For those of you who are new to this podcast (or as a friendly reminder), I'm Mike Bankhead, bass player and songwriter from Dayton, Ohio.  I'm an indie musician, not a journalist.  My two esteemed guests on this episode are journalists.  Juliet Fromholt is Music Director at WYSO, which is an NPR affiliate in Southwest Ohio.  She hosts two music shows on the station, Alpha Rhythms and Kaleidoscope.  Taylor Ruckle is a freelance music journalist whose work has appeared in FLOOD Magazine and Under the Radar…

For those of you who are new to this podcast (or as a friendly reminder), I'm Mike Bankhead, bass player and songwriter from Dayton, Ohio.  I'm an indie musician, not a journalist.  My two esteemed guests on this episode are journalists.  Juliet Fromholt is Music Director at WYSO, which is the NPR affiliate in Southwest Ohio.  She hosts two music shows on the station, Alpha Rhythms and Kaleidoscope.  Taylor Ruckle is a freelance music journalist whose work has appeared in FLOOD Magazine and Under the Radar…

…it's the most fun instrument to play with other people…

I still read music blogs, and that's a good thing because that's how I first discovered fellow bass player and songwriter Pictoria Vark, whose given name is Victoria Park.  In early 2023, I discovered that she was going on tour with Maneka (hopefully a future episode), and I couldn't pass up the chance to see two indie artists I was into at the same time.  Their tour was limited to the Northeast United States.  I cashed in some frequent flyer miles…

Yes, I know that the third quarter of 2023 is almost over, and that I am very late dropping this episode.  I've had some technical difficulties, and I apologize for the delay.  I hope that once you hear the GREAT music we talk about in this conversation, you'll feel super forgiving.

Taylor's review of Good Living Is Coming For You.

Taylor's albums

Pearl & The Oysters - Coast 2 Coast
One's a Crowd - Fictorian Era//Bedroom Pomp
McKinley Dixon - Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!?
Bully - Lucky For You
Sweeping Promises -…

The first three months of 2023 are gone, and Taylor Ruckle has returned.  We both think that this past quarter was a particularly strong one for new music.  Since we had this conversation, I have listened to the albums of Taylor's top five that I hadn't gotten to yet, and of those, the Screaming Females album was my favorite.  That said, I like them all to some degree, and they're all definitely worth your time.

Taylor's interview with Quasi.

Taylor's albums

Algiers - Shook
Sunny War - Anarchist Gospel
James…

Exactly one year ago, on 30th December 2021, Juliet Fromholt joined me for a chat about our favorite albums of 2021.  I released that conversation the next day, 31st December, and it was Episode ½ of this podcast.  It was so much fun, I just HAD to have her back this year. Taylor Ruckle joins us for this conversation.  You might remember him from Episode 27 and Episode 43, where we talked about our favorite albums of the first and second quarters of 2022 respectively. 

All three of us are completely…

Image courtesy of Tony Drovretto for Museum of Pop Culture

Music journalist Taylor Ruckle makes his triumphant return to the podcast, and we talk about our favorite albums released in the second quarter of 2022. Just like our previous conversation we break down the albums in varying degrees of detail and go full-on music nerd for your listening pleasure. The albums we selected are as follows:

Taylor

Florence & the Machine - Dance Fever
Jasmyn Burke - In the Wild
Joyce Manor - 40 ounces to Fresno
Billy…

Taylor Ruckle is a freelance music journalist who has written for Post-Trash, Flood Magazine, and Merry Go Round, among others.  We had a lovely chat a couple of years ago when he was writing for The All Scene Eye, and if you wish to do so, you can still listen to that conversation here. For this conversation, well, one fourth of 2022 is already gone. Both Taylor and I put on our music fan hats and talk about our favorite albums of the year - so far.

LINKS

Taylor's interview with Elise from Oceanator

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