Kick The Jukebox

In this best-of episode, Kyle and Louie are joined by three special guests: songwriter Eli Bolin (John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch), Weezer expert Jason Boxer (Weezerpedia), and The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame's Gretchen Unico to discuss some great Power Pop gems: The Cars' self titled 1978 debut, Weezer's 1996 sophmore outing Pinkerton and Harry Nilsson's 1971 masterpiece Nilsson Schmilsson! Also, be sure to check out our podcast recommendation: The Lyric Boys!

Kyle and Louie make some small talk over Scritti Politti's infectious, shimmering, danceable 1984 album Cupid & Psyche 85! On the surface, these tunes are some of the catchiest pop you've ever heard, but you actually need a PHD in literature to get all the lyrics. Join your favorite 20th century music geek buddies as they traverse the brilliant world of Scritti Politti's mastermind lyricist Green Gartside. -- Show notes: This was such a fun one to bring it on home! We've had an amazing season and we're really excited for our next season, which is going to follow a pretty cool arc. Get pumped, Jukeheads! We talked about a lot of great music to follow-up on this episode including keyboardist David Gamson's wild cover of The Archies' "Sugar Sugar," the track "Say A Little Prayer" by the immortal Aretha Franklin, and the earlier Scritti Politti album Songs to Remember. Once you give Cupid & Psyche 85 plenty of spins, Kyle recommends following up with Erasure's 1988 album The Innocents and I think it's time to do your own deep-dive into 80's Freestyle. We'll be back with some greatest hits episodes and a brand new season soon! - Louie

In this best of episode, Louie & Kyle dive into some classic songs that make them want to dance, and get into the history of Chicago House, 80's New York No-Wave and some classic Disco in the process. -- Show notes: Here are the songs we chatted about. They all come highly recommended with the highest Kick the Jukebox seal of approval: Material, Nona Hendryx - Bustin' Out Marshall Jefferson - The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body) The Joubert Singers - Stand on the Word  Also, here's the link to Louie's recommendation: Disco Music History

Improviser, musician and beautiful British man Peter Smith leads Louie and Kyle on a deep dive into Marillion, the hugely successful British prog-rock band who over their 40 year career have gotten no respect from the radio or the press, but have legions upon legions of devoted fans that have allowed them to become their own cottage industry. In this episode we delve into their definitive 1995 release Afraid of Sunlight. This is a case where despite the fact Marillion are considered terminally uncool, their devoted fans get it completely right. -- Show notes: It was great to have Peter on the show who is a killer musician highly influenced by Marillion. Please listen to his SoundCloud which has some beautiful work on it! https://soundcloud.com/damndirtygrapes If you liked Afraid of Sunlight, Peter recommends the Marillion album Season's End next, Kyle would love for you to get more into Peter Gabriel and Louie doesn't fuck with Prog a lot, but when he does, he's listening to Can and Babe Ruth.

Kyle and Louie are joined by BC The Beatles' co-host and Rhino Records' Allison Boron to talk about one of her favorite records, Sam Cooke's One Night Stand! Live at the Harlem Square Club. Deemed too raucous when recorded, this disc sat on the shelves for over 20 years after Sam's death before being released and heralded a total soul and rock n roll classic. They also get into how to find musical common ground with your partner and how true crime videos can be the key to a good night's sleep! -- Show Notes: It's been a long time coming, but Allison is finally a guest on the show! She's been a huge influence on my music taste and a true blue friend for years. The three of us had plenty of reccos too. Kyle has been revisiting The Arctic Monkeys with his girlfriend this week, while Louie has been listening to a lot of Pup, Dog Park Dissidents and Jeff Rosenstock with his boyfriend. Allison took us on a tour of the new Paul McCartney Flaming Pie archive re-release. When we got into Sam Cooke, we brought up his croonery appearance on Arthur Murray Dance Party, his work with his record label SAR (especially the song "Put Me Down Easy" by his brother LC Cooke) and the recent Netflix documentary  ReMastered: The Two Killings of Sam Cooke. Also, remember! Our Rave.DJ contest is ON! This was fun and soulful one, jukeheads. -Louie

Kyle 'N Louie are waxin and milkin' all y'all square heads as they discuss 1989's Paul's Boutique, which was a game changing album for The Beastie Boys, The Dust Brothers and the golden age of Hip Hop. Plus Kyle discusses what music is best to listen to when reading about "the troubles" in Ireland and Louie has been obsessed with a real nightmare of a music website. -- Episode Notes: We had some great reccos in this episode. Check out the NYT review of Say Nothing, the book currently in Kyle's hot little hands. Also check out Louie's actually halfway decent Kanye / Cut Copy mashup that he made on the nightmarish apocalyptic website Rave.dj (don't watch if you're prone to seizures, seriously). There's been so much written and said about Paul's Boutique already if you want more info on this seminal album, but a great supplemental piece to this episode is this YouTube video that breaks down every sample on the album. - Louie

Louie N Kyle take a trip to the world of the deeply psychedelic sixties band Love. Love lived communally in a Griffith Park castle, they horded guns and drugs and, most importantly, they weren't fucking around. Learn how they made one of the best albums of all time against insurmountable odds.

The world wasn't quite ready for McCartney II when Paul released it in 1980. It's cold and electronic sound is divisive among the hardcore fans. But for the very reasons that McCartney II was a tough sell when it was first released, it's influenced so many musical genres and artists. In this episode, Kyle and Louie analyze what happens when a Beatle goes New Wave.

We're joined by Liam Carroll, writer for The Spool, Rebeat Magazine, Newscult and founder of B-Movie review site Analog Scum to discuss his gateway album for his favorite band: 1995's Electr-O-Pura by Yo La Tengo. Liam gets into how Yo La Tengo embodies a bucolic New Jersey that is rarely written about, and why they've endured when so many other cool-kid indie bands haven't.

When Sly and the Family Stone sang "Stand!" on their 1969 classic LP, it was a command to get up, fight for your rights and dance. In this episode, we deep-dive into what we can learn from Sly Stone's wholly unique blend of funk, soul, rock and late-sixties socially conscious psychedelia.

We're joined by special guest Mike Joseph (Billboard Magazine's 2020 Pride List of Industry Shaping LGBTQ Executives, Detoxicity Podcast ) to talk about Public Enemy's explosive 1990 LP "Fear of a Black Planet," a battle-cry of a classic hip-hop album that marks a moment in time for the Black Power movement while deftly predicting its future.

The Cars' 1978 self titled debut was a huge hit for the power-pop/new wave outfit, with four charting singles that we still remember fondly today. We're joined by rock historian/WRUW Cleveland DJ Gretchen Unico to discuss what makes The Cars just what we needed.

When Burning Spear released Marcus Garvey in 1975, it took the world of Reggae, Roots and Dread by storm. Join hosts Kyle Gordon and Louie Pearlman as they explore what made this album so important historically and musically, and what it can help us understand about the current moment.

In support of the Black Lives Matter movement, we’ve decided to postpone the airing of our episode this week in order to use our space on the internet to amplify black voices and causes. We’ll be back next week but in the meantime, here are some ways you can support: Donate to Campaign Zero at https://www.joincampaignzero.org/ Look up your local bail fund and contribute at the National Bail Fund Network, which can be found at https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/ Join a Black Lives Matter protest currently happening in your area: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ Thanks, and we'll see you next week.

Kyle 'N Louie deep-dive into what might be their most contentious album yet: 1979's "Get the Knack." What are the Knack? Great, tight Power Pop? Puerile and sexist? A little bit of column A and a little bit of B? Take a listen to find out!

If you need a dreamlike, beautiful, genre-defying escape of a record while staying home, do we have an album for you: John Martyn's 1977 release One World. In this episode, Kyle and Louie take you though the genius guitarist's processes and his collaborations with producer Chris Blackwell and keyboardist Steve Winwood that make this release one of Island Records' most unique of the late seventies.

The world's a mess and Kick the Jukebox is back! Kyle 'n Louie tell the story of why X's 1980 album "Los Angeles" is a celebrated gem of a west coast LA punk album, and one of Louie's personal faves. Also, Kyle turns around on The Cars, and Louie chats about why we need Little Richard more than ever.

Kyle and Louie get into that age old question, what is Emo, and are Death Cab Emo, or Indie, or what??? The debate rages on, but what is clear is how beautiful and smart the songwriting is on this 2003 indie-rock classic. Transatlanticism is one of Kyle's faves so get ready for a lot of heartfelt praise and wistful sighs on this latest KTJB.

It's easy to forget that Cyndi Lauper's chart-topping success in the early Eighties was definitely not a given. In this episode of Kick the Jukebox, Kyle and Louie look into how the team behind her solo debut, 1983's "She's So Unusual," polished some unknown songs by lesser-known artists and gave them that much needed Cyndi Lauper charm. The result is a timeless album that's a blast to revisit today: a pop-celebration of outsiders and weirdos everywhere.

Let the wave of mutilation wash over you as we deep-dive into The Pixies' 1989 LP Doolittle! This album paved the way for Alternative Music as we know it today, and Kyle 'N Louie have an engaging discussion about the power of being a band's band, and how sometimes being slow-burn successful is so much better than just flaming out.