As sleek as a sheik.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Angine de Poitrine, Vol.II
Johnny Blue Skies, Mutiny After Midnight

Matthew:
Failure, Location Lost
Painkiller The Pigeon, Civil Temperatures (Zodiac B - Sides)
Castle Rat, Live on KEXP

Die young is far too boring these days.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Harry Styles, Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
Bruno Mars, The Romantic

Matthew:
Mitski, Nothing's About to Happen to Me
Voxtrot, Dreamers in Exile
Meredith Smith, More Than a Dream - EP

It's getting kinda hectic.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
The Last Dinner Party, From The Pyre
Tauk, Somewhere Between Here And There

Matthew's:
Ruby the Hatchet, Valley of the Snake
The Blank Tapes, Lost Weekend

Sixteen in the clip and one in the hole

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Slut Intent, Slutworld
Joyce Manor, I Used to Go to This Bar

Jake:
Melody's Echo Chamber, Unclouded
Lettuce, Cook

The night will go on, my little windmill.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Clearlake, Dark Blue
Moonchild, Starfruit

Matthew:
De La Soul, Cabin in the Sky
Winterpills, This Is How We Dance
Emma Harner, Do It (2024)

We've got to hug and rub-a-dub.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Parcels, LOVED
Tame Impala, Deadbeat

Matthew:
Hollie Cook, Shy Girl
Suzie True, How I Learned to Love What's Gone

Baby, I knew about it, I just didn't care.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Umphrey's McGee, Blueprints
Fugazi, Live at DV8

Matthew:
The Divine Comedy, Rainy Sunday Afternoon
Ultra Vivid Scene, Joy 1967-1990

These are the wages of love.

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Jens Lekman, Songs for Other People's Weddings
CMAT, Euro-Country

Jake:
Goose, Chain Yer Dragon
Radiohead, Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009)

Or has it just begun?

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Tame Impala, End of Summer
Mark Pritchard/Thom Yorke, Tall Tales

Matthew:
Abe Savas & the New Standards of Beauty, 99 Songs (Plus One)
The Minus Five, Oar On, Penelope!

Rollin' in MPV's, every week we made forty G's

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Stereolab, Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Pulp, More

Matthew:
Wet Leg, Moisturizer

And two books:
Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, Eternal Flame: The Authorized Biography of the Bangles
Mike Campbell, Heartbreaker

Look up in the air, it's your guitar

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Young Gun Silver Fox, Pleasure
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Phantom Island

Matthew:
Turnstile, Never Enough
Hallelujah the Hills, Deck

Matthew's band's debut LP is out now:
Early to the Airport, Arrivals

punkin' instigator

What we're listening to:

Jake:
My Morning Jacket, is
Bon Iver, SABLE, fABLE

Matthew:
Suzanne Vega, Flying with Angels
Marinero, La La La

Punks just jealous 'cause they can't outwrite me.

We got interviewed by Rob Queen!

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Goose, Everything Must Go
Neal Francis, Return to Zero
Coheed & Cambria, The Father of Make Believe

Matthew:
Sharp Pins, Radio DDR
The Raveonettes, Pe'ahi II
Destroyer, Dan's Boogie

I wanna bust all your balloons

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Deep Sea Diver, Billboard Heart
Father John Misty, Mahashmashana

Matthew:
Margarget Cho, Lucky Gift
The Chills, Spring Board
Ian Anderson unboxing Jethro Tull's Curious Ruminant

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Clearlake, "I Get It Now"
Common Saints, Cinema 3000

Matthew:
Waltzerr, Small Talk
Forest Service, "Hope"

Bonus: Matthew's band Early to the Airport's "Reverse Shadow" at the end of the episode

Oh, higher (Baby, yeah, yeah)

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Lambrini Girls, Who Let the Dogs Out?
The Pest Controllers, Get Rid of It!
Windhand, Eternal Return

Jake:
Cunningham Bird (s/t)
Franz Ferdinand, The Human Fear

Bittersweet memories

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Kim Deal, Nobody Loves You More
Quivers, Oyster Cuts

Jake:
Medium Build, Marietta
Partiboi69, K on my D + C

It's good to get high and never come down

What we're listening to:

Jake:
GUM/Ambrose Kenny-Smith, III Times
Phantogram, Memory of a Day

Matthew:
Aooo, Aooo
Soccer Mommy, Evergreen

He'd be in for a squabble, no doubt.

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Johnny Blue Skies, Passage du Desir
David Gilmour, Luck and Strange

Matthew:
The Linda Lindas, No Obligation
Touché Amoré, Spiral in a Straight Line

He's battle-tossed and laid...?

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Mew, And the Glass-Handed Kites
Louis Cole, Nothing

Matthew:
Drug Church, PRUDE
Cleaners from Venus, Lilli Bolero

Your love's decided, and all love is real? Yeah, baby

What we're listening to:

Jake:
KGLW, Flight b741
Childish Gambino, Bando Stone and the New World

Matthew:
Combat, Stay Golden
Stand Atlantic, WAS HERE

YEEEEEEEEAH

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
THEM, Girls Mind
The Raveonettes, The Raveonettes Sing...
The Mountain Goats and John Vanderslice, Moon Colony Bloodbath

Jake:
The Dip, Love Direction
Parlor Greens, In Green We Dream
Fleet Foxes, Live on Boston Harbor

Now come on, what was I supposed to do?

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Medium Build, Country
NxWorries, Why Lawd?
Parcels (just the band in general)

Honorable mention: Lightheaded, Lightheaded Anthem

Matthew:
The Lovely Eggs, Eggsistentialism
Good Looks, Lived Here for a While
Lightheaded, Always Sideways

I can't stand rocking when I'm in here.

The Freakout Festival 2024

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Justin Timberlake, Everything I Thought It Was
Brittany Howard, What Now

Matthew:
Origami Angel, "Fruit Wine"
Camera Obscura, Look to the East, Look to the West
The Distillers, Coral Fang

Ross:
Willi Carlisle, Critterland
Fat White Family, Forgiveness Is Yours
Mohama Saz, Máquina de Guerra

If the music's pumping it will give you new life.

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Vampire Weekend, Only God Was Above Us
English Teacher, This Could Be Texas
Kate Davis, "Cunty Bang Bang"

Jake:
Waxahatchee, Tiger's Blood
Pearl Jam, Dark Matter

Will she smell alone?

Rick Beato interviews Robert DeLeo about writing "Plush"

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Idles, Tangk
Mildlife, Chorus

Matthew:
Ducks Ltd, Harm's Way
Emma Anderson, Pearlies
Tokyo Police Club, Just a Scratch/Catch Me If You Can

It tickles to see you try to be like Mr. Pickles.

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Junodream, Pools of Colour
The Paranoid Style, The Interrogator
MSPAINT, Post-American

Jake:
The Smile, Wall of Eyes
Thank You Scientist, Terraformer
Paramore, Re: This Is Why

Around the world. Around the world?

What we're listening to:

Marco:
Cub Sport, Jesus at the Gay Bar
Lil Yachty, Let's Start Here
ANOHNI and the Johnsons, My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross

Jake:
Jungle, Volcano
KGLW, Petrodragonic Apocalypse

Matthew:
Kate Davis, Fish Bowl
The Clientele, I Am Not There Anymore
The Photocopies, Top of the Pops

You can keep me company as long as you don't care.

Meredith and Matthew are Twilight Diners.

What we're listening to:

Meredith:
Alvvays, Alvvays
The Mystery Lights, Too Much Tension!

Matthew:
The Mice, For Almost Ever
Fatima Mansions, Lost in the Former West

Jake:
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, Fronzoli
lespecial, Odd Times

Santa Claus won't make me happy with a toy.

What we're listening to

Matthew:
The Photocopies, Top of the Pops
André 3000, New Blue Sun

Jake:
Neil Francis, Francis Comes Alive
Cold War Kids, Cold War Kids
KGLW, The Silver Cord

I can't change my mould.

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Metric, Formentera II
KNOWER, KNOWER FOREVER
Jason Thomas Gordon, The Singers Talk (book)

Jake:
Royal Blood, Back to the Water Below
Goose, Autumn Crossing

Don't you see the colour of deception?

What we're listening to:

Matthew:
Ash, Race the Night
A Giant Dog, Bite
Men Without Hats, Pop Goes the World

Jake:
Jungle, Volcano
Local Natives, Time Will Wait for No One

Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo
Ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Young Gun Silver Fox, Ticket to Shangri-La
Small Paul, Come Alive & Live Again

Matthew:
Noname, Sundial
The Dead Krazukies, From the Underworld
Guns N' Roses, "Perhaps"

Never before and never since, I promise

What we're listening to

Matthew:
Origami Angel, The Brightest Days
The Clientele, I Am Not There Anymore

Jake:
JW Francis, Dream House
KGLW, PetroDragonic Apocalypse
Queens of the Stone Age, In Times New Roman
Sandrider, Sandrider

Tell your friends jump in the GS3.

Yo! MTV Raps Unplugged, 1991

What we're listening to

Jake:
Foo Fighters, But Here We Are
Janelle Monáe, The Age of Pleasure

Matthew:
The Reds, Pinks & Purples, They Only Wanted Your Soul
Blood Ceremony, The Old Ways Remain

Fingernails are good

What we're listening to

Jake:
Boygenius, The Record
Unknown Mortal Orchestra V

Matthew:
Fruit Bats, A River Running to Your Heart

Man, life can get all up in your ass

Stakes is High live with The Roots on Fallon

The song at the end of this episode is "Battlegrounds," from Matthew's band Early to the Airport's new EP, Departures

What we're listening to

Matthew:
Nicole Yun, Matter
Frank Bango, The Truth Fox

Jake:
Flipturn, Shadowglow

What a kick just a buddy and me

What we're listening to

Matthew:
Caroline Rose, The Art of Forgetting
Eyelids, A Colossal Waste of Light
Kate Davis, Fish Bowl

Jake:
Harry Styles, Harry's House
True Loves

You don't really care for music. Do you?

What we're listening to:

John:
DADADA!
Wednesday Campanella
A playlist of contemporary Asian pop and indie

Jake:
Lil Yachty, Let's Start Here
Madison Cunningham, Revealer

Matthew:
Parannoul, After the Magic
De La Soul feat MF DOOM, "Rock Co.Kane Flow" (video)

Why did it take so long?

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Black Midi: Hellfire
The Sound of Animals Fighting: Apeshit
Plains: I Walked With you a Ways

Matthew:
Belle & Sebstian: Late Developers
Alvvays: Blue Rev
OMD: "Souvenir"

if you're getting any bright ideas, quiet dear

Keith Lowe's single, Respair

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Snarky Puppy, Empire Central
Drugdealer, Hiding in Plain Sight

Matthew:
Best songs of 2022 playlist on Spotify

Keith:
A Girl Called Eddy, "Somebody Hurt You"

Remember back on the Bully when cats used to harmonize?

What we're listening to:

Jake:
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Changes
Post Animal, Love Gibberish

Matthew:
Weird Nightmare, Weird Nightmare
Sobs, Air Guitar

one kid had it worse than that

What we're listening to:

Jake:
Arctic Monkeys, The Car
Cytrus, Concentrate
Mildlife, Automatic

Matthew:
Titus Andronicus, The Will to Live
Open Mike Eagle, Component System with the Auto-Reverse
Steady Holiday, "Can't Find a Way" (out November 2)

The girls need a break.

The arena is empty except for one man.

Vibraslap
Herbie Hancock is 82.

Recommended:

Matthew:
Kiwi jr., Chopper

Jake:
DOMi & JD BECK, NOT TiGHT
Danger mouse and Black Thought, Cheat Codes

First it steals your mind and then it steals your...

Producer Michael Beinhorn on Black Hole Sun
Soundgarden live at the Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley, 1994

Recommended:

Matthew:
Hollie Cook, Happy Hour
THEM, The Car EP

Jake:
Goose, Dripfield

I drink the honey inside your hive.

Recommended:

Matthew:
King Stingray
Joyce Manor: 40 oz to Fresno
Strong Songs podcast on “Silent All These Years”

Jake:
Jack White: Fear of the Dawn
Foals: Life Is Yours

Words are meaningless and forgettable.

[gibberish]

Acoustic guitar cover by Takashi Kouda

What we're listening to:

PUP, The Unraveling of PUPTHEBAND
Soul Glo, Diaspora Problems
Ibibio Sound Machine, Electricity
SAULT, Air

Jake in front of a portrait of Kate Bush?

There's a rider that's fallen.

Oh yeah, definitely. I know his name.

Recommended:
Parannoul - To See the Next Part of the Dream
Deep Sea Diver - Impossible Weight
The Dip - When You Lose Someone (from the forthcoming Sticking with It)
Some artists called Goose, Geese, Neil Francis, or maybe Neal Francis

Eddie Vedder Is Still Learning to Live with Loss

It's the way we sing that makes 'em dream.

Since you've been gone I can do whatever I want.

Lucy Dacus on Song Exploder

Is there no standard anymore?

Consolation Lakes: I'm Not the Nightmare
Sault: Untitled (Black Is)
Every Time I Die: Thing with Feathers

Take a ride, take a shot now.

Matthew's punk playlist on Spotify

Wet Leg: Chaise Longue

In that case, I'll have rum and Coca-Cola.

Du bist sehr schön

Cool kids never have the time.

ALBUMS RECOMMENDED
The Chills: Scatterbrain
The Cleaners from Venus: Penny Novelettes
Goose: Shenanigans Nite Club

He's not vicious OR malicious.

What's the haps on the craps?

CW: Mass shootings, sexual assault.

Also, Matthew definitely knows that Raising Hell came out in the 80s.

VERY hard to drink.

Links:

• Steady Holiday: Tiny Desk Concert
• Fenslerfilm's GI Joe overdubs

Oh baby, baby
Oh baby, baby
Oh baby, baby

Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about!

Don't drop the big one.

I tried to rock her in my cradle.

I'll not be a gentleman.

Links:

• Possum Kingdom State Park — Guess what? It's a lake.

Tie your own... hey!

It's a great escape.

Links:

• St Andrew's Fall
• All I Can Say (2020) — A documentary based on footage shot by Shannon Hoon.

I honestly do.

Our first single!

Yeah everybody wear the mask but how long will it last?

We've all left the den. Let me tell you 'bout it?

Links:

• Song Exploder: “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori"

I want something else.

We did what they told us.

Adam Neely: The Music You Hate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZMpU-7YcgA

Adam Neely: Learning to Like Contemporary Christian Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hACUz4WVWwk

Life is parallel to hell, but I must maintain.

Leave a message and I'll call you back.

How many special people change? (Featuring George McCleary!)

Special Guest: George McCleary.

Wearing my naughties like a jewel.

CONTENT WARNING: Sexual assault.

Tunnel vision!

Content Warning: Several references to sexual assault, plus we criticize the band Sublime.

Put your skeletons in jail.

Links:

• Switched on Pop: No Country for Old Town Road

Take a good look at it. Look at it now.

Who stole Thom's vodka cup?

Jake is a Phish fan. Matthew is a Phish skeptic. Naturally they're tackling the Phishiest possible release, 1994's A Live One, which features a 30-minute song.

Special Guest Rich McLaughlin (Sirius XM, I Heart Radio, WFUV, Amazon Music) joins us on a journey through “Time.” On this month’s Hidden Jukebox, we discuss REM’s Out of Time (1991) as well as what made the band great, what made the band fall apart, and why Rich is so damned obsessed with these guys.

Special Guest: Rich McLaughlin.

Links:

• An Inaugural Day Message via the Words of R.E.M.

Snoop Doggy Dogg, 1993

In 1992, a new video debuted on MTV, and suddenly America couldn’t stop talking about two things: cars that bounce, and a cornrowed rapper with a lovable lazy drawl and the improbable name of Snoop Doggy Dogg. We can't stop talking about him either.

Green Day’s Dookie (1994) was punk rock your parents could enjoy in the car. Deceptively upbeat (until you listen to the lyrics), Dookie’s strong hooks and clever lyrics brought punk to a mass audience—and is still loads of fun today.

Maria, carry a rifle.

We should be okay and we won't get in a muddle.

This month, once again we talk about an obscure 90s album you've never heard of. Pretty good.

A stone-cold classic that's as relevant, progressive, and weird as it was in 1995. These are loud, smart hope-from-the-gutter tunes, and we're kind of in love.

This album is out of print, but used CDs are readily available.

0898 Beautiful South, The Beautiful South, 1992

Matthew really puts Laura through the wringer on this one. 0898 is an overproduced, saccharine mess of sad drunks, cannibals, and codependents, and Matthew couldn't love it more. (Except for that one frustratingly catchy misogynistic track.) Laura, on the other hand....

Mezzanine, Massive Attack, 1998.

On this episode, we chill out after the rave and talk nicknames, musical diversity, fade-ins, buildups, and teenage weirdos. We also say "Bristol" many times as if we know where that is.

Links:

• Listen on Apple Music
• Listen on Spotify

On our fourth episode we listen to Luna’s Penthouse, Laura Loe’s favorite album of the 1990s. We discuss lush recording, embarrassing lyrics, shameless Velvet Underground rip offs, and the absence of early rock shows for aging Gen-Xers.

Luna (extended thoughts from Laura Loe)

There are a lot of amazing things about doing our Hidden Jukebox podcast.

Tonight I'm listening to Luna's Penthouse for the millionth time with completely different ears--this is a super special rare gift.

Thank you Matthew Amster-Burton for this amazing opportunity to re-hear the music that is so central to me.

Some albums aren’t remarkable the first time you hear them. This is one of those albums.

Over the years I have become more and more and more obsessed with it.

From the first notes of Chinatown, I am transported to a particular moment in a person’s life when they think they are really fucking cool—I think this whole album mocks a certain New York rocker pretentious hipsterism…

The lyrics get funnier and funnier the more you spend time with them. And some lyrics which seem playful at first can turn sinister after the 50th listen.

Released in August 1995, this is the third album by Luna, produced by Pat MacCarthy who the interwebs tell me mixed Madonna’s Ray of Light.

On Hidden Jukebox we usually ask...

Where did you hear this album the first time?

I was living in Evanston, homesick for Santa Monica and also homesick for a version of New York City--where I had never lived--but I was increasingly realizing was out of my reach. I’d grown up in the suburbs of NY till I was 13 and in my mind my 20’s would be spent there…

Certain albums make me long for a New York that probably only exists in my daydreams. (The most obvious is probably Lou Reed's New York... but the most vivid for me is PJ Harvey’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea...)

The songs on this album all run together for me. I almost never don’t listen to this album start to finish. The tempo of the songs is all just a little bit slower than any “hit single” will ever be. It is languid af and all feels like it must have been written and recorded on an ecstasy come down.

The bass playing is exquisite and buried so deep in the mix. It is hidden. I didn't even pay attention to it till I became a bass player.... Another aspect of this album that requires many listens to really hear it.

I’ve tried over the years to get various people to fall in love with this album as hard as I have. Almost never succeeded.

This album makes me think about the times you call out of work or skip school or tell a lover you’re working late at the office but really what you’ve done is stolen a moment for yourself. Where no one knows where you are and it feels delicious.

Links:

• Luna at the Neptune in Seattle, January 23, 2018 (tickets)
• Penthouse (Spotify)
• Penthouse (Apple Music)
• A Place of Greater Safety (Spotify)

Hole, Celebrity Skin, 1998.

We take a deeper look at ourselves while listening to this 1998 classic. If this album is considered by some to be a "guilty pleasure," we clearly don't have any guilt about it. This was a foundational soundtrack to our 90's SoCal lives. From hanging with dolphins at the beach and midnight jaunts to the "Rock n' Roll Ralph's" grocery store to being trapped in college life in the valley, this summery, power pop, ironic album speaks to a particular GenX sensibility like nothing else.

(other topics touched on: women in rock, how to relate to your fans, amazing bridges in songs, commercial drum sounds, the names of bands we've been in, emotional macaroni and cheese)

Links:

• From the vaults: A 1999 interview with Hole's Courtney Love — "Anyway, my point is that kids who are Blink-182 fans or who are buying Epitaph records can’t even have the selling-out argument because they are three generations away from what punk once was."
• Courtney Love Does the Math — Today I want to talk about piracy and music. What is piracy? Piracy is the act of stealing an artist's work without any intention of paying for it. I'm not talking about Napster-type software. I'm talking about major label recording contracts.

The Magnetic Fields, 69 Love Songs, 1999

With apologies to Prince's Emancipation, 69 Love Songs is probably the best triple album out there. Still, we wondered, what if we had to edit it down to twelve songs? (Heretical, we know.) In the process, we talk romantic entanglements, carfree urbanism, and dreaminess.

Links:

• Listen on Apple Music
• Listen on Spotify

Pavement, Brighten the Corners, 1997

On our debut episode, we talk guitar wankery, hit singles, off-mic screaming, and how to sing when no one's listening.

Links:

• Listen on Spotify