Mixomusicology

Episode 8 brings us two awesome things...our first full length album review and our special guest, Marin Wilts! We are thrilled about both!And of course, queue up MUNA's Dancing on the Wall.Follow along with our episode playlist here.A little about Marin: Marin Wilts is a singer/songwriter/producer based in Phoenix, AZ. She works with We Make Noise, supporting women and gender-expansive musicians through education, community-building, and professional development opportunities. Marin also teaches songwriting at Arizona State University.Jana's monologue waxes poetic about the ritual of listening to an album in-depth. Jana's got a system (or a ceremony)...a late night, a glass of something good, and a dedicated and focused first listen to projects by her favorite artists. Alex and Jana share a deep love of MUNA, so of course this episode was a much looked-forward-to episode for them. Marin was not familiar with MUNA at all, and as you listen, you'll hear the magic of introducing a pal to a band you love.But first, a drink. Alex made two this week!-------------This week's cocktail:IT GETS SO HOT2oz Diplomatico Mantuano Rum1oz St. Germain.75oz lime juice8 basil leavesTepache1. Put liquid ingredients in shaker without ice.2. Add in basil and using a muddler or fork, macerate the basil leaves into the liquid.3. Add ice and shake.4. Strain into a Collins over ice.5. Top with Tepache and stir.6. Garnish with more basil.Notes from Alex- Tepache is a fermented drink made from pineapple rind and spices like cinnamon.- It’s not often that I get to play around with ingredients like this, but so much of this album is a love letter to LA, and so much of LA’s history and culture is owed to Mexico. Tepache is a real tie back to pre-Columbian root and to modern Mexican traditions. To stay as adherent to traditional recipes as possible, I made my own. Here’s the recipe.- If you don’t want to make it at home, that’s fine - you can find it canned. Or better yet, find someone selling it.- I find that pineapple pairs really well with a lot of different things. In this recipe, it’s balanced with citrusy elderflower liqueur and herbal basil.-------------This week's mocktail:STUCK IN THE SUBLIME4oz Tepache.75oz lime juice2oz ginger beer1.5oz blueberry juice2 dashes bittersIf you’re sober, you should be aware that traditional Tepache, like a kombucha, will always have a little bit of alcohol in it as a byproduct of fermenting.Canned options, which are less traditional, often have less than .5% ABV, so that’s what we’re opting for here. We’re pairing the pineapple here with ginger, which is a classic combo, and then with blueberry, which offers a good complement to the other flavors here.-------------This week we listen to the entirety of MUNA's Dancing On the Wall. MUNA is a Los Angeles based trio consisting of Katie Gavin, Naomi McPherson, and Josette Maskin.A few notes from each song:It Gets So Hot: a great start to this whole project, the synth, bass, and percussion work lets us know we've arrived, we are in a tension-filled hot L.A. summer, it's all happening.Dancing on the Wall: the lead single with good reason...we are so back. The 80's slap bass is sending us. Lots of great MUNA harmonies, one of the most overtly pop songs on the album. We also talk about how good the bridges are, and this one sets the tone with the musical spiral upwards. Katie Gavin vocal supremacy forever.Eastside Girls: one of our collective faves, with the Billy Joel bridge, the geography placing us in East L.A., as Alex says, "just a small town girl, living in a lonely world." Weird beats galore and it works so well. It's pop music in a time of war, "Making love in a chemical sunset." Marin brings up scansion and how you have to know the rules and them break them.Wannabeher: "Obsessed step on my neck yeah." We can't stop singing this. It's fun, period.On Call: Alex declares it a Celine Dion bop, and packs a whole bunch into 2:35, including a Diane Warren key change. Harmonic modulation keeps taking us higher and we love it, especially another monster bridge.So What: Full on banger, no tension release here either. We get a huge extended instrumental in the outro, and the mental breakdown is musical and not lyrical. More discussion on the excellence in sapphic yearning that Katie Gavin nails so well. It's not bravado in the first person POV, it's the last gasp of trying to not be bothered about not being loved by that One Person.Party's Over: a transition to...Big Stick: the new section of the record...MUNA gets political. "The Teddy Roosevelt core of it all." Katie sings from the perspective of Big Brother, and it's haunting lyrically while still going hard musically.Mary Jane: a song about addiction being the third in the room. We have Kate Bush, we have Gaga, we have the slap bass! We talk about how this album is really building a cohesive batch of sounds, bringing sounds and themes in and out without boring us.Girl's Girl: the queer issue of a small local incestuous dating pool...real. We LOVE the pre-chorus with Katie's "ha ha ha ha"'s as a vocal stim. It's got "Jessie's Girl" vibes, filtered guitar, a sing-along chorus, and hooks galore....Unless: another transition to...Why Do I Get A Good Feeling: The Imogen Heap of it all, and we are ready for it. Strings beneath another intense beat, Katie's diction is perfection and gets all her smart words out on this in perfect time.Buzzkiller: a last track that utterly destroys us. Some of our favorite lyricism on the album. Strings bringing a dissonance, with some acoustic guitar, along with the pulsing, gated synths. Hearts dropped. Tears swelled. The record is over. We loved it so much.Check out the videos for:Dancing On the WallWannabeherEastside GirlsCheck out Katie Gavin's solo record, What A Relief - buy it on Bandcamp here.-------------Marin's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marinwiltsOfficial Website: https://www.marinwilts.comWe Make Noise: https://www.we-make-noise.orgAlex's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboyingTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboyingAlex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.comJana's links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochopWebsite: http://www.janapochop.comJana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

Episode 6 is a big one…our first special guest! Songwriter/musician/producer Noëlle Hampton joins us from Austin to talk about Metric, Lucy Dacus, and Suki Waterhouse. Check out Noëlle’s work with The Belle Sounds and XANIMAL to get you started (we included some on our weekly playlist!)Listen along: https://www.tunemymusic.com/share/Cnjrx0WyUfJana monologues about the bittersweetness of being back in a place that played a big part in her young singer-songwriter days. Austin is an amazing town, and now she cruises through a few times a year with out of state plates. Metric and Lucy address these moments in our past and how we work with them in the present.But first, Alex walks us through his creative play on a Ranch Water, with strawberry infused mezcal and a tajín rim.This week's drink:Crush Forever2oz mezcal joven (Del Maguey good, or even something less smoky like a salmiana)1oz ruby grapefruit juiceTwist of Grapefruit Topo Chico or other grapefruit sparkling water (to top)Rim collins glass with tajín. Add ingredients over ice, stir hard.——-Metric starts us off with “Crush Forever,” a disco infused track off their new project Romanticize the Dive. We love Emily Haines’ sweet, monotone vocals that tell the story so well in the track. Writing to your younger self is a challenging feat, we all agree, but this track tells a story in small moments like “I've spilled outside the cup, mania is only grief spеd up.” Hits us in the feels...and with Metric's long-storied top notch production, this is a clear winner off a great album.Lucy Dacus brings us “Planting Tomatoes,” a sweet but grungy indie folk track about living in the present moment while remembering someone who has passed and now Lucy is older than they were when they left this plane. We loved the details in the lyrics, which Lucy excels at, like the saxophone down the street and the tomatoes not being good yet. (Jana loves a nerd writer, we all know that). We hear strains of The Weepies and Deb Talan in Lucy’s melody lines.Suki Waterhouse brings us home with a total banger of a track in “Tiny Raisin.” As everyone refrained upon listening…”it’s a JAM.” Suki takes us on a dangerous and edgy romp with this one…we hear tinges of The Pixies, Sheryl Crow, and some 60’s French pop with a retro vibe but modernized. “That’s my kid in his arms,” was not our favorite lyric juxtaposed with this sexy song, but hey. Suki can do what she wants.We all agree, all of the tracks this week involve some brilliantly executed mixing to make them come together, so take a listen with those ears on!-----Noëlle’s links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebellesoundsTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thebellesoundsWebsite: https://www.thebellesounds.comAlex's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboyingTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboyingAlex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.comJana's links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochopWebsite: http://www.janapochop.comJana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

Episode 4! That's a whole month's worth of podcasts! Thanks for being here. We are celebrating with a true delight of an episode. In fact, Jana monologues about delight, since the songs this week offer that in spades both lyrically and musically (and her turtle, Leo, has been taking turtle spa days lately, which is also delightful). Alex survived another NYC winter and Spring has arrived.Want to follow along with this week's playlist? Right here: https://www.tunemymusic.com/share/vK4qbVL3b1This week, Alex concocted a truly delightful drink inspired by Bruce Hornsby's "Memory Palace". It's a play on a Last Word, with a lot of swapped ingredients. Alex used buckwheat honey, and Jana could only find Neem honey, which turned out to be...guess what? Delightful.This week's drink:MEMORY PALACE1oz Dolin Genepy le Chamois1oz Lemon1oz Amaro Montenegro1oz Buckwheat honey syrupGarnish with a cocktail cherry.Honey simple syrup recipe: https://againstallgrain.com/2020/06/29/honey-simple-syrup(Alex makes simple syrup by microwaving the correct amount of water and other ingredients; for one cocktail here you’ll need roughly 1oz of water and 1oz of honey accounting for evaporation. Heat it for 30sec - 1min and let cool).------Holly Humberstone gives us "Make It All Better" off her new album Cruel World. It's got sweet, earnest lyrics we love that don't sway into sap thanks to Holly's delivery and production choices. We are digging the "gross but sweet" vibes and the power of sung pop lyrics, and it's delivered well here. Production-wise, we love how the repetitive synth keeps a motor going throughout, and the breakbeat outro taking us to a new moment in the production (shout out Grace Ives) makes the track a winner.RAGEFLOWER is a Sydney-based indie rock artist whose new single, "Control," brings a huge sound inspired by the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, MUNA, and Japanese House. Written from the perspective of her "inner male narcissist," it's a dynamic track with lyrical wins like, "I want the feeling of the world in between my knees / I want an erection, a marble statue of me." Alex hears some Courtney Barnett influence, and Jana detects some early 2000's Americana/indie-rock inspiration, too. The production is huge and lush, and we can't wait to hear more.Bruce Hornsby and Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend) bring us home with "Memory Palace" from Bruce's new record Indigo Park. Lyrically dense, it's a song about trying to literally hold on to your faculties as you get older, in true poetic Bruce fashion. And yet...still a catchy jam. We discuss the place Hornsby holds in pop culture, and Jana waxes poetic about how he is a quiet icon who holds a core place in pop history but is also maybe not quite as recognized as he should be. We loved the low harmonies in the track provided by Ezra Koenig, Alex appreciates the "softest guitar solo" ever, and Jana notes the classic Bruce "doot doot" vocalized percussion. Overall, cheers to Bruce.If you like the podcast, please give us a 5 star review in your podcast app! Thanks!-------------------Alex's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboyingTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboyingAlex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.comJana's links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochopWebsite: http://www.janapochop.comJana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

We made it to episode 2! Alex instructs us on how to make a "Come to God", our last gasp of the boozy, sipper bourbon season before we embrace Spring (looking RIGHT PAST the easy drink pairing of a Paloma for this episode). It's a tasty one, a riff on a classic Manhattan.This week's playlist so you can listen along with us: https://www.tunemymusic.com/share/OyA7lJXlA0The drink this week:COME TO GOD2oz bourbon (rye preferred)1/2oz Amaro Montenegro1/2oz Cocchi di TorinoSeveral heavy dashes of plum bittersStir aggressively, this guy’s a strong one...Add a large ice cube, add one or two Luxardo cherries and enjoy!Jana asks what the heck vermouth is anyway....Alex explains. (Keep your vermouth in the fridge, friends!)------This week's songs are "Come to God" by Indigo de Souza, "Miyazaki" by Paris Paloma, and "The Book of Love" - a Magnetic Fields cover by Olivia Rodrigo. Jana launches into her complicated feelings about generative AI art (she hates it), Alex responds with his thoughts (he does too). Jana is trying to find a place to live, and Alex is recovering from a bachelorette weekend where he was "the guy who just started a podcast," (which reached No. 78 on the Apple Music Commentary Charts in week 1, thank you guys).Indigo de Souza blows us away with the production on "Come to God" while hitting home with a song about grief. Paris has "Miyazaki," the perfect song for the AI discussion, and we talk about the community and struggle of and ultimate joy of making art, and the horrifying trend of generative AI cranking out prompt-songs...the death of art and creativity and the human spirit as we know it. Jana brings up Mary Chapin Carpenter without much of a stretch, because Paris covered her too.And then...is "The Book of Love" the best love song ever written? Maybe so. Olivia Rodrigo delivers a stunning cover of The Magnetic Fields/Stephin Merritt song, which is now part of the War Child UK benefit project (Donate / Watch the video here).-------------Alex's links:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flowerboyingTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@flowerboyingAlex's Substack: https://alexanderdaoust.substack.comJana's links: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janapochopWebsite: http://www.janapochop.comJana's Substack: https://janapochop.substack.com

Mixomusicology is a podcast hosted by Alexander Daoust and Jana Pochop. In each episode, Alex walks Jana (and the listeners!) through making a delicious cocktail based on a batch of new songs the duo have chosen for the week. They'll review and break down recently released songs and chat about production, lyricism, and where the work fits into the larger pop culture zeitgeist. They'll bring along a few tangents, and you BYOB.