It’s the penultimate episode of Gobruary (man it feels hoity-toity to use the word penultimate), and we’re talking about the speedy excellence of the band’s How Far Shallow Takes You hit “Beauville.” Or at least I think we are. As of “press time” we haven’t even recorded the episode yet. So maybe it will never happen. Maybe 155 is officially over as a concept.
Listen to the new ‘sode of 155 here (if it exists).
The covers section is also back, which means we’re dropping weekly Bandcamp compilations. Listen to 12 versions of Gob’s “Ming Tran” here.
If you want to cover next week’s Gob song, sign up for the Patreon and hop into the Discord.
Now that all of this horrible bureaucracy is out of the way, here’s some other stuff we’re into right now:
Milk Carton Kids “New York Lonely Boy”
Sam: As revealed in a phlegm-filled epi (or sode?) of Blink-155 this week, I have been sick as a dog and unable to give a russy about anything except early bedtimes and Vicks VapoRub this week. One consolation has been catching up on some nice light entertainment as I attempt to fall asleep before 8pm - including Girls5eva, which has only been available in Canada since the start of the month (we really are a backwards nation). This song, which I quickly googled to discover it has been dubbed “the show's breakout song” by none other than Rolling Stone, made all the liquids leave my face, like the extra spicy curry I was using to flush myself out for dinner. As someone who is getting older, wants kids, sees a lot of older parents in my own neighborhood with one precocious child and definitely doesn’t have room for two in my current home, this hit on a lot of recent google searches for me. A blessing to me spiritually and medicinally.
Jos: Girls5eva was actually available on Prime for many years you dumb fuck. You absolute nonce. You bloody wanker. Idk what I’m doing right now or why it’s British. I think I’m trying to hedge because I did watch some of this show, and feel pretty ashamed about it. “New York Lonely Boy” is absolutely one of the funniest things to have happened on TV for a while. But the rest of the show is the kind of mortifying that you don’t really notice when you’re sick. Sam, if you put this show on with post-snot clarity, you’ll feel the shame too.
ChaseDreams “Marry U at Recess”
Sam: We also only just got the second season of The Other Two in Canada. For a country that prides itself on its comedic exports this is another disappointing example of our cultural protectionism (also just, like, normal licensing stuff). Watched it all over two nights of attempting to go to bed by 8pm. Attempts to parody hyper-contemporary popular culture often feel like Trump jokes in that they come from a pedantic, condescending perspective where you can’t ever do or say anything funnier than the real thing. The Other Two avoids those pitfalls by virtue of its unambiguous affection for dumb celebrities and the internet, best personified by the sweetest boy on television, Bieber stand-in ChaseDreams. While Chase doesn’t get to do much singing this season (conflict alert), there are references to his breakout smash from season one which necessitated revisiting it and… still goes.
Jos: Okay you’re right that this one wasn’t in Canada. But buddy it’s so easy to steal TV. ChaseDreams is a really funny character, and I love that he seems to be more a parody of my boys Matty B and Carson Lueders than he is a parody of Justin Bieber. Can’t wait for you to see Paul T. Goldman when it comes to Crave in like 2027. Le sigh…
Nicholas Krgovich “Front Stoop #2”
Jos: When thinking about Vancouver indie rock auteurs, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar likely has more brand recognition. But you mustn’t forget Nicholas Krgovich, who replaced the latter’s “hyper intellectual bleating goat” vibes with a lightly mischievous, deeply adorable grin and a growing song book of peaceful little coffee-sipping anthems. Nick has yet another album coming, and this first taste is such a sweet lil strummer that really does feel like sitting on a front stoop. Which is not something I’ve really done much in my life because I like to be on the computer. But it sure sounds nice!
Sam: I’m way too sick to listen to this. Where are the jokes. It’s making me feel worse. This is objectively lovely and I am adding it to Apple Music so I can listen to it in the spring but right now I genuinely need to turn it off something about it is really fucking my life up right now.
Voice Actor Sent from my Telephone
Jos: I honestly feel like I didn’t listen to any music at all in 2022. I just sat here at my desk in silence, or to the gentle hum of my neighbour’s boisterous Zoom calls (he must be a great salesman or something, because he’s constantly yelling and celebrating). Now that I have a newsletter to fill and the prospect of making Sam angry, I seem to be motivated to poke around and see what’s out there. That’s not, at least consciously, why I listened to all of Voice Actor’s four-and-a-half-hour-long Sent from my Telephone this week, but it must’ve been a motivator. Truth is, this sprawling album never feels bloated, but instead offers you a feeling of discovery as you sit through 109 tracks of eerie synth deconstructions, weird dubs, post-rock explorations and edited voice notes. If you’re grumpy about it, it might feel like listening to a vibey lady read the phonebook. But it reminded me of the sense of discovery that came with listening to Brave New Waves until 4am on a school night.
Sam:
Shoes Robinson Unmoored or a List of Things We Left in the Lake
Jos: I’m not gonna lie — I’ve been missing my weekly dose of Shoes Robinson. But the best possible outcome has happened where he channeled his genius once more into another beautiful power-pop album instead of working tirelessly on a post-punk version of a Pennywise song or whatever. On Unmoored, Shoes is firing on all cylinders, with his production on another level and his hooks leave plenty of room for some brain-tickling fuzz (the guitar riffing on “Fast Car” — yes, that “Fast Car” — is, in a word, delicious).
Sam: Shoes, man. I think we ended the covers at the right time but damn, seeing a Shoes track coming up was a true highlight of each episode and a euphoric feeling of constant surprise that I miss from the pod. “Fast Car” is somehow underrated as a song and this is so nice, way nicer than Pennywise.
175 - Edging (more covers) a.k.a. blink-155s02e18
We’re really selling the new blink-155 vertical well, aren’t we? Look at that episode title. Rolls right off the tongue. We’ve been doing blink-155 again for either 4 or 6 months, but blink-182 refuses to release new music. So we’re just stuck talking about the song “Edging” every week. Dontcha know. This week we listened to more covers of the song, and found some truly terrifying shit.