cabbage and shame

Beginning 2021 by continuing their mini-series on lyric writing, Will and Nathan welcome Vicky Kavanagh from Bikini Body on to the show to talk about her approach to lyric writing and what makes good and 'effective' lyrics. In the episode they also cover different interpretations by listeners, narrative vs abstract lyrics, jeering on audiences and purposefully writing for clarity or ambiguity. Finally, they finish by giving tips to new artists on how they can get started. If you enjoy listening to Vicky chat about her lyrics, make sure to check our Bikini Body on your music platform of choice and buy their music on Bandcamp! Will and Nathan rated it their no. 2 EP of 2020, so it must be good.

Here's the playlist for tracks talked about in this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/56XXbqz66k1RmuX0MQlAMG?si=l36EOJsWRQGUzPLEQ5WVyA

After having handed out the EP medals (well done, Legss, Bikini Body & Document <3) in the previous episode, Will and Nathan round out 2020 with their favourite 5 albums of 2020 and a pair of honourable mentions. As ever, they attempt to explain a little bit of context around some of their choices. If you like our lists or have differing opinions, get in touch with us on Instagram: @cabbageandshame! Happy New Year!

Playlist of some cuts from the albums: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2HXVX6wio5s27mc1AnWTvh?si=GliCRdEVToyjO5Ga7KrDAg

With Will having finally bought himself a mic, the hosts run down their favourite EPs of 2020. They've assembled 4 honourable mentions (which they couldn't rank one above another) and their top 3 of the year. Not much else to say, really. Come and hear what they are and what they've got to say!

Playlist of all EPs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0kIb5jwsBFVGDLgC6tbmyR?si=7lqRo06YRdiXgllD4M3NLg

After several technical difficulties including 2 lost recordings and 1 recording device switch, Will and Nathan finally managed to get Liza's recording working, allowing our hosts and now regular contributor to crack on with talking about Molchat Doma's latest album, Монумент (Monument). Molchat Doma recently found a new burst of fame, going viral on both Russian-language and English-language TikTok despite only making songs in Russian.  Is this new album capitalising on new fans and their wallets, is it an expression of the 'true' Molchat Doma sound or is it just a distillation of their sound to reset and plan for the future?

We compare Molchat Doma to other contemporary cold wave artists and evaluate how the band's releases and influences stack up against their own progenitor: Kino. Nathan also delivers his favourite rant on album closers, highlighting the closer to Pottery's debut album, Welcome to Bobby's Motel.

Here's the playlist link for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0KFqy34z9V1LNqNNJJIS5G

East by Silent Partner is the intro track.

Beginning a new lyric-focussed miniseries, Will and Nathan take a deeper dive into lyrics from a few songs to talk about their introspective qualities. In a related fashion, Will and Nathan talk about how valid their own interpretations of these lyrics are in the context of what the writers intended when penning them. If the writer meant one thing, but we find another meaning, who's right? Does the writer's original meaning trump ours or are our personal readings of these lyrics just as if not more important?

Here's the playlist of the songs we focussed on this episode. It's only 5 songs, but it might help find some elusive songs. cough Famous cough.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0XStf4iCIrf2TLTbaK5K2U?si=pkw6R-jWRVyHp7iU5dlAlg

Also, the video on story telling here: 

In the spirit of the spookiest of seasons, Will and Nathan assemble a list of recent post-punk tracks that they particularly enjoy.  They open with a brief piece of post-punk Hallowe'en history with a story about one of the finest soundtrack composers, Danny Elfman. Nathan took the editing reins this episode and started experimenting with intro/outro tracks and some seasonal sound effects. Do give us feedback on our Instagram page (@cabbageandshame) about it!

As mentioned in the episode, we've put the tracks we talked about and more post-punk tracks from throughout the ages into a special Hallowe'en post-punk playlist! Content warning: this playlist contains songs which some people may find and disturbing. In particular Prolix contains the sounds of someone having a panic attack. If you are prone to anxiety, you may want to remove Prolix, Careful, and City Song from your queue.  Here's the link, enjoy at your leisure and please obey all your local health guidelines to stay safe: 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3hhhlcwywUQn04JYLBhacc

Having started talking about The Cool Greenhouse, Will and Nathan struggled so much to stop doing so that they recorded a bonus episode after the main episode. In this bonus episode, they talk about The Cool Greenhouse's latest single, Alexa!, as well as talking about how they got into post-punk in the first place!

No playlist for the bonus episode, alas, please see the playlist for S1E5!

After having said they would cover The Cool Greenhouse's album more than once in previous episodes, Will and Nathan finally do and in a particularly rambling session. Will admits that he probably should have cut more out of this episode than he did (which was very little). Come listen to the hosts wax lyrical about how much they love The Cool Greenhouse and somehow managing to not fall into the trap of comparing them to The Fall. 

Have you listened to The Cool Greenhouse's debut self-titled album? Because you absolutely should.

Here's the playlist for this episode. Spoiler: it's a lot of The Cool Greenhouse and one bonus track not by The Cool Greenhouse. Enjoy! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0WjGvLKHq6lVbOp4DBpFsM?si=V_DRV3vCShug-hhSWoJOCQ

After taking a phenomenally long time to edit and release their previous episode Will and Nathan are back, postponing their plans to talk about smaller releases, and instead channelling their inner Anthony Fantanos to review some of the biggest and best new releases of late 2020.

They start with IDLES' newest album, ULTRA MONO, a much anticipated album unfortunately not still named Toneland (those rubes...). Does it live up to the hype? Do they love it, do they hate it? Come and find out!

Will and Nathan also express their opinions about Working Men's Club's self-titled debut album which was recently released on Heavenly Recordings after several setbacks and delays. No clickbait here! It's fantastic! Give it a listen!

They also briefly cover Cabbage's somewhat disappointing latest album before jumping into what may be the best EP of late 2020: Legss' latest EP, Doomswayers.

As always, here's the playlist for this episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7mitg6CepypnPheR9K4iQ8?si=GWd8eC_HTo2nninjFCW4KA

This episode was recorded August 2nd before Will disappeared into the wild reaches of northern Scotland, leaving Nathan to edit the project. Nathan's editing skills are best described as slow, rudimentary, and yet overly ambitious (Will sympathises). This combined with IRL events like searching for (and finding--sighs in relief) gainful employment are why this episode is a wee bit late.

Nonetheless, we hope you enjoy our review of Fontaines D.C.'s newest album, A Hero's Death. The playlist for this episode is still being put together but will be updated here shortly.

Intro & outro music is East by Silent Partner.

Links for this episode:

• A Hero's Death: https://open.spotify.com/album/1TG1jA82COlOCK63DjmiT3?si=q1UidiIWSz6zGJIFkeI-yQ
• Episode playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/31197AEJgvL8k7tF9tHFDM?si=yS5O7-YgScixs1ROCE2lKw

Joined by our friend, Liza Kupreeva, we discuss cold wave as pioneered by Eastern European bands like Molchat Doma, Ploho and Motorama, as well as American counterparts John Maus and Boy Harsher. We try to define what the current cold wave scene entails, covering a bit of history on the origins of rock behind the Iron Curtain along the way. We also take a crack at explaining the differences are between cold wave and the post-punk currently coming out of the UK and ask why cold wave is so bloody popular in Latin America. (Spoiler: we still don't know.)

Links mentioned in the show:

* Public Practice's previous band, WALL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLGZF1HgPwo
* How Belarusian Post-Punks Molchat Doma Became a TikTok Meme from Pitchfork: https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/how-belarusian-post-punks-molchat-doma-became-a-tiktok-meme/

Check out the S1E2 playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/73wGxrwhrI2Qb9QKTRV66Y?si=NnHHw9pwQmuMD7HNw5bMGQ

We talk about what constitutes the current post-punk revival scene, particularly in the UK. We discuss both what influenced the music that's coming out right now, which publications are reporting on it and which labels, venues and stations are playing it. (Particular shout outs to So Young Magazine and Speedy Wunderground.) 

Find all the music we talked about in this episode in our Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4v79OCFkSbsAidOCXiWl1Q?si=1O2DxdJkSBi_yrIYvJ-AYw!