Album Nerds

Every good feast leaves a little something in the Tupperware. Album Nerds Leftovers starts here, with Don and Dude reheating Episode 287, "On the Side," and serving up two side-project albums they never got to: a raw alternative rock debut from members of the Pixies and Throwing Muses, and a two-day crossover blast from members of Anthrax.
The Albums
The Breeders – Pod (1990)
Pixies bassist Kim Deal and Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly started the Breeders in 1988 after they became friends on a joint European tour. Josephine Wiggs played bass and Slint's Britt Walford played drums. Steve Albini recorded the album on analog tape in about a week at Palladium studio in Edinburgh, with the band playing live in the room. Deal wrote most of the songs, and the lyrics about sex and relationships are dark and strange. It later became Kurt Cobain's favorite album.
Stormtroopers of Death – Speak English or Die (1985)
Anthrax's Scott Ian and Charlie Benante formed S.O.D. in New York during a break in Anthrax's schedule, with former Anthrax bassist Dan Lilker and singer Billy Milano. Alex Perialas and Ian recorded the album in about two days at Pyramid Sound in Ithaca, packing 21 tracks into roughly 29 minutes. It helped establish crossover thrash. Its shock humor, built around the cartoon character Sargent D, has long drawn criticism as racist and offensive.
Diggin' Albums
Fontaines D.C. – Dopamine Chamber (2026)
The Dublin band's fifth album, produced by James Ford, moves into colder, darker and more synthetic sounds as it explores pleasure, obsession and escapism in an increasingly automated world.
The Firm – The Firm (1985) Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers' supergroup debut mixes blues-based hard rock with melodic songwriting and includes "Radioactive," a No. 1 Mainstream Rock hit.
Michael Kiwanuka – Fudge (2026)
The north London singer-songwriter produced his fifth album himself, mostly in a small studio near his Southampton home, and it takes a playful, loose approach to his warm, retro soul.
Strawberry Guy – Give Me a Dream (2026)
The Liverpool-based Welsh singer-songwriter recorded the 14 songs on his second album at Sonic Ranch in Texas, leaning on piano and layered strings for lyrics about getting older, hope and love.
Follow & Support Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky @albumnerds, email your own favorites to podcast@albumnerds.com, and support the podcast by subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing it with another music obsessive who still loves hearing whole albums front to back.
"Waiter, I'll begin with the house salad, but I don't want the regular dressing. I'll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side, and then the salmon with the mustard sauce, but I want the mustard sauce on the side. 'On the side' is a very big thing for you." - Harry Burns (Billy Crystal), When Harry Met Sally (1989)

Parents played records backward, preachers burned vinyl, and the devil supposedly lived in your Walkman. For Halloween, Don and Dude pick two albums that moral guardians blamed for corrupting a generation: an East London metal breakthrough and an Australian hard rock classic.
The Albums
Iron Maiden – The Number of the Beast (1982)
Bassist Steve Harris formed Iron Maiden in Leyton, East London, in 1975. Bruce Dickinson of Samson replaced Paul Di'Anno in 1981, and this was his first album with the band and drummer Clive Burr's last. Martin Birch produced it in about five weeks at Battery Studios in London. Religious groups in America burned and smashed the records, even though most of the songs are stories taken from movies, TV and history.
AC/DC – Highway to Hell (1979)
Brothers Angus and Malcolm Young formed AC/DC in Sydney in 1973 and found their sound with singer Bon Scott. Mutt Lange recorded the album at Roundhouse Studios in London over days as long as 15 hours, tightening the songs for American radio. It became the band's commercial breakthrough and Scott's last studio album before he died in 1980. The title and the cover, with Angus wearing devil horns, made the band an easy target for religious critics.
Diggin' Albums
Mouth Ulcers – Silent Pictures (2026)
The London goth and post-punk quartet's seven-track debut EP mixes brooding atmosphere with catchy melodies in just 23 minutes.
The Phantom A.D. – Revenge Of... (2026)
This California horror-rock outfit's 13-track second album packs surf riffs, garage-rock energy and vintage monster-movie stories into 31 minutes.
The Darling Buds – Same Sun / Same Sky (2026)
The Welsh indie pop band recorded these twelve songs in Newport with producer Richard Jackson, returning to their catchy melodies, big harmonies and jangly guitars.
Imperial Teen – All Over You (2026)
The San Francisco pop band's seventh album, released on Merge Records, mixes bubblegum pop, New Wave keyboards, electro beats and power pop with boy/girl harmonies.
Follow & Support
Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky @albumnerds, email your own favorites to podcast@albumnerds.com, and support the podcast by subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing it with another music obsessive who still loves hearing whole albums front to back.
"You're the anti-Christ. You know that, Stern? You are the motherf***ing anti-Christ!" - Kenny "Pig-Vomit" Rushton (Paul Giamatti), Private Parts (1997)

We Love the 90s
The flannel is still in the closet, the Macarena won't leave the dance floor, and dial-up is screeching from the family computer. Our I Love the 90s series wraps up with Don and Dude each picking one favorite album from the whole decade, a Liverpool jangle-pop classic and a Seattle grunge follow-up.
The Albums
The La's – The La's (1990)
The La's started in Liverpool in 1983 as Mike Badger's idea. Lee Mavers soon took over the songwriting, John Power joined on bass in 1986, and guitarists and drummers came and went for years. John Leckie, Mike Hedges and others tried to make the album over about three years, and none of them satisfied Mavers. Steve Lillywhite finally recorded it at Eden Studios in London in December 1989, but the band walked away from the sessions. Lillywhite put the album together from what he had, and Mavers called it a snake with a broken back.
Pearl Jam – Vs. (1993)
Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard formed Pearl Jam in Seattle in 1990, after Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood died, and brought in Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder. Dave Abbruzzese had replaced drummer Dave Krusen by the second album. The band produced it with Brendan O'Brien at The Site in Nicasio, California, building most songs from live jams so it came out rawer and funkier than Ten. It sold more than 950,000 copies in its first five days, even though the band refused to make music videos.
Diggin' Albums
Prince – Timeless (2026)
This posthumous collection gathers 10 unreleased recordings from 1977 to 2016 in chronological order, including the 1991 recording of "With This Tear," a song Céline Dion later recorded.
Jeff Buckley – Grace (1994)
Buckley's only studio album finished in his lifetime, produced by Andy Wallace at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, mixes adventurous rock with intimate songs like "Last Goodbye" and his take on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."
Pet Shop Boys – A Man from the Future (2026)
The synth-pop duo's 16th album is an eight-part concept album about the life and death of Alan Turing, made with Turing biographer Andrew Hodges and featuring narration by Juliet Stevenson.
Paul Heaton – Jenius (2026)
The former Housemartins and Beautiful South singer's 23rd album, produced by Ian Broudie of the Lightning Seeds, covers love, loneliness, pubs, the state of the country and football, with Rianne Downey as his duet partner.
Follow & Support Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky @albumnerds, email your own favorites to podcast@albumnerds.com, and support the podcast by subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing it with another music obsessive who still loves hearing whole albums front to back.
"I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really. Get busy living, or get busy dying." - Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Our I Love the 90s series lands on 1999, the year Regis wanted your final answer, Brandi Chastain's penalty kick won the World Cup, and everyone was trying to catch 'em all. Don and Dude split the TRL countdown between pop and nu-metal, pairing five Orlando harmonizers with a red-capped Jacksonville crew mixing turntables and seven-string riffs.
The Albums
Backstreet Boys – Millennium (1999)
Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson got together in Orlando in 1993. Lou Pearlman had put out an ad looking for a group with a New Kids on the Block look and a Boyz II Men sound. The album came after a hard stretch: Brian had heart surgery, the band lost family members, producer Denniz Pop died, and the group sued Pearlman. Max Martin wrote or co-wrote seven of the twelve songs, recording mostly in Stockholm with Kristian Lundin and Rami Yacoub. Mutt Lange, Stephen Lipson and Eric Foster White shaped much of the second half, and Brian and Kevin did more of the writing this time.
Limp Bizkit – Significant Other (1999)
Fred Durst, Sam Rivers and John Otto started the band in Jacksonville in 1994, and Wes Borland and DJ Lethal completed the lineup. Durst met Korn's Fieldy while working as a tattoo artist, and that connection helped get them noticed. Terry Date, known for his work with Pantera, Soundgarden and Deftones, produced the album with the band in New York and Los Angeles. They kept the debut's rap-metal formula and added funk, melody, turntables and skits. Guests included Method Man, Jonathan Davis, Scott Weiland and Aaron Lewis.
Diggin' Albums
Ian Noe – Canyon Falls Trailer Band (2026)
The Eastern Kentucky singer-songwriter finishes his trilogy with a 16-song double concept album about a made-up hometown band traveling to Nashville to try for a record deal.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication (1999)
John Frusciante's return and Rick Rubin's production steered the band toward a more melodic, vulnerable sound on what became their best-selling album.
Blossoms – Songs From the Wedding Cake (2026)
The Stockport indie pop band's sixth album is named after the local nickname for the town hall where Tom Ogden got married, and it was recorded on analog tape with more 80s funk, disco and dance influence.
Johnny Marr – The Age of Everything (2026)
On his fifth solo album, co-written and co-produced with James Doviak, the former Smiths guitarist deals with feeling overwhelmed by technology and modern life while still sensing possibility.
Follow & Support
Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky @albumnerds, email your own favorites to podcast@albumnerds.com, and support the podcast by subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing it with another music obsessive who still loves hearing whole albums front to back.
"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." - Yoda (Frank Oz), Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)

Our I Love the 90s series lands on 1998, the year Seinfeld signed off, McGwire and Sosa chased the home run record, and every kid wanted a Furby. Don and Dude take on country and post-grunge, pairing a Texas trio bringing banjo and fiddle back to country radio with a Boston band mixing heavy riffs, witchcraft and movie samples.
The Albums
The Chicks – Wide Open Spaces (1998)
Sisters Martie and Emily Erwin started the group in Dallas in 1989 as the Dixie Chicks. After Laura Lynch left in 1995, Lubbock steel guitarist Lloyd Maines recommended his daughter Natalie as their new singer. Paul Worley and Blake Chancey produced the album, mostly at Nashville's Westwood Studio. It was Natalie's first record with the band, and it put Martie's fiddle and mandolin, Emily's banjo and dobro, and their three-part harmonies up front. The songs came from writers like Susan Gibson, Radney Foster and Bonnie Raitt.
Godsmack – Godsmack (1998)
The band formed around Boston in 1995, when former drummer Sully Erna moved to lead vocals alongside Robbie Merrill, Tony Rombola and Tommy Stewart. They first recorded the album as All Wound Up... at Mudrock's New Alliance Studios for roughly $2,600 and put it out themselves in 1997. After Republic/Universal signed them, it was remixed and reissued. The sound draws on Alice in Chains and Metallica, adding movie dialogue, tribal percussion and songs about Wiccan ritual.
Diggin' Albums
HOL1D4Y – TOPOLOGY (2026)
Rival Sons guitarist Scott Holiday sings lead for the first time on a psychedelic solo debut of fuzz guitars and vintage synths, shaped by his recovery from a severe bike accident.
Pearl Jam – Yield (1998)
The band's fifth album, produced with Brendan O'Brien, went back to more direct rock after No Code, with all five members bringing songs to the sessions.
Beck – Ride Lonesome (2026)
Beck's first album in seven years is a slow, mostly acoustic record shaped by his divorce and getting older, often called the last part of a heartbreak trilogy with Sea Change and Morning Phase.
Matt Berninger – Type It Up (2026)
The National's frontman offers a surprise five-song EP that pairs three songs he worked out on stage during the Get Sunk tour with covers of New Order and The Velvet Underground.
Follow & Support Follow the show on Instagram, Facebook, Threads and Bluesky @albumnerds, email your own favorites to podcast@albumnerds.com, and support the podcast by subscribing, rating, reviewing and sharing it with another music obsessive who still loves hearing whole albums front to back.
"Oh man! How'd you get the beans above the frank?" - Charlie (Keith David), There's Something About Mary (1998)