Indiecast - Let's Review The 1975's Discography

Episode Date: July 8, 2022

The 1975 are a band that seem to consistently inspire discourse, whether it's from their passionate fan base or in response to lead singer Matty Healy's antics. And since The 1975's new era of music is upon us, Indiecast hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen decide it's time to take a deep dive into the band's discography, including their studio albums and early EPs (25:26).Indiecast also discusses the biggest music news from this week. After giving Kate Bush a major boost, Stranger Things highlighted another '80s artist in their show: Metallica (7:57). Streams of Metallica‘s classic track "Master Of Puppets" have increased significantly following its use in Stranger Things' season four finale, but it still hasn't quite matched the success of "Running Up That Hill." Steven and Ian also talk about the yearly "Song Of The Summer" discussion, which is probably Harry Styles' "As It Was" this year (2:35).In the Recommendation Corner (1:00:51), Ian nods to Ben Quad, an Oklahoma-based emo artist. Steven shouts out Alvvays, who returned this week with the new track "Pharmacist."New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 96 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 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 are discussing the discography of the 1975. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host. I like it when he sleeps, for he is so beautiful yet so unaware of it. Ian Cohen.

Ian, how are you? So there's going to be a recurring theme of this episode where Steve talks about how much I like the 1975 more than him. And yet, like, to lead off, he has done something which I've not been able to do in six years, which is correctly, say,

the entire title of the 1975 second album. So you're way out ahead so far. Well, it's only because it's written in this outline in front of me. If I had to do it out in the wild, I wouldn't be able to pull it off. We should say at the top here, too, that we are talking about

the 1975, because they have a new single that will presumably be out by the time this episode post, but it didn't drop in time for us to hear it to record in this episode. So does this just go to show that you can't rely on the 1975, Ian? Like if you put your faith in the span, they're going to let you down, time and again. Yeah, you know, we can joke about, like, you know, any number of, like, cultural events that might have led them to push it back. Yeah, I think, I don't know, I am not the UK policy.

politics understander on this episode, but I think that Boris Johnson stepped down. So, you know, maybe Maddie Healy is just like feverishly revising his lyrics to account for that. There was a Jordan Peterson YouTube that dropped where he, he clapped back at like getting kicked off Twitter. And maybe they'll sample that. Like, all bets are really off at the 1975. So, yeah, can you rhyme Boris Johnson with Jordan Peterson? there's some way, because you have the sun at the end. That's not really rhyming, but I wonder if there's some way that you could work in a lyric.

If there is Maddie Healy's, that would rhyme those names. Maddie Healy is on the case. And maybe work a heroin reference in there, you know, like, Boris Johnson is kicking the conservative party. Like, I was kicking heroin in 2012 or something. Like, that could be a Maddie Healy's lyric, perhaps. So are we going to force ourselves to talk about the Song of the Song of the Song. summer here. Are we lowering ourselves to this level of discourse since we're in the middle of summer?

Not a lot going on. Are we going to, are we going to debase ourselves by trying to talk about the song of the summer? Would we be music writers if we didn't force ourselves to talk about it? You know what? What I like about the song of the summer discussion is that you see like the music writing community as a whole, like maybe a little less miserable. talking about this than like doing Grammys or MTV music awards or like Super Bowl halftime discourse.

Like they're slightly more happy to like talk about the most popular songs on earth right now and then nominate alternatives for like slightly less popular songs that are still super popular. And then the back and forth about well actually the song

of the summer is Return of the Mac by Mark Morrison for the 50th straight year. So it's a nice little dance. You did, you really ran down the litany of like the most garbage beats for music critics, which I've had to do all of those things. Yeah, you write about the Grammys. You do the Grammys preview, which, uh, I think is better than the, than the Grammy's

recap. The Grammy's recap, I think is, that's like the lowest of the low for a music writer. And then around that same time in the calendar, you, you have the Super Bowl halftime show recap. I think that is actually the worst assignment. Because it, to me, because you know, most people

they watch the Super Bowl, the halftime show comes on, maybe they're watching it. Most of the parties I've been to for, you know, watching the game, people are just like talking or, you know, eating chips or something. They're not really paying attention to it. But then the music critic comes in and they do

like a very chin-strokey commentary on like what the Super Bowl halftime show means, you know? And it is really, it's like scraping the bottom of the barrel. I would, for a music. I would say that is, yeah, I think there's been like this dead cat bounce for relevance for MTV's video music award. So, just because there's like more musicians appearing there.

So, yeah, I think Super Bowl halftime show is currently like the lowest on that totem pole. Yeah. But then it's so funny because it's always like, the Grammys are like right after that. So it's already like February and you know where I live. It's the worst time of the year, you know, weather wise. But then you have to also suffer this terrible weather and then right about the Super Bowl halftime show. And then maybe even like the following week sometimes it's the Grammys. You gotta do the fucking Grammys after that. Just terrible. It's back to back. February is dark and this time of year there's also like a lull in new music releases. So

when it comes to like song of the summer discourse like I'm fit there's like a line on the simpsons I think about where Homer like Bart breaks his leg and can't use his pool and Homer's like don't worry boy when you get a job like me you'll miss every summer like the song of the summer is just absolutely like it absolutely meaningless to me right now well I mean I tweeted about this recently where I feel like song of the summer discourse in the music writer community has declined over the past decade. I feel like 10 years ago, you saw this all over the place.

It seems less prevalent now, or am I wrong? I mean, when I tweeted that, I feel like I wasn't seeing anything. In recent weeks, I've seen more articles talking about this. So maybe I jumped the gun a little bit, but I don't know. I feel like there's less of it, but maybe it's just because I am no longer being forced to do it. You know, like all these things we're talking about Super Bowl halftime show, Grammy, Song of the Summer,

it's usually because an editor wants you to write about this because they feel like it's going to get traffic. And they're not wrong, right? Well, no, Grammys gets no traffic. Whenever I've written about the Grammys, it's crickets. You know, and maybe that's just my readership. They don't care about it. Maybe if someone else wrote about it, they get readers.

I know, like, whenever I've written about the Grammys, it just died. I love how you have insider information about this. Well, I've seen my traffic numbers. I know what works and what doesn't, and Grammys never works. It's a big social media thing. Like if you're tweeting about it, you get a lot of engagement. But in terms of actual recaps, you know, I don't know if there's an audience for people

that are interested in talking about the Grammys or the Super Bowl halftime show beyond just sort of in the moment commentary. You know, like you want to see Twitter. about it, but do you want to read like 1,500 words on it? I feel like there's not a big market for it, but I don't know. Maybe other people have a big Grammy constituency, and it works for them. The Indycast listener cares. That's what I can tell.

No way. They're like fast-forwarding, I think, through this part of the episode. Should we talk about the Stranger Things, Bump? If we're going to talk about the other thing that's really sustaining the music writing industry right now. Like, this is what banter is. It's like, what is kind of annoying us about the music writing discourse right now? Well, okay, so we all know that Kate Bush got a big bump from Stranger Things because running up that hill was featured in an episode.

And now, apparently it happened to Metallica. Their song, Master of Puppets, was in the finale episode of the current season of Stranger Things. and I'm reading this. This is from an M.E article. Because I've not watched the season of Stranger Things. I failed on Stranger Things a while ago. I saw all the episodes are like an hour and a half. Two hours long.

They take way too long to get to the meat of the episode. They need to learn a little bit more from Indycast. Exactly. They're applying the 1975 method to episodes here. Every episode is getting super long. I don't have time for this. In the finale, titled The Piggy Bear, Eddie Munson.

It's a character called Eddie Munson? Man, I've really checked out on this show. He played the song Master Puppets on a rooftop to distract a horde of demonic bats protecting the lair of main villain

Vecna? Vesna? I've heard VECNA. I've heard it discussed at work, I believe it's pronounced Vecna. Okay. So Metallica apparently is getting a bump from this. And it'll be curious to see if we're going to see

weeks of stories about this, similar to what we saw with Kate Bush. Like if Kate Bush sneezed in the past few weeks, there was an article about it and they somehow tied it to Stranger Things. You know, that's like the level of attention that the story has been getting. I wonder, like, is anyone out there going to complain

that these kids watching Stranger Things didn't discover Metallica the right way. Like, they should have discovered it via, like, their alcoholic uncle. You know, like, like, the way us older people had to discover Metallica, you know, from the burnouts at the smoking doors in high school, like, that's how you are supposed to learn about Metallica, not from stranger things. Is that going to be a think piece that someone writes? Yeah, or, like, you know, the failure of our mandatory Metallica Act.

I haven't listened to Classic Rock Radio in a long time, but, like, mandatory Metallica, But like, I want, that is a thing. Like, there is, like, a block, like, it might be at 9 o'clock where it's called, like, literally mandatory Metallica. I've always loved that name, you know, but. Oh, yeah. I don't know. But, hey, you know what?

After Cape Bush, you got Metallica, you know, it's something for the fellas, man. I mean, look, it's, it's, I don't know. Like, I'm not a huge Metallica fan. Like, they're kind of a blind spot, but, like, how long has it been since this band has received, like, a win on it on, in the pop. discourse. Well, you know, they're one of those bands that I feel like, well, first of all, they don't need a bump, all right? It's hilarious to me that people would talk about a Metallica bump. This band literally play stadiums still, you know, they're a huge band. They're like

one of the biggest bands in the world and have been for the better part of 30 years now, since the Black album really kicked them into that group of bands. I mean, they've just been ginormously huge. But, you know, I'm sure it's true that for, you know, like a certain generation maybe, like this is like the first time that they're hearing Metallica. Although, again, I don't know. I mean, I'm trying to think about any kind of needle drop having this sort of impact. I mean, it really does speak to Stranger Things as power.

That, you know, we were talking about that show The Bear on Hulu, and we'll be talking about them, I think, more next week. But, you know, I'd love to see the acoustic version of, have you seen me lately by counting crows get a bump because it's featured in the first episode of that show. I don't think that's going to happen. But, yeah, no, no. I mean, this is, yeah, big moment for Metallica here.

You know, good for those guys, good for them to finally get a break in this business. Seriously, I'm just, I know, I'm to assume that there's going to be a season five, and this is going to be like the next enormous payout. I don't even a scandal, but there's going to be, if we look at the timeline, probably like early 90s. So, you know, we're going to see like the people who have the rights to the Jesus Jones catalog, like just paying the Duffer brothers untold amounts of money to get right here right now.

Or maybe this is where Ned's Atomic Dustbin finally gets their day in the sun. Good Jesus Jones reference there. Either them or like EMF, unbelievable, get that. in there. Maybe if we want to go really deep in the like sort of dancey guitar bands from England in the early 90s, get some soup dragons in there. Do anyone

remember the soup dragons? Fuck yeah. Free, divine thing. We're going to get just... Really, and also that like primal scream album where they decide to be the Rolling Stones. Oh yeah. No, they wanted to be the black crows on that album. Yeah,

and they put a confederate flag on the cover, which is pretty wild for British band to do. I think like when you look at that it's a give up but don't get out or something. Yeah if you if you look that up on on Spotify is a different cover now. Oh, good for them. Yeah. It didn't age well for an English man to put a Confederate flag on the cover. It's a little too much cosplay for Southern Rock for a British band. So did you want to talk about seeing craft work this week? Because you saw craft work. Yeah, I saw craft work. I mean this was like one of the most fun. I saw Kraftwerk 3D. I don't imagine they have too many of these tours left in them.

Like, uh, the main guy, Ralph, he's 75 years old. And he's not like, you know, this Bob Dylan or Bob Dylan type or Van Morrison where he's like kind of dressed like a 75 year old rocker as opposed to. They're still wearing like green screen type like outfits. Um, the guy looks old as hell. But you know what? This is one of the... But he doesn't have to do anything physically, though, right? He sings. He sings. He sings. Yeah, but he sings, but, you know, with craftwork, they are a band.

And for those who don't know, do we have to explain who craftwork is to our audience? I think we got to explain. German electronic legends. They got started in 1970s. Albums like Audubon. It's a great record. What are some other craft ones? Transer Express, Man Machine, great record.

A Man Machine. I mean, they basically invented like electronic music. as we know it. And the thing I love about this show is that every like because it's 3D, everyone's got to sit down. You see like dads and LCD sound system and like L.T.J. Bukum T-shirts taking their kids who are wearing like Mug synthesizer t-shirts, just really wholesome. And they haven't changed, even if it is 3D, they haven't changed their graphic style since the 1970 or like 70s, 80s. So you see like, you know, tandy computer. coming at you directly in 3D.

Fantastic. Fantastic show. Couldn't recommend it highly enough. And the best part about this is not only that people are sitting down, but like no one feels the need to yell stuff at the stage in between songs. That's just gotten out of control. Bright Eyes and Fleet Fox's show I've seen recently. And no one's getting up and trying to dance.

There was one guy who tried to dance, I think, during Autobahn. and like no one was feeling it. So he just kind of like, you know, while dancing, he just kind of like shuffled off to the side. So, yeah, so basically is what I'm saying is that I want my live show experience to be more like an actual movie these days. Well, you know, you bring up an interesting point here. There is a phenomenon that's happening at concerts now

where, you know, we've all been cooped up for a few years. Now we're out commingling again. And there does seem to be people who like, they just forgot like how to act. in public, you know, and it really seems to be happening at concerts where people are just out of control. Like, they're just screaming all the time at the stage or they're talking. Like, even more than they did before the pandemic, I feel like, just talking throughout

the entire show. And again, I think we're just excited to be around people. So it's like, oh, there's a person next to me. I want to talk to you. Or there's a person on stage. We're having a one-to-one experience here, you know, in my mom. mind. So we're having a conversation. I'm going to talk to you. I don't know. It's like we're an adjustment period, I think, of socialization where people are like relearning. Oh yeah,

like I shouldn't act like this. But I, you know, I forgot. I've been locked up for so long. The year's 2022 and I really heard a more Cal, a guy yelling more Cal Bell at Robin Peck, poor Robin Peck Knold up there during Fleet Foxes. Oh, Jesus Christ. Who's doing the, doing a Cal Bell joke? I don't no we are we are stuck in on we are stuck in uh two thousand two in many ways well let's get to our mailbag segment thank you all for writing into us it's always great to hear from our listeners if you want to hit us up we're at indecast mailbag at gmail dot com uh do you want to read this letter ian yeah caleb from grand rapids michigan this is like primo indecast mailbagger i am writing to ask your thoughts on groups playing the whole album straight through in concerts after the album

groups usually follow by playing a small greatest hit set plus encore, and the energy its show often changes. The groups loosen up, talk more, and appear to have more fun running through the record. I've seen it work well. Personal examples include Lowe playing, hey what, which was mind-blowing incredible. Like, I did not know they were doing that. I want to see that. And Sufian playing Carrie and Lull in a cinematic and moving experience.

I've also seen it not work well. The December is playing Hazards of Love come to mind. What do you think of these shows? Do you like hearing the new record live, does it depend on the quality of the album, the new album's relation to the rest of the band's catalog or something else? Or does the show change or appreciation and understanding of the album?

Can you think of terrible, awesome, or funny experiences? Thanks again for the pod. Caleb. Thank you, Caleb, for writing in. So this is an interesting experience because it seems like Caleb is talking about artists playing their latest album in its entirety. And I don't know if I've ever experienced that in person.

You know, I feel like, for instance, Wilco, they recently played their entire new album in order, and it was live streamed. And I forget where, I think it was from their own festival. And I think Wilco did the same thing when they played Pitchfork, and they did Star Wars front to back. I don't know if I've seen, I'm trying to think of examples where a band played their new record front to back at the start of the show.

Did that happen to you? I've seen bands play classic albums in their entire. Yeah, so I think that this became a major thing during the pandemic because like I think about say like Foxing just re-released near my or not near my god

draw down the moon. They did like an entire like stage performance of the album in order but as far as like doing it in person yeah I've never once seen a band say like hey we're going to play this new album front to back in front of you.

I thought they were talking more about like the, the phenomenon where a band, it's like, hey, come see, for example, like last night, I missed Motion City soundtrack playing and commit this to memory because I went and saw Fleet Foxes instead. Very tough decision. Wow. Wow. An upset.

That's an upset decision there for Ian Cohen. I would not have called that. If I was predicting, I would have predicted you going to see the pop punk show, not the neo folk show, but you pulled a switcher around there. The difference is that the Motion City soundtrack were playing at the House of Blues downtown, which is the worst parking situation in San Diego, whereas Fleet Foxes were playing five minutes from my house. So, um, lesson in that.

Um, but, you know, I've seen that, like, as far as like bands conceptually doing that sort of thing, no problem with it. It probably is a good source of income.

I don't feel particularly emotional about, um, you know, like, oh my God, it, like, demeans the memory of it to, like, do this bit of fan service. But in order for this stuff to work, the band has to clearly be into it. Like, I've seen, I remember Block Party did a silent alarm tour, uh, recently. And, you know, like, it's very clear from the past 20 years that Kelle is, like, not at all trying to relive 2005. And they'll play, I think they play the album backwards or something like that. Uh, Patrick Stickles also, I remember them or them saying, like, yeah, we're never going to, like, they're not, they, they feel like the monitor kind of overshadows their entire catalog. And it's like, no, we're never going to do that. But then, you know, the opportunity to present itself, it's like, yeah, I guess we'll do the monitor. I saw clap your hand say, yeah, do a 10-year anniversary of their self-titled. Which, on the other hand, I'm like, yeah, I'd be okay with that. I think overall, this works best at a festival where you have four.

45 minutes to see a band and you do not want them to like kill time by playing two songs off the new record. And also at festivals, people there just be entertained. You know, it's like, come on, okay, Alkaline Trio, like, yeah, I don't want to hear your new EP. Just play God damn it all the way through. In those situations, all for it. Like, I've seen it done well, but it's really just about how enthusiastic the band is about this pretty clearly mercenary idea. I was thinking about the examples where I've seen a band or an artist do the whole album, and it's always been, or it's almost always been like an huge arena or even stadium situations. Like I saw you two do the Joshua Tree from front to back.

And that was obviously a tour organized around that. I saw like Bruce Springsteen do Born to Run in its entirety, and that wasn't a tour. It was just like he decided to do it that night, which was pretty awesome. and Pearl Jam, the same thing they did yield in its entirety, which was really cool. That's considered a pretty classic show in Pearl Jam circles. A show I really, really liked, and this is like an example of what you were talking about

being at a festival and just wanting to hear, like, the very best in a relatively short set. Bob Mould did the entirety of Copper Blue at Summerfest, like 10 years ago, and I think that was a tour that he did, where he was doing all of copper blue but, you know, I like other Bob Mould music, but if I had a choice and someone said you can only

hear 50 minutes of live Bob Mold, I would basically say, just play Copper Blue from front to back. That'd be amazing. And that was a really great show. So, yeah, I don't know. I definitely don't have any issues with it

in terms of it being like a mercenary thing or whatever. The one issue with it sometimes is that the albums, might work great as a record, but if you're playing it live in sequence, it doesn't always play well as like a live set. Like it was awesome to hear the Joshua Tree in sequence, but, you know, that album starts with three enormous hits, where the streets have no name, I still don't find what I'm looking for and with or without you.

Songs that would always, you know, typically probably be towards the end of a set, and now you're starting with them, and the rest of that album is great, but it is like a little bit of a lull. I mean, you're going into the blue sky after that. That's a great song. It's not really a lull, but, you know, again, it's not structured in the way that you would structure a concert. Like, the emotional highs sometimes are inconveniently placed if you're playing an album and sequence versus structuring like a traditional concert set. So that would be my one thing about that sometimes where I don't think it totally works. But yeah, you know, again, Especially for some of these older bands, sometimes just playing an album that people love,

it just reduces the distractions or the boredom that you might get if you sort of feel obligated to play a good new song or something that you know people aren't going to want to hear. And also if they get paid, good for them. It's like the motion city soundtracks of the world who really, I think, could benefit from stuff like this. Yeah, it was good for you two to get paid doing the Joshua Tree. I think they made like... Another band, similar to the... Metallica who could really use like kind of a boo.

Yeah, exactly. I think they made like $300 million on that tour or something. It was like the biggest tour of that year. So let's get to the meat of our episode here. And with a couple of minutes to spare here. So we're getting under the half hour wire cleanly in this episode. So in this episode we're talking about the discography of the 1975. And for those who don't know, this is a band from Innsia.

England, four-piece band. The members all met in high school in the early aughts. They started putting out music in the early 2010s. They started with a series of EPs in 2012 and 2013, before releasing their self-titled debut in 2013. They have since released three more albums. There is another album, it appears, that's going to be coming out presumably later this year. Like I said earlier, they have a new single that will probably be out by the time this episode post, Ian and I have not heard it yet, but we're going to be talking about their older albums that work so far leading up to the new single and new album. Just at the start here, as just like an overall comment, as we've, I think, made clear on this show before,

Ian, you like this band a lot more than I do. And I have to say that, you know, upon revisiting their discography for this episode, I don't quite understand the passion this band inspires. I mean, to me, they strike me at best as a good band, especially a good singles band, that I think often over-extends themselves in an attempt to be great. And to my ears, I don't think that they've ever been truly great. Again, I think they're a good band. They're a solid band. They put out some singles that I quite enjoy. But for all of the talk about this band and all the ego of this band, I don't feel like the work justifies it. You know, like we talk about someone like Billy Corgan, you know, being an egomaniac.

We talk about him being this egomaniac, and maybe you could draw some parallels in that respect between him and Maddie Healy. But Billy Corgan, to me, is a guy who, at his best, delivered the goods. He delivered, I think, great music that justifies the egotism, or at least makes it more tolerable to me. And I don't feel like the 1975 have done that. And I'm going to pose this question to you. And this is a friendly question.

This is not an accusatory thing or anything. But I have to say, like, I look at this band and I see a band that is very poppy, very discourse-oriented, and extremely relevant. I'm putting relevant in air quotes here, in the most self-conscious way possible. On paper, they seem to me to be a band that you would normally hate, you know? But you love this band. And why is that? What is it about this band that you love so much? So you brought up Billy Corrigan, and I'm glad you did so I didn't have to get to it first.

Billy Corrigan, to me, if you put aside, I think you put aside the music or like the stylistic differences between them and Maddie Healy, or in 1975, or Billy Corrigan and Maddie Healey, you mentioned how. Maddie Healy like over extends themselves in an attempt to be great. The smashing pumpkins are perhaps the most formative band of my entire youth. And a lot of that is the over extending themselves to be great. And so in other words, they're try-hards. And you know, as we get into like the EP era, like I'll explain that, you know, the fact that sex was the first song I heard from them. That made me predisposed to like them more than had they

release say chocolate or the city or something along those lines. But I think in regards to them as being a pop relevant discourse type band, they have this and I can't, I've thought for a decade, I cannot think of a better word than shittiness. There's like a shittiness to the 1975 where they fail, they fail loudly when they fail and they do so in a way that's kind of endearing. I think think when they were starting to emerge in the early, you know, with the EP era, which, you know, these songs are important. These are some of their most popular songs, even if they didn't make the first LP. They espouse this kind of philosophy of living that you can, I guess, form one's life around, where it's like kind of mock profound, but kind of dumb. It's like kind of sexy in a way,

or it tries to be sexualized, but still kind of like joky, self-aware, but not totally self-aware. Like, I compare them to a lot of the bands that came around early on, like, say, Hi-M or Vampire Weekend. And, you know, those bands, like, strike me as, like, having all their shit together. The 1975 do not have their shit together. And I find that component of them so endearing. And that's continued to this day. So, I don't know. They do remind me of Billy Corrigan or maybe even like early nine-inch nails in that way,

where you can see how easy it is for them to like make a terrible song. Well, let's get into it here exploring their catalog. You mentioned the EP era, and this precedes their 2013 self-titled. There were four EPs that came out in 2012 and 2013. You have Face Down, you have sex, you have music for cars, and you have four. And those came out over the course of about a year leading up to the first proper album. And my memory of the 1975 at this time is that they were not critically acclaimed. Certainly not.

They weren't critically acclaimed in America. I feel like at this time, too, that they were, they had this sort of boy band connotation to them. They weren't directly involved with one direction, I don't think. But, like, they were sort of, like, that was their peer at the beginning of the, the career more so than like Heim and, you know, Vampire Week and some of these other bands that you mentioned. I mean, am I correct on that? I mean, that's my memory of this band from that period.

I think it's not altogether, you know, incorrect. I would think of them more along the lines. Maybe not so, like, maybe the reason they get compared to One Direction is that they're extremely good looking and they're all really tall. That's an unusual thing for a band. But they made me think more of bands around that time, like say, the neighborhood or foster the people. like indie, like not boy band specific, like, you know, they play guitars and they play guitars

from the jump. But, yeah, had I had the knowledge of the word industry plant back then, I might have, like, used it. Because they were, like, called the, I heard that song Sex when they were still called the Slowdown. They've had, like, several names before setting on 1975. So sex, I think, has been released like five separate times before it ended up on the LP. So you were, like, on the ground floor.

ground floor. And do you remember like how you encountered that song sex? I'm not going to say this very often but I sort of wish I like about that time of my life 2011 or so but I really wish I had more documentation

of like my emails from that time. It probably wasn't Twitter. Twitter was not really well developed. I distinctly remember getting email by this guy called Ed Blow who was like I think the manager maybe still is the manager of the 1975.

I saw them perform at the Trubidor, I think, alongside the neighborhood. And they were like, hey, the band wants to meet you. They were so happy that, like, you reviewed their face-down EP for Pitchfork. And I did not review it favorably. But, yeah, they're like pitfork reading dorks.

I think that also comes through in this band. But when I heard sex, I'm like, you know, this song makes me think of like, Frighton Rabbit times Jimmy Eat World. and I had no concept of emo revival at that time. So that was the only game in town. And I thought to myself, like, okay, maybe these guys make a really great Jimmy World Record

and I like it, you know, on that level and no more. Like I did not see them as like a generational type band. You know, we keep talking about that song sex. I feel like I have to keep saying that song sex instead of saying we keep talking about sex. But anyway. the song. But this era of the band, the EP era,

and again, like a lot of the songs on these EPs ended up on the first record. So our conversation about the EPs and the first record, it's sort of the same era, basically. But you know, revisiting this era of the band, I did find it refreshing, because it did seem like

at this time that they were just writing these kind of big dumb pop songs that are catchy and enjoyable, and it didn't have the pop philosopher baggage that their later work has that I think really detracts from what this band does well. Because I do think that for me, the 1975 is at their most appealing when they're just being this sort of like young, decadent rock band that has a lot of different influences in pop and electronic music and R&B, almost like a Duran Duran type band. Like that to me is the most attractive version of this band.

and you really see that in this era. And, you know, listening to the song, Sex, it's interesting, you know, that you, that that kind of set the template for you for this band, because that song seems sort of atypical of their output for the most part. I mean, it's the most rock song, or one of the most rock songs in their catalog. Like, I don't, I, I, I, there's not a whole lot of music

elsewhere in their discography that sounds, like that. Is there? I mean, am I missing it? Because I feel like later on, they don't really draw from that sort of emo well as much as they did maybe at this juncture

in their career. Absolutely not. Like, there'll be some rock songs on the later albums, like, you know, people, for example, or give yourself a try, but none. And this band, like, they, Maddie Healy, if I'm like to take him at his word, fucking loves emo.

Not just like the popular stuff, but like revival stuff from Japan. This song, though, like what I love about this song in relation to 1975, like, just imagine if Radiohead, like, did not disown creep. Or, like, the Flaming Lips did not disown, or if MJMT did not disown kids or something along those lines. It's like they are proud as fuck of that song, even though it is complete outlier. It is totally juvenile.

I appreciate that about the 1975. They still might close out their sets with it. And let's transition now to the first record here that, you know, we've talked a lot on this show about the year 2013 being a really pivotal year in recent indie history. That being a time when you had a lot of artists emerging that were basically embracing mainstream pop music and divorcing indie from its punk rock past. You had the 1975, you had Heim, you had Lord, you had churches. all coming on the same time. We mentioned Vampire Weekend. They're an older band, but they put out their record

Modern Vampires of the City that year, which was a very important and influential record. And you made a point earlier separating in 1975 from that class, I think because they're not as tasteful as those groups, like if we can use that word. Like Heim and, you know, Lord, they have the right kind of influences.

and when I say the right kind of influences, I mean in terms of like what taste makers or music critics might appreciate. The 1975 are way more all over the map. You know, they're less inclined to sort of tow the line in terms of like what's acceptable. And that made them not very popular with critics at this time. Although I think retrospectively people look back

and they see this as an important record. I, again, this is like one of my, this is a record that I, I enjoy, I think especially the middle part of the record is really strong. I had to laugh listening to that song Hardout, which terrible title, by the way. But like, that is such a direct rip-off of the drive soundtrack, you know, which was a very sort of common touchstone at that moment in indie history. Like, I just had to laugh. I mean, you know, that is a double-edged sword with this band a little bit. Like, they're a very derivative band. And they're, and, and,

it's good in one respect because I think that they're pretty skilled at like replicating other genres and dabbling and being, you know, sort of like a dilettante and lots of different pop styles. But to me, it also makes them a little less distinctive. Like that song, it just made me want to listen to the drive soundtrack because it's like a better version of what the 1975 we're doing here. But is this like your favorite record by them? or do you have the most affection for this record? I have a lot of affection for this record. I wrote like an enormous article about this for Grantland back in the day, how it was like a teen pop record,

but like for, you know, like, it's almost like a teen pop record for like Smashing Pumpkins fans or like M83 fans. This is, and when people talk about how these new, these most recent 1975 albums have like, I don't know, mandated maybe them getting to like a, is this it style 12 or 11 song 33 minute uh no all killer no filler album i feel like this is kind of their version of that like yeah it's like 16 songs two interludes two or three interludes

but you know it's like you're saying duran duran the killers maybe like phoenix if they were like a little more juvenile um you know the the run from sex to uh settle down incredible stuff it's super simplistic songs about drugs and getting laid or not getting late alternatively and I felt like you know sex prined me for this uh the song sex prime me for this album in a way that like if I just heard it like with no prior um understanding of like who they are what they do yeah I probably would have hated it just about as much as everyone else I who was a music writer at that time I was like very much in the tank like one man army for this album played it the other day you Not the height of their powers, but it's the kind of album that I'll always love because of the time that it found me in its life.

There's no accounting for that. Yeah, and again, like making a record about wanting to get laid or not getting laid, that's what I want from this band. And maybe they weren't going to be able to do that their whole career. You know, you can't just make that same album over and over again, but I do like them in that kind of guise. and that leads us to the second record, which I'm not going to say the whole title again. Well, let me scroll up on the outline here so I can see it. The second record, I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful,

yet so unaware of it. Which, by the way, is that like a one-direction reference? Because it sounds like what makes you beautiful. Is that you don't know that you're beautiful. You know that big one-direction hit, which the 1975 covered, I looked this up. in 2013. Has that everyone pointed out, that seems like that might be like a one direction,

like sub-tweet. Uh, I, I would imagine in like the depths of 1975 stand-um, you know, which is pretty deep and significant. They've probably like hashed that out, that trend out, uh, you know, beyond all recognition. Look, I'm going to have to take your word for it. I haven't heard that. And I'm not trying to say like, oh, you listen to one direction. What's up with that? Well, that was like a pretty big song. I mean, that was one of those songs that was just in the air in the early So, uh, but anyway, you know, this, this album, this was the peak, I think, of my interest in the 1975. I remember they were on, they were on Saturday Night Live in this era.

And it was a pretty infamous appearance. It was one of those S&L performances that really polarizes people. I remember there were a lot of people on Twitter just going on and on about how annoying Maddie Healy was on that show. Like he, he had leather pants. He was shirtless. He's like sticking out his tongue a lot. And this was me defending the 1975.

I liked that there was a guy on television and leather pants and naked torso, just being like a rock buffoon. Like that's what he was on that show. And I really enjoyed it. And I felt like the record, really, I mean, this was before, again, like every 1975 album was bloated. Like, I felt like the bloat on that record. was actually kind of impressive coming off, like you said, this more sort of simplistic first record.

You know, there's that, there's the ambient passage, like, in the middle, like where things get kind of weird, and then it gets back into catchy pop songs after that. When I revisited this time, I didn't like the record as much. I think the weaknesses of it were more apparent to me. But, you know, there are a lot of good pop singles on this record, the sound, somebody else. Love me. Ugh. I haven't said that song title out loud yet.

So I'm not sure if this is their best record. I think it's in the running for being their best record. It's certainly, again, like, this represents the era where I still had a lot of warm feelings for this band. Yeah. How do you feel about this record? I think at this point, like, liking the 1975 was still kind of like an edgy sort of thing. So I get what you're saying. It's like there was still like, like, like,

this illicit thrill in defending them. This is my favorite 1975 album. I listened to it yesterday, just to revisit it, outside of the context of 2016, which was like a very itinerant year for me, which was perfect for an album of this nature. But I love the sequencing of it because it starts off with like,

Love Me and uh or ugh or whatever, which two songs that should really solidify the fact you cannot judge a 19th 75 song or album based on reading its lyrics first. Like, Love Me infamously rhymes Carr-Crasian with Panashin. Like, it's, and that's probably worse than anything from the new single. But yeah, oh, it totally works within the song. It's like, they play this game of like, are they dumb?

Are they as dumb as they, are they way dumber than they believe? Are they way smarter than they come off? Like, that Saturday Night Live appearance. And I love the fact that this, they're at a number. now they're a band one album deep and the song Change of Heart references three other songs from their first album and this gets into like why you can embrace this band uh the same way that you would with like smashing pumpkins they create this universe to occupy uh they reward like real granular knowledge of their a catalog and so i think that the electronic songs are really like

they're really impressive they remind me a lot of like m83 they play the title track live and it really goes off and the way it leads back into sound the sound and the anthemic ending of it. I think it's really just really well sequenced. This to me will always be the peak of the 1975 because they just began to realize the extent of their powers but they weren't totally aware of it, you know, kind of like the album. It's like when you see a guy in the NBA like do a posterizing dunk and like you look at them as like they didn't even think that they would be able to pull that off. After that, the 1975 becomes more self-aware of their powers, and I think that it kind of gets in the way.

It trips them up as you kind of intimated, so. Yeah, you said something earlier about the first record that you said this is like a teen pop record for Smashing Pumpkins fans. I think that's doubly true of the second record. And I think it is the best example of them balancing a pure pop approach with a more ambitious structure of an album. Like I think they pull it off most 16. successfully probably on this record.

And in my mind, as we get to the next two records, they try to do it again, and I don't think they get the right balance. I don't think they nail it as well as they do on the second record. I have to say, though, going into the third record, a brief inquiry into online relationships. This record came out in 2018. This was their big critical turning point.

It's the album that features Love It If We Made It, which was fed it as a generational anthem. This is a fascinating record to me in a lot of ways because when I revisited it, I actually found myself enjoying it more than I expected. There's some really great songs on this record. Of course, I am a sucker for I always want to die sometimes, which is like their big Brit pop, you know, sort of Champaign Supernova, a bittersweet symphony type song that comes at the end of the record.

There's that song, It's Not Living, if it's not with you, which sounds like the pretty woman soundtrack. but I love the pretty woman soundtrack when I was a kid, so I liked that song. Give yourself a try, which is this Joy Division, homage, if you want to call it that. Or rip off.

Or you call it a rip off. But again, I think there's some really strong singles on this record, but you could also see the seeds of their destruction on this record. And maybe, you know, that song, Levit if we made it. We've talked about this song before on the show, but that does seem like the best,

and worst thing that happened to this band. It was best because it won this critical acceptance that, as you've alluded to, I think that they really craved, especially Maddie Healy. But I also think that that praise probably rewarded the worst part of this band or affirm the worst instincts of this band to go in a more sort of serious direction that, for me, I don't think suits them. Yeah. What do you think of that?

Yeah, I think with this album, it's, there, we talk. a little bit on past episodes of the phenomenon of bright eyes on wide awake, it's morning, where it's like the big, where it's like the huge makeup call for like ignoring their past albums and you kind of overrate it. And I think that this out, like, love it if we made it. Like, no, it's not a generational anthem. It just reminds me of being on music writer Twitter in 2018, which, look, that's like a significant part of my life. I'm not going to like pretend like that's, that's minor. But, you know, there, there, with this, album, I think that they, it's like in a way a tasteful, 1975 album, like in that it's, I think it's

significantly shorter than the two that come before and after it. And when I like, when I get annoyed a little bit by the overrating of it, but when I return to it, I like it better than I remember. Like there's all the singles are great, like two times great singles. Sincerity is scary. America loves me and et cetera, et cetera, where he, you know, tries to be Travis Scott. So, and also I always want to die sometimes the only time the 1975 end with like one of the best songs on the album. Usually they have like a couple of like acoustic songs I skip. But yeah, I think at this at this structure, it's like them getting a little too high on their own supply. In terms like feeling like they really need to speak for a generation instead of, you know, just I don't know, successfully failing upwards if that makes any sense.

you know, I've heard people kind of say like, yeah, this is actually like the weakest 1975 album. Even if that is true, I still think it holds up really well. It's just not the one I typically turn to when I want to listen to the 1975. Also, Pretty Woman soundtrack. Maybe Go West is the band that gets the next Stranger Things bump. Right. Exactly.

Which, yeah, exactly. Strong go-west vibes In that On this record But I dig it You know people that say that You know Inquiry into online relationships

They say that's the weakest 1975 record I beg to differ Because we have to talk about The most recent album Notes on a conditional form And I'm curious to hear your take On this record

Because This was confirmed for me Revisiting it for this episode I think this album Straight Up sucks I think it's by far the worst album that they've made and it really erased like any of the remaining goodwill I had for this band.

The record and also the album cycle, Maddie Healy, just the interviews he gave around this time where I just found him to be insufferable. And like, look, I like obnoxious rock stars. I like Billy Corrigan. I love the Gallagher brothers. But the level of pretension that Medi Healy

was infected with on this album cycle. It was just too much for me to take. I have to say, too, this is the worst sequenced record of recent memory. I mean, again, it's unforgivable. The first half of the record is incoherent.

You have the five-minute spoken word piece at the start of the record. Then you get into people, which is like the punk rock pastiche, you know, this upbeat song. Then you go into an ambient instrumental, which kills the momentum. Then you go into this sort of peppy electropopop song, which is, okay.

this is nice, we're getting some momentum again. Then you get into another ambient instrumental. And then you go into that terrible song where they reference Pine Grove. The birthday party. The birthday party. The first seven songs, it's just brutal. And I think it does get better in the second half.

But still, like, it bloated so many bad songs on this record, so many unnecessary songs. And again, it just made me, like, hate Maddie Healey. and I hope that he can bring me back because I think I've made it clear in this episode that there is music of theirs that I like quite a bit. Again, I don't think that they're a great band.

I think that they're a good band that makes good singles. But this album, I think it's terrible. Am I wrong on that? I'm sure you like this record more than I do. Yeah, I would say it's not, I would not go ahead and describe it as, you know, well, let me ask you this before I talk about how I feel about it. Is this album better than Be Here Now?

No way. Not even close. Be Here Now is a fucking great record. Okay, cool. I just wanted to like, and I wasn't. And Be Here Now starts with, do you know what I mean? That's a, yeah. Which, you know, it's not a five-minute spoken word track.

It's a fucking banger with helicopter sounds on it. So, you know, for all the weaknesses of, you know, all around the world is a, you know, I, I skip that song. I mean, that's super long. But, no. you don't even put those in the same category it's not even close to it. I just need to set the standard here so yeah like we actually

had a conversation on a previous episode about like albums that we would re-sequence and like how did this one escape me? I don't know because the you know like every 1975 album begins or it had begun with a self-titled song which I love that

but it's usually like it's had the same lyrics and it's like no more than a minute and a half. This one is, no, not quite the longest song on the record. Here's a funny thing. This song has nearly 8 million plays, like more than some actual songs on the record. So, look, if we look at like maybe in 10 years, we, we have like some climate change impact, maybe we can soften our opinion about it. But yeah, the sequencing makes no fucking sense. Like this album, in a way, like, and I know this is like real music writer reaching.

I thought this album was pre-pandemic. It turns out it was like May 2020 when, you know, no one knew what the fuck was going on. And this album just puts me back in that phase of like just being like confused and like all these fits and starts of like life. And, you know, that was part of the cycle, by the way, that people kept calling Medi Heliot Oracle because of this record. This album was so prescient

because there's like one lyric about wanting to stay inside. Like that was the only evidence I saw that this was somehow like a prescient pandemic record. And not that like you should expect Maddie Healy to predict a pandemic. I mean, I'm not saying that. I'm just, to me, it just,

there was a seriousness projected onto the band at this time that Mattie Healy embraced that I just think was anathetical to like what this band's strengths are. Absolutely. And it just translated to this bloated self-important record that, again, I mean, would you say that, because I will concede,

I think the second half is better. So, like, you're talking about resequencing the record. Like, would you move some of those songs up and back up some of the first half of the records to the backseat of the album? I think that if they somehow split it up, like, you know, the same way, like, I Big Thief did their record.

No, granted, that does not get rid of, like, having no head, which is the 18th song, it's like six minutes long, I can, or Bagsy, not in net. Yeah, you could totally get this down to like 12 or 14 songs and have it be better or just resequence it, but I kind of like the filler songs on this. Like, I like Roadkill, the song that's like kind of like, uh, kind of bluesy. I like, uh, tonight I wish I was your boy. Shiny Collarbone is, which is the least played song on this album, one of my favorites, the one where they kind of, uh, you know, homage, Jamie. XX. Look, I think

that this is like kind of an end of an era thing for the band. It's like we got to put out these 20 songs. I listen to it the way I experience Grand Theft Auto radio stations where if I listen to it 20 minutes at a time like, oh, this is pretty fucking cool. I've never listened to

this song, this album straight through and it's really not that much longer than LP2. It feels longer. It does. It feels twice as long. And like you were saying, the second record is actually really well sequenced. I really like how that record is structured. Do you have all the pop bangers

at the start of the record? Then you have kind of like the weird part of the record that I think works really well, more like the MA83 section, and then you transition back to some of the pop stuff. I think that works really well. That's a really well-sequenced record. This record is not. Even if you look

at it as a playlist, a playlist still flows. You know, you still have some logic to how it's structured. And I just don't, I don't know it's a very odd way to sequence the record i i don't know if they've ever been asked about that uh they went dark on interviews after like shortly afterwards so like yeah like i that's been a major thing with this record coming up which is that you were like it was a nine month lead up between

the first single of notes on a conditional form and the album release nine months like it just and you talked about how every time Maddie Healy opened his mouth, it just like turned you off. So maybe they've learned from it. Well, how do you feel about this new one? Because we haven't heard the single yet. So we were making fun of the lyrics last week. They were, they reminded me of the lyrics from like the last couple of records, very topical. Lots of references to like relevant discoursey type things, which makes me.

not feel terribly good about where they're headed on this record, but it's going to be a tight record, presumably, although you brought up, there's 11 songs, but they could each be nine minutes long, so we don't know yet. But what's your feeling on them? I mean, you obviously still love them. What's your hope for this new record?

I'm hoping that, like, I was pretty convinced after this, the previous album, they would stop, like, making albums, or they would just release, like, streaming playlist or they'd make the these guys like strike me as total like all four members eventually make a solo album um and i think that like they're so aware of music writer tropes that they're they were just destined to make a we're going to tighten things up back to basics type album whatever basics mean for them now whether that's like the back to basics smashing pumpkins albums that I don't listen to or like back to basics as in their self-titled album.

Look, I'm looking forward to it. Like, I'm going to defend. I feel like this is a band where even if they suck, it's still kind of fun to defend them. Just because they elicit such divisive takes. I don't think many bands at their level do that. I think even the 1975s fans like have a sense of human. about it in a way that like you don't quite often see with bands at that level. So look, whether or not this album is good or not, the discourse is going to be phenomenal. Would you agree

with that? Yeah, absolutely. And I've said this many times. I've gone back and forth on this band. I'm now in a more negative position, but I'm open, like if this record is really good, I'm going to be excited about it. Like I do want a really good 1975 record. I think they are a fun band to love or to hate. I mean, and like you said, there's an element to this band where you can actually argue about them and it's fun.

You know, whereas you had a band like Big Thief, Big Thief is loved by a lot of people. They're also hated by a lot of people. I tend to really dislike the conversation around that band. Like when people don't like it, you know, there's sort of,

it's just not as fun, you know, because the 1975 they are this cartoonish type band. So it's just fun to debate them or to make fun of them or to love them passionately. So yeah, I'm glad they exist even when they piss me off.

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, we are getting really into like core recommendation Corner because I'm going to talk about an Oklahoma emo band called Ben Quad. They released an album about a week ago called I'm Scared. That's All There Is. There's a building on the cover. This is straight up like down the middle, foot on the gas, emo. Look, it's not been a great year for the genre, or at least there hasn't been a whole lot of things that have gotten people excited. This one, however, it just strikes me as like leagues beyond anything else I've heard in the emo realm, especially if we're talking about like,

you know, twinkly kind of pop-punk-leaning stuff. It's seven songs. It's 21 minutes. Um, there's a lot of the gang vocals, the tapping, but there's a lot of like sophisticated, surprising amount of sophistication in the songwriting. Like, they'll do group vocals, but it'll also be like harmonies. So it's not quite the, you know, seeing this band in like a shitty basement. It's like seeing this band, but they actually have a decent studio or like, hey, maybe you're seeing this band. They're opening for like a much bigger band. It's been hard for bands like this to get any sort of traction,

but I mean, like people who have checked for this kind of music, they, I think, can agree that like, when you hear this music done right, there's not much of a substitute for it. So Ben Quad, I'm scared that's all there is. Emo, Oklahoma,

I'm all for it. Let's get, let's make Tulsa the next big scene or whatever. So I want to talk about, not an album, but a single that came out this week. It's by a band that many of us love called Always. They put out a single called Pharmacists. It's from their new album that's coming out in October called Blue Rev.

And I just wanted to get this into Recommendation Corner because I feel like for our listeners out there, they're probably going to be excited that there's a new Always record. So I wanted to make sure that this was being reported to them. This is the first Always record in five years. The last one came out in 2017. That was Anti-Socialites. And this man, I mean, they are on this schedule.

They're putting out a new album. every four years now it's five years and it's a shame that they're not more prolific because I do think that in terms of dream pop indie pop whatever you want to call it always is probably the best in the business right now and it's too bad that we don't get more music from them but on the other hand they have incredible quality control the first two records are great the new single is very much in their wheelhouse it sounds great I haven't heard the new album yet I'm supposed to be getting a promo here very soon. I expect it to also be great.

So yeah, it's exciting news. Always season coming up in the fall. That seems like perfect timing for this band. It's going to be late fall. You're going to want to hear Molly Rankin's sweet vocals in your ears over jangly guitars. It's going to be great. So definitely check out the new single. It's called Pharmacist.

The band is always. And yes, I just wanted to make sure that we rejoiced in this episode about there being a new always record. Great song. And also, here's a fun fact. The production level sounds like way higher than their previous two. Sean Everett's involved in this one, I believe. Oh, I did not know that, but that is awesome. I see that always is opening for the War on Drugs at Red Rocks in September. So there's a little Sean Everett connection there, I'm sure. Thank you all for listening to this episode of Indycast. We'll be back with more news and reviews and hashing out trends next week.

And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indiexie. mixtape 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.