Indiecast - Faulty Lorde CDs, Popular AI Rock Bands, And Why Glastonbury Looked Amazing This Year, Plus: The Q3 Fantasy Albums Draft

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

Steven and Ian open with a quick conversation about fireworks and fireworks-adjacent emo music. Then they dive into the outcry from Lorde fans about the faulty "transparent" CD edition of her latest album, Virgin (3:36). Steven is excited to see CD discourse go mainstream, though he worries that this bad publicity might turn people off to the format.After that, they discuss the AI band The Velvet Sundown, which has already racked up 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify in just a few weeks (11:02). They also talk about the recent Glastonbury Festival and speculate on why European music festivals look so much more fun than American ones (22:11). Finally, they do the Q3 Fantasy Albums Draft, and talk about some of the most anticipated releases of the next three months (33:50).New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 246 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [e-mail], 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.

Indycast is presented by Uprocks's indie mixtape. Hello everyone and welcome to Indycast. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We review albums and we hash out trends. In this episode, we talk about faulty Lord CDs, AI folk rock bands, and the latest Glastonbury Festival. And we're also going to do our Q3 fantasy album draft. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host.

He's planning to shoot off fireworks tonight in an emo-like fashion, Ian Cohen, Ian, how are you? Yeah, this is not a bit because there is a long, illustrious history of fireworks in emo music. We could talk about Jimmy World's classic seven-minute power ballad, just watched the fireworks, or Hey Mercedes, the post-braid band doing every night fireworks, the band fireworks. I mean, you know, Japan droids aren't an emo band, but Fang Island, maybe, with the fireworks at the beginning of that. Drake, Emo, first album because of the song called Fireworks. So, yeah, like, again, not a bit.

Yeah, we, I took my kids last weekend to this store across the border in Wisconsin. It's a year-round store that just sells fireworks. And it was an amazing store. And it's the place that you want to go if you want to get the fireworks that actually, like, explode in the air. Because as far as I know, you can't really buy those in Minnesota. and I don't know if they're illegal to shoot off. I guess I'll find out once we launch these on Fourth of July weekend. But an amazing store, very good deals.

I'm amazed that there are stores that can be open all year round selling fireworks. He's asking this guy. Well, because here in the Midwest, it's like freezing half the year. So are people rolling up buying fireworks in February? And I asked the guy at the counter and he said, yeah, like they have business all year round. So, I mean, that's a testament to America. I mean, no matter the weather, you will blow stuff up in this country. Well, I'm thinking about the, I think it's an actual chain in northwest Indiana called Crazy Kaplan's

fireworks. I believe friend of the pod, Dave Anthony, worked there as a teenager. And I was about to say, if you're wondering whether fireworks are sold year round, I was about to ask if you've ever been to North. South Carolina because, yeah, every time I would drive from Virginia to Georgia back in the day, you would pass by all these shacks in South Carolina and see just fireworks being sold. Well, yeah, but it's warm there. See, my point was, like in Wisconsin, are people really, like, digging in the snow and blown up fireworks in the middle of winter?

Because I get South Carolina, it's nice here all your, you know, the weather's fine, but, yeah, apparently they're doing it that here in the Midwest as well. that's beautiful to see. Northwest Indiana has a lot of fireworks stores, apparently. Oh, yeah. I would guess that fireworks is like a core product of the Indiana gross domestic product. That's probably driving their economy. It's fireworks and it's like subway restaurants that are inside of gas stations. Like that, those are the two staples, I think, of Indiana.

That's what I think of when I think of that state. Um, one thing that people might also be blowing up this weekend, Ian, with their Fourth of July festivities are Lord Compact Discs. Uh, I love this. I always love when CDs are in the news, although this story might be bad publicity for the CD community, but, uh, I don't know if you heard about this, but, uh, Lord, you know, she put out her record last week called Virgin. Uh, I, I checked it out.

It's a pretty good record. I don't know, there's some weird things going on on that record musically. It's kind of a comeback. Also feels like Lord is about 10 years older than she is. It's a very kind of like middle-aged person type record in a weird way. Like sonically anyway. But along with releasing the record on vinyl, she put out a clear plastic CD version of the record,

not your normal silver CD, you know, the old school, which the CD has like myself, you know, that's what we prefer. But it's this clear plastic disc, and apparently it's in line with the themes of the record because she's offering full transparency on this album, which seems like a very tool type thing. Like I feel like a tool would have done this. Like we're going to have a clear CD because we are seeing through the, you know, the bullshit of reality with this album. We're literally through the looking disc, you know? Exactly. And anyway, people are buying the CD.

Lots of young people love to see it. And they're actually trying to play the CD. And it won't play. There's issues with the Lord CD. And apparently, like, it works on newer CD players, but not on older CD players, which I love the idea of people buying top of the line, you know, manufactured in 2025 CD players to play the Lord CD?

Because I feel like most CD players are old. You know, like manufactured in the prime of CD consumption. So I don't know. I love this album cycle so much. And the malfunctioning CDs, it's just another just feather in the cap, really, for Lord in the Virgin album cycle. Yeah, I dismissed this last week as more of like an MBE or James Hardin type. MVP campaign, but really, like, Lord's putting in SGA-type work in the postseason. Yeah. Yeah,

it's still adding on to the, to the legacy. And I'm just fascinated by the, it doesn't work in newer CD players, like, oh, it doesn't work in older ones. Oh, it doesn't work in older ones. Got because this is like, because this CD is too technologically advanced. So it will work in new ones, apparently, but not an old ones, but I just feel like most CD players are old. Yeah, I don't know. what a new CD player looks like. I've not been in a car made after the year 2019 that has a CD player.

I mean, look, this would have never happened with turn style. Like, that's a band that understands how to make CDs. Exactly. And make CD-style music. But, yeah, like, I just can't believe that with this, you know,

this album, I'm sure, like, costs millions of dollars to make, promote, et cetera. They couldn't just get, like, a version of my 2000. to Saturn and see how Virgin sounds in that. Because if you're going to do a CD experience, you've got to do it right. So I love the story.

I feel bad for anyone who bought a CD and had this happen. Yeah, small sample size for CD experiences. But this to me just sounds like something that absolutely would have happened in the, we should absolutely be getting a pop star, never stop, never stopping sequence. every five years to account for the evolution of pop music. Like, I'm going to see Spinal Tap 2 when it comes out, but I don't think we need that. We need a pop star, never stop, never stopping sequel. You know, I feel like there was an era in the late 90s, early 2000s where CDs were sometimes

outfitted with a CD-ROM element. Oh, yeah, enhanced CD, Wutank Forever. That's like the, that is the epitome of the enhanced CD era. And that would mess with CD players sometimes because, I mean, back then there were CD players that were probably made in the 80s that people were playing CDs on. And the CD ROM, the enhanced CD, it was just too much, too advanced of a technology for the older CD players to handle. But again, I feel like, like you said, a lot of these people are probably trying to play the album in their car. And those CD players are at least five or six years old. I have CD players, of course, in my home.

But I buy old ones. I didn't even really know, honestly, that there were new CD players being made in 20. Like, are there advancements in CD technology? Have they, like, found a way to even make the red laser more precise and produce fuller and more beautiful sounds? I'm really, I mean, I feel like I should know this as a, if I can be so bold, a leading spokesperson for the CD community, but I was not aware of this. I didn't know that there were advancements in CD technology that Lord is at the forefront of.

I mean, maybe we should be praising her as an innovator. Because I love that she's bringing CD discourse into the mainstream this week. I do worry that you have these young people, I don't know how many CDs. they own, this might be among the first CDs they've ever bought, and now you're going to have a negative experience with it. Maybe it's going to drive you away from the CD experience. I would

just say to those people, if you're frustrated, go to half-priced books, you know, pick up Jim Blossoms, do miserable experience, go get the Jewel album, pieces of you. You know, get you know, Dave Matthews band the second

crash. Is that the second record? It's crash, yes. Yes. Uh, all the seasons. Technically, it's the third if you count remember two things, but. Ah, true head. Uh, all these CDs you can get for a buck and they're going to play like it's 1996. So, which means they're going to like skip maybe every 50 minutes. No way.

No, don't, don't, don't slander. Oh, that's part of the experience, you know? No, because like at those places, they quality check. Oh, yeah, that's right. They're not going to sell you. They're not going to sell you the CD that's been like, the brim of uh you know of the visor in the car for like 20 years and has like a bill a billion skips and scratches on it i do forget i do forget that like i would get you cd's declined at disco round

yeah exactly about that experience they're like hold out a second here being going we're not you're not getting that dollar 50 for uh i don't know what i was trying to sell back that maybe like uh sponge riding Penaata. Sir, we already have 15 copies of Duky here. We don't need this scratched up version. Speaking of technology, Ian, another segue here to a topical news item that happened this week. Are you familiar with the hot new band, the Velvet Sundown? Yes, I mean, I am familiar with the story, and it's been kind of a, it's getting kind of a wild goose chase to hear their actual music.

Like, I got a new computer and, like, Spotify wasn't downloaded yet, so I've had to do it from, like, TikToks and YouTube. So I am aware of the Velvet Sundown and are... Have you heard the song, Dust on the Wind? I just love it's called Dust on the Wind. It's a... I can't, like, move on my wayward daughter or whatever, you know? Exactly. So this is a band that appeared literally out of nowhere about two weeks ago.

started streaming on Spotify. They're described as a psych rock band. I would call them a folk rock band. You listen to Dust on the Wind, which is the only song I've listened to. And it sounds like someone put Neil Young, CSNY in America, in an AI, and produced a song.

And it sounds like that because it sounds like that's basically what happened here. This is a band that, like I said, they've been around for two weeks, They already have 500,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, which is more than many of your favorite indie rock bands out there. You'd be surprised bands that get a lot of press, and then you look at their monthly listeners, and it's a lot smaller than you might think. And this band, they put out, it looks like two records already. Again, just in the past two weeks, they have another one coming out.

this July, this month. And there's like a photo of the band, and it's clearly like an AI-generated picture. You know, the lead singer kind of looks like Sasha Baron Cohen with like long hair. And there's like a blonde guitarist who kind of looks like Duff McCagan if he was in an L.A. folk rock band. But this story is really fascinating to me.

I think on its own, you know, this idea of like an AI band, especially this kind of band, which again is like this sort of folk rock, L.A. I don't want to mention any band specifically here. I don't want to take shots at anyone because I like some of those bands, but you listen to these songs. And to me, they sound almost like a parody of like the L.A. folk rock, roots rock band that has always existed. There's always like a new one every year. And it's funny because I feel like AI, whenever they create art, and I'm putting art in quotes,

it's like they take all the cliches of a certain form and they put it all together and present it in a way that's so straightforward that if a person did it, you would think that they were making fun of the thing. Like I was thinking if AI ever tried to make a musician biopic, it would probably look like walk hard, but it wouldn't. be intended to be funny. It would just be like, oh, we're going to take all the tropes that you know from this type of movie and we're just going to put it together and not really have anything creative or any kind of spin on it. It's just going to be cliche after cliche after cliche.

And I think it's a fascinating exercise. I think in the macro sense, it's pretty scary because this band already has 500,000 listens. I assume that they've been plugged into playlist and that's why they've gotten so many spins. You know, we're just at the beginning of what AI can do. It does seem like in what, six months a year, maybe less, we're going to see a scenario like where record labels instead of hiring human bands to like just rip off more popular music,

we're just going to have a flood of AI bands, you know, being plugged into playlist and like, yeah, maybe you have like a lower Huron song and a Daws song and then, you know, a band like the Velvet Sundown. It's like, and you just sprinkle these AI bands into a playlist with real people and it's like who's going to know the difference at some point. I don't know. It's crazy. It's very interesting to me.

Yeah, this is what Deerhoof is missing out on after they left Spotify. So they're on. Yeah, they're on Apple Music. But yeah, I mean, this stuff, it's like, in a way, it's like both really funny and also incredibly scary. You know, I was just, these bands that you mentioned about like this L.A. folk rock. It's not exactly like Blue Gene Committee, but it's sort of like, oh, they, like Blue Gene Committee that just missed doing something like this or, you know, like some, in the same way that I think

we should get like a pop star sequel every five years. We should get a remake of Weans 12 Golden Country Greats every five years. just to tackle a different genre, I think they would have killed this. I mean, dust on the wind sounds like a wean title to me. It does. Like if Ween did a 12 Golden Country hits for this type of music, it would sound like this. The difference is that if a human did it,

they would exaggerate it just a little bit to show that they're recognizing the cliched nature of the music. Like a wink to the audience saying, yeah, we know these are cliches and we're having fun with them, whereas AI just presents the cliche straightforward. Yeah, it's like, yeah, we're serving it to you. And apparently some people dig it. I mean, there is this thing, I don't know if you saw this, but there is a band on, well,

there's an account on Twitter claiming to be this band. I did not see that. So there is like a little bit of like, oh, is it a real band or not? I mean, I'm inclined to think it's not, but who knows at this point? Yeah. Also, I know this is like a, this is a mollusk song, but we would have called it like waving my dust in the wind or something like that. But I think it's the fact that it is this type of music makes the AI more interesting and more convincing because, you know, you don't want to make fun of these bands. I do.

Because, you know, I lived in L.A. for 10 years, like in the 2010s. And this is like the style of music that would always be loved by the people. you would see on like Tinder or Hinge say they love live music and they go to like maybe one or two concerts a year. But and again, I'm judging my ideas about this music are like locked into 2016. But if you try to do this with like a pop star, people have, I think pop stands would notice that immediately. People notice it immediately when it's rap, when it's like metal, when you got like real hardcore Stan armies to judge it. But this type of music just, its only job is to really be pleasant and give off these signifiers of like folkiness or authenticity

or mason jars and suspenders and um yeah i mean in our this scene is not suspenders that's a different thing that's the boom clap thing this is like floppy hats and corduroy jackets and like dressing like the band it's adjacent it's adjacent yeah but it's not quite this it's not the mason jar thing because it's not like a sort of fokey it's more of like an l. folk rock, which is a different flavor. It's more like the Eagles and again, Neil Young, CSNY than like the rural like Oliver Anthony thing. You know, because I am a stand of this music, so I will parse the differences there. I disagree with you a little bit in terms of like what this music does because I think that there are hardcore fans of this kind of music. But

I do think you have a point about pop stars because we are in a moment where the where the cult of personality is more important than ever in pop music, where people are not just fans of songs. They're so wrapped up in the mythology of the people making the music. And, you know, Taylor Swift being the most obvious example. But like any, you know, we were talking recently about the Miley Cyrus stands out there. You know, people that are so invested in like this person in their career and their catalog. And with this kind of music that the Velvet Sundown is making, there maybe isn't that as strong.

Like, you can hear this kind of song on a playlist and just enjoy it, and you're not going to obsess over the band members as people in the same way that pop stars would. So, I mean, that would be an argument against AI, I guess, taking hold on streaming platforms. But, I mean, there were already stories. I think Liz Pelley writes about this in her book. mood machine where you know Spotify has been accused of you know ghost artists I think they're called where they're they're basically creating these fake artists and you know plugging them on the platform you know favoring them and the algorithm and it's basically just like a loop of money where they don't have to pay artists because people are just listened to this slop on their

streaming platform and with AI it just feels like that is going to be, you know, that phenomenon on steroids. Because it does really feel like, you know, if you want to think about the 90s, like grunge rip-off bands, people trying to sound like Nirvana, or like in the last 10 years, maybe people trying to sound like Lord or Phoebe Bridgers or Taylor Swift, you know, why hire a person or why sign an artist when you can just have an AI? Just put out 100 AI songs from different AI artists and, you know, if, If two of them hit in a big way, you're going to save a ton of money and not having to shell out to artists.

And I just feel like these platforms are already bursting with too much music in a lot of ways. And are we about to turn the spigot up to like 11 now? Like with this sort of AI garbage that's going to be infiltrating these places? I mean, that's the thing that seems more than plausible to me. And that's pretty frightening, I think. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned like if we had AI back in the Grunge era. I mean, I'm just going to find, I'm going to find some candlebox and Bush CDs and just hold them extra tight because, you know, if technology had been a little more advanced,

we would have never got far behind, let alone far behind's important role in Eastbound and Down. I mean, far behind already sounds like an AI grunge song. I mean, now you don't even have to pay candlebox to record it. You can just have AI do it. I want to ask you about something. I was on my phone, as usual, last weekend, looking at social media. And I really noticed an abundance of clips from Glastonbury, which is this big music festival in England, happens every year. Or I guess it doesn't happen every year.

It doesn't? I don't think so. I don't think it's happening next year. I think it's happening in 2027. I might Google this as I'm talking. I thought I saw some message saying that because I thought it was every year, but then there was a note saying that they're not doing it in 20. Yeah, most summers. Yeah, what they say in, yeah, what they say on the Wikipedia, which we are going to be taken as truth is most summers, which is really interesting.

Yeah, so yeah, they're taking a hiatus next year and then they're coming back in 2027. And this might answer the question I'm about to ask, or at least in part, because I was looking at these clips. and I just kept thinking, this looks way better than like any American festival than I've seen. And look, I'm not the audience for music festivals anymore. I really don't have any interest in ever going to any festival ever again, at least like not on the scale of a Glastonbury or a Coachella or Bonarue. But I don't know, there were so many clips that I thought looked really great and interesting. I mean, there were, and they were all over the map.

I mean, there was, like, Olivia Rodriguez was with, like, Robert Smith doing Friday, I'm in love. There were, like, all these great turnstile clips. Rod Stewart was there doing, do you think I'm sexy? That looked kind of fun. Apparently, they have, like, a legend slot there, so they have, like, oldster people show up sometimes. But, yeah, he was there with Ronnie Wood, rocking out, 80-year-old Rod Stewart. And, of course, there was the Bob Villain. controversy with the shouting out.

He didn't really shout out the IDF. He was shouting about the IDF, which I don't know if we really want to get into the particulars of that exactly. But, you know, they got the flags going on in the audience, too. That's always the thing at Glastonbury. I don't know where that comes from. But I don't know. It just felt watching those clips.

Like, this is like a real event. You know, and I was trying to, trying to think of, well, like, Bonnaroo didn't even happen this year because of weather concerns. I was trying to think of like Coachella, if there was like a single memorable image from Coachella that I saw, again, on social media platforms. I've already forgotten. I've already forgot who had like Coachella. Yeah, me too.

And I guess, you know, Neacap was there. Yeah. I think that was where they had their idea for Israel-Palestine-type controversy, which which I had forgotten about until I googled it, you know, researching for today's episode. But I don't know. It looks so much better there. Am I wrong?

I mean, it feels like the Europeans can kill festivals still while the American festivals just seem so mid at this point. Yeah, and maybe it's like a filtering sort of thing because before Glastonbury, you would hear people, even who watched primavera on stream talk about like this is so much cool and anything we have in America. And, you know, like a big, important reason to like go to Europe is to come back to America and realize, man, it doesn't have to be like this. You know, maybe we're just missing out on the European version of these like B market festivals headline by Anderson Pock or whatever. Like maybe those do exist.

But also I'm thinking of outbreak, which is, they would call it a hardcore festival, but there are a lot of emo bands playing, a lot of indie bands, you know, like the Hotel Year and Joyce Manor played there, and the knocked loose clips from Outbreak look insane.

The Turtestyle ones at Glastonbury looked like really, really cool, but it's kind of similar to like when you see a Mosh pit at like a Playboy Cardi or a Travis Scott show, you know? It's like these are people who just want to Mosh and they're maybe not hardcore people.

The knocked loose clips from Outbreak are insane. And I think there is something about European culture, and I cannot speak to this because I'm not an expert that makes festivals just more this way. I think it's also true of like sporting events. And I don't think we could replicate that here just due to the nature of the festival business. And yeah, like Glass and Barry, they were saying, yeah, we want to do not do it next year because we want the environment to recover. You imagine Coachella saying that or like Bonnaroo saying that or I'm thinking of any other festival doing that. It's just Europe does things differently and with the flag waving always looks awesome.

I mean, just to see like a Welsh flag flying during turnstile or just any other flag you can't recognize. It just looks so cool. Yeah, it looks it looks so like, oh yeah, we're almost like going to. going to war, but like in a good way. You know, going to war for music. I mean, there is something about, and again, like, we're not, we're not from England. Maybe if you, if you live there, you have a different perspective on this. You know, I'm only watching these clips on, on television.

But, I mean, I think Glastonbury does have a history of, like you said, I mean, they're, they're not just chasing the buck. I mean, they will take a year off for the good of the community, you know, and then they're going to come back and recharge. And I'm sure it be great in 2027. it does always feel like Glastonbury is actually programmed by like a real person. Yeah. You know, or real people and not just this, again, not to overuse this word, but like the American festivals just feel like very sort of algorithmically programmed at this point

and very interchangeable and not unique. And I'm watching Glastonbury and I'm like seeing like every kind of music. You know, it's like all over the map. Again, you have Olivier Rodrigo, you've got, you got Bob Villain. you got turnstile you got like old-ass rod steward strutting around in a pink suit or whatever everyone looks excited to be there i think that's the big difference to me it's like the bands are stoked they say it the people are stoked there isn't that malaise that comes over like even even like cocella like people's like oh it's actually good this year but like they got to mention the fact that

like benson boone headlined or whatever you got to like still qualify all of your praise of any American festival. Well, and also it just seems so predicated on things that have nothing to do with music at the big festivals. You know, it's all about like the other luxury items or about, you know, sort of presenting yourself in an Instagram photo in a way that's going to get a lot of likes. And that's a very old man comment to be making. I'm sorry to be complaining about the Instagram photos.

But just, I don't know. I think you're killing it here with. the festivals. We got to learn something from them. Have you listened to Bob Villains music? I've only listened to like the songs in that set that they did at Glastonbury. And it's very, I mean, they're called a punk band, but they're kind of like a rap rock band. Yeah. UK has art. They have like a lot of artists like this that you see get nominated for like the Mercury Prize and it just makes no imprint on America ever. I did listen to to some of the songs in the past because it was one of those albums got like just an

enormous meta-critic rating and I'm like maybe keep this in my back pocket for a draft. It sounds like that one slow tie album two years ago before they got canceled. Yeah, or like Sleafred Mob or Sleafred Mops. Right. And like kneecap, I was not like I listened to them. That was not what I was expecting. Just based on the way they look and their press photos like from before all this stuff happened. I was expecting it to sound something like bad boy,

Chiller crew. When you listen to their music, and again, it's in Irish, so, I mean, take that for what it's worth. It's just so interesting to think of this

as like the most dangerous controversial band, like the 2025 equivalent of public enemy, you know what I mean? What do they like? It's just like rap. It's like, I believe it's just like rap music and it's loud and it's like unintelligible because it's in a different language.

But yeah, I mean, it's... What do you mean? What do you mean? Are they singing in a Gaelic or something? I think they sing in Irish, yeah, or rap in Irish. Well, Irish people speak English.

I think it's in their native language, which is not English or something like that. Yeah. I don't know. Bob Villain as a name, I feel like that should have been like a chill wave name. Yes. Does that sound like an angry punk band name? It's a little, it's like kind of a jokey name. Yeah.

But anyway, I mean. Well, I actually read it. It's like they're using Bob because of like Bobby's, which is, you know, the, the British herm for police and villains. So it's like the cops are villains. Yeah, I guess, but it's also a play on Bob Dylan. You know, it's a pun on his name. I mean, however you feel about like what they did at the festival, I mean, them, you know, having their visas revoked so they can't tour America. Yeah.

It is like a pretty stupid thing. I mean, they're just. like the level of censorship that's going on right now, like around that issue is like incredibly, I think disturbing and awful and stupid. Yeah. To talk about like a country that's not America in a country that's not America and get your visa revoked in America. Yeah, it's people have like really suffered material losses. I mean, in San Diego, it's the same thing where they're at.

Kaylani was supposed to like get, there was a lot of protests with her showing up at pride because of similar things that she said on her Instagram, not on like a stage. But yeah, it's just really wild to see this stuff happening. Well, and it's just funny to me, again, not to get too political here, but, you know, we did have an administration coming in where a lot of supporters were like, you know, we're sick of the infringement of free speech and everything's too woke and we have to like, you know, be able to say what we feel and everything. And then they come into power and they start kicking people out of the country because of certain opinions that they have. I don't know how you swear that. It seems like just blatant hypocrisy that can't be justified

in any level, but it may have led to Ted Cruz listening to Bob Villan. That was like the funniest thing of a terrible experience. The funny thing to come out of it like Ted Cruz tweeting, this is the Democratic voting base and like a billion people going. like, dude, that's England. He's like, well, it may be England, but yeah, so maybe Ted Cruz is listening to Neacap or Bob Villain or Sleaford Mods. That in this awful, awful circumstance, gives me a little bit of joy. Yeah, Ted Cruz, that could have been a chill wave name too, if you spelled Cruz like Tom Cruise.

Yeah, shout to Com Trues. That's not going to be an Indycast Hall of Famer, but yeah, 2011, I fucked with that album. Okay, well, let's move on here. to very important business, our Q3 fantasy albums draft. You know the drill. Ian and I are just going to pick five albums coming out in the next three months, and then we're going to square off against each other, see who gets the highest cumulative metacritic score.

This is an interesting quarter because there are some big-ticket indie records coming out in the next three months. and when I was looking at them, I really felt, I don't know if you had this feeling, I feel like there's some wide variance on how some of these albums might do. Like there's artists that in the past, I would think, oh yeah, they're for sure a slam dunk. And this time, just because of like where it's falling maybe in their career

or maybe, you know, coming after a certain record or, you know, being several records deep into a catalog, I'm not sure how. well some of these are going to do. I don't think any of them will necessarily bomb, but are they going to get into the 80s or the high 80s is the question. Did you have that? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, we are deep into fading frontier territory or whatever, you know, maybe not centipede hurts, but I know exactly the records you're talking about. And I was looking at it too where there doesn't seem to be a lot of slam dunks here. This is, I think, and this is, I think, true just in general,

where it's tough to tell, you know, it's tough. Like, there are albums that I'm like, yeah, Steve might pick them because he thinks they're going to be good and well-review, but like, are they going to get the scores they need? And am I going to like start looking for one that's going to just crack eight reviews? There's a wide open field right now. And I, this, every, every draft has the potential to be just a total blowout if one of us just makes one misstep. Yeah, I mean, I feel like, I don't think. think that, you know, just looking at my board, I don't think any of these will bomb. I just think that some might underperform. Yeah. And, you know, our drafts are normally pretty close. So,

you know, getting like an 81 versus an 84 is a big deal. And you're just trying to figure out, okay, am I going to hit this person at the right point? Or are they just going to do okay? So I don't know. We'll find out, I guess. So you won the last draft. incredible, I guess, come from behind victory. Yeah. Do I automatically draft first now or do we want to flip a coin here? So I think what it is, and you correct me if I'm wrong on this, where it is you get to choose whether you want first or we do it like Snake where it's like you pick one, I pick two. Right.

You pick two, I pick two, I think, and then you pick two and then you pick two and then I pick one. So kind of, is that how it goes? Yeah, well, I mean, yeah, exactly. But whoever has the first pick, I think, gets to choose. Right. Whether they're going first or second. So do we want to flip a coin to determine that? I'll let you go first.

Okay, then I will, I'm actually going to let you go first, and I want to take the next two. The furring. Okay, so, ugh, I was hoping this would not be the case because there are a lot of things that I don't know. I'm like, I'm wondering, so I'm wondering like whether we are in Fading Frontier territory or whether they're actually going to bump up from the last one. So, you're going to pick one of these two and I am going to roll the dice with Wednesday. I'm going to roll the dice with Wednesday's album coming out on, I believe.

this is yeah this is pretty late in the quarter bleeds September 19th I feel like they may have not hit their ceiling there is a concern that maybe M.J. Lunderman fatigue might be setting in but that also might lead to a well we got a hype up Carly you know so the new song's been well received I don't think it's going to flop

maybe they're going to uncork another level but yeah you probably know about the other one that I was thinking of but yeah I'm gonna go with Wednesday yeah I would have picked this high too this is not one I feel pretty confident

that this record will be well reviewed I mean I've I have the record I've heard it I think if you liked Ratsaw God this is not a step down from that and I think that there are also songs on the record that feel like they might draw in people that maybe heard Bull Believer and thought, oh, this is a little too

noisy for me. You know, it's definitely, I mean, you know, elderberry wine being the first single, I think, was a sign of, okay, we're going to welcome in maybe the more Americana-minded people into the tent. Because Wednesday, you know, they're an interesting band because they do get grouped in with like that M.J. Lenderman type scene of singer-songwriters. but, like, Carly, like, her band is, like, a lot noisier, and I think more abrasive than a lot of that music.

Like, Lenderman, I think, is in many ways, like, a more straightforward-sounding artist. I mean, I think there's a lot going on beneath that surface, but, you know, you can put on Manning Fireworks, and I think it's, like, an immediate, likable record. Like, people at least like that record. You know, they might not love it, or they might say, like, oh, it's nothing special here.

But it's hard for me to believe that people, like hate that record. Whereas I think Wednesday there's maybe more of that gradient, that variance in how people respond to it. But to me, I think this record will probably have a combination of having enough of what people already like about Wednesday while also offering some entry points for people that haven't gotten on the bandwagon yet. And the MJ Lenderman fatigue aspect, I actually think that, like you said, helps Wednesday. Because he's not really in the band anymore. I think Carly Hartsman, you know, was, she made her name first. And I think there's going to be a lot of people that want to support her in that regard.

So good first pick. I think that's a good one. For my first pick, I'm calling an audible here. I had this on my leaderboard, but I'm bumping it up because the buzz, there's already buzz on this record. People seem to really like it. And it seems like the kind of record where, you know, we always talk. about the 46-year-old music writer in the freelance pool, is this going to be a record that they want to write about?

And if so, it's going to get a good review. And this is also in a genre, I'm talking about hip-hop, that doesn't have like a lot of big-ticket critical favorites anymore. I know where you're going with this. And this is like a familiar favorite. It's a brand. I think it's probably cross-generational. And if it's not, definitely the old heads will be in this record.

I'm going to say clips. is my number one. Yeah, that was not on my, I was thinking about that too, because it's, is this going to be like run the jewels? Because like, I've called Clips Dad Rap, even though like it's long to know as Coke Rap, but like Coke Rap kind of evolves in Dad Rap. Yeah, the, the, the, your GQs, your ringers, those don't get included on Metacritic, but I've seen, look, I've reviewed the last Clips album. This might have been 2009. It was not good. Uh, the stuff sounds good. You're going to get some good beats. I wish Chad Hugo is still in the mix,

but I think this is a good pick for you. I think push a T too is just money in the bank in terms of getting good reviews. I don't think, I can't remember the last time that he put out a record that didn't do really well with critics. So I feel good about that. I think it's going to be, like, in a field of like a lot of records that I'm not 100% sold on, I feel like that. I feel like that that is for sure going to be in the 80s. So it's my number one. And then my other pick, this is a little bit of a curveball too

because there are artists that are more established than this band, but I think that they're on the come-up. And I think I'm going to be hitting them at the right time. So I'm going to go with water from your eyes. That was on my board too. Their record, let's see, that comes out on August 22nd.

It's called It's a Beautiful Place. Their last record, came out. Let's see. I think that was... 23, I think. Everyone's crushed. That was really acclaimed. This is Lorelei. That record, offshoot of water from your eyes. That record did really well. And I think

in the same way that like Lenderman solo success helped Wednesday, I think this is Lorelei. The reception to that record is going to help water from your eyes, which that record was well received. But I feel like it didn't get a huge push. It was a little bit under the radar. and I've heard this record I think it's really good

I think people are going to dig it it feels like a little more accessible than the last one so I think it's going to benefit from people who maybe didn't write about the last record they're going to want to praise this one so I feel like this could do

like a mid to high eight I'm betting on that so yeah I'm putting they're my second pick this was on your board too it was on my board for sure for the same reason It's like kind of like on a much smaller level. Like this is Lorela. I got a lot of run and I think that's going to help.

That's going to help out the record. So do I pick two? You pick two now. You pick your second and third. All right. So this one I don't think was on Metacritics coming soon list, but I just thought of it. And I know you're going to be checking for it. I'm going to pick my next pick, nourish by time.

Yeah, that was, that is not on the Metacritic list. So this is a follow-up to a really well-received album that came out in 2023, erotic probiotic 2. This artist is on Excel records. A lot of people may have missed that last time around. I think that was like top five for pitchfork that year. I mean, this one just feels like money in the bank. I think it's just a matter of what the ceiling is. So I'm excited to hear it.

It's like an indie R&B record. Yeah. I guess the last record they put out was an EP, and I like that record a lot. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I mean, this is a record that I think, you know, we talk about this kind of music being the North Star of music criticism.

Like, if you have, like, the good kind of arty R&B record, you're going to be on a year-end list. And it feels like Nourished by Time is totally in that lane. I think they're really good. And, but, yeah, they check a lot of boxes for, music critics. No question. Yeah. So the next one I'm going to pick is, again, another album I feel is like Money in the Bank. It is an artist called Amore. Her album, Black Star, comes out August 8th. Now, her last album, I think it was called Fountain Baby. That came out in 2023. That had a 95 on Metacritic.

And so that caught my eye for sure. And so, you know, she does kind of, Like, I think she's Ghanaian, like, she's from Ghana, like a Ghana American pop artist. There's some Afro beats or, you know, Afro pop stuff going on there. And it's just, I think it's also on a major label. So, again, this, I don't know if it's going to do bad bunny numbers, but I think that the floor is extremely high for this one. Okay. That's a good pick.

Those are two really good picks. I'm a little nervous about this so far. Okay, now we're getting into the, I'm not totally sure category, and I just have to decide. I've got four albums I'm looking at right now that I think all could potentially be like mid to high 80s or could potentially be low to high 70s or low 80s to high 70s. Okay, I think I'm going to go with Big Thief at number three. their record comes out let's see November I think it's September 5th September 5th double infinity

it's a relatively short record I guess at least compared to the last big thief album which came out in 2022 New Warm Dragon I believe in you did I get that right? You tell me man I haven't actually said that album title in a while neither of I

that's like me that's like me like if i was trying to say the second 1975 album it's like you would think i would know it by now but i actually don't think i've said that out loud new dragon war mountain i believe in you is the album title of course a double record i think one of the best records of the decade and uh it's been a while since they put on a record uh and yeah i mean this is like when you said fading frontier you were thinking a big thief right? Absolutely. Okay, so, and I'm, I think you're skipping the beat here a little bit.

I mean, because I think there's, you're skipping the monomania era here. Because I don't, because I think their previous record was their Halcyon digest, you know, so they wouldn't already get to the fading frontier at this point. They would still have a monomania, which in my memory anyway, was well reviewed. 81. So, and I do think that Big Thief generally has. like a lot of goodwill. And even if this record isn't as well reviewed

as the previous one, which was very, very, very well reviewed, it's hard for me to believe that they're going to just get panned. I have to dig deeper into this record. I've listened to it. I think there's some great songs down there, of course. I mean, it's a big thief.

But I think I'm going to stick with it. I feel a little nervous about it. I don't know how you feel. Like, do you think this is a bad pick? Um, it's, there's some volatility in it for sure. Um, and we had talked about just how the lead single didn't quite register in the way that we would anticipate. And, you know, with the band member leaving and I mean, there is more volatility. It's, you know, it's a solid pick. I think we overstayed a lot of times, like how much the number can change. But, um, yeah, I mean,

fall off a clip. I'm, I, I wouldn't, like, I, I, I'm not expecting this to get like, into the 90s. Right. But I do think it will be 83, 84. Yeah, it's not going to get DJ Katsy on you. Yeah, I would be shocked if it went below like an 83, 84, which I think is a very solid pick at number three. So I think I feel good about it. At number four, I think I think I'm going to go with Alex G at number four,

his record coming out July 18th the major label debut with RCA that record is called Why am I blinking on the title? Headlights Headlights And I've listened to this record I guess I'm not allowed to talk about it yet

because there is an embargo I love the single personally, Afterlife, I think that's a great song Awesome song Probably my favorite of the year Yeah Fantastic song I mean Alex G

His last two records especially very well reviewed. I don't think that this record radically breaks with those two albums. I'm inclined to believe if people like God Save the Animals and House of Sugar that they're going to like this record.

He does feel like a generational artist in a lot of ways. So yeah, again, I'm not totally sold on it because you never know like Indy Star goes to a major label. Are people going to think, oh, this record's too slick, and is that going to dock the reviews a little bit?

I'm inclined to say no, and I'm also inclined to say that the more mainstream, like, Rolling Stone type places will probably review this more positively because it's on RCA. So not 100% sold on it, but I feel pretty good about it. Alex G at number four for me. That feels like a safer pick to me than Big Thief. Okay. Yeah, it was on my list, too, and that was the one that's like, oh, I'm going to take Wednesday or Alex G, but I think, yeah, look, the singles from the Alex G album,

I've just listened to them like nonstop. They're so good. They're really good. He's good at what he does. So, yeah, I think it's going to be well reviewed. Yeah. All right. So do I get two to close it out?

Yeah. All right. So in terms of like Steph Curry at the free throw line guaranteed, Kate LeBond, that's going to be my fourth pick. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, we're looking at. 85. It's just like your

Jenny ball pick last time around. This comes out Yeah, Michelangelo dying comes up September 26, so like right at the end. Yeah. So that will hopefully be my closer. I'm feeling good about that. That's a good pick. That was on my board as well.

Again, just a very solid. She's very consistent. Critics like her. They want to give her good reviews. I have an record. Productions very unique. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's not going to suck. You can almost guarantee it's not going to be bad.

It may not be the album of the year, but it's going to be a solid, you know, double or triple down the foul line. It's going to be very solid. So, yeah, that's a good pick. All right. And for my last one, this is one that, like, I could live to regret this because, you know, as they say, you don't pay for past performance. but all the same, I think this is a type of band that is guaranteed to get a certain type of review from certain type of publications. So when I reviewed the last Wolf Alice album in 2021, it was Blue Weekend.

I made a note in the review. Like by the time I reviewed it, it was like putting up like to pimp a butterfly type numbers and ended at a 91. So they got a new album coming out in August, yeah, August 22nd called The Climbled. clearing. Greg Kirsten's the producer. I'm looking at the Wikipedia and like the first two bands that Wolf Alice met the band has cited their liking for are the vines and the Beatles, which I mean, yeah, get free. Sergeant Pepper's only art club band, you know, kind of on the same level to me. So this one might be like a kind of over the hill, maybe people are tired of

their shit, possibility of like pitchfork giving it like a four or something along those lines. But I'm trust in the enemy i'm trusting guardian i'm trusting the flagwaves at glastonbury to come through for me so i'm going with wolf alice so you don't think that they're about to enter fading frontier territory they put out albums so rarely that i i'm less worried about it i i do think that there is a possibility but i'm also i feel like the the uk rags are money in the bag for me so yeah i could live to regret this but I feel a little more emboldened only because I am I feel very, very sure about what came before. Although I left one and I feel like you're going to pick this number five.

If I really wanted to play it safe, there's another good one in my draft board. But let's see if you pick it. So here are some of the heavy hitters that are still left. We have Wet Leg. That album comes out next week. Ethel Cane, the notorious Ethelcane, the one, who I tricked Ian Not going there

This is her proper follow-up though So a much different story Than that record perverts Sabrina Carpenter Still on the board And Cardi B Her album still on the board I love how that album has like wop on it

Like six years later Like it's true love waits on a moon-shaped pool That's awesome On the indie side Casmecombs is still available Indigo Descentia Susa still available. So I've got some picks here.

Again, I feel like there's a lot of variance on how these could go. In a way, I'm tempted to take Sabrina Carpenter because Short and Sweet was one of the most critically acclaimed records of last year. But it also feels like she just put out an album. The cover got a weird response. I just wonder if maybe she's going to take a little bit of a hit. Cardi B, very critically acclaimed, hasn't put out a record in a while. but again, it's like the long-delayed second hip-hop record.

I don't know if there's like a great track record for that. Feels like that could potentially just be a bad record. Ethel Cain, you know, we have the perverts example. I'm a little gun-shy of that, but again, I think that this is going to be probably like a pretty big record. And then Wet Leg, who, again, are very critically acclaimed band. I feel like they are typically well-weighed. reviewed, but it's like, are people over them at this point? I don't know. Hmm, what should I pick here?

I'm sure you have something in your mind of what I should pick. And you could tell me after I do the pick. I will. I'm going to say wet leg at number five. I feel like similar to your Wolf Alice thing, I think that they'll be well reviewed in England and the American press love them. It's been a long enough gap since the first record that I think people will be ready for it. Don't feel 100% certain in this, but I think it's a good pick. Is that what you would have taken? Yeah, I think that's a good pick because I feel like, you know, it might not blow them up in the same, like, to a higher level than the first one did.

But I think that a lot of like the, I don't know if resistance or just annoyance about that band from the first album kind of burned off. So I think people are going to try to meet it where it's at a little more. I think it's a solid pick. I might have gone with Cass McCombs. I feel like he's always a guy who puts out a record where it's like, oh, man, we just don't appreciate this guy enough. And then it gets good reviews.

And then people do the same thing two or three years later. I think Sabrina Carpenter's got a bit of a backlash coming. I don't think the song, the single that she put out hit in the same way as like the other ones that came up with the first record. Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of good, there are a lot of good choices here, but I think that

wet leg feels like a sure thing. Cass McCombs is the record I'm most excited about in that batch. That and Ethel Cain, I'm very curious to hear that record too, but I kind of wonder if enough people will review that album for it to end up on Metacritic. I think it will.

Just at the point that we're at, like pitchfork even, isn't reviewing legacy indie people like that all the time. Like, it's not an automatic that they review the Cass McCombes record, I don't think. I think they will. I do think that there is this, I do think that enough people will be, in the Cass McCombes in a way they wouldn't be with, like, I'm trying to think of like an indie rock band, like, you know, greet death or something like that, even though they're not really a legacy band. I feel like Cass McCombes, there is more. of a carve out for these like kind of singer-songwriter type so yeah i i feel i casmicomes would have been

safe i had a couple that i was looking at as like flyers uh there was this artist have you ever heard of nova twins no so this is kind of like amore uh they are a they are a british rock duo who they're like doing kind of like a pot it's almost like a libya rodrigo sort of thing where it's like pop but it's like 90s alt rock their last album in 2022 got a 92 um i was also looking at lucretia dalt she's a columbian electronic artist whose last album did really really well another if i was really really feeling saucy i was thinking a lot of spute these oh yeah yeah because i feel like i feel like this record's getting a little more buzz uh than their previous ones maybe they're ready for re-appreciation. So, but I also feel like that, that might be a record that either gets

the, as I like to call it, the Wonder Years style, like five reviews at Punk Publications, 96, or it just doesn't get enough at all. So, we'll see. I don't know. It's an interesting quarter. This is going to be a good draft. I'm excited to see how it turns out. And we feel like I went pretty chalk with it, but there's enough variation to make it interesting. Well, yeah, let's, well, yeah, we should just say what the lineups are here. Ian's team is Wednesday, nourished by time, Amaray, Kate Laban, and Wolf Alice. My team is Clips, Water from Your Eyes, Big Thief, Alex G, and Wet Leg. Yeah, I don't know.

This could be a great battle. Or I feel like my team's riskier than yours. I agree. I think your team is, I feel like I have an idea of what your team's going to do. My team could blow you out or get blown out. So, you know, I'm like this. 2004 Lakers, I think. I'm just bringing in all these sort of big names.

We'll see how they coalesce into a team. That about does it for this episode of Indycast. We'll be back with more news reviews and hashing out trends next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie Mixape newsletter. You can go to uprocks.com backslash indie, and I recommend five albums per week, and we'll send it directly to your email box.