President of the Cryptic Corporation and long time manager of The Residents Homer Flynn joins us once again to discuss one of my all time favorite Resident’s albums: Goosebump. Released in 1980 as a B-side to the “Diskomo” single, the Resident’s Historical site describes Goosebump thusly: “The Residents had long planned to produce a children’s … More S2E19 Goosebump
“The odds against Christmas being Christmas are 365 to 1.” Often times when people think of Star Wars and the holiday season, they think of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. But that wasn’t Lucasfilm’s only foray into yuletide cheer. In 1980, RSO Records released a charming album titled Christmas in the Stars: Star Wars … More S2E18 Christmas In the Stars
We’ve covered a fair number of Massachusetts based bands on our podcast, and this episode is no different. Although from New Jersey, our artist of the week self published her album while attending Northeastern University in Boston. Sidney Gish is an American singer-songwriter. Her first album, Ed Buys Houses, was self-released on Bandcamp in 2016. Her second album, No Dogs Allowed, was … More S2E17 No Dogs Allowed
This week we get wicked local and listen to a hometown band. A Loss For Words hales from Abington, MA. First formed in 1999 by Matty Arsenault and Danny Poulin. It took a while for the line up to solidify, and they released a number of tracks and EPs over the next few years. In … More S2E16 The Kids Can’t Lose
For our latest episode, we take a listen to one of my all time favorite musicians, the one and only Jim White. Jim’s a bit of an enigma. Categorized as Americana or alt country, Jim has a unique sound that defies an easy label. Once a professional model, for a time a New York City … More S2E15 Wrong-Eyed Jesus (The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted)
Called “The Beatles of Comedy” by The Library of Congress, the four-man Firesign Theatre wrote and performed together for over forty years, but their early studio work (1968-1975) for Columbia Records remains their best known and most influential. Innumerable phrases from their albums have entered the English lexicon: What’s all this brouhaha? More Sugar! What you … More S2E14 Dope Humor of the Seventies (w/ David Ossman)
And now for something truly esoteric. Musique pour Supermarché (English title: Music for Supermarkets) is the sixth studio album by electronic musician and composer Jean-Michel Jarre. Only a single copy was pressed and distributed, and its master plates were deliberately destroyed. In 1983, Jean-Michel Jarre was asked to compose the background music for the supermarket-themed art exhibition Orrimbe show. Jarre agreed, recording Musique pour Supermarché (English: Music for … More S2E13 Musique pour Supermarché
We’re back with another album from LA based Dead Poet Society, and this time vocalist/guitarist Jack Underkofler joins us for the discussion! Release in July of 2015, Axiom is their first EP. Jack joins us to discuss the formation of the band and we break down all the tracks from Axiom. DPS was recently signed … More S2E12 Axiom (w/ Jack Underkofler)
“Everybody’s wonderin’ what and where they all came from” This week’s episode once again finds us exploring the Americana genre, this time with our first look at a female artist. Iris DeMent is a two time Grammy nominee signer-songwriter. Her musical stylings incorporate elements of folk, country and gospel. “Iris DeMent makes music that celebrates … More S2E11 Infamous Angel
Uncle Sinner is Winnipeg-based multi-instrumentalist and singer Michael Bodner, who adapts traditional American music to suit his purposes. The sound has variously been called gothic Americana, death country, dark folk blues or some combination thereof. The music embraces the overlap between country and blues, sacred and secular. Uncle Sinner’s music has spread largely by word of mouth, with … More S2E10 Trouble of This World ( w/ Michael Bodner)
For our latest episode, we revisit musician Frank Iero. This time around, we take a listen to his 2016 album Parachutes. On this album he is backed by The Patience. Iero is an American musician who is the rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist for My Chemical Romance and post hardcore band Leathermouth. He has released … More S2E9 Parachutes
For this episode, we take a listen to Dead Poet Society‘s 2016 EP Dempsey. Dead Poet Society (DPS) is an edgy groove rock band based out of Boston, MA. The band’s four members (Jack Underkofler, Jack Collins, Nick Taylor, Will Goodroad) met and formed DPS while attending the Berklee College of Music and Wentworth Institute of … More S2E8 Dempsey
“You are a bold and courageous person. Afraid of nothing.” With these words we begin our journey into the chilling, thrilling world of the haunted house! First released in 1964, Disneyland Records (now known as Walt Disney Records) album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House offered up “stories in sound” meant to scare and … More S2E7 Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House
“When the storm clouds gather ’round you And heavy rains descend Just remember that death is not the end” The month of October is upon us, and we get in to the spirit of the season with an album of dark, dreadful musings. In 1996, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released their ninth studio … More S2E6 Murder Ballads
“The Information-Action Ratio is the place to go.” Alternatively described as lounge pop, glam pop and sometimes space pop, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is the sixth studio album from English band The Arctic Monkeys. The band hails from Sheffield, and singer Alex Turner’s distinct accent is a hallmark of the band. Tranquility Base marked … More S2E5 Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
If you’ve been listening to Esoterica the Podcast, you’re used to Aaron and I giving our thoughts on each track of the albums we discuss. For this episode, we had the unique pleasure of having the artist join us for those conversations. Garage rocker Stephen Clair hails from Beacon, NY. Stephen joins us to talk … More S2E4 The Small Hours (w/ Stephen Clair)
We continue our album reviews with Frank Iero and the Future Violents’ album Barriers. Frank Iero first rose to fame as the rhythm guitarist for My Chemical Romance. In 2014, Iero released his first solo album. Since then, he has released several albums under an ever changing band moniker: frnkiero and the cellabration, Frank Iero … More S2E3 Barriers
Let there be no hesitationGet a rope and make it quickEach last breath come from his mouthI will beat it out with a stick We start off our second season discussing the mesmerizing sounds of 16 Horsepower’s 1996 debut, Sackcloth & Ashes. Formed in Los Angeles in 1992, 16 Horsepower was a band that defied … More S2E2 Sackcloth & Ashes
I use multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods. What’s your hobby? Welcome to Season Two of Esoterica the Podcast! We’re pretty excited about all of our new content. So, let’s dive on in! For our first episode, we discuss one of our favorite pastimes, geocaching! If you’re not familiar with the sport, … More S2E1 Geocaching!
