Episodes

Now that we’ve fully recovered from our black metal expedition, we felt it was time to get heavy again. This week we’re talking about Pig Destoyer’s third album ‘Terrifyer’, and we give a little background on the furious, caustic genre they’re a part of called grindcore.

Is this the first emo album we’ve done? Is this even an emo album? You could argue that Manchester Orchestra shed that particular skin on their third album Simple Math. Mark makes a case for it whilst the other two offer their take, and Weaver crowdsources some of his opinion. Which is nice.

Santigold’s debut album is a bit of a crowd pleaser, with its indie-credibility and immaculately crafted pop songs, it’s an effervescent, genre bending explosion of a record. But is it perhaps too well crafted? We get into this and more as we talk about her career, music and everything in between.

Over the course of his career Martyn Bennett took traditional Scottish music in a bunch of interesting directions. ‘Grit ‘ would prove to be his fifth and final record, and it’s a fascinating conclusion to a weird and wonderful career. His legacy is still felt across the Scottish music scene to this day, but is this album the one that should make into our discography?

The third (or fifth depending on who you ask) album by A Wilhelm Scream still stands as the high watermark in a career which has seen them eschew the skate punk trappings of their early days and forge a new path in a genre loosely described by some as “tech punk”. Is this relentless, technical aural onslaught their best album? You decide.

This week we’re taking a different approach as we discuss Spotify, big data, AI and algorithms and we ponder over what the future of music looks like when computers start composing the tunes for us. Joined by friend of the pod Dr. Jason Costello.

Another trip to Scandinavia this week, but what shakes out is a much more effervescent affair than last time as we take on Goat’s debut album ‘World Music’. It’s a psychedelic explosion of a record, one that melds Afrobeat and psyche rock in a wonderful way.

After bathing in the murky waters of black metal, we felt it was apt to change direction entirely and focus on a hip hop album this week. Along the way we discuss some of the language used by hip hop artists, how this album stands apart from a lot of other hip hop, and much more.

We’ve given you the history, now we’re giving you our pick of the music. We swing from OG trve kvlt Norwegian Black Metal to third wave hipster fare here, and we touch in a few other artists along the way. Which of our picks is the best? Only you can decide.

Some of you have been asking for this for a while, and poor David has been chomping at the bit to do it since day one, so here it is: part one of our black metal mixtape. We talk about the history, the ideology, the murder, the politics and the music. Strap in - this is a biggie.

It’s episode 60, so it’s time for an entirely new feature: a head to head! Chris and Weaver couldn’t decide which …And They Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is better: 'Madonna’ or ‘Source Tags & Codes’. Which is best? You decide, obviously!

Last week we discussed Tori Amos’ career. This week Chris makes as to why her fourth album, ‘From the Choirgirl Hotel’ is her Unsung classic. We mostly agree on that, but there’s a lot of debate either way. Do you agree? Let us know!

We always knew trying to cover Tori Amos’ extensive, and extensively interesting, back catalogue was going to be tough, but we didn’t expect things to escalate to the point where we needed to split an episode in half. Yet here we are. We hope you enjoy this career retrospective.

It turns out that *shels are not only one of the most obscure bands we’ve covered, but also the first post-metal band we’ve reviewed on this here podcast. Weaver brings their debut in for consideration and we go on a whirlwind tour of the early 00s British post-hardcore scene that spawned them, and do a brief history of the genre.

We’re back to full power this week and we break a promise in the process by letting Mark pick the album instead of Weaver. However one of the most miraculous things happens: the bois agree on a punk album. It’s unheard of, frankly.

We’re a man down this week, and without David’s influence we cover all the topics you love: race, religion, abortion, consent, Veganism, sex, money, drugs and alcohol . Oh, and we talk about D’Angelo’s third album ‘Black Messiah’ too.

Happy new years Unsungers! It’s part two of our Xmas Xtravaganza and it’s 50% drunker than part one, if you can believe it. It’s also a surprisingly upbeat affair as we talk (mostly) about things we love, from records we wish we could put in to the discography but can’t, all the way to our favourite Dave Grohl Nexus so far. Enjoy!

In part one of our two part Christmas special, we feel it’s time for a little Unsung Christmas cheer as we take some questions from the fans and reflect on the past 52 weeks of the podcast. We also get a little drunk and a little lairy.