Cut Me Some Slack EP 45 October 1st 2014

Episode 67's theme was based around the band "Garbage". As well as a couple of cracking tunes from the aforementioned, there's also songs from Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie and The Subways. On the show we get into musical culture shock, the great state of Wisconsin, Cheese and Beer, the orgins of how our featured bands got together, YTS schemes (I know, I know...)., the perils of the music business, the right place right time theory, and just how picky Butch Vig is when it comes to getting the 'sound right'. Enjoy the show!

On This week's show we went 'behind the desk' and featured 3 producers from the UK. Flood, Youth, and Trevor Horn to be more exact. There's also some great music from artists who have been produced by the aforementioned fellas. A nice, well-rounded, and somewhat eclectic mix of music with tunes from The Hours, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Killing Joke, The Verve, and ABC. We also delve into the murky waters of Stock, Aitken, & Waterman (but no music thankfully), Pink Floyd, U2, difficult recording sessions, indulgent lifestyle choices, the early days of sequencing, the oddly named The Verve Pipe, and the joys of being from Wigan. Enjoy the show!

This week's Cut Me Some Slack revolves around the band The Waterboys. There's music from the band themselves and a couple of tracks from their new album 'Modern Blues'. A real return to form. To start things off, there's a couple of great songs from Karl Wallinger's 'World Party'. Wallinger performed with The Waterboys in their early days (A Pagan Place/This Is The Sea) before launching his solo project. Closing the show, there's a cover of perhaps The Waterboys best known song, The Whole Of The Moon. Terry Reid's name may not be that well known? Let's just say Jimmy Page wanted him to be the 'first' voice of Led Zeppelin... There's also not wanting to talk about Robbie Williams (for obvious reasons), The Eagles, songs that remind you of certain times and places, ecological flavour (whatever that is...), Nashville musicians and plenty more... Enjoy the show!

"It's like, how much more black could this be?"... Sadly not a Spinal Tap episode, but one where the theme revolves around bands with 'black' in their names. With music from The Black Cadillacs, (Belgium's) Black Box Revelation, and The Black Angels... there's a good mix of genres and styles to the show. In this episode we also go into "Jam In The Van", a very neat, mobile recording setup, plus talk of all things Belgian - Jacques Brel, Django Reinhardt but not Jean Claude Van Damme. The Black Angels close the show with a song that was featured in the recent HBO show "True Detective". A nice, dark way to end. Enjoy the show! Craig

First episode of the New Year features some great music from Spoon, Strand of Oaks, and Cloud Nothings. Ben and I chat about The Wacky Races, chasing your food around the plate, "cult bands",pretentious music critics and gastronomical rock...(true headline). There's a little about the recent Dave Grohl documentary series "Sonic Highways" and plenty more in-between. Some good tunes on the show...enjoy!

The last show of 2014 (or the Hogmanay Special, if you will)features some of the tracks and bands that got away from us during the year. Music from 5 different artists and a good mix of styles to end the year. Music from Bahamas (Stronger Than That) and the accompanying video is well worth checking out. Reigning Sound's 'North Cackalacky Girl'is next and we talk about what that name actually means. The excellent Mike Farris track 'River Jordan' from his Grammy nominated album "Shine For All The People" and his crowdfunding project to fund it were next. Some literary connection from Dum Dum Girls and 'Rimbaud Eyes' and we close the show with Cumbernauld band "Dead Man Fall" and their most excellent song "Bang Your Drum". We also mull over how the band got on to The Craig Ferguson Show, where do bands get their names from, and videos that should have at least 1 million views. Enjoy the show!

The Christmas Eve edition of Cut Me Some Slack sees us feature Depeche Mode. There's also music from Crosses and Nine Inch Nails (who were influenced by Depeche Mode), and closing the show with a track from Yazoo. We celebrate a darker, slightly Gothic vibe to Christmas Eve where we talk about Depeche Mode's new album Live In Berlin. The Delta Machine Tour in 2013 played to over 2.4 million people, in 32 countries, and grossed $150 million in sales. No mean feat... We also cover the awfulness of Simon Cowell, The Human League, Krautrock, the joys of being weird in a rock'n'roll band, Anton Corbijn's work as a photographer and movie director, and closing the show with Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet's band - Yazoo. Enjoy the show...

This week's show favours a Canadian theme, as well as some great blues and rock. The 3 bands of choice were The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer, The Tragically Hip, and July Talk. As well as waxing lyrical about how great The Hip are, we also talk about how (or why) they've not become as big outside of Canada. There's also talk of sonic experimentation, the I-IV-V, Howlin' Wolf,and odd nicknames. The Tragically Hip have re-issued their 3rd album 'Fully Completely' and we play one of the un-released tracks from it, alongside a personal favourite - 'Pigeon Camera'. Plenty of Hip chat...and if you're not familiar with either July Talk or The Harpoonist and The Axe Murderer, definitely give them a listen. Enjoy the show!

This week's show revolves around the theme of The Black Crowes. With music from the aforementioned TBC, there' also tunes from Trigger Hippy, and Rich Robinson. As well as some great tracks there's also mention of Keef Richards' 'riffage', supergroups, The Space Family Robinson, swampy groove thangs, and the joys of open E tuning. Enjoy the show.

Our weekly show from Seoul, South Korea that covers something different from the music world. Arguably one of the best shows we've done so far...This week's theme was based around artists who have featured in biopics or have been the subject of some recent documentaries. This really gave me the chance to play some tunes from some fantastic artists including; James Brown (Soul Power), Jimi Hendrix (Mojo Man), Gil Scott Heron (The Bottle), Wilson Pickett (Hey Jude with Duane Allman), and Bobby Womack closing the show (Across 110th Street). During the show we talk about how significant a figure James Brown is outside of the music world and the "The March Against Fear". Hendrix's work with The Ghetto Fighters and the recent biopic "All Is By My Side". Wilson Pickett and Duane Allman and the documentary 'Muscle Shoals'. Gil Scott Heron's unique spoken word style, and Bobby Womack's iconic "Across 110th Street" rounds things off. Enjoy the show.