While Brian is out wrangling politicians in the nation’s capital,  Chris comes in off the bench and capably fills the breach.   The boys all admit to struggling to keep up with the latest music.

Was music that much better in the “good old days” ?  Why doesn’t anyone make good music anymore ?  What were the “good old days”  anyway ?  Chris and Shourov are stuck in a time warp in the early noughties.   Abhik’s musical heyday was somewhere before the mid 90’s, perhaps even the 60’s.

Even if you resist the temptation to be a grumpy old man, how DO you go about discovering new music ?   Who or what determines what is good ?   Is there right or wrong to music or is it just unnecessary snobbery ?  Where is the guidebook ? Has anyone written the user manual ?

Ella Fitzgerald and 70s Bollywood,  taping Take 40 Australia in the 80s, Stock Aitken and Waterman,  Melbourne blues clubs, gangster rap and endless farewell  tours, narrative arc in the lyrics and weird and wonderful guitar chords – the discussion ranges far and wide over space and time and lands back in the present to a mildly satisfying conclusion.

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In this week’’s episode, Brian picks the somewhat quotidian topic of “walking the dog”. Abhik questions whether dog ownership is all it is cracked up to be.

Do you just become a slave to your dog’s habit or could it become a labour of love? Is needing to be walked a uniquely dog phenomenon or are humans creatures of habit as well?

Shourov hypothesises that we are living through an unprecedented period of change. While being adaptable and agile drives success in the new economy, should we yearn for a time when life was simpler and more stable.

Is there a place for habit and stability in a disruptive “dog eat dog” world ? And who would win a fight between a dog and a wombat? What exactly is a hyrax? And what would a world ruled by guinea pigs look like?

From the sex lives of disabled people to guinea pig recipes to mistaking manatees for mermaids, the boys leave no topic unturned in their quest for mildly amusing and vaguely plausible anecdotes.

Spoiler alert:  Don’t listen to this episode if you are planning to read George Orwell’s Animal Farm or to watch that Facebook video of a Hyena fighting a pack of wild dogs.

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