Podcast: Hanif Abdurraqib Talks 68to05 and Musical Influence

July 27, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio, who has recently launched a new project called 68to05 in which he pinpoints the arc of years that made him the music listener and lover he is today. Hanif joined Kiel Hauck on the latest episode of It’s All Dead to discuss the project and how he is tracing his musical influence and lineage forward and backwards. He also discusses the ways in which music education in America is flawed and what we lose when black artistic influence is erased or forgotten. Listen in!

Like our podcast? Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts and be sure to leave a review.

You can find more of Hanif’s work at his website: Abdurraqib.com.

Posted by Kiel Hauck

Filed Under: News, Podcast Tagged With: , , , ,

Underoath Observatory Kicks Off with “Lost in the Sound of Separation”

July 20, 2020 by Leave a Comment

I attended a concert on Friday. Sure, I wasn’t standing front row in a sweaty venue, camera in tow, earplugs in place, absorbing the experience amidst a sea of other fans. But I still enjoyed every second.

Underoath, who recently completed a live-streamed Twitch series breaking down each of their albums, have begun a string of three shows on consecutive Fridays titled Underoath Observatory. Each show will explore one album in its entirety. The event kicked off with Lost in the Sound of Separation and will be followed by Define the Great Line on July 24 and They’re Only Chasing Safety on July 31.

Aaron Gillespie (screengrab by Twitter user @jmcjmc451)

This experience was obviously a no-brainer for me. Although I’ve seen the band live nine times, I never turn down another opportunity if it’s within driving distance. And this Friday’s performance of Lost in the Sound of Separation – my favorite album from my favorite band – is something I’ve been waiting on for a long time.

Two years ago, on the album’s 10th anniversary, I pondered why the album hasn’t been given a fair shake alongside Define and Safety since the band’s reunion. I was fortunate to see Underoath during their headlining tour for Separation in 2008, but even then, several key songs from the album (including my favorite, “A Fault Line, A Fault of Mine”) were left off the playlist. Having the chance to see the album performed in whole, filling in the gaps on my “Underoath Songs I’ve Seen Live” bingo card, was something I couldn’t pass up.

Spencer Chamberlain (screengrab by Twitter user @jmcjmc451)

The band has long been heralded as a great live act, putting more effort than most into their on-stage production. Seeing Underoath live is more than just seeing the six members perform on stage. Each tour is like its own piece of performance art. And in typical fashion, the band has spared no effort in this endeavor. Thankfully for fans, so many musicians have taken the pandemic as an opportunity to explore live-streamed performances, but Underoath Observatory is on another level.

From the lightning to the camera work to the fantastic quality of the sound production, Friday night’s performance felt every bit like experiencing the band up close and personal (minus the sweat and ear-ringing). Each track felt special, but seeing the band explore songs never performed on stage was a delight. The liberty the band took on album closer “Desolate Earth: The End is Here” may have been a highlight.

But then again, it’s hard to pick one moment. About an hour after the stream ended, the rendered video from the performance was put online for ticket-purchasers to re-visit. Without hesitation, I poured myself another drink and relived the experience again.

In times like this, we savor every opportunity we can find to cherish our favorite music. It’s not lost on fans how important it is to support the artists we love who have lost their ability to make a living on the road. If you’re a fan of Underoath (or heavy music, in general), you can still grab tickets to the next two performances at UnderoathObservatory.com. And don’t forget to snag a vinyl copy of one of the three albums.

by Kiel Hauck

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple pop culture outlets and was previously an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, daughter, and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Filed Under: Events, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Podcast: The Best of Taylor Swift

July 13, 2020 by 1 Comment

It’s summer and we’ve got nowhere to go, so why not go ahead and rank the albums from Taylor Swift? Kiel Hauck is joined by Kyle Schultz as they share their personal journey with one of this generation’s musical icons and discuss how her fascinating transition from country to pop. The duo break down all seven studio albums from Taylor Swift and rank their top 10 songs from her discography. They also share their thoughts on Taylor’s legacy as a musician and one of our largest pop culture figures. Listen in!

Like our podcast? Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts and be sure to leave a review.

What is your favorite Taylor Swift album? Share in the replies!

Posted by Kiel Hauck

Filed Under: News, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Surviving Summer 2020 with Stand Atlantic

July 6, 2020 by Leave a Comment

As we’ve noted repeatedly these past few months, Summer 2020 has shaped up to be…not good. Not good at all. No summer concerts. No summer road trips. Just a cycle of sickness that could be broken if we could all show just an ounce of responsibility (please wear a mask, for the love of god).

But as we’ve also noted, one beacon of light these past few months has been the onslaught of incredibly good music that has lifted our spirits and kept us company. Summer has always been a season I associate with some of my favorite music memories. It’s hard not to get an itch for Warped Tour around this time each year, or reflect on those summer drives with friends when we blared our favorite pop punk bands from the speakers.

And even though the vast majority of this summer will be spent indoors and separated from friends and family, I’ve found more than a hint of seasonal solace in the form of Stand Atlantic.

The Australian pop punk act has been on my radar for a few years, but I haven’t given them the attention they deserve. The band, fronted by vocalist Bonnie Fraser, released their debut full-length album, Skinny Dipping, in 2018 on Hopeless Records. Next month, they’ll release a follow-up in the form of Pink Elephant.

If the first five songs the band have released are any indication, Pink Elephant is unlikely to leave my rotation for the duration of 2020. The recently-released “Jurassic Park” features the kind of sugary-sweet chorus that hasn’t invaded my ears since the summer of 2007 when All Time Low dropped “Dear Maria, Count Me In”. If Warped Tour was taking place in 2020, at least half of us would be sweat and sunscreen-stained t-shirts featuring the words “Dancing with ghosts in your garden”.

The crazy thing is, “Jurassic Park” may not even be the best song from Pink Elephant so far. That title goes to “Hate Me (Sometimes)” which successfully hits every winning note in the pop punk playbook while still sounding fresh as hell. But then again, it’s hard to argue against “Wavelength”, with its synth-driven verses and rattling bass line from Miki Rich. And what about “Drink to Drown” – a track that sounds like the best Mayday Parade ballad put to tape?

I guess what I’m saying is that I cannot wait to play this album all summer long, even if this summer blows. And I’ll never get tired of the feeling of finding a new band that captures my attention in a way that engulfs me. Those kinds of moments are the reason I started this site, and I’m hopeful that we can all experience a few in this interim period before we congregate once again to sing along to our favorite new songs in unison.

You can pre-order Pink Elephant here.

by Kiel Hauck

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple pop culture outlets and was previously an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, daughter, and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Filed Under: Features, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Run the Jewels Arrive Right on Time with “RTJ4”

June 8, 2020 by Leave a Comment

It was November 11, 2016. Just days after one of the most disastrous and damaging presidential elections in American history, iconic hip hop crew A Tribe Called Quest released their final album, We Got It from Here… Thank You 4 Your Service. It was an album 18 years in the making, set into motion in the years prior thanks to the mended relationship of key members Q-Tip and Phife Dawg, and largely recorded before Phife’s passing in March of that year.

That album was a moment. Less a celebratory victory lap for one of the genre’s most revered acts and more a statement of resistance in the aftermath of the election. Even now, tracks like “The Space Program” and “We the People…” feel as though they were penned on that dreadful Tuesday night. How was it possible for Tribe to have such foresight?

You can buy or stream RTJ4 on Apple Music.

Because foresight wasn’t required. Donald Trump’s election was just another sad, terrible moment in a country whose history is filled with the marginalization, oppression, and blatant hatred of people of color. The members of Tribe didn’t need a new reason to speak that truth.

I couldn’t help but think of that album this week upon the release of RTJ4, the fourth studio release from hip hop duo Run the Jewels. The album arrives with the country in disarray and protests taking place in every major city over the unjust deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breona Taylor, and quite literally countless black lives at the hands of a system that devalues them. RTJ4 sounds hand-crafted for this moment in time.

It was last Saturday that Killer Mike spoke during a press conference with Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in an unscripted and powerful moment that captured the attention of the country. It’s the kind of speech you would expect a leader to give – the sort of thing that is in short supply these days. By Wednesday, in the words of Run the Jewels themselves, “Fuck it. Why Wait?” RTJ4 was here.

I didn’t make it through the first track before I had to pause and compose myself. “Yankee and the brave (ep. 4)” begins with the sort of fictional, fantastical banter that sometimes backdrops Run the Jewels’ music, adding moments of levity between the weight. The track itself is punishing, highlighted by its rapid-fire drum beat and rattling bass line. Mid-way into the track, Mike drops the kind of verse that makes time stand still:

“I got one round left, a hunnid cops outside
I could shoot at them or put one between my eyes
Chose the latter, it don’t matter, it ain’t suicide”
And if the news say it was that’s a goddamn lie
I can’t let the pigs kill me, I got too much pride
And I meant it when I said it, never take me alive”

Before you can digest those lines, El-P enters the scene with humor, jerking us back into this getaway episode, spitting, “I got the Grand Nat runnin’ in the alley outside / Now, Michael, run like you hungry and get your ass in the ride”. It’s a textbook Run the Jewels moment, but this week, it hits harder than ever before.

The same applies to “walking in the snow” featuring another heartbeat-skipping moment as Mike alludes to the last words of Eric Garner, who was killed in 2014 by New York City police. His verse now lands hauntingly in the wake of George Floyd:

“And every day on evening news they feed you fear for free
And you so numb you watch the cops choke out a man like me
And ’til my voice goes from a shriek to whisper, ‘I can’t breathe’”

Jesus. And he’s not done:

“And you sit there in the house on couch and watch it on TV
The most you give’s a Twitter rant and call it a tragedy
But truly the travesty, you’ve been robbed of your empathy”

I could go on, diving in on tracks like “JU$T” featuring Pharrell and Rage Against the Machine’s Zach de la Rocha, which features the repeated cry of, “Look at all these slave masters”, but you get the point. While this past week has served as a wake-up call (hopefully) for so many white and privileged people across the country, the stories of George Floyd and Breona Taylor are nothing new for the black community. Albums like Thank You 4 Your Service and RTJ4 feel so in the moment when they arrive because they exist in a moment that never ends.

At a certain point in time as the genre evolved and expanded, hip hop as protest music became a sort of subgenre. But truthfully, protest has always been in rap’s DNA. It has to be. Because black voices are marginalized and maligned today just as they were in the 70s when the genre began to form, and just as they were for hundreds of years prior to that. And while we’d all be wise to listen, maybe it’s time to act, too. Fuck it. Why wait?

by Kiel Hauck

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple pop culture outlets and was previously an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, daughter, and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Filed Under: Features, News Tagged With: , , , , ,

Reflecting On: MxPx – The Ever Passing Moment

May 18, 2020 by Leave a Comment

The first MxPx release to catch my ear wasn’t a studio album. In the summer of 1999, the band released At the Show, a 21-track live album coming on the heels of an unprecedented run of solid gold pop punk – literally. Life in General firmly legitimized the band in 1996 before 1998’s Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo was certified gold, followed by Let it Happen, one of the greatest collections of B-sides the genre has seen. The skate punk kids from Bremerton had arrived.

You can buy or stream The Ever Passing Moment on Apple Music.

At the Show introduced me to the band and served as a primer on their greatest hits. Even now, when the studio version “Chick Magnet” comes on, I sing along with the vocals of Mike Herrera’s much looser and more playful live rendition. It’s probably no surprise then that 2000’s The Ever Passing Moment is my favorite MxPx album. It was the first one to release after I’d fallen head-over-heels in love with the band.

It is now 20 years old, which almost seems impossible.

You can have a lot of fun debates about which MxPx album is the best because there really aren’t any bad ones. And while I’ve always conceded that Life in General stands at the front of the pack, it’s never held the same place in my heart. The Ever Passing Moment finds the band at the top of their game with nothing to prove. Free from their divorce from Tooth & Nail Records, MxPx seemed to spread their wings on A&M – three years later, they would release their most commercial album to date with Before Everything & After.

Almost every one of the album’s 15 tracks clocks in at under 3 minutes, and each flexes the band’s most impressive muscle – fast-paced, left coast punk rawk. The Ever Passing Moment breezes by effortlessly, which is probably why I’ve played it so relentlessly over the years that I know every beat and turn like the back of my hand. Not to mention the litany of memorable moments that reside in MxPx lore, from the stomping chorus of “Responsibility” to Dave Grohl’s scream of “One, two, three, go!” at the start of “The Next Big Thing”.

Because the album is so solid from front to back, it takes the pressure off the singles to carry two decades’ worth of weight. I’ve always found unsung tracks like “Two Whole Years”, “Foolish”, “Answer in the Question”, and “Unsaid” to be just as fun, energetic, and memorable as anything in the band’s catalogue. And truly, that’s how you end up talking about an album 20 years later – it has to be an album worth talking about.

As the pop punk genre took off into the mainstream at the start of the new century, MxPx began their transition to a band of legacy. To date, the band has released five more full-length albums since The Ever Passing Moment, each worthy of celebration, even if they didn’t hold quite the same level of influence. No matter. A large majority of the onslaught of pop punk’s new wave could trace their lineage back to MxPx. 

If Life in General was the album that made a new generation of punks want to pick up a guitar, The Ever Passing Moment was the album that served as the definitive playbook for pop punk excellence.

by Kiel Hauck

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple pop culture outlets and was previously an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, daughter, and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Filed Under: Features, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Building the Perfect Summer Music Festival

May 12, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Unfortunately, we won’t be celebrating in the sun this summer while attending our favorite music festivals, so we decided to dream big. What if we could create the perfect lineup for our own summer music festival? Kiel Hauck is joined by Kyle Schultz and Nadia Paiva on the latest podcast as they take turns selecting bands to fill out their lineup card. The catch? Each band must be selected from a specific year and no two bands can appear on the same lineup. Fun and chaos ensue. Take a listen below and scroll down further to see our full lineups!

Like our podcast? Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts and be sure to leave a review.

Kiel’s Lineup

Nirvana (1992)
Genesis (1986)
Lauryn Hill (1999)

Paramore (2008)
Underoath (2005)
The Weeknd (2012)
The 1975 (2013)
Carly Rae Jepsen (2016)
My Chemical Romance (2004)
MxPx (1998)
Tears for Fears (1985)
Jewel (1995)
Nas (1994)
Frank Ocean (2011)
Clipse (2002)

Kyle’s Lineup

Green Day (2010)
Taylor Swift (2012)
The Ramones (1980)

AFI (2020)
Saves The Day (2006)
The Interrupters (2021)
Goldfinger (2020)
Something Corporate (2004)
Homegrown (2004)
Reel Big Fish (2010)
Chiodos vs Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows (2011)
Cartel (2007)
Jason Mraz (2009)
The Academy Is… (2005)

Nadia’s Lineup

Lorde (2017)
The Killers (2004)
Death Cab for Cutie (2005) 

Marina and the Diamonds (2012)
Regina Spektor (2009)
twenty one pilots (2013)
Relient K (2004)
Mumford and Sons (2012)
Hayley Williams (2020)
Panic! at the Disco (2011)
Falling Up (2013)
Closure In Moscow (2014)
Quiet Company (2011)
Turnover (2015)
Flyleaf (2005)

What is your dream music festival lineup? Share in the replies!

Posted by Kiel Hauck

Filed Under: News, Podcast Tagged With: , , , ,

Celebrating 15 Years of “From Under the Cork Tree”

May 4, 2020 by 1 Comment

During the spring semester of my junior year of college, I spent countless afternoons manning the booth for our student radio station. For what felt like a month straight, “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” was the most requested song. I vividly remember taking another request by phone, only to look up and see the television in the studio playing the video on MTV. Fall Out Boy were everywhere. And frankly, I was already sick of them.

You can buy or stream From Under the Cork Tree on Apple Music.

It took me a while to come around on From Under the Cork Tree, the album that launched Fall Out Boy, and the scene at large, into the stratosphere. Call it juvenile elitism. These were our bands, and now suddenly everyone was into it?

That bad attitude kept me from experiencing the joys of FUCT for a number of years. Now, 15 years after its release, it’s an album I know like the back of my hand.

On the album’s 10th anniversary, Senior Editor Kyle Schultz wrote about how From Under the Cork Tree is rightfully credited with taking a new generation of emo to the masses, but he also notes how that ascent was the end of the scene as we had known it. Many of our favorite bands were no longer confined to the Warped Tour circuit. Following Fall Out Boy’s rise in 2005, new bands could emerge from the woodwork and land headlining tours and MTV airplay without so much as traveling across country multiple times in 15-passenger vans. The scene was in style and driving popular tastes.

It’s still weird to think back on that time. Pre-2005 it was still faux pas to shop exclusively at Hot Topic or cover your backpack in stitched-on patches of bands no one had ever heard of. Don’t hear me as complaining here – it’s simply an acknowledgement of how quickly things changed and how upside down it all felt for those of us who were on the bandwagon back when there was plenty of room.

It didn’t take long for me (and assuredly many others) to adjust to this new experience. We became the ones at shows telling stories of “back when.” Before long, it felt almost normal for every Fueled By Ramen band to go platinum. It got comfortable. Until it wasn’t.

We now reflect fondly on those times of scene stardom, LiveJournal updates, Rolling Stone covers and the like. Because it all came crashing back to earth just as quickly as it began. But here’s the thing: the tax never came due for Fall Out Boy.

There’s a version of this story where we talk about “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down” as the highlight in the short career of a band that could’ve left us wanting more. Instead, Fall Out Boy used From Under the Cork Tree to infiltrate the pop culture zeitgeist and evolve into something new and fresh. Infinity on High made clear that Fall Out Boy had graduated from the scene. The events that followed turned them into something that comes as close as you can get to rock legends in this day and age.

As much as I’ve grown to love From Under the Cork Tree and all of it’s introspective, self-deprecating charm over the years, I wouldn’t place it on the band’s Mount Rushmore. That may make me an outlier, but Fall Out Boy only got better – much better – in the aftermath of that breakthrough moment.

I’m thankful for that. And so, I would assume, are so many of the bands we cover on this site who owe a debt of gratitude to the blueprint that Fall Out Boy created. But as much as those bands may have tried to recreate that magic over the years, no one has been able to pull it off with the flair for the dramatic that Fall Out Boy demonstrated on From Under the Cork Tree.

by Kiel Hauck

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple pop culture outlets and was previously an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, daughter, and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.
Filed Under: Features, News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

10 Classic Music Videos Turning 10 in 2020

April 27, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Every year, I use my love of music videos as an excuse to spend way too much time watching music videos from a decade prior and then making a dumb list of some of my favorites. This is that list! It’s crazy to think that breakthrough years for artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry are now a decade behind us. Or that 10 years ago, My Chemical Romance was still going strong with one of the most anticipated rock albums of the year.

Then again, time makes almost no sense these days. Seeing as many of us have plenty of times on our hands, I hope you’ll enjoy this list of some of my favorite music videos from 2010. If you feel so inclined, share some of your favorites in the replies!

Circa Survive – “Imaginary Enemy”

The lead single from Circa Survive’s 2010 masterpiece Blue Sky Noise was “Get Out”, but the most underrated track from the album is “Imaginary Enemy”. The video finds the band members running through dark forests and fields on the wrong side of a witch hunt. That imagery is kind of perfect for where the band found themselves around this time, at least until the end of the video when they’re beamed up into a spaceship. Then again, do we have proof this never happened?

Lady Gaga – “Alejandro”

By 2010, new Lady Gaga videos were appointment viewing, much like Madonna’s artistic dominance on MTV in the 80s. You can pick your poison in terms of the best video from The Fame Monster – I went with “Alejandro” for its sheer weirdness and beauty. Inspired by her admiration and love for her gay friends, the video is full of religious imagery and sexual energy. Was there anything more Gaga in 2010 than an AR-15 assault rifle bra?

Bring Me the Horizon – “It Never Ends”

Oh no! Oli Sykes is in the back of an ambulance barreling down the road, driven by a guy whose eyes are covered! And he’s also kinda floating around down the road like a ghost! And there are vampires? This video is weird, but this song is so good. 2010 saw Bring Me the Horizon make a huge artistic leap forward, spearheaded by “It Never Ends” and its manic video which is constantly trying to capture the energy of one of the year’s most aggressive metalcore tracks.

Pierce the Veil – “Caraphernelia”

The video for Pierce the Veil’s “Caraphernelia” serves as an early entry in the “we’re so consumed by our phones!” narrative. Nevertheless, nothing was quite as scene in 2010 as Vic Fuentes and company playing in front of the giant letters “PTV” set aflame. Cool crossover moment: A Day to Remember’s Jeremy McKinnon contributes his vocals in this video via a pay phone, the same manner in which Vic appears in A Day to Remember’s video for “All I Want”.

Kanye West featuring Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj – “Monster”

Remember back when Kanye was enjoyable and we really liked his music? Ah, those were the days. The video for “Monster” was never officially released, because it’s horror movie images were deemed a bit too far beyond the pale. But the video exists online and it’s…good, albeit very creepy. It’s also fun as hell to watch Nicki Minaj own her portion of the video, capping off the best rap verse of 2010.

A Day to Remember – “All I Want”

What Separates Me from You felt like A Day to Remember’s big moment when it dropped, highlighted by lead single “All I Want” – a signature ADTR track complete with a great breakdown and a killer chorus. The video serves as a scene who’s who, with nearly every band imaginable making an appearance. Ten years later, though, it’s pretty dang weird that it’s all dudes. You couldn’t find a single lady to include, guys? Come on.

Kesha – “Take it Off”

Kesha’s run of singles in 2010 rivals that of a few others on this list who had massive years (Lady Gaga and Katy Perry). While there may have been better Kesha singles, I’ve always been partial to “Take it Off” – a song with two different music videos. In this one, clearly the wildest of the two, Kesha and friends find themselves hitting up a rave in a motel pool, but oh wait, it’s actually on another planet, and oh wait, are they all dissolving into dust? Yes. yes, they are.

Travie McCoy featuring Bruno Mars – “Billionaire”

Y’all. In 2010, Travie McCoy of Gym Class Heroes broke out as a solo artist with one of the biggest hits of the year…featuring Bruno Mars. That was a thing that happened. The video finds the two rolling down the highway in a convertible and hitting up a beach and skate park before landing at a party with some cool kids. Travie may have never become a billionaire (I assume), but he definitely left his mark on 2010.

My Chemical Romance – “Na Na Na”

Was it really 10 years ago that My Chemical Romance began what we thought was their final chapter with Danger Days? This first video really set the tone for the band’s new aesthetic, set in a dystopian future with neon laser guns and bright hair colors. The band’s new look went right along with their new sound, telling the story of the Killjoys, a group of rogue do-gooders who take out some bad guys while saving a kid. For what it’s worth, red-hair Gerard Way looked really cool.

Katy Perry – “Teenage Dream”

Katy Perry dominated the airwaves in 2010 like few other have. Five singles from Teenage Dream hit number one on the charts, making her the first female artist to achieve that feat, and the first artist since Michael Jackson. In the video for the album’s title track, a summer joyride with her beau turns into passion. And then, as is customary, the couple follow it up with a dance party in a weird alley with a group of strangers. When in Rome.

by Kiel Hauck

kiel_hauckKiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple pop culture outlets and was previously an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife, daughter, and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Filed Under: Features, News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Making Sense of Childish Gambino’s “3.15.20”

April 20, 2020 by Leave a Comment

Last month, a surprise new album from Childish Gambino hit the web with little promotion and few details. A month later, we’re still trying to figure out 3.15.20. On this episode of the podcast, Kiel Hauck is joined by Richard Clark to discuss the twists and turns of the new album and debate 3.15.20‘s place in Childish Gambino’s discography. They also take a look back at the artistic growth of Donald Glover, one of the most fascinating pop culture figures and artists of our time. Take a listen!

Like our podcast? Subscribe to our show on Apple Podcasts and be sure to leave a review.

What is your favorite album by Childish Gambino? Share in the replies!

Posted by Kiel Hauck

Filed Under: News, Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
Next Page»