Playing By Ear
Every episode of this podcast breaks an album down, track by track, to cover why it's not only worth playing, but replaying.
Displaying all 3 Episode of Playing By Ear with the tag “2000s”.
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Sha Sha (Ben Kweller)
September 23rd, 2025 | 1 hr 54 mins
00s, 2000s, indie, indie rock, music, rock, rock music
This episode we're revisiting Ben Kweller's freshman album, Sha Sha, as he brings his Weezer-esque sincere and heartfelt music straight from his soul to your ears. In the early 2000s indie artists were trying to break through the pop music brick wall built by NSYNC, Brittney Spears, and others. Although this particular album did not break through, its thoughtful approach and lack of polished prouction makes it worth replaying as part of that indie scene.
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Black Holes and Revelations (Muse)
August 23rd, 2025 | 1 hr 45 mins
00s, 2000s, baroque, classical music, hard rock, matt bellamy, muse, music, prog, prog rock, queen, rock
After finding success with hits like "Hysteria" and "Time Is Running Out" Muse unleashed their biggest and boldest album to date. 2006's "Black Holes And Revelations" pushed boundaries by combining classic hard rock, Queen-like harmonies, baroque complexity, to showcase the band's impeccable skill. Whether this ambitious effort succeeds is a matter of taste, but what we found indisputable was that Muse has the capacity to create sounds unlike any other band before or since.
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Mr. A-Z (Jason Mraz)
June 23rd, 2025 | 1 hr 58 mins
00s, 2000s, folk, jason mraz, mraz, music, music theory, pop, rock, songwriting
On our premier episode Ami brings Mr. A-Z for consideration. Is Jason Mraz's sophomore album the remedy, or is it serious? We break it down track by track to see if Mr. A-Z really is all about the wordplay.