Harkpodcast

As Pride month comes to an end, RJ and Ian review and rank two gay-themed Christmas tunes. Queercore punk band Pansy Division's "Homo Christmas" charms our pants off, while "RuPaul the Red Nosed Drag Queen" leaves some lingering questions.

With the summer solstice approaching, Ian and RJ take this new dawn as an opportunity to discuss two songs about a thus-far neglected winter holiday - the New Year! Ella Fitzgerald undersells herself in the charming "What Are You Doing New Years Eve?" while Sufjan Stevens' "Auld Lang Syne" sounds as Sufjan Stevensy as you expect, complete with banjo and theremin (or perhaps a saw). Also, Prince is issued a lifetime ban from the podcast. Your move, Prince.

We address an anonymous request (probably from Santa) and review and rank two boy band originals (Santa's a big fan of boy bands). Listen in to hear us reminisce about the pop-est of 1990s pop music and answer the most important of questions: N'Sync or BSB?

RJ & Ian review two holiday hip-hop songs. While the genre hasn't got a lot of love on the show so far (Busta Rhymes' collaboration with Bieber notwithstanding), we have a lot of good things to say about these two - one an endlessly endearing Christmas classic, the other a surprising Hanukkah romp. You can read the NPR article we reference, "Light a Fire for Hanukkah Music", here: http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2010/12/02/131699442/matisyahu-light-a-fire-for-chanukah-music

You know the tune: the one in which we tell children they are being watched while they sleep. You probably also know the beloved Bruce Springsteen version of it. But which version do we think The Boss might have been inspired by? Listen in to learn about Springsteen's cover, its antecedents, the Elf on the Shelf conspiracy, and much more.

How do we follow an episode of two fun, charming, wonderful songs by legendary musicians? By reviewing and ranking two weird, dull, mystifying songs by legendary musicians, of course! RJ and Ian try to decipher the how and why of Tom Petty's "Christmas All Over Again" and struggle to understand anything at all about Bob Dylan's "Must Be Santa". Many thanks to our friend Andy for requesting "Must Be Santa"! You can check out Andy's work at wahwriter.wordpress.com, or follow him on twitter @ DeputyMasterWAH! For links to all the stuff we talked about in this episode, check our tumblr: harkpodcast.tumblr.com!

In honor of the uniquely Canadian upcoming holiday, Victoria Day, RJ & Ian review and rank two holiday songs fit for a queen. And thank God, they're the best songs we've heard in weeks! These two under-appreciated Christmas tunes by truly legendary artists have us in high spirits - won't you join us? The admission is free!

Of the vast multitude of things one could choose to write a holiday song about, a surprising (i.e. non-zero) number are about women cheating on their significant others with jolly old Saint Nick. We tackle two songs on this theme - one a charming but baffling classic, and the other a somewhat explicit song about Santadultery from the short-lived swing craze of the 1990s. It is... really something. Uh, this kind of started out as a Mother's Day episode? We're sorry.

In this episode, we review and rank the B-Sides to the classic tracks that we explored last week! Will they be hidden gems or dusty duds? Was Bobby Helms actually a parody artist? Are Christmas Librarians a thing? Brenda Lee, will you come on our podcast?

Jingle horse, jingle horse, jingle horse rock. Jingle horse chime in jingle horse time. Join RJ and Ian as they ponder the definition of rock, the powerful voice of young Brenda Lee, and of course, the nature of Jingle Horse.

Ian and RJ get back to their list of requests in this episode and review two idiosyncratic Christmas songs by masters of the keys, "Star of Wonder" by Tori Amos and "December Will Be Magic Again" by Kate Bush. While trying to interpret these haunting seasonal tunes, the conversation turns to vampires, ghosts, sexism in the music industry, and RJ's personal Tori Amos Moment. Thanks so much to Sarah for requesting "Star of Wonder"! You can check out Sarah's creations on soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/jatfa) and youtube (https://www.youtube.com/user/excepttheweasels)!

Our list of the best and worst holiday music is rapidly expanding, but mostly from the middle. In this episode, we aim high... and low. Two artistic collaborations covering the semi-classic "Little Drummer Boy" provide a roller coaster of quality that bring RJ and Ian to edge of euphoria and despair. Also, Justin Bieber raps about Jesus.

Listen! Hark! Sh'ma! HARK is back, and HARKier than ever! We're celebrating Easter and Passover with two religious holiday songs, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Mi Y'malel".

Due to technical difficulties, Ian and RJ are unable to bring you the totally great, insightful, hilarious, avant-garde, award-worthy episode that they recorded this week. Instead, please enjoy this minisode, in which we explain the situation and review a pair of RJ's Christmas socks. We also introduce a very special new intro and outro for minisodes! Thanks for listening, and we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next week.

Mount your noble Christmas steed and join us on this long, winding journey through two bizarre Christmas songs about festive animal companions. We review and rank the unfortunate earworm "Dominic the Donkey" and the inexplicable but eminently enjoyable "Christmas Unicorn". Mentioned in this week's episode: Sufjan Stevens' 100 Christmas Songs Ranked from Best to Worst: http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/9/7333319/sufjan-stevens-christmas-songs-ranked and Gunnarolla, creator of YouTube gems such as Canadian Please: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQf13B8epw.

It's a very oughties x-mas this week as Ian and RJ cover two listener requests that are new to their ears, yet remarkably recognizable. A love song by Paper Route and a break-up song by Hello Saferide have us reminiscing on the musical trends of the recent past and feeling embarrassed about high school. Thank you to Time Machine for the request! You can follow Time Machine on tumblr at timemachineyeah.tumblr.com.

Things get a little dark, a little bright, and more than a little musical theater-y. Ian and RJ get some more Christmas classics into the mix this week with two songs about looking on the bright side during hard times - "We Need A Little Christmas" from the Broadway musical Mame and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" from the film Meet Me In St. Louis.

In this somewhat sentimental episode of HARK, Ian and RJ discuss songs from Christmases past, inspired by a song request from Ian's sister Emma. Find out why Blossom Dearie's honey-voiced rendition of "I Wish You Love" evokes thoughts of Christmas cards for Ian and Emma, and how the at times bewildering soundtrack of a 1994 box office bomb became synonymous with the Christmas season for RJ. Check out Emma's website for travel, tea, and great writing!: http://anopportunemoment.com/ In this episode, we used the term "talent bomb" to describe Mixed Nuts, which we lifted from our favorite biweekly internet movie show, Welcome to the Basement: http://welcometothebasementshow.com/

So far all of our holiday music has been mostly about one holiday... but any song that you would basically only hear between November and January are songs we will review throughout the year! Today we add our first Hanukkah songs to the list, "I Have A Little Dreidel" as performed by The Barenaked Ladies and "Dreidel Bird" by The Macaroons. We discovered "Dreidel Bird" through this list, 11 Great, Modern Hanukkah Songs: http://www.reformjudaism.org/11-great-modern-hanukkah-songs

Ian and RJ offer their thoughts on two "Christmas" classics that never actually mention Christmas at all. "Baby It's Cold Outside" and "Let It Snow" don't get much play beyond December, but they're both better suited to Valentine's Day! One of these wintery tunes romances us, while the other leaves us feeling cold. The thinkpiece we referenced was Marya Hannun's "'Baby It’s Cold Outside’ was once an anthem for progressive women. What happened?": http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/19/baby-its-cold-outside-was-once-an-anthem-for-progressive-women-what-happened/