NO ENCORE #178 | Rostam’s Trademark Harpsichord Run

There’s one thing you should know about Nadine O’Regan: never interrupt her when she’s halfway deep into a new 10-minute sonic odyssey from Tool.

With Dave bound for Toronto, the beloved broadcaster and journalist joins NO ENCORE to unpack a busy August week in music. Aside from chatting to Craig and Daithi, you can also catch her chatting to the infinitely less interesting likes (ahem) of Jon Ronson, Graham Norton, Tracey Thorn and Kevin Barry on her own podcast, My Roots Are Showing.

But before that, let’s get musical…

ACT ONE: Craig might have been at home watching Daniel O’Donnell’s bizarro Eurovision knock-off “Mary From Dungloe”, but Daithi and Nadine actually went to a festival. They discuss the good, the bad and the traffic of All Together Now.

ACT TWO: We pay tribute to David Berman, one of the finest writers of songs and words you are likely to hear. The former Silver Jews frontman passed away less than a month after his glorious return to music with Purple Mountains.

From there, we analyse Chance The Rapper’s reaction to The Big Day criticism, with Nadine delivering an impassioned defence of the album (she likes at least two of the 22 songs).

Lightening the mood further, A$AP Rocky is a free man, Tyler can play New Zealand, Noel Gallagher’s still a quote machine and Nic Cage reveals all about that ‘Purple Rain’ karaoke.

ACT THREE: Noel Gallagher also has a song out, so there’s that… Elsewhere in Songs Of The Week, Tool’s first release in 13ish years and Drake gives Jai Paul a massive payday. We knew he was good for something.

ACT FOUR: If you caught our recent ‘Sounds Of The Hot Boy Summer’ episode, you’ll know how much we adore Clairo’s ‘Bags’. Does the rest of her Rostam-produced debut album live up to that greatness? Immunity is our Album Of The Week.

EXIT MUSIC: Felted Fruit & Laurie Shaw – ‘Mum & Dad’s’