Greetings! If you’re reading this in your inbox at the time of publication, I will have been the parent of a beautiful newborn for just a little over two weeks. And if you’re late to this post for whatever reason (you do you, I’m not your Dad), then just add on the extra hours, days, weeks, months, etc. at your leisure.

After a rough and protracted labour, my resilient wife and fabulous podcast co-host ushered our daughter into the world at 6:10 am on October 11th:

(Everyone say hello to Audrey Raine Morawitz!)

Following a brief hospital stay and welcome discharge, both Mum and baby are happy and healthy, and we’ve all been nesting here at home for the last fortnight. We’re currently on a rigourous tri-hourly feeding schedule, and doing our utmost to go with Audrey’s newfound flow: pump, eat, burp, poop, sleep, repeat.

On a day-to-day, this mainly involves fractured sleep cycles, binging TV show reruns, and increased caffeine consumption. I’m also happy to report that my extensive YouTube Watch Later playlist is getting extra attention in the wee hours of the evening between sterilizing bottles and disposing of full nappies.

Now, for reasons that should be rather obvious, I’ve already taken some time off from this illustrious newsletter and will continue to do so for the next few weeks. Being a longtime freelancer, the idea of paternity leave has a somewhat ‘looser’ feel than other jobs might permit, but I’d be lying if the idea of extensive time-off from the perpetual, nebulously defined ‘grind’ doesn’t have its upsides.

With that in mind, I’m dropping some links here to recent podcast episodes I published prior to and immediately following Audrey’s arrival (don’t worry, we’re also on pod hiatus), along with some new releases I’m enjoying when I have some precious minutes alone to walk our dog or run desperate supply errands. Enjoy!

ERRONEOUS BOTCH:

I’ve been mates with Dominic Harper and Liam Holmes for the better part of a decade. The three of us take part in a casually infrequent group chat. We talk about Motion City Soundtrack, philosophy, and the intricacies of human consciousness. They were both at my wedding, and they’re both inseperable components of Meanjin/Brisbane alternative outfit The Comfort.

After years of threatenting to do a proper pod interview, the boys jumped on the show to chat about their phenomenal and incredibly vulnerable third studio album, Let The Love In (out now). Check it out below:

Jess Eastwood from Isle of Wight indie rockers Coach Party chats about all things Caramel (out September 26th through Chess Club Records).

Jess opens up on how the band wanted to follow-up their well-received 2023 debut LP, crafting a bonafide anthem in the form of rollicking single “Girls!”, using therapy and narrative abstraction as writing tools for emotional depth, and how trash TV can be a little slice of peace in an otherwise crazy world:

Artist, tattooist, F.O.T.S. and Going Off stage-stomper Jake Huxley returns to the show to chat about the Manchester hardcore crew’s latest effort, KILL LIST II (out October 31st).

We go in on splitting time between Manchester and Paris, writing the spiritual successor to 2023’s KILL LIST EP, splitting the difference between fast ragers and savage beatdowns, and how explorations of loss make for the group’s most thrilling material to date:

God Save The Gun, the brand new LP from indie-punks Militarie Gun (out now through Loma Vista Recordings), is easily the band’s best record, chock full of hummable guitar lines, stratopsheric choruses, and untold spiritual dimensions.

Frontman Ian Shelton joins the show to discuss music as a counter to the pull of organized religion, the misguided trappings of wellness culture, exploring his internal desire for salvation, and the underappreciated art of album sequencing:

SIMPLY EAR-RESISTIBLE:

Yep, that’s right: Dad jokes. (You’re welcome.)

GOT PLUG?

If you want more behind the scenes pod shenanigans, please consider signing up to the TPD Patreon!

By joining, you become part of our alternative music community, get access to our existing bonus content, and have the opportunity to send me a mildly threatening chat message with some new music you like. I’m deadly serious about this. I want your recommendations!!

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Listen to all these tracks and more on the TPD 2025 TA LIFE playlist, updated weekly.