We've got the silky smooth Swingin' Sixties coming your way this week!Dusty Springfield was a staple of the era, with hits in both the US and the UK. A fixture on the charts and on TV, Dusty's pop vocal stylings ran perpendicular with the rock zeitgeist. But she had a finger on the pulse, and could sense the tide turning in the late 60s."Dusty in Springfield" is an album that, by many accounts, was tedious (at best) to make. A laundry list of factors played into the sessions in Memphis and Ne...

Make sure your mouthguard is in, because we're trying to kick some teeth in this week!PJ Harvey had risen to fame rapidly, and that had taken its toll. Having taken some time away to get right, she charged back onto the scene with her second record.With Steve Albini behind the boards, Rid of Me packs all of the punch of peak 90s rock, with the added bonus of having PJ Harvey's songwriting to go along with it. PJ Harvey has a catalogue that is the envy of the vast majority of musicians, a...

Get prepped to jump, jive, and wail from start to finish, the EarWax crew is covering The Wildest, Louis Prima!With Keely Smith, Sam Butera, and the Witnesses alongside him, Louis Prima set Las Vegas on fire, five sets a night between 12 AM - 6 AM. The template that Vegas lounge acts would follow, Prima and his crew were going to give you a pro's show every time they hit the stage.This album is the closest they came to recapturing that energy in the studio. Proto-rock and roll, hot jazz, jump...

How many power chords do you have? Because this week we've got plenty to spare!Thin Lizzy had been more or less given one final shot to break big. Despite big creative differences, perhaps a little too much "hydration," and maybe not enough discipline early on, the crew behind Jailbreak all recognized the stakes.Packed with rock radio staples and incredible deep cuts, Jailbreak secured Thin Lizzy's future on the recording front. Driven by Phil Lynott's vision and supported by exquisite drummi...

Hunker down, because we've got a record full of absolute bangers this week.Part electronic, part disco, part hard rock and all teeth, this duo found their footing with a series of remixes, before heading into the basement of an old club and chapel to record what would be their first studio album.Justice's debut album † (Cross) brings the heat. With over 400 albums sampled (and micro-sampled), the influences are as present as the originality. Are you going to be able to catch all 400? Not a ch...

Come on now, you know we got geared up for this one. One of the heaviest hitters in the world music conversation, Buena Vista Social Club's self-titled debut is this week's focus on EarWax!Let's head to Cuba (by way of Mexico, if you're Ry Cooder), find some legendary Cuban musicians, get them in the studio and see what magic unfolds. After their initial idea broke down, this is how Nick Gold and Ry Cooder pivoted, and man did it work out.These are songs that have been around Cuba for decades...

We love our shiny, glossy pop albums here on EarWax, and this week we've got one that is among the shiniest and poppiest - Carly Rae Jepsen's "E•MO•TION."After rocketing to the top of the charts with the monster single "Call Me Maybe," Carly Rae Jepsen needed to take some time to figure out where she fit in the pop landscape, and more importantly, how to fit in a way that was comfortable for her.The time "away" included a stint on Broadway, a scrapped album, and taking control of her creative...

We are heading into familiar territory this week as EarWax revisits the Newport Jazz Festival! Cody and Hilary pick up four years after we last left Newport to tell the tale behind Muddy Waters' incredible live album "At Newport 1960." This record is an absolutely scorching set of blues set against a weekend that was marred by capacity limits, Bermuda shorts-wearing hoodlums, riots, and a Mingus-led rival festival. With tracks written by giants like Willie Dixon and Langston Hughes, "At...

Looking for a breezy jam to cruise into the summer season? Nah, we're hitting you with beats, bars, and Vince Staples' debut album. Cody and Hilary talk about our responsibilities as fans, how to respectfully engage with weighty material, and how in the pocket Vince Staples is throughout this whole record. Weaving together a tapestry of matter-of-fact stories with a seamless display of flows, Summertime '06 tells us about a loss of innocence. The ability to deliver such a weighty message in...

Are you having a wonderful day? Full of joy perhaps? Just really, fully, live/laugh/loving life? Welp, good luck! Hilary and Cody careen through Nine Inch Nails' magnum opus, "The Downward Spiral." Trent Reznor was fully in his bag on this one, and it pushed him into places that would take a good long while to rebound from. What does it say about us that a record of such pain and darkness not only found a foothold but is commonly referenced as one of - if not the most important - record of...

Worlds and genres collide as the EarWax crew welcome our first guest onto the show! Post-hardcore meets indie rock as Jeremy Bolm (Touché Amoré, The First Ever Podcast) joins Cody and Hilary to dive into Rilo Kiley's indie masterpiece "The Exection of All Things." This album is where LA meets Omaha, where success meets sustainability, and where Rilo Kiley cemented themselves as the indie legends that they are. Remarkably vulnerable, anthemic, and catchy, "The Execution of All Things" will...

Tease your beehive hairdo waaaaaaay up, and put on your most gorgeous flowing dress, the GOAT girl group makes their EarWax debut! Our first 60s record is Motown perfection, although the Supremes' rise to the top was anything but perfect. Ultimately, they became standard bearers for both the label and the genre, and the hits from this record are absolute staples of the revolutionary culture of the 1960s. Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard, and Diana Ross took the songwriting of...

Let's dismantle systemic oppression with post-riot grrrl! Hilary and Cody dance and groove to the infectious, crackling first album by Le Tigre. Fronted by the legendary Kathleen Hanna, Le Tigre is a response to the implosion of a movement she championed. Le Tigre talks about all of the stuff you're gonna hear in the riot grrrl scene, but it candy-coats them and makes them accessible for those not deeply affiliated. With endless energy and topics that range from Rudy Giuliani being a jerk...

Okay...so you need a 32nd episode. Well, let us impress upon you how much we loved covering Shania Twain's ridiculously influential album "Come On Over." Cody and Hilary weave through the career path of the Queen of Country Pop, and all of the struggles and successes that culminated in the making of this album. You want catchy? Got it. Songs built for live performance? Boom, got it. How about commercial numbers?  Psh, got it 20x platinum. A record rich in pop hooks, stadium rock, and...

What better way to usher in the Leap Year than to cover an artist who is arguably even more unique?  Alice Coltrane is one of the most dynamic names in jazz history. Cody and Hilary explore her journey to this record, and Ptah's journey from ancient Egypt to 1970. This lineup is absolutely stacked with jazz legends, and they are all locked in and taking their cue from the person at the helm - Alice freakin' Coltrane. Spiritual, ethereal, inquisitive, and intentional, Ptah the El Daoud is a...

Everyone get real serious...now throw that all away and gear up for a total vibe of an album - Flying Lotus' "Until The Quiet Comes." Cody and Hilary talk about floating bathtubs, lucid dreaming, and Adult Swim. All of these are integral to Flying Lotus, a true master whose talents are on full display on this record. A seamless blend of jazz, hip-hop, psych, and electro, "Until the Quiet Comes" knows exactly when to punch it up, and when to pull it back. This is an album that flirts with...

Light some candles, turn off the lights, and slip into something a bit more...comfortable. We've got a whole vibe this week. Hilary and Cody break down the funk, the grooves, the voice, and the poetry that is D'Angelo and his second album - Voodoo. Chock full of absolute stars, this album's personnel is a who's who of 90s soul, with D'Angelo at the helm. A bit of Sly, a bit of Hendrix, a bit of Dilla, and a whole lotta bits of Prince, Voodoo did exactly what it set out to do. D'Angelo was...

Make sure you're properly stretched, because this episode is full of backflips, stage dives, and a raucous dose of hardcore royalty. Cody and Hilary explore the dichotomy that is Bad Brains. They are immensely talented musicians who helped shape a genre that relishes in its simplicity. They are furious bursts of faster-than-life music, followed by a groovy reggae jam. They are punks. They are Rasta. This album is the best representation of Bad Brains in their element - raw, nearly unhinged,...

Grace - a name, an attribute, a vibe, and an attitude. And this week we are covering an artist and album that is all of these and so, so much more. Hilary and Cody put on their sharpest shoulder pads and strike their most stunning poses as they talk about Grace Jones' "Nightclubbing." Full of ambitiously reworked covers and autobiographical originals, this record is a dichotomy of new wave melodies and reggae-backed grooves. With Sly and Robbie and the Compass Point All-Stars laying the...

We're pulling out all the big guns at once for this one. You want legends? Psh, how about five of them? No big deal. Here's a few names you might have heard: Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and George freakin' Harrison. Cody and Hilary chat about this most super of the supergroups; from the storybook way they came together to the brilliance of their songwriting. But mainly, they talk about how much they love Roy Orbison. Because who doesn't?! With a musical pedigree that...

We found 1994 so cozy last week that we're staying right there for our twenty-fifth episode! How about a trip down to Texas to visit an absolute icon - Selena! Amor Prohibido is a flashpoint for Tejano music, and a huge influence on Latin music's injection into the pop consciousness. Hilary and Cody talk about the value of "crossing over" onto the pop charts, as well as Selena's ability to weave her vocals throughout the mesh of styles found on this album. A feast of sounds, songwriting,...

Put on your comfiest baggy pants and unopened-condom-as-accessories, we are talking 90s slo-jams this week! Cody and Hilary weave through the history of one of the top girl groups of all time, and the album that simultaneously solidified their place in the R&B lineage and almost put them out of business. TLC is a group whose collective voice shines as bright and grooves as hard today as it did when CrazySexyCool first dropped. Their resounding success lies not exclusively in their legal...

Put on your leather jacket, chaps, hat, vest, and anything else that has studs - EarWax is going metal once again! Hilary and Cody headbang their way through Judas Priest's unbelievably charged record "Stained Class." Acting as the bridge between the godfathers and the new wave of British heavy metal, this album showcases proto-thrash riffs, towering Rob Halford vocals, and kick drums for days. The story of this record extends beyond its undeniable influence on metal. Indeed, the...

We are back and getting crazy with the Cheez Wiz! This week we are taking on the smorgasbord of sounds and genres contained within Beck's "Midnite Vultures." Hilary and Cody jump headfirst into this amalgamation that somehow sounds like the weirdest party album you'll hear. Beck is in full control of the show, and the result is a fascinating look into the mind of a musician feeling themselves. This album wears its influences on its sleeves, relishing in them, and sometimes chuckling at them...

Ho-ho-holy good grief, we have a truly special one this week! Hilary and Cody unwrap the story behind a legendary holiday album - A Charlie Brown Christmas. Ever wonder who those kids are on the recording? They're just kids, of course! Vince Guaraldi and Lee Mendelson understood the necessity for authenticity. This soundtrack has transcended beyond just the music to a classic television special; many would put this as the definitive soundtrack to their holiday season. Full of quiet...