Andrew, Grant, and Kyle sat down on Thursday night to chat about the club’s preseason coverage, the Marquette game, and current musical obsessions. The following is unabridged/uncut, edited just slightly for grammar.
Andrew:
Anyway, so I figured we could basically do a little preview of the Marquette game, but first… My idea was we probably should talk about coach Glaeser’s take on training because it’s really the only thing that the public has seen or heard out coming out of training in preseason, noticing that there’s a marked absence of Abdou in the video
Grant:
Yep.
Andrew:
So, that tells us something anyway. There were a couple other things that I noted in the video. Squad numbers for some of the guys, and it appears only some of them, including in the preseason photos that they’ve been posting, some of the guys have squad numbers, others do not. And I’ve heard round the way about some rumors, just things that I’ve heard about, player comparisons for players we’ve signed this season, and how they compare to some good players that we’ve had in the first three seasons. But yeah. And if we have time to talk about latest musical obsessions, because something smacked me from out of nowhere and I can’t get enough of it right now.
Grant:
I know what it is.
Andrew:
That’s what happens to me though. That’s what I do. I get obsessed with one genre or album and then I’ve got to fucking just listen to it all the damn time.
Kyle:
Same, I do get what you’re saying, where it’s just like, “Oh, that’s good. Let me just listen more. Okay, I’ve basically got a whole playlist now on Spotify. Okay.”
Grant:
This is the Grateful Dead group that I’m a part of with Keith and Jimmy K, and Magness, those guys. I tell them, I’m like, “I’m going to be quiet from probably October through March.” Because to me the Grateful Dead, that’s just the band I listen to when it’s nice and sunny and the weather’s good and I can… I don’t want to be questioning my reality and existence when it’s dark and foreboding outside. So, I definitely get choosing bands and choosing genres of music that fit a season, because I’m the same way. I’ll go through a jazz phase or I’ll go through a Michael Jackson phase or whatever. So, yeah, I definitely get it.
Andrew:
Let’s round back on that though. I mean, we could probably talk about those cyclical musical obsessions forever, but let’s talk about that video. Let’s talk about the video where coach Glaeser’s talking about how training’s been going. He mentions specific people, and they happen to be some of the people that have numbers on in there, on their training gear — which — the new sponsor looks good.
Grant:
Yeah. The Trek sponsor. Yeah, it looks good.
Kyle:
I like the pink. I think that pink has a good touch with the gray.
Grant:
Yeah, I would agree. I would agree.
Andrew:
Yeah. I think what’s interesting is that I know Trek was pitched before the first season to be the main shirt sponsor and they turned it down. Which I think makes sense to me as, “This is unproven thing and they’re asking for (probably) a good amount of money.” Now, you know how Peter Wilt was. He got very good deals for this club during the first season, and it’s one of the reasons why they had that good financial footing coming out of the first year. But it’s great to see them finally on the shirt. Anyway, let’s talk about the guys in the video. Why don’t you guys go ahead and talk about it. I mean, you didn’t see much from them, but to me there were three specific players that I saw in the video and that we’ve been seeing a lot in the preseason videos, but I think he talks about three in this one. We’ve seen four primarily. But yeah, what did you guys think?
Grant:
Yeah. I’ll start with the guy that they showed the most, and that’s Cassini. It seemed like they really were focusing on him and what he can do. And Matt seemed to really be impressed with what he could do. He’s wearing the number 10 shirt. So, that would imply he’s going to have the ball a lot. And so, from what we’ve heard too and from what you see, it seems like he’s the playmaker that we’ve been looking for up front. At least that’s what it seems like they’re alluding to.
Kyle:
Yeah, I was actually going to talk about Eric and Mitch, as I feel like that could be the potential center back partnership. I wasn’t sure if Matt was going to have Eric play center back or if he was going to have him be the six. And then after seeing some of the signings that have been made, I think it’s going to probably be more the former, where they’re probably going to be the center back partnership. Weirdly, Eric didn’t have a number on his shirt. And I don’t know if it’s just not on the shirts and they are on the quarter zips or not, but also Mitch having a number four, that would indicate, yeah, he is definitely going to be the starter, day one, and he will play every match that he is available for, maybe besides a couple friendly, like midseason.
Andrew:
It’s interesting, I was talking with somebody at the club the other day about… just asking who’s impressing in training, before this video was even posted. And Mitch one of the people that was called out as, you can just tell whatever clubs he’s been at before he is a leader, he has that air about him in general. Which I think is good to hear, especially, I mean… I think we all think it sucks that Turbo’s not going to be here anymore at the club. So it’s like, who picks up that leadership mantle? I thought it was cool that he was pictured with Eric in the video. I’m hoping that they’re working side by side if Eric’s going to be that more mobile center half.
Speaking of Cassini, real quick, this is the most adorable gender reveal photo set I think I’ve ever seen. One of Cassini’s Instagram posts from January 24th. So it’s clear he and his partner are having a kid. Which is pretty cool. That’s a big step for a guy, especially moving to a brand new country. I mean, I know that there were some questions from some of the fan base about, “Why would he sign for a club like this? He’s played all over the place.” And I can see him wanting to come to a city like Madison if you’re about to have a kid, because there’s good healthcare, good schools, all that stuff.
Kyle:
Well, we saw it with Derek as well.
Grant:
Right. Exactly, Kyle. That’s exactly what I was going to bring up.
Kyle:
Even JC before that. I mean, it was a little bit different JC because he’s grown up in Wisconsin, so he knew, “okay, Madison was always going to be good,” but…
Grant:
Yeah. And Tomato found his partner here too and will be setting his roots here. I think all of us speaking here, in one way or another, we’ve set roots here.
Grant:
So I think we understand where these guys are coming from and I think as we move forward, that has to become something the club has to focus on when it comes to selling guys on signing for the club. It’s a selling point, is that you can come here and create a life here and, you can set roots here, and you can do some of the things here that you can’t do in perhaps a bigger market. And I think the club has made some pretty good calls, like Kyle was saying, like going and getting a guy like Derek who… Derek and his partner are raising their kid here, at least for the next year. It’ll be interesting to see.
Andrew:
Yeah. It’s interesting, you mentioned Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu as well.
Grant:
Yes, absolutely. I was going to bring him up. And you see him in the clip as well. And so, knowing the two positions that they play, if Cassini’s going to be that 10, you would have to think that AWO would probably be the six.
Kyle:
A six or an eight.
Andrew:
It was interesting, the same person I was chatting with the other day at the club, was telling me that…. mentioned some player comparisons. So I thought these were interesting. AWO was compared to… a like-for-like comparison, to Molloy. “They could have swapped it in and out for each other and not miss a step,” is what this person was getting at. They also compared Cassini to Josiel Nuñez, playing style wise, which… I know, I, for one — he was my player of the season in 2019.
Grant:
He was really good. He was really good.
Andrew:
He made everybody else around him better.
Grant:
Yeah. He was really good. My dad doesn’t watch a lot of soccer. But in the course of the last three years, there have been two guys that have jumped out at my dad, Jiro And Nuñez. My dad, he really understands the guys that are the generators for the offense and for the team. He gets it. And so I think that’s what we’ve been missing up front, is that guy who’s just going to be just a generator, a creator.
Andrew:
Yeah. We didn’t really have a playmaker type player. I wish we could have had two Aaron Molloys last year. I feel like our goal scoring problem would not have existed.
Kyle:
I think having Josiel and Aaron, that would have solved so many problems.
Grant:
And I think going into this, I think this is the real tragedy of Mike Vang. Is because I think after seeing his-
Andrew:
He probably doesn’t see it like that, going to play in Columbus, but…
Grant:
But we thought he was going to become that role. After his first season we thought he was going to develop into becoming that playmaker, because he was showing that he had the ability to do that.
Grant:
And so the fact that it just didn’t ever…
Andrew:
Didn’t materialize. It’s a missed opportunity, I feel like.
Grant:
It is. Like I said, it’s going to be the tragedy of Mike Vang, at least with Madison. If he goes on to a great career with Columbus, whatever. But if he doesn’t…
Andrew:
I think it’s great that The first thing we hear about Omiunu, he talks about leadership, he talks about his box-to-box ability, and he talks about technical ability. So if AWO going to be that box-to-box guy who has really good close control, can deliver those pivot style clinical passes up to the final third, or even being able to swap in and out with a guy like Cassini, if he wants to go forward. I know, with Cassini’s highlight reel that he had from last season, he played a lot of that role where he would swap out with whoever was playing the DM and they allowed one to go forward and the other one comes back. Seems like a versatile player.
Grant:
Yeah. I don’t think he’s a true CAM. I think he’s a center midfielder that can play both. I think he would be on FIFA, he’d be one of those coveted players you get, which is listed at CM that can play the CAM position, can play the CDM position, and you can substitute him in based on your formation. And usually the guys that you can do that with, the reason why is because they’re talented. They’re really good. But you mentioned not seeing… To me, I think that that’s… We haven’t seen anything of him.
Andrew:
Are you talking about Abdou Thiam?
Grant:
Yeah.
Andrew:
Apparently he’s still in Senegal. Wonder if it’s visa issues, I mean stuff right now is crazy. Or it could even just be waiting on getting PCR test or something like that, because you have to take… from literally any other country you’ve got to have proof from some official health department. I’m going to Belize in April, and to get back into the US, we’ve got to take a PCR test through their department of health three days before and have a clean one. Otherwise you have to quarantine and wait until you have a clean one. And it’s not free either. You get taxed every time you do it. So I can imagine, you’re trying to get home from vacation and you find out you have COVID then you’ve got to stay longer. But yeah, Abdou is apparently still in Senegal. Which, fair play to him — I’d rather be there right now than here.
Grant:
Well, yeah.
Andrew:
Who’s really the winner there? Abdou is the winner there. But I’m excited to see him. We saw him on the Irruption Tour drilling those corners on the volley. Yeah.
Grant:
It was dumb. I mean, it was amazing, not only how he was able to generate the power and to be so consistent with it. I mean he was hitting the same fucking spot every time.
Andrew:
Well, I think that’s part of the class difference sometimes and just skill and talent between second and third division. We talk about that, you don’t see a ton of it. It’s not that obvious. We went to go see Tulsa v. OKC, the things that we noticed in that game compared to USL1, it’s like, man marking’s tighter. I mean-
Grant:
Yeah. It’s fractional. It’s fractional.
Andrew:
AWO talks about it, and he is just like, “Between second and third…” That interview I did with him, he’s like, “In second and third, there’s not a ton of difference, but it’s the way the athletes carry themselves. It’s different.” Speaking of that, yeah, I mean, I’m working on trying to get an interview with Matheus Cassini. It’s mainly, at this point, just letting him get settled in because he just moved here like a week ago. So I have to imagine it’s not super easy traveling and moving an entire life with a pregnant lady friend.
Grant:
And not speaking the language.
Kyle:
And then also having to not only move, but then you’re probably going an hour to train.
Andrew:
Yep. And, I mean, at this point they’re announcing it, they probably got all the doctor’s appointments and stuff and just trying to… I mean, what do you do when you’re already first trimester and you’ve got to change OB docs. I mean, they picked up their whole life and moved. Yeah. It’s a big risk, I think for him too, to do that, but…
Grant:
I think it says something about his commitment to this too. She could have stayed down there and been around the culture and their language and their families and stuff like that. But they’re making the choice to come up here and do this here. That says something to me about where he’s at.
Andrew:
I saw there were some posts on Reddit, people being critical about his record or his career as a footballer. He’s played at all these different clubs in a short amount of time. There are players that get brought in to replace really big names in first division clubs for whatever reason. Sometimes I think it’s a matter of pressure. I think part of it’s what you do with that pressure early in your career. This guy, Cassini is brought over by Palermo when he is 18, to replace Paulo Dybala.
Kyle:
And this is when Palermo is still like. Relevant and good and top-tier.
Andrew:
Right. And Corinthians, he had just finished his youth career in Corinthians and they brought him over Palermo. I don’t know what they were trying to bank on, he was going to be the new modern-day Maradona or something, coming to play for them. There are no other Maradonas. Singular talents like that, like Messi and Neymar and Mbappe. Who knows? He could have been that guy, but…
Grant:
Yeah. But the thing is, everybody you’ve named, especially in the soccer world, we’ve known about since they were 15. We didn’t know about Cassini when he was 15. We knew about Dybala when he was 15.
Andrew:
Right. Well, Cassini started playing for Corinthians when he was 12.
Grant:
Yeah. Which is stupid, if you think about it’s-
Andrew:
It’s all dumb. That’s incredibly late when it comes to football.
Grant:
That’s dumb.
Andrew:
It *is* dumb.
Grant:
Yeah. You’re playing for one of the biggest teams in South America when you’re 12. Like the kids that I’m teaching. It would be like one of the kids I’m teaching, coming to me and saying, “Hey, Mr. Grant, I’m not going to be here anymore.” “Oh, really? What’s the deal, man?” “Well, I got signed by Corinthians.”
Andrew:
Oh, cool. Have a nice life.
Kyle:
It’s like, “All right. Have fun.”
Andrew:
Yeah. Bury the lede a little bit. Yeah.
Grant:
Yeah. Go on then. Tell me.
Andrew:
We could probably talk about a lot of those guys. I really like seeing Eric in there. I feel like he’s going to play a big role this year.
Grant:
I think you guys know, for me, I’m a big person that notices little details of things. And one of the things I noticed is, in that clip with Mitch and with Eric, they were laughing. They seemed like they were having fun and…
Andrew:
Well, part of it, Eric played in Australia before he played for us and Mitch is Australian
Grant:
But my bigger point is this, is that it just feels like the club is getting back to having fun and getting back to just having good energy.
Kyle:
Well, and I think a big part of that is it is a clean slate.
Grant:
There hasn’t been good energy around the club for a while.
Kyle:
Yeah. I guess for a lot of these guys, it is a clean slate. They don’t know the shit that’s been going on in the past. Eric’s the only one that’s been here since day one.I mean, Phil was here last year, Derek was here last year, Sukow, Enriquez, Rad. They were here, but a lot of these guys, it’s a clean slate for them. It’s a restart.
Andrew:
I think it’s interesting that we’ve seen a fair amount of Cesar Murillo in the photos and other videos that have come out of the club over the past week, and Rojay too, which has been fantastic. And yeah, everybody seems to be in good spirits, which is great to see. You wonder what it’s like for a guy like Rojay coming from Sporting KC II. He’s coming here from an MLS2 side, which is pretty cool. The fact that he didn’t stick around to be in the MLS Next competition tells you something, that he is trying to strike out on his own and take his career in his hands. I mean, I feel like that’s encouraging. At least shows some hunger from these guys to make something of themselves if they don’t feel like MLS is cutting it for them.
Grant:
Well, and I think too it… and this is not to criticize anybody that’s made this choice, but I think it’s a safer route to go. You got a little bit more cushion, going with the MLS Next route. And he could have done that. He could have just stayed with Kansas City, but to say, “No, I want to do something different. I want to…” Like you said, it’s like taking control. I dig that a lot. That shows that that’s somebody who’s got fire and is hungry. And I think we need guys like that, especially up front.
Andrew:
I do think it’s interesting that we now have two players on the team that have more followers on Instagram than the club does. So, both Heath… Heath has a crazy amount of followers. That dude looks like a stone cold killer in his training videos.
Grant:
It’d be nice to see him do it on the pitch.
Kyle:
And he’s young. I mean, he is young. I always have to remind myself. He is still very young, so…
Andrew:
Yep. Okay. So we talked about players mentioned in the video, we talked a bit about Cesar Murillo, he’s in a lot of the photos, same with Rojay. We can talk about squad numbers. So we’ve seen some of the guys with squad numbers. You mentioned Grant that Cassini is wearing the 10, looks like Mitch has the number 4 shirt.
Kyle:
Murillo has two. I think Andrew has 28.
Grant:
Yeah. And that would make sense because that was his number in Atlanta and in Sacramento.
Andrew:
Which is cool, you don’t really see that all the time, guys getting signed young, as a reserve side player and they get that number, and they just stick with it. Usually they try to fight for those more set position numbers.
Grant:
Oh, yeah. So that number’s got to mean something to him. So there’s probably a story there. Hint, hint, elbow, elbow, wink, wink.
Andrew:
Yeah. Having chatted with him, he’s a deep waters kind of person.
Grant:
Right. That’s what I’m saying.
Andrew:
It’s pretty great to see Phil. Phil was in the video.
Grant:
He looked really good.
Andrew:
He looked happy, too. I mean, that’s something. The video you’re talking about, with the Encanto chant people are trying to get going.
Kyle:
Goddammit.
Andrew:
I haven’t even seen this movie. So I see the, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” song, but I’ve never heard it. Maybe I should try to keep it that way. Kyle, you have that dead behind the eyes look when we mentioned that song.
Kyle:
I’ve watched it every single weekend since it came out.
Grant:
I was going to say, that movie has got Sterling written all over it.
Kyle:
Yep. Every single weekend, we have watched that movie at some point. It is a good movie, but I mean, there are very few movies that I will willingly watch every weekend.
Grant:
And that’s not one of them.
Kyle:
That is not one of them. It’s good, but it’s not that good.
Andrew:
Sports Goofy was that when I was a kid. I think my parents probably saw that a million times. My dad always still laughed like an absolute maniac at the scene where he is stepping on all the rakes. But yeah, I haven’t really noticed any other…
Grant:
No. Not many jersey numbers. No.
Andrew:
I do think it’s cool though, that they actually have their numbers on their training kit this year. That’s a new thing. There’s more attention to detail, it feels like, at the start of the season than there has been the past two.
Grant:
So, this is a dumb thing, but it might be a real thing. I’m wondering, because we’ve seen some guys have their numbers on and some don’t, if it’s something where it’s like… Because I remember I played for a coach where you had to earn your number. You weren’t able to choose your number or sign your number until you had done certain things and practices or shown certain things with leadership or whatever.
Kyle:
Yeah, I think it is though the quarter zips have the number. Because in the video with Bruno talking about in Encanto, you can see his number on the quarter zip, but if you look when he is making double save, it’s not on there.
Grant:
He’s wearing one, I assume?
Kyle:
Yeah.
Andrew:
You know what those might be? Liam and I were bitching about the players not getting a presentation track suit, because that’s an old tradition at a lot of clubs. A player signs, and part of their deal is they get a full track suit, and that’s theirs to keep. But they’re expected to wear that ahead of special games. It’s a tradition. I would hope that they’re actually doing something with that and giving them some stuff to these guys. Maybe that was part of the new Hummel deal too. Who knows? It’s interesting to see. There’s that other video too, about the club’s kits. I don’t know if you all watched that with one of the editors from SoccerBible.
I just want to point it out because I thought it was poignant that the guy from SoccerBible is basically talking about how this club has pushed limits on… like the sublimated printing and being able to harness what they can do, especially with that reversible kit. The thing he mentioned was talking about more tactile details, things like specialized collars or cuffs or embossing or flock printing, which all cost extra and a lot of the kit makers make you purchase minimum quantities. It’s interesting that people expect this all to be like ’90s Nike and Adidas kits or even Umbro. Umbro had some crazy ones. A lot of the kits in the ’90s were huge into tactical textile stuff. But anyway, I don’t know that we need to talk too much about that kit video, but I just thought interesting. Any other thoughts, I guess on the rumors about player comparisons?
Kyle:
The thing with Cassini, I don’t know what to expect because I could definitely see how he could be a little bit of a Josiel, but I wouldn’t be surprised based off of his ability on the ball if he’s going to be more of a JC Banks, where he’s going to make runs into the box. I could see him doing something like that where maybe it goes out through Rojay or Derek and then he makes that run into the box and then that’s where he can come in, so I don’t know with that comparison. The AWO and Malloy one is going to be interesting, because if he can replicate what Molloy did, that’s going to be scary for everyone else, and that’s going to be really good for Madison.
Grant:
Yeah, I agree with you Kyle. I think Cassini, and just based off what we’ve seen with his clips and just… I think he’s going to score a lot more than what people think. I think he’s going to make that slip run like you were talking about, where he’s going to do a give and go and then make a run into the box. And we’ve seen that he’s got good finishing ability. So, yeah, I think he’s going to score a bunch, to be honest with you. And I think that will be dependent on how many people we have up front as well.
Andrew:
When I first saw his reel from last year, I thought he reminded me a lot of Aaron Ramsey. His playing style, he’s a box-to-box of box guy, he could play a six if you need him to, but he’s a box-to-box player, he’s a creative midfielder, but also has an appetite to score goals.
Kyle:
Yeah. I was thinking Newcastle Gini Wijnaldum.
Grant:
Yep. That’s another great one. On the MLS side would be Nico Lodeiro from Seattle. That’s who he reminds me of, is Nico Lodeiro. So just a silky smooth slip behind the defense, send balls in from the side and then he’s in front of the box, he’s going to score.
Andrew:
Alright. So we’ve talked about all the main topics, we wanted to talk about Marquette. We could spend few minutes on that. What are we expecting? I mean, we’re going up against a Louis Bennett team. How long has Louis‘s dad been at Marquette?
Grant:
Forever.
Andrew:
Since time began.
Grant:
Forever. He was there when I was playing, which was 20 years ago.
Andrew:
16th season this year.
Kyle:
I was just about to say, “It’s like he’s been there,” like Grant said, “Forever.”
Andrew:
His staff photo for Marquette is outstanding.
Grant:
It’s fantastic. Literally it looks like he was on a three-day bender and then he was just like, “Oh, shit. I’ve got to take a photo today.”
Andrew:
“Oh, yeah, it’s squad photo day.”
Grant:
“Shit.”
Grant:
It’s his face too. Yeah, it’s classic. That’s all I can say.
Andrew:
He looks like if he wasn’t a soccer coach that he might like work weekend evenings tending bar at a Chili’s.
Kyle:
I was just about to say he looks like a dude that would serve me at Silver Eagle.
Andrew:
Yeah. “Can I get food at the bar?” “Of course you can get food at the bar. What do you think this is?”
Grant:
“The fuck’s wrong with you? What do you want?”
Andrew:
“You need a menu? Everyone gets a burger.”
Grant:
“You want bacon on that or no?”
Andrew:
“American cheese. It’s not even real cheese.”
Grant:
I think out of the Marquette game, what am I expecting? I’m expecting us to win, we’ll start there. I want to see us. I want to see us dominate the game. That’s what I want to see.
Grant:
I want to see us show that we’re pros. Boss the ball, boss possession, and score. And I don’t want to make it feel like we’re defending and hoping we can score. I want it to be like, “No, we’re going out to score three.”
Kyle:
I am hoping for fluidity. Because I think the bigger issue I had in the past two seasons really is, when someone had the ball, it didn’t feel like they’re going to do anything with it. And I want to see more… It doesn’t have to be tiki-taka, pass the ball all around, it just needs to be guys making runs off the ball, making the diagonal run, trying to get behind the defense. I just want to see some attacking fluidity and obviously, because they’ve only been training two weeks, I’m not expecting it to work out perfectly, but I just want to see attempts at it.
Andrew:
I wonder if we’re going to play those starter type guys that you’d expect to start — the guys that we’ve seen in the training videos, especially the guys who just signed this year, but… You mentioned Derek. He’s been in a lot of the photos too and the B-roll footage on the videos. You know what, all of this talk about preseason coverage this season reminded me we didn’t really have much preseason coverage last year at all. And this year feels way more normal. It feels like 2019, to be honest, because, I mean, we’ve got a cup game before we have our league home opener.
Grant:
I think what you’re saying is something I brought up earlier, is that it feels fun again. I can’t deny the fact that the vibe is good.
Kyle:
I’ll also give a little bit of a pass just because with COVID and everything, I’m sure it was tougher to get as much of that footage. They didn’t even know where they’re going to play. I feel like it would’ve been tough to really try and do preseason stuff when you probably couldn’t have too many people there and you didn’t know where you’re playing and training.
Grant:
Yeah. Still though, like I said, the vibe just feels different. Even going into last year, even though we had a strong team, there was still some things I had questions about. And I still have some questions this year, but I’m pretty confident going into this year that this team’s going to be pretty damn good.
Andrew:
All right. So, Marquette will be great. There’s going to be a crew that’s traveling out there. It’ll be good to see everybody again. COVID numbers are way down, which is encouraging. So I feel a little more okay, in that regard, going to an indoor game with a whole bunch of people.
Grant:
What’s your musical obsession, Andrew? I know what it is.
Andrew:
Yeah. I mean you know, because I’ve been having you watch for records for me when you go out to town. I’m a big Prince fan, and by way of that became a big Morris Day and The Time fan. I’ve been learning a bit more about the folks that spent time in and around Paisley Park Studios, but more so made their way up in the Minneapolis music scene. A lot of the people Prince played with were eventually usually fired by Prince, but I’ve started to branch out and follow those other cats’ careers and where they went. And I came across Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who have produced more than 30 top 10 hits in the UK and more than 40 in the US over the course of their career. They’re both still alive. I think they’re both still producing records.
Grant:
Oh, yeah.
Andrew:
But they were two bigger proponents of new jack swing as a genre. And when that was an offshoot, a little bit, of the way that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis influenced that music style of mid to late ’80s, early ’90s R&B scene. Babyface is another one. And I’ve been listening to a lot of The Deele this week D-E-E-L-E. This is vintage Babyface, Jheri Curl Babyface. Oh yeah. It’s fantastic.
Grant:
Oh, yeah. Kenny Edmonds doesn’t mess around.
Andrew:
Yeah, no. Anyway, I’ve been listening to a ton of that shit and buying it out on wax, because it’s cheap. Generally you can get old new jack records for five bucks. Sample city too, man.
Grant:
Your ones this weekend were not five bucks.
Andrew:
Well you got me 180 gram copies of Janet Jackson albums, and I’m not going to apologize for that.
Grant:
Yeah. The Janet one is a clear vinyl, right?
Andrew:
Yeah.
Grant:
Yeah. That’s what I thought. Yeah.
Andrew:
A lot of people don’t know that. some of the dudes that made Janet Jackson’s sound basically were guys that were in Prince’s crew at one point.
Grant:
The Rhythm Nation one, I was really jealous that you got.
Andrew:
Because you were like, “Oh, shit. I forgot about this.”
Grant:
I mean, I was like, “Oh, fuck.” I’m like, “Why haven’t I bought this yet?”
Andrew:
That’s on you, Grant. Okay?
Grant:
I’m not saying it’s not. I am not blaming you one bit. But that’ll bring me to my obsession. My obsession as of late has been Tame Impala. I’ve been listening to a lot of Tame Impala lately. The Slow Rush will probably be the choice for Super Soul Sunday this week. So the Slow Rush, which is their newest album, or his. I mean, Kevin Parker’s one guy, right? And so I love that album, but it’s out of print, so I have not been able to find it anywhere. And I went up to Minneapolis this weekend and I texted Jen 20 minutes before I left for the store. I was going to Electric Fetus, I said, “Hey, put out the good vibes. I’m looking for The Slow Rush, I haven’t been able to find it anywhere.”
Grant:
So I get to Electric Fetus, I’m looking through all the Electric Fetus stuff. I’m there for about an hour, and I haven’t found anything I really want. I mean, I was at the point where I was going to walk out with nothing, and I was just like, “Okay, well, I’ll go check the wall for their new use releases and see what they got.” Couple of jabronis taking up a couple of the aisles, so there’s this one little stack that I could go through. Fifth record in, there it is. It’s right there. It’s a 180-gram copy for 25 bucks, I’m just like, “Are you fucking kidding me?” So yeah, I pick that up, I’m feeling really good. The other one has been Lady Wray.
Kyle:
Oh, yeah.
Grant:
Yeah. I’ve been spinning the hell out of that record lately. That’s been an almost everyday record. I’ll listen to that every day. So, Kyle you’re up.
Kyle:
All right. So, what I have been mainly playing, I don’t remember how it happened. Okay, actually I do. So there’s this 16-year-old rapper over in Liverpool, and he had a song, Packs and Potions. His name’s Hazey. It is the most Scouse, and he has just a thick Scouse accent. The beat is pretty good. It started with that, then I got into UK drill in general. So then I’d been listening to a lot of UK drill, and more specifically Tion Wayne and his latest album Green with Envy. So that has been constantly played I’m at my desk at work or at home when I’m working. Like I said, I don’t know how getting from a 16-year-old Liverpool rapper to Tion Wayne has become an obsession.
Kyle:
And I know UK drill’s always going to be one where I’m not going to get sick of it. I will never get sick of it, but that’s probably the main one. And then Koffee had a new song that came out a couple weeks ago, and I was laughing because I sent it to Jake and Jake’s like, “I’m excited for the album to come out.” I was like, ” the only person that could possibly top that this year is someone like Wizkid.” And then a week later… not even a week later Wizkid’s like, “Yeah, I have some new music coming out.”
Grant:
All right.
Kyle:
He hasn’t put out anything yet. I think he’s going to put something out either tomorrow or next week though. But yeah, I would say Koffee as always, because always a great option, and then Tion Wayne/UK drill
Andrew:
There’s a new jack swing group in the ’80s called The System.
Grant:
Oh, yeah. I had that cassette.
Andrew:
Yeah, I’m tracking all this shit down and… The two guys in the band are Mic Murphy, M-I-C Murphy. And he looks a little bit like… he reminds me of Rockwell. I look at these two dudes together, and it looks to me like Rockwell and Phil Collins, except an older balder Phil Collins with a comb over.
Grant:
Hey, all right.
Kyle:
It works.
Andrew:
If you look it up right now, The System, the way that these guys look is outstanding. Even their Spotify bio is amazing.
Grant:
Oh, yeah.
Kyle:
It’s a vibe. I don’t know what kind of vibe, but it’s a vibe.
Grant:
Oh, yeah.
Andrew:
Mic Murphy looks like if Q-tip got a Jheri Curl.
Grant:
Mic Murphy looks like the street brother of Milli Vanilli. The brother that has been to jail.
Andrew:
The other guy looks like John Tesh’s older, brooding brother.
Kyle:
Yep, yep.
Grant:
John Tesh’s brother that went to jail.
Andrew:
For money laundering. It’s a white collar crime.
Grant:
“What’d that guy do?” “Banged Susan Lucci.” “Isn’t that John Tesh’s wife?” “Yep, that’s his brother.”
Andrew:
Wow, man. Anyway, I think that about does it. This is all over the place. I’ll stitch it all together. It’ll read well.
Grant:
It’ll read well.
Kyle:
Yeah, it’s fine.
