Indiecast

This week marked the long-awaited return of Mitski, who has been more or less quiet since the Be The Cowboy tour wrapped nearly two years ago. Now, the acclaimed songwriter is back with “Working For The Knife,” bringing with it the always-insane discourse around her music.

The meat of this episode revolves around one of the biggest bands of the 21st century, Coldplay. With billions of streams on Spotify, Coldplay is almost a perfect poptimism-era rock band, in that they have no qualms with being a super pop band and doing whatever it takes to remain relevant (see: doing a song with BTS). After being nominated for Album Of The Year in 2019 with the double album Everyday Life, the band’s new Max Martin-produced album, Music Of The Spheres, is due out next week.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging Illusory Walls, the epic new album from emo legends The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die. Meanwhile, Steve is enjoying Seventeen Going Under, the new album from English singer-songwriter Sam Fender.

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October is upon us, and with it comes new records that are perfectly timed to soundtrack the changing of the leaves. This week, Steve and Ian are digging into Let Me Have One More, the anticipated new record from Illuminati Hotties, as well as Strand Of Oaks’ In Heaven. Both artists represent relatively opposite ends of the Indiecast-core spectrum — Illuminati Hotties have perfected a brand of irreverent, anti-capitalist alternative rock while Tim Showalter’s music style tends to lean into more atmospheric soundscapes and a folk-forward songwriting style.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is getting ready for fall with True Love, the new album from vibey Austin duo Hovvdy. Steve is plugging his recent interview with BJ Burton, the producer who has had a hand in crafting some of the best and most influential albums of the last decade (think: Yeezus, Bon Iver’s 22, A Million, and many more).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 59 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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Today, September 24th, marks 30 years since Nirvana released Nevermind. In the last three decades, people have already said pretty much everything there is to say about the Washington grunge outfit, but that isn’t going to stop Steve and Ian from reminiscing about one of the biggest rock albums of all time on this week’s episode of Indiecast. 

Nevermind is an album that still holds up after thirty years, despite its oversaturation on rock radio and elsewhere. But it’s the rare breakthrough album that might have almost become underrated, overshadowed — at least in the critical sphere — by what came next for Nirvana. The band’s third album In Utero is now understood as a response to fame, while their Unplugged performance has evolved into a poignant, dramatic artistic statement that holds a whole new weight in the wake of Cobain’s death. 

In this week's Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging the latest from One Step Closer, a new signing to esteemed indie label Run For Cover Records. Steve wants everyone to check out Wilds, the new LP from Andy Shauf out today.

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It’s that time again: Steve and Ian are taking questions from listeners. This week’s episode of Indiecast kicks off with a recap of last weekend’ Pitchfork Festival, before diving into a discussion of bands that started their career in the indie world before eventually growing to a point that their indie cred became nonexistent. Bands like The Black Keys and Kings Of Leon are shining examples of this phenomenon, while bands like LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, and Arcade Fire retain the coveted indie credentials.

Other conversations include the ultimate Indiecast concert that would bridge the gap between Steve and Ian’s musical tastes, the discographies of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica, and more.

In this week's Recommendation Corner, Steve is vibing with the new single from Orlando duo Tonstartssbandht, which previews their first album in four years. Ian is enjoying a new split release from European emo bands I Feel Fine and You Could Be a Cop.

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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This week, Steve and Ian are getting ready for festival season. Pitchfork Festival is finally here, featuring sets from Dogleg, Oso Oso, and Bartees Strange and marking the tripling of the fest’s notorious “token DIY/emo” acts. This year, festival season arrives in the fall, which leads into a question from a listener asking which albums are indicative of the changing of the leaves for our two hosts.

This week’s episode is centered around Minnesota trio Low, who has been regularly releasing music over the last 30 years or so. Recently, Low’s consistent catalogue was starting to feel like they were tapering off, but their thirteenth studio album, Hey What, has them back in the saddle for their best collection of songs in recent memory. Perhaps this is the result of the prominence of the vocals on this album — where the voices were frequently buried amid the glitchy instrumentation on previous efforts, Hey What has the dual vocalists front and center, often cutting through the musical mayhem behind them.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging 2012, the new album from Pittsburgh band Brightside. Meanwhile, Steve wants to bring your attention to the forthcoming album from Irish post-punk band Silverbacks.

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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What’s your biggest fear as a concertgoer? For Steve, it’s having to do a Number 2 at a show — even nice venues with good toilets seem like a terrible place to spend any significant amount of time. This is perhaps the exact thought that went through the head of the person who had an unfortunate bowel movement in the mosh pit at a Turnstile show last week. Will people now feel empowered to do the same at upcoming Turnstile shows, like how Barenaked Ladies got Kraft mac and cheese thrown at them?

The meat of this week’s episode comes in the form of a discussion about Donda, the oft-discussed, perhaps anticipated new album from Kanye West. The thing about Kanye is that the music media once gave him the benefit of the doubt, and now they don’t. Nonetheless, like everything Kanye does these days, Donda has this huge gravitational pull, yet it feels somewhat marooned from what’s actually happening at large, with a narrative set almost entirely on planet Kanye. There’ss callbacks to some Yeezus and 808s-style electronic music, a lot of Jesus (the curses are bleeped out!), but rather than create trends, it turns away from them. Donda just sucks all the air out of the room.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging Jail Socks, who just released the new album Coming Down while Steve wants to spread the good word about Other You, the latest LP from indie guitar god Steve Gunn.

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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During last week’s episode, Steve and Ian wondered if the latest album from Lorde, was going to follow a similar trajectory to recent releases from Clairo and Billie Eilish — LPs with rollouts that feel very muted and underwhelming, but the final product ultimately left them feeling pleasantly surprised. Solar Power, however, never manages to spin the narrative and truly deliver, offering a collection of songs that feel bland and difficult to connect with.

The new LP from Big Red Machine does not experience the same fate, with Aaron Dessner/Justin Vernon delivering an album that outshines each of their solo output over the last few years. It marks both of the acclaimed indie artists’ transition into a world that feels markedly more “pop,” integrating massive names like Taylor Swift to elevate the project.

Last but certainly not least is Glow On, the anticipated new album from Baltimore hardcore band Turnstile. Currently in the top 10 at Album of the Year, Glow On is a good example of how more bands should be making melodic hard rock records. Melodic hard rock is one of the most popular genres of all time and so few people make it now! Turnstile once again prove to be a shining example of how exciting rock music can be.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Steve is paying tribute to the life and music of Charlie Watts, the longtime Rolling Stones’ drummer who passed away earlier this week. Meanwhile, Ian is plugging Asbestos Weak Hood, the new album from Ohio emo band Narrow/Arrow.

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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This week’s episode has Steve and Ian discussing a band that wouldn’t have fallen into the show’s purview on their last record. But the new record from San Francisco black metal heavyweights Deafheaven doesn’t sound very much like black metal at all. Instead, Infinite Granite is a genuine departure, a straight-up shoegaze record that starts the band on a completely new path.

Where singer George Clark previously leveled up the intensity with his harsh vocals from previous records, Infinite Granite has him focused on melodic vocals, while the rest of the band is focused on shimmering expansive instrumentals. Plus, it’s all doused in layers of reverb very reminiscent of modern shoegaze bands like DIIV and Nothing.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is is shouting out Portland shoegaze-dream-pop-college-rock hybrid Alien Boy, whose new album Don’t Know What I Am just dropped. Meanwhile, Steve is highlighting Trace Mountains, whose forthcoming album House Of Confusion is due in October.

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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It’s been a big week in the indie rock world, from the return of Big Thief to updated Covid policies across the live music ecosystem. Steve and Ian cover both of these topics in the opening minutes of the latest episode of Indiecast.

The meat of this week’s episode comes in the form of a discussion of new albums from The Killers and Bleachers. The Killers are back with Pressure Machine, the band’s seventh LP that comes almost exactly a year after their last full-length effort, Imploding The Mirage, and finds the band exploring new sonic territory that is markedly more downbeat and introspective. Bleachers, on the other hand, found Jack Antonoff trying to go as Springsteen as possible on his third solo release, Take The Sadness Out Of Saturday Night. How do both of these albums stack up in their respective catalogues?

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging the new LP from emo greats A Great Big Pile Of Leaves, while Steve wants to shout out the forthcoming LP from Baltimore experimental hardcore outfit Turnstile.

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During last week’s episode, Steve and Ian took some time to theorize that Billie Eilish’s new album Happier Than Ever might be heading in the direction of a sophomore slump. However, the latest effort from the young superstar is a good example of an LP featuring a handful of underwhelming singles that misrepresent and otherwise pretty good album. Happier Than Ever seems to share some inspiration DNA with the new Clairo album, in that they are both reactions to fame records, but instead of going abrasive they’ve gone even quieter and more hushed. Overall, the new album from the young superstar feels very much apiece with how people listen to music now, and a thoroughly enjoyable affair.

Next up on the docket is Draw Down The Moon, the latest opus from St. Louis band Foxing. It’s the follow-up to the band’s third studio album Nearer My God — which Ian is quick to name the best album of any genre of the last five years — and goes to places even grander and enveloping. Long story short, it can either take the band to completely new heights in their career… or destroy them entirely. Only time will tell!

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Steve is recommending No Medium, the new album from Rosali that was released a few months ago. Ian has been vibing with Lantlôs, the German “post-black metal” band that dropped their latest effort Wildhund last week.

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