Discord & Rhyme continues its slow walk through the world of Post-Rock with an examination of the 1996 album Millions Now Living Will Never Die by the Chicago-based group Tortoise. John has been fascinated by the concept of Post-Rock for many years (even if many of the acts associated with it, Tortoise included, rejected it as a useful descriptor), and a large part of this fascination stems from a love he has had for this album for over 20 years. In this episode, John, Mike, Rich, and Dan try to make sense not only of how one should define one of the most ambiguous genres out there, but also of why an instrumental album in that genre (possibly), mostly lacking clear traditional melodies and traditional song structures (the opening “Djed” is 21 minutes by itself), is clearly one of the best albums any of us have ever heard. Regardless of whether Tortoise is Post-Rock, Prog, both, or neither, this is an album worth learning about, and Discord & Rhyme is up to the challenge.

Cohosts: John McFerrin, Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, Dan Watkins

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/156-tortoise-millions-now-living-will-never-die-1996

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It's that time of year again: question time! We'll be releasing our annual Q&A in mid-April, so if you have any questions for the podcast, send them to discordpod (at) gmail (dot) com, or hit us up on BlueSky, Threads, Instagram, or Patreon @discordpod. Don't be afraid to be creative, within the bounds of good taste, at our discretion. Keep as cool as you can!

If you only know Talk Talk for their ‘80s night staple “It’s My Life,” you might well wonder what an experimental weirdo like Mike is doing hosting an episode about them. However, if you know a little more about their strange and fascinating career trajectory, it makes perfect sense. The sparse, atmospheric Spirit of Eden couldn’t be more different from Talk Talk’s synth-pop origins or from anything else in the musical landscape of 1988, and it more or less doomed the band’s career when it came out, but the sound of rock music in the 21st century wouldn’t be the same without it. Listening to Spirit of Eden is an experience that’s almost impossible to relate by means of such quotidian devices as “words,” but Mike, Phil, Rich, and John are all going to try anyway.

Cohosts: Mike DeFabio, Rich Bunnell, Phil Maddox, John McFerrin

Complete show notes: https://discordpod.com/listen/155-talk-talk-spirit-of-eden-1988

Discord & Rhyme's merch store: http://tee.pub/lic/discordpod

Support the podcast! https://www.patreon.com/discordpod