Ontario guitarist Darren has released six albums of concise instrumentals since 2019, often using metal guitar tones and tropes, but with a great range of tones and often catchy melodies.

We discuss “The Day Beneath Yesterday” (and listen at the end to “Dangerous Curves”) from Perpetual Night (2025), “Broken Glass and Disappointment” from Thoughts and Scares (2022), and “The Earth is B Flat” from Lifting the Curse (2019). Intro: The title track from Wonders of the Invisible World (2020). More at darrenboyd.com.

Watch the video for the title track for the new album, showing his full band. Experience all of the song “Wonders of the Invisible World” with this video. He’s made videos for many of his songs; here’s the channel.

Watch Darren talk about guitar shredding. Hear that 2018 “horror band” EP with a singer and lyrics that Darren wrote about murder and suicide. Also, The G-String Murders EP.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

In a special holiday episode, we get to meet the talented and very British musician and podcaster Roger Heathers, who is my new audio editor for this show and most of my others starting in Jan. 2025 or so.

At the beginning and the end of the show, you get to hear two tracks from his soon to be released Upward Spiral: “Guard Dogs” and “Hopefully.” They both feature a warm, holiday-like glow.

You can listen to him at rogerheathers.bandcamp.com, or check out The Weekly Song Podcast, where he and his buddy Declan each write and present a song to each other and talk about how they wrote them along with various music-related topics.

Together, Roger and I hash through how we make the show and share some highlights and challenges re. recent guests.

As mentioned at the end, my Substack (which I plan to do another post for soon) is marklinsenmayer.substack.com. If you’re interested in my spring philosophy class, check out partiallyexaminedlife.com/class.

Hope you enjoy it! Happy holidays!

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music at nakedlyexaminedmusic.com. Support us at patreon.com/nakedlyexaminedmusic.

Sponsor: Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance; connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at rula.com/nem.

Corey has released many of zydeco music since 2004 (I count eight, but his bio says 16), and mixes his dedication to tradition (even recording a recent album in Louisiana Creole) with his love of many types of music.

We discuss “J’ai Parti dans la Campagne” (and listen at the end to “Outro”) from his new release, Live in Alaska; “That Girl Wanna Dance” from the Grammy nominated Nothin’ But the Best (2012); and “Way Back Home,” a Jazz Crusaders (Wilton Felder) cover recorded for 3 Years 2 Late (2003). Intro: “Boudin Man (Remix)” from Destiny (2013) (written by Joseph Rossiyn). More at coreyledet.com.

Hear all of “Boudin Man.” Watch a live version from back in 2004. Hear the original Accordion Man (2018) version of “J’ai Parti dans la Campagne.” Watch a full, recent live show. Watch a full solo from-home set from the pandemic. Watch Corey playing with my previous guest Louis Michot (hear Louis’ NEM interview). Watch him on the evening news about being inducted into the Louisiana music hall of fame. I couldn’t find one of his recent live cover tunes of pop songs on YouTube, but this 2009 clip includes part of “Baby, Please Don’t Go” and features a guy praising him.

Hear more Nakedly Examined Music. Support us on Patreon.

Sponsor: Rula patients typically pay $15 per session when using insurance; connect with quality therapists and mental health experts who specialize in you at rula.com/nem.