CrossFade: The Dueling Album Review Show

The Roots — “undun” (Give to the Max 2024)

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:00:00 -0000

For this year’s Give to the Max Day, MinnMax supporters raised more than $65,000 for Emerge Mothers Academy, a nonprofit supporting Twin Cities single moms. Along with the great feeling of supporting a worthy cause with their charitable donation, Nikolai (TechBeatNik) also unlocked an episode of CrossFade about “undun,” the 2011 record by Philly R&B/hip-hop group The Roots!

It was a lot of fun coming back to CrossFade for such an interesting album and such a good cause. Remember, you make this happen!

We’d love it if you’d rate and review CrossFade on iTunes, ‘cause it means more people can find the show and love it, too! You can find Matt and Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively and in the #music channel of the MinnMax Discord server.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Give to the Max 2024: The Roots’s “undun”

1:36 - The roots of The Roots

5:50 - The Roots — “undun”

6:34 - "Dun"

8:16 - “Sleep”

10:46 - “Make My”

14:32 - “One Time”

18:54 - “Kool On”

25:32 - “The OtherSide”

29:08 - “Stomp”

30:18 - The storytelling on “undun”

37:08 - “Lighthouse”

39:48 - “I Remember”

42:41 - “Tip the Scale”

48:12 - “Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou)”

49:35 - “Possibility (2nd Movement)”

50:32 - “Will To Power (3rd Movement)”

52:01 - “Finality (4th Movement)”

57:55 - Music Things from 2024 (Matt’s new band, our Spotify Wrapped, bands who disbanded, Jack White’s album, Steve Albini’s death)

Give to the Max 2023: Ne Obliviscaris's "Portal Of I"

Fri, 05 Jan 2024 17:00:00 -0000

Surprise! It’s a special episode of CrossFade, thanks to a generous member of the MinnMax community.

On Give to the Max Day, the MinnMax community raised more than $57,000 to help foster kids in Minneapolis. One of the many appealing donation rewards was an episode of CrossFade where the donor got to choose the album we talked about! Chris Fayter (a.k.a. Crayter) chose “Portal Of I,” the debut album of Australian prog metal band Ne Obliviscaris, which became one of his COVID-era comfort listens.

We’re really jazzed to get back behind the mic to discuss some great, unique music. Thanks to Chris and the MinnMax community for their ongoing generosity!

Go back a few decades to find new music: http://www.mediatraffic.de/tracks.htm

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Give to the Max 2023: Ne Obliviscaris’s “Portal Of I”

3:04 - A message from Crayter, charitable sponsor of this episode

13:40 - Ne Obliviscaris - "Portal Of I"

14:31 - Tapestry of the Starless Abstract

24:16 - Xenoflux

30:08 - Of the Leper Butterflies

37:06 - Forget Not

41:23 - And Plague Flowers the Kaleidoscope

51:23 - As Icicles Fall

54:44 - Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise

1:05:15 - Community questions

1:40:43 - Sampha - “Jonathan L. Seagull” (suggested by MinnMax supporter notweirder)

Ending Season 2 with the Last Community Shuffle for A While, Probably!

Fri, 30 Dec 2022 13:00:00 -0000

CrossFade is taking a break! We haven’t picked a return date yet, but Matt and Jason have ideas about how to make it even better going forward.

We decided to end this season on a high note by bringing back the CrossFade Community Shuffle. It’s an episode where dozens of our Patreon supporters send us their current favorite songs, we shuffle a bunch of them, and we listen to and talk about them live on the show! It’s one of our favorite CrossFade traditions, so we hope you enjoy it.

You can still enjoy all 60-some episodes of CrossFade for free wherever you listen to podcasts. From the bottom of our hearts, we want to express our appreciation for everyone who’s enjoyed the show so far. Thanks for listening, chatting, asking, tweeting, posting, and sharing in the fun of CrossFade! You’re the ones who make it great.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - The Last Community Shuffle for A While, Probably!

6:30 - Niyaz - “Shir Ali Mardan (Song of a Warrior)” suggested by Shazirah

11:27 - Nation of Language - “Sacred Tongue” suggested by Nolan Kelly

15:25 - Puscifer - “Green Valley” suggested by Ian Pierce

19:22 - Taylor Swift - “mirrorball” suggested by Mackenzie Beyer

23:52 - The Killers - “Miss Atomic Bomb” suggested by Ramses Garcia

28:56 - Black Country, New Road - “Chaos Space Marine” suggested by Holden Hintz

33:51 - Frightened Rabbit - “The Modern Leper” suggested by Halea Kasishke

38:00 - Craig Finn - “Messing with the Settings” suggested by Gabriel Cleveland

44:07 - The Knife - “Heartbeats - Live” by podbod

48:25 - Paolo Nutini - “Through The Echoes” suggested by Luca Alberti

51:52 - honeyhoney - “Thin Line” suggested by Matt Rogers

55:47 - Haken - “Invasion” suggested by Sjors van Berkel

1:00:34 - Rahul Sipligunj, Kaala Bhairava - “Naatu Naatu” from RRR suggested by Bob Kinnear

1:08:24 - P.O.S - “Wearing a Bear” suggested by Josh LaBaw

1:11:51 - Yot Club - “u dont kno me” suggested by Bezlo

1:16:05 - MEMBA, EVAN GIIA, Nooran Sisters - “For Aisha” suggested by Geoff Enright

1:20:43 - Algernon Cadwallader - “Pitfall”

Neil Young, “Our Rock Dad” with Tyler Wilcox

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Neil Young’s had quite a career. A hugely influential solo career, his work with CSNY, that thing during The Last Waltz, and now you can’t even hear his music on the biggest music streaming platform on Earth. Wow!

To finally crack the nut on Neil, Matt brought in writer and fellow Neil Young fanatic Tyler Wilcox for an in-depth discussion on two essential Neil records: Citizen Kane Jr. Blues 1974 (Live at The Bottom Line) and Tonight’s the Night. Take a listen to some Real Neil with the biggest Youngheads out there!

Find Tyler at the following links:

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Neil Young, “Our Rock Dad” with Tyler Wilcox

0:10 - Tyler and Neil Young

3:27 - The “expanding Ditch universe” of Neil Young

5:45 - Citizen Kane Jr. Blues 1974 (Live at The Bottom Line)

8:18 - Revolution Blues

13:08 - Pushed It Over the End

19:01 - Long May You Run

24:53 - Ambulance Blues

29:45 - Motion Pictures

38:53 - Tonight’s the Night

44:25 - Speakin’ Out

47:59 - Mellow My Mind

51:06 - Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown

55:38 - Tired Eyes

1:00:33 - Albuquerque

The Impact of Yo! MTV Raps in 13 Songs

Fri, 09 Dec 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Was rap already everywhere by the time you were old enough to choose what you wanted to listen to? If so, then it might be hard to imagine how important a show like Yo! MTV Raps was for the genre and for the music industry as a whole. It only ran for seven years, but in that time, it had an indelible impact on the kinds of music people were exposed to.

In this episode, Matt (who was around for the rise of rap) and Jason (who was not) pore over the show’s lasting impact by listening to some of the music you probably would’ve heard on Yo! MTV Raps back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. It’s quite a trip, spanning everything from classic braggadocio to harrowing tales of gangland paranoia to bit-based schtick and more.

Watch the MTV-produced Yo! MTV Raps documentary Jason references at the beginning of the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyji4m-exjU

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - The Impact of Yo! MTV Raps in 13 Songs

0:52 - Demme, Freddy, and the origin of Yo! MTV Raps

7:39 - Eric B. & Rakim - “Follow The Leader”

12:07 - Boogie Down Productions - “My Philosophy”

19:21 - Sir Mix-A-Lot - “Posse On Broadway”

24:02 - Special Ed - “I Got It Made”

27:26 - EPMD - “You Gots To Chill”

33:02 - The D.O.C. - “It’s Funky Enough”

36:55 - Queen Latifah & Monie Love - “Ladies First”

42:07 - N.W.A. - “Express Yourself”

47:22 - Jungle Brothers - “Beyond This World”

54:15 - Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth - “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)”

1:01:13 - Slick Rick - “Children’s Story”

1:07:12 - Ghetto Boys - “My Mind Playing Tricks On Me”

1:12:51 - 3rd Bass - “The Gas Face”

1:18:28 - Ice Cube - "It Was a Good Day"

11 Songs to Remember Mimi Parker of Low

Fri, 25 Nov 2022 13:00:00 -0000

We’ve talked a lot about the Duluth-based indie rock band Low on this show, because Matt knows them well and Jason’s never heard them. In the wake of co-founder/drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker’s death in early November 2022, we wanted to dedicate an episode to a short retrospective on the group and Mimi’s contributions to it. If you know Low, we hope this is a faithful look back at the group’s impact. If you’re new to the group, we hope you find a lot to love.

Also, Matt put together a Spotify playlist of Low’s music for our discussion, and you can listen along at this link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2XvYeoVFqsiKKcQIcSQO66?si=c23db47cf12349f5

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - 11 Songs to Remember Mimi Parker of Low

1:53 - Discovering Low and remembering Mimi’s work

5:11 - Over The Ocean

12:18 - Shame

16:44 - Just Like Christmas

22:35 - In Metal

27:23 - Laser Beam

32:35 - (That’s How You Sing) Amazing Grace

37:52 - Monkey

43:13 - Holy Ghost

47:21 - Especially Me

53:37 - More

58:30 - Community thoughts and questions

1:06:01 - Lullaby

Bruce Springsteen & Archers Of Loaf with Natalie Marlin

Fri, 11 Nov 2022 12:00:00 -0000

This episode of CrossFade (The BossFade?) featuring writer, podcaster, and music journalist Natalie Marlin (https://twitter.com/NataliesNotInIt/) is devoted to rock icon Bruce Springsteen and ‘90s indies Archers of Loaf! Matt and Natalie chat a lot about the kinds of stories Bruce tells through his music and what makes his mild corniness endearing, as well as why Archers Of Loaf’s sound cut through the Pavement-esque slacker rock vibe of the ‘90s.

Follow Natalie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NataliesNotInIt/
Starting to Feel Small Again: Twinkle Park’s “As Much As I Forget” by Natalie Marlin for Bandcamp Daily: https://daily.bandcamp.com/resonance/twinkle-park-as-much-as-i-forget-essay
Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning on 20 Years of You Forgot It in People and the Gratitude of Connection by Natalie Marlin for Paste Music: https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/broken-social-scene/you-forgot-it-in-people-20th-anniversary/

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Bruce Springsteen & Archers Of Loaf with Natalie Marlin

1:09 - Bruce Springsteen - "Darkness On the Edge of Town"

6:50 - Badlands

10:45 - Adam Raised a Cain

14:47 - Something in the Night

18:38 - Candy’s Room

22:30 - Racing in the Street

27:38 - The Promised Land

31:39 - Factory

33:59 - Streets of Fire

37:42 - Prove It All Night

42:02 - Darkness On the Edge of Town

47:12 - Archers Of Loaf - “Icky Mettle”

50:36 - Web in Front

53:47 - Last Word

56:25 - Wrong

59:28 - Might

1:02:35 - Learo, You’re a Hole

1:07:43 - Hate Paste

1:11:09 - Sick File

1:13:38 - Beavis and Butt-Head clowning on Archers Of Loaf

1:15:35 - Community Questions

1:48:05 - Neil J & Daniel Wilkins with Austin C - "The Man Who Outran Time" (suggested by MinnMax supporter Tactical Dreamer)

Cinderella & Def Leppard with Elana Levin

Fri, 28 Oct 2022 12:00:00 -0000

Like the bodacious ‘dos from which the sound gets its name, “hair metal” can be a hard genre to pin down! Luckily, we’ve got writer/podcaster/critic/organizer and hair metal fan Elana Levin to run through two genre classics to help set some things straight!

Matt and Elana cover Def Leppard’s “Hysteria” (the one with “Pour Some Sugar On Me” on it) and “Long Cold Winter” by Cinderella (one of the bands featured in HBO’s Peacemaker TV series). In this episode, they chat about what makes hair metal so special and popular, what role Peacemaker played in popularizing some under-heard hair metal bangers, and why neither of them like “Pour Some Sugar On Me” very much.

Follow Elana on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Elana_Brooklyn/

Listen to Elana’s podcast, Graphic Policy Radio, at https://graphicpolicy.com/radio/ or wherever you get podcasts

Junk Filter Podcast: Hair Metal with Elana Levin https://anchor.fm/jesse-hawken/episodes/107-Hair-Metal-with-Elana-Levin-e1p26dv
“There’s No Wrong Time To Rock: A Peacemaker-Inspired Playlist” by Elana Levin https://womenwriteaboutcomics.com/2022/02/theres-no-wrong-time-to-rock-a-peacemaker-inspired-playlist/
- The playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3qfBE3suas4Hggga4asQZW?si=GLBR0LmjQr6fySX6AjbxNA
“Tom Keifer talks the Blues, Cinderella and the Music Industry” - American Blues Scene https://www.americanbluesscene.com/2014/03/tom-keifer-talks-the-blues-cinderella-and-the-music-industry/
“Notes on Camp: on David Lee Roth” https://medium.com/@Elana_Levin/notes-on-camp-on-david-lee-roth-ad286df3cd10

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Def Leppard & Cinderella with Elana Levin

0:51 - A bit about hair metal as a genre

11:01 - Cinderella - "Long Cold Winter"

14:33 - Gypsy Road

20:43 - The Last Mile

23:56 - Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone)

30:00 - Coming Home

32:46 - Fire and Ice

34:34 - Second Wind

37:07 - Bad Seamstress Blues / Fallin’ Apart

42:22 - Def Leppard - “Hysteria”

49:53 - Animal

55:35 - Gods of War

1:01:04 - Rocket

1:08:18 - Women

1:12:39 - Pour Some Sugar On Me

1:17:16 - Hysteria

1:20:40 - Love Bites

1:23:44 - Run Riot

1:26:18 - Community Questions

1:48:11 - Alvvays - “Archie, Marry Me” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Bob Buel)

7 Songs to Remember Pharoah Sanders (1940 - 2022)

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 12:00:00 -0000

Pharoah Sanders (not “Pharaoh”) was a disciple of John Coltrane and a pioneer in his own right, putting spiritual jazz on the map with unique, genre-blending textures. You can’t truly encapsulate an artist like Pharoah Sanders in a few songs, but on this episode, we pay our respects to the legend with seven songs that we think exemplify some of the broad strokes in artist’s sonic palette.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Remembering Pharoah Sanders (1940 - 2022)

00:49 - About Pharoah Sanders

3:53 - John Coltrane – Ascension - Edition I / Pt. 2

16:35 - The Creator Has a Master Plan

28:56 - Astral Traveling

33:40 - Alice Coltrane & Pharoah Sanders – Journey In Satchidananda

41:02 - Love Is Everywhere

46:59 - Kumba

54:31 - Pharoah Sanders & Floating Points – Movement 5

Charley Crockett & New Kingdom with Infinity Knives (Tariq Ravelomanana)

Fri, 23 Sep 2022 12:00:00 -0000

“When I say ‘I like everything,’ I really, really like everything.”

So says Tariq Ravelomanana (https://twitter.com/infinitykniives), who creates music under the name Infinity Knives. He means it, too: He gets inspiration from everywhere: folk, country, experimental, grunge, pop, hip-hop, prog, rap. That idealist eclecticism comes through in his own music, including his 2022 record, King Cobra, which he created with Brian Ennals. It also led him to bring “Welcome to Hard Times,” the 2020 country record by country musician Charley Crockett, to his CrossFade debut.

Matt counters with 1996’s “Paradise Don’t Come Cheap,” the bombastic, iconoclastic second record by rap duo New Kingdom. Rife with industrial production and brusque lines complemented by the harsh vocals that carry them, it’s a heavier record than one might give it credit for.

Then, because they’re both obsessed with music, Matt and Tariq just kind of talk about other music for, oh, about 15 minutes. It’s a real treat if you love hearing people who love music talk about music they love.

Find Tariq at the following links:

Listen to King Cobra, the new record by Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals, at the following links:

Bandcamp https://phantomlimblabel.bandcamp.com/album/king-cobra
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/3yTbBdU09giCwa2FbgKVl2
Apple Music https://music.apple.com/us/album/king-cobra/1631816416
YouTube Music https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nCRFvhvWDT8SylVMPu-XjX0kpGIzu-lek
And wherever else you get music

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Charley Crockett & New Kingdom with Infinity Knives (Tariq Ravelomanana)

7:41 - Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals - “Coke Jaw”

9:34 - Charley Crockett - “Welcome to Hard Times”

10:12 - Welcome to Hard Times

13:05 - Fool Somebody Else

16:53 - Tennessee Special

20:09 - Blackjack County Chain

25:57 - Paint It Blue

32:18 - Heads You Win

35:08 - New Kingdom - “Paradise Don’t Come Cheap”

39:13 - Mexico or Bust

42:58 - Unicorns Were Horses

46:13 - Valhalla Soothsayer

48:51 - Suspended in Air

59:23 - Infested

The Wind Waker OST Listening Party with Sarah and Kyle

Fri, 09 Sep 2022 14:30:00 -0000

Hoy! For a special treat, Jason gathered Kyle and Sarah (aka the other pieces of the Triforce) for a roundtable adventure through the soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. You can listen to it wherever you get podcasts – and in a CrossFade first, you can watch the whole discussion on YouTube at the link below!

Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/iTiQ_7FG-OY

Special thanks again to Wind Waker Game Champion Otsego12 for giving us a great reason to go back to this legendary music.

If you liked it, subscribe to CrossFade wherever you get podcasts for more fun music talk! You can also follow Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nintendufus, Sarah at https://twitter.com/sarahpodz, and Kyle at https://twitter.com/kylemhilliard Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - The Wind Waker OST Listening Party with Sarah and Kyle

4:50 - Skip the plugs

8:00 - Title Theme

12:00 - Grandma

13:50 - Dragon Roost Island

17:30 - The E3 2002 Trailer

20:20 - Makar’s Prayer

24:10 - Encounter with Tetra

29:10 - Gohma Battle (Second Half)

31:20 - Meeting Ganondorf

34:30 - Sealed Hyrule Castle

36:40 - Molgera Battle Theme

39:15 - The Great Sea

43:30 - Grandma’s House

44:45 - Beedle’s Shop Theme

46:15 - Malo Mart (from Twilight Princess)

48:20 - Pirate Ship Theme

51:30 - The Legendary Hero

55:05 - Windfall Island

1:03:40 - Orca’s House

1:04:40 - Orca’s Sword Training

1:06:05 - Mini Boss Battle

The Great iPod Shuffle: The Bangers Housed On Our Trusty Old iPods

Fri, 26 Aug 2022 12:00:00 -0000

We recently uncovered our old iPods. We haven’t really used them for several years, so we thought it’d be a lot of fun to hit “shuffle” and see which of the tens of thousands of songs on them came up first. Then we discussed each of them on mic! We’re proud of some and cringing at a few others.

It’s a real time capsule, kind of a snapshot of who we were back then! Also, what we cared enough to download and put in iTunes and fill out the metadata for (ah, the inconvenient past). Hope you enjoy reminisce-ning along!

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - The Great iPod Shuffle

00:41 - RIP Matt’s iPod (2006 - 2022)

2:33 - MARINA - “Better Than That”

7:26 - Screaming Females - “Ripe”

11:07 - Taking Back Sunday - “MakeDamnSure”

15:14 - The Blood Brothers - “Fucking’s Greatest Hits”

20:22 - David Bowie - “All The Young Dudes (Live 1974)”

25:27 - U.N.K.L.E. - “Unreal”

31:33 - Rhymefest - “Dancin’ Machine”

37:18 - Neil Young - “White Line (Live 1976 Bootleg)”

42:07 - The Flaming Stars - “Ten Feet Tall”

46:32 - Vampire Hands - “Safe Word”

51:49 - A bit about the iPod

Uyama Hiroto & Joy Division with Bijan Stephen

Fri, 12 Aug 2022 12:00:00 -0000

This week on CrossFade, it’s all about the 𝓋𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓈 – which makes it a great episode for writer, critic, and podcast host Bijan Stephen’s debut!

Uyama Hiroto was a close friend and collaborator with Nujabes (known best for his Samurai Champloo soundtrack and being an influential artist in the jazz/hip-hop space), and it shows in “freeform jazz,” his 2017 record featuring a lot of chill instrumental work and music that, as Bijan put it, lights up the pleasure centers of your brain. 𝒱𝒾𝒷𝑒𝓈 aren’t always posi, of course, so Matt’s pick, Joy Division’s “Unknown Pleasures,” is an early post-punk record marked by the tragedy of vocalist Ian Curtis’s early death and the oddball production style that makes it a sonic journey more than 30 years after its release.

Thanks for listening!

You can find Bijan’s work at the following links:

Listen to Eclipsed, Bijan’s podcast on overlooked stories from history: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/eclipsed/id1587958685
Listen to Fun City, Bijan’s a narrative RPG podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fun-city/id1477094947
Follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/bijanstephen and Twitch https://www.twitch.tv/bijanstephen
Read his writing about Twitch and internet culture: https://www.theverge.com/authors/bijan-stephen
On music: https://www.thenation.com/authors/bijan-stephen/
On games: https://culture.org/contributor/bijan-stephen/

“This Searing Light, the Sun and Everything Else: Joy Division: the Oral History” by Jon Savage: https://www.roughtrade.com/us/jon-savage/this-searing-light-the-sun-and-everything-else-joy-division-the-oral-history

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Uyama Hiroto & Joy Division with Bijan Stephen

5:18 - Uyama Hiroto - “freeform jazz”

10:35 - Taiko

14:43 - Yin and Yang

21:30 - South Side feat. Shing02

24:38 - Into The Freedom

28:13 - Joy Division - “Unknown Pleasures”

30:58 - Disorder

34:43 - New Dawn Fades

39:42 - She’s Lost Control

47:32 - Insight

53:35 - I Remember Nothing

57:45 - Interzone

1:01:15 - Community questions

1:29:20 - “The Girl from Ipanema” by Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto & João Gilberto (suggested by Zeth Hillman-Johnson)

Streetlight Manifesto & Nolan Potter with John Carson

Fri, 29 Jul 2022 12:00:00 -0000

It’s a proggy, skanky episode of CrossFade with writer, editor, and podcaster John Carson (https://twitter.com/John_Carson)!

In this episode, we’re just barely scratching the surface of ska with John’s pick, Streetlight Manifesto’s “Everything Goes Numb”. Then we chart new territory with Nolan Potter’s “Music Is Dead,” one of Matt’s favorite albums to listen to on vinyl. Both are new to the other’s picks, so it turns into a really fun, big conversation about genres, how ska and its perceptions have changed over time, making music on your own, and that time John got fired from his high school ska band while working at Subway.

Find John at the following links:

Here’s a video of CrossFade listener Jason Wojnar singing our outro song in Ukrainian for charity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF5_P0dvZII

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Streetlight Manifesto & Nolan Potter with John Carson

2:01 - Ska through the years and the ‘fourth wave’

8:37 - Streetlight Manifesto - “Everything Goes Numb”

9:47 - Everything Went Numb

12:06 - That’ll Be the Day

14:07 - Point / Counterpoint

21:20 - Here’s to Life

26:30 - A Moment of Silence

29:46 - A Moment of Violence

34:17 - Catch 22 - “Dear Sergio” and “Keasbey Nights”

36:48 - Nolan Potter - “Music Is Dead”

38:33 - One Eye Flees Aquapolis

40:37 - Stubborn Bubble

46:02 - Gregorian Chance

51:11 - Holy Scroller

56:28 - Preeminent Minds

1:00:49 - Music Is Dead

1:06:35 - Community questions

1:30:18 - Nazariy Yaremchuk - "Водограй" (suggested by Jason Wojnar)

Music that Made Us: The Doobie Brothers & Creedence Clearwater Revival

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 12:00:00 -0000

What music did you listen to when you were 5 years old? How did it impact the music you listen to or the way you approach it? Do you still listen to any of it today?

In this chooglin’ episode of CrossFade, Matt and Jason take a suggestion from the community (thanks MinnMax supporter podbod!) and go back to some of the first music we can remember loving: The Doobie Brothers and Creedence Clearwater Revival! We talk about rock genre blending of the 1970s, complicated band dynamics, how these groups influenced us as musicians, and why this music has stuck with us for so long.

Tiran Porter’s isolated bass track for “China Grove”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhBIIJpLJjU

Tiran Porter’s isolated bass track for “Long Train Runnin’”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy2hoRGOCdU

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, Die Off Songbird: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Music that Made Us: The Doobie Brothers & Creedence Clearwater Revival

4:53 - The Doobie Brothers - “Best of The Doobies Vol. I”

6:26 - China Grove

12:36 - Long Train Runnin’

16:15 - Black Water

19:43 - South City Midnight Lady

24:04 - Takin’ It to The Streets

28:17 - Jesus Is Just Alright with Me

30:18 - Art Reynolds Singers - “Jesus is Just Alright with Me”

31:41 - Without You

35:04 - Creedence Clearwater Revival - “Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits”

39:24 - Suzie Q

44:03 - Bad Moon Rising

50:33 - Fortunate Son

54:20 - Run Through The Jungle

1:01:35 - Who’ll Stop the Rain

1:03:35 - Commotion

1:11:13 - Lookin’ Out My Back Door

1:13:55 - Lodi

1:17:31 - Someday Never Comes

1:24:16 - Keep On Chooglin’

Bon Iver & Iron Maiden with Cody Matthew Johnson

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 12:00:00 -0000

We’re thrilled to welcome Cody Matthew Johnson, known for his music and sound work on games like Trek to Yomi, Devil May Cry 5, Guardians of the Galaxy, Resident Evil 2 Remake, and many more, to compare and contrast Bon Iver with Iron Maiden! Dare you to find another show that brings together two things THAT different.

We talk with Cody about how Bon Iver’s approach to music didn’t change for “22, A Million,” even if the sound did; Iron Maiden’s groundbreaking meld of catchy rock and metal riffs; trying to learn Yes and Iron Maiden bass lines when you’re in third grade; and much more!

Follow Cody on Twitter: https://twitter.com/codymatthewj

Check out Cody’s company, Emperia Sound & Music: https://www.emperiasound.com/

Find Cody’s work on his website: https://www.codymatthewjohnson.com/

We’d also love it if you’d rate and review the show on iTunes, ‘cause it means more people can find the show and love it, too! You can find Matt and Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively and in the #music channel of the MinnMax Discord server.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, Die Off Songbird: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Iron Maiden & Bon Iver with Cody Matthew Johnson

5:39 - Bon Iver’s “22, A Million”

7:16 - 22 (OVER S∞∞N)

11:08 - 10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄

17:04 - 715 - CRΣΣKS

20:53 - 8 (circle)

23:44 - 00000 Million

28:21 - Iron Maiden - “Number of the Beast”

29:14 - Invaders

32:51 - Children of the Damned

36:35 - Run to the Hills

42:17 - The Prisoner

46:40 - The Number of the Beast

Nitpicking Two of Pitchfork's Perfect 10s

Fri, 03 Jun 2022 12:00:00 -0000

What does perfection mean to you? What if you knew someone ELSE called something “perfect”? That’s what we wanted to find out on this episode of CrossFade, so we looked at two of the dozen albums that have received a perfect 10 score from Pitchfork, the music publication everybody famously agrees with and enjoys without reservation.

Wilco’s breakthrough “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” and Amon Tobin’s breakthrough “Bricolage” are pretty different (that’s CrossFade babyyyy), but our discussion bridges them both: How does seeing that big 10 make you think differently about the music you listen to? How much does that matter in the age of influencers, when every opinion can be validated by someone, somewhere on the internet? It’s a pretty complex question!

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, Die Off Songbird: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Nitpicking Two of Pitchfork's Perfect 10s

0:59 - Wilco - "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot"

4:42 - I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

10:53 - Heavy Metal Drummer

13:44 - Jesus, Etc.

17:11 - Kamera

20:07 - War On War

23:29 - Ashes of American Flags

25:14 - What does a Pitchfork perfect 10 really mean?

36:25 - Amon Tobin - "Bricolage"

37:31 - Stoney Street

39:53 - Chomp Samba

43:34 - El Cargo from Amon Tobin's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory soundtrack

46:00 - Yasawas

49:48 - One Day In My Garden

53:49 - Wires & Snakes

Our Favorite Albums of 2022 So Far

Fri, 20 May 2022 12:00:00 -0000

2022 is almost halfway over! To mark the occasion, Matt and Jason picked their favorite records released this year for this special discussion.

Jason picked Soul Glo’s “Diaspora Problems” (March 25) because it’s high-energy, it bends genres, and crams a lot of righteous fury into its lyrics. Matt’s loved the work of Benny the Butcher for a long time, so his latest release, “Tana Talk 4” (March 10), is a shoo-in for Matt’s favorite records of the year. In this episode, we talk a lot about hardcore music made by people of color, what makes rap like Benny’s timeless, and how it feels to find music that just hits all your buttons.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, Die Off Songbird: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Our Favorite Albums of 2022 So Far

0:57 - Soul Glo - “Diaspora Problems”

9:09 - Gold Chain Punk (whogonbeatmyass?)

14:04 - Coming Correct Is Cheaper

18:01 - Fucked Up If True

21:02 - Driponomics

26:10 - Spiritual Level Of Gang Shit

29:04 - Thumbsucker

32:35 - Benny the Butcher - “Tana Talk 4”

37:58 - Johnny P’s Caddy

40:59 - Back 2x (feat. Steve God Cooks)

45:01 - Uncle Bun (feat. 38 Spesh)

47:52 - Tyson vs. Ali (feat. Conway The Machine)

51:41 - Thowy’s Revenge

55:11 - Weekends in the Perry’s

58:46 - Our runner-up choices

59:00 - Nolan Potter - "Gregorian Chance"

1:00:51 - Mitski - "Working for the Knife"

Silver Jews & The Mountain Goats with Joe Juba

Fri, 06 May 2022 12:00:00 -0000

Content warning: This episode contains discussions of sensitive topics like depression, sexual abuse, and suicide as explored in the music of The Mountain Goats and Silver Jews.

MinnMax Contributor and all-around gentleman Joe Juba brought an album by one of his favorite artists to CrossFade! This episode might be the most we’ve ever delved into lyrics. The Mountain Goats’ “Heretic Pride” and Silver Jews’ “The Natural Bridge” are both albums that go heavy on storytelling, picking unique perspectives to set the scene and evoke specific times and places. In this episode, we talk about what makes John Darnielle’s music so compelling, the legacy of David Berman, distinctive vocalists, OSTs we love even if we haven’t consumed the media they’re from, and much more thanks to questions straight from the MinnMax community!

Find Joe on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Joejuba and on the MinnMax network

We’d love it if you’d rate and review the show on iTunes, ‘cause it means more people can find the show and love it, too! You can find Matt and Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively and in the #music channel of the MinnMax Discord server.

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, “Die Off Songbird”: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Silver Jews & The Mountain Goats with Joe Juba

1:16 - The Mountain Goats - “Heretic Pride”

9:29 - Sax Rohmer #1

13:32 - San Bernardino

20:56 - Heretic Pride

27:41 - Autoclave

31:41 - Sept 15 1983

35:14 - Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident

41:43 - Lovecraft in Brooklyn

48:49 - Silver Jews - "The Natural Bridge"

56:02 - How to Rent a Room

1:00:35 - Pet Politics

1:06:00 - Pet Politics (cover by The Mountain Goats)

1:08:26 - Dallas

1:15:47 - Inside the Golden Days of Missing You

1:19:29 - The Frontier Index

1:23:45 - Pretty Eyes

1:31:17 - Community Questions

1:57:15 - “Rum Pum Pum (람팜팜)” by Lee Jin Ah (이진아) (suggested by MinnMax supporter YokaiBlotch)

Matt & Jason Raid Each Other’s Bandcamp Collections

Fri, 22 Apr 2022 12:00:00 -0000

What would make you buy digital music in 2022? Is it respect? Curiosity? Guilt? Little bit of all of the above?

That’s what we wanted to know from each other – and why we took a dive into each other’s growing collections to interrogate each other’s music tastes! Matt and Jason each picked five songs from the other’s Bandcamp collection to talk about, poke fun at, or marvel at a new favorite we never would’ve found otherwise. It was a really fun exercise and we hope you enjoy listening to the results!

You can find Jason’s Bandcamp collection at https://bandcamp.com/jasondafnis and Matt’s at https://bandcamp.com/matthelgeson. What’s in yours? Did you discover a new favorite from this episode? What buried gems are we missing? Get in touch at https://twitter.com/minnmaxshow and let us know!

Our theme song is “The Lights” by Maps Of Norway from their 2008 record, Die Off Songbird: https://open.spotify.com/album/7tNrjnRB1f1oQizkkAePrI

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

The alternative music video for Kanye West’s “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” feat. Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham (a.k.a. Bonnie “Prince” Billy”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79vKj8R_h8s

Timestamps

0:00 - Matt & Jason Raid Each Other’s Bandcamp Collections

11:00 - Jason’s collection

12:52 - White Denim - “Work”

17:33 - MACROSS 82-99 - “Let It Be Real (feat. Emi Aramaki)”

24:14 - Fievel Is Glauque - “Decoys”

29:32 - Fievel Is Glauque - “Simple Affairs”

32:10 - PUP - “A.M. 180” (Grandaddy cover)

41:20 - Matt Sweeney & Bonnie “Prince” Billy - “My Blue Suit”

50:11 - Matt’s collection

50:34 - zeroh - “The Lord & Nature”

55:47 - Shabaka and the Ancestors - “The Observer”

1:03:44 - Big Thief - "Time Escaping"

1:10:01 - Mark Fosson - “Jubilaya”

1:19:33 - Tropical Fuck Storm - “G.A.F.F.”

1:31:28 - Bob James - “Angela (Theme From 'Taxi')

Electrelane & Erase Errata with Erin Margaret Day

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 12:00:00 -0000

It’s a mid-aughts extravaganza on CrossFade, featuring writer, critic, connoisseur and musician Erin Margaret Day (https://twitter.com/comeawaywithEMD)!

Between English indie rockers Electrelane and SF experimental rock group Erase Errata, get ready for rock, noise, ambience, and more rock! With Erin, we break down the radical roots of these bands and the kind of music they play, what Electrelane’s largely instrumental album is saying without words, and how sometimes the sound of hopelessness actually kinda rocks.

Find Erin’s work, including her writing and seasonal playlists, at https://comeawaywithemd.com/, and check out her contributions to Bandcamp Daily at https://daily.bandcamp.com/contributors/erinmargaretday

We’d love it if you’d rate and review the show on iTunes, ‘cause it means more people can find the show and love it, too! You can find Matt and Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively and in the #music channel of the MinnMax Discord server.

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Electrelane & Erase Errata with Erin Margaret Day

3:34 - Electrelane - “Axes”

7:25 - Bells

12:26 - Two for Joy

15:52 - If Not Now, When?

22:14 - Eight Steps

25:02 - The Partisan

28:40 - Gone Darker

30:44 - I Keep Losing Heart

34:55 - Erase Errata - “Nightlife”

37:41 - Cruising

42:54 - Hotel Suicide

46:08 - Another Genius Idea From Our Governor

49:28 - Take You

55:02 - Dust

58:03 - Wasteland

1:00:53 - Community Questions (Why does Matt pick on U2? Best song for humanity? Worst concerts? & more)

1:30:36 - “Everything To Nothing” by Manchester Orchestra (suggested by MinnMax supporter Brandon Floyd)

The Billboard Top 20: March 2022

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 12:00:00 -0000

However big a left turn this is for you, you should know it’s also pretty wild for us, too. On this episode, Matt and Jason turn the dial to “POPULAR” for a look into the top 20 songs on the Billboard Top 200!

We discuss which songs work for us, which don’t, and how the streaming age has made it very, VERY easy to ignore what’s on the radio. From Justin Bieber to Dua Lipa, from Future to Ed Sheeran, from show tunes to future funk, it’s a whole new world of music for people who don’t know what’s popular anymore!

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - The Billboard Top 20: March 2022

6:02 - The Weeknd - “Save Your Tears”

9:28 - Lil Durk - “AHHH HA”

14:29 - “Surface Pressure” from Encanto

20:10 - Latto - “Big Energy”

24:27 - Lil Nas X - “INDUSTRY BABY (feat. Jack Harlow)”

28:02 - Dua Lipa - “Levitating”

37:35 - Gunna, Future - “pushin P (feat. Young Thug)”

41:14 - Imagine Dragons - “Enemy (with JID)”

45:03 - Doja Cat - “Need to Know”

47:56 - Lil Nas X - “THATS WHAT I WANT”

50:38 - Elton John & Dua Lipa - “Cold Heart - PNAU Remix”

57:03 - Ed Sheeran - “Bad Habits”

59:18 - Ed Sheeran - “Shivers”

1:01:08 - Justin Bieber - “Ghost”

1:04:45 - Adele - “Easy On Me”

1:09:03 - The Kid LAROI - “STAY (with Justin Bieber)”

1:12:25 - Kodak Black - “Super Gremlin”

1:15:30 - GAYLE - “abcdefu”

1:19:09 - “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto

1:22:12 - Glass Animals - “Heat Waves”

Arcade Fire & Built to Spill with AJ Moser

Fri, 11 Mar 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Note: This episode was recorded and published before claims of misconduct against Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler were made public on Aug. 27, 2022.

AJ Moser is the biggest Arcade Fire fan we know, and in this episode of CrossFade, he got to make the case for “Funeral” being one of the greatest indie rock records of the 21st century. Matt returned the favor with the esteemed, accessible Built to Spill record “Keep It Like a Secret,” which has the spirit and energy of jam band music but in a tight, catchy, interesting package.

In this episode, we talk about Arcade Fire’s reputation and career, what makes Built to Spill such fun, and grapple with the legacy of a debut record that got so much attention on release.

Follow AJ on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Radmure

Tune into the Indieheads Podcast wherever you listen and keep an eye on their Twitter for an upcoming livestream fundraiser benefiting trans youth in Texas: https://twitter.com/indieheadspod

Donate to Direct Relief, providing humanitarian aid to affected communities in Ukraine: https://www.directrelief.org/

Support Equality Texas in their fight for equality for LGBTQ+ Texans: https://www.equalitytexas.org/

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Arcade Fire & Built to Spill with AJ Moser

1:19 - Arcade Fire - “Funeral”

7:24 - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)

13:35 - Neighborhood #2 (Laika)

17:13 - Haiti

24:12 - Wake Up

30:30 - Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)

35:41 - Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)

36:59 - Built to Spill - “Keep It Like a Secret”

40:07 - The Plan

43:17 - Sidewalk

46:02 - Center of the Universe

48:59 - Carry the Zero

54:50 - You Were Right

1:00:04 - Broken Chairs

1:10:35 - Community Questions (Why do we ‘whoo’?, albums or top tracks, Arcade Fire rankings + more)

1:30:51 - “Freshman Thesis” by Thee More Shallows (suggested by MinnMax supporter Adam Zimmer)

The Strokes’ “Is This It”

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 13:00:00 -0000

Okay so this one’s not a duel, but it’s still a hell of an album!

For this special episode, we asked the CrossFade community to vote on albums they wanted to hear us discuss. It was a tight race (sorry, Frightened Rabbit ☹) but the vox populi won out when they voted for The Strokes’ breakthrough 2001 record, “Is This It”! Listen as Matt (very smart about music) and Jason (never listened to this album before) unpack this classic NYC pop album track-by-track, including the mix, guitar solos, bass work, and how 9/11 affected the album’s release and legacy.

So, whaddaya think? Do you like this format? Should we do more of this? We wanna make what you wanna hear, so let us know with a review, tweet, comment, or Discord message!

Big thanks to Twitter user Soda Pop for the album recommendation: (https://twitter.com/SodaPopinski13/status/1491889020925886465?s=20&t=FeKqEA7Kkc5mpFuaib7xJQ)

Special thanks to Nick Wanders’ Spotify playlist import tool: https://nickwanders.com/projects/ng-spotify-importer/

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - The Strokes’ “Is This It”

7:15 - Is This It

12:42 - This Modern Age

16:38 - Hard to Explain

22:48 - Last Nite

27:55 - Trying Your Luck

32:58 - Alone Together

37:40 - New York City Cops

43:19 - Someday

Guns N’ Roses & Alice Cooper with Dan Ryckert

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 14:00:00 -0000

Season 2 is here and so is everyone’s favorite guy on the internet, Dan Ryckert!

It seems like “Chinese Democracy” is nobody’s favorite Guns N’ Roses album. It took a huge amount of money and time to make and then it underperformed when it DID come out – so why did Dan pick it? And what made Matt finally break out Alice Cooper’s “Love It to Death”? Find out in this fun episode!

Follow Dan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DanRyckert and on Twitch at https://www.twitch.tv/danryckert

Check out Fire Escape Cast (https://twitter.com/FireEscapeCast) and Panning the Stream (https://twitter.com/PanTheStream) wherever you get podcasts

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Timestamps

0:00 - Guns N’ Roses & Alice Cooper with Dan Ryckert

1:29 - Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy”

10:24 - Better

12:46 - Shackler’s Revenge

16:30 - Street Of Dreams

22:29 - Sorry

27:30 - There Was A Time

30:30 - Madagascar

31:57 - Riad N’ The Bedouins

33:17 - Prostitute

42:23 - Alice Cooper’s “Love It to Death”

45:09 - Caught in a Dream

49:24 - I’m Eighteen

53:49 - Ballad of Dwight Fry

1:01:58 - Is It My Body

1:05:55 - Second Coming

1:09:33 - Sun Arise

1:15:14 - Community Questions

1:36:29 - Thin Lizzy - “The Boys Are Back In Town” (suggested by MinnMax supporter whitemex)

Season 2 with Dan Ryckert Coming Feb. 11!

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 15:00:00 -0000

It’s a new year and we’re back with more CrossFade! We hope your year’s off to a great start, and we hope you’re hungry for more fun music discussions.

Our first episode with Dan Ryckert drops Friday, Feb. 11. Leave a question or song suggestion by Feb. 3 on the appropriate post at https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/posts?filters%5Btag%5D=crossfade and we’ll try to bring it up on air!

We’ve got a lot of fun ideas in store for season 2, so tell a friend about the show. Thanks for sticking around for another season of CrossFade!

A huge thank you to everyone who listens for your songs, questions, and insight! Matt and Jason will still troll around the MinnMax Discord and you can find them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MattHelgeson and https://twitter.com/nintendufus respectively. We’d love it if you’d rate and review the show on iTunes, ‘cause it means more people can find the show and love it, too!

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, a growing Spotify playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

CrossFade Intermission! The Deepest Dive - Final Fantasy VII Remake

Tue, 19 Oct 2021 19:15:00 -0000

Hello CrossFade subscribers! This is MinnMax's Ben Hanson with a one-off interruption of this wonderful feed. In honor of MinnMax's 2nd anniversary, we're celebrating "Free Week" and lifting the curtain to offer free tastes of our Patreon-exclusive content. So this is The Deepest Dive on Final Fantasy VII Remake, the first part of our gigantic community game club on our Game of the Year for 2020. Normally we post The Deepest Dives on YouTube and offer the podcast version of the discussions to Patreon supporters, but here it is available to everybody for free!

If you're a CrossFade fan, we're sorry for this inconvenience but we hope you enjoy the discussion! We do technically rave about the soundtrack. New CrossFade episodes will be on the way with Matt Helgeson and Jason Dafnis in the new year.

If you're a fan of The Deepest Dive, we hope you enjoy the ability to listen to the discussion as a podcast and hope you consider supporting MinnMax on Patreon to unlock the rest of the series on Final Fantasy VII Remake. You'll also unlock podcast versions of Max Spoilers, MinnMax Interviews, and our Deepest Dives on Metroid Dread, Dead Space, Mass Effect 1, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Cyberpunk 2077, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, The Thing, Super Mario 64, Halo: Combat Evolved, The Last of Us Part II, What Remains of Edith Finch, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Chrono Trigger, and The Outer Worlds. Join the Thank You Crew over on Patreon to add your name to this list! https://www.patreon.com/minnmax

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Season 1 Finale! The CrossFade Community Shuffle: The Replacements, fire-toolz, Neutral Milk Hotel & More

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 14:00:00 -0000

And that’s a wrap on Season 1 of CrossFade! We’ll be back with new episodes in 2022. For now, we wanted to celebrate our supporters with another Community Shuffle, where we shuffle their favorite songs and talk about what shakes out! This episode’s crop is particularly vibrant, so be sure to check it out to discover great new (or classic) music you might just love!

Support MinnMax on Patreon and get access to tons of great, exclusive content: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - The CrossFade Community Shuffle: The Replacements, fire-toolz, Neutral Milk Hotel & More

3:04 - The Replacements - “Can’t Hardly Wait” (Devin Brooks)

8:58 - Takeharu Ishimoto - “Breaking Free” (Tactical Dreamer)

11:45 - Portishead - “Plastic” (Internet.Levi)

14:33 - The World/Inferno Friendship Society - “Just the Best Party” (Jason Wojnar)

18:41 - The 1975 - “If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)” (Mitch)

23:52 - Parov Stelar - “Djangos Revenge” (Digtron)

27:12 - TWRP - “Feels Pretty Good” (Bread)

31:12 - Sturgill Simpson - “Make Art Not Friends” (Matt Rogers)

35:05 - Keane - “Sovereign Light Café” (Joel Hopkins)

37:57 - Crying - “There Was a Door” (Carlos Lima)

44:45 - Froukje - “Groter Dan Ik” (Kees ('Case') Mulder)

47:59 - Ghost - “Bible” (CalebMurray)

52:23 - CHVRCHES - “Bow Down” (Geoff Enright)

55:48 - 16 Horsepower - “Splinters” (Authoritarian)

58:31 - Neutral Milk Hotel - “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” (Brian Corliss)

1:01:49 - Youth Sector - “Teeth” (James Burkett)

1:03:40 - fire-toolz - “mailto:spasm@swamp.god?subject=Mind-Body Parallels / Clear Light” (podbod)

1:06:37 - Earth, Wind & Fire - “September” (The Pattycake (Patrick H.))

1:10:23 - Aesop Rock - “Gopher Guts” (Breadward)

1:14:04 - Chen Yue - “Trail of The Angels” (Mike Lynch)

Led Zeppelin & Peter Gabriel with Tom Salta (Deathloop)

Fri, 10 Sep 2021 14:30:00 -0000

If at first you don't succeed, listen, listen again – welcome Tom Salta (Deathloop, Tom Clancy’s Advanced Warfighter, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, PUBG, Wolfenstein: Youngblood, and many more) to CrossFade!

Tom’s a big production guy, so Peter Gabriel’s tight instrumentation and arrangements on “So” make it a really pivotal album for him. “Houses of the Holy” isn’t Led Zeppelin’s most-played album, but it’s one of their funkiest. Matt fell in love with its bigness and groove, so it’s a great complement to Peter Gabriel’s pop sensibilities. (And, according to Reddit, it has the second-fewest instances of Robert Plant singing “baby” of all of Led Zeppelin’s albums. Huh!)

Follow Tom on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TomSalta and find his work at https://www.tomsalta.com/

Deathloop is out Sept. 14

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, featuring 340 of our community’s favorite songs (and counting): https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - Peter Gabriel & Led Zeppelin with Tom Salta

1:10 - Tom’s collabs, creds, & how he pivoted to video game music

12:00 - Peter Gabriel’s “So”

14:22 - Red Rain

17:35 - Sledgehammer

20:56 - Don’t Give Up

24:03 - Mercy Street

28:32 - Big Time

34:13 - In Your Eyes

36:26 - Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy”

39:42 - The Song Remains the Same

43:21 - The Ocean

46:10 - D’yer Mak’er

47:29 - The Crunge

50:00 - Dancing Days

52:33 - Over the Hills and Far Away

56:20 - No Quarter

1:00:22 - Community Questions (writing familiar stuff, your life in four songs & more)

1:13:46 - Deserta - “Be So Blue” (suggested by MinnMax supporter RedVIII)

Jimi Hendrix & Ivan Tcherepnin with Peter McConnell (Psychonauts 2)

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 14:30:00 -0000

Go inside the mind that created the music for the best-known video game about going inside people’s minds: Peter McConnell is on CrossFade!

WIth Peter, we dissect the music of Ivan Tcherepnin, Peter’s late mentor and experimental/avant garde composer of the 20th century, and “Axis: Bold as Love,” the second record from The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Together, we find the little connections between Hendrix’s mystical playing and the sonic innovations of Tcherepnin. We also talk to Peter about creating music for LucasArts and Double Fine, writing songs for Jack Black, and the connection between opera and video games.

Then we turn to the MinnMax community for fun questions about bands we dream of playing with, how interactive music has changed over Peter’s 30-year career, and more!

(If you’re not a big classical music head, don’t worry! Peter makes it all easy to follow along and appreciate.)

Follow Peter on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PeterNMcConnell

Pre-order Peter’s Psychonauts 2 soundtrack at https://skilltreerecords.com/album/2022998/psychonauts-2-original-soundtrack-vol-1

Psychonauts 2 is out now

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - Jimi Hendrix & Ivan Tcherepnin with Peter McConnell

00:59 - Peter’s music background

5:31 - Writing music for Jack Black

9:07 - Working themes from Psychonauts 1 into the sequel

15:16 - What Peter learned from Ivan Tcherepnin

24:53 - The Music of Ivan Tcherepnin

25:30 - Flores Musicales : I. Overture - P’tite P’tite

30:57 - Five Songs: I. Do-Mi

41:25 - Five Songs: IV. Queues

46:50 - Flores Musicales: III. Grand Fire Music

49:55 - Santur Live! Overture: The Situation in The Land

52:57 - The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Axis: Bold as Love”

57:12 - Spanish Castle Magic

1:01:03 - Wait Until Tomorrow

1:04:32 - Little Wing

1:10:03 - If 6 Was 9

1:16:01 - Bold as Love

1:22:36 - Community Questions (writing music for ‘place,’ interactive music through the decades, bands we wanna play with & more)

1:45:21 - Fleet Foxes - “The Shrine/An Argument” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Thom Blackburn)

The Beatles vs. Queens of the Stone Age (feat. Darren Korb)

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 14:30:00 -0000

The gods of guesting have been kind to us once again, and Darren Korb, audio director for Supergiant Games (Hades, Bastion, Transistor, Pyre) and voice of Zagreus in Hades, has landed in our lap to talk of Beatles and Queens!

Darren loves how weird, inventive, and well-produced The Beatles’ penultimate album “Abbey Road” is, and in this episode, he talks about how that blend makes him think about his own music in different ways. Queens of the Stone Age’s “Songs for the Deaf” isn’t actually that, but it is full of mean riffs and precise Dave Grohl drumming, and that adds up to what Darren calls “heavy stoner rock.”

Our community portion is chock-full of fun questions from our Patreon patrons about favorite guitar tunings, our first-ever “favorite” songs, who has the best “best-of” album, and much more!

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Donate to the Crossfade HopeWell Music School Charity Drive at https://www.givemn.org/Crossfade

Follow Darren on Twitter at https://twitter.com/darrenkorb

Hear Darren’s voice, music, and production in Hades, out this week on PlayStation and Xbox platforms https://www.supergiantgames.com/games/hades/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - The Beatles vs. Queens of the Stone Age (feat. Darren Korb)

3:48 - Darren’s time as Rock Band 2 US champ

8:56 - The Beatles’ “Abbey Road”

13:04 - Come Together

17:12 - Something

20:14 - Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

22:49 - Octopus’s Garden

24:30 - I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

27:55 - Here Comes The Sun

30:57 - Side two of Abbey Road

31:58 - You Never Give Me Your Money

36:17 - Sun King

39:56 - Mean Mr Mustard

41:02 - Polythene Pam

42:20 - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

44:13 - Golden Slumbers

45:45 - Carry That Weight

47:22 - The End

49:46 - Her Majesty

51:55 - Queens of the Stone Age’s “Songs for the Deaf”

53:42 - No One Knows

56:54 - You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire

1:00:22 - First It Giveth

1:02:49 - Song For The Dead

1:08:25 - Go With The Flow

1:12:23 - Hanging Tree

1:16:20 - Do It Again

1:21:10 - Another Love Song

1:26:04 - Community Questions (writing music, best “best-of” albums, favorite guitar tunings & more)

1:51:33 - Bruce Springsteen - “Magic” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Jeremiah Parks)

The Kinks vs. Gentle Giant (feat. Marty O’Donnell)

Fri, 30 Jul 2021 12:30:00 -0000

This one’s a biggie – Marty O’Donnell, composer for games like Halo, Destiny, Riven, and current audio director for Highwire Games, is on CrossFade to talk about one of the albums that convinced him to stop just playing music and start composing instead!

Gentle Giant’s “Octopus” is one of Marty’s favorite records and “hugely influential” to his path as a musician and composer. If not for this album and the friends he made over it, he may have stuck to performing piano – and some of your favorite video games would sound a whole lot different.

Matt’s pick, the equally English “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society,” was a critical underdog that’s achieved new life as a cult classic in the 50+ years since its release. Matt thinks it’s better than The Beatles in some ways. Don’t tell him I wrote that here. I wanna make him explain that take on a future episode.

We also talk about Marty’s stint as a commercial jingle writer, the importance of having a hook, 16th century counterpoint, Marty’s weirdest influences, and much more, including a great series of questions from the MinnMax community!

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - The Kinks vs. Gentle Giant (feat. Marty O’Donnell)

1:32 - Marty’s path to composing

4:23 - The appeal of classical music in rock

7:26 - Formal training and finding Gentle Giant

11:48 - Learning the importance of a hook from commercials

17:49 - How technology influences Marty’s composition

20:58 - Gentle Giant’s “Octopus” (Steven Wilson Mix)

22:56 - The Advent of Panurge

30:38 - The time Marty met Gentle Giant in an elevator

33:20 - Raconteur Troubadour

37:51 - A Cry for Everyone

42:26 - River

45:47 - The Boys in the Band

50:08 - Think of Me with Kindness

57:01 - Knots

1:00:36 - The Kinks’ “The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society”

1:02:15 - The Village Green Preservation Society

1:05:12 - Do You Remember Walter?

1:07:54 - Animal Farm

1:14:51 - Picture Book

1:18:47 - Phenomenal Cat

1:22:12 - Village Green

1:25:06 - All of My Friends Were There

1:29:55 - Community Questions (weirdest influences, Music of the Spheres, British music, Marty wants to make Zelda music & more)

1:55:32 - M.I.A. - “Pull Up the People” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Jonnythan 12)

Alkaline Trio vs. The Exploding Hearts (feat. Mike Park)

Fri, 02 Jul 2021 14:30:00 -0000

Welcome musician, activist, and founder of Asian Man Records Mike Park (https://twitter.com/mikeparkmusic) to CrossFade! Mike’s run his own record label for 25 years, in addition to all the music he’s written and played or the anti-racism activism he’s done throughout his career. We couldn’t be more excited to have him on the show – and talking about a record he released, no less!

Alkaline Trio’s “Goddamnit” launched one of the most successful punk pop careers of the 2000s. It’s also still one of Mike's favorites – a record he can listen to back to front and get the same out of it as he did in 1998. He’s got a bunch of fun nuggets about bringing this album to life, like the fact that it cost only $1,000 to record. (That’s kinda crazy.)

The Exploding Hearts’s career was cut short with the untimely deaths of three band members, and their one and only record, “Guitar Romantic,” is audible proof of the gap it left in popular music. Reminiscent of ‘70s and ‘80s punk pop, the album carves its own identity by referencing styles that came before without feeling redundant.

In the back end of this episode, we field questions about the deaths of musicians we love, what Mike thought of blink-182 in their earliest days and today, bands that split singing duties, and more great questions from our Patreon supporters!

Follow Mike on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mikeparkmusic, find Asian Man Records at https://asianmanrecords.com/, and listen to Mike’s music wherever you listen to music

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Watch Mike sing Alkaline Trio’s “Sorry About That” with Matt Skiba: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyHM0lP1whE

Find out more about The Sidewalk Project, a nonprofit battling homelessness co-founded by punk artists, at https://www.thesidewalkproject.org/

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - Alkaline Trio vs. The Exploding Hearts (feat. Mike Park)

1:27 - About Asian Man Records

3:41 - The state of ska

6:41 - Music and anti-racism action in 2021

10:28 - Alkaline Trio’s “Goddamnit”

12:44 - Cringe

15:33 - San Francisco

20:43 - Trouble Breathing

25:01 - Southern Rock

28:40 - Sorry About That

32:15 - Nose Over Tail

35:05 - Message From Kathlene

39:05 - The Exploding Hearts’ “Guitar Romantic”

42:29 - Modern Kicks

45:31 - I’m a Pretender

48:51 - Rumors in Town

51:32 - Sleeping Aides and Razorblades

57:02 - Throwaway Style

1:02:05 - Community Questions (processing musicians’ deaths, blink-182, multi-singer bands, & more)

1:19:12 - Paul Collins’ Beat - “Rock ‘N’ Roll Girl” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Kris Paul)

Kendrick Lamar vs. Foo Fighters (feat. Janet Garcia)

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 15:30:00 -0000

Welcome MinnMax cohort, streamer, writer, critic, and former teacher Janet Garcia (https://twitter.com/gameonysus) to CrossFade!

Foo Fighters was one of the bands that helped Janet discover music outside of hip-hop, so “In Your Honor” holds a really important place in her heart (and her running playlist). Matt’s pick, Kendrick Lamar’s breakthrough “good kid, m.A.A.d city” is a stunningly stylized masterwork of Compton rap storytelling. It’s so well-written, Janet even used it to teach an English class once. All that plus a bunch of great community questions in the back half of the episode!

Follow Janet on Twitter at https://twitter.com/gameonysus and find her work at https://linktr.ee/gameonysus

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - Foo Fighters vs. Kendrick Lamar (feat. Janet Garcia)

2:53 - Foo Fighters’ “In Your Honor”

3:46 - In Your Honor

12:44 - Best Of You

17:12 - DOA

23:10 - Hell

27:03 - What If I Do?

30:49 - On The Mend

34:09 - Another Round

35:38 - Friend Of A Friend

39:32 - Virginia Moon

42:30 - Razor

49:18 - Kendrick Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d city”

52:26 - Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe

58:31 - Backseat Freestyle

1:03:55 - The Art of Peer Pressure

1:08:44 - Poetic Justice

1:12:32 - Swimming Pools (Drank)

1:16:33 - good kid

1:19:43 - m.A.A.d city

1:25:22 - Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst

1:38:39 - Community Questions (Dave Grohl, “honorary” bands, Bo Burnham, analyzing vs. vibing to songs, & more)

2:06:23 - The Alchemist feat. Earl Sweatshirt - “Loose Change” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Kees (‘Case’) Mulder)

Curtis Mayfield vs. Rush (feat. Jason Graves)

Fri, 04 Jun 2021 15:00:00 -0000

Jason Graves has composed for games, movies, TV (including Dead Space, Until Dawn, Tomb Raider, The Order: 1886, The Dark Pictures Anthology, and a lot more) for decades, and now he’s on CrossFade!

Jason discovered Rush sometime in high school – just the right age to be listening to new, weird stuff. A drummer, he naturally gravitated toward Neil Peart’s meticulous, mathematical rhythms on “2112,” many of which still amaze him today. We spend a good bit of time unpacking the virtuosity and paradoxical openness of Rush’s landmark odyssey.

Matt’s pick, Curtis Mayfield’s film soundtrack record “Super Fly,” is way more about the steady groove than the switch-up, but it’s still full of surprises. And man, just get a load of that fat bass tone! Even when it’s not telling a story, “Super Fly” is on a journey. A hip, funky journey. Come along with us.

Follow Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jgmusic and find his work at https://jasongraves.com/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

0:00 - Curtis Mayfield vs. Rush (feat. Jason Graves)

1:59 - Jason’s background in music

7:58 - Rush’s “2112”

16:11 - I. Overture

24:20 - II. Temples of Syrinx

28:29 - III. Discovery

32:14 - IV. Presentation

35:12 - V. Oracle: The Dream

38:09 - VII. The Grand Finale

40:09 - A Passage to Bangkok

44:19 - The Twilight Zone

48:00 - Lessons

56:08 - Curtis Mayfield’s “Super Fly”

1:01:28 - Super Fly

1:04:19 - Little Child Runnin’ Wild

1:08:51 - Junkie Chase

1:10:54 - Freddie’s Dead

1:15:07 - Pusherman

1:19:41 - Eddie You Should Know Better

1:22:34 - Community Questions: Abandoning art, songs that make you feel cool & more

1:41:34 - Slipknot - “The Heretic Anthem” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Mike Lynch)

Weezer vs. Tropical F*** Storm (feat. Lizzie Killian)

Fri, 21 May 2021 14:50:00 -0000

Lizzie Killian (FIFTYcc, chiptune rock band The Glowing Stars, formerly of Zynga, Humble Bundle, GamesRadar & more) joins this Weez-tastic episode of CrossFade!

Something about “Pinkerton” caught Lizzie’s ear in high school. Maybe it was the rough production, disarmingly vulnerable lyrics, or just the solid solos – whatever it was, it quickly became one of her favorite albums ever. She even named her own band, The Glowing Stars, after a lyric from the track “Falling For You.”

Matt’s pick, “A Laughing Death in Meatspace” by Australian psych rock band Tropical Fuck Storm, engages with the modern world in a way that doesn’t feel cheesy. It touches on politics, imperialism, class divide, human obsolescence, and more on top of unique, beautifully crunchy synth-and-overdrive textures.

Follow Lizzie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lizziekillian/ and find her work at https://www.fiftycc.net/

Listen to Lizzie’s chiptune rock band, The Glowing Stars at https://theglowingstars.bandcamp.com/ and wherever you get music

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

00:00 - Weezer vs. Tropical Fuck Storm (feat. Lizzie Killian)

4:02 - Weezer - “Pinkerton”

8:25 - “Tired of Sex”

12:49 - “Why Bother?”

14:37 - “The Good Life”

20:39 - “Across The Sea”

26:41 - “El Scorcho”

31:40 - “Falling For You”

35:48 - “Butterfly”

39:11 - Considering Weezer’s trajectory

43:23 - Tropical Fuck Storm - “A Laughing Death in Meatspace”

47:04 - “Shellfish Toxin”

52:47 - “You Let My Tyres Down”

58:38 - “Chameleon Paint”

1:00:41 - “The Future of History”

1:05:56 - “Soft Power”

1:13:36 - “A Laughing Death in Meatspace”

1:20:49 - Community Questions - Ranking Weezer, George Harrison vs. ABBA, misheard lyrics, video game PR

1:49:57 - Hop Along - “Sister Cities” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Drew Masciarelli)

The Beach Boys vs. Nina Nastasia (feat. Todd Hanson)

Fri, 07 May 2021 14:30:00 -0000

Writer and performer Todd Hanson (The Onion, Squidbillies, WTF with Marc Maron, & more) guests on this very special episode of CrossFade!

Todd didn’t really get into The Beach Boys until a couple years ago, when he discovered their strange, dark album Surf’s Up, recorded in 1971 to turn around the public’s waning interest in fun-in-the-sun pop after the Summer of Love came to an official end. It’s full of beautiful, conflicted messages about protest, environmentalism, madness, and self-doubt – definitely not the Beach Boys you know and love.

Matt’s pick, Nina Nastasia’s 2000 debut Dogs, is no less grim in subject matter, but it IS more intimate. With stripped-down production and a focus on the singer-songwriter’s lilting alto, the album carries the muted expressions of ‘90s grunge emotion into a decade defined by a divergence of technical progression and self-produced music.

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

2:03 - Why it’s hard to satirize the world today

6:42 - The Beach Boys: The most American band?

8:11 - The Beach Boys - “Surf’s Up”

15:00 - “Feel Flows”

19:54 - “Take A Load Off Your Feet”

23:11 - “Don’t Go Near The Water”

26:25 - “Long Promised Road”

28:42 - “Student Demonstration Time”

37:18 - “Disney Girls (1957)”

41:39 - “A Day In The Life Of A Tree”

49:04 - “‘Til I Die”

51:23 - “Surf’s Up”

1:01:17 - Nina Nastasia - “Dogs”

1:08:08 - “Dear Rose”

1:10:37 - “A Love Song”

1:12:59 - “Underground”

1:16:36 - “A Dog’s Life”

1:20:01 - “Stormy Weather”

1:24:15 - “Smiley”

1:25:25 - “Nobody Knew Her”

1:29:46 - “Roadkill”

1:33:21 - “Nobody Knew Her” (Detail)

1:38:58 - Community Questions - Todd’s old cartoons, getting more creative, favorite biopics, music with an expiration date, & more

1:58:03 - Calvin Grad - “Who Is Calling You?” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Jason Wojnar)

Girl Talk vs. Prince Paul (Anniversary Episode feat. Ben Hanson)

Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:00:00 -0000

CrossFade turned 1 last month and we couldn’t be more pleased with how it’s been received! To celebrate, we welcomed the guest from our very first episode back to the show: MinnMax founder Ben Hanson (https://twitter.com/yozetty)!

In a weird way, Ben’s pick (Girl Talk’s “Feed the Animals”) reminds us of CrossFade itself – unorthodox pairings that always dig up something new – but moreover, it’s an album he goes back to both for “dumb fun” and to marvel at the editorial decisions made to mash up well-loved classics and obscure references.

There’s a Shakespearean tragedy at the heart of Prince Paul’s “A Prince Among Thieves,” but that doesn’t stop it from getting a little silly at times. Matt chose it because it felt like a midway point between Nas’s “Illmatic” and the Hamilton soundtrack – both episodes Ben was previously on! (That clever fella.) Even if you’ve never heard of the people on it, it’s worth a spin as an audio story with solid bars and nasty production throughout.

Some really fun questions from the CrossFade community get us talking about our MLB walk up songs, misleading band names, our nostalgia binge music, and why more people don’t admit “The Beatles” is kind of a dumb name.

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

8:00 - Why Ben picked “Feed the Animals”

10:16 - “Play Your Part (Pt. 1)”

20:32 - “Still Here”

23:12 - “Shut The Club Down”

26:14 - “Set It Off”

27:22 - “What It’s All About”

28:31 - “Like This”

30:27 - “In Step”

35:18 - “Hands In The Air”

36:51 - “Here’s The Thing”

39:08 - “Give Me A Beat”

45:36 - “Play Your Part (Pt. 2)”

49:24 - Prince Paul - “A Prince Among Thieves”

55:07 - “How It All Started”

56:27 - “Steady Slobbin’”

59:14 - “What U Got - The Demo”

1:03:04 - “The Call”

1:04:20 - “The Other Line”

1:07:12 - “Weapon World”

1:08:46 - “My Big Chance”

1:10:01 - “Macula’s Theory”

1:11:33 - “Mr. Large”

1:14:16 - “The Men In Blue”

1:17:38 - “Handle Your Time”

1:21:22 - “Showdown”

1:23:04 - “You Got Shot”

1:25:24 - “Every Beginning Must Have an Ending”

1:27:08 - “The New Joint - DJ’s Delite”

1:28:04 - “A Prince Among Thieves”

1:38:05 - Community Questions - Nostalgia binges, drums or vox?, unfortunate band names, walk up songs & more

2:02:12 - Weyes Blood - “Movies” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Levi Francom)

John Phillips vs. Television (feat. Matt Sweeney)

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 14:45:00 -0000

Freehand guitarist Matt Sweeney (heard in the Red Dead Redemption 2 soundtrack, Skunk, Chavez, and more) guests on this episode of CrossFade! He picked “John, the Wolf King of L.A.,” the first solo record from The Mamas & The Papas founder John Phillips, because of its hauntingly beautiful arrangements and its dark underbelly. The discussion focuses on how such sunny-sounding music can hide such sinister stories, and what that says about the man who embodied it all.

Host Matt Helgeson chose “Marquee Moon,” the debut album of American rock band Television – a true guitarist’s record and a through-and-through groundbreaking rock album that would help shape punk, pop, and art rock through the late 1970s and ‘80s. It opened both Helgeson and Sweeney’s eyes to the depths that rock riffs can plumb – there’s stuff on this record that even they can’t figure out to this day.

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Follow Matt Sweeney at https://twitter.com/theheavyjamz

Listen to the Red Dead Redemption 2 Housebuilding EP on Spotify at https://spoti.fi/3cYSW3k and look for it wherever you get vinyl records

Pre-order Superwolves from Matt Sweeney and Bonnie “Prince” Billy, out April 30, 2021, at https://bit.ly/31ZXUXw

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

02:04 - How Matt Sweeney came to work with Rockstar

18:27 - John Phillips - “John, the Wolf King of L.A.”

21:59 - “April Anne”

26:41 - “Someone’s Sleeping”

31:12 - “Topanga Canyon”

34:25 - “Malibu People”

38:09 - “Drum”

40:45 - “Holland Tunnel”

45:56 - Television - “Marquee Moon”

50:30 - “See No Evil”

56:15 - “Venus”

59:52 - “Marquee Moon”

1:08:55 - “Elevation”

1:12:54 - “Guiding Light”

1:17:01 - “Friction”

1:21:42 - Community Questions

1:39:30 - Parcels - “IknowhowIfeel” (suggested by MinnMax supporter whitemex)

Cat Stevens vs. Boards of Canada (feat. Austin Wintory)

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 15:45:00 -0000

Composer Austin Wintory (Journey, ABZÛ, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, The Pathless, The Banner Saga, and countless other games and films) is one of the best-known names in video game music – but he didn’t know anything about music for the first ten years of his life. He brought Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ 1970 hit record “Tea for the Tillerman” to CrossFade because it reminds him of his dad, and of learning music, and of the pure emotional statements that can be made through musical storytelling.

Matt’s pick, Boards of Canada’s “Music Has the Right to Children,” lets listeners find the story in between the samples, tones, patterns, and soundscapes the Scottish duo packed it with back in 1998. It was an early statement in the hauntological electronica movement that wrenched music from the world around them, reassembling sounds in a way that suggests melody and form without quite standing out.

Follow Austin at https://twitter.com/awintory and find his music at https://www.austinwintory.com/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

02:29 - Austin’s early life with music

4:57 - The influence of composer Jerry Goldsmith

17:07 - Yusuf/Cat Stevens’ “Tea for the Tillerman”

26:09 - “Where Do the Children Play?”

33:29 - “Hard Headed Woman”

37:15 - “Wild World”

43:42 - “Sad Lisa”

56:09 - “Father and Son”

1:01:07 - Boards of Canada’s “Music Has the Right to Children”

1:04:34 - “Wildlife Analysis”

1:05:51 - "An Eagle in Your Mind"

1:09:18 - “Rue the Whirl”

1:14:09 - “The Color of the Fire”

1:18:17 - “Roygbiv”

1:22:00 - “Pete Standing Alone”

1:24:47 - "Telephasic Workshop"

1:29:57 - Community Questions

1:48:25 - Jethro Tull - “Thick as a Brick” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Thom Blackburn)

Paul Simon vs. Blue Öyster Cult (feat. Chris Remo)

Fri, 12 Mar 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Chris Remo (Valve, Campo Santo, Gone Home, Firewatch, and the Idle Thumbs podcast) joins CrossFade for a discussion of “Graceland,” Paul Simon’s controversial career-boosting 1986 record, and why it took him until his 30s to finally like it. Matt gains another inductee to the cult of Blue Öyster Cult with their 1974 psych-rock “Secret Treaties,” which proves they were more than a one-hit wonder. Our community segment gets Chris talking about podcasting, the Fender Rhodes, and the best game soundtracks you haven’t heard!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

2:28 - Where music fits in Chris’s career

9:19 - Paul Simon’s “Graceland”

22:31 - “The Boy in the Bubble”

29:28 - “Gumboots (with Boyoyo Boys)”

34:41 - “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes”

38:35 - “You Can Call Me Al”

40:09 - “Crazy Love, Vol II”

42:04 - “Homeless (with Ladysmith Black Mambazo)”

48:48 - Blue Öyster Cult’s “Secret Treaties”

51:40 - “Career of Evil”

58:24 - “Dominance and Submission”

1:06:15 - “Cagey Cretins”

1:11:27 - “Flaming Telepaths”

1:16:16 - “Astronomy”

1:23:12 - Community Questions

1:31:19 - Peter Gabriel - “Solsbury Hill” (suggested by MinnMax supporter Michael Gibler)

Follow Chris at https://twitter.com/chrisremo and find his music at https://chrisremo.bandcamp.com/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Beck vs. The Cure (feat. Sarah Elmaleh)

Fri, 26 Feb 2021 16:30:00 -0000

On this voice-tastic episode of CrossFade, voice actor and activist Sarah Elmaleh (Gears 5, Anthem, Gone Home, Star Wars: Squadrons, and more https://twitter.com/selmaleh) hops in the booth with a dancy high school favorite – Beck’s funky “Midnite Vultures” – and Matt keeps things light with The Cure’s smash 1989 record, “Disintegration.” Questions from the CrossFade community include music we love from TV and film, bands that dress up later into their years, and music things we regret buying. Listen in!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

6:38 - “Sexx Laws”

11:27 - “Nicotine & Gravy”

18:54 - “Mixed Bizness”

24:15 - “Intro To Get Real Paid”

24:40 - “Get Real Paid”

28:47 - “Hollywood Freaks”

30:19 - “Peaches & Cream”

37:28 - “Milk & Honey”

41:21 - “Beautiful Way”

46:19 - “Pressure Zone”

48:58 - “Debra”

55:34 - The Cure - “Disintegration”

1:00:39 - “Plainsong”

1:06:55 - “Pictures of You”

1:13:16 - “Closedown”

1:15:44 - “Lovesong”

1:19:49 - “Lullaby”

1:25:02 - “Fascination Street”

1:30:02 - “Prayers for Rain”

1:36:28 - “The Same Deep Water as You”

1:37:35 - “Last Dance”

1:39:21 - “Disintegration”

1:42:33 - “Homesick”

1:45:31 - “Untitled”

1:50:19 - Community Questions

2:23:00 - Janet Kay - “Silly Games” (suggested by MinnMax supporter umryan)

Follow Sarah at https://twitter.com/selmaleh and find her work at https://sarahelmaleh.com/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist of our community’s favorite music: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Hybrid vs. Owen Pallett (feat. Gareth Coker)

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Gareth Coker (composer for film and games including Ori and the Blind Forest, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, ARK: Survival Evolved, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and Halo Infinite) doesn’t often get to gab about the music he listens to instead of the music he makes, which makes it such a treat to talk about why “Disappear Here,” the fourth album from British electronic group Hybrid, is one of his favorites. We compare Hybrid’s intensely rhythmic, building structures with the intricate harmonics and angular storytelling of Owen Pallett’s “In Conflict” before jumping into community questions about the tuba, what’s stuck in our heads right now, and music that needs a particular context to feel right.

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

2:19 - What it’s like to make music for a new Halo game

11:53 - Hybrid’s “Disappear Here” (2010)

18:24 - “Empire”

29:43 - "Can You Hear Me"

37:22 - “Original Sin”

41:40 - “Break My Soul”

59:41 - Owen Pallett’s “In Conflict” (2014)

1:01:21 - “I Am Not Afraid”

1:06:15 - “On a Path”

1:10:41 - “The Riverbed”

1:15:55 - “Infernal Fantasy”

1:19:15 - “Song for Five & Six”

1:27:27 - “In Conflict”

1:35:49 - Community Questions

1:55:40 - Community Song (“Beautiful Mother” by Dirty Projectors and Björk, suggested by MinnMax supporter Michael Lynch)

Follow Gareth at https://twitter.com/garethcoker and find his work at https://www.gareth-coker.net/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

The CrossFade Community Shuffle: Death Grips, Gorillaz, Phish, JPEGMAFIA, Sufjan Stevens & More

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 16:00:00 -0000

We’re back to the community playlist, digging through a randomly shuffled list of our MinnMax community’s favorite songs to see what shakes out! This time, the crop (including a lot of artists we’ve never even heard of!) runs the gamut from prog to rock to R&B and… whatever you call Aphex Twin (in a good way!). Thanks to everyone who left a song!

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Follow Matt at https://twitter.com/matthelgeson

Follow Jason at https://twitter.com/nintendufus

Listen to the CrossFade Community Playlist, updated biweekly: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

1:49 - Death Grips - “Hacker” (suggested by Beau Finley)

5:37 - The Network - “Ivankkka is a Nazi” (suggested by Michael Lynch)

10:15 - The Black Keys - “Weight of Love” (suggested by John Richards)

15:08 - JPEGMAFIA feat. Helena Deland - “Free the Frail” (suggested by Aidan Vilchis)

20:00 - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - “Fire Escape” (suggested by Brandon Fream)

22:15 - Animals as Leaders - “The Brain Dance” (suggested by Thom Blackburn)

26:47 - Phish - “Waiting All Night” (suggested by Adam Fister)

33:25 - Ganser - “Projector” (suggested by 1After909)

36:12 - Gorillaz feat. Beck - “The Valley of the Pagans” (suggested by Jeramy Dubose)

38:55 - Sufjan Stevens - “Come On! Feel the Illinoise! Part I” (suggested by Disc0)

41:15 - Comparing Sufjan to The Cure

43:40 - Detroit Grand Pubahs - “Sandwiches” (suggested by Jeorin)

48:07 - Sharks Keep Moving - “Jet’s Jets” (suggested by Travis McGaughey)

50:45 - Throwing Muses - “Honeychain” (suggested by James Burkett)

56:40 - Nao - “Bad Blood” (suggested by Holden Hintz)

59:30 - Craig Finn - “God in Chicago” (suggested by CrabPalace)

1:05:57 - Bokassa - “Vultures” (suggested by Radiant Spec)

1:09:08 - Aphex Twin - “Girl/Boy Song” (suggested by podbod)

1:14:30 - Karen Dalton - “Something On Your Mind” (suggested by The Krispy Kreme Lemur)

1:20:29 - Between the Buried and Me - “Extremophile Elite” (suggested by Alex C Hackney)

1:28:01 - Buzzcocks - “Whatever Happened To?” (suggested by Shane Cunningham)

The MF DOOM Special (feat. Suriel Vazquez)

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:00:00 -0000

Few artists had an impact on the landscape around them as MF DOOM had on rap. With the reveal of his passing in 2020, we felt it was the right time to finally feature the masked madman, and who better to help us commemorate him than MinnMax’s own Suriel Vazquez (https://twitter.com/surielvazquez)?

Together, we suss out what made DOOM unique, even among his peers, and why “Operation Doomsday” and “Madvillainy” are the best vertical slices of his prowess. With questions from our community, we talk about what posthumous releases have held up, our musical “religious experiences,” KaZaA, and revisit the ever-present question: “Why is vinyl so big now?”

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

2:05 - Losing MF DOOM

4:58 - Discovering DOOM

9:11 - DOOM before DOOM

12:35 - MF DOOM’s “Operation Doomsday”

13:00 - “Doomsday”

17:10 - “Rhymes Like Dimes”

21:37 - “Red and Gold”

25:50 - “Tick, Tick…”

28:01 - “The Finest”

35:48 - “Who You Think I Am?”

38:53 - “Hey!”

41:06 - "?"

43:35 - “Gas Drawls”

46:27 - Madvillain’s “Madvillainy”

49:32 - “Accordion”

53:40 - “Meat Grinder”

57:05 - “Raid”

59:49 - “Money Folder”

1:03:14 - “Strange Ways”

1:04:59 - “Figaro”

1:13:04 - “Great Day”

1:14:18 - “America’s Most Blunted”

1:22:22 - Community Questions

1:55:40 - Community Song (“Ask Anyone” by Lice, suggested by MinnMax supporter Sincerely, Eric)

Follow Suriel at https://twitter.com/surielvazquez and on the MinnMax Show

“Searching for Tomorrow: The Story of Madlib and DOOM's Madvillainy” by Jeff Weiss: https://pitchfork.com/features/article/9478-searching-for-tomorrow-the-story-of-madlib-and-dooms-madvillainy/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

Two Solid Seasonal Songs to Ring in 2021

Fri, 01 Jan 2021 16:30:00 -0000

It’s here! As a quick “thank you” you to everyone who’s listened to and supported CrossFade this year, Matt and Jason wanted to share two of their favorite songs that hold that wintertime feeling as we ring in the new year. Thanks so much for checking out our show!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

9:45 - Purple Mountains - "Snow is Falling in Manhattan"

15:48 - The Zombies - "This Will Be Our Year"

Follow Matt at https://twitter.com/matthelgeson, Jason at https://twitter.com/nintendufus, and MinnMax at https://twitter.com/MinnMaxShow

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

The CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

My Chemical Romance vs. Deerhoof (feat. Blake Hester)

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 16:50:00 -0000

My Chemical Romance’s breakthrough “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” and Deerhoof’s “Apple O’” don’t sound anything alike, but they both represent outsider music in their own ways. In today’s episode, Matt explains why Deerhoof tickles his earhoof and Blake tries to explain what it was like to hear MCR for the first time as a churchgoing 10-year-old. Our community also asked Matt and Blake great questions about touring stories, beating your favorite song to death, and what emo music did for millennial perceptions of masculinity. Thanks for listening!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

13:36 - My Chemical Romance’s “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge”

20:37 - “Helena”

24:38 - “Give ‘Em Hell, Kid”

28:19 - “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison”

34:01 - “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”

41:40 - “The Ghost of You”

43:42 - “The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You”

48:06 - “Hang ‘Em High”

51:11 - “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish”

56:53 - Deerhoof’s “Apple O’”

1:00:03 - “Dummy Discards a Heart”

1:04:38 - “My Diamond Star Car”

1:07:34 - “Panda Panda Panda”

1:10:28 - “Sealed With a Kiss”

1:14:36 - “Apple Bomb”

1:18:27 - “Adam+Eve Connection”

1:21:54 - “L’Amour Stories”

1:25:33 - “Flower”

1:28:24 - Community Questions

2:01:13 - Community Song (“Toy Soldier” by The Menzingers, suggested by MinnMax supporter Sincerely, Eric)

Follow Blake at https://twitter.com/metallicaisrad and read his work in Game Informer and on https://www.gameinformer.com/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

The CrossFade Community Shuffle: Reviewing Your Favorite Songs

Fri, 04 Dec 2020 17:30:00 -0000

The MinnMax community has such interesting music tastes. Listeners send us songs for every single episode, so we thought, “Why not make a whole episode out of that?” So that’s what we did! We hit shuffle on almost a playlist of almost 100 songs(!) suggested by our supporters and came up with 18 we could fit into an episode. We ended up with such a crazy set of songs, from punk to pop to Japanese thrash fusion to R&B to CB radio-themed outlaw country. It gets pretty wild and wonderful, and we love how it turned out.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who sent songs our way!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

10:06 - Green Day - “Jesus of Suburbia” (suggested by Mike Sweet)

20:11 - King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - “Gamma Knife” (suggested by Noah Stewart)

23:11 - Plini - “Impulse Voices” (suggested by Richard Herron)

28:12 - MAXIMUM THE HORMONE - “Yoshu Fukushu” (suggested by Fredrik Fjordell Vinsa)

35:12 - Taylor Swift - “Cruel Summer” (suggested by Michael Moran)

40:56 - Butch Walker - “Going Back/Going Home” (suggested by Chris Logan)

45:45 - Phoebe Bridgers - “Garden Song” (suggested by Kevin Frey)

49:00 - Annabella Lwin - “Super Boom” (suggested by Gabriel Cleveland)

52:38 - Animals As Leaders - “Tooth and Claw” (suggested by Carter Hanson)

56:33 - Liturgy - “SIHEYMN’s Lament” (suggested by crunchmonkey)

1:00:03 - The Comet Is Coming feat. Kate Tempest - “Blood Of The Past” (suggested by Keaton Johnson)

1:04:48 - NGHTMRE, ZHU feat. Kidd Keem - “Man’s First Inhibition” (suggested by Jake Zielsdorf)

1:09:32 - Caifanes - “Viento” (suggested by whitemex)

1:12:28 - C.W. McCall - “Convoy” (suggested by Aegis of the Grail)

1:16:54 - Juice WRLD - “Righteous” (suggested by Christopher Reardon)

1:21:10 - NNAMDÏ - “Wasted” (suggested by Scott McRae)

1:25:13 - Bob Lind - “City Scenes” (suggested by Adam Wagner)

1:30:27 - Yes - “Heart of the Sunrise” (suggested by Josh Karmel)

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

David Bowie vs. The Dismemberment Plan (feat. John T. Drake)

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 17:00:00 -0000

John T. Drake (VP Biz Dev and Licensing for Games at Disney, fmr. PlayStation and Harmonix) joins Matt and Jason for a crazy specific episode of CrossFade! Where vocalist Travis Morrison looks inward on The Dismemberment Plan’s “Change,” Ziggy St--erm, David Bowie looks to the skies on “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” – but both tell their own specific stories. John regales us with some positively wild tales from his Harmonix days (warning: discussions of blood, T. Pain, Pete Wentz, and a disappointed Beatle) and more in our community questions segment before Brittany Howard’s “13th Century Metal” takes us out, courtesy of MinnMax supporter James Burkett. Thanks to James and everyone who asked questions and threw songs our way!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

16:55 - “Sentimental Man”

20:19 - “Come Home”

23:38 - “Superpowers”

29:30 - “The Face of the Earth”

32:53 - “Automatic”

34:38 - “Time Bomb”

41:35 - “Ellen and Ben”

47:13 - David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

54:32 - “Ziggy Stardust”

58:35 - “Five Years”

1:03:37 - “Moonage Daydream”

1:07:45 - “Starman”

1:10:10 - “Star”

1:13:29 - “Hang on to Yourself”

1:16:16 - “Lady Stardust”

1:20:11 - “Suffragette City”

1:29:22 - “Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”

1:35:41 - Community questions

1:59:29 - John’s wildest stories from his time at Harmonix

2:18:33 - Community song (“13th Century Metal” by Brittany Howard, suggested by MinnMax supporter James Burkett)

Sign the petition to pass legislation protecting live performance venues during COVID-19 at https://www.saveourstages.com/

Follow John on Twitter at https://twitter.com/johntdrake

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

The Afghan Whigs vs. Beulah (feat. Jeff Cork)

Fri, 06 Nov 2020 18:48:32 -0000

Is it ‘90s in here or is it just me? Jeff Cork (BetterQuest, Game Informer) brings his beloved Beulah record, “When Your Heartstrings Break,” to CrossFade’s doorstep and Matt responds with The Afghan Whigs’s “Black Love.” Both albums are appropriately fueled by angst – sometimes about masculinity, sometimes about insecurity, and sometimes about the Civil War – and they’re full of incredible moments we couldn’t wait to dig into. Community questions get us talkin’ Foreigner, bad album covers, written album reviews, and more before we head down a paranoid path with crooner Tom Waits for our outro song (thanks, MinnMax supporter Michael Lynch!).

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

9:30 - “Score From Augusta”

14:50 - “Sunday Under Glass”

20:05 - “Matter vs. Space”

22:40 - “Calm Go the Wild Seas”

26:25 - “Emma Blowgun’s Last Stand”

30:30 - “Warmer”

34:15 - “If We Can Land a Man on the Moon, Surely I Can Win Your Heart”

40:55 - “Aristocratic Swells”

57:27 - “My Enemy”

1:00:40 - “Double Day”

1:05:06 - “Step into the Light”

1:09:20 - “Blame, Etc.”

1:13:40 - “Night by Candlelight”

1:15:15 - “Summer’s Kiss”

1:20:40 - “Honky’s Ladder”

1:25:35 - “Faded”

1:41:35 - Community questions

1:51:54 - Foreigner - “Urgent”

1:54:17 - Foreigner - “Hot Blooded”

2:03:17 - Community song (“What’s He Building?” by Tom Waits, suggested by MinnMax supporter Michael Lynch)

Follow Jeff at https://twitter.com/gijeff

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

The Van Halen Special (feat. Greg Renoff)

Fri, 23 Oct 2020 16:30:51 -0000

Eddie Van Halen was it: the guitarist who helped drag hard rock into the pop age, leaving contemporaries in both performing and composition in the dust. On the occasion of his passing in October 2020, we’re joined by Greg Renoff (https://twitter.com/gregrenoff), author of “Van Halen Rising: How a Southern California Backyard Party Band Saved Heavy Metal” and “Ted Templeman: A Platinum Producer's Life in Music” to look back at Van Halen’s 1978 debut album and their groundbreaking synth-led “1984” – the ones that best exemplify the group’s talent, charisma, and staying power. Questions from our Patreon supporters lead us to talk about Van Halen’s music videos, artists whose passing hit hard, bands we only liked as we aged, and more!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

14:55 - “Eruption”

22:29 - “Runnin’ with the Devil”

29:46 - “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”

42:12 - “Jamie’s Cryin’”

50:23 - “Feel Your Love Tonight”

58:23 - “On Fire”

1:07:56 - “Jump”

1:14:14 - “Panama”

1:25:31 - “Top Jimmy”

1:30:32 - “Hot for Teacher”

1:37:40 - “I’ll Wait”

1:45:14 - “House of Pain”

1:49:47 - Community questions

2:14:17 - Community song (“Topanga Lawrence” by Charmer, suggested by MinnMax supporter Dan Willey)

Follow Greg at https://twitter.com/GregRenoff

Find Greg’s book about Van Halen, “Van Halen Rising,” at http://vanhalenrising.com/ and wherever you get books

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Understanding Eddie Van Halen's Teen-Idol Appeal (NPR) https://www.npr.org/2020/10/14/921756326/eddie-van-halen-teen-idol

Frank Ocean vs. We Are King (feat. Ana Diaz)

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 21:55:00 -0000

On this episode of CrossFade, we’re joined by Ana Diaz (@pokachee), host of Refreshed, for a little refreshment of our own: She reintroduces Matt to Frank Ocean's 2016 opus “Blonde” and Matt returns the R&B favor with Minneapolis-born trio We Are KING’s self-titled from the same year. We discuss Frank Ocean’s penchant for ‘universally personal’ storytelling, We Are KING’s lush songwriting and self-starter mindset, and great questions from the MinnMax community (our favorite bassists, music we’re completely certain you’d like, artists who keep playing with their formula, and where Three Six Mafia belongs in the hip-hop pantheon [don’t miss Jason’s stupid joke about that one]). We close with the funky brass groove stylings of Too Many Zooz courtesy of our supporter-picked song!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

12:19 - “Nikes”

19:23 - “Ivy”

25:27 - “Pink + White”

27:54 - “Solo”

31:21 - “Skyline To”

34:28 - “Solo (Reprise)”

39:04 - “Nights”

44:17 - “Futura Free”

49:08 - “White Ferrari”

53:10 - “Facebook Story”

1:03:08 - “The Greatest”

1:06:31 - “Carry On”

1:09:50 - “Hey - Extended Mix”

1:12:57 - “In the Meantime”

1:18:28 - “Native Land”

1:23:31 - Community questions

1:37:53 - Community song (“Car Alarm” by Too Many Zooz, suggested by MinnMax supporter Harrison Cook)

Follow Ana at https://twitter.com/pokachee

Catch Refreshed live at https://www.twitch.tv/minnmaxshow every other Thursday, watch the archives at https://www.youtube.com/minnmaxshow, and listen to the Patreon-exclusive podcast version by becoming a supporter

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

“Frank Ocean Remembers Prince as ‘a Vanguard and Genius’” - New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/live/prince-in-memoriam/frank-ocean-remembers-prince-as/

“Frank Ocean Is Finally Free, Mystery Intact” - New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/arts/music/frank-ocean-blonde-interview.html

“Detangling Frank Ocean's 'Blonde': What It Is And Isn't” - NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/08/22/490918270/detangling-frank-oceans-blonde-what-it-is-and-isnt

“How Frank Ocean's 'Blonde' Inspired A Wave Of Raw Sincerity in Hip-Hop” - Cool Accidents https://www.coolaccidents.com/news/frank-ocean-blonde-3-years-on

Metallica vs. Lucy Dacus

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 16:00:00 -0000

The producer has become the product! Jason hops in the guest seat for a lesson in shreddin’ with Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” while Matt sinks into Lucy Dacus’s introspective “Historian”. It’s one of the more out-of-whack pairings we’ve heard on CrossFade, but it’s worth it to learn what you miss when you risk writing off an entire artist based on their genre. How would Metallica have been different if Cliff Burton hadn’t passed suddenly? What’s the worst we’ve been hurt at a show? Just how important is speaker quality when listening to music? All that AND a patron-picked song in our community segment!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

10:11 - “Night Shift”

17:26 - “Addictions”

24:56 - “Nonbeliever”

32:07 - “The Shell”

37:22 - “Timefighter”

42:40 - “Pillar of Truth”

59:20 - “Battery”

1:08:14 - “Master of Puppets”

1:16:47 - “The Thing That Should Not Be”

1:20:55 - “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”

1:24:40 - “Disposable Heroes”

1:26:42 - “Orion”

1:31:33 - “Damage, Inc.”

1:38:02 - Community questions

2:01:55 - Community song (“Golden” by berhana, suggested by MinnMax supporter Thom Blackburn)

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Kate Bush vs. Björk (feat. Emily Reese)

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:00:00 -0000

Couldn’t have planned this episode any better! With guest Emily Reese (Level With Emily, Jazz88, Scores & Pours), we ring in our show’s new name with entries from two of the most original artists of any generation: Björk’s 2017 electronic fantasy “Utopia” and Kate Bush’s untouchable “Hounds of Love”. In both, we find forward-thinking musicians at the peak of their craft with creative freedom and the technical skill to bring storytelling, emotional soundscapes, and grand ideas to life. Our community questions get us talking about how hearing game soundtracks before playing the game made us think differently of the music, the weirdest stuff in our music collection, and more – then it’s time for our community song, which takes us behind the Iron Curtain for some more experimental pop by European women...

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

14:29 - “Arisen My Senses”

19:58 - “Blissing Me”

23:47 - “The Gate”

31:54 - “Utopia”

35:28 - “Claimstaker”

39:12 - “Losss”

41:59 - “Tabula Rasa”

44:33 - “Paradisia”

49:33 - “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”

54:19 - “Hounds of Love”

57:03 - “Mother Stands for Comfort”

1:00:19 - “Cloudbusting”

1:07:13 - “Under Ice”

1:09:41 - “Watching You Without Me”

1:14:16 - “Jig of Life”

1:17:13 - “Hello Earth”

1:22:27 - “The Morning Fog”

1:26:58 - Community questions

1:41:07 - Community song (“Не рядом” by Колибри, suggested by MinnMax supporter Jason Wojnar)

Follow Emily Reese on Twitter at @LevelWithEmily, listen to Level with Emily Reese and Scores & Pours wherever you get podcasts, and listen to Jazz88 at jazz88.fm

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

CrossFade Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

CrossFade Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox (edited)

The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Special (feat. Ralph D’Amato & Blake Hester)

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 16:00:00 -0000

So here we are, doing everything we can… and chatting THPS music with the pros! We’re so excited to have Ralph D’Amato (producer of the Tony Hawk series through Project 8 and also a new documentary about the series) and Blake Hester (writer, musician, and THUG lover) join MinnTrax to talk about the first two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtracks, how Neversoft picked such great songs, how they were shaped by skate culture, and the impact they had on games and music tastes for generations to come. Then, with questions from the MinnTrax community, we learn about a song that didn’t make it onto the THPS soundtracks and why, who’d be perfect for one of those soundtracks today, and what each of our wrestling themes would be (because why not?). Thanks for listening!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

14:30 - Dead Kennedys - “Police Truck”

17:30 - Suicidal Tendencies - “Cyco Vision”

24:15 - Goldfinger - “Superman”

36:55 - Rage Against the Machine - “Guerrilla Radio”

41:00 - Bad Religion - “You”

43:47 - Millencolin - “No Cigar”

48:00 - The High & Mighty - “B-Boy Document ’99”

52:25 - Anthrax & Public Enemy - “Bring the Noise”

55:47 - Lagwagon - “May 16”

1:02:12 - Community questions

1:27:04 - Community song (“Kick, Push” by Lupe Fiasco, suggested by MinnMax supporter Cade Mead) Find Ralph’s new THPS documentary, “Pretending I’m a Superman: The Tony Hawk Video Game Story,” at thpsfilm.com and wherever you stream movies

Follow Blake at twitter.com/metallicaisrad and read his oral history of THUG

(https://bit.ly/2ExQen7) and his profile of Neversoft cofounder Joel Jewett (https://bit.ly/2QtsXVT)

Watch Leo and Blake rank all 31 Tony Hawk games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNmaVDrKJ08 Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Yo La Tengo vs. Other Lives (feat. Paul Charchian)

Fri, 14 Aug 2020 17:25:07 -0000

One of Matt’s formative college records versus a 2020 release? Only on MinnTrax! Special guest Paul Charchian (Guillotine Leagues, Video Games Weekly, and more) almost didn’t bring Other Lives’s “For Their Love” to the table, but we’re glad he did – it’s a densely-arranged indie pop classic at only six months old (and maybe also a subliminal message about the band being a group of vampires). Yo La Tengo’s “I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One,” on the other hand, was a shoo-in for Matt, who used to wander the UMN campus to its understated rock vibes. After the discussion, we field a few questions from the MinnMax community, touching on albums we think would make good game concepts, our favorite concert films, and music that defined the cultures we grew up in. Thanks for the great questions and song suggestions, everyone!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

7:15 - “We Wait”

11:30 - “Sound of Violence”

16:20 - “Lost Day”

22:25 - “All Eyes - For Their Love”

32:40 - “Dead Language”

36:13 - “Nites Out”

40:25 - “Hey Hey I”

53:45 - “Moby Octopad”

58:30 - “Little Honda”

1:01:50 - “Sugarcube”

1:06:10 - “Autumn Sweater”

1:11:55 - “Green Arrow”

1:13:43 - “One PM Again”

1:14:34 - “The Lie and How We Told It”

1:18:35 - “Center of Gravity”

1:20:50 - “Return to Hot Chicken”

1:22:50 - “Stockholm Syndrome”

1:30:25 - “Spec Bebop”

1:33:49 - Community questions

1:39:09 - Anna von Hausswolff - “Ugly and Vengeful”

1:47:40 - Community song (“Leaving Eden” by Carolina Chocolate Drops, suggested by MinnMax supporter Tim Lorow)

Follow Paul Charchain on Twitter at @PaulCharchian and GuillotineLeagues.com

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Lydia Loveless vs. Girl Ray (feat. Matthew Kato)

Fri, 31 Jul 2020 18:00:00 -0000

With special guest Matt Kato (formerly of Game Informer), Matt Helgeson takes a look at two women-led albums: Girl Ray’s shimmery debut “Earl Grey” and Lydia Loveless’s “Real”. With songwriting sensibilities well beyond their years, both acts seem somewhat out of time – “Earl Grey” is a 2017 record that could’ve come out fifty years earlier, while Loveless’s full country twang is tragically suited to the real-life heartbreak she recounts on “Real” (which she recorded with her then-husband, 20 years her senior, while their marriage was falling apart. Ouch.). Kato sticks around for some dynamite community questions, like chiptune vs. orchestral game music, video game references in popular music, and covers that sold us on the original song. WARNING: This episode of MinnTrax contains 200% of your daily recommended Captain Beefheart.

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

6:05 - “Just Like That”

9:35 - “Cutting Shapes”

13:35 - “A Few Months”

26:15 - “Earl Grey (Stuck in a Groove)”

29:15 - “Earl Grey (Stuck in a Groove)” (cont’d)

35:30 - “Waiting Ages”

36:55 - “Stupid Things”

41:50 - “Preacher”

52:50 - “Frownland” (Captain Beefheart)

54:50 - “Longer”

58:15 - “Clumps”

1:02:35 - “Midwestern Guys”

1:08:07 - “European”

1:10:45 - “More Than Ever”

1:12:50 - “Same To You”

1:16:05 - “Out On Love”

1:24:50 - Community questions

1:47:40 - Community song (“Pedestrian at Best” by Courtney Barnett, suggested by MinnMax supporter Tim Lorow)

Follow Matt Kato on Twitter at @MattKato

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox (edited)

Pink Floyd vs. Eyedea & Abilities (feat. Justice Harrison)

Fri, 17 Jul 2020 19:27:15 -0000

Mortality, humanity, and mental health struggles loom large over this episode’s MinnTrax albums: “By the Throat” from Minneapolis hip-hop duo Eyedea & Abilities and “Dark Side of the Moon” by classic English psych rockers Pink Floyd. They’re both really well-constructed albums that are fun to listen to in very different ways and for very different moods. Just how different is part of our discussion with Justice Harrison (Skybound Entertainment)! Our community-led segment is full of fun talk about bands we pigeonholed for some reason, favorite video game soundtracks, and if Kanye was better “before he became a genius.” Thanks to MinnMax supporter CalebMurray for suggesting this episode’s outro song!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

11:45 - “Hay Fever”

18:25 - “Spin Cycle”

23:50 - “Sky Diver”

31:45 - Eyedea vs. Brother Ali rap battle

33:40 - “Factory”

40:05 - “Junk”

43:35 - “Time Flies When You Have a Gun”

49:55 - “This Story”

58:20 - “Speak to Me”/”Breathe”

1:05:25 - “Brain Damage”

1:10:40 - “Money”

1:17:00 - “On the Run”/”Time”

1:30:20 - “The Great Gig in the Sky”

1:34:25 - “Us and Them”

1:41:55 - “Eclipse”

1:45:17 - Community questions

2:10:20 - Community song (“Crows” by The Delta Saints, suggested by MinnMax supporter CalebMurray)

Follow Justice on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lofijustice

Listen to Justice’s music on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/wirelessthetireless

Learn more about Skybound and the upcoming Skybound Xpo at https://www.skybound.com/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

The Hamilton Special (feat. Alex Boniello & Ben Hanson)

Fri, 03 Jul 2020 15:55:00 -0000

Already a smash hit, Hamilton: An American Musical is about to explode again as it becomes widely available for the first time on Disney+ today, finding a completely new audience – including our own Matt Helgeson! Our host dives into the Broadway bash for the first time with help from Ben “Hamilton is the Greatest Work of Art of All Time” Hanson and special guest, Broadway performer/producer Alex Boniello (Spring Awakening, Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown). We dig into the musical’s best tunes as well as what makes the whole package special, and field questions from the MinnMax community about underseen musicals, Kingdom Hearts, and whether or not Hamilton was hot IRL. (He wasn’t. Thanks, Kyle.)

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

28:15 - “My Shot”

44:10 - “Guns and Ships”

46:20 - “Work Work” (by clipping.)

1:00:55 - “What Comes Next?”

1:05:10 - “Satisfied”

1:09:40 - “Quiet Uptown”

1:13:45 - “Ten Duel Commandments”

1:19:50 - “Wait for It”

1:31:25 - “Cabinet Battle #2”

1:40:30 - Community questions

2:10:20 - Community song (“Atrévete-Te-Te” by Calle 13, suggested by Jason Wojnar) Links

Follow Alex on Twitter and Instagram at @alexboniello

Listen to Alex’s original music on Spotify (https://spoti.fi/3gnxtjk), Apple Music (https://apple.co/2VFdvJk), or wherever you get music

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox (edited)

Public Enemy vs. Deftones (feat. Alex Navarro)

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 22:01:25 -0000

Angry sophomore records take the stage in today’s episode! Guest Alex Navarro (Giant Bomb, None Above All) finds out what Matt thinks of Deftones’s “Around the Fur” – Alex’s favorite album by his favorite band – and Matt reintroduces Alex to Public Enemy’s incendiary “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”. They’re both albums fueled by intense emotion (largely anger) though each uses it in different ways. In our community questions segment, Alex and Matt tackle the best licensed songs we discovered through TV and movies, what affect streaming has had on how we value music we love, kicking ourselves for missing live performances, and whether or not growing up helps solidify your music tastes. Then it’s on to a funky, chill outro courtesy of our community-selected song!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

7:50 - None Above All – “Make It”

15:20 - “My Own Summer”

19:40 - “Dai the Flu”

23:40 - “Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away)”

30:00 - “Mascara”

34:30 - “Headup”

38:45 - “Lhabia”

50:10 - “911 is a Joke” (from Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet)

52:15 - “Bring the Noise”

57:10 - “Don’t Believe the Hype”

1:00:20 - “She Watch Channel Zero?!”

1:01:20 - “Rebel Without a Pause”

1:05:50 - “Security of the First World”/Madonna’s “Justify My Love”

1:13:10 - “Cold Lampin’ With Flavor”

1:15:25 - “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”

1:26:05 - “Prophets of Rage”

1:29:45 - Community questions

2:05:25 - Community song (“Cómo Me Quieres” by Khruangbin, suggested by Steven Vella)

Links

Follow Alex on Twitter at @alex_navarro and listen to the Giant Bombcast wherever you get podcasts

Listen to None Above All at https://noneaboveall.bandcamp.com/

Craig Jenkins’s review of the Nation of Millions reissue for Pitchfork: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19997-public-enemy-it-takes-a-nation-of-millions-to-hold-us-backfear-of-a-black-planet/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Help Rebuild Minneapolis/Solidarity with the George Floyd Protests

Fri, 05 Jun 2020 17:42:59 -0000

With today’s episode, we wanted to express our sympathy for the family of George Floyd, repeat our solidarity with everyone speaking out against the system that murdered him, and share a song from another time that feels relevant to our own.

Donate to the Help Rebuild Minneapolis GoFundMe to support North Minneapolis here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/minnmax-rebuilding-minneapolis

Song: John Coltrane – Alabama (from Live at Birdland, 1963)

The Kraftwerk Special (feat. Jeff Green)

Fri, 22 May 2020 15:41:36 -0000

In a slight tweak of the MinnTrax format this week, we’ve enlisted Jeff Green (1up.com, CGW, Min/Max Consulting) to commemorate the passing of Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider by taking a look at two of their most iconic albums: 1974’s Autobahn and 1981’s Computer World. We discuss what Kraftwerk’s breakout must’ve sounded like to an audience conditioned on slow jams, folk, and pop hits; the group’s surprisingly organic origins; how you even begin to track Kraftwerk’s influence on modern music; and what kept them from being just a novelty act. Then we turn to community questions to talk music movies, what’s the difference between repetitive and annoying music, and which artists our host and guest just can’t stand as people!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

4:35 - Comparing Kraftwerk to 1974’s radio hits

6:40 - “Autobahn”

9:50 - The Beach Boys connection

17:30 - “Ruckzuck”

26:50 - “Kometenmelodie 2”

30:50 - “Morgenspaziergang”

33:20 - “Mitternacht”

38:15 - “Computer World”

44:00 - “Pocket Calculator”

48:00 - “Computer Love”

54:20 - “Home Computer”

56:30 - “It’s More Fun to Compute”

1:12:20 - Community questions

1:31:55 - Community song (“Last Ones on the Dance Floor” by 3d Blast feat Maggie.wav & Father Glamor, suggested by RAWPARTEE)

Links

Follow Jeff on Twitter and twitch at @Greenspeak and find Min/Max Consulting at https://min-max.net/

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox (edited)

Jeff Buckley vs. Big Thief (feat. Kirk Hamilton)

Fri, 08 May 2020 15:50:00 -0000

It’s hard to overestimate the influence of Jeff Buckley on popular music, which is part of why guest Kirk Hamilton chose his 1994 album “Grace” for this episode of MinnTrax. Opting for a more recent challenge, Matt assigned Kirk to listen to “Two Hands,” the OTHER 2019 album from indie rock group Big Thief. With Kirk’s music theory knowledge and Matt’s indie rock experience, this episode’s for the close listeners. Just what is Jeff Buckley doing with his song structures? What does trust sound like? What do musicians gain – and lose – from polished production? And that’s all before we get to our community-driven portion, where we discuss great samples in great songs, our “desert island” albums, whether or not Kenny G. deserves the hate, and underrated one-hit wonders!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

4:35 - Jeff Buckley’s Grace

7:05 - Why Kirk picked Grace

9:45 - “Last Goodbye”

15:00 - “Grace”

19:10 - “Mojo Pin”

24:45 - “Hallelujah”

35:10 - “Eternal Life”

40:00 - “So Real”

42:00 - “Dream Brother”

45:15 - “Corpus Christi Carol”

53:15 - Big Thief’s “Two Hands”

58:15 - “Forgotten Eyes”

1:11:00 - “Not”

1:19:35 - “Wolf”

1:29:05 - “Shoulders”

1:34:30 - Community questions

1:38:30 - “Daytona 500” by Ghostface Killah feat. Raekwon & Cappadonna

1:39:30 - “Get By” by Talib Kweli

1:42:15 - “Runnin’ (Dying To Live)” by 2Pac feat. Notorious BIG

2:02:15 - Community song (“A Grave Inversed” by Ihsahn, suggested by SwankyOrc)

Links

Follow Kirk on Twitter at @kirkhamilton, listen to his podcast, Strong Songs, and support the show at patreon.com/strongsongs; listen to Triple Click and follow them at @tripleclickpod

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Antônio Carlos Jobim’s Águas de Março (Waters of March) performed by Elis Regina and Tom Jobim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBEesrdaRog

Thanks to the following Patreon supporters for their generous support of MinnMax at the $50 tier! Get your name on the list right here - https://www.patreon.com/minnmax

Captainstubs1

Iam8bit

Jawarhello

Rob Hudak

Zachary Pligge

BeatenDownBrian

TheSmak

Mark Seliga

Andrew Vala

Mirko Arico-Torreno

Jesse Vitelli

Yarrow

Michael Jacques

Adam Walker

Ludwig Roque

Andrew Sanford

Matthew Paxton

James Smith

David Lacolucci

Weird Al vs. Steely Dan (feat. Mike Drucker)

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 15:00:00 -0000

It’s [adjective + male name] versus [adjective + male name] on this episode of MinnTrax! Mike Drucker (Nintendo, Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, Saturday Night Live, Bill Nye Saves the World) brings the first cassette he ever bought, Weird Al Yankovic’s “Bad Hair Day,” to Matt’s door. Matt returns the favor with Steely Dan’s “The Royal Scam,” which Matt calls “the most ‘Steely Dan’ Steely Dan record.” Both artists are hugely influential in their fields, and their skills go far beyond schtick – but what do our host and guest think of their assignments? Then we address some great questions from our community on songs that used to annoy us that we now love, if “Amish Paradise” is inappropriate, and whether or not Weird Al should be in the hall of fame. Stick around for our community song pick, which turned Mike into an instant fan!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below…

2:40 - Weird Al’s “Bad Hair Day”

4:00 - Why Mike connected with Weird Al as a kid

9:15 - How Weird Al’s parodies have aged

14:15 - How Weird Al’s understanding of music affects his songwriting

19:40 - Discussing Weird Al’s original music

25:10 - Weird Al and polka

28:30 - Discovering mainstream music through Weird Al parodies

31:30 - Looking for the “funny” in non-comedy music

35:25 - Steely Dan’s “The Royal Scam”

37:45 - What doesn’t work for Mike about Steely Dan

38:30 - What’s the funniest song on “The Royal Scam”?

46:40 - Weird Al and Steely Dan’s shared musicianship

55:45 - Community questions

1:09:55 - Community song (“Back Pocket” by Vulfpeck, suggested by Joe Robert)

Links

Follow Mike on Twitter at @MikeDrucker

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox (edited)

Blink-182 vs. Van Morrison (feat. Kyle Hilliard)

Fri, 10 Apr 2020 17:13:47 -0000

On this episode, we welcome guest Kyle Hilliard (MinnMax and the Gaming Ride Home podcast) and one of his favorite albums, Blink-182’s breakout Enema of the State, to go head-to-head with Van Morrison’s cult hit Astral Weeks. Kyle’s love for Blink-182’s immature, do-what-we-want 1999 pop-punk smash contrasts sharply with the freeform folk-jazz storytelling that brought Matt to Van Morrison – and yet, somewhere in the mix, they find common ground in their tastes for a well-realized sound. Then in the community portion, we discuss the most important music videos, covers versus live versions, what musicals we listen to outside of the stage show, and more before heading to an old-fashioned bluegrass hoedown with a song suggested by the MinnTrax community!

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below...

3:20 - Kyle’s history with Blink-182

6:40 - Enema of the State

7:10 - How Blink-182 influenced Kyle as a drummer

11:35 - Travis Barker’s drumming

21:10 - Why What’s My Age Again? is better than All the Small Things

29:30 - Bands that take themselves too seriously

37:20 - Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks

41:40 - Astral Weeks’ jazz roots

59:20 - Two dads talking about music

1:05:00 - Community questions

1:19:30 - Community song (‘Big Country’ by Béla Fleck and the Flecktones)

Links

Listen to Gaming Ride Home wherever you get podcasts and follow the show on Twitter @GamingRideHome

Follow Kyle on Twitter at @kylemhilliard

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAD6Obi7Cag

Karate - Sever: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOKhm98kjKQ

Opeth vs. Future of the Left (feat. Bianca Ryckert)

Fri, 27 Mar 2020 20:29:37 -0000

Guest Bianca Ryckert of the Panning the Stream podcast joins Matt Helgeson to talk about heavy music through the lens of one of Matt’s favorite albums, Travels With Myself and Another by Future of the Left, while Matt tackles an album by one of Bianca’s favorite bands: Orchid, the 1995 debut album Swedish band Opeth! Along the way, they talk about how first impressions can mean a lot for how you remember your favorite bands, how much doom is too much doom, the first music they found by themselves and loved, the new genres they’re into and what hooked them, and Bianca’s brother’s band (check out Thank You Scientist wherever you get music).

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below...

1:59- Bianca’s work in games

3:46 - Bianca’s podcast, Panning the Stream

4:48 - Bianca’s brother’s band, Thank You Scientist

10:53 - Why it’s hard to call Orchid “metal”

17:37 - An abridged history of Swedish metal

31:28 - The excess of Orchid vs. the leanness of Future of the Left

53:30 - Matt and Bianca’s favorite eras of music

57:54 - Community questions - 00:57:54 1:12:00 - Community song (‘The Great Chinggis Khan’ by The HU)

Links

Support Panning the Stream on Patreon, listen wherever you get podcasts, and follow them on Twitter at @PanTheStream

Follow Bianca on Twitter at @weirdbonk

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax/

MinnTrax Episode Playlist: https://spoti.fi/2vgqfvK

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Skatt Bros. - Life At the Outpost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g81HoQ6PuR0

James Brown vs. Nas (feat. Ben Hanson)

Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:26:00 -0000

A rap classic meets a piece of soul history in the inaugural episode of MinnTrax! Host Matt Helgeson and guest Ben Hanson discuss the music they chose for each other – Ben chose James Brown’s 1971 live album Love, Power, Peace for Helgeson, while Helgeson chose Nas’ inimitable Illmatic for non rap-listener Ben – to see if they can find middle ground between the music they love and the music they’ve never heard. Then we go through some great community questions to learn more about Helgeson and Ben’s music tastes, the songs that defined their childhoods, and what streaming services mean for the future of the music industry before diving headlong into this episode’s community-suggested track. MinnTrax is produced by Jason Dafnis.

To jump to a particular discussion, check out the timestamps below...

13:02 - Why Hanson loves James Brown and Love, Power, Peace

16:25 - Why Helgeson’s loves rap and Illmatic

24:36 - The longevity of Love, Power, Peace

48:39 - The influence of Illmatic

1:07:10 - Comparing Illmatic and Love, Power, Peace head-to-head

1:21:18 - MinnTrax community questions

1:39:14 - The Community Song Of The Week - STFU! by Rina Sawayama

Support MinnMax on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/minnmax

Illmatic on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/3kEtdS2pH6hKcMU9Wioob1?si=NbExJMfhRm6SHz5gRgOOpg

Love, Power, Peace on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/album/17CzII6yMCKvKupQtq7zbW?si=P-9NJ7s_QSqekNZ4lT2m3g

MinnTrax Community Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3aRRgox

Live at the Boston Garden: April 5, 1968: https://bit.ly/2IEQJKD

James Brown’s Please, Please cape bit: https://youtu.be/vruy2GRUsV8?t=45

Rocky IV robot introducing James Brown - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbBYM3wvnrI

James Brown's I Feel All Right from Live at the Apollo II - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er_QJxMorRc

Thanks to the following Patreon supporters for their generous support of MinnMax at the $50 tier!

Iam8bit

Seth Walker

BeatenDownBrian

The Smak

Jawarhello

Mark Seliga

Jesse Vitelli

Zachary Pligge

Mirko Arico-Torreno

Rob Hudak (aka Rook)

David Lacolucci

MinnTrax - Introducing Matt Helgeson's Dueling Album Review Podcast

Mon, 02 Mar 2020 23:30:00 -0000

On this introductory episode, Matt Helgeson (former host of The Game Informer Show podcast) introduces listeners to his new music review podcast on the MinnMax network alongside MinnTrax's producer Jason Dafnis. To support the podcast and leave questions and comments for future episodes, please consider supporting MinnMax on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/minnmax