armchair expert

week 6 | In My Tribe by 10,000 Maniacs

in

Last week, while listening to a podcast (I now forget which one because 85% of my time is spent listening to podcasts and a lot of them have the same people on them and my brain doesn’t know how to remember everything, ok?), I found out that Natalie Merchant (who I adore) is in 10,000 Maniacs.

I don’t know how I didn’t know this. It seems so incredibly obvious now. Every time I heard a 10,000 Maniacs song, I wouldn’t know it was them but I took noticed and looked it up and was like, “Hey, cool, maybe I would like 10,000 Maniacs.” And then I would carry on with my life and forget that this had ever happened.

Well, now I’m doing myself a goddamn favor and listening to what (5 min of internet research told me) is their best album, In My Tribe from 1987. They have a shit ton of albums, so I anticipate this isn’t the last time we see them in this series.

Here. We. Go.

PS so far, there is a song on this album called “My Sister Rose,” about her sister Rose’s wedding and it is fucking fantastic. Really kitschy and odd and I love it.

week 1 | Life’s Too Good by The Sugarcubes

in

This week, I listened to an old ep of Dax Shepards’s podcast, “Armchair Expert,” in which he interviews Kathryn Hahn (a vastly underrated American TREASURE).

They talk about a lot of stuff (the episode is just shy of 3 hours) but the two quickly bond over a love for Fugazi, Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Björk, specifically the song “Birthday” (which I soon learned was not just from Bjork but from her previous band, The Sugarcubes - who knew Björk was in a band for like 7 years before she went solo? [probably a lot of people #blindspots]). Unfortunately (or fortunately), pretty much the first and only thing I think of when I think of Björk is Kristen Wiig playing her on Weekend Update in 2009 (and I still know all the words to the song she sings, which is permanent information in my brain).

So, to kick off album-a-week-a-palooza (I’ll come up with a better name maybe hopefully), I am listening to the 1988 album, Life’s Too Good by Icelandic alternative rock band, The Sugarcubes.

Upon first listen, it’s cool. It’s whimsical and weird and wild, and…

The bop of the week is…“Birthday” !

(which Dax claimed was his favorite song of all time). New music! Björk! Weird crazed crunchy avant-rock!