Robbie & James Talk Music

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Robbie & James are writing and film professors who like to talk music.

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Episode 38 - EPs - Pixies & Flea

Episode Discussion Topics: – What Robbie & James have been listening to lately. – The purpose of violence in media. – The violence of systems. Tracks: Pixies’ “Caribou” Flea’s “Lovelovelove” Further Listening/Reading: Pixies Pixies’ Come On Pilgrim (1987) David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999) Lana & Lilly Wachowski’s The Matrix (1999) Pixies’ Bossanova (1990) The Cure’s Disintegration (1989) Kendrick Lamar’s GNX (2026) MF DOOM’s Madvillainy (2004) Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl (2025) Bong Joon Ho’s Parasite (2019) Flea Flea’s Helen Burns (2012) Flea’s “333” (2012) Flea’s “333 Revisited” (2012) Flea’s “Helen Burns” (2012) Jason Magabo Perez’s “I walk in historiographies of my mother as embodied theory of complex refusal which may or may not generate a syntax of possibility for expansive underfuturities wherein my mother shall walk walk walk against the state” at Interim Poetics. Jason Magabo Perez’s This Is For the Mostless (2017) Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 38 Playlist

23 min
12/23/2025

Episode 37 - Christmas II - Bleachers & Sufjan Stevens

Episode 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

14 min
12/17/2025

Episode 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) David Mickey Evans’ The Sandlot (1993) Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 36 Playlist

14 min
12/09/2025

Episode 35 - Punk - Geese & Wire

Episode 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 Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, 1982 Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, 1996 New Order The Cure The Chameleons Depeche Mode Talking Heads The Rolling Stone’s 2003 Top 500 (#412) vs. The Rolling Stone 2020 Top 500 (#310) Chuck Klosterman’s book But What If We're Wrong? Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy, 1986 Penelope Spheeris’s The Decline of Western Civilization, 1981 Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 35 Playlist

14 min
12/02/2025

Episode 34 - Brian Jonestown Massacre at SD Music Box - 10/31/25

Episode 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

15 min
11/25/2025

Episode 33: On Rotation - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club & Water From Your Eyes

Episode 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 Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin’s The Chair Company, 2025 Zach Kanin, Joe Kelly, and Sam Richardson’s Detroiters, 2017-2018 Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 33 Playlist

15 min
11/11/2025

Episode 32: Penny and Sparrow at Music Box SD - 10/8/25

Episode 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 (2024) Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980) Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968) Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later (2002) Penny & Sparrow’s “Creature” Jill Christman’s “The Avocado” from Fourth Genre 16.1, 2014 Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 32 Playlist

14 min
10/21/2025

Episode 31: 1986 - Prince and the Revolution & The Cure

Episode 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 Reiner’s Stand By Me, 1986 John Hughes’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 1986 Tim Hunter’s River’s Edge, 1986 River’s Edge Soundtrack Adam Curtis’s Shifty Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 31 Playlist

14 min
10/14/2025

Episode 30: Melancholy Songs - Tracy Chapman & DUG

Episode 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

17 min
10/07/2025

Episode 29: On Rotation - Public Service Broadcasting & Spoon

Episode 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 Playlist Episode 29 Playlist

17 min
09/29/2025

Episode 28: On Rotation - Oxis & Lupe Fiasco

Episode 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

14 min
09/19/2025

Episode 27: On Rotation - slimdan & The Lees of Memory

Episode 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 “Alone” The Jesus and Mary Chain Drew Edelstein's "Shoegaze Cinema" Playlists: Ongoing Pod Playlist Episode 27 Playlist

17 min

12 Episodes

Robbie & James are writing and film professors who like to talk music.

Creator

robbiemaakestad
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

12
Rating

Clean
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Robbie & James Talk Music