Indiecast - Indiecast Pre-Election Special + Pop Stans Overreact To Critical Reviews (Again)

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

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 [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 Indy Mix tape. 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 pop stars overreacting to bad reviews and some recent concerts Ian and I attended, not together, but separately, I guess. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host. He tried to rip off Mookie Betts' arm during Game Former of the World Series.

Ian Cohen, Ian, how are you? So Steve's probably going to make me cut this in post. But when I'm thinking about the world's... I watched maybe like one second of the World Series and it just made me think of the Love is Blind Reunion episode where I turned it off after like 20 minutes. I'm so fucking sick of these people even though I've been watching them all year.

And that's kind of how... I didn't even know the guy's name until I saw it on the outline. That's how divested I was from the World Series. That's funny because... Because that means I watched more of the World Series than you did. Because I watched a good part of Game 1, and I watched a bit of 4, and then I saw 5.

Basically, I saw the Yankees collapse in Game 5, which was a very satisfying thing. Yeah, I was referring to in the introduction this dude in Game 4, this Yankee fan who, him and his buddy, they basically assaulted Mooky Betts when he was trying to get a ball as it was going foul. I think everyone has probably seen it even if you're not a sports fan. They were trying to just wrestle the glove open

and they were pulling on his wrist like a couple of morons. The dude, the main guy was named Austin Capo Bianco. And he is a very Austin Capo Bianco looking individual. Just picture like what is Austin Capo Bianco? look like and you're going to conjure a vision of this guy of this of this guy in your mind. I mean, I think the Yankees losing was probably the best case scenario for this guy because let's say the Dodgers get up 3-0 and then this guy interferes and then the Yankees just rip off four straight wins, an incredible comeback in the World Series.

This dude who apparently went to college with Gronk, I don't know if I saw that story. I did not. He was on some talk show and he was like, yeah, I knew him. He was on the hockey team at Arizona State. Huh. And Grok was saying. Wait, the Arizona State hockey team. I think it was Arizona State.

Is that right? Yeah, that's crazy. No, it had to be because I know the coyotes, the coyotes, however you pronounce it, before they moved to become, I think, the Utah Hockey Club. They were playing like several years and I think it was Arizona State's hockey arena, which, like, held 3,000 people. So, yes, that is true. So, yeah, I think it was Arizona State.

And Gronk, of course, was defending this idiot for interfering with the play because he's, you know, played in New England. So he's like an honorary macehole, I guess, because he's up there. He's cheering this person. But I think it's good the Yankees ended up, you know, losing 4-1 because this guy, he would have probably become a celebrity. I'm sure Barstool would have given him a podcast. They would have called it like fan interference or something like that. And he'd be beloved in New York, but he'd be hated everywhere else. And I think he would ultimately have a very empty life.

So now he just gets to fade into obscurity. He's not going to be a Steve Bartman type. I mean, Bartman was way sweeter of a person. And, like, he interfered accidentally. I mean, the problem was that he interfered with his own player. Yeah. And that's why people got mad at him. Whereas this Yankee buffoon.

messed with a guy on the opposing team. So now, like, the lowest forms of sports fan life get to look at this guy's a hero. But it doesn't matter because the Yankees lost swiftly anyway. So, yeah, I don't know. Baseball's over. What a sport. It just goes to show that if you have the most money, you can go along with all the odds in your favor and win a world series.

So that's a beautiful thing for baseball. Yeah. Also, I just, you said the most Austin Kapo, Bianco looking dude. And I just can't picture that name in my mind because like Capo Bianco is like a one episode of The Sopranos character. But Austin is like the most millennial ass name. Like it's like Brooklyn or Sienna.

Maybe he's on the penguin, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He was, he's like a, he should have been like a Tony or Johnny. Yeah. Or a, or a Polly.

One of those. But, you know, like, yeah, I hope it's minimal. name is Jay. A.J. Capo Bianco, that's, that's, that's a solid name right there. That's, it probably is. I'm sure, I'm sure he's got a J in the middle. Um, I feel like bad fans is the running theme of this episode today, because we're going to be talking about bad fans in the pop world here in a minute. But we also have to talk about, uh, some of the worst fans in the world. And of course,

I'm talking about Trump supporters. Um, the election is coming up. Big, if true. Like, by the next episode that we record, we may know the president of the United States. I mean, I'm assuming we're not going to know that night because it's so close. And it feels like we never know

the night of anymore. But it's either going to be Kamala Harris or Donald J. Trump. They're going to be the new president a week from now. I can't really wrap my head around it. Am I alone? I mean, it feels crazy, though. the election is this close. Yeah, because this has been true of 16 and 20. And by the way,

like one of the things that I love about how the, the massive archive that we've compiled thus far is that I can look back on what it was like for us when we did this in 2020 because I, I mean, I was alive. I was cognizant. I know, I started a new job. Like I remember 2020 to an extent, but I'm like, did we talk about this on the pod? And do you want to know what we talked about on that episode where like we mentioned the election in the intro? Wow. So, okay, 2020, November 2020.

Yeah. Okay, so we're in lockdown. I still had a broken foot, I think then. We got Biden and Trump. I'm trying to think like what albums were coming up then. Man, I can't remember what we talked about last week, much less November 2020. So I have no idea. What do we talk about?

Well, let's see. You did talk about the first Foxygen album for whatever reason. And we also had like a summer teeth reissue. So I mean, this is back so far that we didn't even get like the intro format where you like made a joke like Ian, like he tried to do this. Ian Cohen. He and how are you just said my friend and co-host Ian Cohen. So this is very embryonic indie cast. But it's like the first season of the Simpsons like we're Homer looks really weird. and like Smithers is black and shit Right yeah it's wow You don't even like watch that season anymore It's like that's not even really the Simpsons No you start in season two Yeah that's not even really indie cast at this point Wow because we were all

Because I think we started in August right? We did The first thing we did I think was like an arcade fire Like the suburbs turned 10 Wow That's some real great podcast content right there baby So it was gonna win I mean like You know because I mean

I would do any like anything just to have something drama free like I'm almost ready to I'm like look I you know who I want to win but at the same time I think that like a good outcome would be if presidential elections like

they should only last a month like this is like the NBA season or whatever where it's like you know all this like load management and shit and it feels like forever like just make it 20 games and the election run up needs to be a month long. I don't know if I or America can do this shit again because no matter what result happens and how long it takes to get an outcome, we're already thinking about 2028.

It just is never ending and I just don't know if I have it in me. I mean, this election cycle, it really, I mean, it was shortened because of the Kamala Harris coming in so late. It was like the strike shortened NBA season. Bubble chip. Yeah, you start at Christmas, and that's opening day. And you're playing 65 games. You know, I just want to say, like, I'm sure we have Trump voters listening. And God bless you.

You know, we welcome all people inside the Indycast tent. How are we about we can leave politics outside the door. So I don't want to belabor that too much. So forgive me if I sound depressed when I say this, but I'm not feeling good, Ian, about this. I feel like in a way that Trump's already won. Same. I have that feeling. It feels a little like a foregone conclusion,

even though the polls are basically even. I mean, they're saying this is going to be one of the closest elections ever, which is crazy because it feels like every election now is super close. But I don't know, man. I'm not feeling great. I'm not feeling great about it. Even if he loot, like,

I think the differences, and I think you're kind of alluding to this, where it like feels like he's already won, they haven't, like, admitted they lost 2020. So, you know, like, even if, like, you know, heads, I win, tails you lose, it's sort of that kind of situation where, yeah, it just feels as if even if there is a decisive victory

in some way, shape, or form, we're not going to, like, I don't know, rest easy for any, you know, any time in the near, future. But I mean, also at the same time, that was true in 2020. And, you know, here we are. And it's probably a lot easier to prevent a guy, you know, to kick a guy to like prevent someone from coming back than to kick them out, which is what happened in 20. But I don't feel great. You know, I just don't, I feel like so many times on this season, we've talked about like how 2024 was shaping up to be the worst of all possible worlds. And I also feel like we've dodged some bullets, you know, like gotten

Well, literally, in the case of Trump, if we can say that. I mean, I just feel like culturally, it feels like it's leaning, the culture feels trumpier right now. Oh, God, yes. In a way that 2016 did, you know, where I know it was controversial when Trump had an insult comic at his political rally. But I think the larger point is that he felt emboldened to invite an insult comic in the first place.

Like that was just something that like, oh, we feel good about this. And, you know, he had to apologize for it because he actually does have like a pretty big base. I mean, like it's relatively big base of like Latino voters this time around. It seems like he's gained more of that into his coalition for this election. But I don't know. In a weird way, like the Tom Brady roast at the beginning of the year was like a bellwether for culture. because it feels like people now are like kind of nostalgic for like ironic

racism as comedy. Like that was a thing like in the 2000s. Like you saw that happening a lot. Like oh, I'm like Sarah Silberman. I'm saying racist things but I don't really mean it. You know, so it's funny. Like and then that went away. And now, you know, like the time Brady Rose happened

and all the reaction to that was like, oh, comedy is back. We can say what we want and it's great. And it just feels like that set the tone for the year. I wonder, like, in music, if we're going to see a return. Like, are we going to see, like, a white rapper to get really big from, like, dropping, like, the R word and the N word. And, like, all the M&M shit, basically, from the turn of the set. Like, are we reaching that point now, like, where that is going to be a commercially viable thing?

Because it felt like we were. we were past that and that was never going to come back. It really kind of felt like that for a while because like when we were growing up, there was always that one artist who got popular because they were doing transgressive stuff in their lyrics. Right. You know, pushing the envelope and that was always a popular thing among young people. And then you have this generation now that really isn't into that kind of thing.

And it just felt like, oh, every successive like generation is going to be, moving away from that. And we reach the point in the culture now where people are going to be like, yeah, we want like the white rapper who says naughty things. Like, is that going to be an archetype that's like a huge commercial thing now again? I mean, as we speak, there is like a 4.8 review or 4.6 review of a white rapper that's very popular named Ian. So I haven't listened to Ian's music, but, or maybe it's pronounced I and I don't know. Maybe that's what you have to listen to Ian's music. They should have been like Ian reviews Ian. That would have been a great.

That would be a good bit. Yeah. In a past life, I might have done that just for the gag. But I should say, too, that the person who edits our show every week, Ian, is also an Ian. So we're like a double Ian podcast at this point. That's, yeah. You know, Ian squared. Yeah, I've never like, I went like 32, something.

years of my life never having met another Ian and now it's like uh it's like an austin copo bianconecone name like austin ian these are like common ass names now but yeah i do wonder about like the culture because like you know when we talk about like how a lot of this run up has felt kind of sensual pantsuit anthem 2016 we're not getting 2017 if trump wins again like there might be a resistance but it's not going to be like Lizzo or uh whatever else you might think of as being the things that emerged at that time. There's exhaustion with that.

Yeah, people are just, like, either way, either result, there's just going to be an exhaustion. And I don't know if we're going to get like, like, a situation where we have like new Andrew Dice Clay's or whatever you want to call it, but. That's my prediction. I think we're going to keep, I feel like we're going in the other way with the pendulum. Yeah.

Yeah. In 2017, it was like where the resistance, hashtag resistance. and we're going to do this super, you know, attack on Trump from the left. I feel like this time, if Trump wins, the left's going to be exhausted, and the right is going to be spiking the football over and over again, and we're going to get this rise of right-wing pop culture. Because that's already been rising in the podcast world, certainly. But it feels like that could be the apotheosis of that.

It just, that becomes the new unbearable pop culture. It was coming from the left. in the late 2010s, now it's going to be just horrible right-wing, comedy, music, film. I could see that taking hold, and then people get sick of that, and then we'll do this all over again in 2008. That's my prediction, if Trump wins. And maybe even if he loses, I think that could happen. I think it's happening either way.

There's just this exhaustion. Like, one of the predictions I made during the first, like, or the first, I'm like already skipping ahead. But, like, during the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, Trump presidency. I thought truly tasteless jokes were going to come back. That's a real like kind of 80s thing where you would see in like actual like bookstores. There were these collection of like just straight up like racist jokes. They'd have a Polish section and, you know, blacks. I'm like, this is definitely making a comeback and it didn't. I was way off on that, but maybe like round two. But I do think that, um, I mean, we could also make the argument and like I'm holding onto this that

like this is just a what we're seeing with like having an insult comic at the art or the you know the republican rallies and so forth is just a result of them being so fucking online that they don't realize that this shit is not playing publicly i don't know like i'm hoping and praying that like all the stuff we're seeing is just a result of a media bubble that doesn't translate and like for the maybe just like the people who actually come out and vote will do so because they just like want to keep abortion or whatever but no matter like what What outcome? Like, it's like prediction, pain. You know, that's what we're getting either way.

You know, it's just a slightly, you know, whether it's just like mild GI to stress or like a splitting hangover. Like, that's what we're choosing between. Yeah, I don't know. Don't feel good. But we'll see. We'll reconvene next week. We'll see what happens. Let's go from politics cast to inside baseball music critic cast here. And hopefully you guys care about this. Ian and I can. about it. So we're going to talk about it for just a few minutes. There was a little controversy this week. It was little in terms of the scheme of the world, but in music critic circles, it was a big deal. Pitchfork ran a review of the new Halsey record called The Great Impersonator. And they gave

it a 4.8, which is not a good score, if you're not aware. And the stands, the chronically online Halsey stands, which is an inherently ridiculous phrase. Halsey has stands. We could just talk about that. Like, why is that a thing? But anyway, they got upset. They're going after the writer. Shad DeSuzzo, a good writer, smart writer.

He's an English writer, isn't he? I think Australian. He's Australian. Okay. He's an Aussie. Halsey actually called him out specifically. in a Twitter post where she sarcastically cobbled together quotes from the review that made it look like a rave. And, you know, look, it's fun with, let's start with this.

With Halsey, I can't name a single Halsey song. I don't care about her music, one iota. And I feel like the only time I hear about her is when she's reacting to pitchfork reviews. Because I think this was her last record. I don't know what pitchfork gave it. I think they actually gave it a better review than this. review. But she did some tweet where she was like, she's going to like bomb the basement of their house or something. Basically, yeah, basically like they should bomb where pitchfork is and like kind of not realizing

that they're in like one like World Tower Center. It's just like accidentally calling for another 9-11. Right, right. I'm trying to find this tweet. Where is it? I think this was their, yeah, I'm sure. Oh yeah. Can the basement that they run pitchfork out of just collapse already? And yeah, they're in the World Trade Center. So. And that was for a 6.5 review, I think, or I don't know. Yeah, I think that was for a 6.5. So, and the last one got a 7.0. So yeah, so she's upset. And all the stands are coming out, defending Halsey. I just got to say, if there's any Halsey stands in our audience, I don't know what there are. Probably not. if there are? I've never met a Halsey stand in real life. I really think these could be like Russian bots who, instead of interfering with the election, they're interfering with music

criticism. But what are you doing? Standing for Halsey? I don't understand it. All I know her about is her overreacting to pitchfork reviews in a hilarious fashion. That seems to be her whole thing. I don't get it. The whole sort of thing with, because look, Taylor Swift, she's a huge star. I know she has a lot of fans. But like now we're getting like to the B and C tier of, of pop stars. Can we get back, we need to get back to the, maybe this is going to be a positive. Okay, going back to the Trump thing. Let's say he gets reelected. Can one of the side effects of Trump getting reelected is that it becomes okay to just like mock pop stars again in the music press and that we don't give good reviews at any point to pop stars because we need to train these people to not expect great reviews of their

record. We need to just have them say like, hey, look, it's Halsey. I guess she's popular. That's reward enough. We don't have to care what the music critics are saying. We need to get back to that place. Maybe that can be the bright side of reactionary populism. Of the Trump era. That can be the good form of reactionary populism, like we were just saying, no, it's going to be a given that pop stars get a 4.5 every single time. And Stansy to chill out and not expect good reviews of their favorite stars. I'm being sarcastic here, by the way, because I know I need to announce that

in case someone actually thinks I'm being sincere. I'm just joking, but maybe not joke. I'm like maybe 15% serious when I say that. Yeah, I mean, like, Halsey, like, and I've never said the name out loud. But, like, I mean, this is a super popular artist. I mean, maybe not at the level of like Taylor Swift, but like probably at like a dual leapa, you know, or I don't know. But like, I feel like, what's like what's a big Halsey song? Uh, closer is the only one I've heard.

That's the song I think she did with chain smokers. And I think I heard. Yeah. But like, I've never heard like other, a solo one. I can't say I've heard it. And I'm like, look, at the gym I go to. They play the same Duelipa in like Jesse J songs like a hundred fucking time. So like, yeah, she has like five songs over a billion streams.

Yeah. Closer has over three billion streams. Yeah. So, I mean, but I do think it's, uh, are we starting to like get together this like class of pop stars who like care way too much about pitch for? Because like there's the Phenei, like Billy Elish's brother, Phineas, I believe that's pronounced. I need to know how to pronounce these names. Yeah, we've been a long.

I think it's Phineas. Fini. Yeah. I guess you're right. I mean, I'm going to trust you over me with this pronunciation, but we've come a long way. Not a good idea. Not a good idea to trust me on pronunciations, but I think it's Phineas.

Yeah. Like, man, we've come a long way from like the deer ticks and the airborne toxic events or whatever. I mean, the states are way high. Halsey's acting like the disgrace former guitar player of real estate here. I mean, you know, griping over pitchfork scores. It's like, do they, like, was she like in an indie band once? Like, why did she? she care about pitchfork.

She was like in a 2010 dream pop band that sounded like wild nothing. I don't know. I was going to say she was also in the history of apple pie with Kelly Oans. Again, I reviewed that record so Halsey don't come after me. I only gave it a 6.7 though. So she probably wasn't happy about that. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's also funny.

Like Shad de Sousa was also the person who wrote the review of the Foxings, draw down the moon that got people in such an. or I like Shad DeSuzza's writing. Like this is one of the very few writers who can actually take pop stars to task in a way that isn't just like in a way that's like they clearly care enough. Like they clearly care enough to like engage with the music. But they were dead wrong on Drawdown the Moon. And I've told them that.

And Shad DeSu-look, I mean, look, we're going to be, we're going to offer solidarity to the music critic obviously in the situation. Yes. I mean, I will say again, I mean, I've said this before that it. If you're a pop star or any musician, I think you have the right to complain about a review if you feel like it's unfair. I mean, we're writing our opinion. They don't have to just sit there silently and take it.

If they feel like it's unfair, I think they have a right to say that. What I would say is maybe have some awareness if you're going to call out an individual person. It's one thing if you're going to complain about pitchfork as an institution. I think that's fair game. But if you're going to call out an individual writer in your Halsey and you have 44 million followers on Spotify, maybe you can like have some sort of awareness of your power and to know that an individual person shouldn't be targeted. Yeah, pitchfork, they're a big brand. You know, they're in the World Trade Center, their own by Condi Nast. You can complain about them.

But I think if you are in that kind of position of power and you're going to call out an individual person, I think that's pretty weak behavior. And it just shows that you're a big baby and you're surrounded by people who always tell you how great you are and they're never telling you the truth. And maybe you should, you know, toughen up a little bit. All right. Well, let's check in on our fantasy album draft here. You have an album out today. It's from Mount Erie. I'm looking up, do you remember the title?

Night Palace. Night Palace. Night Palace. And, of course, this is the project of Phil. Elvrum? Yes. Fuck, man. That's a name.

That's a name I've never said out loud. I've never said his last, I've typed it many times, but I've never said it out loud. Phil from the microphones, we'll call him that. This is his, of course, long-going project. Emotionally heavy project. In terms of the metacritic score, it doesn't look like we have one yet. Nope. Surprising.

Have you heard this record? Yes, I have. And what do you think? Yeah, so the reason I, picked it. I mean, like, he's a pretty prolific guy. Um, and, uh, there's been a, I guess a surge of, uh, of, uh, critical praise since, uh, the 2017 Al McRow looked at me, which is the one. It was like the epitome of post Benji, uh, music where it was like very talky about, you know, his wife who passed away. But, um, this record, so in 2020, they did the microphones in

2020, which is like kind of getting back to like, you know, the people, like, you know, the people, the kind of sound and looking back on the glow part two, which is to me, like their masterpiece. I fucking love that album so much. But this is apparently kind of a follow-up, or at least within, in the same way that like the new cure album is being seen.

It's like, oh, yeah, this is getting back to disintegration or what have you. This is being seen as a bit more like the glow part two, which would make it, the glow part three. And it is very much in his bag of, kind of DIY orchestration, lyrics about like death and the environment and just being out in nature. He lives on this like island in Washington State.

And, you know, it's a lot to take in. I've not, it's, I think it's a lot of work. And I don't necessarily say that in a negative way. It doesn't hit me as immediately as like, you know, a song like I won't wind to blow or the moon. But it just strikes me as the kind of record. that gets released late in the year and gets like praise and maybe kind of fades out once the year the calendar changes. I don't think this is a record I'm truly going to have an opinion about until it gets on streaming. Like I've been listening to it on the streaming like, you know, whatever app it is, Holics or promo jukebox.

And this is just not the way to do it. I need full attention. So I like what I've heard, but I just not been able to dig into it yet. But I do think it's the reason I picked it is because I think it's, one of those records that has just like, oh yeah, this is the, like microphones doing their thing, nine out of ten. Yeah, I could definitely, you know, again, we always talk about like the one person on staff who reviews records like this and they're inclined to, you know, rubber stamp a high score.

And it feels like this is for the, you know, the aging indie rock guy or woman, you know, you're going to give it to them, you know, the 43-year-old Wiley Bettsman music writer. and that's our people so we know who they are they're going to get this record they're going to probably give it a good good score I have a weird thing with the microphones

like where they just totally passed me by they were a band that was active when I was you know full on indie rock you know like late 90s early 2000s just never got into them

and I don't know why I never even really got deep into the catalog so it's not like I have a negative opinion of their music it's just that I never got into it and I was surrounded by people who love the microphones.

I mean, they had microphones like tattoos and things like that. But I don't know, just totally passed me by. I don't know what I was doing. I was probably listening to like rated R. Because of the Stone Age or something. Why not? Yeah, I'm actually getting in the next year. I think my next tattoo is going to be one of the glow part two cover.

So, uh, seriously? Yeah. See, there you go. You're another person. I'm surrounded by microphones tattoo getters. Um, and then in terms of Mount Erie,

You know, you were mentioning that record, a Crow looked at me from 2017, a post-Trump record. And in a way, appropriate for the time, because it's a record about grief and it's very heavy, and it seemed like people were ready

for a record like that. And this is the one way I'm going to compare Mount Erie to Halsey, because the Halsey record, the great impersonator, one of the things that people talk about with that album is how, you know,

What she's talking about the album is like she had a cancer scare apparently. And she's also, you know, she thinks about like mental health issues. It's a very heavy record. And it's one of those situations where I think for people who love the record, they conflate the subject matter with how to feel about the album. So it feels strange, I think, for a lot of people to criticize a record that is so personal and honest and soul-bearing and all these other things. I mean, it really is the kind of record where people say personal,

and they don't just mean that as an adjective. They mean it as a compliment. Yeah. You know, like personal music. I think for some people is, oh, that means it's good, or that means it's more real, when personal music can potentially be as bad as any other kind of music. So I think with the Mount Eerie record, for me,

I remember when it came out, to me, it felt more like a podcast than an album. But I didn't really want to say that. at the time because you're going to criticize a record where a guy's talking about how his wife passed away? I mean, how do you not feel like a jerk doing that, even though I think it's a legitimate thing to say because we're talking about a record. A record is not the sum total of its intentions or its subject matter. It has to exist as a work of art divorced from all of that. But it gets difficult, I think, to talk about. It feels awkward, frankly, to criticize a record

like that. So in that respect, I would say the great impersonator in a crow looked at me, are parallel albums. And that is the subject of my next think piece. In this essay, I will. Yeah, I mean, it's funny because like I didn't like I could, like I just couldn't get. Not because like, oh, this is so devastating. And it is a devastating record. Like I can read, I read an essay about it. And that's kind of the same with the microphones in 2020, which was also very podcast like. Um, yeah, these weren't albums I like revisited much because like, look, I mean, I, I was a Benji person through and through. And I think that had like more of like a musicality and like a way there, there was more of a way in. So, um, you know, I'll support like I think he's such an original and such like his own sort of, I don't know, cottage industry that I'm stoked for him to do whatever he's going to do. Um, also like there was that there was a period of time where he was like making like kind of like metal albums. Um, um. post, I think the album he made in 2003 as the microphone's called Mount Erie.

Like, he's had just a really interesting run. And, you know, I think he's, I think in some ways I respect him more than I enjoy him. Because, like, there's the glow part two and then there's everything else. But I think that's also hard because, like, the glow part two was famously the number one album for pitchfork in 2001. And, yeah, I was like totally pitiful. fork filled back then. So I made, I put in the work to get into that out. And maybe, I don't know if I have that sort of capacity in me to do the same with that night palest. There was actually a really good review of it by Patrick Lyons and Stereo Gum that got me prime for it. So shout to him.

All right. Well, maybe, uh, maybe I'll give the microphones a chance here. This might be my excuse. Although I'm probably not going to do that. I'm not going to really do that. But maybe I'll do But we'll see. We'll see if I get in the mood. Is this a good time of the year to listen to the microphones? Are they more like a springtime or summer? Oh, no. This is like, you know, darker, just kind of seeing the seasons change.

Yeah, I think it's quite appropriate for the time of year. All right. Sounds good. I'll give them a shot. You brought this up as an idea, and I thought it was a good one, that we do a little scene report segment here where we talk about. talk about some shows that we saw recently because we were both, was this the same night? Yes, it was.

This weekend. Okay, so on Saturday night, last Saturday night, I saw Drive-by Truckers on the Southern Rock Opera. I guess it's not the anniversary. I mean, I guess this would be what, like the 23rd anniversary. So it's not like an anniversary tour, but like they're playing the album in its entirety. It's a celebration. Yeah, celebrating the record. and there's also newer songs interspersed in there as well.

And then you saw knocked loose the same night. Yes. Was that in San Diego? No, it was in Santa Ana. It's great because like throughout the show and I'm not going to be able to do the guy's voice. It's like a very much like kind of metal voice where he's like, I thought this was Orange County. Get the fuck up.

Like every. Don't get me wrong. This crowd was like insane. But he made it he made a point to say like every 10 minutes because these are very short songs that like this is Orange County. I need you to do Orange County shit. And because like, you know, most of the people who are there like Orange County metalheads or Orange County hardcore people. Make fun of Orange County all you will. But like compared to L.A., compared to San Diego, that's where you're going to see the liveliest crowd.

Especially if it's like punk or like metal or like any form of like heavier dumb out music. So that's Orange County shit just going crazy? Yeah. They're known for the crowd surfing. They're known for the circle pitting. You probably will not see that in L.A. And there was a part of the show where they had to put the lights up because I think the medical team, someone may have passed out or got injured.

And there was like a couple minutes where the lights went on. And so they get back on stage. It's like, you know, we don't want to see that. But like, you know, this energy. good like star crowds like basically like yeah we want to see chaos like don't hurt each other but like what you were doing before that awkward pause do that again and there was just so many calls to like crowd surf to circle pit to like they parted the crowd and it's like everyone rushed back to the middle like just it's it's it's it was not it was like unlike any other show i had seen in

24 and i say that in the best way possible uh they put on a show like i thought, you know, I know like Knocked Loose always gets compared to turnstiles. Like, yeah, you know, they're kind of not as poppy. They're not as like accessible, not as mainstream. But I mean, when I see a Turnstile show, that's like a punk show. Knock Lose has pyro. They got like smoke machines. They got like a set like a set backdrop that looks like their videos. They learned a lot opening from Slipknot. But apparently they've been doing this for like eight years on stage. It's just an incredible metal show. I mean, they've also played Coachella.

They played Bonaroo. So they know how to work a crowd. And it really put a cap on just how enormous this band is and was and has gotten in 2024. So would it shock you if I said that Drive By Truckers was not like that at all? Oh, I've been to Drive By Truckers. shows and yeah like there were there were no there was no pit there was no pyro or anything like that but it was i mean look they are i think one of those bands i would put like wilco in the category in this category maybe put spoon in there this bands that have been around forever and they aren't in the zeitgeist

but they also still have big audiences and they just every time they go out to to perform it's always great. There's not a bad show. Some shows might be a little bit better than others, but it's always so consistently great. And that was one of the things I was feeling as I was watching the show this weekend. The lineup that they have right now, they've had for about a decade, I guess, at this point. And it's like the best lineup of the band they've ever had. And yes, I'm including the Jason Isbell years. I think just in terms of like them as a performing unit, You know, the old Isabel lineup, and that's what Isabel, of course, was heavy into drinking as well as other things. That band could hit highs, perhaps, that this band couldn't hit, but they were also way less consistent.

I mean, that band could be a mess. Yes. And this band, they're just always so good and so powerful. And they're playing Southern Rock Opera, which is just a great record. It's great to hear live. And they were playing it in sequence, but they would also, you know, maybe play five songs from Southern Rock Opera. Then they would play like a couple other songs from the catalog and then they would go five more songs in the Southern Rock Opera. So it wasn't like just one block of a record and then like maybe another set of different songs.

I actually thought that was a good way to do it. I've never seen a band play an album live where they did it that way. Normally you just play the album as is and then you go into like your. other songs. I saw Air play Moon Safari recently, and that's what they did. And that was really cool, because I'd never seen air. And I never thought I would see air.

But I actually like breaking up the album, because it makes it feel a little more digestible and also just less predictable. So that was really good. I don't know, man. It was just great. I loved it. They're just one of those bands where

you know, like Tom Petty died, so the heartbreakers aren't on the road. You know, they were sort of like the original American rock band that you would just see every summer and they were always great or you had like cheap trick I feel like is in that camp as well you know they're like in their 70s now

but they're always good just these bands that you just rely on you know it doesn't matter if they have new album out you know if they do it's probably going to be good but you just go see the show no matter what and it's always great and I just felt a lot of gratitude I guess at this show that this band is around

and they're doing it and they're doing it so well. Mike Cooley, my God, just the coolest dude, man. That guy still is the coolest dude. Accurately named guy. Ever. Exactly. No one has ever earned the name Mike Cooley more than the Mike Cooley. Patterson Hood just righteous indignation on stage.

He like literally said, you know, if punching Nazis makes you Antifa that I am Antifa, you know, this southern dude in his 50s. just representing I don't know great band great great band yeah I needed to see them again like because you know

I was in Athens Georgia during decoration day dirty South era and I they would come to Athens back to Athens to play like a show

like right before college football season started and they'd be like three and a half hours I'd maybe make it like an hour and a half into it before I had to like go home because I was like

too drunk to stand and I'd leave my credit card at the Georgia theater I mean yeah yeah Yeah, I need that back in my life, you know, like in the same way that I can enjoy a knocked loose show, you know, because I'm like, you know, 44 years old and not trying to like party. I can enjoy a DBT show in the same way, you know. Yeah, and it'd be more chill now, too.

I think you could make it through the duration without falling over. Fun fact. Fun fact, there was like a 2002 or three show in North of Virginia where like I heard a bootleg and there's. like a fight that breaks out during the show. Yeah, one of my friends was in that one. That's how we got down. Oh, my God. See, this is the Ian Cohen I want to meet.

I want to meet early 2000s, Ian Cohen. No, you do not, man. This is beautiful. All right, let's get to our mailbag segment. Thank you all for writing in. It's always good to hear from our listeners. Even the ones on Twitter who like to tell me how disappointed they are in me. I think you know who I'm talking about.

I'm talking to Jared out there. I had a good nature back and forth with him, but he likes to tell me how disappointed he is in us every time. He's not a fan of sports cast, this person. I still hear from the non-sports cast liking people sometimes. Yeah, the Eagles are good again, so you're shed out of luck. This guy, I think, is from Philadelphia area. So maybe that's why, because I've talked a lot of smack about the Eagles.

Might have alienated some of our Go-Birds fans out there. Anyway, always great to hear from our listeners. Thank you for writing in. You can hit us up at Indicastmailbag at gmail.com. Ian, you want to read our email this week? Yes, I do, because this one's right up my alley. This comes to us from Jarrett from Dallas. And they say I was listening to your Japan droids discussion.

And while I'd never been able to put my finger on exactly what I thought about the band, Steve nailed it when he said they were put on this earth to make celebration rock. Whatever else they did is mostly irrelevant. I don't know if that's exactly what you said. I don't care what else they did or didn't do as a band because they made that album. Sure it'd be great to have more like it, but not everyone strikes cold twice. With that being said, what other bands fall into this category? One that comes to mind is turnover and their 2015 record peripheral vision.

Even it shows the crowd erupts when the band plays songs off that album are at most content to listen to whatever else they play. Thanks for not being one pod wonders and cranking out a new hit every Friday, Jared from Dallas. Is this where we have the beach slang conversation, Ian? They seem like a time and place band. Oh my God, yeah. You know, in a weird way, and it might be weird to see this because I feel like a lot of people consider this like one of the greatest albums of all time.

But it does feel like it was very much a time and place type record. And it makes sense that there wasn't a follow-up to it. is Nutra Milk Hotel in the airplane over the sea. I thought you were still talking about beach slang. No. Pivoted off beach slang. No, I feel like in a way that record is like a celebration rock of a different kind where it's like a very sort of fever pitch post-adolescent record.

You know, like you hear that record when you're 21. And it feels like it's describing everything that's inside of you. And I mean, that record literally came out when I was 21. So for me, it's definitely a time and place record. But, you know, unlike Japan droids, like Neutral Milk Hotel didn't make another record after that one. So I feel like that for me, like that's the one that came to mind as, okay, this project was designed to make this record. Now I know there's going to be Neutral Milk Hotel heads out there who say, well, on Avery Island, is actually a better record.

And in a way, you may have a point. But again, I think in terms of their legacy or what they're known for, you know, every island is the post-nothing. And the airplane over the sea is the celebration rock. So that would be my answer to that. How about you? Is there a time-in-place band that comes to mind? Yeah, because, I mean, there are,

Jared, in my view, is asking two different questions, one of which is, like, a time-in-place sort of band, like a band that just kind of hit you at a certain moment. and whether there are bands that were meant to make one album. You know, not always the same thing. Because, I mean, look, Peripheral Vision is the turnover album. I actually think good nature is better. I know that's a rare opinion.

But, yeah, when you go to a turnover show, people are like crowd surfing to cutting my fingers off and whatnot, even though they sound like, you know, like Dream Pop. They sound like Wild Nothing in 2012. But what I was thinking about this, A lot of bands that I thought were they are put on Earth to make this one record. That's not how the public sees it because like the rapture and echoes, you know, in the critical sphere, like, that's the only record. But I see them live and like the stuff that came after goes off just as hard. Same with washed out.

Like you would think that Life of Leisure, the EP with Feel It All Around on it would be. I mean, that is like that perfection of the form. They're still playing like a thousand cap rooms in San Diego. I think that where this happens more often, at least in my view, is with rap. And I will all talk about the neutral milk hotel in the airplane over the sea of early 2010's hip-hop, which is Waka Flaka Flames Flakele. Many people are saying, Hard in the Pain, you know, Kiga Karat Flowers, same song. Perfect album. But like the only one I really ever need.

needed to hear. I appreciate that he, you know, he made an album or two after, but more or less went into that very robust 2015-ish EDM frat-boy touring circuit. Stay with 50 cent. Like, get rich or die trying, put on earth to make that record. Don't need to hear anything else. You could possibly say the same of Snoop Doggy style. I was going to say, I was going to say doggy style. Yeah, but apparently him and Dr. Dreher putting out a new album. Like, you know, this is like, news that is posted as we speak. Wow. Yeah.

I mean, also, like, if in the Emos, like, say anything, I mean, I think is a real boy, is the say anything record. I don't hear any other stuff from the guy. But yeah, I think that, like, there are, there are bands that were put on earth to make one record and also ones that hit in, like, a certain time or place. I do think that, you know, the Smiths, Pinkerton, if you don't hear those records when you're like 18 to 20 or like 16 to 21 they're just not going to register for you and um yeah like uh in the airplane obviously came out when i was 18 but i really got into it when i was 20 years old so

what about titus and geronicus the monitor oh yeah absolutely dude even though i like the album they put out not local business i mean that's kind of a sore subject but uh uh the one they put out afterwards that one was really good but yeah the monitor is that That's their album. Like that is, yeah. I like the one before it, airing grievances, too. Yeah, which is very much the post-nothing in Avery. Right.

Yeah. Right, right, totally. When you brought up Waka Flaka Flame, I was thinking about that fraternity's book among the bros. Oh, yeah. Because Waka Flaka's in that book, and he's hanging out with, like, the frat-boy drug dealers and that whole thing. That's a great book.

Great book. We've now reached the part of our episode that we call Recommendation Corner, where Ian and I talk about something that we're into this week. Ian, why don't you go first? Yeah, I should have brought up this record last week. But it's actually way bad. Like, I thought it was good. And now I'm like, wow, this is actually like really fucking good.

And really demands more time. So a band that put out my favorite emo record of 2022, Ben Quad. They were the subject of a nice uprocks profile over the past week. And it wasn't even written by me. So shot the- Is that legal? I know, right? Like this is

Josh Kerp wrote that Yeah So shout out the dude Reping for Oklahoma City Emo So yeah They're a band that I've been really interested

To see what they do next Because You know They had signed a wax bodega Now they're on pure noise Which makes them label mates With knock loose But also cloud nothings

And you know Instead of putting out a album They put out an 11-minute EP Which is you know, in my view, the best release of the kind of screamo metal core adjacent variant of emo. And I hear a lot of this music and I usually forget about it after like, you know, it's like, oh, this kicks ass and I don't revisit it. But these guys clearly have more melodic chops.

They've been described as like, oh, this would be huge on fuse or MTV2 in 2004, which, you know, I say complimentary. I think they got a new record coming out next year. If you haven't heard their 2022 record, go visit that. it's a lot more kind of melodic and like almost dipandroids like um i feel like these guys might have they might have the juice to be like one of those bottom of the lineup bands when we when we were young does in 2026 you know because this year i think arm's length is that band i think it could be ben quad um yeah big fan of their album um and just gives me like hope because like

i've not been up to speed on emo this year but the good good music is happening it's just not always getting the boost it needs. But let me give another Uprox Ben Quad Boost. So I want to talk about a band that I've been a fan of for a while. They're called Second Grade. It's a band from Philadelphia. And really at the vanguard of modern-day power pop.

For my money, they're the best band doing that right now. And what I like about them, and I think what positions them like a little bit from a lot of power pop that goes on is that I feel like in the genre, a lot of times there's a lot of signifiers, you know, the chiming guitars, the boyish sounding vocals, you know, all the signifiers that represent the genre. And sometimes it can come off as like a little too slick or a little cloying or, you know, even smug in some ways. The great thing about second grade is that they're like a band that tries to sound like the monkeys, but from like a

guided by voices type perspective. The songs are pretty short. They're fairly low-fi. They're, There's sort of like a deliberate sloppiness to their records, I think especially this one. Like I was a big fan of their previous album, Easy Listening, that came out in 2022. I think it actually made my top 10 that year. And that was like one of, that's kind of like their most focused record. I mean, the songs are really good. And they kind of sound like the most like a normal rock band, I think, on that record. And I think that the hit rate on that album is a little bit higher than it is on this album.

which is called Scheduled Explosions. I don't know if I said... Did I say the album title yet, Ian? I don't think so, but... Okay. It's scheduled explosions. Yeah. It's called scheduled explosions, this new record.

And this record feels more like a GBV record. You know, it's great melodies, but it's like a little more off-kilter. There's a little bit more of a chaotic energy going on. But I really like it. This is such a good band. Just write really good tunes. I think all their records are really good.

So definitely check them out. Easy listening if you missed it last time. Definitely get that record. And then this album as well, scheduled explosions. Really good, really good melodic power pop as we move into the winter months. Yeah, I dig this record too, and I hear this one. I'm like, it's one of those records where I'm like, I'm surprised even talk about this one last week. Well, there's been a, I mean, October was loaded.

Yes. October was a great month for records. I'm still catching up. So the recommendation corner, it was a hotly contested corner. This was like the corner in the wire. You know, people are going to war, trying to take the corner. trying to defend the corner. So to get to the corner at all lately has been a big achievement.

So, yeah, second grade. I think this record came out last week. Yeah. It came out the 25th. So didn't get to it last week, but I'm getting to it now. Better late than never. Second grade, scheduled explosions. Good, good band.

Thank you all for listening to Indycast this week. We'll be back with more news reviews, hashing out trends, hashing out election results, maybe. We'll see next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie Mix tape 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.