Rock Writ (podcast)

In 2022 there are so many top notch podcasts, mixes and streaming radio options that trying to consume them all is a recipe for madness or, at the very least, chronic sleep deprivation. With so much choice, I suspect that we may already be living in the era of Momus's Famous For Fifteen People. Over the last year or so, Canadian Armen Svadjian's excellent "podcast exploring rock criticism and old-school fanzine culture", Rock Writ, has become an essential listen here at Not Unloved. Over its 20 episodes (and counting!), Armen has interviewed luminaries such as Mike Stax of legendary 60s garage/psych zine Ugly Things, Jay Hinman of D.I.Y./punk bibles Superdope and Dynamite Hemorrhage (new issue out now!), not to mention Scotland's very own early fanzine heavyweights, Lindsay Hutton (The Next Big Thing) and Brian Hogg (Bam Balam/Strange Things Are Happening). The conversations always prove illuminating and Armen - a former zine writer himself - is a friendly and knowledgeable host who enables his guests to tell their stories via a series of astute questions and observations. There hasn't been an episode so far that hasn't had me scurrying to ebay on the hunt for back issues of whichever publication is being discussed. It really makes you yearn for a return to the days when Tower Records or Borders Books had shelves devoted to small run zines and, of course, makes you kick yourself for not picking up more of them when they were freely available.

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Listen to Rock Writ here

That Record Got Me High (podcast)

That Record Got Me High came to Not Unloved's attention when Tim Hinely (of Dagger zine fame) had the good sense to select Galaxie 500's landmark debut album as his topic of discussion. The format of the show is simple: an invited guest selects an album of their choice to listen to and discuss in detail with host, Rob Elba (and, previously, former Moe Tucker and Jad Fair collaborator, Barry Stock), Episodes are just over an hour in length and Elba is a great host who is cheerful and never overbearing. Pleasingly, he doesn't fall into the trap that so many other music podcasters do of trying to assert their knowledge and opinions over those of their guests. In fact, it's really refreshing to hear Elba admit to not having prior knowledge of some of the chosen albums. The periods in 2020 and 2021 when going out to live shows wasn't a possibility provided plenty of time for catching up with previous episodes of That Record Got Me High. Some of Not Unloved's favourites are:

Marc Masters is a tremendous music journalist and a wholly positive voice on Twitter. His discussions on albums by The Chills and Half Japanese were super-enjoyable.

Former Blake Babies and Lemonheads drummer (and President of Rounder Records!) John P Strohm selected The Byrds "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" and brought it to life with passion and insight.

Steve Michener was lucky enough to play bass with three fabulous 80s/90s US indie-rock touchstones: Volcano Suns, Big Dipper and Dumptruck. The Vulgar Boatmen was a name I'd seen in mailorder catalogues in days gone by but a group I'd never actually heard. After listening to season 5, episode 201, however, I'm sure keen to hear more.

The episode where Joe Tunis of noise label Carbon Records and Elba chatted about The Dead C's "Trapdoor Fucking Exit" was a blast.

That's enough to be going on with, All that remains is for Not Unloved to finally put our hand in our pocket and become a patron of the show.

Since this post has name-checked both The Lemonheads and Volcano Suns, it seems like an opportune time to post this wonderfully heartfelt cover by the former of the latter's excellent "Balancing Act" which was released on 7" by Atlantic in 1997 (!).