TRAPPO's Mail Bag: The Lost Episode!
It's been a little while since we've dipped into TRAPPO's Mail Bag to address listener feedback, and this time around, we've got a special treat for all of you! This super-sized episode has been recovered from a previously lost recording that up until a short time ago we thought was gone forever. But the raw audio has been recovered, cleaned up and edited to a (mostly) suitable length for your listening pleasure. Topics discussed in this "lost" episode include feedback from our text review of Lyra Pramuk's Fountain, the official canonization of adult animated fantasy epic The Spine Of Night, the unlikely (and very cool) career resurgence of one-time internet punchline Rebecca Black, Plasmatics frontwoman Wendy O. Williams, the obvious superiority of Perfect Dark over legendary Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64, whether plants enjoy listening to pop music, and it all culminates with an extended discussion of the work of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick (with a lengthy Highlander franchise-related diversion), because that's just how we roll here at the show that talks about stuff on purpose. Don't forget to stay tuned 'til the end for a quick update on the future of TRAPPO! You can listen below, or find us on Apple, Google, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify or Anchor, so choose your own adventure and let us entertain you in that particular way that only we can...
Join the conversation! Leave a comment below and tell us what you think of the show and leave us suggestions for future topics! Or you could always send us an email if you're feeling a bit more wordy, which we always appreciate. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram for the complete TRAPPO experience! Give us some likes, give us some comments, and tell your friends all about the majestic glory that is TRAPPO. Tell the world. Tell everybody. Because they all deserve to know what they're missing out on, right?
It's only proper to share the beauty of TRAPPO, even complete strangers just minding their own business out on the street. They probably listen to podcasts. So tell them to listen to this podcast. Just scream TRAPPO at them repeatedly and they'll probably get the idea eventually. Tell them we're gonna be talking about Frank Henenlotter's horror-comedy masterpiece Frankenhooker soon. They'll love that. Who doesn't love Frankenhooker? Nobody who matters. And you want to matter, don't you?
Thanks for listening!
Hey, you guys really did talk about Stanley Kubrick’s movies! I’ve always appreciated how challenging and rewarding his films can be, how they tend to feel richer and fuller with each subsequent viewing as you notice all the meticulous care the master has put into his works of art. Barry Lyndon is perhaps my favorite of his films almost purely due to its lush, painterly compositions, each scene in freeze-frame looking gorgeous and hypnotic, a truly visual masterpiece. The story behind how Barry Lyndon was filmed is absolutely fascinating and also staggering, because I can’t fathom the fanatical patience a mind like Kubrick’s must have had to imagine and execute such a vision.
ReplyDeleteThanks for actually discussing Kubrick’s work, if only briefly. I really appreciate it. It was fun to listen to. I also appreciated the Highlander diversion. So maybe next time you could just ramble about that franchise for fifteen minutes?
It may have been an hour long, but I really enjoyed the "lost" episode for what it's worth. I was always a bigger fan of Perfect Dark 64 myself, but my older brother hated it because the main character in the game was a girl and he refused to play games where you had to play girls, so he would insist that Goldeneye64 was just a better game because James Bond had testicles. He's always been an exhausting asshole, and now that we're all grown up he can live in the Florida panhandle with his guns and his dumbass kids and his backward thinking and I can live anywhere else. The best part is I don't ever have to "come home" for the holidays anymore and listen to his redneck nonsense at Thanksgiving. Perfect Dark 64 forever!
ReplyDeleteYou trappos should listen to Yaya Bey's "Remember Your North Star". Bey is an artist with killer flow and talent for daysm and her stuff is worth checking out. While you're at it, give Ain't Afraid's "Heavy Guarded Heart" a listen or three. This shit's got a lot on its mind and I think it's pretty awesome. I think TRAppo is pretty awesome, too! And for the record, "Rebecca Black Was Here" is great and you might want to think about getting that into your canon ASAP.
THANKS!
That FOUNTAIN review took me on a journey that led through a dizzying maze of ridiculousness that somehow became genuinely profound by the time I was finished reading. I get what you're saying with the analysis, and I think it's fascinating. Everybody carries a different version of us within their minds, and now there are people we'll never meet who are building new variants of us all across the internet through social media.
ReplyDeleteAn idea can spread like a virus, and so can a persona. Our "body" is something that sprawls throughout time and space, made up a multitude of facets. We're all connected on some fundamental level, so why can't music change the world? If something you make positively impacts the life of one individual, that changes THEIR world, and that will affect how they perceive their world forever. Why not be a positive force in this world?
You can change one person's direction. They might use your example to change another person's direction. It's like Midnight Star. Music can heal. It can lift you up in your darkest moments. Music is a kind of magic. I'm so glad we have lunatics like Chrystabell and Lyra Pramuk out there in the world swinging big and trying to change minds with their art. If we had more people out there willing to just listen and give this music and the messages behind it an honest chance instead of being pissy little wankers who refuse to admit there might be more to life than working a 9-5 job and getting patted on the back for NOT beating their kids, the world would be a more beautiful place.
Why is everybody so set in their boring ways? Step outside, talk a walk, enjoy a bit of nature before it all withers and dies in a couple decades. There are still miracles out there if we look for them. Believe in something bigger than your small, petty world with all of its bigotry and hatred. I've been living in a fantasy world my entire life because I choose to believe that things can change for the better. Chrystabell said "everything starts as a fantasy everyone needs to believe", and that's absolutely true. Not just people dreaming up airplanes and vaccines, but also societal constructs like laws and the value of money and even time itself as we understand it. We made all of that shit up. These things don't exist outside of our collective willpower that makes them exist. If we can believe the seconds that make up a minute are more than just an arbitrary amount of numbers we strung together because it made sense to somebody at some point in the past and we're not all just lying to each other, then why can't world peace be an achievable goal?
We're living with our heads in the clouds because we actually give a damn and don't want to turn into broken down automatons with stooped shoulders and empty eyes who believe nothing will ever change in this world because it's already too late to fix anything. Screw that.
Dream on, Lyra Pramuk. Dream on, Chrystabell.
Millions of people's minds are being poisoned by Fox News and talk radio and viral bullshit stories on Facebook every single day. Where's the antidote? It's right here. Call me "woke" or delusional because I want to believe that there's more to life than hoarding guns and being afraid of immigrants and having wet dreams of civil unrest so I can finally get the opportunity to kill a lot of strangers with all of my shiny new toys. My head's in the clouds because I have a higher perspective. We need more people who are willing to dream with their eyes open.
Thanks for bringing this music into my life, and thanks for dreaming big with that FOUNTAIN review. There's passion in those words, and they made me think differently about a lot of things. I've got a pair of all-timer records in my collection now because of you, and they've changed my life for the better. Your discussion of these records deepens my appreciation. TRAPPO has changed my life for the better. Fucking magic.
KEEP TRAPPO WEIRD.
Aren't you taking this a little far? I read the review and I think a lot of that stuff just sounds like rambling, like the reviewer was trying to make a point but got lost in the weeds and just started connecting a bunch of dots that weren't there to connect in the first place. And you want to get political with your Fox News talk? Facebook is a cancer because people might share an errorneous story every now and then? Get off your high horse. Let these idiots dream that their music might save the world. That's harmless. But demonizing whole groups of people because they have different beliefs isn't the way forward.
DeleteThere's a lot of polarization in this world right now, and people like you pointing fingers and getting red-faced because some folks aren't going to take some nobody like Lyra Pramuck seriously isn't going to move the dial on any issues. If anything, calling people who think this music sucks idiots or worse is just going to make them double down on their positions. You want to pledge allegiance to the woke mob, be my guess. Things are changing in this country. The tide is turning and as much as it may scare you, liberals are not going to keep running things into the ground. We won't allow that. The American people don't want to be held hostage by these radicals anymore. Let sane people take the wheel for a while and fix things while you and your goofy friends keep your heads in the clouds and stay out of our way.
You want to keep trappo weird? Whatever that means, friend, you're more than welcome to it. Keep wasting your time listening to whatever noise these betas tell you is good, and stop trying to act like you have anything meaningful to say. Keep listening to this garbage and stay out of civilized society. This "music" has no value whatsoever to anybody in the real world. It's just white noise. It means nothing. But you keep searching for meaning in this echo chamber of idiots and let the grownups handle all the real work.
Let the grownups handle the real work? You "grownups" are strangling our democracy with your bare hands and you're doing it with a rictus grin plastered on your puffy, sweaty faces. You accuse us of demonizing entire groups of people? What are conservatives doing right now? Demonizing trans people, who just want to exist and have the rights you take for granted. You "rational adults" would prefer they be removed from public life entirely because they don't fit your myopic, diseased worldview. You're advocating for a form of genocide because you think they're icky or have mental illnesses and you don't want to have to use their preferred pronouns because "it's too hard". Fuck you, and fuck the mainstream media for treating this like some benign culture war bullshit with their both sides nonsense. They're culpable in the continued degeneration of this nation.
DeleteI bet you rejoiced when our illegitimate "supreme court" overturned Roe V. Wade yesterday. I bet you couldn't stop smiling because now all babies will be safe or whatever. You have no idea what this means for MILLIONS of vulnerable people in this country. Leave it up to the states? Sure, until conservatives get majorities in the House & Senate and ban abortion nationwide. This nightmare is just beginning. You pious vultures are coming for gay rights next, because that's left a bad taste in your mouth for years. And what's next after that? You people (yes, YOU PEOPLE) won't be happy until we're living in a full-blown theocracy. One nation under YOUR god, with no room for anyone else.
People like you want people like me to not exist, because we don't love the way you love, because we don't live the way you live. We see inclusion and possibility and hope. You see people who are a little different, and that fills you with fear & rage because they don't believe in the backwards world that you prefer. We're not going anywhere. We're going to keep marching in the streets. We're going to keep living our lives out loud and you can't intimidate us into hiding in our closets anymore. You and your ilk think you've won? Maybe the U.S. is a lost cause. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world is. You might have your rotten theocracy soon enough, but that just means you'll be squatting on the carcass of a dream that has evolved beyond you. The world will leave you behind if you keep going down this path.
You can build your walls and frighten the populace with your militarized police force for a while, but there's only so much a sane populace can take before things escalate. Is violence inevitable? I hope not. Cooler heads can still prevail and we can find a peaceful solution. I don't want to have to die to defend my own rights and the rights of my chosen family. I want to live. I want us all to see a brighter future. But there are too many cruel hearted souls who would rather use the tools of the state to oppress the masses and smother progress by any means necessary rather than cede any of the power they cling to with their bony claws. You can't maintain that grip forever. One way or another, things are going to change.
I dream with my eyes open. I stand for equality and love and inclusivity. This is not an echo chamber of idiots. We're a bunch of weird fucking people who love pushing boundaries and embracing the other. Let love in and you'll find a whole new world of exciting experiences out there. Midnight Star changed my life. I'm not ashamed to admit that. And TRAPPO's discussion showed me a new perspective on this music that blew me away. Radicals like us won't be silenced anymore. We can change the world, one mind at a time. We can show people that there's a better way forward. This world is filled with wonder and joy and love and beauty in many different forms. We want a world without war and bigotry and cruelty. And we can have that world if we really want it. We want a world that's not afraid to be weird, because that's where the real magic lies.
Keep TRAPPO weird. And let's all dream with our eyes open.
That's really well said, Mike, but you're not gonna convince a prick like this with any argument. People like this, their brains have been turned to tapioca by social media and dudebro podcast meatheads who have spent years dripping poison in their ears about queer conspiracies and liberal false flag crisis actors and whatever other bullshit they can think of to grift a little more money out of their intended audience until there's nothing else left in their empty heads but their obscene talking points. They've been literally brainwashed by these clowns and they see themselves as doing the lord's righteous work because they want to save all us sinners from burning in the blackest pits of hell, and the only way to do that is to make us as miserable as they already are. They're petty, angry, scared little creatures and they feel like they've been backed into a corner because they watch "the news" and see how the world is changing and it terrifies them because these people they see aren't all cishet caucasians praying to the Christian god and open carrying their anointed semi-automatic pistols at Target.
DeleteWhy do we need a black history month? What's the big deal with pride month? Why isn't there a white history month? When do we get a straight pride month? These people have no self-awareness. They're like a dog licking their asshole in public. They just don't get it and they never will. They read about "drag story time" at a local library and it fills them with rage because somebody's kid might be entertained somewhere and maybe learn just a little bit about diversity and they barge downtown in their bullshit fatigues and terrify a bunch of kids and volunteers "to save the kids from the gay groomers" because they will never be able to understand anybody else's point of view. Fuck them and their closed-mindedness.
You wanna know why this weird shit matters to me? Because it represents this ever-evolving world. I am a fucking weirdo. I've been bullied by assholes like this my entire life because I didn't listen to the right bands growing up. My parents thought I was mentally ill because I idolized Souxsie & The Banshees and painted my fingernails black in high school. I got beaten up so bad my Junior year by half the football team that I spent three days in the hospital after they saw me kissing another boy behind the bleachers. They never got reprimanded and I had to go to therapy because I was a "deviant".
I say "Keep TRAPPO Weird" because that matters to me. The world needs more weird people talking about this stuff, even if their audience is a bunch of "woke snowflakes" or whatever other insult these fuckers like to hurl at us. We need to amplify voices that are outside of the mainstream, voices that are so easily drowned out by the overwhelming noise traditional media uses to monopolize our senses. I want to hear people talk about avant-garde shit like Kee Avil and Caroline. I want an impromptu Stanley Kubrick discussion to segue into an extended "Highlander" franchise diversion. Fuck it. That's the good shit, man. TRAPPO's fucking weird and it needs to stay that way.
And bigots like that anonymous asshole can go fuck themselves because we don't need them. Go jerk off to some more Info Wars clips on YouTube, you fucking chump. We've got our heads in the clouds, and you've got your head up your ass. I may be biased, but I think our view is pretty fucking spectacular, and a lot more enviable than yours.
I'm so sorry to hear about what happened to you, Max Power. People can be unbearably cruel sometimes, but I trust you're in a better place (hopefully literally) these days. I really try not to let trolls and creeps get in my head and ruin my day, but sometimes people like our anonymous friend just weasel their way in at the right time, and I just get triggered. I've been practicing meditation for several years now, and it's really worked wonders for my mental health. That and staying off social media for the most part. I'd rather just ignore trolls like that from now on and enjoy the show and reading the comments, which I use for new music recommendations pretty regularly.
DeleteI feel like certain people wouldn't understand why a podcast would matter to people like you or me, but I feel like those people don't really care about much of anything. Why did I care about my Tomagotchi so much when I was 10 that I lost sleep over it? I get attached to things. I'm sentimental. And the hosts make jokes that nobody listens to the show, but some people do. Maybe the right people do. And the show matters to us. It matters to me, and I'm glad you guys are still making it.
Maybe none of this matters a whole bunch in the grand scheme of things, but it matters now, and that's important. So keep TRAPPO weird. Honestly. Let's put that on a t-shirt. I'd wear it in public and nobody would have the faintest idea what the hell I was wearing, and that would be just fine with me. It's like being members of a very exclusive and obscure club. We even have our own password now. So you're not "experts". Who gives a damn? I said it before, but we don't always need "expert" opinions. Sometimes the experts can't see the forest for the trees.
So just stay true to yourselves, and keep TRAPPO weird. Because the weird kids have always needed their own club, and this is a better place than most to build our clubhouse. The world sure sucks right now, so sometimes we need a place we can go to to just drown out all the noise for a little while. Hopefully with more, louder noise that has a cool backbeat. Avant-garde drone wins every time because fuck the mainstream. I like the fringe. The cool kids who all looked like vampires because they avoided the sun like the plague and got high under the bridge listening to old Uriah Heep records were always more my speed, anyway. I wanna get baked and listen to Tropical Fuck Storm then tell TRAPPO to talk about Tropical Fuck Storm before I go to bed, and they might actually talk about Tropical Fuck Storm some day, which is fucking amazing.
So thanks, everybody, for making a goofy nerd like me feel welcome. And please listen to Tropical Fuck Storm, TRAPPO. And keep it weird.
Don't worry about me, Mike. I'm in a much better place these days, in more ways than one. I'm pretty happy, pretty comfortable. I'm with you on the whole "experts" thing. I don't want to give off an anti-intellectual vibe, because that's part of our culture's problem right now, but I just truly appreciate the enthusiasm for the stuff our hosts choose to discuss here. I can get the professional opinions on all the music blogs and movie critic I read. I like TRAPPO because it just does its own thing.
DeleteWe are part of a club, I guess, but I always thought it would be cooler to be part of a secret society. That just sounds more mysterious and bizarre, the kind of stuff that really freaks out soccer moms and gives those dumbass conspiracy theorists boners. Secret societies fuck with peoples' heads just when they hear the term "secret society". What are they hiding? What's going on behind those closed doors? Probably something kinky, and those squares are never invited, and it sticks in their collective craw. So I say we form a secret society. The Order Of TRAPPO. How? I just did. We're all members and we didn't even need to sacrifice a goat to divine the future with its bloody entrails.
Clean hands, clean thoughts.
So welcome to the Order of TRAPPO, Brother Mike. I'll teach you the secret handshake just as soon as I come up with one. I've never heard of Tropical Fuck Storm, but the name alone is good enough for me, so I'll give them a shot. I have a recommendation for you, and for the rest of the Order: Salami Rose Joe Louis. Zdenka 2080 is fucking flames, and I won't hear any dissenting opinions on this.
Keep TRAPPO Weird.
I want to be part of a secret society! My dad was a Shriner, he even had a cool fez, but their meetings always seemed kinda boring. Mostly they just talked about their jobs and what they wanted to eat for lunch. We’ve got to do better than that. I’ve never heard of Tropical Fuck Storm or Salami Rose Joe Louis, so I know what I’m checking out this weekend. What kind of names are artists coming up with, these days? I mean that as a compliment. Tropical Fuck Storm. I know we’re all doomed because of global warming and potential World War 3 and all that, but we’ve got a band called Tropical Fuck Storm, so I’d say it’s an even trade.
DeleteWelcome to the Order of TRAPPO, Brother John! It's that simple! Now we're three, and soon we'll be an army. An army that will shake the pillars of heaven! Or maybe we'll just organize the occasional watch along party or something like that, which would also be pretty cool.
DeleteI'm in the fucking club! We should totally do something like that, Power man! I think you can organize stuff like that on Amazon prime. Or we could start a discord server or whatever. I'm down for whatever, fellow Trapper Keepers. Keep TRAPPO Weird!
DeleteKairos Creature Club dropped their first EP last year (Join The Club) and it's a short, sweet ride of chill, cool grooves. I think it's beautiful, and it doesn't take up much time. You can start listening, make a sandwich, eat the sandwich, and then you're pretty much done. That's my highest recommendation. Sandwich music. TRAPPO's sandwich music. No mayo, though. Spicy mustard. TRAPPO likes his mustard spicy.
ReplyDeleteYou friends need to greet the D∆WN. This amazing artist has been cranking out some really fantastic music over the past several years, blending rap, R&B, house and chill, electro and more into some new kind of groove that I find intoxicating. You want some recommendations? You're asking for your ratty old socks to be blown off your nasty fucking feet? D∆WN will make you believers. But I'm not asking you to just accept this on faith. Oh no, dear TRAPS. Her most recent record, 2021's Second Line, is out there in the wild, waiting for you to gaze upon its ephemeral majesty and be forever changed. So go do that. Because you will thank me for it. And then maybe you'll finally review Black Widow from In This Moment. Because dreams can come true. I have a vision board and everything. I also have a Ouija Board, but that shit doesn't work. Maybe the ghosts just don't want to talk to me because they're intimidated by my rugged good looks. I drink a lot of Muscle Milk, and I know Krav Maga, as well. So ghosts don't want to fuck with me. But you guys need to fuck with D∆WN, because that shit is hot like the fucking Carolina Reaper. Only listening to D∆WN won't destroy your colon. Probably not. I don't know for sure, but it didn't destroy my colon.
ReplyDeleteI blame that on the Muscle Milk.
The sky is blue, memes are dank, and TRAPPO is weird. Believe it.
Mothica's got a new album out. It's called "Nocturnal", and it's pretty good. I don't know. My girlfriend's a big fan and she's listening to it and so I've been listening to it, and that's all, really. I don't even know what Mothica is. It's a band, sure, but I don't know why they're called that. I keep wanting to type Monica but I know that's wrong. It's good music. I'm not sure what you call it. Alternative? Not folk? Neo-future electro pop? I have no idea what these labels mean, and I don't know if they apply here. It's music. It's worth listening to. So listen to it. Please.
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard my girlfriend so excited in years when she found out this thing was out there. "Mothica's new record just dropped!" It was so fucking weird, because I've never even heard of this band before, but she seemed to act like I should have known all about them. I just played along because I didn't want to start an argument, but I ended up enjoying the tunes, brosef. Sort of like how I enjoy listening to your gentle show. It's good. This was a long episode. So I didn't listen to the whole thing yet. But I will. That's a promise. I know you can't promise to listen to Mothica in return, but I know you'll promise to try, and that's all I can ask.
Sorry if I'm rambling, but I work second shift and I'm on my break, so I'm spending my time wisely leaving a comment on your blog instead of getting a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine or standing out by the dumpster listening to my lunatic supervisor rant about whatever secret socialist plot his Facebook friends are worried about this week. That dumpster's a pretty apt metaphor for the way things are going in this world right now, which is why I'm hiding in the handicapped bathroom stall listening to Mothica on my airpods and talking to TRAPPO! I heard that Yaya Bey record, and it's horny as hell. I give it some stars. That's my review. If you want chubs, listen to Yaya Bey. You're welcome.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
I'd like you gentlemen to review director John Landis's 1981 landmark horror comedy "An American Werewolf In London". It's one of my favorite movies ever made and I think an episode on AWIL would be pretty cool. There's a lot to discuss there, and you could really dig your teeth in and get into the meat and bones of the film if you really wanted to. I think a lot of people would agree with me if they were asked, so think about it. Cool show, but it would be even cooler if you talked about the coolest werewolf movie ever made. It's just true.
ReplyDeleteHave either of you TRAPPO dudes ever heard of Haunted SUmmer? This record called "Whole" just dropped, and this guy I work with who's big into new (and I mean new) music was really happy yesterday on our lunch break because he was listening to this song called "Camera", and he showed me the video and it was really trippy. I guess every other frame of the actual video was printed out and they hand animated it and added color using highlighter markers. It's cool. I don't know how long that took, but it couldn't have been quick. I started listening to the actual record this morning, and I'm really enjoying it. "The Big Knife" is probably my favorite track, but I'm gonna have to listen to this a few more times before I can really form any concrete opinions. I'd encourage you guys to listen to it, dreamy folk stuff. I don't know labels, really. It's really chill, kinda haunting music with some cool hooks. Give it a chance, dudes. Hail Satan.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the Kubrick chat. Joker’s eulogy in Full Metal Jacket always stuck with me, too. The dead know only one thing: it’s better to be alive. Absolutely haunting.
ReplyDelete