CrossFade: The Dueling Album Review Show – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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

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 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)

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.

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 - 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”

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!

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 - 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

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

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 - 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)

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:

• https://twitter.com/John_Carson
• https://www.twitch.tv/johncarsongames

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

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 - 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)

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.

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.

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’

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

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!

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 - 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

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.

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 - 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"

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)