In this episode we dive into a lesser-known compilation from Dundee, 1996, titled 'After the Storm', which was created to raise funds for 18U. We explore the tracks, uncovering a mix of genres from 80s power ballads to 90s dance and country influences. There's a lot of colourful and, shall we say, sometimes questionable, musical efforts showcased in this CD, and as ever we humorously navigate the ups and downs of their listening experience. Highlights include oddities like George McFarlane's rap...
Nov 11, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 341
In this episode of the Unsung Podcast, we delve into Vessel's 2014 album 'Punish Honey,' a unique blend of electronic music and modern electronica. We provide an overview of Vessel's career, touching on past albums and collaborative efforts. We discuss standout tracks like 'Red Sex' and 'Anima,' highlighting the album's haunting, ethereal qualities. We also reflect on Vessel's transition to scoring for films like 'The Northman' and talk about the importance of his innovative approach. We end the...
Oct 28, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 340
David Scott from Moni Jitchell joins us again this week as we round off our deep dive into the discography of Los Campesinos! We being picking up where we left off last week; in the midst of running through the band's discography. Mark then comes clean and says he actually took notes on the wrong album, before we all go down the rabbit hole of figuring out of Romance is Boring and/or Los Campesinos! are unsung. A small reminder that if you want to support the podcast you can do so via our Patreo...
Oct 21, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 339
Guest time! In the first of two episodes we chat with David Scott from the band Moni Jitchell about Los Campesinos! and their third album Romance is Boring. In part one we go into a lengthy deep dive around twee pop, the band’s history and then begin to look closely at their discography, using the band’s own ranking of their first five albums as a means navigation. A small reminder that if you want to support the podcast you can do so via our Patreon . Not only will you get episodes early, you a...
Oct 14, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 338
We've briefly touched on geek rock in the past - Weezer and Laeto spring to mind - but never in any detail. That all changes this week as we look at the genre through the lens of The Protomen. We also chat extensively about the band, their discography and their frankly brilliant homage to 80s rock.
Oct 07, 2024•1 hr 51 min•Ep. 337
Last week we spoke about the music of the sequels to The Crow (1994). We also spoke about the new crow film (The Crow (2024)), but we kind of cut it a little short because we didn't talk about the music of the new film. We do that this week before we dive headlong into the original soundtrack of the very first film in The Crow franchise. Not sure I can find a way to fit "The Crow" into this little blurb about our new episode on The Crow. So please enjoy this episode where we talk about the music...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 336
Another episode where we're taking direct inspiration from something that we mentioned in an early show, we've decided to do two whole bloody episodes on the music of The Crow film franchise. In episode one we talk about the music from the very poor sequels to the original film: City of Angels and Salvation. Surprisingly, even though the movies themselves are fairly terrible, the soundtracks are actually really good! So we dedicate a bit of time to those two. We also talk about the place of The ...
Sep 23, 2024•55 min•Ep. 335
Usually, we like to space things out. You may have noticed that over the years, we'll do a metal album one week, then perhaps change it up with electro or something else. So, for us to do two post-hardcore/noise rock(ish) records so close together is a bit unheard of. But hey, what's the point of having a set of rules if you don't break them occasionally? We've been doing this show for a ridiculously long time. Too long, some might say. In those six and a half years (give or take a few months), ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 334
Sound is a pound is always good fun. You'd be amazed what you can pick up for a quid in a charity shop. It's been about 18 months since our last one of these and frankly, we'd forgotten what albums we'd "gifted" each other at the end of the last episode. So Mark decided to pick two that he'd bought for Chris: Planet Claire by The B-52's (a strange compilation what was not released by the band's label, Warner Brothers) and Highly Evolved by The Vines. There's some surprises in this episode. There...
Sep 09, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 333
John Congleton is a great producer, and as it turns out, also a great musician. The Paper Chase were, for many years, his only musical project and even as his star began to rise as a producer, he was still churning out unsettling, chromatic, occasionally catchy, often nasty music. Often described as a combination of avant-garde jazz, indie and punk, the band tick all of those boxes and much more. This week we're talking about their second album, Hide the Kitchen Knives which helpfully/frustratin...
Sep 02, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 332
Long terms fans of the show will know that we've spent altogether far too much time talking about Britpop. And the bad news is that it looks like it's ABOUT BECOME ALL ANYONE TALKS ABOUT when Oasis announce their reunion. We recorded this episode before those rumours started to creep out. Funny how these things happen. Anyway, Mark fell into a Suede hole (sounds quite comfy, when you put it like that) after our episode on Baader Meinhof/Luke Haines and this lead to two realisations: 1) there's n...
Aug 26, 2024•59 min•Ep. 331
A quick note of correct: we haven't done a Mojo covermount before. It was Uncut, but the audience for both magazines was/is broadly the same... Or so Mojo would have you believe. We'll be honest: the bag of covermounts is full of questionable CDs, so it was actually something of a surprise to land on something interesting. This Mojo covermount is, ostensibly, a history of electronic music. It goes all the way back to the 60s and includes in the mid 00s, when this CD was released. A strangely fas...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 330
A few months ago we covered Tanz, Grozny Tanz by Yacøpsæ and if you listened to that episode, we mentioned how we'd reached out to the band for some info. They didn't get back to us in time, but band member Stoffel was keen to hear the podcast, so we sent him a link to it. Luckily he was a fan, but there was a few points he wanted to clear up. After arranging a short Q&A with the input of our subscribers, we managed to pull together this wee episode based on his responses. The result is a fu...
Aug 12, 2024•52 min
Can you believe it was back in February 2020 when we did our Britpop mixtape? How wild is that? This week we're joined by Glaswegian musician Andy Isacsson, otherwise known as Luminous, who has picked this week’s record. We chat at length about his latest record, Precarious Karma , which took him about a decade to complete. We dive into the influences behind it, the reasons it took so long to finish, and much more. Then, we get into the business of talking about Baader Meinhof and Luke Haines. U...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 329
Is this a controversial choice? Quicksand's debut album Slip is widely regarded a classic, and in my quarters the band are seen as being hugely influential. So in many ways, picking their second album, Manic Compression, as an unsung classic seems like a no-brainer. On this episode, Chris talk about why this album is not just an unsung classic, but why it's also their best album. Healthy disagreements abound. What do you think is the better record, Slip or Manic Compression? If you're a spotify ...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 328
Hailing from Ireland, Katie Kim is an artist who has demonstrated remarkable musical growth over the course of her career so far. Evolving from lo-fi folk to dark, experimental, haunting, almost ambient alternative rock. This week, we talk about her entire discography, before diving into her riveting fourth album, Hour of the Ox.
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 327
One thing that we find particularly fun about this podcast (most of the time) is re-appraising records from our youth. Taking a closer, critical look at something you were once super familiar with is often eye opening. Particularly if it's a record you remember liking a lot at one time but have since stopped listening to. Most of the time, it's a fun experience. And this episode on Eight Arms to Hold You by Veruca Salt is one of those times! Mostly. Chris was not super into this band when he was...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 326
X Japan have released a proper studio album since 1996. They did release a soundtrack in 2016, and released the occasional single too, but as for a longer release? Nada. Zilch. Of course, some of this is down to the fact they essentially broke up and only reunited in 2007. In this episode, we'll be talking about their 5 studio albums. Chris' album choice is actually their 1988 debut, Vanishing Vision. So as usual, we'll leave the chosen album to last. Before that, though, we go on a wild ride th...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 325
There's been a fair amount of ink spilled on X Japan over the years in certain media outlets. You can even find recent interviews with drummer/pianist/primary songwriter and Japanese megastar Yoshiki in prestigious publications like Time magazine. X Japan, however, remain something of an enigma on British shores. Sure, Yoshiki – a classically trained pianist with a background in drumming for the power metal band X Japan – can sell out the Royal Albert Hall solo, but X Japan themselves have never...
Jul 01, 2024•56 min•Ep. 324
We knew this episode was gonna grow arms and legs when we realised that there are 27 Bond songs to talk about. So, now that we've dispensed with the history of Bond music, it's time to tackle every single one of these songs in chronological order. This doesn't include the original Bond theme from Dr. No (cause we discussed that at length in side A), but does include the two songs in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and the two non-Eon Bond films, Casino Royale (1967) and Never Say Never Again. It...
Jun 17, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 323
What if we told you that the musical history of James Bond is actually so much more interesting than the history of the films? And that's not knocking the history of the films - they're plenty fascinating too. The music though? Super interesting. From the theory and the cultural cache of the Bond song, to the near misses and the rejected tracks, we cover a lot in Side A of our look at the music of James Bond.
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 322
If it feels like the length of our episode are getting longer on average then you’d be correct. This is likely because we have lost all pretence of restraint around how comprehensive we are. This week, we’re joined by Scott Walker for the Shit You May Not Have Seen Podcast to do a fairly definitive overview of the band Biohazard. A band who are also quite unrestrained... Many would believe that there’s not a whole lot to say about Biohazard because pretty much all of their albums plough the same...
Jun 03, 2024•2 hr 12 min•Ep. 321
Here it is. Another whopper of an episode. But this one has lots and LOTS of contributors. From one time and former hosts and a bunch of your suggestions too, we tried to be as comprehensive as possible within our little sphere of listeners. Thanks for your contributions to this episode. It really made it feel like a communal affair, and that's an awesome feeling.
May 27, 2024•2 hr 23 min•Ep. 320
Steve Albini's impact on alternative music is undeniable. From the sheer number of artists he collaborated with to his unwavering defense of fair treatment for musicians, his presence continues to be felt. His anti-capitalist views on the music industry may not have always aligned with everyone's, but his convictions were never in doubt. This influence extended to his unique approach to music. Whether working on his own projects or lending his talents to others, he imbued every recording with a ...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 319
This week, much like last week, wanted to provide a vault episode that was a contrast to Thursday, and you can't get much further away from Thursday than La Roux. Chris is a huge fan of this album and because Dave and Mark couldn't quite believe that, this record and episode continually gets referenced on various episodes. It's just so improbable, when you think about it. So it's a really good one to revisit. Hope ye enjoy!
May 17, 2024•1 hr 11 min
If you thought we'd prattled on about the history of Thursday a little too much in episode one well we've got some news for you - part two is a BEAST. It's 2 hours and 15 minutes long. Why? Because that's the unsung way. We give their discography a thorough analysis whilst continuing to chart the band's history. We also hear about how Geoff Rickly once slept on Sean's couch, and even take a wee detour in No Devotion, too. An episode for the true Thursday freaks, and also one which contains some ...
May 13, 2024•2 hr 16 min•Ep. 318
Turns out that Chris and Mark are big wrestling fans. Mark moreso than Chris, but still, probably something only die hard fans of the pod are aware of. That's not the reason we did an episode on Rick Derringer's Real American though (otherwise known as Hulk Hogan's theme song). It's because the song is great and comes with a pretty mad story. So yes, please enjoy this foray into one of our rarely visited alternate formats called Unsong.
May 10, 2024•41 min
As a die-hard Thursday fan, this week's guest comes right out the gates in explaining why Thursday he'll always love. And as it turns out, they're quite an easy band to love due to their ethics and overall affability as a band. Geoff Rickly himself often comes across earnestly and well in interviews, which is something Chris is keen to point out and dive into in the first part of this three parter. In Side A we chat about the band's history, their place in both the New Brunswick, New Jersey musi...
May 06, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 317
Just over 6 years ago we came up with an idea. Well, Chris did, to be precise. What if we do an episode where we each pick an album and then put them head to head, with the public deciding which one is best. That's how our mixtape was born. Since then, it's kinda moved away the format of each of us picking an album and backing it, and started to become more of a deep dive into a specific genre or theme. But this is how it begun. Unsung was barely 6 months old at this point. Indeed, this episode ...
May 02, 2024•1 hr 21 min
The covermount CD is certainly a relic from a bygone era. We actually have a bag full of them, all acquired through various means, none of them worth anything. But when was the covermount CD, or tape born, why, and what were the political and economic factors involved in magazines creating them, and artists getting on them? We break it all down in our episode on the history of the covermount CD with our good friend Crag Carrick, all the way from the land of Oz.
Apr 25, 2024•1 hr 19 min
