Big Questions: Are Music Festivals Cooked? Was 2014 A Good Music Year? Will Steven Ever Win A Fantasy Albums Draft?

This week, the guys recorded Indiecast a few days early, so they apologize in advance for missing any potential indie news. Steven was off to NYC for the film festival premiere of Yacht Rock: A Dockumentary — which he worked on as story producer — ahead of streaming on HBO/Max on November 29 (2:24). After a brief conversation about yacht rock, the guys talk about the exodus on social media to Bluesky and how the new-ish app feels like a Christian rock alternative to X/Twitter (10:09).Then they hash out an unfortunate trend: The end of Pitchfork Fest. They share memories of the festival and discuss how it was like a convention for music writers (17:57). From there, they review the recent Grammy nominations, some truly weird picks for Best New Artist, and some surprisingly good picks for Best Alternative Album (30:40). Finally, they discuss the meteoric rise of the indie-adjacent singer-songwriter Mk.gee and whether it annoys Alex G (43:00).In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the Chicago emo band Bottom Bracket and Steven recommends the LA post-punk quartet Bondo (53:52).New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 215 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven and Ian begin this week's episode by reflecting on this week's election (0:57). Steven just woke up from a week-long coma and he asked Ian to tell him who won. After they, delve into a less depressing topic: The music of The Cure! They talk about their strong new album, Songs Of A Lost World, and where it fits in the band's career. Then they talk about the best Cure albums, and also rank their top five Cure songs (16:02).In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the new Connor O'Malley comedy Rap World while Steven recommends the Jason Molina biography, Riding With The Ghost (51:58).New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 214 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven and Ian open today's episode with a quick Sportscast about the World Series and the Yankees fan who almost ripped Mookie Betts' arm off. Bad fans is actually an overarching theme of the show — the guys start with the upcoming election, and whether we're headed for a wave of anti-PC entertainment if Trump wins. Then they address this week's music-critic controversy involving a bad review of the new Halsey album, and the predictable freakout from chronically online fans.After that, they check in on the Fantasy Albums Draft and talk about the latest from Mount Eerie as well as Phil Elverum's career with The Microphones. Then they do a "Scene Report" segment on recent concerts by Knocked Loose and Drive-By Truckers.In the mailbag, the guys are asked about "time and place" bands, i.e. acts that were set up to make one perfect album and nothing else. Finally, in Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the emo band Ben Quad while Steven endorses Philly power band 2nd Grade.New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 213 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

This week's episode 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 [email protected], 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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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

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

Steven and Ian begin this week's episode with the first ever "Furnace-cast" about the current state of Steven's heating and cooling units at his house. Both were being installed during this episode, which might have resulted in some post-punk-style background noise. What's more indie rock than that? After a quick Sportscast about the latest from Steven's Green Bay Packers and Ian's Philadelphia Eagles, they hold their Fantasy Albums Draft for Q4 (15:22). Will Steven finally win one of these? Probably not! But who knows?Then the guys delve into the mailbag to answer some quality emails. Topics include the sad state of music festivals in 2024 (31:55), the relative quality of music put out in 2014 (41:05), and whether it's possible to have a good song with good music and bad lyrics (yes!) or bad music and good lyrics (maybe?) (50:17).In Recommendation Corner, Ian stumps for a divorce record by Adeline Hotel and Steven goes for the latest from bluegrass phenom Billy Strings (56:40).New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 208 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven and Ian begin today's episode by reacting to the recent Sean "Diddy" Combs news (1:22), and speculate on whether Get Him To The Greek is the most cancelable movie of all time. From there, they talk about the Father John Misty album announcement, and muse about the Pure Comedy album cycle (8:22). Steven then brings up Ian's great recent profile of Japandroids, which digs deep into the personal backstory of the band ahead of their farewell album (19:07).They also talk about Bright Eyes upon the release of their album, Five Dice, All Threes, and some troubling viral concert moments (30:10). Speaking of viral concert moments, the guys also dig into the recent reunion craziness involving Jane's Addiction and The Smiths (38:30).In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the New Zealand emo band Yon Loader and Steven stumps for the latest from Nilüfer Yanya (51:34)New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 207 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven and Ian open today's episode with some jokes (and some empathy!) directed at Dave Grohl. The president of rock is down this week, but the guys are not going to kick him. Steven then laments the state of the Green Bay Packers in a quick Sportscast, and the guys marvel at the unintentional comedy of Donald Trump in Politicscast. Steven gets really depressed during the Fantasy Albums Draft update, but then things perk up when they address the recent controversy about Linkin Park's new singer and the overall "yay or nay" status of the popular nu-metal band. The guys also review new albums by "indie sleaze" artists The Dare and Fcukers, which brings out the "Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon" side of Steven.In the mailbag, a listener asks if there is an American band whose reunion would engender as much hysteria as the Oasis reunion in England. (The answer is: Nirvana, maybe, if Kurt Cobain faked his own death.)In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks up the new album by Foxing while Steven stumps for the latest live record by The War On Drugs.New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 206 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.