Sam’s chicken.
As you have doubtlessly heard by now via all the usual gossip sites and socials, Josiah and I hung out last weekend. For several days, involving a wide variety of activities, including watching the Super Bowl at my house with my parents and all my closest friends, which is somehow the funniest to me. This was our first post-pod pure friendship hang and it’s entirely possible we like each other and weren’t lying this whole time. Weird!
Here’s what we’re listening to this week.
Wayfarer “104 Wellington Street North”
Sam: Friend of the pod and former guest Kyle Kriche has long adored jabbing Josiah on Twitter, and his band is definitely not Josiah’s thing, so I’m curious how he will handle its inclusion here. Good luck, buddy! I love Wayfarer, always have. Listen to this. You know I love it. I think Kyle is underrated in the extreme as a songwriter, and knowing that he’s got fifty kids and a real job makes me grateful that he has never given up the ghost and allowed his talents to calcify like a lot of people do as they age out of the scenes that defined our 20s. This song sounds like Samiam, so if you are old and you like Samiam (same) you will like it.
Jos: Wayfarer… isn’t that the company that’s hiding missing kids in coffee tables? I’m playing. But truthfully I’m writing this during a meeting that’s running over my lunch break and I can’t hit play yet. Seems like one of these people from your universe that you would entrap me with at your Super Bowl party, and then I’d realize they’re really delightful, as are you, and I’d just get one step closer to being your… husband? Then again IDK if this guy was invited to your Super Bowl party. Care to explain why, Sam? Also what if there was a band called Josiahiam. Okay I think I’ve written enough padding that I don’t have to say much when I finally listen. I kinda like it, has a nice bit of jangle to it. “Invincible Summer” is such a Sam album title. I wonder how many times he’s dubbed a summer Invincible Summer.
SISSY XO “Trans Panic Defense! At The Disco”
Sam: Stuff I love about this: the growl opening psych-out that does lead into a deathcore song but instead turns into a wild Locust-type thing, the guitars that go so SO so high, the sudden jazz (???) vibes, the white belt-ass vocals, the impossible headache-inducing kick drum pattern, the power kill effect, whatever the sound is at the end that sounds like something from Doom or Quake.
Jos: Okay still in this meeting (the amount of time it takes to write a newsletter blurb vs. the amount of time it takes for an entire team to give their status update, which is that they’re still working on the thing from yesterday, is quite different) so I haven’t listened to this yet either. Seems like something I’m probably not going to want to make fun of too much. But I do find myself getting tired of all the same references for everything. Do I have to keep remembering that I loved the Locust? Is that all I am? I went on Stereogum today to look for new songs and saw some article about the “restorative power of the house show.” Is that all we have? Remembering? Maybe. Okay I’m listening now and this is cool. I’m less angry because I’m not in a meeting. Very sick.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse “Broken Circle (Side by Side)”
Jos: This last trip to Toronto, we spent a lot of time there (extending our stay so we could really pal it up with Sam’s fam at the Super Bowl party), enough so that I started to understand the city a little more (and determined that, without the high of a live pod, it’s still as swagless as I thought). I now know that it’s not just Bloor but also King and Queen… just needs a Jester street! Maybe that’s where Medieval Times should be…. Anyway, I saw the Rivoli, which is the exact kind of fictional sounding venue name that all of Toronto seems to have. (And it is a venue from fiction, most popularized as the coveted place to play in Nirvanna the Band the Show.) And that’s where Neil Young recorded his new live LP with Crazy Horse, which has a disgusting album cover but sounds like it will be insanely good. I’ve never really gotten into Ragged Glory because I don’t love the production, but these new versions will likely be perfect. Even if they do make me think of all the Toronto people walking around in their Nudie Jeans and Lululemons. I honestly didn’t even know Nudie Jeans still existed.
Sam: Very cool of Neil to tip his hat to Deftones’ White Pony with the art here. I don’t know why but I feel the need to clarify that our Super Bowl party is much more of a food-centric party (“Supper Bowl”) that just celebrated its 13th year. Despite being told he wasn’t expected to bring anything on account of not having a kitchen in his hotel, Josiah and Sara did bring a bag full of hamburgers that was an absolute hit, particularly around the second half when you are looking for new, satisfying flavours. This is good!
Nia Archives “Silence Is Loud”
Jos: I haven’t has as much time to dig into the deep wanker music that I’d normally have indulged in by this point in the week, but I do love this Nia Archives song. It definitely has the sounds that my dear friend Sam would describe as “nowtro” (break beats, a hint of shoegaze guitars, Britpop), so it will probably sound way too 2024 when we revisit it together while we’re lined up for our paltry universal basic income stamps in 2030. But it sure sounds fun right now.
Sam: Read “Nia Archives” as “Neil Archives” on first glance and had a whole thing cooking in my brain about Neil seemingly having the moment that Springsteen had 10, 12 years ago but with people who make fun of Toronto. It’s still true, even if I need to come up with something fresh to say about this (very good!) track that Josiah already stole my line that I stole from Harry Shearer. I just googled “harry shearer cancelled” which is mortifying but I feel like he was on the wrong side of something recently and, based on one headline and no further research, it appears to be the decision to replace him as the voice of Dr. Hibbert on The Simpsons. Won’t be reading any further.
I know “I can’t stop thinking about this” is overused, but I genuinely can’t stop thinking about this mortifying hoodie.