Episode Discussion Topics:

– Christmas music.

– Love Actually facts.

– Artist credibility & Christmas albums.

Tracks: Bleachers’ “Merry Christmas, Please Don’t Call” Sufjan Steven’s “Christmas in the Room”

Further Listening/Reading: Bleachers Richard Curtis’s Love Actually (2003) Sufjan Stevens Sufjan Stevens & Lowell Brams’ Aporia (2020) Sufjan Stevens’ Songs for Christmas (2006 Sufjan Stevens’ Silver & Gold, 2012 George Saunders’ “Chicago Christmas, 1984,” The New Yorker (2003) Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 37 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– Christmas music.

– When we listen to Christmas music.

– The history of Christmas music.

– Die Hard facts.

Tracks: The Oh Hellos’ “Mvmt I: “Rejoice! Rejoice!”” Run–D.M.C.’s “Christmas In Hollis”

Further Listening/Reading: The Oh Hellos “Joy to the World” “Coventry Carol” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” The 2025 Essay Daily Advent Calendar Run–D.M.C. John McTiernan’s Die Hard (1988) Nadia Khomami’s "British public’s verdict is in: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie," The Guardian (2025) David Mickey Evans’ The Sandlot (1993)

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 36 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– The historical timeline of Punk music.

– The aesthetic of Punk music.

– The impact and legacy of Punk music.

– Post Punk & New Wave

Tracks: Geese’s “Trinidad” Wire’s “Pink Flag”

Further Listening/Reading: Ramones Patti Smith Sex Pistols The Clash The Damned Geese’s Getting Killed Mike Nagel’s “Orientation” at The Rumpus, Oct. 2, 2025 Mike Nagel’s Duplex, 2022 Mike Nagel’s “Culdesac,” 2024 Autofocus press Michael Wheaton, writer Little Engines magazine Adam Voith, writer Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, 1982 Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1996 New Order The Cure The Chameleons Depeche Mode Talking Heads The Rolling Stone’s 2003 Top 500 (#412) vs. The Rolling Stone 2020 Top 500 (#310) Chuck Klosterman’s book But What If We're Wrong? Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy, 1986 Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization, 1981

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 35 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– Brian Jonestown Massacre

– Psychedelic Rock

– Positionality in music

Tracks: Brian Jonestown Massacre’s “Anemone” Brian Jonestown Massacre’s “Pish”

Further Listening/Reading:

Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Their Satanic Majesties’ Second Request (2008)

Ondi Timoner’s Dig! (2004)

The Dandy Warhols

Jamie Thompson’s “The Missing Kayaker: What Happened to Ryan Borgwardt?” at The Atlantic

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 34 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– Hating vs. loving Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.

– The inherent power of live performances.

– AI and learning spaces.

Tracks: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s “Haunt” Water From Your Eyes’ “Nights in Armor”

Further Listening/Reading: Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl Water From Your Eyes’ It’s a Beautiful Place This Is Lorelai Thanks for Coming Sean Cho A.’s “Human Error Is the Point: On Teaching College During the Rise of AI” at The Rumpus, Oct. 2, 2025 Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin’s The Chair Company, 2025 Zach Kanin, Joe Kelly, and Sam Richardson’s Detroiters, 2017-2018

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 33 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– Penny & Sparrow.

– Horror films.

– Harmony.

Tracks: Penny & Sparrow’s “Jeopardy” Penny & Sparrow’s “Cheers to Good Friends”

Concert Set List Playlist

Further Listening/Reading:

(James really wants you to listen to this Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl

Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone, 2021

Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, 2024

Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, 2024

Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep, 2019

Ti West’s X Trilogy: X (2022), Pearl (2022), and MaXXXine (2024)

Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017)

Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980)

Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002)

Penny & Sparrow’s “Creature”

Jill Christman’s “The Avocado” from Fourth Genre 16.1, 2014

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 32 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– The 1980s.

– The cultural veneer of the 1980s vs. the actuality of the 1980s.

– Ted Williams

– 1986 Youth Cinema

Tracks: Prince and the Revolution’s “Kiss” The Cure’s “Charlotte Sometimes”

Further Listening/Reading:

Prince’s Under the Cherry Moon, 1986

1986 Hot 100

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs of All Time

Richard Ben Cramer’s “What Do You Think of Ted Williams Now?” Esquire, 1986

4121 Utah Street, San Diego, CA

Madonna’s “True Blue,” 1986

Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me, 1986

John Hughes’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986

Tim Hunter’s River’s Edge, 1986

River’s Edge Soundtrack

Adam Curtis’s Shifty

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 31 Playlist

Episode Discussion Topics:

– Melancholy/sad songs.

– Color and contrast to position story.

– Organizing artforms by emotion.

Tracks: Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car” DUG’s “In Memorium”

Further Listening/Reading:

Wong Kar-Wai’s In the Mood for Love

Thom Yorke's defense of sad music

Ander Monson’s “The Sadnesses of March: In Search of Extreme Emotions”

2016 March Sadness Essay Tournament

Playlists:

Ongoing Pod Playlist

Episode 30 Playlist