Latest Episodes and News
Deeper Cuts returns June 5th!
The podcast that offers deep dives into albums with deep meaning returns for a second season starting this June! Recording has begun for season two of Deeper Cuts. Hosts Graeme Burk, Shannon Dohar and Rob Jones are back discussing albums that mean something to one of them and pondering some of the universal themes that Read more about Deeper Cuts returns June 5th![…]
Deeper Questions: Restful Refrains!
Life can get busy, hectic. Sometimes, it’s just all too much and we need some respite from the grind. We need quiet time, or at least space to refasten our anchors to solid ground. Music can help with that. It can soothe us by way of gentle tones and comforting melodies. It can remind us Read more about Deeper Questions: Restful Refrains![…]
Deeper Questions: Mirthful Melodies!
Our favourite music provokes an emotional response. Sometimes, it provokes a physical one, too – laughter! Whether silly or sophisticated, wacky or risibly wise, the music that makes us laugh can hold the same kind of importance to us as the music that makes us cry, or dance for that matter. So, the deeper question Read more about Deeper Questions: Mirthful Melodies![…]
Deeper Questions: Re-Defining Cover Versions!
Across music history, cover versions have been plentiful. Some are good. Some are decidedly not! Some are earnest and reverential of the source material. Some depart from it in order to shock, or take the piss. But some stand out from the crowd by completely re-defining the source material. They get us to completely re-assess Read more about Deeper Questions: Re-Defining Cover Versions![…]
Deeper Questions: Tearful Tuneage!
Music is sometimes at its best when it helps us make a connection to our own feelings about things, whatever those feelings happen to be. Maybe it has an impact on us because of the bottomless sorrow or indescribable joy as described by narrators in the song. It makes it easy to put ourselves in Read more about Deeper Questions: Tearful Tuneage![…]
You can be on Deeper Cuts! (Kind of…)
We need you … to tell us about an album that was important to you at some time in your life, and why! In a little less than a month Shannon, Rob and Graeme will begin recording a new season of Deeper Cuts! We’ve got an exciting season lined up with some great albums and some Read more about You can be on Deeper Cuts! (Kind of…)[…]
Deeper Questions: Story Songs!
Sometimes, songs tell us the story of our own lives. Sometimes, they tell the stories of others. And in some cases, those two things even intersect. What are our favourite story songs? What is it about them that brings relatable themes forward, and even create a sense of empathy while wrapping everything in a beloved Read more about Deeper Questions: Story Songs![…]
Deeper Questions: Duets That Do it!
As Marvin and Tammi once said, it takes two, baby. With that in mind, what duets and vocal blends from two singers are the pinnacle to the principle that sometimes, it takes two voices to really bring out the magic in a song? That’s this week’s Deeper Question, gentle readers. How did the Deeper Cuts Read more about Deeper Questions: Duets That Do it![…]
Deeper Questions: Favourite TV Theme Songs!
Television is more than just a visual medium. Some of the best music we remember comes from the opening songs and themes to our favourite TV shows. Some are cheesy. Some are very catchy. Some are both! So, which TV theme songs do the Deeper Cuts Trio love to this day? Since all three are Read more about Deeper Questions: Favourite TV Theme Songs![…]
Deeper Questions: Foreign Language Favourites!
They say that music is the international language. Sometimes, melodies, tones, and atmospheres that music can create can transcend everything even if the lyrics are in another language. That’s this week’s Deeper Question, Deeper Cuts fans: What piece of music, song, or even whole album had immediate impact even when delivered in a language that Read more about Deeper Questions: Foreign Language Favourites![…]
Deeper Questions: Defiantly Happy Songs
In these dark days of political upheaval and world-class asshattery at the very top tiers of power, we all want to accentuate the positive. So, what songs make us look up from our shoes, and tell us to quit our mopin’? That’s the Deeper Question of the week: defiantly happy songs. It’s those tunes that Read more about Deeper Questions: Defiantly Happy Songs[…]
Deeper Questions: Early Radio Faves!
At one time, and even still for some today, the radio served as the primary vehicle for discovering the world of pop music that we continue to love throughout our lives even as our tastes change. So the Deeper Question this week is: What’s the first pop song on the radio that you remember hearing Read more about Deeper Questions: Early Radio Faves![…]
Deeper Questions: The Tingles!
Hey, Deeper Cuts fans! We’re excited about upcoming season 2 of our show which we’ll be recording very soon. In the meantime, we thought we shouldn’t keep you hanging. So, this is a new series that’s exclusive (at least right now!) to this site; Deeper Questions! Every week, or as often as we can anyway, Read more about Deeper Questions: The Tingles![…]
Holiday Special: John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together (1979)
What is it about Christmas and holiday music? One thing’s for sure, it definitely takes us back to our childhoods. That’s precisely where Graeme, Shannon, and Rob went on this special holiday episode of Deeper Cuts; specifically, to the 1979 album John Denver and The Muppets – A Christmas Together. They discuss favourite tracks, common Read more about Holiday Special: John Denver and the Muppets – A Christmas Together (1979)[…]
9: Supertramp – Breakfast In America (1979)
Pop music; we all have to start somewhere. For Graeme, pop music was a big part of his journey as a pre-teen, skipping a grade in school and finding himself surrounded by the monstrous reality known as Junior High School. During that time of awkwardness and alienation, it was Supertramp’s massively popular 1979 album Breakfast Read more about 9: Supertramp – Breakfast In America (1979)[…]
Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Eight
You might think all of us at Deeper Cuts have gone Hollywood with this week’s Spotify playlist. It’s only logical that you feel this way. But we don’t think you’ll be saying goodbye stranger to Supertramp’s Breakfast in America anytime soon. I mean, oh darling, if you ask Graeme there hasn’t been a better album from the Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Eight[…]
Beethoven addendum: Classical music recommendations
Sometimes we have to cut material from the podcast. From episode 8, we have Graeme, Rob and Shannon offering their recommendations of other classical pieces to listen to. Graeme suggests Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (Sleepers wake) and Thomas Tallis’ Spem in Alium; Rob recommends Claude Debussy’s La fille aux cheveux de lin (The Girl with the Flaxen Read more about Beethoven addendum: Classical music recommendations[…]
8: Beethoven – Mass in C major
Classical music. It’s old. It’s complex. It can be intimidating. But somehow, the best of it goes beyond mere academic appreciation and makes you feel things. This is especially true if, like our Shannon Dohar, you get to participate in it. Shannon performed Beethoven’s Mass in C as a member of a choir and this Read more about 8: Beethoven – Mass in C major[…]
Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Seven
Beethoven’s Mass in C encompasses many human states: mystery, contemplation, joy, exultation, dismay, wonder, adoration, love. It tells the story of the Mass but makes small and large innovations in how it tells that tale. In short, it’s a welcome addition to the albums covered by Deeper Cuts and we have it on this week’s Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Seven[…]
Joe Jackson Night and Day Addendum: Steppin’ Out of a Comfort Zone
In episode seven of our podcast (which you can listen to right here!), we talked a lot about the expanding musical possibilities that Joe Jackson’s Night and Day album helped me discover beyond the borders of top forty pop. But in parallel, Joe Jackson himself was on a journey all of his own around the Read more about Joe Jackson Night and Day Addendum: Steppin’ Out of a Comfort Zone[…]
7: Joe Jackson – Night and Day (1982)
Have you ever felt a page of your life turn, moving from one chapter to another? It’s a common experience that can be tumultuous but also pretty exciting, too. During a time of transition for Rob, it was Joe Jackson’s 1982 album Night and Day that provided the soundtrack. It was what we term an Read more about 7: Joe Jackson – Night and Day (1982)[…]
Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Six
Ever found an album that promises the latest top 40 hit by a new wave artist and then it turns out to have Cuban influenced salsa numbers, songs ruminating about living in New York, jazz (and not the cool kind AM radio played) and lyrics that explored urban living in 1982 in all the many Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Six[…]
6: Indigo Girls – Rites of Passage (1992)
Road trip! It’s a common and very welcome battle cry, even if we’re just taking a journey by ourselves. The best and most memorable road trips are very often, if not always, accompanied by a great soundtrack. For Graeme, that soundtrack was Indigo Girls’ 1992 offering Rites of Passage, an album that he took with Read more about 6: Indigo Girls – Rites of Passage (1992)[…]
Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Five
Songs about motion, songs about journeys, songs about destinations, songs about places and people long past… all these things and more can be found in the Indigo Girls’ 1992 album Rites of Passage, the latest addition to our Spotify playlist, which includes almost every album covered on Deeper Cuts. Put on some headphones, put on Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Five[…]
XTC Apple Venus, Volume 1 Addendum: The Influence of Judee Sill
For every great record, there is almost always another great one behind it. Sometimes, there’s even an entire body of work that helped to inspire it. Shannon, Graeme, and I aren’t the only ones who have albums that hold deep meanings! This idea is absolutely true of XTC’s Apple Venus, Volume 1, a record that Read more about XTC Apple Venus, Volume 1 Addendum: The Influence of Judee Sill[…]
5: XTC – Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)
Location, location, location. Sometimes, a record is vivid enough to make you feel as though you’re in one as you listen. Maybe it can even help you make sense of your physical location, too. For Rob Jones, XTC’s eminently pastoral and Anglocentric 1999 album Apple Venus Volume 1 provided both of those things to him Read more about 5: XTC – Apple Venus Volume 1 (1999)[…]
4: The Weakerthans – Left and Leaving (2000)
Very often, we outgrow the place where we’re from. That can be one of the signs that we’ve come of age. But leaving an old familiar place and finding a home in a new one is rarely simple, especially when you’re young. That’s the subject of our discussion around The Weakerthans’ 2000 album Left and Leaving, a Read more about 4: The Weakerthans – Left and Leaving (2000)[…]
Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Three
Songs of living in Winnipeg, being awkward, dealing with the hard work of relationships and evaluating your life choices through a garage sale are among those being examined this week when the Weakerthans’ 2000 album Left and Leaving joins our Spotify playlist. Give it, and the songs on albums covered on previous episodes, a listen. You Read more about Deeper Cuts Spotify Playlist: Week Three[…]
Bonus Content: The Sesame Street Record’s deleted final track
If you listened carefully to our “3 minutes more or less” summary of The Sesame Street Record, you might notice that there was one final track in that that’s not in our Spotify Playlist. That’s because the original release of The Sesame Street Record was an LP, on a vinyl record with two sides. The Read more about Bonus Content: The Sesame Street Record’s deleted final track[…]
3: The Sesame Street Record (1970)
Chances are, our first encounters with music was that which was aimed right at our hungry little learning minds and dancing little feet. For generations of kids, including our own Graeme Burk, a heavyweight in this department was the original cast recording The Sesame Street Record, released in 1970. Like the groundbreaking TV show it was Read more about 3: The Sesame Street Record (1970)[…]
About Deeper Cuts
Everyone has an album that was important to them at some time in their life for different reasons. Everyone has albums that were special to them at different times in their life. It was the album they played all the time in college, or the album they listened to incessantly when they were in love with someone, or the album they danced to as a five year old. Deeper Cuts brings together three people to listen to those albums and discuss them.
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Deeper Cuts is brought to you by...
Graeme Burk
Rob Jones
