Shows
Robbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 37 - Christmas II - Bleachers & Sufjan StevensEpisode 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
2025-12-2314 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 36 - Christmas I - The Oh Hellos & Run–D.M.C.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)...
2025-12-1713 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 35 - Punk - Geese & WireEpisode 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
Ri...
2025-12-0913 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 34 - Brian Jonestown Massacre at SD Music Box - 10/31/25Episode 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
2025-12-0214 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 33: On Rotation - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club & Water From Your EyesEpisode 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...
2025-11-2514 minRobbie & James Talk MusicRobbie & James Talk Music - Episode 33: On RotationEpisode 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...
2025-11-2513 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 32: Penny and Sparrow at Music Box SD - 10/8/25Episode 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...
2025-11-1113 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 31: 1986 - Prince and the Revolution & The CureEpisode 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 Rei...
2025-10-2113 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 30: Melancholy Songs - Tracy Chapman & DUGEpisode 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
2025-10-1416 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 29: On Rotation - Public Service Broadcasting & SpoonEpisode Discussion Topics:
– Our artistic projects during Fall 2025.
– The purpose of art: Art for art’s sake vs. art with a larger purpose.
Tracks:
Public Service Broadcasting’s “The Fun of It (ft. Andreya Casablanca)”
Spoon’s “Guess I’m Fallin In Love”
Further Listening/Reading:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
Adam Curtis’s Shifty
Rick Rubin on “the audience coming last.”
Playlists:
Ongoing Pod Playlis
2025-10-0716 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 28: On Rotation - Oxis & Lupe FiascoEpisode Discussion Topics:
– Artistic projects we worked on in Summer 2025.
– Art with a purpose.
Tracks:
Oxis’s “Long Sardine”
Lupe Fiasco’s “HOMME MADE (feat. Virgil Abloh)”
Further Listening/Reading:
“Oxis Dives Into the Unknown Depths of Oceanic Electronica in Debut Album 'Oxis 7'”
Robbie Maakestad’s “The View from Bethlehem” at X-R-A-Y Magazine.
W. G. Sebald
Playlists:
Ongoing Pod Playlist
Episode 28 Playlist
2025-09-2914 minRobbie & James Talk MusicEpisode 27: On Rotation - slimdan & The Lees of MemoryEpisode Discussion Topics:
– New podcast format.
– Lenses through which we listen to music.
– Shoegaze: the genre.
Tracks:
slimdan’s “Weinerschnitzel”
The Lees of Memory’s “We Are Siamese”
Further Listening/Reading:
Taylor Steele & Chris Malloy’s short film Shelter
The Shins
White Buffalo
Slimdan’s Second Dinner (live from mom’s office)
Wake Child
Danny Silberstein’s music
Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation
Kevin Shields & My Bloody Valentine
The Cure’s “Alon...
2025-09-1916 min
BestiarySphecius SpeciosusFew insect sounds have inspired as much writing as that of the cicada. Our first act comes from Christa Spillson: Amid a 13-year cicada brood cycle, an ice cream shop introduces a new flavor. And in act two, Robbie Maakestad, as part of a trio of young warriors, defends the chattering insect from a small colony of parasitic wasps.
Robbie is a Senior Features Editor for The Rumpus and an Assistant Professor of Writing at Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. He is writing a biography of place about Jerusalem’s City of David archaeological site. He...
2019-04-1029 min