Weekly Drive-By

This week's albums: RiTchie - Triple Digits (112) [4/5/24], Hannah Frances - Keeper of the Shepherd [3/1/24], The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis - The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis [3/15/24], Rosali - Bite Down [3/22/24], Vampire Weekend - Only God Was Above Us [4/5/24], Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future [3/22/24], Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers [3/22/24]. Tiger Woods has stunned us with his success at the Masters, and we're wondering if we can attribute it to his pseudo-Lenten promise, and we take too many trips back to Death Grips' mixtape Exmilitary, specifically the track Beware. Credits where they're due: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZfwYVgbuPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VguczSkNEO0

Albums reviewed this week: Julia Holter - Something in the Room She Moves [3/22/24], Cave Sermon - Divine Laughter [1/18/24], Ducks Ltd - Harm's Way [2/9/24]*, meth. - SHAME [2/2/24]*, Alice Coltrane - The Carnegie Hall Concert [2/22/24], Amaro Freitas - Y'Y' [3/1/24]* No featured album this week, but again, albums we've already reviewed in previous episodes are marked with an *. This episode, we're talking about the first week at a new job, listening intently to the Top Dog Law / Northeast Kia Guy, thinking about a new blog idea, calling out and driving by Amazon, visiting the new Max doc The Truth vs. Alex Jones, and revisiting the HBO-not-Max show Mare of Easttown as a comparison to the Max show The Regime.

Featured album: Gerycz Powers Rolin - Activator [1/12/24] Other albums reviewed: Vera Sola - Peacemaker [2/12/24], Hooray for the Riff Raff - The Past Is Still Alive [2/23/24], Whitelands - Night​-​bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day [2/23/24], meth. - Shame [2/2/24], Gouge Away - Deep Sage [3/15/24], Amaro Freitas - Y'Y [3/1/24] I think this is the longest show we've done? A lot of music to get to this week, some of which is definitely gonna make both of our year-end lists. But before all that, we have officially, seriously, finally put the bullets back in the gun, are drinking some interesting ciders and a relatively obscure Chinese spirit called baijiu, take a quick look at the prospects of walking some of the East Coast Greenway, have two sports gambling controversies (one you might know, one you might not) and a semi-embarrassing internet troubleshooting story, and four positive shoutouts.

Featured album: Monkey3 - Welcome to the Machine [2/23/24] Other albums reviewed: Blemishes - Ambivert [2/14/24], Kim Gordon - The Collective [3/8/24] Our headlines this week take us everywhere from wondering if Joe Manchin does cocaine, reflecting on former internment camps near Seattle, and our thoughts on the BLM (no, not that one). Then we talk a little bit about NC Republican governor nominee Mark Robinson, and by the end of the show, talk about the upcoming ducks vs geese war.

Albums reviewed: Theophonos - Ashes in the Huron River [2/9/24], Pissed Jeans - Half Divorced [3/1/24], Mannequin Pussy - I Got Heaven [3/1/24]. The bullets are almost definitely back in the gun. They kinda got quiet after a while though. Craft gin! HBO, I mean, Max's new show The Regime! NEET life! Emma Stone! Sydney Sweeney! Shit's actually kinda good???

Originally recorded I dunno like a month ago? But, we didn't have time to record this week, and we wanted to give the people something. Featured album: gyrofield - A Faint Glow of Bravery [1/12/23] Other albums reviewed: YĪN YĪN - Mount Matsu [1/12/23] and Sonic Youth - Walls Have Ears [2/4/24]. This week, we've got monkeys getting smarter, Emma Stone being reborn stupider in Poor Things, some dickhead laying on the horn all evening, and talking some AI.

Featured album: Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - of the Last Human Being [2/23/24] We're back after an unexpected break with some heat. Special guest Sam, who last talked to us about Alvvays's album Blue Rev last year, once again lends his voice to the Dub D. Bee for some thoughts on the newest season of Max's True Detective. And of course, we pull him into some Strawbango talk, because we're still trying to get that GHOST sponsorship. Faze got a deal, but we didn't? C'mon now.

Featured album: Hoplites - Paramainomeni [1/12/23] Other albums reviewed: Anni Kiviniemi Trio - Eir [1/12/23] and Zazen Boys - Rando [1/24/24]. Relatively quick show today, outside of the music, we're giving our RIP to Mr. Bullets in the Gun himself, Toby Keith, and talking some Zone of Interest.

Featured album: The Smile - Wall of Eyes [1/26/24] Other albums reviewed: Vemod - The Deepening [1/19/24] and SENTRIES - Snow as a Metaphor for Death [1/19/24] We're angling for an Audio Technica and/or Ghost sponsorship and then giving you a few energy drinks that you should absolutely avoid before getting into another old and forgotten American political scandal, presenting an ethical question, and venting some frustration about a Sundance Film Festival rule and annoying employee.

This week's featured album: Glass Beach - plastic death [1/19/24]. Other albums reviewed this week: Mary Halvorson - Cloudward [1/19/24], and SLIFT - Ilion [1/19/24]. The move from Birmingham to Philly was a bit... well, not how it was planned. Audio is straight from the mediocre Bluetooth headset, so, expect that, and the Soundboard is on break for a minute, so there's a distinct lack of gunshots on this one, but they'll be back before you know it.

Featured album review: Hauntologist - Hollow [1/8/24] Other albums reviewed: Narbeleth - A Pale Crown [1/5/24] One of the most freewheeling shows we've done in a while, covering topics as far as apart as why we stand with the Vodka Belt against Tito's and the formal mathematical definition of a limit (minor historical mistake on that one - I'll correct it on next week's show). And of course, the Dub D. B. is ahead of the curve - we brought up the story of Nikki Haley's name a good few days before it became a national news topic since this was recorded on Tuesday. But we don't do it for the credit, we do it for you, the people.

Albums reviewed this week: Sprints - Letter to Self [1/5/24] and Kala Azar - Kala Azar [1/5/24]. We check out a couple low-key albums for our first show of the year, but before that we have to get to the Boeing plane that crashed with all survivors, do some HBO talk with reviews of their documentaries Time Bomb: Y2K and Last Stop Larrimah and a quicker review of the first season of their new show Bookie before setting expectations for True Detective: Night Country, and talk about some recent frustrations with Amazon. Stick around after the album reviews for a little bit on the upcoming Kanye West / Ty Dolla $ign collab and an answer to the most important Ye related question of the last decade. Intro by livingthehardlife / Scapegoats.

We're still on holiday break here, but we've got another early show lined up. Originally recorded on 12/5/21, we watched Nomadland and decided if it lived up to its Best Picture expectations. We'll be officially back next week with our first show of 2024.

Jumping right back into it, in the second half of the show we give our Top 5 albums of the year. Big thanks to any and all of the listeners this year, and to all of the musicians and artists we've talked about. We talked about spots 10-6 on the last episode, but I'll drop the full Top 10 below. 10. C.O.F.F.I.N - Australia Stops / billy woods & Kenny Segal - Maps 09. ТДК [TDK] - Nemesta / Zorn - Zorn 08. Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE / Black Button - Rejoice 07. McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?! / Truculent - A Worker's Guide to Transfiguration 06. Squid - O Monolith / Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden... 05. Kostnatění - Úpal / John Zorn - Parrhesiastes 04. Sneaky Jesus - For Chaching Taphed / Candelabro - Ahora o Nunca 03. Lankum - False Lankum / Squid - O Monolith 02. Sufjan Stevens - Javelin / EABS Meets Jaubi - In Search of a Brighter Tomorrow 01. Le Cri du Caire - Le Cri du Caire / Le Cri du Caire - Le Cri du Caire

We went into this with the goal of recording our year-end top ten albums, but if you've ever listened to the show, you know how it goes...we ended up recording for about 4 hours. So instead of hitting you with the whole thing at once, we decided to break it up into two parts. First, one of us has a "Top 5 Albums I Didn't Listen to This Year," then we talk about a few EPs, and then we get to the first halves of our respective Top 10s. Lists (so far) below, because we do it for you, the people. 10. C.O.F.F.I.N - Australia Stops / billy woods & Kenny Segal - Maps 09. ТДК [TDK] - Nemesta / Zorn - Zorn 08. Jeff Rosenstock - HELLMODE / Black Button - Rejoice 07. McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?! / Truculent - A Worker's Guide to Transfiguration 06. Squid - O Monolith / Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden...

Note: going forward, we're going to be moving to Sunday uploads. This one was supposed to come out yesterday but I was dead. Albums reviewed this week: Snooper - Super Snõõper [7/14/23], The Shits - You're a Mess [4/14/23], Illegal Crowns - Unclosing [6/2/23], Yoyo - A Beacon School [10/13/23], Zoh Amba, Chris Corsano, & Bill Orcutt - The Flower School [7/21/23], Candelabro - Ahora o Nunca [11/11/23]*, Full Body 2 -Infinity Signature [11/20/23], C.O.F.F.I.N - Australia Stops [9/15/23], and John Zorn - Parrhesiastes [12/8/23]. Some of the usuals in Sip Talk and BS Headlines, but we have some fresh takes in an atheist's review of a modern Christian drama TV show, and a Dutch man who was doing some phreaking so crazy he got it named after himself. Top 10 albums of the year coming next Sunday!

Albums reviewed this week: Memorrhage - Memorrhage [6/16/23], Civic - Taken by Force [2/10/23], Candelabro - Ahora o Nunca [11/11/23], and Panopticon - The Rime of Memory [11/29/23]. One of these is one of our favorite albums of the year, and another one is one of our least favorites. Second to last show of the year next week, so we're a little light on our feet here, but hit some of the classic bits between Sip Talk, BS Headlines, and Drive-By Alumni.

Albums reviewed this week: Danny Brown - Quaranta [11/17/23], Gezebelle Gaburgably - Gaburger [7/4/23]*, death's dynamic shroud - Midnight Tangerine [11/10/23], Kostnatění - Úpal [5/26/23]*, Yellow Swans - Left Behind [11/17/23], Mary Lattimore - Goodbye, Hotel Arcadia [10/6/23], and Sneaky Jesus - For Chaching Taphed [10/5/23]*. Things start off with some anti-shoutouts, one of which is about a famous musician with a big recent controversial decision, but we're a little more generous with True Detective Season 2, where we discover a core element that most fans likely missed, and there's even a festival lineup that we don't completely dislike.

Albums reviewed this week: Hotline TNT - Cartwheel [11/3/23], ALEPH - Sepulchre [7/21/23], Marina Herlop - Nekkuju [10/7/23], Trhä - Av◊ëlajnt◊ë£ hinnem nihre [11/1/23], Ned Rothenburg - Crossings Four [10/23/23], Sneaky Jesus - For Chaching Taphed [10/5/23]. This episode was recorded last week, but I knew we weren't gonna record over Thanksgiving week so I saved it. Yeah, that's what happened. We got some heavily redacted chat about an upcoming wedding we're going to, incredibly classic bullshit headlines, how Canada accidentally gave India nuclear weapons, why actually everyone should have nuclear weapons, and some wild North Korea lore.

Albums reviewed this week: Joey Valence & Brae - Punk Tactics [9/8/23], Thantifaxath - Hive Mind Narcosis [6/2/23], Afterbirth - In but Not Of [10/20/23], Telos - Delude [3/18/23], Jute Gyte - Unus mundus patet [9/5/23], Earth - Earth 2.23: Special Lower Frequency Mix [11/3/23], Malokarpatan - Vertumnus Caesar [10/27/23]. There's also some light talk around the UK's recent ban on recreational nitrous oxide, some light fun made at the line-ups for a couple of mid-tier festivals, a quick review of Punch'd Energy gummies, and a note on the overall state of of energy drinks. After the mid-show break, we do also talk about a potentially amazing TV miniseries or full series that on one has made yet, but before the break, we have some pretty interesting headlines for articles we didn't and won't read. Relevant links below, because I'm trying to do that now too. UK nitrous ban: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nitrous-oxide-ban/nitrous-oxide-ban-guidance Rockville 2024: https://www.stereogum.com/2242010/welcome-to-rockville-lineup-2024/news/ Hang Out Fest 2023: https://gulfcoastmedia.com/stories/hangout-music-festival-announces-lineup-for-spring-2023-in-gulf-shores,141917 Energy toast: https://old.reddit.com/r/energydrinks/comments/17pxij4/anyone_else_make_energy_toast_when_in_a_rush/ Corrupt bargains: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrupt_bargain Red Caesar: https://www.salon.com/2023/10/09/the-rights-red-caesar-plan-a-new-order-keeps-marching-forward/