The ODcast Podcast

Oscar and Dylan talk about the 2025 Bruce Springsteen biopic, centered around the making of his home-recorded album "Nebraska". This isn't really a movie you can spoil, but we do talk about the general plot of the movie and give our honest thoughts about it, as well as discuss our history with Springsteen and his legacy.

Dylan interviews Robert and Oscar about their respective creative writing projects – one using A.I. and the other not. This turns into a deep dive on the root impulses of human creativity, and whether A.I. is a threat to art or merely another tool to boost productivity. Note to listeners: Unfortunately Oscar's audio was glitched out and we needed to use phone camera audio to supplement his speech. Thank god we record in video format, but there is a noticeably shift in quality when he speaks. We apologize and will do better next time!

In celebration of recording a new episode this week (our first of 2025!), we're uploading the forgotten last episode of 2024, which never made it to platforms outside of Youtube. Follow us there on the ODcast Arts channel (@odarting) for more content outside of podcasting. As for this, our 30th episode, it's an introspective one. Buckle up for a ride into the depths of our souls.

We're keeping the spooky season vibes rolling with this examination of life, education, and career arcs in the funeral business. Our special guest Tania worked for several years as a funeral director (just like Oscar!) but has since left the industry. Find out why, and what she misses about it. We also shares laughs about RuPaul's Drag Race and other less morbid topics.

Episode 26 is finally here and it's a banger! We have Dafne in the studio to discuss all things spiritual, paranormal, and astrological. Find out about Dafne's ancestral ties to Mexican/indigenous witches, her childhood ghost encounters with her siblings, and lifelong fascination with Santa Muerte. A video version of this podcast can be seen on our Youtube Channel, ODcast Arts (@odarting)

We were deeply saddened to hear the news of Steve Albini's passing earlier this month, both as fans of the albums he recorded and of his legendary status in our native Chicago's music scene. In digging into his life and work for this tribute, we uncovered some unsavory aspects of his biography that we felt compelled to discuss in an open and honest way. R.I.P. Steve Albini

This week we are joined by special guest Brooke, who assigned us to listen to her favorite band, Ireland's Fontaines D.C. We give our thoughts on their current discography of three albums and the new single from their upcoming 2024 release. Other tangents include Oscar's improvisational novel in progress and Dylan's annoyance at bald villains in film and TV.

It's an epic showdown between two iconic thrash metal albums of the 1980s. Dylan defends his choice of the controversial and much maligned mix of "And Justice For All", while Oscar passionately explains why he thinks Slayer beats Metallica any day of the week. This one gets heated, folks! A video version of this podcast is available on our YouTube channel, ODcast Arts.

For our belated return to podcasting in 2024, we discussed two of our favorite hip-hop albums of the 90s, Jay-Z's debut album "Reasonable Doubt" and A Tribe Called Quest's sophomore effort "The Low End Theory." Due to the large file size of our video episodes, we will no longer be posting the video versions on Spotify. Instead, please find video versions of this podcast on our YouTube channel, ODcast Arts.

For this episode, we listened to the entire discography of legendary Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor, much of which was new to both of us. Hear what we thought of her lengthy catalog, along with our cover of her 1990 protest anthem "Black Boys on Mopeds", featuring special guest Brooke on bass and vocals.

Sorry for the poor audio quality in this episode. Dylan took Oscar to the Art Institute of Chicago to see the Remedios Varo painting show that recently closed, and this was recorded in a small room connected to the museum. A review of the exhibition turns into a discussion of feminist art, surrealism, and whether the art market is just a giant pyramid scheme.

This was originally recorded and aired on our Youtube channel (ODcast Arts / @odarting) for Halloween 2023, hence the spooky sound effects and topic. Now finally on podcast platforms, learn all about Oscar's former career in the funeral industry. It's a morbid topic, but we tried to approach it with humor and respect. If you missed this one before, it's well worth the listen!

We are joined by special guest Kevin Guzman to discuss the discography of the Strokes.

We finally finished listening to Black Sabbath's later years, starting after Dio's (first) departure in 1983, and ending with their most recent studio album, "13" (2013). We reflect on the effects of having a rotating cast of lead singers, and basically look for any excuse to go off topic. Oscar also gives Zakk Wylde branding advice.

Oscar and Dylan have their most vehement disagreement yet about the merits of the band Steely Dan.

Umraan Syed is a Chicago-based musician in the progressive hip-hop genre. We interviewed to him about his music and listened to one of his most recent singles, BE OKAY. This interview was recorded a couple months ago, but Umraan is about to headline his first show of the year at the Golden Dagger in Chicago, this Saturday, September 2nd, 2023.

It was Oscar's pick to tackle the complete discography of the behemoth fore-fathers of heavy metal, Black Sabbath. After a couple weeks of exhaustive prep, we decided to split the catalog into two parts. This episode covers the main Ozzy years of the 1970s and the first two albums Dio did with the band. Part two coming in two weeks!

Inspired by a Youtube comment on our Top 5 guitarists episode (Thank you to Neutrogena!), Oscar and Dylan count down their Top 5 singers. Youtube blocked the audio on some of these songs when it was originally posted, so now you get to hear our reactions to all the vocalists in their uncut glory.

We review Kendrick Lamar's 2017 album DAMN and its mirror-image track listing NMAD, and as per Oscar's request, compare it to a little known band called Pink Floyd and their 1973 release The Dark Side of the Moon. Halfway through, we segue into a discussion of classical music, reviewing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's recent performances of Shostakovich's Symphony no. 8 and Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 25.

Dylan and Oscar visit the 2023 Salvador Dalì exhibition, "The Image Disappears" at the Art Institute of Chicago. They then return to the ODcast studio to discuss what they saw, and talk about Dalì and surrealist painting in general.