100 episodes

Join hosts Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn in a bi-weekly conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of left-field rock and metal music.

Radical Research Podcast Jeff Wagner & Hunter Ginn

    • Music
    • 4.9 • 89 Ratings

Join hosts Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn in a bi-weekly conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of left-field rock and metal music.

    RR110 – Steven Wilson’s Intrigue Compilation, Dissection Part 2

    RR110 – Steven Wilson’s Intrigue Compilation, Dissection Part 2

    We continue our wander through the 4CD Intrigue compilation. This installment features 15 UK bands, several which we’d never heard of before (Art Nouveau, New Musik, Section 25). We hope this episode helps prove curator Steven Wilson’s note that Intrigue operates on the “idea that conceptual thinking and ambition didn’t suddenly evaporate after ’77…ambitious, weird and thrilling music was all around you in the ‘80s – if you looked in the right places.” Amen.







    Note I:



    Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast
    We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:



    http://radicalresearch.org/shop/







    Music cited in order of appearance:



    Intro: Brian Eno, “Third Uncle” (Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), 1974)
    [all snippets below are taken directly from the Intrigue compilation; the following indicates where the songs originally appeared]



    The Sound, “I Can’t Escape Myself” (Jeopardy, 1980)
    Joy Division, “The Eternal” (Closer, 1980)
    Swell Maps, “Big Empty Field” (…In “Jane from Occupied Europe”, 1980)



    Art Nouveau, “Enemies” (unreleased, 1980)



    Gary Numan, “The Joy Circuit” (Telekon, 1980)
    23 Skidoo, “The Gospel Comes to New Guinea” (single, 1980)



    Echo and the Bunnymen, “All My Colours” (Heaven Up Here, 1981)



    The Specials, “Ghost Town” (single, 1981)
    New Musik, “They All Run After the Carving Knife” (Anywhere, 1981)
    New Order, “The Him” (Movement, 1981)
    The Associates, “White Car in Germany” (single, 1981)



    Section 25, “Hit” (Always Now, 1981)



    Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, “Sealand” (Architecture & Morality, 1981)



    Japan, “Talking Drum” (Tin Drum, 1981)



    The Cure, “Faith” (Faith, 1981)







    Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

    • 1 hr 40 min
    Episode 109 – Sigh’s Weirdest! Let the Strangeness Do the Talking

    Episode 109 – Sigh’s Weirdest! Let the Strangeness Do the Talking

    Sigh is unquestionably one of the weirdest bands in the metal realm. And since Radical Research skews weird, and since we are both fans of Sigh since the mid ‘90s, it seemed obvious that we would eventually do an episode featuring some of the very weirdest of Sigh’s weird moments. So…if you are down with our motto of Keep Metal Weird, you know what to do.








    Note I:



    Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast
    We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:



    http://radicalresearch.org/shop/







    Music cited in order of appearance:



    "Hail Horror Hail" (Hail Horror Hail, 1997)



    "A Sunset Song" (Imaginary Sonicscape, 2001)



    "Scarlet Dream" (Imaginary Sonicscape, 2001)



    "Heresy II: Acosmism" (Heir to Despair, 2018)



    "Satsui - Geshi No Ato" (Shiki, 2022)



    "12 Souls" (Hail Horror Hail, 1997)
    "Amongst the Phantoms of Abandoned Tumbrils" (In Somniphobia, 2012)



    “Invitation to Die” (Hail Horror Hail, 1997)
    “Diabolic Suicide” (Scenario IV: Dread Dreams, 1999)



    “The Molesters of My Soul” (Graveward, 2015)



    "Seed of Eternity” (Hail Horror Hail, 1997)











    Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

    • 50 min
    Episode 108 – Non-Classic-Logo-Era Napalm Death, 1994-1998

    Episode 108 – Non-Classic-Logo-Era Napalm Death, 1994-1998

    The body of critical study - and fan adoration - around the music of Napalm Death has concerned itself principally with the band's pioneering grindcore and its transition into the death metal of Harmony Corruption. But what of the band's wilderness years, the mid- to late-1990s? The 108th episode of Radical Research digs into what its hosts consider to be Napalm Death's most radical music, the four-album futurist blitzkrieg spanning the years 1994-1998. Get ready for some serious side-eye, Legions, as we cross over into the torn apart.



     



    Note I:



    In the episode, Hunter mentions Ian Christe's writing on the band's 1994 album, Fear, Emptiness, Despair. In Christe's Sound of the Beast, he writes that the album, "...started a fresh chapter in the history of a band whose membership half-life had once lasted no longer than an album side. Previous urban hardcore noise blasts were mowed by sophisticated guitar layering and innovative drum patterns. Their dissonance became a conscious component of the composition, not merely a side benefit of chaos, and the marriage of intense anger and calculation yielded a masterpiece of passionate, politically minded, negative realism."







    Note II:



    In an act of gall, the scalar dimensions of which could only be compared to the Pacific Ocean, Mont Blanc, and John Holmes' ballistic member, Christe includes Fear, Emptiness, Despair in his list of the 25 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time. The list includes other controversial entries, such as Morbid Angel's Formulas Fatal to the Flesh, and Dream Death's rarely-trumpeted but mighty Journey Into Mystery. 











    Note III:



    In our excitement, we failed to mention the men who produced these albums. All were produced by the estimable Colin Richardson, except Fear, Emptiness, Despair, which was handled by Pete Coleman. Only one of these gentlemen have played flute on a Skyclad album.




    Note IV:



    Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast
    We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:



    http://radicalresearch.org/shop/








    Music cited in order of appearance:



    “The Infiltraitor” (Words from the Exit Wound, 1998)
    “Plague Rages” (Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994)



    “Primed Time” (Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994)
    “Fasting on Deception” (Fear, Emptiness, Despair, 1994) 



    “Ripe for the Breaking” (Diatribes, 1996)



    “Take the Strain” (Diatribes, 1996)



    “Diatribes” (Diatribes, 1996)



    “Birth in Regress” (Inside the Torn Apart, 1997)



    “Prelude” (Inside the Torn Apart, 1997)



    “Lowpoint” (Inside the Torn Apart, 1997)



    “None the Wiser?” (Words from the Exit Wound, 1998)



    “Trio-Degradable / Affixed by Disconcern” (Words from the Exit Wound, 1998)



    “The Infiltraitor” (Words from the Exit Wound, 1998)

    Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

    • 1 hr 7 min
    Episode 107 – The Saturnine Sleep: Tiamat’s A Deeper Kind of Slumber

    Episode 107 – The Saturnine Sleep: Tiamat’s A Deeper Kind of Slumber

    For a podcast that traffics in all things wild and mind-expanding, the subject of our 107th episode makes everything else feel stone-cold sober by comparison. The fifth album by Sweden's Tiamat, A Deeper Kind of Slumber, luxuriates in the wan, reclined possibilities of Leary biscuits and Psilocybin dreams. This episode paddles along the hallucinatory waters of Tiamat's final masterpiece and resolves itself to the album's irreconcilable mysteries. 







    Note I:



    Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast
    We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:



    http://radicalresearch.org/shop/







    Music cited in order of appearance:



    Intro: “The Ar” (Wildhoney, 1994)



    “The Southernmost Voyage” (The Astral Sleep, 1991)
    “A Caress of Stars” (Clouds, 1992)
    “Do You Dream of Me?” (Wildhoney, 1994)



    “Cold Seed” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)
    “Teonanacatl” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)
    “Trillion Zillion Centipedes” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    ‘The Desolate One” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)
    “Atlantis as a Lover” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “Alteration X 10” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “Four Leary Biscuits” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “Only In My Tears It Lasts” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “The Whores of Babylon” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



     “Kite” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “Phantasma De Luxe” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “Mount Marilyn” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)



    “A Deeper Kind of Slumber” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)







    Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

    • 1 hr 22 min
    Episode 106 — New Metal Massacre: Horrendous, Afterbirth, Laster & Vemod

    Episode 106 — New Metal Massacre: Horrendous, Afterbirth, Laster & Vemod

    We tend to skew toward the past in our explorations with Radical Research, uncovering sounds we feel are overlooked and/or underrated. We’re breaking our usual time travel approach and focusing solely on some new metal music that thrilled us in 2023 and one very fresh entry for 2024. It’s not 1986 or 1991 anymore, obviously, but 2023 was a great year for new music, metal and otherwise. Herein, we delve into the greatness that is Ontological Mysterium (Horrendous), In But Not Of (Afterbirth), Andermans Mijne (Laster), and The Deepening (Vemod). Metal lives? Metal lives!!!








    Note I:



    Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast
    We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:



    http://radicalresearch.org/shop/







    Music cited in order of appearance:



    Horrendous, “Neon Leviathan” (Ontological Mysterium, 2023)



    Horrendous, “Preterition Hymn” (Ontological Mysterium, 2023)



    Horrendous, “Exeg(en)esis” (Ontological Mysterium, 2023)



    Afterbirth, “Devils With Dead Eyes” (In But Not Of, 2023)
    Afterbirth, “Vivisected Psychopomp” (In But Not Of, 2023) 



    Afterbirth, “Hovering Human Head Drones” (In But Not Of, 2023)



    Laster, “Poëtische Waarheid” (Andermans Mijne, 2023)
    Laster, “Onzichtbare Muur” (Andermans Mijne, 2023)



    Laster, “Doodgeboren” (Andermans Mijne, 2023)



    Vemod, “Der Guder Dør” (The Deepening, 2024)
    Vemod, “The Deepening” (The Deepening, 2024)



    Ep. 107 preview: Tiamat, “Atlantis as a Lover” (A Deeper Kind of Slumber, 1997)







    Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

    • 1 hr 10 min
    Episode 105 – We Are Intrigued! Steven Wilson Curates ‘Intrigue’ Compilation & We Dissect [Part 1 of 4]

    Episode 105 – We Are Intrigued! Steven Wilson Curates ‘Intrigue’ Compilation & We Dissect [Part 1 of 4]

    For Episode 105, Radical Research follows the lead of musical polyglot and overachiever, Steven Wilson. Inspired by Wilson's recently-curated, Intrigue: Progressive Sounds in UK Alternative Music 1979-1989, this episode traces out the music found on the first disc of this four-volume edition, digging into such varied artists as Public Image Ltd., John Foxx, In Camera, and This Heat. This constitutes the first in a four-part series around Wilson's collection, which we will revisit occasionally throughout 2024. Should you have any interest in the rich mosaic of the late 1970s/early 1980s UK underground, tune in, turn on, and experiment out. 







    Note I:



    As mentioned late in the episode, here is further reading on the Durutti Column’s sandpaper packaging of their Return of the Durutti Column album: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_of_the_Durutti_Column



    Note II:



    Please consider donating if you listen to Radical Research often: https://www.paypal.me/rrpodcast
    We also have a webstore where you can find shirts, CDs, and books, many of them recently restocked:



    http://radicalresearch.org/shop/







    Music cited in order of appearance:
    intro: Peter Hammill, “Nobody’s Business” (Nadir’s Big Chance, 1975)



    [all snippets in this episode are taken from the Intrigue compilation; the following indicates where the songs initially appeared]



    Wire, “I Should Have Known Better” (154, 1979)



    Bill Nelson’s Red Noise, “A Better Home in the Phantom Zone” (Sound on Sound, 1979)



    Magazine, “Back to Nature” (Secondhand Daylight, 1979)



    XTC, “Complicated Game” (Drums and Wires, 1979)
    Public Image Ltd, “Careering” (Metal Box, 1979)
    The Stranglers, “The Raven” (The Raven, 1979)
    Punishment of Luxury, “Puppet Life” (Puppet Life 7”, 1979)
    Ultravox, “Astradyne” (Vienna, 1980)



    Gang of Four, “Contract” (Entertainment!, 1979)



    Simple Minds, “I Travel” (Empires and Dance, 1980)



    The Durutti Column, “Sketch for Summer” (The Return of the Durutti Column, 1980)



    This Heat, “Health and Efficiency” (Health and Efficiency [EP], 1980)



    John Foxx, “Burning Car” (Burning Car 7”, 1980) Robert Fripp and the League of Gentlemen, “Cognitive Dissonance” (The League of Gentlemen, 1981)
    In Camera, “The Fatal Day” (Fin [EP], 1982)







    Radical Research is a conversation about the inner- and outer-reaches of rock and metal music. This podcast is conceived and conducted by Jeff Wagner and Hunter Ginn. Though we consume music in a variety of ways, we give particular privilege to the immersive, full-album listening experience. Likewise, we believe that tangible music formats help provide the richest, most rewarding immersions and that music, artwork, and song titles cooperate to produce a singular effect on the listener. Great music is worth more than we ever pay for it.

    • 2 hr 4 min

Customer Reviews

4.9 out of 5
89 Ratings

89 Ratings

Annaheart69 ,

I HATE when this happens……

You discover a podcast with a host that knows EVERYTHING about the subject he’s talking about. The only problem is that most of what he covers you aren’t that interested in. BUT, the Fates Warning episode was fantastic, as were his book on the band and Peter Steele, so 5 star anyway. Hopefully he can cover some of the less obscure bands once in a while. Maybe a deep dive on Queensryche or Type O’s discography.

AJKation ,

Keep Metal Weird

Episodes about weird metal, bass solos, cool synths - I'm in. I've valued Jeff Wagner's opinions for over 20 years, and I've come to value Hunter Ginn's equally. Fun discussions of obsessive favorites and plenty of things I never knew about.😈

David O'Donnell ,

A diamond in the rough

Even if you don’t care about some of the bands these mighty gents touch upon, their surgical precision to dissecting and breaking down the most essential elements of each artists contributions. This podcast has turned me onto so many bands that I had never heard, and ended up going down the rabbit hole on several, and have found new favorite bands and albums. Thank ye mighty gents, you are doing the Word’s Lork.

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