This is the audio-only version for the old school soldiers. The Cacophony Sessions Podcast returns to dive deep into our favourite records of 2024! Featuring Dan Whitell's returning ragtag band of cohorts Jim, Martyn and Tom this year, please enjoy this year's definitive channel list from a year that some were more enthusiastic about than others. All albums were scored out of ten to one decimal point, and naturally the scores presented are the collective scores from all of us combined. With deli...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 57 min
Late as ever (it's still February... just) following a technological catastrophe The Cacophony Sessions presents the season four finale, and the closing episode of the regular podcast. Join Dan Whitell and his regular band of bastards Alex, Martyn, Tom and Jim as we finally deliver our top ten albums of 2023! Featuring the biggest Does It Slap ever, a lovely story about corner shops and a heavy dose of swearing; the final regular episode is one of our strongest. We will continue the chaos on the...
Feb 28, 2024•1 hr 59 min•Season 4Ep. 7
#music #podcast #guitarsolo The Cacophony Sessions are back with their thoughts on greatest guitar solos of all time. Joining Dan Whitell on this episode are Alex, Tom and Martyn ; each with two pics for a discussion on what makes a guitar solo work - and what doesn't. The playlist containing all of our picks (including Dan B 's and Jim 's in spite of their absence from this episode) can be found on Apple Music and Spotify: https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/shredders-revenge-or-just-axin-quest...
Nov 12, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Season 4Ep. 6
We wind the clock back 20 years on this episode of The Cacophony Sessions as Dan Whitell runs down the Top 15 Songs of 2003 with contributions from Martyn, Jim, Alex and Tom . 15 picks each, scored out of ten - some using the IGN scoring system and others…not doing that. This episode ranks the top 15, although all 75 songs can be found in alphabetical order on our Apple Music playlist and our Spotify playlist . A couple of Undeniable Bangers and tangents ahoy - LET’S FIND OUT which band may have...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 59 min•Season 4Ep. 6
The second part of The Cacophony Sessions' discussion of all 25 Bond themes continues in 'You Only Bang Twice', in which Dan Whitell, Tom, Dan B and Alex critique the Bond themes of the 1980s to the present. If you missed the first part, you can listen to the audio or watch the video to catch up on the scores so far. A playlist of all the themes in chronological order can be found on Apple Music (curated by Dan) and Spotify . As this is a bonus episode, it's not quite as long as some of our prev...
Jul 28, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Are you ready for our TWO PART James Bond Theme Special? You’d better be! Part One of The Cacophony Sessions Season 4 Episode 4 is here and features Dan Whitell with Alex, Dan B, Tom and Martyn as they chronologically rate each of the main themes from every James Bond movie. This part begins with the original 007 film Dr No from 1962 and takes us up to the end of the seventies, ending with 1979’s Moonraker. Part Two of this episode will be coming shortly containing the remaining movies. The only...
Jul 02, 2023•1 hr 47 min•Season 4Ep. 4
The Cacophony Sessions do another dive into the UK top 10 (for the week commencing 14/4/23) and several artists now find themselves in the crosshairs for the first time. And an old nemesis comes back to haunt us. Join Dan Whitell with Alex, Dan B and Tom for a heated discussion on pop music of today. In this month's episode you'll find Lewis Capaldi, George Ezra, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Calvin Harris and others as well as the usual tangential chaos including mini reviews of gigs from Don Broco ...
May 16, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Season 4Ep. 3
April’s Cacophony Sessions Podcast is an episode in which Dan Whitell, joined by Tom, Martyn and Dan B , attempts to discuss the most famous band in pop music history. We have divided the conversation loosely into four parts - our favourite albums, songs, Beatles themselves and lastly covers of their songs. Undoubtedly full of controversial takes as well as our usual party pieces such as Does It Slap; this episode also includes a brief tribute to another 1960s musical icon - the late, great Burt...
Apr 02, 2023•1 hr 32 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Season Four of The Cacophony Sessions Podcast kicks off with our Album of the Year 2022 episode. Join Dan Whitell as well as Tom, Jim, Martyn and Alex as we collectively rank our favourite ten records of last year. This year's list features some previous favourites from our 2020 and 2021 lists, as well as some new bands; it's time to separate the new from the old and the weak from the chaff as we discuss our own top ten - with detours including tributes to the late Terry Hall, Jeff Beck and Maxi...
Feb 28, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Our final recording of 2022 is the season finale of The Cacophony Sessions Podcast . Dan joins Martyn, Jim, Alex and Tom for a deep dive into ten of our own personal favourites. From Funkadelic to Run-DMC to Nirvana to Insane Clown Posse, this eclectic discussion covers a variety of different genres and we've made a playlist available via Apple Music so you can follow along with the tracks here . Elsewhere, discover which band is the Australian Duran Duran; see Jim's new spicy content; unveil FO...
Feb 15, 2023•1 hr 56 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Welcome to another episode of The Cacophony Sessions Podcast , as we deliver our Top Ten Pop Punk Songs Ever! Join Dan Whitell , Tom , Martyn , Dan B , Jim and Al as we fight over the quality of the songs we’ve hand-picked and rated, and argue both for and against their places within the lineage of the genre. As well as an ever-heated discussion, we also discuss other topics as always and this month you’ll discover bad accents, storm-outs, the Triple H effect, who the The white Temptations are a...
Dec 10, 2022•1 hr 48 min•Season 3Ep. 6
This month's episode of The Cacophony Sessions sees Dan Whitell invite Al, Jim, Martyn and Tom into the theatre of conflict as we discuss our favourite albums, MCs and producers in hip-hop during the early nineties. Whether you're East Coast, West Coast or something in between this is one of our more free-flowing conversations in which we offer our personal favourites for you to either newly discover or to take umbrage with. Discover quite how this pertains to Michael Barrymore, an undeniable ba...
Nov 07, 2022•1 hr 49 min•Season 3Ep. 5
The Cacophony Sessions is here to analyse another of the greatest years in music history. From synthpop to hip-hop; sophisti-pop to post-punk - this episode's six-man panel of Dan Whitell, Dan B, Tom, Jim, Martyn and Alex rank their favourite songs of 1987 from our selection of 75 tunes that can be found listed on our blog (note: the list will spoil the episode). As well some 35 year-old tunes we discuss some more recent music, we play Does It Slap again and reveal our hips and happenings of the...
Sep 21, 2022•2 hr 8 min•Season 3Ep. 4
The Cacophony Sessions is here to discuss the US Billboard Hot 100, specifically the top ten from the week commencing 21/5/22. Join Dan W, Alex, Tom, Dan B and our newest voice Jim as we discuss Harry Styles, Lizzo and too many tracks from Bad Bunny. We provide our thoughts on our personal favourites from the top ten and ponder on just what exactly streaming services have done to the singles charts. Our examination of American pop comes with a side order of Smashing Pumpkins (drink), Prince (dri...
Jul 16, 2022•2 hr 7 min•Season 3Ep. 3
OUR BIGGEST EPISODE YET! Following the recent death of Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins, The Cacophony Sessions Podcast decided it would be an appropriate time to discuss our fifteen favourite drummers of all time according to tonight's panel. Banging on about drums for over three hours this time around are Dan Whitell, Dan B, Alex, Martyn and Tom each with three nominations. We cover a lot of different aspects of drumming, from both a technical standpoint as well as from a more casual perspective. Ho...
May 16, 2022•3 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 2
The third season premiere sees The Cacophony Sessions rating our favourite records of 2021. Join Dan Whitell, Tom, 'Housewife's Choice' Martyn, Dave and 'Butcher's Boy' Alex as we present the top ten albums of last year, a couple of months after the dust has settled (and everyone else has had a go). With Fontaines DC taking home the prize for 2020, who will claim the most hallowed of accolades for the burning trash fire that was 2021? Along the way we cover all our usual sweary tangents - Tom's ...
Mar 25, 2022•1 hr 53 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Two weeks after everyone else, The Cacophony Sessions weighs in on the Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan & Spotify debate by dedicating one of our bonus episodes to the mythical Canadian singer-songwriter and his massive discography - from Crosby, Stills Nash & Young to Buffalo Springfield. Usual voices Dan Whitell and Tom are joined by the illustrious music writer Taylor Parkes , as we do our best to choose Neil Young's best songs and albums; the best Neil Young covers; our thoughts on the recen...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 38 min
Our first episode of 2022 is the last episode we recorded in 2021 and it's a whopping three hour extravaganza discussing the best and worst cover versions we can think of. It's a full house as Dan Whitell welcomes Alex, Tom, Martyn, Dan B and Dave to bring to the table their favourite studio covers, live covers and the covers we'd like thrown carelessly to the Patch of Turd. Along the way, we discuss The Big Four, the plural of 'Dan', Tom's money-saving tips, and why Martyn is drawn to Failure. ...
Jan 18, 2022•2 hr 57 min•Season 2Ep. 7
We've been away for a few months due to personal circumstances, but that does not matter anymore as The Cacophony Sessions Podcast returns for some of our best argumentative dialogue yet, surrounding songs that we think are both Undeniable Bangers and, this time, the opposite - Undeniable Clangers. Joining The Court Jester of Funk Dan Whitell are co-hosts Dave, Tom, Alex, Martyn and the debut of new voice Dan B . On this one we discover which of us is perversely affected by an old Manchester Uni...
Nov 13, 2021•2 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 6
After some scheduling conflicts, The Cacophony Sessions returns to discuss 16 of our favourite TV themes of all time. Dan is joined by CO-HOSTS Alex, Dave and Tom a s we discuss some iconic and some obscure music used in the opening sequence of various television shows and put them to the sword. Over the course of this episode we discuss DJing in the new COVID era; why Alex has paint on his face; which one of us hung out with a Grammy-winning rapper and we give Hugh Grant some life advice. Best ...
Aug 20, 2021•1 hr 48 min•Season 2Ep. 5
It's time for another of our bonus episodes and this month we are extremely lucky to have secured the services of British music journalism royalty, David Stubbs. Dan and Tom pick out the best and worst of British music from the pre-Thatcher era of 1977-79. David was a staff writer at Melody Maker magazine in the 80s as well as numerous other music publications and has his own bibliography of British comedy analysis and musical deep dives so adds a tremendous volume of knowledge to our usual disc...
Jun 21, 2021•1 hr 26 min
The latest episode of The Cacophony Sessions sees regulars Dan, Martyn, Alex, Tom and Dave nominating their favourite songs designed for getting one's proverbial freak on. This month we discern your Barry Whites from your Cilla Blacks so join us as we select three songs each to get you through the sexiest of times. This one obviously contains some adult themes, as well as the normal amount of swearing and fighting. Find out which all-time sex jam was used in Robin Williams' Bicentennial Man , wh...
Jun 05, 2021•1 hr 31 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Life got in the way, but do not fret as The Cacophony Sessions Podcast is back and longer than ever! The first of two episodes in May to make up for the lack of an update in April sees Dan as well as the regular line up Alex, Martyn, Tom and Dave selecting songs that we suspect would be found on the walkman of American Psycho 's Patrick Bateman from the years 1985-88. The 1991 book and 2000 film are both renowned for their use of musical references delivered from the perspective of psychotic kil...
May 11, 2021•2 hr 26 min•Season 2Ep. 3
For the thirtieth anniversary, the latest episode of The Cacophony Sessions sees Dan, Tom, Alex, Martyn and Dave nominating what we think are the twenty best songs of 1991. We each nominated thirty songs and scored them out of fifty, and tonight, we discuss the scores. We cover everything from hip-hop to dance to grunge so we hope you'll agree with at least some of them! Other than that we find the links between Pearl Jam, Ronan Keating and the Star Wars theme, Al gives us his best Sepultura kar...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 57 min•Season 2Ep. 2
We're back for our second season of The Cacophony Sessions! In the first main episode of 2021 the whole gang looks back at the best albums of what was a very strange year for all of us. Join Dan, Dave, Alex, Tom and Martyn as we count down our top 15 records of 2020. Along the way find out what happened Dave at the end of last season, which homoerotic posters are the best ones to adorn your walls with, our best lookalikes, and just exactly how many slave masters are posing on your dollar. All wi...
Feb 23, 2021•2 hr 17 min•Season 2Ep. 1
As you know if you've listened to us for more than four minutes, Dan is a huge Prince fan. This has been a long time coming, so along with Dave and Martyn we've recruited Arthur of the wonderful Music Snobs podcast to help as we discuss our favourite side-projects, and main albums and what we'd like to see in the future from the mythical Paisley Park vault. Whether you're a True Funk Soldier or if you know [two thousand] zero, zero about Prince, we promise there's something here for you amongst ...
Feb 06, 2021•1 hr 58 min
Welcome to Episode Eight, where we finish running down our dream festival line-up, covering hip-hop and miscellaneous choices and all of our favourite acts from history. Dan, Alex, Martyn, Dave and Tom assembled to continue the episode, but not everyone made it to the end of the festival. Typical. A few technical issues and the longest episode ever mean that this is a few days later than anticipated. Originally pegged as our Christmas special, the festive trimmings are kept to the end of the con...
Jan 01, 2021•2 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 8
You know what we really miss? Festivals and live music. Fuck you 2020. This episode of The Cacophony Sessions sets up the stage for our own dream festival as Dan asks Martyn, Al, Dave and Tom to help him build a line-up for the ages. Stay tuned for a steaming dump of hot content before Christmas, Funkateers, but in the meantime please enjoy this - the first part of our largest and most expansive episode yet as we find out Tom's ulterior motive for inviting you to see Sigur Ros with him; Martyn e...
Dec 17, 2020•1 hr 57 min•Season 1Ep. 7
We were going to post a Halloween episode of The Cacophony Sessions but as this is coming to you in November on this episode instead we run down the biggest selling album of all time, track by track. We are of course talking about Michael Jackson's Thriller and all of its seven singles and two album tracks. Regulars Martyn, Alex, Dave and Tom are here alongside host Dan for a full breakdown of the album, as well as discussions about our favourite Michael Jackson songs. Although certain aspects o...
Nov 22, 2020•1 hr 35 min•Season 1Ep. 6
In a special bonus episode of The Cacophony Sessions, Dan, Martyn and Dave chat with legendary Plymouth-based DJ Aldo Vanucci all about our favourite soul records of all time. We cover a lot of the greats - Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield to name but a few. Don't worry, we still find time to divert the talk train away from the station, as per usual. We would like to thank Aldo for his time in chatting with us and we hope you all enjoy what is ultimately ...
Oct 17, 2020•1 hr 19 min
