post-punk
Maisie Adam feels grabbed and shoved against a wall by the one-man-band Christian Fitness and their post-punk album This Taco Is Not Correct that features darkly funny commentary on Britain.
Aug 20, 2021•27 min
Aaron Chen & dark reggae
Aaron Chen gets into a plunge pool to rid himself of the dark and sad vibes of Mournful Skank's Ghost Hunter.
Aug 13, 2021•28 min
Kiri Pritchard-Mclean & experiemental sampling hip hop
Kiri Pritchard-Mclean feels shoved around by Coin Locker Kid's 90's influenced experimental hip hop album The Salmon of Doubt, featuring a dense sound collage of samples.
Aug 06, 2021•29 min
Dai Henwood & the house party concept album
James introduces Dai Henwood to an indie concept album that he regularly gets recommended. Singer-songwriter Andy Shauf's The Party features a series of closely observed and intersecting characters at a house party, and Dai enjoys doing his taxes to it.
Jul 30, 2021•26 min
BONUS SOUNDS: Radiohead's Colin Greenwood
James visits Colin Greenwood at home to discuss making 2016's A Moon Shaped Pool, plus Colin suggests what Radiohead tracks James should get into, whether music scenes are cool, and Colin's impending Radiohead tribute act!
Jul 23, 2021•32 min
Isy Suttie & a drum duo
Multi-instrumentalist and comedian Isy Suttie is engulfed by the purely percussive self-titled album Rattle, featuring two drummers and their vocals.
Jul 23, 2021•27 min
Chloe Petts & bedroom indie pop
Chloe Petts discovers that Frankie Cosmos - the stage name of Greta Kline - and her 2016 album Next Thing is exactly her kind of cap-wearing DIY bedroom indie pop.
Jul 16, 2021•28 min
Ahir Shah & a blissful sound collage
Ahir Shah discovers 'Good Will Come to You' from artist Jean-Sebastian Audet's project Un Blonde. A blissfully mellow sound collage that incorporates field recordings, vocal harmonies and acoustic guitars, it was released on tape cassette in 2016. And for Ahir it's the perfect music to chop vegetables to.
Jul 09, 2021•28 min
Rosie Jones & Radiohead's A Moon Shaped Pool
Both James and Rosie have always felt intimidated about getting into Radiohead's back catalogue because of their hard-core fans. Can this album, from one of the biggest bands in the world, win them over? And more importantly convince Rosie that 2016 is the greatest year for music of all time?
Jul 02, 2021•29 min
2016 is back and more perfect than before!
For James Acaster 2016 is the greatest year for music, ever. Since launching the podcast his record collection has grown to over 700 albums from that year and he wants to share his obsession with even more comedian friends... but will they admit that 2016 is the great year for music of all time?
Jun 24, 2021•7 min
Eleanor Tiernan & Run The Jewels 3
Eleanor Tiernan is drawn in by hip-hop duo Run The Jewel's critically acclaimed epic third album. This is the final episode of series 1 but we'll be back this summer so subscribe to the podcast to be the first to hear new episodes!
Apr 30, 2021•29 min
John Kearns & celebratory North African sampled vinyl
John Kearns wants to dance to Tunisian producer and DJ Ghoula's celebratory album Hlib El Ghoula, which features rare North African vinyl that the artist sourced from Tunisian markets then sampled and scratched with live instrumentals.
Apr 16, 2021•27 min
Rachel Parris & an orchestral art-rock collaboration
Classically trained Rachel Parris dissects the one-off album Balter/Saunier, a collaboration between the Chicago orchestra Ensemble Dal Niente, influential art-rock band Deerhoof, and Brazilian composer Marcos Balter.
Apr 09, 2021•28 min
Jen Brister & experimental Majorcan folk
Jen Brister has a strong reaction to 'Folk Souvenir', an album by Joana Gomila that uses field recordings and improvisation to bring a new approach to traditional Majorcan folk.
Apr 02, 2021•22 min
BONUS SOUNDS: Joana Gomila & Dr Judith R Cohen
James talks to Joana Gomila and Dr Judith R Cohen about the Spanish folk recordings of ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax and the making of Joana's album 'Folk Souvenir'.
Apr 01, 2021•23 min
Jack Rooke & thoughtful inventive indie
Jack is over the moon to be introduced to all 24 tracks of Thoughts Lined Up by award-winning artist Martin Creed.
Mar 26, 2021•26 min
Alison Spittle & extreme industrial metal
Alison is willing to persevere with the album End Position by experimental Texan duo Street Sects.
Mar 19, 2021•28 min
Dane Baptiste & infinite looping psych rock
Dane enjoys the frantic Nonagen Infinity by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, the eighth album from the prolific Australian psych rock band.
Mar 12, 2021•30 min
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