On the long-awaited/-delayed fourth edition of my occasional Auriculum podcast, eidetic wonder Rob Sheffield returns to talk year-end lists with me and moderator Joe Levy, who gets words in both edgewise and full-on. I enthuse about my long-shot Dean’s List one and three picks Hanging Tree Guitars and Dakhla Sahara Sessions, both of which evoke racial conflict: the unsung heroes of Hanging Tree Guitars more explicit about slavery than their Delta blues forefathers could be, Saharan guitar heroes Group Doueh and Parisian rockers Cheveu convening less affably than hoped. Then Rob describes how funny sad girl Lomelda can be before enthusing about Phoebe Bridgers’s “Kyoto.” Later Jarvis Cocker, Black Thought, Chloe x Halle, Rina Sawayama and Sad13 come up. I’ve been listening to Oh-OK and their secret sharers Kaito; Liliput is adduced. Meanwhile, Rob is all up in a James Brown cassette he just reacquired. Right, we both stream because how can we not but love physical product. It is revealed that Rob owns many Walkmen, and that I own some too. All in (barely) under an hour.

Thanks to Wussy for granting permission to use their song “Teenage Wasteland” as the theme song for Auriculum, and to producer Sandy Smallens and Audiation.

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertchristgau.substack.com/subscribe