Indiecast (UPROXX)

After a week of banter about Phoebe Bridgers smashing her guitar on 'SNL' and the discourse that inevitably surrounds the annual announcement of nominees for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Ian and Steven are spending this week’s episode of Indiecast reflecting on a simpler moment in indie history. The so-called indie R&B scene of the early 2010’s spawned some of the biggest artists of today, including The Weeknd, Frank Ocean, and James Blake.

At the same time, Beyonce and Jay-Z were going to see both Coldplay and Grizzly Bear live, and Kanye was collaborating with Bon Iver. With James Blake’s debut album turning ten and The Weeknd playing the Super Bowl halftime show, now is as fitting a time as ever to reminisce on an era ripe with musical collaboration and exciting releases that remain part of the conversation nearly a decade later.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen has been enjoying For Your Health's debut album 'In Spite Of,' while Hyden can’t get enough of the Ryley Walker and Kikagaku Moyo collabroative album, 'Deep Fried Grandeur.'

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If there is one thing that we love here at Indiecast, it is festival posters with absolutely chaotic energy. So Steven and Ian were psyched this week to see the lineup for Riot Fest in Chicago, which is topped by big-time bands like Foo Fighters, Death Cab For Cutie and Queens Of The Stone Age. But the real action takes place further down the list — where else can you see Ani DiFranco, Mr. Bungle and Insane Clown Posse in the same place? Also, apparently Corey Feldman is also appearing at this festival? Simply incredible. (:27)

From there, Steven asks Ian about the state of music in 2023. Specifically, is this a weak year for consensus album of the year candidates? Caroline Polachek and Boygenius are early contenders, and there are artists on the horizon (PJ Harvey, Rihanna, Jenny Lewis) who might contend. But this year feels like we might be at the end of something. What is it, though? (11:08)

After that, there's a discussion about the legacy of The Cure, who are back on the road this month (24:15). (Steven also wrote about them this week.) Why is this band so central to the history of modern indie and alternative rock? What is their best work, and where should a newbie get started?

In Recommendation Corner (1:00:07), Ian talks up the British post-punk band Mandy, Indiana, while Steven stumps for two other British acts, the soft-rock singer-songwriter Westerman and the art-rock combo Bar Italia.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 139 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian begin today's episode by reflecting on the news that John Darnielle and Lin-Manuel Miranda are apparently friends and consult each other on songwriting. They also tiptoe around their mixed feelings on both artists, while pointing out that they might be more alike than people want to admit. As if this wasn't enough to alienate part of the Indiecast audience, Steven and Ian also did a short Sportscast on the relationship between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce (8:22).

After that, the guys get into a discussion about new albums by two big legacy acts, Wilco and Animal Collective. Their latest records, Cousin (for Wilco) and Isn't It Now? (Animal Collective), are worthy efforts. But is it possible for even great bands to wear out their audiences? How many new albums is "enough"? Steven and Ian get into a deep conversation about legacy bands and how we as listeners respond to them (18:39).

Then they segue into a discussion about two bands who are even older: The Replacements and Talking Heads (33:34). Both bands are having a moment right now due to seminal work from the mid-'80s being re-released, the remixed album Tim and the refurbished concert film Stop Making Sense. Steven wonders: Does Ian like or care about either band? How relevant are they as influences on contemporary music?

In Recommendation Corner (53:28), Ian talks up the Brooklyn emo band Good Looking Friends while Steven recommends the Chicago indie band Slow Pulp and the heartland rock singer-songwriter Jerry David DeCicca.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 157 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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This week’s episode opens with Steve and Ian discussing recent albums from the offspring of famous people. This leads naturally into a conversation of Sling, the new sophomore album from indie pop phenom Clairo. Claire Cotrill’s parents are well-connected in the music industry, which many haters use as a way to discount her success as an artist over the last few years and reiterate the “bootstraps” mentality (that is a driving force of the capitalist mindset, but we digress).

Musically, Sling is a very low-key affair that could be viewed as another “reaction to fame” record that exists as the opposite end of the harshness spectrum from Nirvana’s In Utero. Produce by Jack Antonoff, the LP stems from the pent-up anxiety of Cotrill’s sudden fame after her debut, and the intense touring schedule that followed. It’s not as immediately gripping as Immunity, but seems like a record that could get definitely grow on a listener after it settles in the brain and ages.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, both Steve and Ian are plugging brand new surprise EPs from two of their favorite artists. Steve is urging everyone to check out Total Serene, the latest short-form release from Gang Of Youths, and Ian can’t get enough of the new EP from Yves Tumor.

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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode with a correction about Ian's claim about a "last" Bon Iver concert (0:00), and a conversation about the current state of the Indiecast mailbag. There's also a quick Sportscast on the NBA playoffs, and whether the NBA is the most indie-rock league (7:15). In the Fantasy Album Draft update, we look at recent reviews for Bon Iver and Tunde Adebimpe (14:58) and check out the new single from Lana Del Rey (21:43). Then the guys discuss some of the week's news, including Katy Perry's (unexciting) journey to space (26:37) and the recent sorta scandal about Charli XCX shading Green Day over Coachella headliner status (31:20).

In the mailbag, the guys discuss the influence of video games and School Of Rock programs on indie rock (44:04), and yay or nay The Mars Volta (53:11). Finally, in Recommendation Corner, Ian recommends the latest from Kitchen and Steven stumps for Bill Fox (58:11).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 235 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Because Indiecast is obligated to talk about the biggest indie news of the week — it's right there in the introduction — they were required to open this week's episode with an overview of the Boygenius discourse (:30). Which turned toxic over the weekend for all of the predictable reasons. However, is it possible to think that The Record is neither a masterpiece nor the worst thing ever but simply ... okay?

One album Steve and Ian think is a lot better than okay is Rat Saw God, the latest from North Carolina band Wednesday. Steve and Ian both wrote about this album this week, and both came away impressed by Karly Hartzman's ability to evoke a real sense of place in her lyrics (8:23). Coupled with the band's heavy guitar sound, Wednesday brings to mind one of their biggest influences, Drive-By Truckers. Might the critical acclaim of Rat Saw God bring more people to the DBT fold? (20:22)

Next they turn to the mailbag, and address an interesting listener question: What is the best album of the decade so far? (30:42) Which leads to other interesting questions: How did the pandemic mess with how we perceive early 2020s music? Has the album that will define this decade even been released yet? After that, they proceed to talk about the legacies of two very different acts: The Beastie Boys and Coheed & Cambria.

Finally, in Recommendation Corner (55:13) Ian recommends the reissue of an emo classic by Braid, while Steve stumps for the patio and cookout friendly jams of Sluice.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 133 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Late last year, Steve and Ian created the Indiecasties, a special, highly sought-after distinction honoring the best, worst, and downright strangest releases of the year. This week, they’re bringing back the segment for a mid-year review to award titles like Most Valuable Album Cycle (MVAC), Memory-Holed Album Of The Year So Far, and Most “Festival Band” Festival Band to the best and brightest of the first six months of 2021.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging South Carolina outfit Adjy, whi released The Idyll Opus (I-IV) earlier this week. Steve, on the other hand, is shouting out Summer Of Soul, the new Questlove-directed documentary focused on the Harlem Cultural Festival during the summer of 1969.

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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.

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You've heard of meatless Mondays, but have you ever heard of meatless Fridays? This week, Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are forgoing the meat of the episode in order to focus on the biggest indie news of the week. That's right — it's all banter to celebrate the last double-digit installment before Indiecast hits 100 episodes. That's partly due to Steven and Ian not being able to get their hands on an advance of Beyoncé's new album, but also because there's simply too much indie news to discuss. In this week's episode, Indiecast talks emo week (2:56), Joni Mitchell's first performance in two decades (23:04), 10 years of Frank Ocean's debut Channel Orange (12:32), and more.

In this week's Recommendation Corner (50:38), Ian gives props to Chat Pile, an Oklahoma City band he hopes gains traction this year. Meanwhile, Steven gives a shout out to the Reigning Sound, a band formed in 2001 by Greg Cartwright who made eight great albums before disbanding.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 99 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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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.

ou can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode with a very non-indie rock topic — the story about Bruno Mars owing $50 million to a Las Vegas casino (4:29). They shoehorn a brief Sportscast about the emerging gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani, lamenting the bad side effects of gambling while also hoping to get some gambling sponsorships for the Fantasy Albums Draft. Speaking of which: Ian is killing Steven once again in the Fantasy Albums Draft (10:47), and Steven is thinking about firing his general manager (i.e. himself).

Next the guys review the new album by Waxahatchee, Tigers Blood, which Steven likes more than Ian (16:36). They also talk about two other big singer-songwriter albums out today, Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker and Bite Down by Rosali (33:46). In the mailbag, a listener asks whether Steven's neighbors like his patio music, and then another listener asks about Indiecast's favorite albums to play on airplanes.

In Recommendation Corner (54:32), Ian talks about the new album from Bedbug while Steven recommends the comeback record from Restorations and a new archival concert release from Bruce Springsteen.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 181 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 may have ceaseless banter about The 1975 and band leader Matty Healy's antics — Steven and Ian even dedicated an entire episode to it — but now that the band has released their latest album Being Funny In A Foreign Language, have they finally written a project that lives up to the hype? On this week's episode, Steven and Ian share their thoughts on The 1975's return (33:07) and the new, ultra-vulnerable album ILYSM by Wild Pink (46:22).

If you're an indie fan who happened to be online at all this week, you'll know that the biggest indie news story came from Blink-182 (:24). Original member and alien enthusiast Tom DeLonge announced he's officially rejoining the band and that they're embarking on a massive (and quite expensive) tour. Plus, Steven and Ian discuss why so many bands seem to be canceling their tours lately (11:47).

In this week's Recommendation Corner (57:33), Ian mentions Gris Klein's album Birds In Row, the post-hardcore band's third album in 10 years. Meanwhile, Steven shouts out Brian Eno and Bill Callahan and tells listeners to check out Wisconsin band Disq's new album Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 110 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian recorded this week's episode a day earlier than normal, which means that the guys just missed the big (and bad) news about Pitchfork suffering massive layoffs and being folded into GQ. So they got together later and recorded an emergency 30-minute segment about what this all means for the fragile music media ecosystem and put it before the proper episode.

In the proper episode, they did a quick Sportscast (27:09) about the shocking rise of Steven's Green Bay Packers and the even more shocking fall of Ian's Philadelphia Eagles. They also did an update on the Fantasy Albums draft, with Ian deciding for some reason to let Steven swap in the new Faye Webster album into his lineup. Will Ian regret this decision? We shall see! (34:21)

After that, they take a look at early festival announcements for Coachella and Bonnaroo, which seem ... sort of random? Like, what is going on with these music festivals these days? They make no sense! (39:37) Then they talk about the new Green Day album out today, Saviors, which Steven thinks is very, very ... well, listen to the episode to find out which adjective applies. (57:28)

In Recommendation Corner (1:14:25), Ian talks up the incredible new album from Glass Beach while Steven hypes his recent column ranking every Radiohead album, solo album, and side project.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 172 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This week, Steven and Ian are discussing two of the most exciting indie releases of the week. First up is a passionate discussion of Open Door Policy, the new album from veteran rockers The Hold Steady. Steven appreciates the band’s long-running arc and recent comeback, while Ian has never connected with the Beat-style of what he calls “dude writing.”

Next up on the docket is A Billion Little Lights, the new effort from Wild Pink’s. Led by singer-songwriter John Ross, who moved to Brooklyn after college to be a film composer, Wild Pink’s latest is undeniably cinematic and meditative, a stubbornly un-flashy affair that was originally intended to be a double album about the American West, but was eventually condensed to a lean 10-track affair.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is vibing with New Music And Big Pop, the debut album from Another Michael, while Steven is enjoying Call In The Mess, the forthcoming sophomore album from New York outfit Nervous Dater.

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Some bands make fans wait years between albums, and others have been very consistent with rolling out new releases. Early aughts groups Hot Chip and Silversun Pickups fall into the ladder category, dropping a new album like clockwork every two or three years. On this week's Indiecast episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen share their thoughts on Hot Chip's latest LP Freakout/Release (33:56) and Silversun Pickups' new project Physical Thrills (24:53), two albums which rely heavily on synths.

The biggest indie news of this week came from a band no one has heard much from in over 15 years: McLusky. The Welsh group officially disbanded in 2005, but they just announced they're going on a North American tour this fall (41:45). Indiecast also discusses the 25th anniversary of Oasis' Be Here Now, partially reigniting the Blur vs. Oasis britpop discourse (47:39).

In this week's Recommendation Corner (57:05), Ian tells listeners to check out Spielbergs' new album Vestli. Meanwhile, Steven endorses Cass McCombs' tenth studio album Heartmind.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 102 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode in an unlikely place — a discussion of the 2010 comedy Get Him To The Greek, which in light of the recent (horrifying) Sean Combs' news might be the most canceled film of the 21st century. From there, they quickly pivot to two other films about musicians, the forthcoming Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet and a reported Bruce Springsteen film starring The Bear's Jeremy Allen White. Will these films be any good? Let's hash it out (5:33).

Next comes a conversation that truly no other music critics are having this week: A 20th anniversary remembrance of Aerosmith's Honkin' On Bobo (13:07). Is this really an album of blues covers or is it just a funny album title? How exactly does one honk on bobo? Finally, the guys do the Q2 Fantasy Albums Draft. Will Steven finally get it together and beat Ian for the first time? (22:29).

In Recommendation Corner (51:25), Ian talks up the Brazilian shoegaze act Sonhos Tomos Conta while Steven praises the new EP from Wild Pink.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 182 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This week kicks off with an enlightening discussion of which indie bands should release greatest hits albums. Then, Steven and Ian are diving into one of the biggest releases of 2021 so far: Foo Fighters’ tenth studio album 'Medicine At Midnight.' The album doesn’t really sound like anything the Foos have released to date, continuing down the path that began with 2014’s 'Sonic Highways,' moving away from the thrashing rock that seems to have culminated in 2011’s 'Wasting Light.' 25 years into the band’s career, Hyden and Cohen try to figure out where the experimental 'Medicine At Midnight' stacks up in Foo Fighters’ massive catalogue.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is loving 'Earbudz,' the first charity compilation from artist development company No Earbuds, which is now available for Bandcamp Friday. All proceeds will be donated The Last Prisoner Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cannabis-related criminal justice reform. Steven, on the other hand, can’t get enough of Yasmin Williams’ captivating instrumental guitar album 'Urban Driftwood.'

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Destroyer is a band that has been around for so many years, they seems to exist in their own realm. This week on Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen dig into Destroyer's new album Labyrinthitis (33:23) and wonder if the band is now immune to criticism from music reviewers. Oso Oso, on the other hand, is being picked up by music outlets. It seems as though their surprise-released album Sore Thumb (42:06) is finally putting them on the indie music map.

This week also had some big news in indie music: Will Butler announced he has officially left Arcade Fire (:27). Indiecast talks about Butler's decision and discusses Arcade Fire's new music (3:24). Steven and Ian also walk through Lollapalooza's 2022 lineup (14:22), which was just unveiled this week and includes the apparently controversial headliner Metallica.

In this week's Recommendation Corner (53:36), Ian's highlights several bands including Caracara, Soul Glo, Proper., and Carly Cosgrove. Steven praises music by MJ Lenderman and Wednesday’s recent covers album, Mowing The Leaves Instead Of Piling Em Up.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 82 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com 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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Steven begins today's episode by apologizing to Ian and the Sum 41 fan community for his recent disrespectful comments on the pod -- new information has come to light that made him rethink his snarkiness (0:58). Then there is a short Sportscast about the new NFL season (4:25), and more despair from Steven about the state of his fantasy albums draft team (12:08).

The guys then pivot to the new MJ Lenderman album out today, Manning Fireworks. It's Steven's favorite record of the year, and Ian likes it, too, though not as much (15:06). Steven also recounts seeing King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard live for the first time this week, which made clear just how huge that band is (28:02).

In the mailbag, they address emails about the worst contracts in music history (38:29) and whether they "yay or nay" the band Girls (47:42).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the emo band Floral Tattoo while Steven stumps for a new book by The Hold Steady's Franz Nicolay (56:23).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 205 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Before Steven and Ian get into this week's episode, they had to hash out a longer-than-usual Sportscast about their respective football teams (the Packers and the Eagles) making the playoffs and the absolutely insane and hateful video Stephen A. Smith dropped about Jason Whitlock this week. Sports media in general is melting down this year, and the guys can't get enough. After that, they revisit their predictions made at the beginning of last year about 2023, and check to see how right (or wrong) they were (11:05).

Then it's on to a new fantasy albums draft for the first quarter of 2024. Who landed the just announced Waxahatchee record, sure to be one of the year's most acclaimed? Who pulled the jazz record with mainstream appeal that critics are guaranteed to love? Did anyone dare draft the new Scott Stapp record ironically? Let's find out. (19:32)

Finally, the guys follow up on Steven's column this week taking an early look at the contenders for album of the decade from the first 40 percent of the 2020s. This is not a conversation about personal favorites — it's wild speculation on critical consensus based on what music writers have embraced so far. (44:59)

In Recommendation Corner (58:30), Ian goes for the hardcore band Infant Island while Steven plugs the forthcoming album (due in March) from Rosali.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 171 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 Ian hit up the Pitchfork Music Festival last weekend, Steven hits him up for a post-mortem in today's episode (6:31). Turns out Ian skipped out on Saturday — a day marred by weather delays — in order to eat custard in Wisconsin. Which means he missed out on the headline set by Big Thief, the weekend's most polarizing performance. Steven and Ian also talked about the band's recent single, "Vampire Empire," and whether it qualifies as a disappointment.

Another huge indie star who put out new music this week is Mitski (22:51). Ahead of her forthcoming album The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, due out in September, she released a quality single, "Bug Like An Angel." After discussing the song, the guys try to place Mitski in the galaxy of reigning indie stars. From there, they pivot in a non-indie direction to Post Malone, whose new album Austin is out today. Does he deserve a yay or nay? They report, you decide (32:41).

In the mailbag, a listener asks Steven and Ian to stop making fun of Sublime (43:44). This, predictably, only prompts more Sublime jokes. Ian also pulls out his San Diego card to justify the mockery.

In Recommendation Corner (52:13), Ian talks about the latest effort from the long-running British band The Clientele, while Steven endorses a recent live album from Father John Misty.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 148 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This is an indie rock podcast, which needs to be reiterated because of episodes like this one. In this episode, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen discuss some very un-indie rock topics.

For instance, they go deep on Rolling Stone's recent article about the current state of Live, the '90s grunge band famous for songs like "Lightning Crashes" and "I Alone." Why are they talking about Live in 2023? Because things are bananas in Live-world at the moment! You have con men, QAnon conspiracy theorists, the AVN Awards, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Then they talked about Skrillex, who is back with two new albums, and the rise of early 2010s nostalgia (15:20). Oh, and they also answered a listener question about Incubus (24:07). Again, this is an indie rock podcast!

In the "meat" of the episode, they inducted four new albums into the Indiecast Hall Of Fame (32:21) — in this round, they honor LPs released by Sunset Rubdown, The Elected, The Good Life, and The Fresh & Onlys. Finally, in their Recommendation Corner (53:02) segment, they shouted out new records by Philip Selway and Model/Actriz.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 127 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 talks about the biggest music news of the week, and this week the biggest music news involved Frank Ocean's disastrous appearance at Coachella, and the subsequent cancelation of his performance this weekend. Steven and Ian try to comprehend the original concept for the performance — apparently it involved an ice rink and an army of skaters? — and why Frank Ocean is the sort of artist that people love precisely because he's likely to bail on a Coachella headliner performance. (7:02)

They also talked about the current status of AI music, which this week included a fake near-hit by Drake and The Weeknd and a faux-Oasis record that kinda replicated their mid-'90s prime. Ian tried to talk Steve out of having a nervous breakdown over the destructive potential of artificial intelligence replacing the human race. Was he successful? Find out! (23:17)

After a brief conversation over whether 72 Seasons is an AI Metallica record — it kind of sounds like it! — the guys dove into the mailbag (32:55). A listener from Australia asked for a "yay or nay" verdict on the iconic punk band Against Me!, while an audience member from Quebec inquired about their favorite backyard barbecue music (43:10). Is it a surprise that Steven and Ian both had My Morning Jacket on their lists?

In Recommendation Corner (55:45), Ian talked up Superviolet, a solo project by an ex-member of the Ohio emo band The Sidekicks, while Steven stumped for singer-songwriter Kara Jackson, whose recent LP Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? is a singular jazzy folk gem.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 135 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian kill some time at the start chatting about the return of Tobias Jesso Jr. (0:00) and Steven's recent list of the best 21st century indie-rock albums, which generated some buzz online (6:23). But they devote most of the episode discussing a full slate of new releases this week. First up is Lucy Dacus, who is back with a big new release on a major label. But is the album a major achievement (21:45)? After that, they do quick hits on new albums from Destroyer (38:23), Deafheaven (38:23), and Perfume Genius (48:21). Have any of these veteran acts put out new work that matches their best? They report, you decide!

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the new release from indie-emo band Palmyra and Steven stumps for country singer Charley Crockett (55:15).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 232 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Steven and Ian open with a quick recap of the Grammys, including takes on Cowboy Carter winning Album Of The Year, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles still getting awarded trophies in 2025 [3:14], and the potential star power and cringe factor of Doechii [7:34]. Then they look back at the history of Super Bowl halftime shows ahead of the big game this week [15:28]. They also look at two albums in the fantasy draft that are out this week [24:35], by the British post-punk band Squid and the veteran singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten [32:47].

In the mailbag, they answer listening questions about the recent documentary directed by Questlove about musical guests on SNL [35:02]and the ethics of "name your price" shopping on Bandcamp [45:25].

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the emo band Head North and Steven shouts out the Chicago post-punk outfit FACS [50:46].

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 225 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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It started out as a joke: Wouldn't it be funny if Indiecast did an entire episode of just "yay or nay?" responses to various stimuli? But then, listeners deluged Steven and Ian with "yay or nay?" emails about seemingly every band known to mankind. Clearly, they had no choice but to go full-on "yay or nay."

They tackled quite the range of topics this week. Listeners wanted to hear their takes on the British dream pop band The Clientele (4:07) and the short-lived Canadian psych-rock outfit The Unicorns (13:30). Listeners were also curious about Indiecast's takes on indie bands who use backing tracks in their live shows and, most intriguingly, their views on the surprisingly convoluted world of Mortal Kombat soundtracks from the '90s.

Steven and Ian also posited "yay or nay?" scenarios to each other. Ian wanted to know Steve's feelings about Pulp (41:30), and Steven presented an elaborate theory on why it feels weird to eat food at concerts (48:10).

Is this the greatest episode of Indiecast ever? Quite possibly.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 141and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian have not recorded an episode in three weeks. Can you believe it? So there was a lot to talk about in the latest installment of Indiecast, starting with what the guys did over the holiday break. Ian won a ton of money playing fantasy football and Steven watched Paul Giamatti go full-Giamatti in The Holdovers (5:13). Once they were caught up with holiday talk, the guys paid tribute to Best Buy no longer selling CDs, finally, starting this year. They also did a "Bad Discourse Lightning Round" for all the bad discourse they missed online during the break. Topics include shoegaze music, The Smiths, and the possible wokeness of Green Day. Trust us — the discourse is very, very bad! (13:03)

After that, they get into the business of soothsaying as they lay out their predictions for 2024 (34:08). While the guys kept their prognostications secret from each other, there ended up being some crossover as they talked about potential new albums from Haim and Vampire Weekend dominating the year, the possibility that [CANCELED BAND X] might make a comeback, and whether that long-delayed Sky Ferreira record will finally see the light of day this year. (Spoiler alert: Don't get your hopes up.)

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 170 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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The holidays are officially in the rearview mirror and 2023 is in full swing, which means it's time for a new year of fresh music. It's rare for musicians to drop projects so early in January, but Indiecast is looking forward to the year ahead with hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen naming their most anticipated indie albums of 2023 (33:05).

To kick off this week's episode, Indiecast discusses the biggest music news of the week. The Coachella lineup dropped (7:15) and M83 gave us some major 2010's nostalgia by announcing their return (18:24). Plus, Big Thief revealed they're inviting teachers and students to attend sound checks on their upcoming tour, which is both earnest and probably pretty boring for middle schoolers (12:53).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 121 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian open this week's episode with some Halloween discourse, which unexpectedly dips into some Kindergarten Cop discourse (1:43). Then they turn to the Fantasy Albums Draft (11:23), which includes two new releases on Steven's team, Soccer Mommy's Evergreen (15:45) and Laura Marling's Patterns In Repeat. They also talk about the careers of both artists, and the state of 2010s era singer-songwriters in the mid-2020s. They also discuss the upcoming Tyler The Creator record, which drops on Monday, and the benefits of putting out music during the week rather than right before the weekend (24:01). From there, they talk about the recent Bon Iver EP Sable, which is the most straightforward music he's ever made, and his influence on contemporary artists (32:58).

In the mailbag, they address a listener question about cover songs. How many is too many? Does Vampire Weekend tip into "too many territory" on their current tour (42:22)?

In Recommendation Corner, Ian stumps for electronic artist Kelly Lee Owens and Steven talks up the Nashville trio Styrofoam Winos (48:52).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 212 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Steven and Ian open this week's episode with a question: Was the first quarter of 2025 a little disappointing, in terms of album releases? Seems like it was (1:51). So why not look ahead to the second quarter? The guys go over new-release teases for music this week from a bevy of stars, including Wet Leg, Turnstile, and WU LYF (3:24). Then they do the Fantasy Albums Draft for the second quarter, discussing upcoming records from Lana Del Rey, Bon Iver, Billy Woods, Tunde Adebimpe, and more (26:01).

In the mailbag, they discuss the newly announced arena tour for Brand New, and whether the emo band has faced appropriate consequences for allegations against singer-songwriter Jesse Lacey (49:42).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up "Altered Zones"-core act OHYUNG while Steven stumps for the dreamy neo-grunge band Momma (with extra shouts to Craig Finn and The Waterboys) (1:04:30).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 233 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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This week's Indiecast marks a special milestone: the 100th episode! Indiecast officially launched in August of 2020, and even though the show started in the middle of a lockdown with literally nothing to talk about, they made it to 100 Indiecast episodes nonetheless. To celebrate, Steven and Ian are ranking their favorite Indiecast moments from the past two years (20:49).

In terms of banter this week, there were a few music stories that Indiecast would be remiss not to mention. The first is about Taylor Swift and her carbon footprint. Apparently, Swift's private jet has had crazy high C02 emissions this year (3:57). Her team has responded to the claims, but that hasn't stopped the internet from running wild with memes. In other news, Beyonce's latest album Renaissance has racked up some controversy, including an offensive lyric which has since been removed (8:15).

Of course, even the 100th episode had to have a Recommendation Corner (59:24). This week, Ian has a list of recommendations which include new music from Peel Dream Magazine, Spielbergs, and Young Jesus, as well as chaotic moments from Sound And Fury Festival which can be found on YouTube. Meanwhile, Steven gives Philly band 2nd Grade their flowers on the heels of their new single "Strung Out On You."

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 100 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian begin today's episode by reflecting on the short-lived beef between Dave Grohl and Taylor Swift, which was initiated by a dad joke told on stage by the former about the latter (0:26). The guys also discuss the new album announcement from MJ Lenderman, and Steven tries not to be too annoying about what will likely be one of his favorite albums of the year (7:47). Then they take a hard pivot to talking about the life and passing of Crazy Town singer Shifty Shellshock (16:00) before revisiting (and resolving) last week's Donutgate in the mailbag (21:12).

Finally, they get down to naming their favorite albums of 2024 so far (24:22). Each guy picked five albums, and there were no repeats. Will one of your faves be among the ten selected? Will you disagree vehemently with the choices? There's only one way to find out!

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 195 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Last week, Steven and Ian kicked off part one of their most sacred annual tradition, the Indiecasties. This week, they bring home part two. (This is a banked episode so if any major indie-rock news occurred this week, the guys won't be talking about it.)

Part one had many incredible categories. But Steven and Ian saved the really good stuff for this week. Categories include Biggest Disappointment (3:12), The Album We're Most Surprised We Liked (11:05), The Most Egregiously Overrated Album On Year-End Lists (18:20), The Comeback Of The Year (25:17), The Year's Most Enjoyable Trend To Hash Out (30:51), and (Steven's personal favorite) The Most Memory-Holed Album Of 2023 (40:38). Who won? We can't wait to share the news!

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 169 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Did the idea of a "song of the summer" come about organically, or is it just some concept artificially invented by content-starved media companies? Either way, this week's Indiecast episode has hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen debating which artist between Harry Styles, Kate Bush, and Seals & Crofts (really!) can claim the title (9:39).

Since this week's episode is another No Meat Friday edition, Steven and Ian share a number of noteworthy indie music stories from this week. They walk through revelations from a new interview with The 1975's Matty Healy, including his thoughts on cancel culture and how all his friends are comics (18:19). Plus, they share their thoughts about Rage Against The Machine amid their current tour (31:30) and how Weezer's Broadway musical was just canceled due to low ticket sales (41:44).

The Recommendation Corner (56:26) this week has Ian sharing music from Jouska while Steven gives a shout out to Canadian indie rock band Kiwi Jr.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 101 below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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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.

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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode by discussing Ian's upcoming trip to London, which is quickly interrupted by a quick rant by Steven about the (improving!) state of tour T-shirts (4:06). Then the guys commence a conversation about Pitchfork's recent list of the best albums of the 2020s, and what some notable exclusions and slights say about the changing critical narrative for the decade (12:23). After that, they take stock of a big release day for albums and review the latest from Wild Pink (30:59), former Black Midi frontman Geordie Greep (37:12), and the new supergroup The Hard Quartet fronted by Stephen Malkmus (45:41).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the emo band Ceres and Steven reps for the fine indie-heartland rock group Trace Mountains (51:04).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 209 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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's episode begins with Steven confronting Ian over a difficult subject: The big plate of donuts that Ian stole from Steven at his book event in Los Angeles last week (0:25). Will the guys be able to get past this? Yes, they will. But not before some serious donut shaming! After resolving the donut issue, they briefly discuss Steven's plans to see the Pixies, Modest Mouse, and Cat Power on the same bill, and the Pixies' weird status post-reunion in the 21st century (8:59).

After that, they finally get down to the task of handing out their mid-year Indiecasties (16:41). Categories include: Most Valuable Album Cycle (18:13), Most Memory-Holed Album (25:19), Most Annoying Music Writer Story (32:53), Most Fun Music Writer Story (39:58), and Most Overrated Album (47:02). Remember: Everybody is a winner at the Indiecasties. It's an honor just to be nominated!

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the new album from Annabel while Steven raves about the latest from This Is Lorelei (53:29).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 194 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Bright Eyes and The Killers are both back with new albums. For Bright Eyes, 'Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was' is their first album in nearly a decade; for The Killers, 'Imploding The Mirage' is their first since the underwhelming 'Wonderful Wonderful' in 2017. On this week's episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen sink their teeth into the new albums from these legacy indie acts, while recalling their respective careers and seeing where the new work fits into their catalogues.

This week's recommendations: Now It's Overheard, The Good Life, and two new singles from Father John Misty.

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It won’t be long now before the year-end lists start rolling out, which means it’s time to look ahead to what we can expect in 2022. This week, Steve and Ian give their takes and predictions for albums coming out next year, including Mitski, Beach House, Big Thief, and many more. They each give their confidence ratings between 1 and 10, and discuss the indie rock landscape that these albums will be released upon. Some of their opinions are informed by early listens of the records, while others are pure theorizing.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is spreading the good word about Buds, the hotly anticipated new record from Connecticut outfit Ovlov. Meanwhile, Steve is enjoying the debut album from Irish quartet Pillow Queens, which actually came out last year and sounds like The Cranberries with a slightly punkier vibe.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Arcade Fire stunned the world when they took home the Album Of The Year award at the 2011 Grammys for their sprawling third album 'The Suburbs.' It was the first time the band took home an award at the ceremony, and left many people wondering, "who is Arcade Fire?" On the first episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen dive in to the Canadian outfit's discography, zeroing in on 'The Suburbs,' a decade after its release.⁣

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Steven and Ian begin today's episode with a review of Phoenix's performance at the Olympics last weekend, and the maddening idea that every band from the aughts is now being lumped into the made-up phenomenon known as "indie sleaze" (1:09). From there, they move on to the news that the proggy British post-punk band Black Midi has apparently broken up. The guys discuss their brief career and the surprisingly wide influence they have had on other acts (13:38).

Then they talk about Wishy, the Indiana-based shoegaze outfit that has emerged as one of 2024's most hyped young bands. Their debut full-length, Triple Seven, is out today, and Steven loves it while Ian is more reserved in his judgement (24:49). After that, they move on to discussion about Ween, who Steven wrote about this week. He wonders whether Ian has a "yay or nay" assessment of the cult duo (39:15). In the mailbag, a listener asks about the strangest place the guys have either seen a show, and Steven talks about seeing the '90s rap group Onyx and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham at two different high schools (47:01).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the playful pop of Porter Robinson while Steven stumps for the Georgia rock band Futurebirds (53:26).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 202 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Lucy Dacus! Modest Mouse! Pom Pom Squad! Tyler, The Creator! Lightning Bug! Free Throw! Faye Webster! All of these albums drop today, and that’s just the beginning of the list. Steve and Ian got in front of this week’s onslaught of releases by discussing the new Modest Mouse LP in last week’s episode. Even with advance preparation, it was difficult to choose just two albums to dig into this week, so they decided to tack on a third. The latest efforts from Lucy Dacus, Lightning Bug, and Faye Webster stand above the rest of the laundry list of releases this week, marking creative high points for all three artists.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is digging Butterfly 3000, the latest in a string of 2021 releases from prolific Australian outfit King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Steve wants to spread the good word about The Veiled Sea, the new effort from indie jam band Six Organs Of Admittance.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. 

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This week, Steven and Ian are once again taking questions from listeners. The episode kicks off with a discussion ska, the oft-maligned sect of punk that people tend to joke about, but also have an encyclopedic understanding of its intricacies. After the recent critical reevaluation of nu metal, is ska next in line for a reinvention? Jeff Rosenstock has been proudly waving the flag of ska for years, and the world is finally starting to come around.

There were many thoughtful questions from listeners, guiding Hyden and Cohen’s conversation on the episode and finding the duo discussing their methods for digging into the discography of a newly-discovered artist, the big budget albums they'd like to hear, and the role of Manchester Orchestra in modern indie.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Cohen has been enjoying Downtiming, the debut EP from Camp Trash. Instead of new music, Hyden is taking the opportunity to plug his recent interview with The Wrens’ Charles Bissel, who revealed that the band’s long awaited follow up to 2003’s The Meadowlands might finally be released later this year!

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It's hard to decide which indie album released in 1997 was the best since there are so many great ones to choose from. There's Elliot Smith's Either/Or, Yo La Tengo’s I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One, and Built To Spill’s Perfect From Now On. But this week on Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are looking back on 25 years of an album that meant a lot to both of them at the time: Modest Mouse's The Lonesome Crowded West (41:28). They reflect on that era of indie music and decide if Modest Mouse is underrated, overrated, or properly rated at this point.

In terms of indie news this week, Indiecast would be remiss if they didn't discuss the Grammy nominations this week (2:51). Plus, Steven and Ian talk about the Taylor Swift/Tickemaster bungle (12:08) and give a thoughtful tribute to Low's Mimi Parker (26:43), who sadly passed away earlier this month.

In this week's Recommendation Corner (52:47), Ian gives a shout out to Japanese emo band Injury Tape, whose debut album came out earlier this year. Meanwhile, Steven suggests listeners should check out Guma, whose album A List Of Sightings dropped in February and has been compared to Steely Dan and '70s soft rock.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 115 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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It seems a lot of early '00s bands have been rolling out music lately. Recently, we've gotten new material by The Mars Volta, Wilco, and Arcade Fire, but the list truly goes on. Now, Interpol is the latest early aughts icon to release a new project with their seventh studio album The Other Side of Make-Believe. On this week's Indiecast episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen discuss the band's legacy and how their new music compares to their early catalog (33:13).

This week also had a few headline-worthy indie news stories. Lana Del Rey went public with her new boyfriend Jack Donoghue, who happens to be in the witch house band SALEM (1:38), prompting the question: "How the hell did those two meet?" Perhaps the most baffling news this week came from the January 6th hearings, where an ex-member of far-right group The Oathkeepers wore a Descendents t-shirt while testifying. Of course, Descendents were quick to distance themselves from the organization (6:57).

The Recommendation Corner (50:26) this week has Ian revisiting The Blood Brothers discography while Steven shouts out the new album by Nightlands, the instrumental side project of The War On Drugs' Dave Hartley.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 97 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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It's the calm before the storm on the show this week — Steven and Ian are working on their year-end albums lists ahead of the big reveal in early December (1:57), so in the meantime they decided to answer to some listener questions. But before that, Ian shared the shocking news that he watched The Last Waltz for the first time over the Thanksgiving break. What did Ian think of this foundational film in Steven's life? Naturally, he gravitated to Van Morrison's purple suit. The guys also commenced a brief Bookcast segment to talk about the hellacious new book about southern fraternities (and how they coincide with southern rap), Among The Bros by Max Marshall.

In the mailbag (29:38), Steven and Ian address topics as diverse as Gen Z's obsession with personal listening statistics (30:20), whether an artist sounding a lot like another artist is a distraction (36:50), and the value (or not) of demos being added to reissues and box sets. (44:57)

In Recommendation Corner (51:07), Ian talks up the latest from Quannic and Steven recommends the extremely long in the works new album by Peter Gabriel.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 166 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode with an impromptu Moviecast about the news that Sam Mendes is directing four separate biopics about each member of The Beatles. Steven has often said that he can't ever have too much Beatles content, but this might finally test that theory. The guys also try to think about music biopics that are actually good, and come up with 24 Hour Party People, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story and the immortal made-for-VH1 classic about Def Leppard (7:00).

From there, they talk about the latest album from MGMT, Loss Of Life, as well as the band's career (15:30). Shockingly, Ian has never heard Oracular Spectacular in its entirety! They also discuss the buzziest band of early 2024, the British export The Last Dinner Party, and the lineage of heavily hyped English rock bands (29:30).

In the mailbag, they are asked to give a yay-or-nay verdict on the Lemonheads (39:30) and whether band lineup changes have ever helped bands in the long run (46:00).

In Recommendation Corner (52:00), Ian pays tribute to Complex.com and a reissue of a lost classic by Curling while Steven recommends the latest from the jammy folk-rock outfit Itasca.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 177 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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For weeks, we’ve been quietly hoping that Steve and Ian would dedicate an episode of Indiecast to the evolution and purported impending comeback of ska. Well, that day has finally arrived, as this week’s episode is all about talkin’ ska. For the uninitiated, ska is a genre of music that originally started in Jamaica in the 1960’s but soon moved over to the UK with the 2 Tone revival in the late 70’s, then re-emerged prominently in the 80’s and 90’s with bands like Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, The Aquabats, and more.

With Jeff Rosenstock reimagining his entire 2020 opus No Dream as a ska album and the prevalence of Ska Tune Network on YouTube, could ska be making another comeback in the 2020’s? Perhaps, but the deciding factor will come when a new ska band starts to get critical and commercial attention.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian has been digging Internet Breath, the new album from Montana band Hey, ILY. Hyden is looking ahead a bit to the forthcoming album from Brooklyn-based quintet Lightning Bug, which is due June 25.

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This week’s episode of Indiecast kicks off with Steve and Ian recounting their worst and toughest interview experiences with artists. There’s a difference between a good bad interview, like a conversation with Liam Gallagher, and a plain bad interview, like an inaudible conference call with Migos. The main topic of this week’s episode is a conversation about new albums from Manchester Orchestra and the revival of the long-dormant collaborative project of Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney.

Manchester Orchestra has been one of the staples of the emo universe for the better part of the last two decades and their latest effort, The Million Masks Of God, is their grandest work to date. Meanwhile, the last time Bonnie “Prince” Billy and Matt Sweeney worked together was before Manchester Orchestra even released their debut album, with 2005’s Superwolf. Now, 16 years after their last collaboration, the duo is back for an album fittingly entitled Superwolves. After two decades apart, how does the collaborative spirit between the two artists hold up?

In this week's Recommendation Corner, Steve can't with for the forthcoming EP from Mannequin Pussy, while Ian is enjoying the latest from Porter Robinson.

Disclaimer: Technical difficulties resulted in Ian having to record this episode through his computer, which could result in slightly lower quality audio than usual. This should be rectified for next week's episode.

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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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Gang Of Youths was recently named one of the most Indiecast bands, but what other musicians fit nicely in with the Indiecast brand? Since the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame was in the news this week thanks to Dolly Parton (2:43), Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen decide to induct four albums into the Indiecast Hall Of Fame (29:04).

Steven and Ian also discuss some of the biggest news in indie music this week, which this time had to do with a somewhat imaginary feud between Japanese Breakfast and Machine Gun Kelly (11:08). After MGK shared his upcoming album cover, many Japanese Breakfast fans pointed out its similarities to Jubilee's artwork. But that begs the questions: Does MGK even know what a persimmon is? And, more importantly, has he ever heard a Japanese Breakfast song?

In this week's Recommendation Corner (51:09), Ian talks Oso Oso surprise-releasing their fourth studio album. Steven discusses his recent Uproxx interview with Destroyer's Dan Bejar ahead of next week's new album.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 81 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This summer's Indiecast episodes have leaned banter heavy thanks to a slow trickle of review-worthy indie albums. But this week, it seems like every indie band got together to give the people want they want: an all-meat Indiecast episode. On this week's episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen review four albums: The Mars Volta's self-titled LP (17:43), Death Cab For Cutie's Asphalt Meadows (28:42), Whitney's Spark (40:41), and Young Jesus' Shepherd Head (51:44).

In the Recommendation Corner (1:00:15) this week, Ian gave a shout out to Top Shelf Records. The indie record company announced this week they were royally screwed over by their main distribution company abruptly shutting down, and founder Kevin Duquette said all their inventory is being held in limbo. Ian also urges listeners to check out a new joint project by Philly bands They Are Gutting A Body Of Water and A Country Western. Meanwhile, Steven recommends Daniel Romano, a very prolific Canadian musician who put out eight albums in 2020 alone ranging from folk to punk rock.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 106 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 a short Sportscast segment in which Steven and Ian mourn the sorry states of their respective teams at the moment (Packers and Phillies), they get down to some inside-baseball chat about reckonings at major music publications. Rolling Stone published several articles this week that addressed Jann Wenner's recent comments about female and POC musicians, and Bandcamp was reeling after Instagram posts by the site's editorial director slamming the platform's union surfaced (6:57).

After that, they delve into the latest album by The Gaslight Anthem, History Books, the band's first in nine years. Even with the long break, GLA pretty much picks up where they left off (30:31). Then Steven and Ian talk about the 20th anniversary of Chutes Too Narrow, the 2003 Shins album that Ian recently wrote about for Stereogum (37:03). In the mailbag, a listener asks about the numerous cameos by singer-songwriters in Killers Of The Flower Moon — including Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Jack White, and Pete Yorn (47:14) — while another listener talks about the surprisingly thriving Tumblr scene in the 2010s for bands like Beirut and The Decemberists (53:32).

In Recommendation Corner (58:17), Ian talks up the new album by emo band awakebutstillinbed while Steven recommends a reissue from the iconic Pacific Northwest band Lync and a new EP by the jangle-pop group Lightheaded.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 161 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian open this week's episode with a quick (actually kind of long!) "yay or nay" segment on Thanksgiving food. Does anyone actually like turkey? Let's find out (3:30)! After a quick Plug-cast on the yacht rock doc that Steven worked on (14:32), the guys confirm that Steven finally won an Fantasy Albums Draft thanks to the latest Father John Misty record (16:30).

From there, they talk about the "surprise" Kendrick Lamar album that dropped last week, GNX, and what it means for the man's overall legacy (20:50). They also discuss the latest Coachella lineup and whether the festival is finally cooked (35:53). In the mailbag, they do an update on the "Dudes Rock!" QB conversation (48:51).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the new Tegan And Sara documentary and Steven recommends the latest record from Office Culture (53:57).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 217 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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.

Submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Steven and Ian open by talking about J. Cole’s botched diss track targeted at Kendrick Lamar (0:26). Is it lame to record a diss track and immediately apologize? Or is this actually a sign of personal growth? From there, the guys talk about the slumping ticket sales for Coachella (12:43). Is this a temporary bump or is the festival headed for a permanent downturn?

The guys also check in with the Fantasy Album Draft, with the release of new records by Maggie Rogers, Shabaka Hutchings, and Nia Archives (24:01). They also talk about early contenders for Album Of The Year from Q1-ish of 2024, including Waxahatchee, Vampire Weekend, and Mannequin Pussy (30:21). In the mailbag, there are two yay-or-nay questions on two very different bands: Khruangbin and Our Lady Peace (48:17).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the screamo band Heavenly Blue and Steven recommends the new documentary Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill (56:28).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 184 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen oftentimes reflect on formative albums from their younger days, but what year definitively had the best music? In this week's episode, Steven and Ian answer listener questions about the greatest year for music (spoiler alert: it's not 2022) (33:24), which albums have impeccable tracklists (Radiohead, we're looking at you) (26:22), and their picks for the dream festival lineup (several pre-2000s artists make the cut) (41:31).

Along with answering fan emails, Steven and Ian talked about some of the more ludicrous indie news from this week. Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo officially came out as a furry in a recent interview, a fact that has been fairly out in the open for some time now. Ariel Pink had one of his first big interviews after being canceled for attending the January 6th D.C. riots, and it was in the Jewish magazine Tablet (8:02). They also shout-out Ian's recent interview with Bartees Strange, whose new album Farm To Table dropped today (19:05).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 93 below, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Coachella is upon us, so Steve and Ian felt it was appropriate to talk about the music festival. But do you really need to talk about Coachella on an indie music podcast these days? This year's lineup might be the least indie-oriented in history, continuing a long-running trend favoring pop and electronic music. To illustrate this point, they revisited the 2013 lineup, a year when The Stone Roses, Blur, Phoenix and lots of other bands who might not even be booked at the festival in 2023 were the heavy hitters (3:13).

Then they turned to Running With Our Eyes Closed, the recent HBO documentary about Jason Isbell and the making of his 2020 album, Reunions (15:14). Unlike most recent music docs, this film does not feel like a commercial for the subject. It is, instead, a very candid look at a marriage going through a rough patch. In fact, the film might be almost too honest in places; this is the rare music doc that doesn't flatter its subjects. Directed by Sam Jones, who also made 2002's similarly frank Wilco doc I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Running With Our Eyes Closed ranks with the best rock films to come out in recent years.

In the mailbag section, they addressed questions about The Walkmen — who recently reunited for a tour — and their overall legacy, as well as the career of Songs: Ohia singer-songwriter Jason Molina, who has emerged as an important influence on contemporary Americana and post-hardcore acts (33:11).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 134 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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As we near the end of 2023, the time has come for Steven and Ian to revive their most sacred annual tradition: The Indiecasties! Like the Oscars, the Indiecasties goes long every year, so we actually are splitting it up into two episodes. (Part two drops next week.) Before that, however, the guys do a quick Sportscast about a wild week in Wisconsin-based athletics, including a Packers loss to Tommy DeVito and Giannis losing his cool against the Indiana Pacers over a lost game ball. Steven and Ian also address the viral TikTok video by Bethany Cosentino about her disappointment over the reception to her 2023 solo debut album, Natural Disaster, and the long tail of Peak Indie disappointment (6:10).

Then it's on to the Indiecasties (19:00)! There are five categories in this episode: Most Valuable Annoying Music Story (21:45), The Album Cycle Of The Year (28:33), The Feel-Good Story Of The Year (35:15), The Most 2023 Album Of 2023 (40:47), and the Most Hyped Album That Turned Out To Be Actually Good (47:48). Who won? And who "won" (since winning some of these categories doesn't feel like a victory)? Listen and find out!

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 168 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode by discussing the recent story about Talking Heads being offered $80 million to reunite for some festival gigs... and turning it down. Do they really hate each other that much? Or do they accept that you can't perform Stop Making Sense-style magic in your 70s? (2:34) The guys also apologize to the city of San Francisco for some recent sports-related slander and check in on Ian's Fantasy Album team. (9:43)

After that, they look ahead to the Grammys this weekend and make some predictions (21:48). Does Boygenius have a shot as a dark-horse pick? Which fanbase will be the angriest the following morning? Does any of this matter? They also talk about The Greatest Night In Pop, the very entertaining new documentary about the 1985 all-star single "We Are The World" that premiered on Netflix this week. Could such a song ever happen in 2024? (34:38)

In Recommendation Corner (50:53), Ian goes to bat for the Norwegian emo band Flight Mode while Steven talks about the Philly "patio rock" band Memorytown.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 174 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Time flies when you’re having fun: this week marks the one-year anniversary of Indiecast! Steve and Ian kick off the new episode with reflections of their highs and lows from a year of doing the show, and take a moment to thank all of the listeners who have engaged with the show and submitted questions.

The meat of this episode has Steve and Ian revisiting the Indiecast Hall Of Fame, which is dedicated to honoring albums that are under-appreciated in the modern lexicon of indie rock. The new albums receiving honors include The Soundtrack Of Our Lives’ 2002 effort Behind The Music, Screaming Trees’ Dust, and more.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is paying tribute to Joey Jordison, the late Slipknot drummer who passed away earlier this week, and reminding fans to revisit the first Slipknot album. Steve, on the other hand, is prepared to start revving the engine of the hype train around Let Me Do One More, the new album from Illuminati Hotties that isn’t due until October.

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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.

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Twenty years helps to put a lot of things in perspective in life, especially music. This week on Indiecast, Steve and Ian are reflecting on the musical landscape of 2001 and how it has evolved in the two decades since. The discussion revolves around four specific categories: albums they loved in 2001 that they longer care about, albums they didn’t care about in 2001 that are now important to them, the overall most important albums of 2001, and their personal favorite albums of 2001. From Daft Punk’s Discovery and Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory to Jimmy Eat World’s Bleed American and Guided By Voices’ Isolation Drills, this episode is an exercise in nostalgia and reevaluation for the music that helped to shape the 2000’s.

In lieu of this week's Recommendation Corner, we're taking a moment to congratulate Ian on his wedding and wish him a wonderful honeymoon! We'll be back with more recommendations next week.

You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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It's early February, which means that the annual post-Grammys furor arrived on schedule this week. At issue was Harry Styles beating out Beyonce for Album Of The Year, a turn of events that might end up being the worst thing to ever happen to Styles. Has the hunky British pop star just been Timberlake-ized? What does it mean to be Timberlake-ized anyway? Let's hash it out (:25).

Here's something Indiecast did not expect this week: Steve Albini talking about how much he hates Steely Dan! But that's exactly what the irascible indie legend did on Twitter, which sparked a lot of conversation both for and against the '70s jazz-rock institution (15:17).

Finally, Steve and Ian talked about a band that we can all agree is great: Yo La Tengo (39:28). The trio is back with another album this week, This Stupid World, and it's one of their best efforts in years. They discussed what makes the new album good and offered suggestions for newbies on where to start with the band's big and impressive discography.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 125 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 went on as usual last week, but Steven and Ian haven't actually recorded together in about two weeks. (It feels more like six months.) Steven was off recording the audiobook of his forthcoming Springsteen book There Was Nothing You Could Do (out May 28!), and he recounts the experience. (It was hard but rewarding!) (9:45). After a brief tangent about the recent "13 Albums To Know You" prompt that went viral on social media, the guys do a lightning round of news that they missed — a new St. Vincent album, a very Ian-friendly emo festival, a very Steven-friendly pairing of The National and The War On Drugs for a joint tour, and a conversation about whether Yo La Tengo is a jam band (14:20). The guys also give an update on their Fantasy Album Draft teams, after recent records by Mannequin Pussy, Faye Webster, and Yard Act (32:02).

In the mailbag (38:22), a listener asks about favorite performances by musicians in movies. While Ian is partial to Cam'ron in Killa Season, Steven gives a laundry list of actor/musicians that ranges from Kris Kristofferson to Ice-T.

In Recommendation Corner (50:13), Ian talks about the Canadian band Little Kid while Steven raves about the new single from Texas heartland rock group Good Looks.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 179 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This week, indie-rock institution Wilco announced a new album. It's called Cousin, and Steven and Ian naturally wondered: Is this a deliberate reference to The Bear? After all, the hit FX show is known for multiple Wilco needle drops. Did Jeff Tweedy return the favor? The verdict is "probably not," but it's fun to speculate about regardless (:28).

From there, they take a hard left to talk about Utopia, the new album by rapper Travis Scott. Utopia is the sort of big tent rap record that used to be common, but in 2023 the genre seems more insular than usual. Is this a temporary blip or a sign of things to come? And is Utopia — an album that includes more than a few signifiers that evoke Kanye West — a conscious attempt to make the kind of album that achieves critical and commercial acclaim? (9:45)

Another hard left: Steven tells Ian about "Young Love And Saturday Nights," a (terrible) new country song by Chris Young that borrows the riff from David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel." It's part of a trend called "interpolation pop" where songwriters go to song publishers in advance to get permission to use the spare parts of classic tunes. After that, the guys talk about the recent controversy concerning Lizzo (38:50), and give the "yay or nay" treatment to the Semisonic reunion (45:16).

In Recommendation Corner (51:24), Ian talks about the new George Clanton while Steven recommends the recent four-part Spector music documentary.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 149 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Purple Noon, the new album from Washed Out, is the impetus for this week's episode of Indiecast, which finds Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen digging into the rise and fall of the chillwave genre, starting and ending with Washed Out. Purple Noon is an album from a genre strongly associated with nostalgia, but also manages to provide nostalgia for... chillwave itself. In 2020, the genre stands to remind millennials that they are getting older.

Also covered in the episode is Welcome To Conceptual Beach, the expansive, stunning new album from Young Jesus that is already a strong contender for Album Of The Year.

This week's recommendations: Dehd's Flowers Of Devotion and Gulch's Impenetrable Cerebral Forces

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Steven and Ian begin this week's episode by talking about a big potential reunion in the rock world. Of course we're referring to... TV On The Radio! The band appears to be teasing something right now, which the guys assume is probably their first concert dates in five years (1:38). After that, they of course talk about the return of Oasis. Steven is very pumped, but will he actually pay through the nose to see them in Europe (7:06)? Maybe he will to take his mind off the disastrous state of his Fantasy Album Draft team. It looks like Ian is on the way to yet another easy victory this quarter (22:07). The guys then transition to a conversation about Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, who release a new album, Wild God, today. Steven is yay on Cave, but what about Ian (29:57)?

In the mailbag, a listener asks about the phenomenon of "rawdogging" on airplanes and whether the guys ever listen to music without doing anything else (40:00). Then they answer an email about whether they like prog rock, and Steven gives a very detailed answer (47:17).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the UK act Seefeel and Steven goes for veteran singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne (56:22).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 204 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Some bands are sprinters; they release new material with impressive speed. But other bands are more like marathon runners, taking their time with each project. Canadian indie pop group Alvvays are the latter since their new album Blue Rev is their first in five years. In this week's Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen review marathoners Alvvays' latest release (25:27) as well as Björk's mushroom-inspired LP Fossora (36:42).

The biggest music news of this week was a pleasantly surprising No. 1 single. It's Steve Lacey's R&B hit "Bad Habit," which dethroned Harry Styles' long-running "As It Was" No. 1 and it seems like a very organic ascent (45:58). In other news, indie music celebrated the 10th anniversary of a majorly influential album: Tame Impala's Lonerism. While the idea of celebrating album anniversaries is a relatively new phenomenon, it does encourage younger listeners to revisit classic albums in an age when we're constantly introduced to new music (:29).

This week's Recommendation Corner (53:11) has Ian urging listeners to check out his recent interview with Will Sheff and his band Okkervil River's new album Nothing Special. Steven suggests Zach Bryan, a 26-year-old singer-songwriter whose 34-song LP American Heartbreak is one of the year's most sprawling albums.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 108 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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It's fairly common to see rock artists lean into pop territory these days, but what about pop artists who are turning to punk? On this week's Indiecast episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen discuss Mariah Carey's rumored grunge album, which has been kept a secret since it was recorded in 1995. Plus, they review Alex G's new album God Save The Animals (23:00), talk Pavement's buzzy reunion tour (40:43), and Smashing Pumpkins' upcoming, massive triple album (48:22).

Of course, Indiecast also had some trends to hash out this week. Another music-related course was added to NYU's roster, this time about Lana Del Rey, which prompted a discussion on the importance (or lack thereof) of studying music journalism in college (1:11). The biggest music news story this week was from Drake, who got into a public argument with The Needle Drop's Anthony Fantano, which probably boosted the music critic's cred more than it hurt it (9:11).

In the Recommendation Corner this week, Ian notes ISIS' Oceanic 20-year reissue. Meanwhile, Steven praises Elkhorn's new album Distances.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 107 here or below and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This week's episode opens with Steven and Ian remembering the old Pitchfork "stunt" review of Jet's 2006 album Shine On (0:27), which was dissected this week in an article by The Ringer. While stunt reviews are kind of dumb, Steven and Ian still miss them a little. The guys also explore the indie-rock guest stars on Beyoncé's new blockbuster album Cowboy Carter (7:11), including Adam Granduciel, Jonathan Rado, and some dude from The Stills.

From there, they review the great new Vampire Weekend album, Only God Was Above Us (12:49), which manages to change the band's just enough while retrenching with some classic themes. They also look back at Modest Mouse's Good News For People Who Love Bad News (28:06), which turns 20 this week, a crucial album in the mainstreaming of indie rock in the aughts that might also be... not that great?

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the band Cindy Lee while Steven stumps for the latest from Phosphorescent and the Philly band A Country Western (52:36).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 183 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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The first new album from The War On Drugs in four years has finally arrived. Steve considers The War On Drugs his favorite band of the last decade, while Ian considers them in a similar lane as Tame Impala or Beach house, where the music is enjoyable but does little more for him than establish “vibe.” Musically, I Don’t Live Here Anymore is a refinement of the craft the band explored on 2017’s A Deeper Understanding, which itself was a refinement of 2014’s Lost In The Dream. Will this finally be the record that wins Ian over?

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging the new book Sellout, as well as Another Kill For The Highlight Reel, the new record from New Jersey band Save Face, which sounds like a lot of the bands covered in the book Sellout. Steve, on the other hand, wants to spread the good word about Myriam Gendron’s new album Ma Délire that was released earlier this month, a collection of reimagined folk standards that gives the songs new life.

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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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian are hopping in the time machine this week. They're heading back one quarter-century to 1998, a fascinating year when artists were imagining the sound of the future and combining rock with jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music like never before. For Steven and Ian, it was a time of attending college and getting high while playing video games. You could be amazed by simple pleasures like, "Whoa, Richard Ashcroft is collaborating with DJ Shadow! I'm gonna listen to that after I go see Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck in Armageddon!"

Before that nostalgic trip, Steven and Ian answer listener questions, including one from an actual Gen Z listener! (Friendly tip: If you self-identify as a Gen Z listener, you will definitely get your email read on the show.) She wants to know 1) what the guys think of elaborate arena shows? 2) what they think about checking out setlists before showtime? 3) what they think about Matty Healy pretending to be drunk on stage? Their answers may not surprise you!

Finally, they get down to ranking their favorite albums of 1998. They each picked five albums, and they had two in common. Can you guess which ones? If you said the Godzilla soundtrack, you would be wrong!

In Recommendation Corner, Ian goes to bat for String Machine and NATL PARK SRVC while Steven recommends Cat Power's new Dylan covers album and the latest from Nashville guitarist Daniel Donato.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 163 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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's episode begins with a quick Sportscast in which Steven mourns the defeat of his surprisingly good Green Bay Packers and pays tribute to the lovable Detroit Lions (3:49). He and Ian also compare Detroit and San Francisco as music cities — it's Bob Seger vs. Huey Lewis time! Then they do a quick update of the winter Fantasy Albums Draft, as it is a big day for Steven's team with new releases by The Smile and Katy Kirby. (11:25) Then they break down The Smile's Wall Of Eyes, which sounds like a Radiohead album that's 90 percent as good.

Next comes Steven's most anticipated part of the episode — it's an Ian Cohen pop quiz where Steven lists off 10 albums and asks Ian if he reviewed them for Pitchfork (25:45). This is taking "Remember Some Guys" to a whole new level. Then the guys address the discourse around Alex G's recent signing to RCA Records and whether he has the potential to become "Boygenius big." (40:38) In the mailbag, a listener asks about the recent commercial featuring a Das Racist oldie and an "explanation" of Hozier's success (48:25).

In Recommendation Corner (1:00:31), Ian talks up the latest from the British band Courting and Steven reiterates Ian's recent rave for Glass Beach.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 173 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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The Recording Academy has the Grammys, MTV has the VMAs, and Indiecast has the Indiecasties: a special, highly sought-after distinction honoring the best and worse of indie music. In this week's episode, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen nominate artists for several mid-year Indiecastie awards and discuss the most memorable indie music discourse thus far in 2022 (19:07).

As for Indiecasties categories, Steven and Ian choose seven groupings: Most Valuable Album Cycle (in terms of Indiecast banter content 22:42), Music Writer Twitter Story Of The Year (which also provided a fair amount of banter 28:36), Memory Holed Album Of 2022 (albums released this year they've already forgotten about 35:57), Them? Album Of The Year (the biggest discrepancy between critical acclaim and what they've heard/felt/seen 42:26), Most Fun Narrative Of 2022 (some trends they saw among indie artists 50:46), and 2021 'Rediscovered' Albums (projects they would rank higher from last year 58:04). Among artists recognized in these categories are Arcade Fire, Harry Styles, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Father John Misty, Big Thief, Wednesday, and more.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 91 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian begin today's episode by celebrating the recent Oscar win for Daniel Blumberg, who picked up a trophy for scoring the The Brutalist, and his apparently disavowed past as the frontman for underrated early 2010s indie-rock band Yuck (1:24). The guys stay on the "Remember Some Guys" tip by noting this week's reunion news for The Beta Band, who will also be reissuing their beloved 1998 album The Three EPs (7:14).

After that they discuss the recent album announcement from Car Seat Headrest, their first in five years, and assess the current state of this late-2010s favorite (15:25). They also review the new Jason Isbell album out today, Foxes In The Snow (25:58).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the latest from Baths and Steven (in matters unrelated to personal hygiene) recommends the new album from The Tubs (59:19).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 229 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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Now that Indiecast has decided the most annoying music Twitter story and the most 2022 album of 2022, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen get (a bit) more earnest about their favorite music of the year. This week's Indiecast episode as Steve and Ian name the five albums they think deserved more media attention in 2022 (hint: one of them had an entire Indiecast episode dedicated to it).

This week's episode also includes a brief TVcast segment where Steve and Ian share their thoughts on The White Lotus' near-ubiquitous internet takeover (:25) and the state of prestige TV in general. Plus, Indiecast answers a mailbag question about year-end music lists (11:52).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 119 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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 a very long year without live music, it seems like there could finally be a light at the end of the tunnel. Bonnaroo is on the books for September, and Outside Lands is scheduled for late October. On this week’s episode of Indiecast, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen are feeling cautiously optimistic about what the return of these festivals could mean for the live music landscape, as a whole.

With festivals scheduled for the fall, many artist teams are also feeling confident in the touring landscape for the latter months of 2021. Julien Baker and Japanese Breakfast have both shared routings for the fall, and Pavement is also rumored to be announcing a 2022 tour sometime in the near future. However, the question still remains: will there be any reluctance from fans to get back together in large groups, or will people just be rearing to go?

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Hyden is shouting out Chicago band Floatie, who dropped their debut album Voyage Out last month. Cohen is excited about Dream Weapon, the new album from New York experimental metal band Genghis Tron, and the quartet’s first release in 13 years.

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Steven and Ian begin this week’s episode by talking about shows they plan on seeing this weekend — Ian is going to check out the buzzy retro-pop master Cindy Lee (3:56) while Steven is venturing to Las Vegas to see Phish play the Sphere (0:29). They also briefly touch on the iffy-looking Taylor Swift album out today, The Tortured Poets Department, which has high “unintentional comedy” potential (12:16).

From there they follow up on last week’s Coachella discussion to cover some of the festival’s viral performances, which also happen to be the biggest trainwrecks of the opening weekend: Blur’s indifferently received spot and Grimes’ glitch-filled DJ set (18:07). Then they review two albums out today by veteran rock acts: Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter (25:36)and Cloud Nothings’ Final Summer (39.18). Do they still have the juice? The guys hash it out.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian recommends Chanel Beads and Steven raves about the new single by Ben Seratan (50:06).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 185 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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Steven and Ian kick off this week’s episode of Indiecast with a half-assed recap of last week’s Grammys. It doesn’t last long before the duo dive straight into a discussion of the aesthetic and influence of Kurt Vile in honor of the tenth anniversary of Smoke Ring.

The main topic this week is Chemtrails Over The Country Club, the seventh studio album from Lana Del Rey. It’s the follow-up to Norman F*cking Rockwell, which was one of our favorite albums of 2019, and Lana seems to feel the pressure across her latest. Like her other work, Chemtrails is a cinematic affair ripe with what can only be described as “vibes.”

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Steven is bumping Ian's previous recommendation of the new self-titled album by Really From. Ian, on the other hand, has been digging into South Korean outfit Parannoul, whose releases are only available on Bandcamp.

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This week's episode begins with a quick Sportscast on some of the biggest buffoons in sports, who happen to work in Philadelphia and New York (1:34). From there, Steven and Ian talk about the final album from Japandroids, Fate And Alcohol, and how it gives their career closure (9:30). Then they discuss two recent critically acclaimed metal albums from Blood Incantation and Chat Pile, and how the genre has evolved in the past decade (26:05).

In the mailbag, a listener fact-checks Steven's recent rant about sports stadiums in Milwaukee (41:30). They also address an email about "slow burn" album openers on recent LPs by MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee, and whether they set a good tone or are simply boring (45:20).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the latest from Touche Amoré and Steven recommends the new album from Tim Heidecker (51:00).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 211 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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At the start of this week's episode, Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen try to come to terms with the fact that Ed Sheeran doesn't think music critics are necessary. Ultimately, they concede that the man has a point — after all, if music critics had any power, Ed Sheeran would not be a hugely successful pop star (:26).

In the banter segment, they talk about the upcoming tour by Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol and Stone Temple Pilots, which is like Pavement's "Range Life" come to life (7:02). They also talk about the new album by The Hold Steady, The Price Of Progress (14:17).

In the mailbag, a reader asks for their favorite sophomore albums. Can they interest you in a little record called Nevermind? How about The Bends? Actually, the letter writer stumps for Weekend In The City, because it is now Indiecast law that Bloc Party is mentioned in every episode (20:44). Finally, the meat of the episode reviews two big spring indie releases by Lana Del Rey (32:20) and Boygenius (44:11).

In Recommendation Corner (56:23), Ian talks about the American Football side project Lies, while Steve raves about the Irish folk (with a post-rock twist) band Lankum.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 132 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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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 indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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It's been a week since former Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner gave a disastrous interview to the New York Times to promote his upcoming book of classic rocker interviews, The Masters. Thankfully, it lingered just long enough in the news for Steven and Ian to talk about it on the pod. The guys reflect on Wenner's legacy, why he chose to say out loud what many assumed were his feelings about women and black musicians, and what this means for the discourse overall. Also, they talk about the surprise re-emergence of Spin's Bob Guccione Jr. aka the guy Axl Rose threatened to beat up in "Get In The Ring." (:25)

From there they talk about Laugh Track, the surprise new album by The National that dropped earlier this week (23:33). It's their second LP of 2023 after First Two Pages Of Frankenstein, and it sounds a lot like that record. Steven and Ian are somewhat lukewarm on both records, though Steven believes that a very good single National album could have been made from their best material. What's going on with this band, and have they lost the ability to self-edit?

In the mailbag, a listener takes the guys to task for talking about sports too much (33:43), and another letter writer asks an important CD-related question: jewel case or digipak? (41:52)

In Recommendation Corner (49:51), Ian talks about the Grimes-like singer-songwriter Yeule while Steven recommends the Summerteeth-like rock band Slaughter Beach, Dog.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 156 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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On last week’s episode, Steven and Ian reflected on the year-end lists they made in 2011. They spent time discussing albums like Real Estate’s Days and M83’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, albums that were very highly regarded at the time.

This week, they are using the benefit of hindsight to revise those lists and name the albums that might have flown under the critical radar in 2011, but we can acknowledge today to have been very influential. For Steven, these are albums like The War On Drugs’ Slave Ambient and Wye Oak’s Civilian, while Cold Cave’s Cherish The Light Years and Drake’s Take Care still reign supreme in Ian's mind.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Steven is plugging Course In Fable, the new album from Ryley Walker that’s out today. Ian, on the other hand, is digging through some obscure recent uploads on Bandcamp to showcase some new names like Get Well, Kid and Twinkle Park.

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On the new episode of 'Indiecast,' Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen reflect on twenty years of Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous,' using their background as real-life music critics to examine the accuracy of the central plot (there is literally no way that a publicist would let you spend several weeks on the road with a band for a profile), the depiction of Lester Bangs, and whether Stillwater is actually even a good band at all. Check out Hyden's full essay about the film here. 

In this week's Recommendation Corner, Steven is spreading the good word about William Tyler's new album 'New Vanitas,' while Ian is pointing toward 'I'll Figure This Out,' the latest from Milwaukee's Barely Civil. 

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Steven and Ian begin today's episode by reflecting on what they were doing when you-know-what happened last weekend. Then they get down to what is truly the biggest news of the week: The release of EA College Football 25, which is about to become Ian's obsession (6:00). After Video Game-cast, they pivot to a discussion about Tenacious D and their implosion over Kyle Gass' Trump comments in Australia (12:00). They also yay-or-nay the comedy-rock trio, from the perspective of another comedy-rock trio.

From there, they tackle the return of Japandroids, who will release their first album in seven years, Fate And Alcohol, in October. But can they ever top Celebration Rock (20:01)? Steven also fills Ian on some jam band beef this week between Trey Anastasio and Dead & Company (28:08). In the mailbag, they answer a listener question about whether '90s-style "weird for weirdness' sake" music is still being made, with a tangent about the legacy of Tom Waits (40:35).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the British emo band Los Campesinos! while Steven stumps for the rising country artist Zach Top (53:50).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 198 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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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.

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Steven welcomes Ian back to America after his trip to London. Ian regales us with tales of fish and chips-eating and musicals-watching (3:38), and then Steven lurches into a quick Sportscast about annoying NFL teams from New York City (5:33). (Sorry, New Jersey!) The guys also discuss their plans to see Foxing (Ian) and MJ Lenderman (Steven) this weekend (13:35), and the latest status of Ian's Fantasy Albums Draft (20:10).

In the mailbag, the guys answer questions about the current state of Bandcamp (26:51), the best musical guests on The Simpsons (33:00), the best decade for music (38:48), and the artists the guys can't believe they haven't seen live yet (47:00).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian stumps for veteran singer-songwriter Fred Thomas and Steven recommends the latest from the shape-shifting LA band Peel Dream Magazine (55:06).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 210 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly 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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This week’s episode kicks off with a listener question about the current renaissance of post-punk outfits like Dry Cleaning, Squid, or Pottery. Is this style of music, which is often built around the dry musings of a distinctly BRITISH vocalist, built to last, or is its popularity merely a byproduct of being inside for too long?

The main crux of this week’s episode, however, is dedicated to Daddy’s Home and Delta Kream, new albums from two of the biggest working indie artists today: St. Vincent and The Black Keys, respectively. Where do the latest efforts from these two genre-defining acts rank in their lengthy discographies? While The Black Keys have been pumping out radio hits for the better part of the last decade, St. Vincent has achieved an interesting level of critical acclaim comparing her to legends like Prince, Madonna, and David Bowie, albeit without any bona-fide hits on her setlist.

In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is digging Whole Damn Body, the recent b-sides EP from Los Campesinos! Meanwhile, Steve is can’t get enough of Topaz, the soulful new album from Texas singer-songwriter Israel Nash.

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For the past several weeks, Steven and Ian have planned to do a mailbag segment on the show. But they always end up yapping for too long, and the segment inevitably ends up getting bumped. This week, the guys finally rectified the situation by addressing some emails from their loyal listeners.

What do Indiecast listeners want to know about? Our first letter concerns the matter of seated shows vs. standing-room only shows, and which is preferable (16:55). You can probably guess what the 40something-year-old hosts of Indiecast think about this, though Steven makes a case for seated shows providing "guaranteed real estate" that you don't have to defend if you leave temporarily to get a beer or go to the bathroom. From there, Steven and Ian finally address the email about The Weakerthans, and give their opinion on the beloved Canadian band (25:54). They also talk about their favorite indie-rock bassists of the last 25 years (39:08), and the legacy of the indie-folk band Beirut (47:24).

In Recommendation Corner (56:39), Ian talks about the Abe Vigoda offshoot Cupid & Psyche while Steven recommends the vibe-y Chicago rock act Squirrel Flower.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 159 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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This week’s episode of Indiecast kicks off with a discussion of the new collaborative track from Mick Jagger and Dave Grohl, a very goofy moment in rock history. The conversation then segues into the mailbag segment, which raises the question of which indie artists should follow in Taylor Swift’s footsteps to take another stab at their earlier material.

The main crux of this week’s episode revolves around new albums from The Armed and Greta Van Fleet, the former of which gets their name from being the most jacked band since Manowar. The latter? Not so much.

Both bands are indicative of a strange moment in the modern mainstream rock landscape, in ways that are almost diametrically opposed. The Armed evocative of the heyday of mainstream hard rock, one of the most commercially successful genres ever. Greta Van Fleet, on the other hand, are a band so preposterous that they become almost endearing and endlessly fun to engage with.

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On this week's Indiecast, Ian Cohen and Steve Hyden try to make sense of the conversation around Rihanna's Super Bowl Halftime performance (7:00), as well as the buzz about U2's upcoming residency in Las Vegas (15:23).

In the meat of the episode (28:57), they reviewed two recent releases — the first is This Is Why, the first album in six years from the venerable emo-pop institution Paramore. In recent years, the band's aughts-era music has been an obvious influence on a range of pop and rock acts. But on the new LP, Hayley Williams and co. attempt to pivot away from their traditional sound toward a more post-punk type vibe. Do they pull it off? Let's talk it out.

The second album is Desire, I Want To Turn Into You, the latest from singer-songwriter Caroline Polachek. The album already has serious "Album Of The Year" vibes — yes, we're already talking about this stuff in February — so why is it also reminiscent of Oscar bait films or prestige TV?

In our Recommendation Corner (52:10) segment, Steve suggests checking out The Future Is Our Past, the new album by the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while Ian talks about the new EP from shoegaze band Crushed, Extra Life.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 126 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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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