Indiecast

In the second of a special two-part episode, Steven and Ian are wrapping up the show for the year by awarding the highly sought-after Indiecasties to the most surprising, overrated, and genuinely impressive releases of the year from artists like The Killers, Fiona Apple, Phoebe Bridgers, and more.

This week, the duo are ready to bestow some trophies upon the albums that best embodied the aesthetics of 2020, as well as the artists who made the best comeback this year. Also on the slate for this episode are artists who defied the odds set by their back catalogue to surprise critics with the strengths of their most recent release, and the most overhyped albums that actually managed to deserve the praise, among many more.

Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly music recommendations in your inbox and follow the official Topsify playlist.

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

Just like everyone, as the year winds down, Steven and Ian are getting reflective. But rather than just continue breaking down the best of 2020 in a standard list form, they are launching the official Indiecast awards show, The Indiecasties. Across two episodes, the duo will be awarding the highly sought-after Indiecasties to the best, worst, and downright strangest releases of the year.

This week brings the first of two installments of the award show, and Hyden and Cohen are waiting and ready to bestow some trophies. assigning the most “Indiecast-as-a-genre” album or artist of 2020, Hyden’s favorite “Ian Cohen-core” album and Cohen’s favorite “Steven Hyden-core” album, as well as the year’s most annoying album cycle, and most memory-holed album.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Hyden has been enjoying Open Door Policy, the forthcoming new album from The Hold Steady. Cohen has been listening to a lot of Ogbert The Nerd.

Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly music recommendations in your inbox and follow the official Topsify playlist.

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

Approximately 25 years after it started, 2020 is finally coming to an end. As is customary in the music world, before one can look ahead, one must look back. Our latest episode is no exception, with Steven and Ian reflecting on a year of excellent releases in the indie world to choose their ultimate top five. Featuring efforts from The 1975, Bartees Strange, Dogleg, Bob Dylan, and more, Steven and Ian have each respectively crafted their list of 2020’s definitive records. If you're looking for more music that you might have missed this year, check out our full list of the year's best albums here and the indie-specific list here. 

As for new selections in this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian has been spinning 'I Had Everybody Snowed,' the debut solo album from Taking Meds vocalist/guitarist Skylar Sarkis that has been a work in progress for nearly a decade. Steven, on the other hand, has been enjoying '2020,' the aptly titled latest effort from Magik Markers, their first in seven years.

Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly music recommendations in your inbox and stream the official Topsify playlist.

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

Something we can all agree upon is that it’s been far too long since we’ve heard live music in person. In 2020, recordings of live shows feel more relevant than ever, with the roar of a crowd imbuing nostalgia for a simpler time. This is the central focus of our latest episode, which finds Steven and Ian digging in to the swath of live albums that are on the docket for the remainder of the year, including forthcoming releases from The War On Drugs, Arctic Monkeys, and The Postal Service.

2020 has forced artists to get creative in how they connect with fans, and are utilizing live streams and live albums to remind music lovers of why shows are such a vital part of their lives. Sometimes, these live albums offers listeners a glimpse at exciting alternate versions of the songs they know and love, with improvised sections, different arrangements, and elongated instrumental sections. Other times, they just feel like relics of a lost art.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is endorsing 'Summer Sleeping,' the new EP from Indiana quartet Thunder Dreamer. Hyden is advocating for the new Ganser album, 'Just Look At That Sky,' which he believes is being slept on by most.

Check out Steven's ranking of the best live albums of all time here and sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter here.

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

This week, Steven and Ian are once again taking questions from listeners. One listener was interested in exploring the place of CDs in the modern music industry, both in terms of audio quality, as well as the best method of listening. The result is a spirited conversation about how CDs compare in quality to that of streaming and vinyl, and the sense of ownership that comes with holding in your hand a physical manifestation of music. Is there anything quite like gathering a stack of CDs to take on a road trip?

Of course, an episode of Indiecast wouldn’t be complete without a chance for Cohen to sing his praises about emo bands, this week focusing on 'Ground Aswim,' the latest from Sinai Vessel. The record hasn’t been getting much mainstream attention this year, which begs the question of what it really means for an album to be “slept on” in 2020.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is recommending new albums from Soul Glo and Record Setter, while Hyden can’t get enough of the latest from David Nance.

Sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter at uproxx.com/indie

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

With Wilco’s 'Summerteeth' reissue coming later this month to (belatedly) celebrate its twentieth anniversary, Steven and Ian are looking back to 1999. While it might not have necessarily been a more innocent time, it was certainly a simpler time where teen pop and nu-metal ruled the radio waves and alternative rock was starting to become plain old indie rock.

For the new episode of Indiecast, Steven and Ian revisited some of their five favorite albums from the era to determine what still holds up today. While Hyden’s top five albums walks that line between alt-rock and indie rock with albums like 'Summerteeth' and Nine Inch Nails’ 'The Fragile,' Cohen was more focused on the emo rock scene, remembering albums from Jimmy Eat World and American Football.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen the new album from Philadelphia band The Goalie’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick. Hyden, on the other hand, is still looking to the past to sing the praises of Foxygen’s 2013 album 'We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic.'

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

This week's episode kicks off with a reader question asking for Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen's thoughts on the artists of the 2000's and 2010's that were hugely influential to the new crop of indie musicians coming out today. Each "scene" has its own central name, but Cohen is quick to assign roles of leadership to artists like Mac DeMarco, Frankie Cosmos, Alex G, and Title Fight. Hyden is also adds to the list artists like Tame Impala and The War On Drugs, who influenced a whole other sect of emerging indie artists with their psychedelic tendencies.

The meat of the episode is dedicated to diving into new albums from Oneohtrix Point Never and Salem. In the case of 'Magic Oneohtrix Point Never,' Hyden wonders whether this will be the record that breaks Daniel Lopatin into the pop mainstream, with a track featuring none other than The Weeknd. On the other hand, Hyden and Cohen are unsure what to think of 'Fires In Heaven,' the new album from Michigan duo Salem, who The Washington Post called "the stupidest band on Earth" in 2011.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is digging 'No Driver,' the new album from Swedish band I Love Your Lifestyle, while Hyden is tiding himself over until the return of live music with new live albums from The War On Drugs and Arctic Monkeys. 

Sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter here.

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

After quarantine set in, it wasn’t long before Adrianne Lenker got to work on some more music, opting for a solo project since she was unable to see her bandmates. While Big Thief apparently were able to reconvene and record a new album over the summer, Lenker has shared the result of her musical exploration at the beginning of quarantine, two new solo LPs titled 'songs' and 'instrumentals.' In this episode, Steven and Ian dig into the lore surrounding Lenker and her band Big Thief, as well as their prolific and acclaimed output over the last few years. The conversation centers around one central question: is Big Thief really a band or is it just a front for Lenker?

The episode’s second half is focused on Fake It Flowers, the debut album from 20-year-old rocker Beabadoobee. With catchy songs and big choruses, Hyden argues that Beabadoobee’s debut album solidifies her role in the modern indie rock canon as Stone Temple Pilots, where Soccer Mommy is Nirvana and Clairo is Pearl Jam.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen is looking to the ’90s and plugging Ida’s 1996 album 'I Know About You,' while Hyden is digging 'Optimisme,' the new album from Songhoy Blues.

Sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter at uproxx.com/indie

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

Last week, Steven tweeted a call for questions from listeners that would inform the podcast's new episode, the first entry in a new feature on the show. The curious responses to Hyden's call were wide-reaching, ranging from questions the relevance of Foo Fighters in today's musical landscape to the realistic influence of alternative streaming platforms like Bandcamp. 

Most interestingly, however, one listener requested for Hyden and co-host Ian Cohen to reveal their guilty pleasures, or "bands that you're embarrassed you like," while another was wondering about the pandemic's lasting impact on the music industry and whether we will ever see a live show again. These prompts lead to a discussion revolving around the current state of the music industry and what we can expect from the weeks and months to come. Of course, an episode of Indiecast wouldn't be complete without touching upon some of today's biggest indie stars like Phoebe Bridgers and Tame Impala. 

In this week's recommendation corner, Cohen is praising the mid-aughts post punk outfit The Stills and Hyden is praising Brian Eno and 'Cuttin' Grass,' the new album from Sturgill Simpson.

Sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter at https://uproxx.com/indie/

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

Released only a few weeks after Radiohead's 'Kid A,' Linkin Park's debut studio album 'Hybrid Theory' turns 20 this month. It featured four major singles ("One Step Closer", "In the End", "Crawling" and "Papercut") and has sold 27 million albums worldwide since its release, making it the best-selling debut album since Guns N' Roses' 1987 debut 'Appetite for Destruction,' and the single best-selling rock album of the 21st century. 

The record's success marked a transition moment to the mainstream for a type of rock music that was pioneered by bands like Korn and Deftones. With the emergence of nu metal came a through line that Linkin Park was able to capitalize upon, one that continues today with Machine Gun Kelly's new album 'Tickets To My Downfall,' which is currently sitting at Number One on the Billboard 200 chart. In this episode, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen trace the lasting influence of nu metal and big, fun chart-topping rock music. 

Recommendation Corner: Field Medic's 'Floral Prince' and "The Shining But Tropical," a beautiful new single from Wild Pink.

Sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter at uproxx.com/indie

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