Completely Conspicuous 677: Time for a Slacker Revolution
Completely Conspicuous
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about the best music of 2026 so far. Show notes: AI music is apparently a thing on streaming services Saxophone Colossus, mfer (RIP) Blue dot syndrome: Tours getting canceled because of poor ticket sales Who woulda thunk Kiefer Sutherland couldn't sell out concerts? Many artists are trying to fill venues that are too big We're going to a lot of concerts Why is beer so expensive at music venues? What is a walking class? The Osbourne family has licensed an Ozzy hologram for use in ads ABBA does a hologram show of them in their prime Maybe older...
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Completely Conspicuous 676: Out There
Completely Conspicuous
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos. Show notes: Continuing our top 10 Phil's #9: Trey Anastasio of Phish stretches out No studio version of the song Jay's #9: The concise awesomeness of Alex Lifeson A virtuoso in a band of virtuosos Phil's #8: Back to the jam with RIck Mitarotonda of Goose Another band that saves their best for the live setting Jay's #8: Another Matthew Sweet song, this time featuring Richard Lloyd on lead guitar Features a fake ending with even more soloing Phil's #7: Square dancing in gym class led Phil to this Beatles...
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Completely Conspicuous 675: Solo Flights
Completely Conspicuous
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos. Show notes: Occasional chiming in from CC intern Lily Rolling Stone recently released a top 100 solos list Phil likes the long jammy solos Solos can go along with a riff or go off on crazy tangents Steely Dan used many guitarists Jay used to be into '80s speed guitar Vinnie Vincent went way over the top Charlie Sexton was a guitar prodigy who went on to play in Dylan's band The greatness of early Dire Straits Tough to narrow down our lists Appreciating Billy Idol Eagles bad, Joe Walsh good Terry Kath...
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Completely Conspicuous 674: You Can Leave Your Hat On
Completely Conspicuous
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we celebrate the return of the MLB season by counting down our favorite baseball hats. Show notes: On to our top 10 Phil's #10: Reaching back to the '50s with the Phillies Jay's #10: Mid-90s Mariners Good use of seafoam green '90s uniforms had a lot of bold colors: Teal, purple Phil's #9: The simplicity of the SF Giants hat Hat designs got pretty weird over the years Corduroy hats were a thing for a while Jay's #9: Classic A's green and yellow look Phil's #8: Dodgers' classic blue and white is another look that hasn't changed...
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Completely Conspicuous 673: A Tip of the Cap
Completely Conspicuous
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we celebrate the return of the MLB season by discussing our favorite baseball hats. Show notes: We've both purchased many hats over the years Back in the '70s and '80s, you didn't have a lot of viewing choices for baseball games Baseball cards were a big factor in figuring out the hats and logos you liked Hats can fade, especially the dark blue ones When you just can't wear a Yankees hat Now there are so many alternate jerseys, hats, logos You can get hats in different colors and styles Old guys like us don't like flat-bill caps Other...
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Completely Conspicuous 672: Amazing Disgrace
Completely Conspicuous
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite underrated albums. Show notes: Jay's #6: The Spinanes with a decidedly not-grunge album on Sub Pop Female singer-songwriter teamed with kickass drummer Phil's #5: Power pop that never hit big from Boston's Gigolo Aunts Got a song on the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack Jay's #5: Another power pop gem from the Velvet Crush Saw them play in Austin in '94 Phil's #4: B-52s avoid the sophomore slump and getting labeled as a novelty act Didn't hit as hard as the debut, but strong nonetheless Jay's #4: Late '80s/early '90s...
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Completely Conspicuous 671: Welcome to the Boomtown
Completely Conspicuous
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite underrated albums. Show notes: First episode of the year! Recorded right after the gold medal men's hockey game What is underrated? A well-known artist's less popular release or lesser-known artists Phil: Neil Young has a few underrated albums among his vast catalog Other Phil honorable mentions: Big Star, Bob Mould, Best Coast, Kaiser Chiefs, Bettie Serveert, Built to Spill, Keith Richards, N. Mississippi All-Stars, Ben Folds Five, Until the End of the World soundtrack, Til Tuesday, Neko Case, Passengers, Big...
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Completely Conspicuous 670: Stacking the Deck
Completely Conspicuous
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025. Show notes: Counting down the rest of our favorite albums of the year Kumar's #8: Indie rock godfather Bob Mould is still pissed off and rocking Mould has also reunited his '90s band Sugar Kumar's #7: Triumphant return for Mclusky Falco and crew having fun ripping on various targets Breitling's #6: Superchunk keeps going with new drummer If you thought they were angry in 2018... Chock full of "banglociraptors" Kumar's #6: Straight outta Asheville with Wednesday's killer combo of alt-country, shoegaze and...
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Completely Conspicuous 669: Fight the Good Fight
Completely Conspicuous
Part 1 of my conversation with guest Jay Breitling about our favorite music of 2025. Show notes: The 17th annual year in music review AI-generated music is lame Especially fake music that purports to be by real artists Spotify is a juggernaut that still sucks Checking out other services (Qobuz, Amazon) You don't get to own downloads via streaming services The kids love the K-pop Only a handful of artists make any money these days Oh yay, LIve Nation is going to get richer Ticketmaster is now a ticket reseller as well We're still seeing the live rock Breitling: Thumbs up for the Aimee...
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Completely Conspicuous 668: Hate to Say I Told You So
Completely Conspicuous
Part 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we pick our favorite songs released in the 21st century. Show notes: Phil's #6: Frenetic assault from Parquet Courts Definite late '70s post-punk influences Jay's #6: A bold move into electronic sounds by Radiohead Phil still doesn't get Radiohead Phil's #5: Slacker guitar hero vibes from Kurt Vile Stream-of-consciousness lyrical approach Jay's #5: Garage rock anthem that introduced the Hives to the world Punchy and super catchy, it took two years to hit in the U.S. The battle for car music supremacy Phil's #4: New Orleans vibe from...
info_outlinePart 2 of my conversation with guest Phil Stacey as we discuss our favorite guitar solos.
Show notes:
- Continuing our top 10
- Phil's #9: Trey Anastasio of Phish stretches out
- No studio version of the song
- Jay's #9: The concise awesomeness of Alex Lifeson
- A virtuoso in a band of virtuosos
- Phil's #8: Back to the jam with RIck Mitarotonda of Goose
- Another band that saves their best for the live setting
- Jay's #8: Another Matthew Sweet song, this time featuring Richard Lloyd on lead guitar
- Features a fake ending with even more soloing
- Phil's #7: Square dancing in gym class led Phil to this Beatles song
- George Harrison with a beautiful, heartfeld solo
- Great video, too
- Jay's #7: A ripping solo from J. Mascis from '93
- Video wasn't directed by Matt Dillon; he did the "Get Me" video
- Mascis has recorded a ton of great solos over the years
- Phil's #6: Eddie VH's magnum opus
- The instrumental that changed the face of hard rock
- Wasn't meant to be recorded at first
- Jay's #6: Less overplayed solo from Jimmy Page
- A lesser-known album from Zeppelin
- Phil's #5: Mick Taylor shines for the Stones
- The band started jamming at the end of the song and they kept recording
- Jay's #5: Robert Fripp with a ripper of a solo for Brian Eno
- Eno's first solo album after Roxy Music
- Phil's #4: The Allman Brothers' tribute to Django Reinhardt
- Three different solos
- Jay's #4: More Richard Lloyd along with Tom Verlaine on a 10-minute art-rock classic
- Kind of jam band adjacent
- Phil's #3: Neil Young with an epic love song
- Recording starts in the middle of a jam
- Jay's #3: Monster instrumental featuring Eddie Hazel's psychedelic playing
- Mike Watt does a cover with J. Mascis handling the guitar
- The interesting career of Prakash John
- Phil's #2 and Jay's #1: Hendrix blows minds with acid blues rock
- SRV does an incredible cover
- Jay's #2: Nasty riff and solo from Eddie VH
- One of Van Halen's darker songs
- Phil's #1: A Grateful Dead classic that highlights Jerry Garcia
- Cover of a Bonnie Dobson folk song
- Builds to a roaring crescendo
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The opening and closing theme of Completely Conspicuous is "Theme to Big F'in Pants" by Jay Breitling. Voiceover work is courtesy of James Gralian.