The Richard Wooten Podcast

Ep39 Baroness pt2! Blue, Yellow, and Green

“My breakthrough was understanding that each album is very different, down to their essence. And that there were no two that I was going to enjoy in the same way” 
 
More digging into Baroness. We talk about my trouble getting into Blue and we gush about how Yellow/Green is maybe the best album ever made. 
 
00:00 Intro
00:56 Animals as Leaders and Killswitch Engage
24:51 Lamb of God always destroys, Chris Adler doesn’t get enough credit cuz he no use blastbeats, and vaccine politics
38:08 How are metal concerts going to change going forward and the we were young festival
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54:00 Baroness Blue,  where we are coming from, Rob’s first impressions, differences in dynamics/production, and the addition of Peter
1:06:50 Richard’s did not like it at first, key realization about Baroness, 
1:26:55 Less into the mixing/production,  food lyrics, vocal harmonies, “progressive” music that prioritizes emotion
1:47:15 Yellow is perfect
1:49:20 Top shelf lyrics, addiction themes, acknowledgement without despair, and more food references
2:05:57 This album makes other music seem shitty
2:12:28 All in on Cocainium, back where I belong, Eula, and the subtle effects work on the album
2:30:37 Green, differing lyrics themes, comparisons to classic rock, and the wonderful weirdness of psalms alive
2:52:00 Summary

Ep. 38: metal soundtracks, evacuations, backing tracks, and sh*tting on guitar heroes

No planned listening this week, decided to just go for it with a Rando Show
00:00 Start, nothingface, the role of compilations/soundtracks in the 90s and early 00s
21:45 music licensing, temp tracks in film composing, the nature of sessions work
35:29 Synthwave and Rise of the Synths revisit
42:03 Hurricane Rita evacuation
1:01:01 Falling in Reverse laptop drama, evolution of playing in churches with backing tracks, 
1:18:30 Lots of different ways to use backing tracks, automation, Rammstein, Nile, back your shit up, renaming the pod
1:43:35 Suffocation and Baroness concerts…. The “imperfect” is always going to sound right to us
1:53:01 Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and assorted guitar hero talk
2:06:27 Blues rock drumming is HARD, Steve Ferrone is a god among men, and a weird story about working with a guitarist that worships clapton. 
Interview with Prince’s producerhttps://urm.academy/ep-227-susan-rogers/

Ep37: BARONESS!!!!

“They have so many ideas; they complete them all, it’s never boring, and it all goes down easy. I have no idea how they do it.” 
 
We begin our series on Rob’s all time favorite band… Baroness. 
 
00:00 intro
00:42 voices are weird, figuring out how to do metal vocals back in the day
20:22 Learning technique from music videos is a bad idea, the standard of precision is so much higher today, and the rising popularity of extreme precise music
40:10 Old man shit and some leftist antiracist stuff
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47:46  How each of us got into Baroness
1:01:27 Allen Bickle’s drumming is top shelf incredible, there’s always interesting things happening, John uses lyrics like colors in an abstract palette. 
1:10:54 Clutch wordsmithery compared to Baroness, and doom metal
1:19:34 The EPS
1:42:54 Black Sabbath digression and ripping on Queens of the Stone Age
1:53:01 Red first impressions
1:55:57 Andy Sneap, Judas Priest harmony digression
2:02:12 shoutout to the shaker in Rays on Pinion, and a percussion/cowbell digression
2:11:57 THE VOICE and they’re mastery of completing ideas while always being interesting
2:20:38 Comparing Baroness to Zeppelin, Punk, and Metal. 
2:29:53 Wailing Wintry Wind and Teeth of a Cogwheel
2:39:30 Teeth of a cogwheel 
2:45:21 Summary… This music feels woven, not built.

Ep36: More metals with Harrison Jacob of As Eden Burns and Cavernous

Ep36: More metals with Harrison Jacob of As Eden Burns and Cavernous
 
Harrison Returns! 
00:00 Intro
00:16 pirating music 
09:07 AI generated art etc...
25:56 fb as new tech 
38:12 missing the real interaction the fb approximates
================================================================ 
43:02 playlist start 
58:02 Decapitated
1:03:34 as eden burns 
1:19:28 Trey Gammon is a BEAST
1:22:40 Cavernous and how Harrison's dad influenced him 
1:38:51 Dimmu, iceland santas, Death, malevolent creation 
1:55:36 Black dahlia, Nile
2:14:05 Obscura, Archspire, 
2:26:08 Ryan Adams and separating art from the artists
2:38:28 non metal influences
 
Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1PJK0fboijR9T4Qcn9VJX5?si=37a2b2fb99904182

Ep35: The introvert parade revisits Mudvayne’s LD50

Old friends catch up about being introverts, parenting, teaching, and then dissect Mudvayne’s LD50
 
Justin is a high school journalism/media teacher, has a BS in History, and is a prolific visual artist. Check out some of his work here:
https://www.inkmethod.com/portfolio
 
00:00 intro
Preamble
00:49 Justin always comes prepared, our class ruined alot of things, and justin intro
10:33 Synthwave revisit: future gazing and individuality
31:51 weekly pantera digression
36:52 Introvert Parade, turning social time into work, and being scared to call people
1:02:26 Socializing when you have kids and stay at home parent stuff
1:15:48 Some high school stories, teaching in general vs during the pando, and how we had it easier than kids today
1:47 Shows, games, and random phone notes
===================================================
2:04:00 intro, anticipated record, seeing em live etc... 
2:31:00 production, performances, vibe, and the direction change on other albums
3:05 Monolith through Cradle
3:21 Nothing to Gein through (k)now F(orever)
3:41 wrap up and why we are enjoying doing these podcasts. 

Ep34 Synthwave Intro for Rich

In this one Rob introduces me to the genre of synthwave. Much of our discussion revolves around the Rise of the Synths documentary, highest possible recommendation btw.
https://youtu.be/usnW-CsFVwI
 
00:00 Intro
1:17 start, getting into buying  synths
11:46 reading books vs listening to audio books
26:11 Severance on apple tv, identifying with your job, and asking kids “what they want to be?”
50:30 My background and philosophy on teaching
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1:12:05 synthwave, what it is, early exposures to it, a tangerine dream story, and cultural watershed moments for the genre
1:33:48 Perception of 80s music/culture in the 90s and a look at synthwave subgenres
2:00:32  More on the abstract nature of what makes synthwave so special: heart on it’s sleeve and somehow not pretentious. 
2:19:20 John Carpenter is cool af, the 80s were the first decade of prevalent home media, and riffing on some music theory stuff
2:36:47 movie music, The cutoff between synthy 80s and grungey 90s, nostalgia as a musical motif, first blood, and vhs disproportionately represented 80s movies. 
2:57:08 crazy ass Jean Michael Jarre concert, and riffing on the playlist
3:15:10 summary, “maybe the lyrics to nightcall are about synthwave itself”
 
*I was wrong, Spielberg did Hook BEFORE jurassic park and schindler's   list
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3YWvhdzqZ3G7Zud7fhyDwx?si=PNEdbJ9yRDazSMmp8eKG5g&utm_source=copy-link

Ep33 Suffocation starter kit for Rob

“I think I’m just too chill for this music”  - Rob
 
In this episode I introduce Rob, who is not a death metal fan, to the world of Suffocation. Suffocation is one of my absolute favorite bands but I kept the playlist short so that it wasn’t too overwhelming. 
Preamble
00:00 start
01:19 inside baseball, Kayla Kent ripping pantera solos, and the bs that women have to deal with
29:49 Toxic drumming community, pantera reunion, and the big four in the 90s
59:45 Beavis and Butthead cultural impact
========================================================
01:07:03 Suffo start, Rob’s first impressions and what makes suffocation so special (Hint: it’s momentum)1:13:03 Some things that make suffo so special: momentum, untouchable live band, 
1:32:30 Frank’s vocals/lyrics  why they work, and how Doug Bohn writes the the template on brutal technical groovy drumming on Pierced From Within. 
1:59:24 The cerebral/visceral contradiction of their music, their use of technicality, and how they don’t shy away form thrash
2:21:12 As Grace Descends, technical death metal vs brutal technical death metal, Breeding the Spawn, Entrails of You
2:43:09 Funeral Inception, Thrones of Blood, Pierced From Within, Infecting the Crypts, Effigy to the Forgotten
3:10:37 wrap up
Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4VDxPPwtnrcD5oud7CU6f7?si=c926e9eb0b114423

Ep32: Unto the Locust and Bloodstone & Diamonds (MH pt4)

Our final Machine Head episode… for now...
We dig into Locust, which is Rob’s favorite MH record, and Bloodstone, which has some of my favorite MH songs. Also add some context to the timeline between the records, adam leaving, and MH signing with Nuclear Blast. Heaping handfuls of speculation on their inner band dynamics that possibly lead to the split with Adam. 
 
Preamble
00:00 Intro02:03 Band power dynamics, what it takes to get a record made, and learning from past mistakes
29:05 Missing out on good music for dumb reasons, spotify iceberg, and elitist musician types
53:30 Gatekeeping Metallica fans, Kate Bush and stranger things
1:10:38 Rob’s rando Mastodon revelation
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1:16:50 Locust general impressions1:29:33 I am Hell, Be Still, 1:50:11 Locust, This is the end, Darkness within
2:05:59 Pearls, Who we are
2:17:19 Touring/Roadrunner timeline, wild speculation on why Locust is so short
2:29:10 Adam getting fired etc…
2:35:35 Bloodstone
3:07:22 Riff on catharsis
3:22:46 Summary and live shows

Ep31: Machine Head pt3: Through the Ashes of Empires, The Blackening, and the heavy 00s

We elaborate on another factor that helped kill nu metal…. THE INTERNET!
In the mid 00s everything started to get heavy. This set the stage for Machine Head’s “comeback” albums. 
Preamble: 
1:33 The habit of healthcare, and some mental hospital stuff 
21:18 political stuff and social media
36:42  Who is allowed to be angry, trying too hard to be friends with everyone, chasing spectacle
51:19 why i don’t play in churches anymore
===========================================
Topic
55:08  Also, the internet killed nu metal
1:09:42 2003-2004 retrospective… everything gets more metal
1:25:54 Context for Ashes release, and the Elegies Documentary
1:54:08 Through the Ashes of Empires: “and so Machine Head began composing metal”
2:03:03 Vocals/lyrics, Robb’s nu metal trajectory, and making fun of metal yoda lyrics2:25:08 Dave McClain love and track by track
2:40:14 Descend the Shades of Night and briefly meeting Robb
2:46:25 The Blackening “the perfect classic metallica album from the future” 
3:06:58 track by track3:34:57 summary

Ep30: Machine Head pt2: Burning Red, Supercharger, and Nu Metal bubble

“This album reeks of experimentation… for better and for worse”
 
Hey!  This is basically three episodes in one, so it’s long, feel free to skip around to what interests you.  
 
Burning red is awesome. It has killer melodies, grooves, feel, and I love the vulnerability in the lyrics. It’s one of my fave records. 
Supercharger isn’t a bad record but it didn’t do well at the time. I argue that this is not because of 9/11 but because of an extreme saturation of other similar records coming out at the same time. (see google doc spreadsheet below)
 
We also talk about the nu metal bubble and why the genre faded away so quickly in the mid 2000s. 
 
Preamble
00:00 intro
1:35 Shits nuts, roe v wade overturning, centrist “too cool to care” bullshit, and predictably losing “friends” when I amplify black and female voices
22:21 Performing masculinity through anger/indifference, and getting lost in the manosphere, 
43:03 Crazy times, getting covid, etc…53:19 More DAW talk, musicals, instrumentation,  and fucking up an album mix
 
1:14:39 Machine Head, nu metal paradigm etc… 
1:26:00 Burning Red general impressions
1:42:32 Robb’s thrash pedigree, trauma in nu metal, and some track by track
2:07 Supercharger general impressions
2:19:22 some track by track silliness and summary. 
 
2:33:01 The nu metal bubble that killed Supercharger, overall metal trends from 1995-2005
3:00:00 Hot Take: “Slipknot and Eminem killed nu metal”
3:22:44 How metal and rock get codified in the mid 2000s, the importance of metalcore etc…, and a fun ICP funeral story
3:51:15 Summary
 
Album release dates
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12jQnGexhP4amMM336cZWLrGMPel33WXdcHXrBso33_c/edit?usp=sharing
 
Demise of nu metal 2000-2002 playlist
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2HhPTLELCRbZGuM3SZw4Mn?si=o36vvRJeQrWe4k9RTTzIWA&utm_source=copy-link