TuneDig is an in-depth and informed conversation between two lifelong friends about the power of music — one album at a time.
In each episode, we go down the rabbit hole to spend a while in the strange world we discover. We take an honest look at creativity in all its complexity—from writing and production to history and cultural impact.
We promise you’ll learn something new every time, no matter how much you already love the album we explore.
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Friday Heavy: September 2, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- The Callous Daoboys – “Celebrity Therapist”
- Friday Heavy playlist confronting the under-appreciation of Atlanta’s heavy and weird music scene
- Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition – Water Fund
It's Friday Heavy time and today's featured release is some ATL 🔥 from @callousdaoboys.
In our latest episode, we discuss why they rip,
why the ATL heavy music scene rips,
and why the water crisis in Jackson, MS needs your attention. 🧵 https://t.co/Ba60R44pzU— TuneDig (@tunedig) September 2, 2022
Transcript
Note: our transcripts are mostly AI-generated for now.
Cliff: welcome to Friday heavy, your guide to aggressive, abrasive, loud music, music, music brought to you by the folks behind tune. Dig
I’m cliff.
Thank you, Kyle. Each episode we cover
Kyle: No, no, let me, I’ll take this. Thanks very much. I’ll tell the people each episode, we cover three things. Thanks for joining us for one or more of them. First thing, one brand new release in the world of heavy and or weird music, and more importantly, why we think it’ll be worth a spin.
Secondly, one playlist we’ve curated to help you explore a heavy sub genre or artist or scene. Often related to the new release in some way, if we can help it. And thirdly, and most importantly, by far one organization tackling a heavy issue by doing critical culture, impacting work in their community. Cuz we punk rockers are all we got in this crazy world.
Another good one today, cliff, let’s get into it. What’s the featured release of
the wheat.
Cliff: are excited to talk about weird asset Atlanta, post math Corps or something, uh, that has made me feel like the blood brothers ate Mr. Bun and are now individually projectile of vomiting chunks of song in my direction. And that sentence describes a thing that I like very much.
Kyle: I love a good of all the like bad ways you can write about music. I love a personification. Like if this were an animal that ate a vegetable in the produce section of a Publix and a suburban neighborhood, it would sound like this.
Cliff: It’s your fault
that I talk this way.
Kyle: the Benford tools, chainsaw PX
Cliff: Yeah. It’s your fault, cuz you’re always like, well, if these two hardcore albums were bananas, what type of bananas would they be? I’m like, I.
Kyle: I’m sorry, I just, I have an overactive brain and I drank too much in my twenties.
Cliff: I mean, hopefully it makes for good podcasting. I don’t know. It makes me think of weird stuff in really weird ways that are a lot more fun than trying to objectively describe what this sounds.
Kyle: I’m always trying to make two synapses bump into each other and my brain party in a way that they wouldn’t have naturally
Cliff: It works sometimes at any rate as our neurons bump, we come up against the callous Dow boys dropping celebrity therapists via Monarch heavy records. And from what we have heard of the singles so far, and what we know about this crew we’re in for a fucking ride. I’m really pumped about being able to bring not only Atlanta, but just the weirdness and the earnestness with which weirdness gets approached by bands like this.
Kyle: The the, the divergent sections of this band. The first time I listened to these singles, I was like, Jesus, this is so
Cliff: yep. Yes. I really love it. So like probably other heavy nerds. Uh, I was kind of reminded that this band rips when they dropped to die on Mars in 2019. Although frankly, listening back a little bit further on occasion, I should have been paying attention before that. Cuz they were, they were pretty on this track already and they’ve always been having fun.
And on top of it, one thing that’s always going to Engender mean to you? Is that the right phrase is releasing an instrumental
in deer? Maybe that’s it. Yeah, whatever. I’m gonna like your band, if you release an instrumental version of your record. Okay. I like that’s the best. That’s the
Kyle: file under the latest entry in cliff hates lyrics and vocal. in the long history of this, we need to do a cliff hates vocal, super cut between two
Friday
Cliff: To be very fair about that point. This band in particular is one of the few that pushes back on that for me. Right. But it’s because he’s going so hard all of the time. Right? I expect unacceptable levels of energy from front men. That’s, that’s pretty much why I don’t dig vocals, but on top of that record being great, uh, that they released an instrumental version at all when they released it in 2020, they did so to support the Atlanta solidarity fund, uh, right after a bunch of Atlanta cops started throwing people in jail for protesting on the sidewalk.
So I wish all bands did. Of the things that we’re calling out that they did. That was awesome about that. But either way, especially with this new record, I feel like, um, Kyle, we talk lovingly about our dads and the way that they introduced us to music, I feel like so much was like this thing you’re letting me listen to you today.
Reminds me of Kansas. This sounds like Edgar winter group over and over. Right. And so like our dads before us, uh, as soon as I started hearing this record, I was like, oh, this is, this is art damage by fear before the March of flames, this is my favorite record in high school. And this is being like aggressively stop start.
Like I’m gonna genre shift now just. You’re an, in an elevator now you’re not like the aggressive and confusing.
Yeah. Uh, yeah, so I love that kind of stuff. And on top of it, I do think it draws from Like the, what eventually got called, like white belt, hardcore and scream of the early two thousands.
I mentioned blood brothers, but the kind of energy from like plot to blow up the Eiffel tower and other bands like that. And the way that some of that music, uh, started. Eventually evolving into just kind of chaotic grind with experimental interludes. I mean, it almost became to the point that it, that these records were like hip hop records with really odd skits in between songs.
And so I love all of this stuff. And on top of it at this point, I think any band
Kyle: I’ve ne I’ve never thought until just now how Dillinger is like di that’s an interesting thought.
Cliff: in what.
Kyle: The collaging and the, in the collision or the way that callous style boys are, are maybe like old ludicrous, not lucri, but like the first ludicrous record where it’s okay. Here’s 28 bars. And now here’s a skit about being at a gas station.
Cliff: Yeah, I think any band anywhere near any of these spaces are knowingly carrying the Dillinger escape plan torch for sure. And I, I do feel like I hear a lot of the vocal styling production techniques. They developed all that stuff. so actually speaking of that, that’s a good tee up the first single that we’re gonna play the it’s called what is delicious, who swarms and like speaking of Dillinger,
Kyle: What is delicious question, mark? Who? Swarms question mark. I’m Ron burgundy.
Cliff: you’re gonna get plenty of MIS machine vibes off of this song. Speaking off.
Cliff: Okay. Now, if you are one of the subsets of dorks, probably like me and you heard the end of that clip and it had a little bit of like melodic singing to it and you’re like, oh God, no, no, no, no, I can’t not with another death Corish band that does this. Okay. I just want to come right out. This is not that they do an extremely good job of pretty much.
Doing the same thing more than about 30 seconds at a time. But on top of that, I’ll be the first to say that I think the melodic bits are super interesting the way they do, on these singles, at least that we’ve heard. but let’s go harder. So here’s another single called a brief article regarding time loops.
and if you could get the sound of my neurons firing, when something I don’t know, positive happens, I think it would sound like this.
Kyle: if you could, James Webb telescope, the inside of Cliff’s brain.
Cliff: You’re looking back 110 billion years.
Kyle: so check out celebrity therapists out today on Monarch heavy. Go listen to it. However you want. And then as always cannot emphasize, or underline enough, please send this band your money through shows through merch and or through a direct donation. Hey Callows what is your Venn?
Cliff: Yeah, I did wanna make sure we said callous Davos again, cuz I realized we talked about ’em a lot and didn’t really say their name again. go find them and give them money. Uh, they have a. Purple band shirt that I think is great.
Slowly. I’m gonna evolve this podcast into an update of band merch every two weeks.
Kyle: You’re gonna be like the Yankee candle kid, but like cliff reviews, his merch hall, cl cliff unboxing from shirt killer.
Cliff: I I love this idea
and that, um,
Kyle: That’s the two, that’s the tune dig tos first, first contest series.
Cliff: I’m so disappointed in myself. So speaking of Callows inspired kind of a different approach than usual for the playlist this week went a lot wider than deep and I’m really stoked about how it turned out. So tell me about it.
Kyle: So at the risk of trying to make a Cliff’s burnt CD in his truck in high school genre mix, or trying to avoid trafficking the same recommendations over and over again of bands that we have loved for a long time. Like, we can only tell you about the chariot so many times, you know, we thought rather than.
Like talking about genre or sound, we would celebrate the context that could even give rise to a band like KIST style boys. and that is the, the wildly eclectic and deeply underappreciated, heavy and alternative music scene in Atlanta. And I, and I think even underappreciated by you and me, like based on the conversations that we’ve had we didn’t know really how good we’d managed to have it over the past 15 years or.
So couple of caveats, this is not the tourist trap, ATL playlist. So no Macedon, no deer hunter, no Royal thunder, nobody that’s like gotten big or gotten nominated for Grammy or actually made money and shit out there in the world. And it also totally routes around the massive pile up of Atlanta based.
Lighter fair. The indie alternative Fay Webster. Oh, like there’s so much stuff that’s being made. That’s great. But this is not that we wanted to traffic, the weird aggressive, like the counterculture in Atlanta has lots of weird underground tentacles and they’re all strange and not all of them are great, but they’re all interesting.
So even as avid participants in our local music scene for the past 15, almost 20 years at this point, which is a staggering thought, . I, and I think we have failed to appreciate how consistent and diverse the weirdo music pipeline has been in, in our hometown. Um, bands and scenes have always seemed like flukes.
You know, they, they survive in spite of outrageous obstacles. And often, unfortunately they vanish as quickly as, as they pop up as scenes, like get gentrified or people move out of town or, or whatever it like never feels like it gets built up in a systemic. We’ll get into the dark side of that sort of like community based stuff in the next section.
But I, I think the point is that life happens at a scale you can see and touch. It’s weird that we preoccupy ourselves politically and culturally beyond looking beyond that so much. So all that to say, this is a love letter to the sounds that have shaped us in more ways than we realize. And frankly, we have taken for granted a bit.
I think our hope is that we, it encourages you to plug back in on the state of the scene around you. Um, not by being an active participant. Like you please don’t come out of pit retirement. If your knees don’t work so good and don’t feel compelled to like, Fi, chase.
What’s cool again. Now your time was your time and that’s great. Uh, you can be crystallized in Amber forever. If you, if you’re not still an active participant, now you’re either a lifer or you aren’t. And if you have to ask, you’re not. But by finding ways to like godfather the scene, like create actual physical spaces so that the next you and me and cliff have places.
and people in a community that give them permission to discover their full, radical, wonderful weirdness. That’s why scenes like this are so great and important. So, uh, we call this playlist peach skulls and it’s got. It’s got so many good bands in it. It’s 60 songs and it’s like mostly within the last 20 years.
And it’s so wildly different, like noise, rock, hardcore punk. Post-punk just like all manner of stuff. All people that we have seen with a high life or a PBR tall boy in hand at the Earl or 5 29 or Lenny’s, or. You know, now we could just name spots all day. Last thing I wanna say on it is that I’m actually pretty pleased with how much was available on streaming.
Cuz I, I thought it probably died with the CD case that got stolen out of my car in the Highlands. but it is missing some classics, like wanna shout out act of faith and scavenger of death. And then also personal faves of our era, like very early big Jesus, not shoe gays, big Jesus, but grunge big Jesus.
Uh, I tried to find a video of the house show in grant park where they played Nirvana’s breed and they kept slowing it down half time over and over and over. And they sold. Weed brownies and mushroom chocolate out of the kitchen. And I was like, is this, what is this? What a scene is like, is this a thing people do?
And then the cops came and everybody had to split cuz it was just in a
residential neighborhood
Cliff: it was
Kyle: flooding
outside.
It was
flooding
outside.
and, Johnny, Johnny dang from O brother was still in the band at that point, I think. So O O brother another band not included because they actually like have been on terrestrial radio so that, you know, they’re too big to fail.
So early big Jesus Artis pile driver, which is still one of my favorite band names of all time Bigfoot vegan Coke, who used to play at the big house, ask us about the big house on punts and our hippie friends that used to live there and killing floor. I feel very, very fortunate that there are like 50, 60 plus bands that we get to see and hang out with and have beers with.
And not everybody is fortunate enough to have that, but if you, you were ever part of a scene ever, and you’re in your thirties or forties or fifties now think about maybe creating a DIY space so that the kids can get loud and be weird and take good care of each other and figure out who they are and how to make the world a better.
Cliff: It’s gonna be so truly interesting to see what the modern equivalent of those scenes you’re talking about become and what all of it means. Everything’s so different now. Which is the thing I used to think. Didn’t make a lot of sense when people said it, but I don’t know if our experience is actually different and pandemics really do shift everything in people’s lifetimes like this, but. I don’t know, it’s wild. I think about it a lot, cuz I’m, I’m back to going to shows. And I’m, personally I’m masked up and all that stuff but everyone’s approach is different. The feel is different. And I think a lot about what you just brought up, what’s that gonna mean? And is someone else gonna have the opportunity to have what we discovered in that?
Something that gave us a place and a, a thing to think
about.
that was different than just where we were growing up.
Kyle: Yeah. I think the, the takeaway is, is if it’s ever mattered to you and it made a difference in your young life and helped you become who you are, then, then find a way to pay that forward. Now that you are more able,
Cliff: speaking of building communities and taking care of each other, uh, one thing we like to do in every episode is point out, uh, an organization who’s making a difference for the people around them in order to do that, uh, we have to talk about. Shit. That’s not fun. So let’s hit this round this week. And what’s always fun about this moment.
I feel like is because if everyone stops and thinks, Hmm, what are we gonna have to talk about this week? Your brain explodes into 50 possible options that all come to mind very quickly. And that is just a terrifying place to exist inside of. That said let’s talk about water because in the case that you might think that what happened in Flint, Michigan, and their drinking water became some sort of fluke, some sort of thing that actually happened by accident.
We want to help you better understand that. Situations like that are the civil form of war crimes. by a government on its own people. It’s always, always, always, always a policy choice to result in something that fundamental being lost. So this week, as of right now, as far as I know at the moment that we are recording this, it continues in indefinite but 180,000 people or so in Jackson, Mississippi are without safe water for an unknown period of.
School has been canceled. Like kids can’t drink water. People are in real danger. Uh, I don’t know if you’ve been the south ever it’s hot right now. It just became September. Okay. It is just now considering thinking about becoming a different temperature than hot ass summer. Okay. Is is a terrible time to be without water Jackson.
Mississippi is the capital of the entire ass state. Okay. They don’t, it’s the most popular city in the state. They don’t have safe water. And it is related. That Jackson is over 80% black in a state run by a white Republican governor who is systemically and repeatedly ignored calls to fix Jackson’s water issues, including the state leadership over and over as Atlantans, we are familiar with this idea of city versus state but in Mississippi, it is on a different level entirely.
Okay. We’ve got literally water infrastructure crumbling, the state having the ability to fix. Not in, not in, not doing it. Okay. And this isn’t the first time this has happened for the residents of Jackson. They’ve been regularly under water, boil, advisories, going a month without clean water earlier this year.
Okay. So residents of Jackson navigate. General affront to their existence. They need help getting clean water right now. Okay. Policy decisions around infrastructure are yet like a five alarm fire, right? People need to get voted out and new people need to get voted in all of that. None of that’s gonna get safe water for babies to bathe in today or for children or the elderly drink while it’s really hot outside or for people to brush their teeth or.
Okay. So what we wanna bring your attention to is called the Mississippi rapid response coalition. They have a water fund they’ve that they’ve set up. That’s already been set up since earlier this year, when Jackson previously lost this access to clean water, just Google it. It’s I we’ve kind of confirmed.
It’s the main place that’s being pointed to you. Whether it’s online or in articles or on Twitter or whatever, that’s usually a good place that we check in to make sure we’re listening to the community all around. This is a good place to go. So you can literally just Google because there’s not a great URL, Mississippi rapid response coalition water fund.
That fund has. It’s a coalition of over 30 organizations in partnership with the city of Jackson, they’re providing water relief to reduce harm until that infrastructure can be repaired or improved. And because we always want you to know what an organization is, is backed to by and how you can know that you trust it, we’ll call out that this coalition of organizations has.
In part by the people’s advocacy Institute, which is itself a nonprofit community Inc incubator for transformative justice in the American south. So we’ve got a lot of people working together to try to
make this thing better for people on the ground.
Kyle: and. In times that can feel apocalyptic, these organization, organizations and coalitions like this one are often literally the only ones filling in the gaps in the land of personal responsibility and rugged individualism fill in the gaps between inhumane living conditions and stay governments that frankly intentionally keep them that way.
Because they’re busy spending money and people who don’t need money. These organizations and coalitions desperately need your support. So, like cliff mentioned, there’s no easy URL to say out loud for donations. So you can check our social media accounts. When this episode goes live, uh, where we will share the direct link or you can Google, Mississippi, rapid response coalition.
Water fund. The official donation form is an act blue fundraiser page, it’s
something.
Cliff: they’re in the right place for.
Kyle: Yeah, at the risk of, you know, being one of those blissfully naive, all caps, vote, neoliberal people you know, voting is at the bottom of the Maslow’s hierarchy of a more perfect union.
So, so don’t skip the step of voting in your next local and state election. Cuz that’s where every vote actually counts and who’s in the seat actually. Directly impacts the daily quality of life for your neighbors and you like cliff mentioned it doesn’t get the baby’s bathed today and the elderly hydrated.
But it is a longer term fix and something that we’d be remiss if we didn’t tend to as well. And, you know, for sure do whatever you can to at least help avoid the election of a governor who doesn’t have a problem performing a slow rolling genocide on his own capital city in the cold light of day.
Those assholes have no part they, they have no right to be in places of public
Cliff: Nope. And you gotta see it for what it is and you gotta do both. You gotta support the community and you gotta do your voting our own version of it in Atlanta. Uh, they just announced this week that Atlanta medical center is closing. That’s literally my hospital it’s closing because Brian Kemp won’t expand to Medicaid, which is free money from the federal government that it it’s people’s lives.
The stuff matters. Do what you can make a donation, pay attention and do your part as best you can to, to build those communities. This has been Friday heavy. We’ll be back in two weeks.
Go to tunedig.com or follow us on Instagram and Twitter for links to the new release, the playlist and the organization that we talked about today.
Original "Bitches Brew" Art
To celebrate the endless creativity of Bitches Brew—and especially its famous album artwork—TuneDig partnered with two incredible Atlanta-based artists to create one-of-a-kind, handpainted gatefolds.
With the spirit of the original art in mind, each artist brought their own vision to life. These pieces will spark conversation for any jazz fan.
Each piece includes a new vinyl copy of Bitches Brew. 100% of the purchase price goes directly to the artist, so take this opportunity to support the arts in the raddest possible way.
Seriously. There’s literally only one of each. Make it yours. 😎
-
“Bitches Brew” Vinyl with Handpainted Original Gatefold by George F. Baker III
$350.00 Add to cart -
“Bitches Brew” Vinyl with Handpainted Original Gatefold by Sachi Rome (Variant 1 of 2)
$350.00 Add to cart -
“Bitches Brew” Vinyl with Handpainted Original Gatefold by Sachi Rome (Variant 2 of 2)
$350.00 Add to cart
SEASON 6
Season 6—featuring our most eclectic selection of albums yet—concludes July 1, 2022.
TuneDig Episode 50: Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”
Before uniting one nation under a groove, the lysergic lords of chaos in Funkadelic harnessed wild lightning into an amulet called Maggot Brain, bestowing the bearer with raw, dark power stronger than any force known to man. Between reaching our 50th episode and coping with the “maggots in the mind” of today’s universe, it felt like the right time to free our minds. We hope y’all’s asses will follow.
TuneDig Episode 49: Alice Coltrane’s “Journey in Satchidananda”
The story of Alice Coltrane — an accomplished bebop pianist from Detroit who transcended into something far greater before walking away from public life altogether — is a glimpse into what it means to be truly free. Alice’s masterpiece "Journey in Satchidananda" is a cosmic dance that sparked creation from destruction. And in a time when we’re all desperately searching for a spark of meaning and hope, Journey abides abundantly.
TuneDig Episode 48: Heart’s “Little Queen”
Take a moment to appreciate Ann and Nancy Wilson, who kicked down the doors of rock ‘n’ roll’s boys’ club with their peerless guitar work, soaring soul vocals, and tight songcraft. 1977’s Little Queen — an oft-overlooked gem in the classic rock canon — offers a snapshot of those elements at their most urgent and pure, powered by the Wilsons’ simple motivation (as described by their producer): “It was a war.”
TuneDig Episode 47: Tangerine Dream’s “Phaedra”
When you think of “electronic music,” what comes to mind may not be a genre you deeply love — hip-hop, house, new wave, or even dub reggae — but all of it owes some debt, scientifically or otherwise, to Tangerine Dream. Dig in with us as we study a prime example of the band’s brand of effortful innovation, where they patiently and persistently labored at the cutting edge of electronic technology to open a portal to new worlds in our minds.
TuneDig Episode 46: Olivia Rodrigo’s “SOUR”
Did you catch one of 2021’s biggest albums, or like us, did you almost overlook it? If you have any expectations of pop music, "SOUR" will likely subvert them. Teenage dream this is not; it’s an exquisitely universal portrait of a weird time to be alive.
TuneDig Episode 45: Fela Kuti’s “Expensive Shit”
The story of Fela Kuti — one of the most famous people on an *entire continent* passionately struggling to liberate power to more people — is absolutely one worth deeply knowing, regardless of whether you find yourself drawn to Afrobeat or (cringe) “world music.” But once you know it, it’s almost impossible not to fall in love with Fela and Afrika 70 as their revolutionary grooves rewire your brain in magical and meaningful ways.
TuneDig Episode 44: Meshuggah’s “ObZen”
Meshuggah’s ObZen—an artifact of human creativity pushing the limits of what’s possible—will quite literally make you hear music differently. If you’re looking for a new musical adventure, and especially if you don’t think you like “heavy” or “weird” music, consider this your sign to push past your comfort zone.
TuneDig Episode 43: mewithoutYou’s “Catch For Us the Foxes”
A misunderstood wise man once said “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds.” In our most personal and vulnerable episode yet, we do some seeking through the lens of songs that fill us with the bravery and sincerity to love ourselves and others fully. Dig deep with us as we fish for words about our tiny place in the universe and dance with gratitude for our ability to do so.
TuneDig Episode 42: Erykah Badu’s “Mama’s Gun”
Y’all tryna raise your vibrations? Erykah Badu is here to help. Season 6 kicks off with a meditation on realness and what being on “your own wavelength” really means. (Spoiler: it ain’t a single frequency — it’s a whole spectrum.)
FRIDAY HEAVY
For lifelong headbangers and the musically curious alike, a new podcast from TuneDig is here to push your palette with aggressive, abrasive art. Each short, fast-paced episode offers (1) a new metal, punk, noise, or experimental release we recommend, (2) a related playlist we’ve curated, and (3) a heavy issue to consider and an organization doing something about it. Join us in the void.
Friday Heavy: End of Year Review 2022
It was a great year in heavy music. In this episode, we look back at all the new releases we featured and the curated playlists they spawned.
It was a NOT great year in many other ways. We leave you with a parting message of encouragement to connect your energy and angst to on-the-ground organizations doing the work in your community.
Friday Heavy: November 11, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- He Is Legend – Endless Hallway
- Curated playlist sussing out the depths of He Is Legend’s roots, weirdness, and attitude
- Protect Our Winters (POW)
Friday Heavy: October 28, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- Witch Fever – “Congregation”
- Curated playlist of eclectic, high energy that might get your inner goth stoked on (briefly) going out
- Housing Justice League
Friday Heavy: October 14, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- The Lord † Petra Haden – “Devotional”
- Friday Heavy playlist densely packed with thick, meditative vibrations across the spectrum of drone
- Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)
Friday Heavy: September 30, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- Escuela Grind – “Memory Theater”
- Friday Heavy playlist dedicated to the absolutely fucking hostile energy that powerviolence can bring to radical inclusion
- Zealous
Friday Heavy: September 16, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- Holy Fawn – Dimensional Bleed
- Friday Heavy playlist showcasing the incalculably extensive and wildly diverse Shoegaze Cinematic Universe (aka post-rock)
- MTB Atlanta
Friday Heavy: September 2, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- The Callous Daoboys – “Celebrity Therapist”
- Friday Heavy playlist confronting the under-appreciation of Atlanta’s heavy and weird music scene
- Mississippi Rapid Response Coalition – Water Fund
Friday Heavy: August 19, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- Osees – “A Foul Form”
- Friday Heavy playlist fuzzed out on oddball punk that smells like cigarettes just thinking about it
- Women on the Rise GA
Friday Heavy: August 5, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- Chat Pile – “God’s Country”
- Friday Heavy playlist with, uh, a bunch of very pissed off songs directed at christofascist terrorism
- The Grocery Spot
Friday Heavy: July 22, 2022
This week, we discuss:
- WAKE – “Thought Form Descent”
- Friday Heavy playlist that anchors its sound in modern production of sludge, blackened death, and post-metal
- The Planetary Society
Friday Heavy: July 8, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Vomit Forth – “Seething Malevolence”
2. Friday Heavy playlist that’s unsettling in the best way, leaving you feeling a little off your axis
3. Trees Atlanta
Friday Heavy: June 24, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. CANDY – “Heaven is Here”
2. Friday Heavy playlist packed with off-the-beaten-path punk and hardcore from bands that deserve space on your battle jacket
3. Round Rock Black Parents Association
Friday Heavy: June 10, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Sasquatch – “Fever Fantasy”
2. Friday Heavy playlist of heavy grooves for late desert nights and hazy generator parties
3. Feed Buffalo
Friday Heavy: May 27, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Decapitated – “Cancer Culture”
2. Friday Heavy playlist stacked with bands putting their unique and modern spin on (occasionally tech) death metal
3. PropelATL
Friday Heavy: May 13, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Primitive Man – “Insurmountable”
2. Friday Heavy playlist full of SLOW, enveloping, massive and crunchy tone and big feedback
3. National Network of Abortion Funds
Friday Heavy: April 29, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Heriot – “Profound Morality”
2. Friday Heavy playlist packed with mid-tempo, huge guitar tone, big atmosphere and lots of industrial grit and grind
3. Invisible People
Friday Heavy: April 15, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Greyhaven – “The Bright And Beautiful World”
2. Friday Heavy playlist for fans of more choatic + melodic combinations
3. Campaign for Working Families
Friday Heavy: April 1, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Meshuggah – “Immutable”
2. Friday Heavy playlist full of high quality Meshuggah aping that AIN’T “djent”
3. The Bail Project
Friday Heavy: March 18, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Soul Glo – “Diaspora Problems”
2. Friday Heavy playlist with 20+ songs in under 40 minutes, (almost) all under 2 minutes each
3. Equality Texas
Friday Heavy: March 4, 2022
This week, we discuss:
1. Vein.fm – “This World Is Going To Ruin You”
2. Friday Heavy playlist exploring more of Will Putney’s work
3. Books to Prisoners
SEASON 5
TuneDig Episode 41: Miles Davis’s “Bitches Brew”
Let’s be clear: "Bitches Brew" is a challenging record, even to some of the best musicians in the world — but all of them say it’s worth the investment. It’s the kind of trip that, even if we *could* draw a map, it wouldn’t take you there. Let go of the need for meaning and enjoy the ride with us. We can promise you’ll be pleasantly surprised where you end up.
TuneDig Episode 40: Fiona Apple’s “Tidal”
On the heels of one of 2020's most acclaimed albums — Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters — we revisited Apple’s debut Tidal and wound up working to extract ourselves from the mostly male gazes that made its reception … much different. We arrive at a question much like writer Jenn Pelly had: “People would constantly prod Fiona on how an 18-year-old could write songs as mature as these ... Why did they not ask instead how she became a genius?”
TuneDig Episode 39: Death Grips’s “The Money Store”
The modern world is accelerating beyond our control, shaping our reality in ways we can’t yet perceive or understand. Enter Death Grips, an art project capturing the chaotic energy and illustrating the absurdity of our hubris in trying to harmonize the surreal and extremely real — never more perfectly than on 2012’s prescient "The Money Store".
TuneDig Episode 38: Augustus Pablo’s “King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown”
Reggae music is easy to take for granted, but its impact is underappreciated and massive — in the case of dub in particular, everyone from Radiohead to Johnny Rotten to Run-DMC owes it a debt. Augustus Pablo and King Tubby together created what’s regarded as “one of the finest examples of dub ever recorded.” Join us as we dive into the culture, history, and unique engineering experiments that made it possible.
TuneDig Episode 37: Rihanna’s “ANTI”
By every measure — sales, awards, chart-toppers, global name recognition — Rihanna is objectively as big as the Beatles ever were. In fact, ANTI is so big it’s still on the charts, a record five full years later. Take a closer look with us at “the record you make when you don’t need to sell records”, and get a taste of the true freedom that comes from focusing on your inner voice when faced with insurmountable expectations.
TuneDig Episode 36: Son House’s “Father of Folk Blues”
All American music traces back to the blues, and deep at the root sits Son House. That the recordings on "Father of Folk Blues" even exist is something of a gray area that cuts to the heart of the great American myth, but wherever you land after hearing these stories, you’ll find that what matters most is what the great Muddy Waters once said of House: “That man was the king.”
TuneDig Episode 35: Melvins’s “Stoner Witch”
The futility of describing the Melvins has stretched critics in the direction of absurd words like “Dadaist” for nearly 40 years now. They’ve belligerently flogged any attempt to pinpoint their essence simply by being themselves, but "Stoner Witch" remains a reliable mall directory for the Melvins’ vast and wild discography. Grab yourself some pretzel bites.
TuneDig Episode 34: Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”
We should talk about Dolly the way we talk about Prince. Her extraordinary kindness and unique kitsch both make her universally loved, but what gets left out of the conversation is the very thing that made her famous: the music. Join in as we focus attention on the sonics and songwriting of the low-key masterpiece "Jolene".
TuneDig Episode 33: The Allman Brothers Band’s “The Allman Brothers Band”
Six enlightened rogues out of Macon, Georgia birthed an entire genre simply by being their soul-powered selves. We have not come to testify, but we’re still hung up on the dream The Allman Brothers Band helped us see. By the end of this episode, you will be, too.
TUNEDIG RADIO
SEASON 4
SEASON 3
SEASON 2
SEASON 1
BONUS TRACK EPISODES
BONUS TRACK: How We Got Here
We got a bunch of interesting listener feedback in our off-season, and it encouraged us to shed some light on why we do things the way we do ‘em. Also, we reflect on our first writeup, which was ... interesting.
WHO WE ARE
We're Cliff (right) and Kyle (left). We’re two dudes born and raised in ATL with day jobs in tech and sustainability, respectively.
We met in middle school, and in one way or another, music’s been the thing that’s kept us close for the two decades since — whether it’s sharing and talking about new music (like this podcast, except in our texts or over beers), going to shows, or working with our favorite record stores to help them survive and thrive.
We started TuneDig as a little art project that connects us more deeply ourselves and to the world through the infinite gift of music. We hope you’ll join us for the conversations, let us know what you think, and share discoveries of your own.
More About TuneDig
TuneDig began as a little something called MusicGrid.me, which we created after realizing there was no place online to directly exchange music recommendations with your friends. Our aim was simple: to make rating albums simple, useful, and social. We got some love from places like Mashable, Wired, Evolver.fm, and Hypebot. We managed to foster conversation between music lovers, get thousands of reviews, and meet great people.
Along the way, we realized that record stores were an essential part of the music lovers’ community. After many a conversation about how we could helpfully connect them to the people who loved them, we began helping them leverage technology to create new revenue streams and embrace streaming services without giving up what’s unique to them: expertise and curation. (Long live the counter clerk who knows exactly which record will be the right introduction to jazz fusion!)
TuneDig is our vision to connect music lovers with the music they love, because no matter how much has changed in the way we discover and enjoy music, recommendations from people you trust and respect will always be the best way to find new music you’ll dig. With this podcast, we’re channeling the spirit of trusted curation pioneered by record stores, and bringing you something to take you deeper into music you can love.