A Positive Jam

Shortman Studios

A Positive Jam breaks great albums down track by track to find out what makes the music great, what goes into the songs, and why these albums matter. The second season covers The Hold Steady's breakthrough second album, Separation Sunday, an ambitious follow-up that saw the band refine their sound, their style, and their narrative approach, and which put them on the map with the wider music-listening audience. Season 2 is hosted by Shawn Westfall, with Mike Taylor and Daniel Shvartsman alongside. It will feature a variety of guests while focusing on the key lyrical themes of the concept album, its resonance with classic works in both rock and roll and beyond, and the way it built on The Hold Steady's debut album, Almost Killed Me (subject of Season 1 on A Positive Jam) in almost every meaningful facet. read less

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Intro To A Positive Jam Season 1: The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me

Intro To A Positive Jam Season 1: The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me

A Positive Jam is a podcast dedicated to breaking down great albums track by track. Our first season focuses on The Hold Steady’s classic debut album, Almost Killed Me. The Hold Steady emerged in 2004 with Almost Killed Me, a record that took a throwback 70s’ rock sound and made it wholly new. In a time of 80s knock-offs, dance-punk bands, and the last gasps of nu-grunge and boy bands, The Hold Steady kicked the doors down with a bag of one-liners and guitar solos. They reminded the sniffling indie kids and critics of the early ‘00s that this was supposed to be a party. And, they changed our lives. In our intro episode, co-hosts Mike Taylor and Daniel Shvartsman explain why this album matters and what we aim to do over the course of the 12 episodes that cover season 1. We will be breaking down the 10 tracks from Almost Killed Me, one episode at a time, as well as breaking down bonus tracks and the Minneapolis music scene. A Positive Jam debuts with full episodes in the first week of August 2020 and will be available on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, Google Play, and wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe to get episodes as soon as they come out, and hold steady for the season through one of the great rock albums of this millennium. Season 1 of A Positive Jam is sponsored by Retro Gear Shop. Check out Retro Gear Shop at https://retrogearshop.com/

Season 2

A Positive Jam Season 2: Separation Sunday - Trailer

A Positive Jam Season 2: Separation Sunday - Trailer

A Positive Jam is a podcast dedicated to breaking down great albums track by track. Our second season follows on our first, as we cover The Hold Steady's second album, the breakthrough Separation Sunday. Shawn Westfall, who joined us as a guest in season 1, will be leading our efforts for season 2, with Mike Taylor and Daniel Shvartsman as co-hosts. As with season 1, we will be covering each song in its own episode and featuring a number of guests throughout the season. We are looking for more audience interaction, so get in touch with us at mail@shortmanstudios.com or contact us on Twitter, @mbrookstaylor, @shawnwestfall, or @danielshortman. Separation Sunday showed a band rounding into form, growing in confidence, and taking a bite at the epic. They went from rough and under the radar to booming and the next big thing. In our intro episode, we talk about why this record matters, and hope to give you a taste of what's to come for season 2. Season 2 of A Positive Jam debuts with full episodes on January 6th and will be available on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, Google Play, and wherever you get podcasts. We will have one pre-season episode coming out next week. Stay tuned and hold steady, this should be a fun one.

A Positive Jam Season 2 Playlist: The Best Catholic Rock Songs

A Positive Jam Season 2 Playlist: The Best Catholic Rock Songs

Separation Sunday is many things, but it's hard to listen to the Hold Steady's breakthrough and not think of Catholicism, nor of Rock and Roll. As we lead into season 2 of A Positive Jam, covering Separation Sunday, we thought it would be fun to break down a highly subjective playlist of the best in Catholic (and catholic) Rock. Listen to this episode to hear how our three co-hosts - Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman - view the canon of Catholic Rock. Check out the full playlist here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4sibmfkeyp6fVxJPK2EJWO And stay tuned for the first full episode of Season 2 on January 6th. Hold Steady, and happy holidays!

A Positive Jam Season 2 Track 1: Hornets! Hornets!

A Positive Jam Season 2 Track 1: Hornets! Hornets!

Separation Sunday, the Hold Steady's second album and the subject of season 2 of A Positive Jam, kicks off with "Hornets! Hornets!", a track that shows both how much the band grew between the recording of their debut (Almost Killed Me) and Separation Sunday and how much they were staying the same. A fuller sound, lyrics with both call-backs and new settings, and songwriting that takes things up to another level. "Hornets! Hornets!" is as distinctive and classic as an album opener gets. Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman break down all the good stuff, including a thorough Kate Bush analysis, the importance of organs to Craig Finn, and how the album's Catholic themes pop up in lines you might least expect.

A Positive Jam Season 2 Track 2: Cattle & The Creeping Things

A Positive Jam Season 2 Track 2: Cattle & The Creeping Things

"Cattle & The Creeping Things" is a lot of The Hold Steady's fans' favorite songs, featuring Biblical allusions, world building, tight songwriting, and some of the sharpest and harshest instrumentation on the band's discography. As we find out on this episode, however, not everyone feels that way. We unpack the song to figure out why it rocks so hard, and whether it is, somehow, too much. Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman break it all down.

Season 2 Track 3: Little Hoodrat Friend

Season 2 Track 3: Little Hoodrat Friend

The gateway drug to the Hold Steady. An entrant in the lost best-of-the 2000s Rhino compilation. A straight ahead pop-rock song with verses and choruses and refrains. A backing singer. An emotional gut punch. A study in narrative denial. And a fairly simple song to discuss. That's track 3 on Separation Sunday, the single "Little Hoodrat Friend." Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman talk about why the song works, and why you don't have to dig too deep to figure it out.

Season 2 Track 4: Banging Camp

Season 2 Track 4: Banging Camp

Comes off crunchy but tastes like something deeper: Banging Camp, track 4 on The Hold Steady's Separation Sunday, may evoke tents and summer fun, but there's a more sinister undercurrent. Breaking bread and giving thanks may not mean what you think it means, in other words. We break it all down and figure out why this river trip is more Styxian than it seems on first appearance.

Season 2 Track 5: Charlemagne in Sweatpants

Season 2 Track 5: Charlemagne in Sweatpants

Some songs they get slimy, and then they get slinky, and then they get funky. Some tracks feel like skips to some people and the best track in the band's repertoire to other people. Some songs act as a character's theme music and some reinforce stereotypes about the Holy Roman Emperor's namesakes. All of which is to say Charlemagne in Sweatpants is a song that spurs different sentiments. The fifth track on the Hold Steady's second, breakthrough album, Separation Sunday, this is a song that deserves special attention. To tackle it, we invite Bob Bland of the Bend & Scoop podcast - https://bendandscoop.com/ - to explain the glory of tramps and sweatpants, once and for all.

Season 2 Track 6: Stevie Nix

Season 2 Track 6: Stevie Nix

There's maybe no better song to appreciate the Hold Steady than "Stevie Nix", track 6 on Separation Sunday. The song hits for the Hold Steady cycle, with hard rock, balladry, howling vocals, sharp lyrics, storytelling, shifting perspectives, and epic songwriting. To break it all down, we have Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman on the call, as well as Kyle Undem, a special guest making his second appearance on A Positive Jam and repping the Twin Cities to explain why Profane Existence matters so much. Lawwwwd, to be a Hold Steady listener forever. We also have a special contest for this episode, with a chance to win a copy of either Separation Sunday or the Hold Steady's newest album, Open Door Policy. Listen to the intro or check out our twitter account, @shortmanstudios, for details!

Season 2 Track 7: Multitude of Casualties

Season 2 Track 7: Multitude of Casualties

For track 7 of Separation Sunday, "Multitude of Casualties", we hit a cruising velocity. We drove this episode like we stole it, but somehow avoided casualties. Instead we romped through Colorado's history, classic cult movies of the 70s and the 80s, and the importance of narrative shifts (or lack thereof).

Season 2 Track 8: Don't Let Me Explode

Season 2 Track 8: Don't Let Me Explode

Everything is corroding, so we're hitting the road. Well, we never made it to Los Angeles, and Jackie O warned us off of Dallas, but on The Hold Steady's "Don't Let Me Explode", a doo wop dance across the country, we find ourselves talking about curveballs, Rage Against the Machine, things falling apart, and, most of all, the Upper Midwest. It's not the standard Separation Sunday track, but it may be worth more attention than seems at first listen.

Season 2 Track 9: Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night

Season 2 Track 9: Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night

Hard rocking blues, scene reports and literary or religious spirits, and one of the tightest cover bands we've ever heard: "Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night" has a lot going on. And since Craig Finn told us what to celebrate, we invited a special guest to join us: Matthew Hess, founder of the famed Clicks and Hisses Hold Steady fan resource. He joins us to explain why this song is so important, and we go through the lyrics and the music to make sense of one of the band's high as hell moments, while acting out one of the key lines from the song all the while. And after listening, check out Clicks and Hisses if you haven't already: https://clicksandhisses.com/

Season 2 Track 10: Crucifixion Cruise

Season 2 Track 10: Crucifixion Cruise

"Crucifixion Cruise" is the briefest track on Separation Sunday, and arguably both the most forgettable and the biggest sign of concept album excess on the album. But! But there are some serious questions the song poses that we try to put our mouth around, like: What's the difference between a poem and a song?Why is it good that this is a concept album? Or is it good that it's a concept album?What do Simone Biles, Pink Floyd, Canto IV of the Wasteland, and the Avalanches have to do with Separation Sunday. Climb aboard, we think you're going to like the view.

Season 2 Track 11: How A Resurrection Really Feels

Season 2 Track 11: How A Resurrection Really Feels

We're crashing the Easter mass, hair done up in broken glass, and despite what the mural says up on East 13th (which one?) we're going to walk on back. For the last track of Separation Sunday, we do one of our closest readings, wondering about video booths and redemption, amen cadences and calm and collected priests. Somehow we span from Wilco to Mighty Max to crying in the shower. But maybe as you hear this you'll hear us say we love you too. (Also, bonus episodes coming starting next week!)

Season 2 Bonus Episode 1: Dictating Doxologies With Father Christian Raab

Season 2 Bonus Episode 1: Dictating Doxologies With Father Christian Raab

In our first of two bonus episodes for Season 2, we welcome Father Christian Raab, a Catholic Priest and scholar who also has a musical and Midwestern background, which gives him quite the perspective on Separation Sunday. We talk about beauty, man and God searching for each other, female mystics, the strings of baptism, other St. Theresas, and, somehow, Evelyn Waugh. Stay turned for our second and final bonus episode of Season 2 next week.

Season 2 Bonus Episode 2: A Reading Of The Wasteland

Season 2 Bonus Episode 2: A Reading Of The Wasteland

As listeners will know, A Positive Jam Season 2 host Shawn Westfall has called Separation Sunday our generation's The Wasteland, and so our final bonus episode of the season puts that to the test. We read T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland in a Craig Finn-inspired voice. We think and hope you will enjoy it as another lens on the wisdom of The Hold Steady. You can follow along here: https://poets.org/poem/waste-land This wraps up season 2. Get in touch with us on Twitter at @shawnwestfall, @mbrookstaylor, or @danielshortman, or @shortmanstudios. Email us at mail@shortmanstudios.com. And hold steady.

Season 1

Intro To A Positive Jam Season 1: The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me

Intro To A Positive Jam Season 1: The Hold Steady - Almost Killed Me

A Positive Jam is a podcast dedicated to breaking down great albums track by track. Our first season focuses on The Hold Steady’s classic debut album, Almost Killed Me. The Hold Steady emerged in 2004 with Almost Killed Me, a record that took a throwback 70s’ rock sound and made it wholly new. In a time of 80s knock-offs, dance-punk bands, and the last gasps of nu-grunge and boy bands, The Hold Steady kicked the doors down with a bag of one-liners and guitar solos. They reminded the sniffling indie kids and critics of the early ‘00s that this was supposed to be a party. And, they changed our lives. In our intro episode, co-hosts Mike Taylor and Daniel Shvartsman explain why this album matters and what we aim to do over the course of the 12 episodes that cover season 1. We will be breaking down the 10 tracks from Almost Killed Me, one episode at a time, as well as breaking down bonus tracks and the Minneapolis music scene. A Positive Jam debuts with full episodes in the first week of August 2020 and will be available on Spotify, Apple, Stitcher, Google Play, and wherever you get podcasts. Subscribe to get episodes as soon as they come out, and hold steady for the season through one of the great rock albums of this millennium. Season 1 of A Positive Jam is sponsored by Retro Gear Shop. Check out Retro Gear Shop at https://retrogearshop.com/

A Positive Jam Season 1 Playlist: The Hold Steady Starter Kit

A Positive Jam Season 1 Playlist: The Hold Steady Starter Kit

As we build up for the launch of A Positive Jam - coming in on August 5th - we're releasing a couple playlist episodes. These playlists should help you get excited to dive into the Hold Steady's debut, Almost Killed Me, and will set the context for the 2004 music scene that the Hold Steady crashed into. In this episode, Mike Taylor walks us through his Hold Steady starter kit. The six songs - only six?! - that will get someone new to the band up to speed on what the Hold Steady is generally about. And if you're already a big fan of the band, you'll probably get fired up re-listening to these tracks. Or maybe we missed a track? If so, you can tell us on twitter @mbrookstaylor or @danielshortman. Check out the full playlist here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Ail7NL4yZDOxVQgXXQvKx?si=JcONNoMoSriDi314TeXeRQ And make sure to subscribe to A Positive Jam here: SpotifyApple PodcastsStitcherPodbean And hold steady for our debut episode, August 5th!

A Positive Jam Season 1 Playlist: The Early '00s Music Scene

A Positive Jam Season 1 Playlist: The Early '00s Music Scene

As we build up for the launch of A Positive Jam - which is one week away, on August 5th - we're releasing a couple playlist episodes. These playlists should help you get excited to dive into the Hold Steady's debut, Almost Killed Me, and will set the context for the 2004 music scene that the Hold Steady crashed into. In this episode, Daniel Shvartsman sets the scene for music in the early '00s. A time where R&B and rap fully eclipsed rock, where indie mainstream music was falling into two nostalgic channels, where unconventional song structures and emo were having a moment. But also, 2004 would be a turning point year. This playlist will bring you back to that era and see why music was ready for a change, as driven by the Hold Steady and others. There's no way to get to everything in 33 songs, of course. Any other tracks you remember from this era as important ones? Let us know on twitter @mbrookstaylor or @danielshortman, or @shortmanstudios. Check out the full playlist here - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2hEU9wP2t4KdiBBjhHabGn?si=7rOOTgbRSUiqszit827yaQ And make sure to subscribe to A Positive Jam here: SpotifyApple PodcastsStitcherPodbean And hold steady for our debut episode, August 5th!

A Positive Jam Track 1: Positive Jam

A Positive Jam Track 1: Positive Jam

We start it all off with a positive jam. Namely, "Positive Jam", the first track on Almost Killed Me. Matt Brooks of the Washington Post joins us to break down the Hold Steady's thesis statement, their scene establisher, their introduction to their triumphant career. We break down how the track works, including how it sets up the band's ethos as much as Craig Finn's lyrical interests. We talk about where it could have gone wrong and why it's not our generation's "We Didn't Start The Fire". And we discuss whether this track stands alone, and whether it works as the first track for someone new to The Hold Steady.

A Positive Jam Track 2: The Swish

A Positive Jam Track 2: The Swish

"Positive Jam" set out what the Hold Steady cared about, but it was "The Swish" that showed who the Hold Steady were and what they were about. Matt Brooks (Washington Post) joins us again to break down the first big rocker of the Hold Steady's album career, track two of their debut Almost Killed Me. We get into the musical elements, including the ringing guitars and the AC/DC tricks, as well as the lyrical elements - the name drops, the geography, the specificity. We explain why Joni Mitchell is an underrated but lyrically tied reference for the Hold Steady, argue over whether the song ends well, and debut our special feature section, Map Corner. Pick out your favorite Shaker Heights' outfit, pull around to the window, and let's get rocking. Check out our favorite lines and more background on this episode in our show notes - https://shortmanstudios.com/a-positive-jam-season-one-track-2-the-swish