This week, as we wrap up business as usual for the year on Discologist, we’re digging into Milwaukee legends Collection Of Colonies of Bees’ latest post-dance indie release Celebrities PLUS! The UK is making moves to get rid of scalpers, Tidal begins to go down the Spotify path, and more.

This week on Discologist, we say goodbye (for now) to Philip Basnight (Broke Royals / DC Rock History Podcast) , Eduardo returns, and Light Rivers, the latest from guitarist/composer Brad Allen Williams, gives the gang a glimpse into the hippest future imaginable. PLUS! Another music site goes behind a paywall, the walls start to close in on AI music, and more.

This week on Discologist, guest-host Philip Basnight (Broke Royals / DC Rock History Podcast) and Kevin are catching a vibe with Chip Wickham’sThe Eternal Now, 9:30 Club employees (finally) push to unionize, and more.

This week on Discologist, guest-host Philip Basnight (Broke Royals / DC Rock History Podcast) and Kevin head back to the Country with Dylan Earl’s new album Level-Headed Even Smile, ponder a world that needs surround sound Phil Collins, and more.

This week on Discologist, guest-host Philip Basnight (Broke Royals / DC Rock History Podcast) and Kevin discuss McKinley Dixon’s latest hip-hop wonderland Magic, Alive, the legacy of D’Angelo, and more.

This week on Discologist, guest-host Philip Basnight (Broke Royals / DC Rock History Podcast) joins and Kevin to talk about Clementine, the latest country-rocking instant-classic from Milwaukee’s Ladybird. But first we’re discussing Taylor Swift’s latest, who a record-setting concert attended by over 110K people is really for, and more.

This week on Discologist, Eduardo and Kevin dive into the lush sonic universe of guitarist Mason Lindahl and his expansive new double album, Joshua / Same Day Walking. PLUS: A new Lilith Fair documentary revisits a pivotal chapter in musical history, Foxing bids farewell, a new award show crowns the “best” AI-generated song, and more.

This week on Discologist, Eduardo and Kevin take a trip into the whimsical electronic world of Disniblud, a new collaboration between Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith. PLUS: The Internet Archive lives to fight another day, StubHub has an IPO, we ponder where the heck Fugazi is when we need them most, and more!

This week on Discologist, Eduardo and Kevin are blissing out to the stripped-down masterpiece that is Fruit Bats’ Baby Man. PLUS: Bad Bunny takes a stand on the current state of U.S. immigration policy, we ask why they don’t make ’em like Mary Jane Girls anymore, and more!

On and all-new edition of Discologist, Eduardo and Kevin are checking in on Texas troubadour Charley Crockett’s latest, and second album of 2025, Dollar A Day PLUS! We’re discussing the economics of being an independent musician during a trade war, and more.

On the Season 17 premier of Discologist, Eduardo and Kevin catch up after a long Summer, ponder the role of critics in the modern music landscape, and discuss the wonders of Pleaser, the latest (and AOTY-contender) from Washington, D.C.’s Pretty Bitter.

Pairing one of today’s most gifted jazz guitarists (Anthony Pirog) with one of rock ‘n’ roll’s fiercest rhythm sections (Brendan Canty and Joe Lally) was always going to be a recipe for success, but on their sophomore LP Anthropocosmic Nest, Washington, D.C.’s The Messthetics are blowing past the old goals and delivering one of the most raucous and satisfying releases of the year. Wildly inventive with surprises awaiting the listener at every turn, Nest is an ecstatic proclamation of skronk-and-circumstance that says not only are The Messthetics BACK, but they’re here to stay!

Now that she’s found true love, on her new album Lover pop domineer Taylor Swift is stepping out of the shade and leaving the H8R/revenge life behind. Or is she? Avoid Swifty Eduardo Nunes joins us to talk through the good, the bad, and the awkward of Swift’s latest which ***SPOILERS*** most definitely does not “…hold the key to pop music’s survival” but also might not be that bad in the end.

On August 7, 2019, beloved indie-rock poet laureate David Berman committed suicide, leaving his family, friends, and fans devasted. Purple Mountains, a sophisticated, sad, and often hilarious look at Berman’s interior and the world at large, is the final statement from an artist whose words and songs are stitched into the DNA of an entire generation. Join as we discuss Berman’s legacy, how depression and anxiety can crush us if we're not careful, and how an album that looks unflinchingly at the abyss can still offer hope in the darkest of nights.

If you are struggling, here are few of the many organizations you can reach out to. Please reach out.

• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

• MusiCares

• Nuci’s Space

• Silence The Shame

• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

After several years working behind the scenes, the legendary Raphael Saadiq returns to the spotlight to deliver his most personal, and compelling album to date. Jerry Lee (named after his brother who was an addict who died of AIDS) takes a profoundly human look at not just the consequences of addiction, but the underlying causes. Oppression comes in many forms in this world, and Saadiq explores that theme with compassion, an understanding of just how deeply all of us are connected, and a belief that it is only love that can save us in the end.

Austin, TX's Mike and The Moonpies have come a long way from playing the dancehalls of their native Texas. On their new LP, Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold, the quintet is leaving the honky-tonk behind and exploring the sounds of smoothed out 70's Country with the help of their friends the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded at the famed Abbey Road Studios, Cheap Silver is bringing countrypolitan "back" in a big way, and the results are a timeless listen that is also one of the years best.  

For their 15th album (and 2nd this year), Australia’s King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard take yet another musical turn, this time into THRASH METAL. Infest The Rat’s Nest has everything: HUGE CRUSHING RIFFS! THUNDERING DRUMS! SCI-FI ECO-DIMENSIONAL HORROR! It even has SATAN!

But it’s that second-to-last point that’s so important. Somehow, impossibly, King Gizzard has made a metal album that not only sounds timeless but speaks to the horrors we’re all going to face as man-made climate change runs its course. Metal enthusiast Casey Rae (William Burroughs and The Cult Of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Dead To Me) joins us as we follow King Gizzard down the highway towards oblivion on an all-new episode of Discologist!

On their seventh album (and first in five years) The Hold Steady isn’t so much “We’re BACK mother****ers!” as they are “Alright. Alright. Alllllright”-ing their way back into our hearts.

Thrashing Thru The Passion finds the band sporting a slightly looser and expanded sound (horns!) and songwriter Craig Finn’s druggy, party-filled universe, a little older, a little beat down, but no less full of life. Join us as we dig into all of the good, bad, and magical highs found on the “return” of one of America’s most celebrated bands.

Sleepwalkers 2014 LP Greenwood Shade was, and remains, one of our favorites of the past few years. Finally five years later their follow up, Ages, is here and it was well worth the wait. While Shade wore its shagginess on its sleeve, Ages sees brothers Michael and Austin York and co-conspirator Alex DeJong polishing up the edges and delivering the power-pop masterpiece we deserve just when we need it the most. Get ready to experience a record that surprises at every turn as Kevin and Eduardo go IN on this instant classic.

PLUS! LA supergroup Grand Canyon has a new EP out, and fans of Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, and [checks notes] Guns N’ Roses (?) are going to want to check them out. We’ve got their latest single “Yesterday’s News” to get you acquainted.

Chris Rosenau (Collections of Colonies Of Bees, Volcano Choir) and Nick Sanborn (Sylvan Esso, Made Of Oak) have traveled in the same creative circles for years now, but it was an off-the-cuff improv set at the inaugural Eaux Claires fest that has led to one of the most powerful releases of 2019, Bluebird. The open window and doors of the small North Carolina studio that Bluebird was recorded in gives the EP a sense of place in the world, but it is the magic weaved between Rosenau’s guitar and Sanborn’s electronic wizardry that pulls the listener wholly out of time and space into a moment of creation that is unlike anything you’re likely to experience this year.