Mark And Sarah Talk About Songs

We end the Best New Artist season where it all began for the podcast: the Grammys. We're talking today about the 67th Grammy Awards' "big 4" categories, plus a couple of wildcards -- and along the way, the American need for underdogs, nominations of encouragement, Mark's "Folkmore" playlist, Uncanny George Valley night

It's the Best New Artist Breakdown season finale, featuring a MASTAS greatest-hits line-up, the return of sprung rhythm, grand unifying complaints about breakthrough categories, Elt Zeppelin, and how to evolve past Wolfman Jack in pop-music discovery. Do we agree with the Grammys' most recent BNA choices? Have we decid

Our penultimate Best New Artist Breakdown moves into the teens; we're talking about Amy Clonehouses, lost anthems of lady rage, gold-watch nominations, the Overton window of band-name ludicrosity, and much more. Grab those Kendrick Lamar seminar syllabi and have a listen! Intro and outro by Andrew Byrne; for more infor

As the Best New Artist Breakdown season rounds the millennium turn, we're talking about which band is playing when Jennifer Love Hewitt flees a serial killer, artists we should like on paper but fall asleep to in practice, the music of shampoo ads, and the basic room in each of our hearts. If Kanye West will make room,

We're closing out the twentieth century in our fifth episode, and there are fewer howling embarrassments among our Best New Artist winners this time...but just as much anal-retentive insanity in our prep, plus diversity of sound, nothingburger arrangements saved by a Braxton, convincing Patsy Cline drag, effortful albu

Confusing band names, the MTV aura, and what happens if the comedy/tragedy masks and a keyboard mate: it's the 4th episode of our Best New Artist season, which brings us great winners, indefensible losers, and tracks that are more branding exercise than song. Does Mariah tie a whole Reagan-era room together? Listen now