Chorus Vs. Chorus

We try to convince each other that our treasure isn't the other host's trash. Featuring music from Billie Eilish, Solange, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and more.

50 episodes. 50 states. 100 songs. Two wives. Two wife guys.

Featuring music from Loretta Lynn, Nina Simone, Violent Femmes, Wu Tang Clan, Lightning Bolt, Ronny James Dio, Howlin' Wolf, The Shins, and so much more.

We explain the meaning of life. Spoiler alert: it’s subscribing to our show. The categories are: (1) birth; (2) youth; (3) adulthood; (4) death. Tune in to find out which of these stages your hosts have experienced! Featuring music from T. Rex, Faye Webster, Indigo de Souza, and more.

On the role of humor in music, where we make sure in the process to be as absolutely unfunny as possible. Given your hosts, that wasn't a challenge. The categories are: (1) a funny song that is good; (2) a good song that is funny; (3) an unintentionally funny song. Featuring music from The Lonely Island, Tom Lehrer, Disturbed, and more.

Charles Frantz returns for our very first sequel. In the first "Guilt," we hedged our bets; we weren't vulnerable enough. So, like in any good sequel, we went Bigger, Bolder, Meaner, Braver. In a word: Guiltier. Featuring songs from Limp Bizkit, Fergie, John Mayer, and more.

Hop in with your hosts for one last look at ten tracks (and then some) that made 2022 a great musical year for twenty-twenty-me and twenty-twenty-you. Featuring music from Djo, Doechii, Spoon, Steve Lacy, Katie Sin, and more.

It's our superlatives episode, and we're foreseeing the future of music with some classic yearbook prediction phrases: (1) most improved player; (2) class clown; (3) most likely to succeed. See you at the pool party! Featuring music from Beyoncé, Wet Leg, Tyler the Creator, and more.

We make like Leo DiCaprio and point at things we recognize, celebrating the art of art that talks about other art, or, in other words, songs that reference: (1) another song's lyrics; (2) another song's musical idea; (3) something from another medium. Featuring music from Amy Winehouse, Built to Spill, Danny Brown, and more. 

An examination of that timeless truism: necessity is the Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention (exact phrasing still under review). Our three categories are about what happens when musicians impose limitations on their creative processes, and how that can enrich their modes of expression: (1) songs that use only one chord; (2) melodies that use only one note; (3) songs that use only one instrument. Featuring music from Harry Nilsson, The Killers, Dean Martin, and more.

We’re humbled to be joined by all-around creative supernova Jeffrey Lewis (tinyurl.com/jeff-lewis-cvc) to choose three songs each that tell an amazing story. Featuring music by The Fall, Slick Rick, Bobbie Gentry, and more. (The interview in this episode has been edited and condensed for clarity).

Returning champion Evan Salazar helps us veer off the beaten path with demos, b-sides, and other rare delights from artists we love. Our categories are best: (1) b-side; (2) demo; (3) alternate recording. Featuring music from A.M. Gately, Joni Mitchell, Gram Parsons, and more.

A tour through the birth and re-births of audio recording technology, and how the media of listening to music have shaped, exploded, and rearranged the ways in which people make the music itself. The categories are the four distinct epochs of sound recording: (1) The Acoustic Era; (2) The Electric Era; (3) The Magnetic Era; (4) The Digital Era. Featuring music from Mamie Smith, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Madonna, and more.

We rappel into the uncanny valley to explore songs that violate expectations and have certain qualities that don't seem like they belong. Our categories are songs that are: (1) oddly pretty; (2) oddly moving; (3) oddly familiar; (4) oddly successful. Featuring music from Caetano Veloso, Sly & the Family Stone, and more.

On the concept of missing elements from music. Our categories are songs that are missing: (1) bass; (2) drums; (3) key band members; and (4) the musician themselves. Featuring music by The Replacements, Connie Converse, Lenine, and more.

Do you like bass? Well, so did Carol Kaye, one of the dozens of legendary session musicians we'll be profiling on today's episode, where we explain the hidden histories behind the following squads of hired-gun studio instrumentalists: (1) The Wrecking Crew; (2) The Nashville A-Team; (3) The Funk Brothers; (4) The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Featuring music from The Association, Roy Orbison, The Gants, and more.

Hey, scene kids: is your favorite pastime telling anyone who'll listen that you were one of five people present at Commander Venus' first show at the Sokol? Did you live in Athens in 1981 and know Michael Stipe's acupuncturist? Were you in gym class with Timbaland? Were you always... there? Then let's talk about four small American towns that, against all odds, have produced some of the most important music of the past 50 years: (1) Omaha, NE (2) Athens, GA (3) Virginia Beach, VA (4) Bakersfield, CA. Featuring music from Cursive, Aaliyah, Merle Haggard, and more.

We're joined by bard of all things brütal Luke Henley (Sex Headaches, Fibber) to discuss songs that rock, songs that stink, and the important ways in which artists sequence the music on their albums. Our categories are: (1) best first track; (2) best ‘side A’ closer; (3) best final track. Featuring music from In Solitude, Baby Huey, Lauryn Hill, and more.

We're joined by Charles Frantz to explore what it actually means to feel guilty about the media we consume, touching on songs by problematic faves, shameless sugar pop, room-clearing nuisances, and evilest of all: Shaggy. The categories are: (1) guilty guilty pleasures; (2) guiltless guilty pleasures; (3) should I feel guilty about this?

We’re joined by Nana Adjoa, the versatile and virtuosic Dutch indie rock musician dubbed this month by NPR a “Name You Should Know” and a "2021 Artist to Watch." Nana took the time to chat with us about her skill with multiple instruments; her extraordinary new album, “Big Dreaming Ants"; and, because she is such a solo visionary, songs by artists who execute full control over their music. We explore our favorite songs by an artist who: (1) plays every instrument; (2) sings every vocal part; (3) self-produces their tracks. (The interview in this episode has been edited and condensed for clarity).

We hawk a miracle tonic for all those songwriters stuck in a rut. Chord progressions stale? Emotional climax unreachable? Song not "karaoke-ready"? Try modulation – otherwise known as a key change!  The categories are key changes that are most: (1) joyful (2) cheap (3) emotional (4) unexpected. Featuring music from O-Town, David Bowie, The Beta Band, and more.

We hope you’ll join us for a year-end wrap-up episode as organized as our country’s COVID-19 response and as cohesive as our populace’s mask compliance. No categories, no competition – just 10 songs that we loved, that we needed, that got us through this Kevin Federline of a year. Auld lang syne, suckas! Featuring music from Nana Adjoa, Antibalas, Ohmme, and more.

We're doing it live. Joining us is Nicole Feinberg, fellow Semite and chronic venue hopper, to celebrate the experience we so dearly miss right now: paying $18 for a Stella Artois, waiting through two hours of opening bands, and losing your nice spot in the crowd to go to the bathroom. In this episode, we explore live songs that are: (1) Better than the original (2) Revisions of the studio version (3) With audience participation. Featuring music from Jill Scott, Ween, Vulfpeck, and more.

This week, we take our show undercover, celebrating that brazen artistic move that traces all the way back to music's oldest roots in folk tradition. NOTE: Quiet Riot was not harmed during the making of this podcast. (1) Best faithful cover (2) Best revisionist cover (3) Cover that shouldn't work, but somehow does (4) Cover that's better than the original. Featuring music from Aretha Franklin, Ministry, Punch Brothers, and more.

For this edition of our hebdomadal aural disport, we submit a peregrination with a duplet of "word nerds," who, by all measures, endeavor to expound, confabulate, and altogether regale you – their illustrious listenership — with a cortège of supercilious, archaic, and, regrettably, vexatious vocables. You read it right the first time: this week we’re talking about big fancy words. We find songs that best fit the definitions of the following: (1) Nacreous (2) Obstreperous (3) Rhadamanthine (4) Meretricious.

We undertake a reconnaissance mission to the perilous area known as the Friend Zone. We discuss the findings with camaraderie enthusiast, music lover, and... friend?... Su Chisebuka. The categories are songs that involve: (1) the ideal friendship; (2) a friend fight; (3) the friend zone. Featuring music from OutKast, Souther, Dolly Parton, and more.

Tie an onion around your belt, fix yourself a tall glass of malk, and sprint your way to the couch — on this week’s episode, we’re exploring The Simpsons’ finest musical moments, along with its terrifying lows, dizzying highs, and creamy middles: (1) Best guest musician (2) Best song featured in an episode (3) Best original song. Guest starring Evan Salazar, a comic artist and chair moistener from Sector 7G.

We take our first deep dive into one artist, and pray we don't ascend too fast. A discussion about the following aspects of Radiohead's legacy: (1) Best Thom Yorke mumble (2) Best Radiohead bleep-bloop (3) Prettiest moment (4) Best lyrical image (5) Best Radiohead song.

We're joined by Matt Silcock (⁠Blastitude⁠) to consider the histories, ethos, and rosters of the following legendary record labels: (1) Chess Records (2) SST Records (3) Flying Nun Records (4) Drag City. Take a tour with us through a brief history of Chicago blues and R&B, American underground punk, New Zealand guitar-pop, Midwestern indie, and so much more in between. Featuring songs from Fontella Bass, Royal Trux, Bad Brains, and more.

A tour through five rhythms that have influenced generations of percussionists and songwriters: (1) the Purdie shuffle (2) the Bo Diddley (3) The "Rock 'n' Roll Part 2" (4) the Motorik (5) the four-on-the-floor. Tune in for fun with Bernard Purdie, an explanation about why saying "disco sucks!" is rooted in racism, and a discussion about whether Gary Glitter is going to hell (spoiler: he is). Featuring music from Cheap Trick, Alabama Shakes, and more.

We pluck notes out of the air and give them a lick, analyzing music for all its gustatory and epicurean delight: (1) Salty (2) Sweet (3) Sour (4) Bitter (5) Umami. Featuring songs from The Waterboys, Frank Ocean, and more.

Joining us is ⁠Jim Vendiola⁠: filmmaker, music connoisseur, and – as a former Floridian – refugee from the Margaritaville compound. In this episode, we stage an intervention for fans of four widely-derided musicians, offering alternatives to these artists that we hope will either open doors to new discoveries, or at least supplement your midnight cry-sessions to the DMB's "Crash Into Me”: (1) Nickelback (2) Dave Matthews Band (3) John Mayer (4) Jimmy Buffet. Featuring music from Link Wray, Rodrigo Amarante, Allen Toussaint, and more.

Singer/songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist Katie In joins us to explain not only what the seasons are, but in what order they go. Is it Summer, Winter, Fall, and Spring? Or is it Spring, Winter, Fall, and Winter II? No one actually knows for sure, but you can tune in to hear the latest findings! Featuring music from Blind Willie Johnson, Pastor T.L. Barrett, Anna Wise, and more.

We examine five legendary artists and trace the lineage of their influence, exploring how these particular musicians – and their artistic visions, songwriting styles, and relationships with culture – inspired and opened doors for later generations: (1) Chuck Berry (2) David Bowie (3) Talking Heads (4) Prince (5) Kendrick Lamar. Featuring music from Roy Orbison, Remi Wolf, The Go-Go-s, and more.

The histories, mechanics, and exemplary uses of the following instruments: (1) Harpsichord (2) Mellotron (3) Theremin (4) Accordion (5) A non-instrument. This episode features music from Fiona Apple, Walt Dickerson, Nine Inch Nails, Luiz Gonzaga, and more.

We’re joined by A.J. Johnson, a Seattle-based immigrants' rights advocate now, a Chuck-Taylor-white-outing, circle-pit-slamming punk forever. We discuss concepts of justice, with songs about: (1) Prisoners (2) Police brutality (3) Immigration (4) A U.S. president.

We all know the feeling: you're in an amazing band but the lead guitarist is holding you back, naysaying your idea to incorporate medieval hurdy-gurdy into your latest EDM song. Take a page from the alumni of the following groups, who broke off to form solo careers: (1) The Beatles (2) Wu-Tang Clan (3) Outkast (4) NWA (5) The Mickey Mouse Club.

Songs that use the literary tools in the author’s toolkit. On the syllabus is: (1) Metaphor; (2) Onomatopoeia; (3) Assonance / Consonance; (4) Volta; (5) Synecdoche / Metonymy. Featuring songs by Weyes Blood, Aretha Franklin, and more.

Joining us is John Schaffner, a professional chef who came prepared with morsels for both the palate and the ossicles: (1) Appetizers (2) Entree (3) Dessert (4) Drinks.

We're back with five quarantine-inspired categories about isolation, with each host proposing a superlative song for the following: (1) One-person band (2) Romantic isolation (3) Staying indoors (4) Isolated instruments (5) Community.