Music Reviews Episodes

This week, we're scratching The Itch to be dangerous! Brayden and Ryan of Fury in Few are back to answer the question How Bad Do You Want It? on their outstanding debut album. The guys take us on a track-by-track journey through the record, exploring their methods of adding "character" to songs, stretching themselves sonically to make the music they truly want, and how they're making social media work better for them without becoming part of the content creation machine. Plus, we'll discuss t...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to get Villainous! Amanda Lyberg of Eva Under Fire returns to give us an exclusive track-by-track breakdown of the band's highly anticipated new album__. From the opening song that tells the story's last chapter to the record's particularly violent end, Amanda is making it clear that she's laying claim to her identity, regardless of what anyone has to say about it. We'll talk about the title track collaboration with Maria Brink of In This Moment, the huge ...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to scratch some records! Record Store Day 2026 is upon us, and we're reviving a (sometimes) tradition to explore some of this year's most intriguing releases! And we've invited friends! Longtime podcast pals Tony and Anthony of Podioslave and Brian of My Weekly Mixtape chime in with the RSD releases that excite them most, and Caleb of The Album Anniversary Podcast makes his Itch debut sharing his! Join us for a discussion that celebrates one of our favorite f...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to look back and look forward! First, March Bandness is in the books, and we've got a winner to announce! It was a lady-led Final Four, but who among the field of The Pretty Wild, Emi Grace, LYLVC, and Holy Wars took home the title? Then, we're recapping the first three months of 2026. For The Itch, Q1 featured wish list interviews, some memorable concerts, and a ton of Shiprocked. And while it was a cold winter for album releases, we still found a few hot r...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to end the year in style! It's time for the sixth annual Itch Awards and our collectively agreed upon top 20 albums of 2025! Tune in to hear what records caught our ears the most, as well as a few of our favorite EPs, our Comeback and Breakout artists, our most listened-to interviews of the year, and what albums we're most looking forward to in 2026. Thank you so much for being with us this year. We know your time is valuable and we value that you spend some ...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for a throwback! We're celebrating 20 albums turning 25 with an episode from back in our Rock Matters days of 2020! Check out our takes on albums from Deftones, hed PE, Flogging Molly, Cold, Lostprophets, The Offspring, Limp Bizkit, Disturbed, A Perfect Circle, Godsmack, Orgy, Fuel, Rage Against the Machine, Papa Roach, Goldfinger, Evanescence, Lifehouse, Our Lady Peace, Earthsuit, and Project 86! Enjoy... again. If you like what you hear, you can hear more ...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for new rock! We're five months into 2025 and overdue to spotlight some of our favorite albums of the year so far. The Itch has been enjoying sounds from across the rock spectrum, and we're excited to share them with you. Whether it's the moody drum and bass of ALT BLK ERA, the versatile metalcore of Architects, the unpredictable glam rock of The Darkness, or the praise and R&B-tinged rock of Sleep Token, you're sure to dig something in this episode. Enjoy. ...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for awards season, baby! The fifth annual Itch Awards are here, honoring the best rock releases of 2024. We've got albums galore, featuring a plethora of past and future guests. Who were our favorite debuts and breakouts of the year? Who dropped the best EP and LP? And what are we looking forward to in 2025? This is a big'n, so grab your pen and paper and take notes, because we're about to fill up your queue. Enjoy. If you like what you hear, you can hear mo...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for a roundup! We're talking about four of our favorite albums from the second quarter of 2024. And it's an Itch International Rock Roundup to boot, featuring Britain's Bring Me the Horizon, Mexico's The Warning, Texas' Nothing More, and Scotland's Dead Pony! That's right, Texas is it's own country. It's a mix of heavy hitters and rising stars. Genre shifters and multilinguists. Men, women, and (nearly) children. And it's a sonic treat for everyone. Enjoy. I...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for albums! We're filling you in on three of our favorite records from the first quarter of 2024: Dead Poet Society's "FISSION," Blind Channel's "Exit Emotions," and Kid Kapichi's "There Goes the Neighborhood." Enjoy, as Dead Poet Society completes the trifecta of having an album review episode, a live review episode, and an interview episode! (For those keeping score, Blind Channel now has two album review episodes and an interview episode, while Kid Kapich...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for excellence! The 2023 Itch Awards are here and, as always, they're accompanied by our collective countdown of the top 20 albums of the year. If your music queue needs refillin', we'll discuss enough albums to keep you busy for the first fiscal quarter of 2024! Join us for LPs, EPs, honorable mentions, and our choices for Debut, Breakthrough, and Comeback artists of 2023. Plus, a look into the future at some exciting new music on the horizon! Enjoy. If you...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to celebrate All Hallows Evarela! Our friend Joey Varela of VRSTY joins us for his second holiday-timed episode. Their new album Levitate is out now, and we dive into all the details, from single selection and bringing in features to dealing with a label and getting cussed out by the crowd. As always, Joey packs a ton of openness and insight into 30 minutes. Enjoy, and catch VRSTY on tour with Nonpoint, hed PE, and Sumo Cyco this December! If you like what y...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for a roundup! It's been ages since we've taken inventory of our favorite recent rock releases, and the backlog has grown unwieldy! So join us as we explore 2023 albums from Gorillaz, Godsmack, You Me at Six, Motive Black, Redlight King, Otherwise, Pop Evil, DeadBlondeStars, OTTTO, and more! If you like what you hear, you can hear more of us every Sunday night broadcasting rock to the masses from 6-9pm CST on KCLC-FM. If you're not in the St. Louis area, you...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to scratch a record! RSD 2023 is coming up, and we're each drafting our top 3 releases from this year's batch! Plus, we've got a rundown of some massive music drops from the past couple of weeks, an update on our interview with KemikalFire, and the (podcast) revelation of this year's March Bandness winner! It's a fun one. Enjoy. If you like what you hear, you can hear more of us every Sunday night broadcasting rock to the masses from 6-9pm CST on KCLC-FM. If...

Happy Rex Manning Day! This week, we're scratching The Itch for a pseudo-tradITCHion: our yearly movie/music maship episode! And because we never forget a promise (probably), we've invited last year's intended guests, podcasting friends Brian Colburn and Gomez, to join us as we discuss the soundtracks of 1998! We may or may not have seen the films, but we love the music either way! Check out Brian's show, My Weekly Mixtape, and Gomez's show, The Sleevie G Show! If you like what you hear, you c...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to get back to live shows! After a successful Shiprocked Series, we're going On Tour again with a discussion of our experience seeing White Reaper, Narrow Head, and Taipei Houston live at Delmar Hall. We'll also give some quick thoughts on the new albums from White Reaper and Narrow Head, and dive into the importance of energy in a live show. Plus: Dan learns what "shoegaze" means. Enjoy! If you like what you hear, you can hear more of us every Sunday night ...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for closure! You hear us talk about the Top 20 all year long, now it's time for the payoff! We're dropping this episode a day early because we want to get it to your ears (and to clear the table for our exciting next series!). Make your predictions and see how you do, then let us know how wrong our subjective opinions are! Plus, we've got the five Listener's Choice categories of the Itch Awards, voted on by YOU! Thank you so much to everyone who participated....

This week, we're scratching The Itch to drop 20 extra albums on you... the Almost Top 20! We've done the calculatin' and collaboratin' and chosen the The Itch's official Top 20 albums of 2022... but we also had some individual favorites that didn't make the collective cut. Plus, we take a quick look back at concert memories from the year, all of which can be heard in greater detail in our Itch On Tour episodes. If you're listening to this on Monday, Jan 8, today's your last chance to vote for th...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for awards season, and you have a say! In part 1, we're presenting a few categories of our own, a few for you to vote on, and our top 5 EPs of the year! Click the links below to help us determine 2022's Best Debut, Breakout Artist, Best Cover, Song of the Year, and the Most Anticipated Release of 2023. We've even created a playlist of the nominees in case you need a refresher! Enjoy! VOTE: bit.ly/22itchawards LISTEN: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0eK1dIV...

As we put the finishing touches on The 2022 Itch Awards, we're tiding you over with a preview of an album that you'll soon hear more about. Taken from our live radio show on KCLC-FM, enjoy the first Flavor of 2023: Kid Kapichi! If you like what you hear, you can hear more of us every Sunday night broadcasting rock to the masses from 6-9pm CST on KCLC-FM. If you're not in the St. Louis area, you can stream the show from 891thewood.com, TuneIn, Radio.net, and OnlineRadioBox! And if you have the ...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for a segue! We enjoyed our time with Blind Channel so much that we decided to include their album Lifestyles of the Sick & Dangerous among a couple of bands you could definitely call their peers: I Prevail and Hollywood Undead. We hope you enjoy this discussion about their August releases True Power and Hotel Kalifornia, respectively. Also, The Itch has a sponsor! We're partnering with our own podcast production suite, Zencastr, to offer listeners a 30%...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to go back in time! Bad Omens released The Death of Peace of Mind earlier this year and, well, we just didn't get to it until now. But that's not because the album isn't worthwhile. Rather, it's because there's so MUCH worthwhile music that it's impossible to keep up! So consider this a wrong righted. Enjoy a discussion about this (still mostly) new album. Stick around for a story about one of the most delightfully petty reasons we've heard for dropping off a...

This week, we're scratching The Itch for a Roundup! It's been a while. An entire quarter, in fact. And while there were a ton of albums worth talking about in Q2, we opted to zero in on one of our favorite topics: women who rock. Dorothy, Nova Twins, and The Warning each put out an LP that captured our attention, and we're betting they'll do the same for you, too. Check out the albums and let us know what you think! If you like what you hear, you can hear more of us every Sunday night broadcast...

This week, we're scratching The Itch to run it back! Aaron saw another show and we've got things to say about it! Listen to this 90s-sounding goodness as Teenage Wrist becomes the first true Itch On Tour two-timer, Softcult teaches us that boys don't HAVE to be boys, and Soul Blind reminds makes us miss some Australians. Plus, the debut of yet another new segment. Enjoy! If you like what you hear, you can hear more of us every Sunday night broadcasting rock to the masses from 6-9pm CST on KCLC-...