Whether you see Born In The U.S.A. as Springsteen’s most significant achievement as an artist or just a strange, 80’s sounding outlier in an otherwise muscular catalog, it remains to this day one of the most potent statements about the down-and-out in America ever made.

Despite its rock ‘n’ roll sheen, misunderstood rallying cries, and anthems to nostalgia, Born In The U.S.A. was a hopelessly bleak look at what it meant to be an American in the wake of the Vietnam War that, thirty-five years later, still resonates across generations, class, and race. A monument to the ‘everyman,’ it marked the end of an era for Springsteen that, despite its darkness, finally launched him into the pop stratosphere that he and the E Street Band had been chasing for more than a decade.

On an all-new Discologist, we’re dissecting this classic to get to the heart of its persistent relevance today, how it shapes the long-view of Springsteen’s career and a particularly “moist” song that also happens to be particularly great.

Is Dedication, Carly Rae Jepsen’s follow up to her critically lauded 2015 LP E•MO•TION the realization of the pristine pop future that we were all promised or is it something…else. We’re digging in to one of 2019’s most anticipated releases to find the answers to this question and many more on an all new and {{{extremely}}} danceable episode of Discologist!

Thirty years ago Robert Smith and The Cure taught an entire generation how to experience the beauty of misery, and in the process made the best albums of their career. On the latest episode of Discologist, special guests Casey Rae and Wes Covey join us to talk about teenage feelings, commiseration through sound, and growing older with one of the biggest, most beautiful downers in music history.

On their new album Destroyer, Stephen McBean tempered their already ferocious sound in the forge of Valhalla and crafted one of the most thrilling releases of the year. Moog synth blasts, lakes of fire, and riffage for days make this rock-n’-roll fantasy essential listening for headbangers everywhere whether you’ve got a sweet 8-Track player in your van or not!

PLUS! Motorcade is unleashing ‘Oblivion’ upon the world and we’ve got one of your first listens to this killer new single!

On her new album Legacy! Legacy! Jamila Woods is channeling the voices of the artists and activists that have shaped her life and in the process claiming her place alongside them. A powerful meditation on the importance of self-love and the power each of us has to change the world, Legacy! Legacy! isn’t just one of the best albums of 2019, it is a cultural milepost that will continue to enrich and inspire for years to come.    

Roadkill Ghost Choir was a band.

Roadkill Ghost Choir are our friends

This is the story of how band is born, lived, and died.

RIP Roadkill Ghost Choir.

LONG LIVE ROADKILL GHOST CHOIR

On his latest album, I Love You. It’s a Fever Dream., Kristian Matsson aka The Tallest Man On Earth is, in part, following in the grand tradition of “life on the road” albums. The road is fucking hard. The road is fucking TOUGH man…but does the world in 2019 need any more sad songs? Special guest Wes Covey joins us to discuss sad songs and much more on an all-new Discologist.

Hailing from the savage frozen North – otherwise known as Arvika Sweden – Enforcer are bringing the thundering sounds from the darkness of yore – otherwise known as mid to late 80’s metal – back on their new LP Zenith. Prepare your soul for the end of the universe and join us in these final hours as we journey through this timeless scream from the darkness. Don’t forget to tip your dark overlord before you exit this plane of existence. Hail Satan!

On an all-new Discologist, two newbs take on the new release from one of the most prolific bands of the past 10 years. After releasing FIVE full-lengths in 2017, Australian psych-kings King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard slowed down the pace and discovered the power of boogie for their first album in a year, Fishing For Fishies. Jam-packed with technicolor freakouts and enough groove to satisfy old and new fans alike, Fishies is the sound of a band ready to take on the mainstream, one face-melting trip at a time.

On her third album and major label debut, Cuz I Love You, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and liver of her best life Melissa Viviane Jefferson aka LIZZO is doubling down on the Prince vibes and in the process may be making the world a better place for us all. On this episode of Discologist special guest Philip Basnight joins us to discuss what makes a perfect pop album, the power of positivity, and why it’s Lizzo’s world now, we’re just lucky to be living in it.

Over the course of his over 30-plus year career, Bruce Hornsby has been a pop star, avant-garde provocateur and jazz titan, folk hero, member of the Grateful Dead and more.

On his new album Absolute Zero, Hornsby is tapping into all of these facets of his talent and more and the result is a complex, dense, and immensely satisfying collection of songs that speak to the state of our world, and where we are going to go from here. Joining us to talk about Absolute Zero is Brokedown Pod host and Bruce Hornsby enthusiast Jonathan Hart. So kick back and open up your mind as we press play on a brand new episode of Discologist.

On the latest episode of Discologist, we’re talking about Damien Jurado’s latest album “In The Shape Of A Storm,” a simultaneously heartbreaking and uplifting collection of songs that get to the very heart of what makes Jurado one of the greatest songwriters of the modern age.

21 years ago and four albums into their career, Richmond, Virginia Hardcore legends Avail released what many consider to be their masterpiece, Over The James. The album was a love letter to the band’s hometown, and more importantly set the bar for an entire generation of musicians to follow. On this episode of Discologist, we’re discussing Avail’s legacy, their eye for a great cover, and more. So tune in and turn it up as we celebrate 21 years of Avail’s Over The James !   

On this episode of Discologist, we’re celebrating 25 years of Pink Floyd’s swan song, The Division Bell. No matter what side of the Gilmour/Waters divide you find yourself on, The Division Bell’s return to form for the band has…ahem…divided fans of the band for decades. So we’re here to set the record straight on why this album stands alongside some of the bands’ best work, no matter who was at the helm.

On their second full length, Natural Facts, New Jersey’s Garcia Peoples are doubling down on everything that made 2018’s Cosmic Cash such a blast. Double the fuzz. Double the vibes. And, most importantly, double the fun, Natural Facts is the sound of a band cashing the advance on their future as rock and roll legends.

PLUS! Phil Cook released a surprise collection of unreleased/out-of-print sonic vignettes that gets not just to the heart of the music he has made, but the roots and inspiration behind it. As Far As I Can See: Instrumental Recordings 2009-2019 is a record you need in your life, and we’re spinning a track off of it to make sure you know why.

Washington, D.C’s Ex Hex are back, and on their sophomore release It’s Real (Merge Records) they’re unapologetically kicking out the mother f$%$ing jams, taking no prisoners, and still leaving room for some serious emotional heft just for good measure.

PLUS! Synth-rock band Loi Loi (also from Washington, D.C.) has a new album entitled Me Dystopia (Blight Records), and we’re spinning its latest single ”Do You Want To Start A War” that will have your ass moving for days, and then some.   

2009’s Crack The Skye was a high water mark for Atlanta metal quartet Mastodon. By doubling down on the sci-fi nerdery and adding in an extra dose of tragedy and pathos, the band crafted a masterpiece that secured their place at the top of the American metal scene.

Tune in as we’re joined by special guest Brian Gruner to discuss the album’s legacy, how Mastodon has evolved from this defining point in their history, and how contrary to what you may think metal can be some of the most healing and human music out there.

On her new LP Quiet Signs, Jessica Pratt continues to perfect her chilly yet hopeful update of English folk music, and her efforts – this was Pratt’s first album recorded in a proper studio – more than pay off. Quiet, contemplative, chilly, yet supremely comforting, Quiet Signs is Pratt at her very best.

On a new episode of Discologist, we’re discussing this unique artists latest, the future of folk in the modern era, much more.

The end is nigh, and The Comet Is Coming’s latest effort, Trust in the Lifeforce of The Deep Mystery, may be the perfect soundtrack for the end of the world. Since 2015 this jazz/dance/sci-fi trio featuring saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings (“King Shabaka”) on saxophone, Dan Leavers (“Danalogue”) on keys, and Max Hallett (“Betamax”) on drums has mounted a sonic assault on the apocalypse and the forces of evil, and Lifeforce is their strongest salvo in the war of darkness versus light yet.

Special guest Wes Covey joins us to as we explore a new universe of sound and experience from a band whose inevitable ascension to legend is just getting started. It’s the end of the world as we know it and there’s nowhere to run because The Comet is Coming for us all.

Twenty years ago, riding high off of the dual successes of their second album Being There and Billy Bragg collaboration Mermaid Ave, Wilco was still 2 years away from becoming one of the most revered band’s of their generation. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot would propel Jeff Tweedy and crew into the stratosphere, but it was on 1999’s Summerteeth that they truly found their voice. Experimental, lush, and heartbreaking to its core, Summerteeth is a record that captured the soul of Wilco like nothing they have created before or since. 

Tune in as guests Casey Rae and Eduardo Nunes join us in celebrating twenty years of the album that changed Wilco, and arguably modern music, forever.