Cosmic America

Cosmic America's raison d'etre is reviewing interesting music by interesting artists — and doing it in a completist fashion, by reviewing all of their studio albums in chronological order. It's what separates Cosmic America from other music review podcasts that only tackle individual albums.For this episode, we launch into the music of The Doors, starting with their seminal debut album. Consistently ranked as one of the best albums of all time, it's obvious that this collection of songs made a huge impact on the American (and rock and roll) music psyche. But is it actually good? Does it hold up over 50 years later? We deep dive into each song on this episode, and answer some reader mail.You can contact us on Twitter at @akmccarthy or @doctorgc. Be sure to subscribe to Cosmic America, and give us a nice rating if you’re feeling motivated.

We're at the end of The War on Drugs —- at least, until they release another album! (Which, god help us, should absolutely happen, but probably won't until like 2021 or so)  Anyway, here's their (for the moment) last album, A Deeper Understanding. The production's a bit thicker, the melodies are catchier but less desperate-sounding, and the flow of the album is better than the excellent Lost in the Dream. Is this a winner all the way through? We go through it song-by-song, so you'll be able to judge right along with us.Cosmic America is a podcast about music, hosted by Galen Clavio and Alex McCarthy. Feel free to hit us up on Twitter @doctorgc and @akmccarthy with ideas, suggestions, and questions.

We're back with more music talk. Cosmic America rolls on through the discography of The War on Drugs, tackling their breakthrough hit, Lost in the Dream for this episode. We take a look at the increasingly mature and almost gauzy production values, the increasingly isolated lyrical content, and the exciting yet somewhat uneven pacing of this 60-plus minute musical odyssey.You can contact us on Twitter at @akmccarthy or @doctorgc. Be sure to subscribe to Cosmic America, and give us a nice rating if you're feeling motivated.

Back for more Cosmic America, as we continue our deep-dive into The War on Drugs. This LP, entitled Slave Ambient, broke The War on Drugs more fully into the national consciousness, featuring many of the key characteristics that made their music so interesting and attractive to so many people. We cover it track-by-track, giving anecdotes and details for all of the songs.Be sure to subscribe to Cosmic America on iTunes, and give us a positive rating if you're feeling charitable. Cosmic America is recorded and produced by Galen Clavio and Alex McCarthy. You can reach us on Twitter at @doctorgc or at @akmccarthy.

Cosmic America's 28th episode is the second official release by The War on Drugs. This one's called Future Weather, and we go through it song by song. There are a couple of songs missing from the release, because we decided to do them on the Slave Ambient review (which is coming next!).Subscribe to Cosmic America on iTunes! And you can contact us at @doctorgc or @akmccarthy if you are interested in asking questions or suggesting future bands to review.

Alex and Galen are back, and this time we're reviewing the entire discography of The War on Drugs. This musical collective animates the lyrics and tunes of Adam Granduciel, and we start with our reviews at (almost) the beginning, with a look at 2008's Wagonwheel Blues. Kurt Vile is still in the band, and the whole enterprise sounds more Bob Dylan than Bruce Springsteen at this stage of things.As with all Cosmic America podcasts (at least, all since June of 2018!) we review the whole studio catalogue, album by album, track by track. So settle in and enjoy.

Our White Stripes odyssey comes to an end with this episode, as we hit the (surprise) ending note to the band's career with Icky Thump. Fuller sound, slightly more uneven, but still featuring four or five classic tunes, this was a fine way for the band to swan song. We go track-by-track through the album, pointing out highlights and talking about the sonic qualities of each song.If you've got questions or comments, hit us up at @doctorgc or @alexkmccarthy on Twitter.

We're almost done with The White Stripes catalogue, and we move on to the most controversial of their six releases with this one, as Alex and Galen delve into Get Behind Me Satan. It represented a sonic change for the band, as well as an attitudinal one. How did it measure up to what came before it? And was the end truly in sight with this release? We go through the whole thing, track by track, on this edition of Cosmic America.

It's been a bit of a hiatus, but we're back with the next installment of our deep dive into The White Stripes. For this edition, we tackle what is possibly their best-known album, Elephant. This 2003 masterpiece put the band on top of the rock world, and showcased an ever-expanding sonic palate. We brought along a special guest to join us for this episode! Longtime White Stripes fan Nate Lynch joins us on the third line to talk about his perspective on the album.Comments or questions? Hit us up on Twitter at @doctorgc or @akmccarthy. And stay tuned as we cover the rest of the discography.

We're back for part 3 of our six-part White Stripes odyssey. This time we uncover the album that broke them into the big time: White Blood Cells. And what an album it is — bluesy and hooky and layered with all kinds of fascinating touches. Is it their best album? There's a worthwhile debate to be had about that. But in the meantime, let us walk you through it track by track.Comments or questions? Hit us up on Twitter at @doctorgc or @akmccarthy. And stay tuned as we cover the rest of the discography in the next week.

It's an Easter Sunday special edition for Cosmic America! Alex and Galen continue their investigation of the career arc of The White Stripes. This episode sees the guys breaking down the band's second album, De Stijl, and diving further into both the sound of the band and the mythology surrounding it.If you have comments or questions, send 'em our way on Twitter – @doctorgc and @akmccarthy.

The new Cosmic America has officially launched! We're still here talking about great music, but we've upped the ante by talking OVER great music. Our goal is to give you in-the-moment analysis, criticism, and evaluation of whole albums worth of music. And to do it one artist at a time, album by album. What makes these great artists tick? How did their career arc sound, and what sorts of things were going on in and around the recording of the songs?Our first group for review is The White Stripes, who need no formal introduction. This podcast starts off with a brief overview of the band, before launching into a review of their debut album, titled The White Stripes. Not a whole lot of people heard this one when it first came out, but the later success of White Blood Cells would usher in a lot of positive critical acclaim for their debut. How does this album hold up, nearly twenty years after it was released? Let's find out.

We're soft-launching Cosmic America (again!), with a new format and some nifty new recording techniques. Here, we talk about a couple of songs off of Beck's 1998 classic album "Mutations".

Okay, so we took a long hiatus with Cosmic America, mostly because Alex moved four time zones away. We're going to have some new episodes soon, I promise! In the meantime, here's one of the last episodes taped before Alex moved away — this one focuses on Fleet Foxes' eponymous debut LP. Like Crosby, Stills & Nash in an echo chamber with a bunch of funky electric folk guitarists, this song sort of defied immediate classification, and ended up creating a furor in the indie rock scene. Their output since this album hasn't been nearly as melodic, so it's important to go back and pay respects to an album that now seems as frozen in time as it sounded when it was first unleashed on the landscape almost a decade ago.

This could end up being the most obscure album we review on Cosmic America, but that doesn't make it less deserving of your listenership. Through Toledo was a little-known album released by little-known indie artist Greg Laswell in the mid-2000s, which stands as one of the more well-constructed breakup albums that we've heard in a while. You may know a few of the songs, which filtered their way into the pop culture whirlpool during the late 2000s. Listen on YouTube here.

Let's stay in the seventies on this episode of Cosmic America, as we delve into a masterful pop record from Scottish artist and industry misanthrope Gerry Rafferty. This album spawned a huge hit in Baker Street, but the rest of the album ends up holding up pretty well 40 years later. Somehow underappreciated despite being incredibly solid and tuneful throughout. You can check out the whole thing (which really is worth listening to if you haven't already heard it) on YouTube, or buy it on Amazon.

Is it cooler to like Elton John or Billy Joel? Cosmic America investigates…sort of. By "investigates", I mean we talk about the topic for 10 minutes.

It's live album week at Cosmic America, so we delve into an artifact from the early stages of Elton John's career. Recorded in a New York City studio, broadcast on radio, and then widely bootlegged, 11-17-70 (or 17-11-70 if you're British or annoying) is an interesting look into an Elton John that was still focused on 50's era rock and roll as his primary artistic motif. Not a lot of songs, but certainly a lot of energy. You can check out the album on iTunes, or you can listen to the unedited radio broadcast here.

This edition of Cosmic America sees us jumping forward into the mid-90s, focusing on the album Grace by Jeff Buckley. A critical darling when it came out, the album was the only full artistic statement from Buckley before his untimely drowning shortly afterwards. Does it hold up 20 years later? Does the "Hallelujah" cover force the album into transcendence? Lots of questions about this one. Take a listen. And check out "Lover, You Should've Come Over" and "Lilac Wine" while you're at it.

For this episode of Cosmic America, we check out the touring outfit of Joe Cocker (and Leon Russell), which traveled across the United States in 1970 under the group name Mad Dogs and Englishmen. This live album stands as a document to that series of shows, and while it's certainly an interesting listen in a number of places, it falls short of the sort of all-time status that the aura of the band might seem to demand. Standout tracks include Space Captain, Delta Lady, and the cover of Leonard Cohen's Bird on a Wire.