The Cure: Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me
On the Cure’s definitive 1987 double album, the death rattle of punk guilt, and the coronation of Robert Smith as a pop culture icon.
Jan 02, 2024•35 min
Shallow Rewards
Town decrier 1975-2025. Celebrating the days of advertised oversampling ratios.
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Episodes
The Cure: The Head on the Door
On the shaky start to the Cure’s Imperial era, their ascension to alternative rock royalty, and the concessions required to right Robert Smith’s foundering career in the mid 1980s.
Sep 12, 2023•39 min
The Cure: Curiosa, 4:13 Dream and Songs of a Lost World
Bringing the Shallow Rewards Cure podcasts up to date, this episode covers the last twenty years of the band: the 2004 self-titled LP, 4:13 Dream and my first impressions of the material likely to feature on the forthcoming Songs of a Lost World.
Jan 08, 2023•46 min
The Cure: Bloodflowers
On the unexpectedly estimable Bloodflowers , Robert Smith’s legacy-saving last gasp as a songwriter; its tragically dated brick wall + Pro Tools production; and Smith’s egotistical severing of ties with everyone who’d helped fashion the Cure in its glory days.
Sep 08, 2021•39 min
The Cure: Wild Mood Swings
On the tragic collapse of the Cure following the career-topping Wish , the various distractions that beset Wild Mood Swings , and how the persistent obstinance Robert Smith had relied on for so long finally failed him. Here’s the Vox article I reference in the last third of the show.
Aug 23, 2021•41 min
The Cure: Wish
On the Cure’s surfeit of activity between Disintegration and Wish ; the 1992 smash album’s highs and lows; and how for many fans, Wish remains a disappointment when set against the material that preceded it. Further to the podcast, please enjoy an essay I wrote on the subject , and an attendant remix of Wish , from 2011.
Jul 21, 2021•36 min
The Smiths is Dead
Over a few drinks, and Stephen Kijak’s calamitous Shoplifters of the World , Elliot Busch-Wheaton returns after a five-year hiatus to discuss the legacy of the Smiths and Morrissey in America.
Jun 13, 2021•42 min
The Cure: Blue Sunshine, the Banshees & The Top
On Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees’ brief, turbulent marriage; the side projects that outshone their combined efforts; and how from fall 1982 to fall 1984, Robert Smith lost the plot in order to find it again. Pursuant to this era are a few essays I contributed to a tumblr called One Week One Band eight years ago: MINUTIAE & MADNESS: THE CURE IN 1982 LIKE AN ANIMAL: ROBERT SMITH IN WONDERLAND THE LOOKING GLASS GIRL A Spotify playlist is available here ....
Feb 24, 2021•38 min
The Cure: Pornography
On the rabid, raging fin de siècle of the Cure’s vaunted goth trilogy, Pornography ; whether it is the singular statement the band and critics have increasingly claimed; and the murkier reality of Robert Smith’s many extracurricular entanglements in 1982. A Spotify playlist available here .
Feb 18, 2021•28 min
The Cure: Faith
On the great grey Anglican monolith that is Faith , the Cure’s “difficult third album”; the inescapable shadow of Joy Division’s Closer ; being branded “the new PF”; and whether any twenty-one year-old should be held to account for the quality of their poetry. A Spotify playlist is available here .
Feb 13, 2021•27 min
The Cure: Seventeen Seconds
On the Cure’s second album, the impossibly crisp Seventeen Seconds; its debatable debts to Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire and Gary Numan; and the arrival of Robert Smith as a modern songwriter, but not yet a persona. An accompanying Spotify playlist is available here .
Feb 09, 2021•40 min
From Ballyhoo to Britpop: XTC (Part 2)
On the improbable endurance of XTC, a band signed during the punk frenzy that would bring song-craft back to the fore in the early 1980s. Following a fractious period of financial instability and pressure from Virgin records, the band went on strike in the early 1990s, unable to wrest themselves from one of the worst contracts ever signed.
Oct 07, 2019•39 min
From Ballyhoo to Britpop: XTC (Part 1)
On the improbable endurance of XTC, a band signed during the punk frenzy that would bring song-craft back to the fore in the early 1980s. Following a fractious period of financial instability and pressure from Virgin records, the band went on strike in the early 1990s, unable to wrest themselves from one of the worst contracts ever signed. While there are conflicting accounts of the Elvis Costello/Stephen Stills incident, I mistakenly state it occurred during EC’s “first time in America,” when i...
Sep 09, 2019•32 min
Cat Power: You Are Free
On Chan Marshall’s stereotyping by the press, her aborted concept album about Kurt Cobain, and the uncomfortable reality of genetic exceptionalism.
Jul 29, 2019•27 min
Def Leppard: Slang
On Def Leppard’s unparalleled ascent, and the curious album they recorded after being displaced by grunge in the mid-1990s, Slang. Their 1992 LP Adrenalize was the last successful stadium rock release, and kept The Cure’s Wish from reaching #1 .
Jul 19, 2019•31 min
The Cure: Three Imaginary Boys
On the Cure’s uneven 1979 debut, its debts to pub, punk and prog rock, and the importance of older siblings. An accompanying Spotify playlist is available below; please listen on random as this is a broad primer, rather than mix-tape storytelling. Apologies for the uneven sound during the first two sessions that make up the podcast; I had to pick up new gear, and three years on from my last wave of material, I was pretty rusty in all phases.
Jul 07, 2019•47 min
Toonami Turns 20
Adult Swim Creative Director Jason DeMarco returns to discuss the state of anime, and the future of Toonami with me and Jake Cleland. // @Clarknova1 @sawngswjakec
Feb 12, 2017•1 hr 10 min
The Cure (in Orange)
Christmas single No. 2: audio commentary for the Cure’s in Orange film from 1986 (currently on YouTube). Essentially, this is a two-hour ramble on the band’s legacy. Merry Christmas, everybody!
Dec 25, 2016•1 hr 50 min
Interview with a Lich King: Jason DeMarco
I talk with Jason DeMarco—VP and Creative Director of Adult Swim—about his Williams Street imprint, old anime, and Run the Jewels. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Dec 22, 2016•27 min
Shock and Awe: Simon Reynolds
A wandering and wondrous walk through glam, indie, music journalism with my generation's most prolific author, Simon Reynolds.
Dec 09, 2016•56 min
The Song Remains the Shame: Mr. Robot and Stranger Things
Sean T. Collins returns to discuss the increasing appropriation of music as emotional heft in television, with a focus on Mr. Robot and Stranger Things. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 25, 2016•41 min
The Dream Life of Emo: Geoff Rickly of Thursday (Part 2)
On the sliding scales of emo history, and the rise and fall (and rise) of Thursday.
Sep 17, 2016•34 min
The Dream Life of Emo: Geoff Rickly of Thursday (Part 1)
On the sliding scales of emo history, and the rise and fall (and rise) of Thursday.
Sep 17, 2016•30 min
R>E>M> (Part 2)
Walking back the history of R.E.M. with @perpetua and @stoatmixen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•46 min
R>E>M> (Part 1)
Walking back the history of R.E.M. with @perpetua and @stoatmixen. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•52 min
Not Yr 90s: Sean T. Collins (Part 2)
Defending the 1990s from take culture with serial TV columnist Sean T. Collins. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•33 min
Not Yr 90s: Sean T. Collins (Part 1)
Defending the 1990s from take culture with serial TV columnist Sean T. Collins. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•28 min
Noble Rock: John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats
A look back at the trail-rated career of Mountain Goats main-man John Darnielle. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•44 min
The Exploding Boy (Grunge)
On Kurt Cobain, the grunge moment, and the critical embrace of drug abuse. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•19 min
Goth is a Four-Letter Word
In defense of pop music’s most maligned genre. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit shallowrewards.substack.com
Sep 17, 2016•22 min
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