The New Dad Rock presents a field-recorded farewell.

This wasn’t the episode we planned—but it’s the one we had to make. Episode 100 is a requiem for Rubén, Keith’s dear friend and one of the few true guerilla contributors to this podcast.

Keith was supposed to meet Rubén in Lucerne, Switzerland the first couple days of June 2025, but Ruben left this world ten days before Keith arrived. Keith didn’t change his plans. How could he?

What you’ll hear are unfiltered field recordings—no overdubs, no edits—captured on September 2, 2021, February 17, 2022, June 4, 2022, and December 7, 2023. These were originally recorded as part of our unofficial, off-the-cuff episodes. This episode was edited over two days in June 2025 while Keith was in Lucerne.

Rubén would’ve loved this. He always encouraged the art, the chaos, the beauty in the imperfect.

At one point, around 14 minutes in, Rubén talks about visiting people’s homes and listening to their records, saying it’s like trying on someone else’s clothes. Keith tells Rubén he is never inviting him over to his house. Rubén just laughs: "We’re the same size."

Six months later, Rubén and Keith are at Rubén's friend’s house playing music together and Rubén suggests they switch shirts, which they did. The picture used as the podcast thumbnail is them post-shirt exchange.

This episode isn’t just about Rubén. It is Rubén.

🎙️ EPISODIO 100: Un Réquiem por Rubén
The New Dad Rock presenta una despedida grabada en campo.

Este no era el episodio que habíamos planeado, pero era el que teníamos que hacer. El episodio 100 es un réquiem por Rubén, querido amigo de Keith y uno de los pocos colaboradores verdaderamente guerrilleros de este podcast.

Keith debía encontrarse con Rubén en Lucerna, Suiza, a principios de junio de 2025, pero Rubén dejó este mundo diez días antes de que Keith llegara. Keith no cambió sus planes. ¿Cómo pudo?

Lo que escucharán son grabaciones de campo sin filtro (sin sobregrabaciones ni ediciones) capturadas el 2 de septiembre de 2021, el 17 de febrero de 2022, el 4 de junio de 2022 y el 7 de diciembre de 2023. Estas grabaciones se realizaron originalmente como parte de nuestros episodios no oficiales e improvisados. Este episodio fue editado durante dos días en junio de 2025 mientras Keith estaba en Lucerna.

A Rubén le habría encantado. Siempre promovía el arte, el caos, la belleza en lo imperfecto.

En un momento dado, alrededor del minuto 14, Rubén habla de visitar casas de gente y escuchar sus discos, diciendo que es como probarse la ropa de otra persona. Keith le dice a Rubén que nunca lo invita a su casa. Rubén simplemente se ríe: "Somos de la misma talla".

Seis meses después, Rubén y Keith están en casa de un amigo de Rubén tocando música juntos y Rubén sugiere que intercambien camisetas, lo cual hicieron. La imagen que se usa como miniatura del podcast es de ellos después del intercambio de camisetas.

Este episodio no se trata de Rubén. Se trata de Rubén.

Let us know what’s up.

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Did you know that The New Dad Rock has swag? Coffee mugs, pillow and t-shirts in a multitude of colors and arm lengths.

On July 3, 1999 Mark Sandman, frontman and two-string slide bassist of Morphine collapsed and died while performing onstage in Palestrina, Italy. Ironically a few years earlier he wrote aa song in which he sang about hoping to have french fries with pepper on September 9th of that year.

But don't let that get you down. As we approach our 100th episode, we turn back the clock 25 years to the strange, beautiful, and paranoid world of 1999. Clinton was impeached, Napster was born, and people were hoarding water in fear of Y2K. Now in 2024, we’ve got AI making music, faking voices, and threatening to write this podcast for us. Coincidence?

We explore the eerie parallels between Y2K fear and AI anxiety, all through the lens of the incredible music that defined the end of the millennium. Featuring everything from The Flaming Lips’ cinematic masterpiece The Soft Bulletin to Fiona Apple’s poetic rage, and from Rage Against the Machine's fury to Beck’s freaky funk, this episode is a tribute to the year that birthed some of the deepest—and weirdest—dad rock we still love today, including:

• The indie guitar heroics and existential hooks of Built to Spill’s “Keep It Like a Secret”
• The strange and defiant Primus’ “Antipop”
• Moby’s soundtrack to the digital dawn “Play”
• Pavement’s bittersweet farewell produced by Nigel Godrich “Terror Twilight”
• And Wilco’s “Summerteeth” which is Dad Rock and not New Dad Rock

This isn’t just a nostalgia trip—it’s a portal between two centuries, two technopanic moments, and a lot of great records.

🎧 Episode 100 is coming next… and it’s all about YOU. Send us your questions, dad rock confessions, or AI fears before the robots take over for real.

Let us know what’s up.

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Did you know that The New Dad Rock has swag? Coffee mugs, pillow and t-shirts in a multitude of colors and arm lengths.

🎙️ Episode 98: Montauk Mix and UFO Flix

Strap in for a cosmic ride back to the Summer of '98—when alternative rock was maturing, Montauk was still weird and wonderful, and UFOs might have been hovering just offshore.

Steve and Keith dig through the musical treasures of 1998, spinning tracks from Neutral Milk Hotel, Elliott Smith, Mercury Rev, Beastie Boys, Sunny Day Real Estate, and more. It's the year of In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, XO, Deserter’s Songs, and Hello Nasty—a golden moment when indie, emo, electronica, and even Madonna (Ray of Light!) all collided on our Walkmans and Discmen.

☀️ Along the way:

• Summers in Montauk: sand in cassette decks, longboard surf sessions, and the quiet magic of a sleepy beach town
• The Montauk Project: time travel? psychic experiments? Stranger Things vibes years before Netflix
• Lights in the sky, rumors around bonfires, and the sweet mystery of pre-Y2K anxiety

🛸 Expect music nerdery, heartfelt nostalgia, and just maybe a few unexplained sightings along the dunes.

Tagline: The year alt-rock grew up... and Montauk got even weirder.

Cue the mixtape, cue the conspiracy theories—it's Episode 98!

Let us know what’s up.

Support the show

Did you know that The New Dad Rock has swag? Coffee mugs, pillow and t-shirts in a multitude of colors and arm lengths.