Indiecast

Spring is already around the corner and the music industry is gearing up for a new season of releases. Indiecast hosts Steven and Ian have spent the first few months of 2022 sharing their music takes, but it's now time to hear what listeners have to say.

This week, Indiecast takes some time off of reviewing albums to read some listener mail and answer burning questions (17:39). Steven and Ian kick things off by giving advice on how music nerds can respectfully discuss albums without becoming overbearing (18:21). Then, they discuss their opinions on the best album closing tracks (25:31) and share their picks for the top three worst songs of all-time (spoiler alert: Smash Mouth gets an honorable mention) (45:29).

In this week's Recommendation Corner (1:03:20), Ian talks up Karate, a band who is booked for this year's Pitchfork Music Festival and seem like the perfect fit for an Indiecast Venn diagram. Steven gives a shout-out to Goose, who he just called the "next great American jam band" in a recent feature.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 80 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steven and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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What do Band Of Horses have in common with The Strokes and Interpol? Their first album was mostly considered to be an instant classic, though their second album was arguably better. Band Of Horses may have dominated much of indie music discourse in the mid-aughts, but they're now making a triumphant return with their first album in six years, Things Are Great. Hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen share their thoughts about the band's comeback (37:49) on this week's Indiecast episode.

Along with reviewing new music, Steven and Ian talk about this biggest news in music this week: Bandcamp was purchased by Epic Games, a tech game company which owns popular video games like Fortnite (:27). Twitter, of course, lit up with jokes about the acquisition. Others wondered if it will fundamentally change how Bandcamp compensates artists, which they do more than many other music services. On top of the Bandcamp news, this week saw some artists beefing with their stans. Mitski denounced concertgoers who film her entire performance (15:55) while Charli XCX came at a fan who accused her of going through a "midlife crisis" (10:01).

In this week’s Recommendation Corner (55:05), Ian gives a shout out to Boston hardcore punk band Vein.fm, whose new album This World Is Going To Ruin You drops this week. Meanwhile, Steven reminds Indiecast listeners that Sonic Youth's In/Out/In compilation comes out in just two weeks, featuring a mix of low-key and noisy tracks.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 79 on Spotify below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts here. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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Indiecast sure does have a lot of favorite artists, but what's the most Indiecast band? It very well may be Gang Of Youths, an Australian group who have garnered a massive US following in recent years. Their new album Angel In Real Time is already an album of the year contender for Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen, who share their thoughts (39:14) about the "real achievement" of an LP on the latest episode.

Other than Gang Of Youths' new album, there's a lot that happened in music this week. Hulu's Pam & Tommy series featured a hilarious (and sadly untrue) bit about some beef between Mötley Crüe and Third Eye Blind (5:39) and Tool announced a box set reissue of their Fear Inoculum (:26). The catch? It costs $810 after tax. It's a steep price, but one that's surely affordable for the overlap of Tool fans and crypto fanatics.

Of course, Indiecast would be remiss if they didn't dive into some of the drama surrounding Kanye West (14:41). The rapper's recently released Netflix documentary Jeen-Yuhs shows a mix of humility and grandiosity in his early career. The film arrives at a time when Ye's already making headlines for pestering his ex-wife Kim Kardashian over social media and talking about dropping his next album Donda 2 exclusively on his handheld stem player.

In this week's Recommendation Corner (53:32), Ian shows love to UK post-rock eight-piece group Caroline, who are vaguely associated with Black Midi. Their music has shifted from an emo-adjacent sound in 2020 to more '90s-inspired post-rock. Steven shouts-out the Dublin all-women band Pillow Queens, who recently announced their sophomore album Leave The Light On.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 78 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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After the pandemic threw off touring plans for a few years, many big indie bands are making a 2022 comeback with double albums. Big Thief just delivered their 20-track LP and Kurt Vile recently announced a 90-minute magnum opus. But is Beach House's latest project Once Twice Melody effective as a double album? On this week's Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen talk Beach House's new album (40:57); reminisce on their most vivid festival memories (12:05); and decide it's not too early to argue about The 1975 (6:15).

Along with diving into Beach House's Once Twice Melody, Indiecast walks listeners through recently announced weekend-long festival lineups, which thankfully still exist two years into the pandemic. Hangout Fest 2022 hit the mark with Tame Impala, Megan Thee Stallion, Jack Harlow, and Phoebe Bridgers. Beale Street Music Festival took a more eclectic approach by booking a mix bag of performers like Foo Fighters, Lil Wayne, Smashing Pumpkins, Three 6 Mafia, DaBaby, and Modest Mouse (20:30).

In this week’s Recommendation Corner (52:44), Ian shouts out Pittsburgh band String Machine, whose album Hallelujah Hell Yeah is set to release next week. Steven hypes up Philly four-piece Caracara, an emo band with '90s alt-rock influences who are opening for String Machine on tour later this year.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

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Is it fair to say 2022 is already a better music year than 2021? After all, 2021 might have been a year without an all-time classic album. But so far, The Weeknd has dropped an Album Of The Year contender with Dawn FM and now, Big Thief has delivered the masterpiece of an album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. This week on Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen talk new LPs by Big Thief (24:12) and Black Country New Road, rank Spoon's discography (40:09), and discuss some indie music discourse (which includes Steve Albini defending... Juggalos?).

With the biggest sports event of the year coming up this Sunday, Hyden and Cohen touch on this year's Super Bowl (5:42). Though the stacked halftime performance with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, and Mary J. Blige is sure to be a showstopper, the NFL also signed The Chainsmokers onto a very weird, virtual TikTok tailgate event. This begs the question: "Does anyone lean into doing the most unlikeable thing more than The Chainsmokers?"

The NFL's bizarre tailgate aside, Indiecast wouldn't be the same without Cohen and Hyden suggesting some great reads. In this week's recommendation corner, Cohen spotlights the books Endless Endless: A Lo-Fi History of the Elephant 6 Mystery and Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla (49:58).

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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The indie world is nothing if not ripe for conversation. This week’s episode of Indiecast has Steve and Ian discussing HitPiece, the new NFT music platform that didn’t get permission from any artist to host their music (4:56), the release week drama for Black Country, New Road (12:41), and the arrival of a new song from the Red Hot Chili Peppers (17:35).

The meat of this week’s episode features Steve and Ian’s reviews of new records from Mitski (34:12) and Animal Collective (44:44). While Mitski’s latest album Laurel Hell is a pivot to pop that still seems to feel weighed down by the overbearing Mitski stans, Animal Collective’s Time Skiffs is their first album in six years, and the rare “comeback album” that actually feels like a rewarding return to form from a veteran indie band. How do both albums hold up in the artists’ catalogues? Listen to find out.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner (54:11), Ian is vibing with London outfit Deathcrash, while Steve is plugging Boat Songs, the new solo album from Wednesday guitarist MJ Lenderman.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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We’re barely a month in and 2022 has already delivered a great amount of trends to be hashed out -- like Taylor Swift vs. Damon Albarn (6:36) and Neil Young removing his catalog from Spotify (0:28) -- and music to be excited about. On this week’s episode of Indiecast, Steve and Ian tackle the latest developments in the indie world and curate their wish lists for albums they hope are finally released in 2022 (34:38). From long-delayed albums from The Wrens and Sky Ferreira to theoretical releases from The Cure and My Bloody Valentine, there’s a lot of music in the vault that they’re hoping finally sees the light of day this year.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Steve is urging listeners to check out Texas band Good Looks, who are set to release their new album Bummer Year in April. Ian is digging Dissolution Wave, the latest album from alternative rock outfit Cloakroom (55:20).

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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In April of 2011, LCD Soundsystem performed a monumental three-and-a-half hour show at Madison Square Garden that was billed as their final show ever. Fans flew from all over the globe to say dance themselves clean and say goodbye to the dance-punk outfit that made a name for themselves with self-referential lyrics and impressive electronic arrangements. A little less than a year after the band waved goodbye, in January of 2012, a documentary called Shut Up And Play The Hits premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that their final show and interspersed with sections featuring frontman James Murphy reflecting on the band with prompts from Chuck Klosterman.

A decade later, that Madison Square Garden gig turned out to be more of a "see you later" than a "goodbye." LCD Soundsystem returned to the stage in March of 2016 before headlining Coachella that same year, and they even dropped a new record in 2017's American Dream. Everything that has transpired in the 10 years since Shut Up And Play The Hits was released greatly affects -- and perhaps completely undermines -- the film's context and one's ability to appreciate it as a swan song. On this week's episode of Indiecast, Steve and Ian try to come to terms with the legacy of the film, and LCD Soundsystem as a whole (32:46).

In this week's Recommendation Corner (51:19), Ian is plugging Pedro The Lion's new album Havasu, which came as a surprise earlier this week. Steve is urging people to check out Elvis Costello's The Boy Named If, which is the 32nd studio album from the legendary songwriter.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

:35 - Intro, Ian’s LA Weekly LCD Soundsystem Piece

4:21 - Nostalgia for Troll-y music lists + why you don’t see as many negative reviews any more

10:22 - Breaking News: Taylor Swift, Ambassador of Record Store Day

11:46 - Steve’s piece on the cd revival

16:09 - When We Were Young Fest

23:54 - Mailbag: Ian’s thoughts on The Grateful Dead

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After the dearth of new music releases over the holidays, 2022 is officially in full swing and it seems like the docket of new music just keeps getting more and more exciting. To kick off a year of new music reviews, Steve and Ian are digging into Dawn FM, the latest album from The Weeknd that dropped without any preamble on January 7, but is simultaneously the biggest release of the year so far.

Before any of that, however, it’s time to break down the newly-announced Coachella and Bonnaroo lineups. After a two year hiatus, Coachella is finally back with a pretty stacked lineup. That said, are people still going to be writing “rock is dead because there are no rock bands at Coachella” thinkpieces in 2022? What bands in the indie world even have the reach to potentially headline future iterations of Coachella?

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging Little Green House, the latest album from Connecticut punk outfit Anxious, while Steve is getting excited for the forthcoming album from Guerilla Toss.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

0:12 - Intro: Music Festival Font Size + Coachella & Bonnaroo Announcements

7:51 - What Rock Bands Could Headline Coachella?

18:07 - Mailbag: Okkervil River Memoryhole?

27:10 - The Weeknd 'Dawn FM' Review 

44:49 - Recommendation Corner

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And just like that, the holiday break is over and it’s already time to get back into reviewing albums and hashing out trends. Steve and Ian are both back from vacation and not wasting any time, diving right into the story of the Eve 6 guy arguing online with Steve Albini about Counting Crows, a topic that sounds like it was created in a lab specifically for Indiecast. They also chat about newly released music by Father John Misty and Radiohead side project The Smile, and the first performance in four years by emo legends The Hotelier.

To kick off the new year, Steve and Ian are diving into the mailbag to answer some more questions from you, the Indiecast listener. Topics covered include: “whoacore,” non-western music coverage, and a true first for the show, a five-question “Remember Some Guys” pop quiz for Ian. What will he score? Listen to find out, and let’s all get excited for another great year of reviewing albums and hashing out trends.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.