Every Album Ever with Mike Mansour & Alex Volz

This week we’re discussing Thunderball, the latest album by Melvins. Technically, this was released as Melvins 1983, which has the band’s very first drummer, Mike Dillard, on drums instead of Dale Crover. Thunderball also features experimental musicians Void Manes and Ni Maitres lending electronic contributions. If you’re a fan of the early 90s sludge era of Melvins, then this is the album for you...

This week we’re discussing every album by Tragic Mulatto. Truly one of the strangest and most unique punk bands who can’t even be described as punk music. Led by saxophonist, tubist, and vocalist Gail Coulson and bassist Alistair Shanks, Tragic Mulatto is dirty, silly, deranged, and shockingly talented. Any fan of the Butthole Surfers should seek them out ASAP.

This week we’re discussing Lower, the latest album by Benjamin Booker. After an 8 year hiatus, Booker is back with an album completely unlike his previous outings and one that’s incredibly hard to narrow down to a single genre. However, it offers an excitingly diverse, emotionally resonant, and brilliantly produced (thanks to the collaboration of Kenny Segal) set of s...

This week we’re discussing every album by Donnie and Joe Emerson. The Emersons recorded one album in the late 70s as teenagers in a hilariously expensive home studio built by their father. The result was a charmingly rough collection of songs obviously written by kids. They quickly faded into obscurity until they were discovered in the 2010s and miraculously gifted a ...

This week we’re discussing every album by King Crimson from 1969 to 1974. Led by the legendary (and partially insane) Robert Fripp, King Crimson is one of the pioneers of prog rock, as well as one of the wildest and most influential bands of all time. This era of the band chronicles some of the most memorable albums in all of prog rock. But be warned, this is not a ba...

This week we’re discussing Waiting Room, the latest album by Kathryn Mohr. Put out on The Flenser (one of our favorite labels), Waiting Room is lonely, bleak, and terribly atmospheric. Written and recorded by Mohr by herself, the minimalism is the album’s most notable asset. But while it is unsettling and executed well, it might not be for everyone.

This week we're discussing every album by Hum. While they can technically be considered a one-hit-wonder with their song "Stars" from 1995's You'd Prefer an Astronaut, Hum did way more and influenced so many more than they get credit for. Equal parts grunge, indie, and chunky post-hardcore--Hum has a style and personality so distinct, you can hear how much they influe...

This week we’re discussing the latest album by Venamoris entitled To Cross or To Burn. Venamoris is the side project of Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, Dead Cross) and his wife Paula, and boy did it catch us off guard. No way were we expecting one of the most prolific and respected metal drummers to put out a genuinely good goth record. An unexpected deli...

This week we're tying up some loose ends by discussing Bird Machine, the presumed final album by Sparklehorse. Shortly before his death in 2010, Mark Linkous recorded the foundation for these tracks with Steve Albini. Since then, Matt and Melissa Linkous took the tracks and completed them, giving them a proper release. While Mike and Alex generally weren't huge fans o...

This week we’re discussing every album (and EP) by My Bloody Valentine. MBV is one of the most influential rock bands of all-time and helped pioneer shoegaze, with singer/guitarist Kevin Shields’s surreal and unreasonably noisy guitar tone. This band is for anyone who wants the prettiest music ever to also make their ears bleed.

This week we’re discussing the one and only album by Thorr’s Hammer. While they only have one album, it has since become the stuff of legend due to being formed by sludge/doom pioneers Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley. However, the mind blowing vocals by a then 17-year-old Runhild Gammelsæter were the final necessary ingredient. Following Runhild’s return to Norway,...

This week we’re discussing every album by both The Faith and Void. These two legendary hardcore punk bands will be forever linked because of their split LP from 1982. However, both bands couldn’t be more different in their approach to punk. The Faith (whom Ian MacKaye’s younger brother Alec fronted) was a prime example of quality songwriting and musicianship. Void, on...

This week we’re discussing the remaining albums by Metallica from 2003-2023. This is the episode you’ve all been waiting for. Not only do we do a deep dive on all their albums from this era, but we pay special attention to St. Anger, as well as their infamous collaboration with Lou Reed, Lulu. This is a fun one, prepare yourselves.

This week we’re discussing Born Horses, the latest album by psychedelic alt rock band Mercury Rev. We covered Mercury Rev’s entire discography on episode 138, so we weren’t sure what to expect from this album. What we definitely weren’t expecting was for Mike and Alex to be completely split on it. This is a fun one, folks, enjoy.

This week we’re discussing everything by Operation Ivy. For those who don’t know, Op Ivy were one of the pioneers of ska punk in the late 80s, two of whose members went on to form Rancid (Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman). While technically they have one album and one EP, everything is neatly compiled onto a self-titled compilation from 2007. This is not an episode for ...

This week we’re ranking our favorite new albums of 2024. We say this every year, but this really was an incredible year for music and insanely difficult for us to narrow down our favorites. As a result, this episode has more surprises than any other year end episode of ours to date. Some of these albums are legitimate all-time greats, so dig in.

This week we’re discussing every album by King Krule, the stage name and project of London’s Archy Ivan Marshall. King Krule is what you get when you blend jazz, indie, psychedelic, and trip hop, all while coating it in the dreamiest production you can imagine. Maybe his style isn’t for everyone, but his production prowess alone is worthy of deep analysis. Mike and Al...

This week we’re discussing Wild God, the latest album by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds. The first official Bad Seeds album since 2019’s Ghosteen, Wild God shows the band with more energy than they’ve had in years. Ethereal, gospel inspired, and jam-packed with lovely passages and melodies. Cave fans should not miss this one.

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