Cool people like cool things, which is why we asked Jack Wagner to share a taste of his taste on Perfectly Imperfect.

Jack Wagner is a Los Angeles-based director and internet personality who co-hosts the extremely popular and funny podcast Yeah, But Still with comedian Brandon Wardell that’s had guests such as Turnstile, Vampire Weekend, Tim Heidecker, an Austin Powers impersonator, and Lizzo. Jack is going to tell you more about it in his own recs, but he started a new pod called Otherworld that’s been described as “Paranormal This American Life”. It’s based on five years of interviews with people about their experiences with ghosts, UFOs, abduction, etc and can be enjoyed by believers and nonbelievers alike. Lucky for us, Jack is here to tell us what he’s been into.

Without further ado

Jack Wagner (instagram, twitter)

👻🛸 Otherworld

I am recommending my own damn show Otherworld. I describe it as a Paranormal This American Life. I have been interviewing people about their paranormal experiences for the last 5 years and just released this show October 3rd. I have been working very hard to create a podcast about the paranormal that I would actually listen to, and something that could be enjoyed by anyone from the hardcore skeptics to people that put crystals over their wifi routers.

I worked way too hard on this and have lost sanity points that I may never get back, but it’s a great show and I love it so go listen.

🍒 Sarah Records

Sarah Records is an indie record label from Bristol that was only around from 1987-95 but in that time put out some of the best bands/records I have ever heard and is in my opinion the best label of all time. Every single song this label put out is good. I think the first single ever released on Sarah was “Pristine Christine” by The Sea Urchins which is probably one of the best indie pop songs of all time. Such a completely bonkers first release and everything after after that was amazing. I think I like and actively listen to every single band that ever had a Sarah Records release. Talulah Gosh, Another Sunny Day, The Sweetest Ache, The Field Mice, 14 Iced Bears, The Orchids, St Christopher, Brighter (insanely slept on band, if you like dreampop go listen to ‘‘things will get better’), Action Painting, The Razorcuts etc etc ill stop there. Talulah Gosh’s “Was it Just A Dream” is in my top all time albums same with The Field Mice. Another Sunny Day might even creep in there too.

I was tempted to broaden this rec to include Flying Nun and the indie bands of New Zealand (The Bats, The Clean, The Chills) and also the broader C86 era scene but I should contain it lol. 

I think this era is criminally underappreciated too, one of my dream passion projects would be to somehow create and release some sort of Sarah Records Box Set / Book / Documentary type deal. If I ever become some type of crypto billionaire guy you will know it because I will be Martin Shkreli-ing the entire Sarah Records catalog but only to better share it with the world.

🏈 Friday Night Lights

I have seen a freakish amount of television series in my life and I love to recommend this one to people. It is probably in the Top 10 shows of all time for me, easily. I think lot’s of people I know including myself missed it when it came out or ignored it because we already knew about the movie (made inspired by the same book but not the same thing at all)

It’s such an incredible show. So incredibly addictive and memorable. I am not even a sports guy and I love it, you dont need to like sports.  There is ONE flaw in it but its a funny flaw, a result of the writers strike that happened at the time. Lots of shows of that era have some goofy shit that happens during the writers strike season, but this show has something wild and it is NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED AGAIN in the rest of the series. Anyway I love it. Watch Friday Night Lights. 

🎤 Zulu and Speed

I grew up in the hardcore music scene and have never fully left. Listening to hardcore music is mostly just dudes being nostalgic about “the gold ol days” etc etc and sadly you don’t get a ton of new/young bands that come in and shake up the genre and really get people EXCITED. That is until recently there are two bands that I love to recommend to people even though they are making a huge splash on their own as we speak. 

Zulu

This is an all Black hardcore band, and that is something they make abundantly clear right away when you are listening to their music or seeing them live. When they played at LA’s big hardcore fest this summer, thousands of people were in the crowd to see them. Their singer Anaiah goes out there and gets the entire crowd to go dead silent and then starts into this speech. “In the name of Allah the benevolent and merciful, i’d like to let everyone know that this band is dedicated to the millions of our ancestors that were stolen from our homeland of Africa” and continued on for 5 minutes straight, the crowd dead silent- then proceeded to play maybe the craziest set of the entire weekend. It was the coolest shit ive seen in a long time. You have to understand, hardcore has always been a scene mostly made up of white guys (and i am one of them), also getting a crowd to listen to a speech that long about ANYTHING is impressive. Also in that same set I saw Anaiah front flip into the crowd, then come back on stage and do some kind of spin into the splits dance move, i’ll never forget it. What Zulu is doing is really noteworthy, impressive and really in line the original ethos of hardcore in a way that most bands havent been able to do pull off since it all began. 

SPEED

These guys are awesome. Australian hardcore band that plays insane live shows. When I first stumbled across them I saw their video for the song “We See U” and I was like “man this is either the corniest shit ive ever seen or the coolest…” and honestly I think it walks the line in the sickest way, but I obviously realized that it is the coolest. These fools are literally like working out and boxing in their music videos, flexing muscles to the camera out the window of speeding cars etc. It’s the epidome of a stereotypical hardcore music video but in a really really good way. I think it works because they truly do love this music and it is their entire lives- and that shines through in everything they do. People love SPEED, I love them too. Speed and Zulu are all great people on and off the stage. If these dudes or Zulu are ever playing in your area, you should try to go. Even if you don’t listen to hardcore you should just go for the experience if you can get a ticket. 

🌯 Breakfast Burrito from Lucky Boy in Pasadena (on Arroyo)  

It tastes good as fuck, thats pretty much the whole rec right there. It’s just a burrito.

🧰 Makita XPH12R 18V LXT Lithium-Ion Compact Brushless Drill

Everyone should own a decent drill but I feel like there may be a lot of drill-less people out there that might need to hear this. You need a drill. Everyone needs one. The question is, when drill situations happen, do you want to be caught drill-less? Do you want people to catch you and witness you in a drill situation as a person without a drill? Not a good look. 

Nobody can live without a drill. You either own one yourself or you’re a person who relies on another person’s drill. You gotta decide now what type of person you want to be and what message that sends to the people who may or may not be judging you off this…. the choice is yours. 

Follow Jack on Instagram and Twitter.

Listen to the Yeah, But Still and Otherworld podcasts.

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