Indiecast - My Morning Jacket + Parquet Courts, Plus: Band Of Horses Returns and Ian Honeymoon Recap

Episode Date: October 22, 2021

After Ian took the week off to recuperate from his wedding, he’s back online with Steve to do what they do best: talk about the biggest indie news of the week, review albums, and hash out trends. This week, the dynamic duo is digging into new albums from Parquet Courts and My Morning Jacket.My Morning Jacket is back with their ninth studio album, following last year’s surprise sequel to The Waterfall. In a recent interview with Steve, Jim James revealed that he hadn’t been actively engaged with My Morning Jacket for much of the 2010’s, but he felt more locked in on the band’s new self-titled album. It’s undoubtedly the jammiest record the band has ever made, and also more interesting than anything they’ve done in years.Parquet Courts are in a similar point of their career with the release of their seventh album Sympathy For Life. Once considered the next great New York City band after The Strokes, the recent projects have proven them to be closer to a band like Spoon — really consistent and solid without ever quite knocking it out of the park. Will Sympathy For Life help to reinvigorate the band for years to come?In this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian is plugging That’s OK, the new album from Swimming, whom he names the greatest Newfoundland band (emo or otherwise) of all time. Steve, on the other hand, has two albums you should check out: the new efforts from Trace Mountains and Mo Troper.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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Indycast is presented by Uprocks's indie mixtape. Hello, everyone, and welcome to IndyCast. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We do albums, and we hash out trends. In this episode, we talk about new albums by My Morning Jacket and Parquet Quartz. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host, the owner of the Dashan who mauled Travis Singer Fran Healy, Ian Cohen. Ian, Ian, how are you?

You know, I guess that your belated wedding gift to me is giving something that allows me to not talk about my wedding right off the bat. I want to talk about Travis's fan heelie getting mauled by a doxon. Yeah, this is like already an old story. This is like the big story that we missed because you were on your honeymoon last week. If he had recorded like a normal episode last week, I think we would have talked about it in our previous episode. I think by and large we avoided like any big indie rock emergencies. Like that was really the only story that I missed any?

No, I think really the Travis story about Fran Healy. Apparently he was mauled by a Dachshund. And someone on, you know, Indycast Twitter informed me that like Doshans apparently are pretty vicious. So this isn't something we should take lightly. But yeah, this was like, that was really the only big story that we missed because of your honeymoon. Okay, cool. Yeah, I guess I took some, I guess I picked a very good time to go off because, you know, like that was the one thing that was sticking in my mind throughout the past week. It's like, I just hope that no trends have been hashed without my presence.

Yeah. What if, what if I returned to terra firma and all of a sudden, All the trends have been hashed out. There's no more trends to hash. Well, you know, it's funny because this week we're recording a few days earlier than we normally would because now it's my turn to take a little vacation. I'm taking a family vacation. I'm taking my family. We're hopping in the minivan.

We're going to the badlands in South Dakota. Going to see Mount Rushmore. Going to do a very traditional Midwestern family vacation in October. So we might miss a couple of events this week. I mean, one thing I'm curious about, apparently there's like a Lana Del Rey record that would... There totally is. I mean, Blue Bannisters, it's supposed to come on on Friday,

but like it's been radio silence in terms of any singles or any, you know, discourse coming out from Lana Del Rey. I mean, she had a lot to say before the Kemp Trails over the country club album cycle, which I think that was in March. Like that was this year. She put out a record. That was indeed this year.

And I do think it's appropriate and also funny and very relevant to your interest that both a guided by voices album and Alana Del Rey album are coming out on Friday. That's true. And they seem to be like kind of generating a similar amount of interest from you. It's true. The guided by voices buzz is equal to the line. Laudel Rebus. Although, I know, maybe we're just missing the Lenned-Ole... I mean, I honestly have no idea what's going on with Blue Bannisters.

If that is actually coming out, I mean, if it is, it's going to almost be like a surprise release, even though we were told it was coming out this week. So I really have no idea what's going on with that record. We should ask, I mean, we should do a bit of a honeymoon recap, though, here. I mean, like, we, I know, maybe you don't want to get into this. I feel like we should talk about that a little bit here. I just, I just really hope that, like, you know, the family trip, the marriage, like our married guy energy isn't going to alienate the indie cast listener. Or maybe it's going to bring them closer.

I don't know. I know that a lot of times when bands, you know, make their married slash happy album, that's when people start to lose interest. But I don't know, maybe this is playing right into, right into our audience's interest. I think so. I mean, I know that there was some conversation out there in Indycast Nation about your wedding playlist. People were curious about that. I think people out there, they're hoping that you make this public. I don't know, like, did you make a wedding reception playlist? Or did you have a DJ? Was there like a cover band playing like Jimmy World Songs during the reception? I wanted to do it. Tom, it was one of the guys in Blinkwain 82. I believe it was like Tom DeLong, who actually had.

Jimmy Eat World play his wedding in 2000. That was kind of like Jimmy Eat World's big boost prior to Bleed American. But I don't know if I should be like honored or kind of depressed at how a lot how people like honestly believe that I had to be like completely on brand during my wedding and play like turnstile and foxing. And yes, I did make a wedding playlist. It was almost, no, it was not almost exclusive. It was exclusive. It was exclusive. up-tempo 90s R&B songs. You know, ones that,

like, didn't have any real cursing in it because, you know, there's, like, parents and youngans there. But, you know, towards the end, as we got into,

like, hour two and a half to three, we got a little more into, like 80s stuff, like, you know, like Daz band and a little earthwind and fire. So, yeah. Very wedding.

Very wedding. You're playing Earthwind and Fire. There's no, like, emo, set? None of the expected Ian Cohen favorites being dropped at the wedding reception? I will say this, though, that during the actual procession, like, the ceremony part of it,

there was an American football song played Stay Home. There was a Sigur Ross song. There was a slow dive song played, like, all the cinematic slow music that wouldn't necessarily call itself out as, oh, this is like, in. emo guy, more than like this is, you know, someone who is like 40 years old and has a lifetime in indie rock. And then there was like the cocktail hour sort of dinner playlist, which was by and large indie rock from like 2008 to 2011, you know, Fleet Fox's song here and there, maybe some iron and wine, destroyer, camera obscura. Yeah, it was really funny because when we were playing that

during dinner time slash cocktail hour slash mingling hour people assumed it was my wife's playlist but yes it was partially hers but it was a lot like all the Nico K songs stuff that I had on playlist in 2009

so that was that was the plan I think it worked out great maybe one day maybe that's what we'll do for like paid subscribers we'll make the playlist public yeah I think so One thing that we should mention here too, for those who don't follow us on Twitter, which you can.

Oh, come on. At Indycast 1. Well, we have more listeners than we have Twitter followers, which is a crime. It should be more equal than what it is. But Christian, from one of your favorite bands The Hotel Year, when he found out that you were getting married, he tweeted at us saying that, like, oh, you should have hired the hotel year as your wedding band. Is there some regret on your part that you didn't put out the feelers ahead of your ceremony that, like, maybe you could have had a hotel year? Because, I mean, they're not broken up necessarily, but this would have been a rare- No, they're playing in December.

Okay, but this would have been a rare show for them to play your wedding. Yes. No, I mean, like, look, man, I imagine if I did have the hotel year come out to San Diego, it would be probably similar to, like, if they were to play a San Diego show anyway, where it's like, hey, can anyone, like, let us crash at our house. So it's like, I mean, but we were, you know, out at our hotel on our way to Big Sur after that. So yeah, maybe the hotel year could have stayed in my house. And they would have to take back the audio equipment we read in too. But no, that's a big piece of news as well that in December counterintuitive records is having this label showcase.

It's not all bands on their label, but it's the hotel year, Oso Oroegami Angel, Roswell Kidd. Wow. Is, yeah, like, Roswell Kidd, like, I did not know that they were all, an IndyCats favorite, I'm assuming. And, yeah, like, they're playing too. They're, it's, you could have gotten all these bands at your wedding. I, I have a good feeling. This could have been, like, you know, there's fest in Florida. Forget all that.

Ian Cohen anniversary of the wedding. That could have been the new, like, emo rock fest. I think that it could have been. that they'd rather go to San Diego than Gainesville, Florida, with all their respect. Exactly. Yeah, no, just, well, can we, can we disrespect Gainesville, Florida? I'm a Georgia football fan.

We can absolutely disrespect Gainesville, Florida. I wonder how many listeners we have in Gainesville. Gainesville, Florida, if you're listening, send us some emails, we want to hear from you. Yeah. I don't want to disrespect Gainesville in case we have a bunch. I mean, like, you know, Tom Petty. That's like where Tomfetti's from.

There's, like, hot water music. Yeah. Like the, the epitifist. of like beat down like beat down post hardcore yeah like if you if you look at like all their pictures they're fantastic Stephen stills like I think is from Gainesville Florida so you got the classic rock emo you know vortex in Gainesville so we don't want to disrespect them too much but yeah

you know come to Ian Fest in San Diego I mean that could be a new tradition for the wedding anniversary so yeah so so yeah so we miss the Travis Healy being mauled by a dash and story. Hold on. Is that how it's pronounced Dachshund? I don't know. Like, what's the alternate? I'm, a Doxin. I, I think it's Doxin. Like, we need to like get, I'm terrible. I'm terrible pronouncing things. So I'm going to defer to you on that. I mean, we could just say sausage dog. I think that would be, weiner dog. Yeah, weiner dog. I kind of like sausage dog personally. Never heard that. You never heard sausage dog? Only heard weiner dog. Never heard sausage dog.

is a sausage. I mean, either way, I think, would work. But I said doxend. You said doxend? Yeah. Okay. You know, again, I'm terrible pronouncing things. Just wait until we have to pronounce the name of the guy who produced the new Parcate Quartz album. I actually looked online on how to do that before I got here. See, yeah, I wasn't even going to go there. Because, again, I'm so just put off by having to pronounce the names of dogs or indie rock producers.

So you're around that. That's what we need, like, our interns, our staff of interns, they need to, like, be, like, when we do our script for our, you know, our outline every week, they need to be running up things phonetically for me. So I can, like, pronounce the names of dogs and or indie rock producer names correctly. So I'm not embarrassing myself in front of our listeners, you know, because I just don't want our listeners to feel like I'm not qualified to be talking about, weiner dogs and or sausage dogs and or indie rock producer names.

I also think you have an interesting way of pronouncing Waxahatchy too, right? Yeah, I'm a mess. I'm a mess with pronouncing things. It's an all-around disaster. Why don't we get to our mailbag segment here? And thank you all again for writing into our show and giving us so many good emails. If you want to hit us up, we're at Indycastmailbag at gmail.com. You can also find us on Twitter at Indycast 1.

And I always like to remind people we always could use some reviews. If you like our show, give us reviews. Five stars, please. Or four stars. But nothing below four stars. We got room for growth. Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

Constructive criticism is always nice. no cheap shots I mean you know well I guess we should be able to take it though we've administered some cheap shots on the show have we or I know all we don't do cheap shots

all of our criticism is like warranted and backed up and footnoted like the shit's bulletproof that's true that's true so yeah if you're going to take a shot at us make sure that you've done your homework support show your work

otherwise give us four to five stars that's all we ask for Do you want to read this email? Yeah, sure. This one comes to us from Austin in Toronto. I'm wondering, like, I just think of Austin and Toronto. I'm thinking of the Center for the Maple Leafs, Austin Matthews. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, with a phenomenal mustache. He looks like he's a member of Guided by Voices, even though he's 24. Or like a member of like Wolf Parade probably. Yeah, yes, that's even better. And shout out to Canada. We haven't had a Canadian in the mailbag in a while, I don't think. We love Canada on this show. Yes.

All right. So a while back, you did a great segment on critics make-up calls. The bands whose later albums give critics a bit of chance to do a positive do-over. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on bands whose career trajectory or relationship with critical consensus anyway went the opposite direction. Bands were previously beloved by critics but then put out an album that torpedoed their critical standing so severely that their earlier work suddenly looked suspect too. Can I just say for a second that, like, our readers now, they talk like music critics. Yeah, they got online brain, man. There were so many music critical terms in their, critical consensus, career trajectory.

Yeah, career trajectory. I mean. Torpedo their critical standing. I love it, because, like, Austin, he's probably just the guy who works in an office, but he's talking like a music critic. And maybe we have something to do with that. So I feel good about that. You're using critical jargon and very casual. you're making it sound organic.

That's great. Thank you, Austin. Yeah. So the band, he's talking, of course, and this could go any number of directions, but he's talking about band of horses and the critical reception of their 2010 album Infinite Arms. Reviews the album seems to suggest that band of horses, A, didn't understand what made their music good in the first place, and B, maybe they actually weren't all that good in the first place. Many of the elements critics picked on, the production sheen and embrace of soft rock, dad rock tropes,

The jettisoning of old members for hired guns would end up being hallmarks of indie rocks cutting edge over the very next year, such as War on Drugs, Destroyer, Boni Vare, etc. So he has realized that both of us have reviewed late career Band of Horses' albums, so he's got to ask, do you think their later work was unfairly maligned and deserves a reappraisal? So, okay, and this wasn't included. We didn't read this part of the email, but part of the email, but part of the, Austin being inspired to email us about this is that there's a new band of horses album that's coming out in January and it's called Things Are Great. It comes out in January, which is an amazing title. And you pointed this out to me because I emailed this. I emailed you about this.

I thought, things are great. That's such a funny album title. And you pointed out that their previous album, which came out in 2016, what was it called? Why are you okay? Exactly. So it's sort of like they're kind of doing a meta thing with their album titles.

It seems like, why are you okay? It's like a response? Or like things are great as a response to that, right? Yeah, six years after the fact, they are definitely assuming that

there are band of horses lifers out there. Yeah, so yeah, there's sort of like a meta thing going on with their album. titles because I already thought that things are great was a very funny album title. But then you pointed out the previous Band of Horses album title. And I thought like, wow, this is sort of like an ongoing bit that spans more than half a decade for Band of Horses. So anyway, Austin is asking about Infinite Arms, which is the third Band of Horses record. Yes. And it's funny because, okay, so

you have everything all the time. That's the first one. Comes out in 2006. Then you have ceased to begin, 2007. And I feel like with Band of Horses, and I feel like you and I are in the same page with this, it's like Band of Horses eras. It's like the first two records are like its own era, and then the albums that come after it are like another era. Yeah. And, but I feel like whenever I bring up Band of Horses on Twitter, which isn't often, but, you know, random. randomly bring up brand of horses. There's these infinite arms truthers that come out of the woodwork. And Austin is another one of them who are like, what about infinite arms?

And I'm always like, oh, well, I don't really like that album, but maybe I should check it out. Right? Like, do you feel like this is a thing? I feel like there's like a movement out there for infinite arms. I'm going to post this from the Indycast account. There's one of my favorite Twitter accounts at Lane Piffin tweeted one time. He's like a black guy in Philadelphia. He said, and he likes a lot of the same indie rock that I do.

He said, white excellence may have peaked when band of horses made Laredo. So that's the single greatest infinite arms. It's not the greatest infinite arms tweet. It might be the greatest tweet of all time. That's a top fiver. We'll do it for, well, I'll make sure the public sees it because it's only got 26 likes as now, so it's a really funny. We got to retweet that one.

We got to get that at least over 100. That deserves at least over 100 likes. Yeah, he did it last year and I just think about it like every five days and just like laugh to myself and you know, try to explain to other people to no avail.

But yeah, I think that I think that the truthers for Infinite Arms and, you know, Mirage Rock, it reminds me of, you know, we got our friend of the pod Larry Fitzmaurice like it's a bit but not really a bit to say that

our love to admire is the best Interpol album which is also their like seriously overproduced major label debut and I also do think that Band of Horse's trajectory is pretty similar to the strokes or Interpol

in that cease to begin is kind of the more of the same but in some ways almost better if I'm feeling spicy album is the southern indie rock answer to Room on Fire. Yeah, and the first two albums are on sub-pop, and then Infant Arms is on Columbia. So, yeah, exactly. So it speaks to the Interpol parallel there.

Yeah. And so with, I think back to, like, my experience growing up and, like, when there be these story in indie rock bands, you know, like, say the meat puppets who, the first time, time I hear them is when they do a major label album, like Too High to Die when Backwater was a big hit. And it's, you know, as critics of our age, like, we probably think of Infinite Arms' Mirage rock as like, oh, no one gives a shit about those. But, I mean, those albums were like pretty successful. And even if they weren't well reviewed by like, say, you know, pitchfork or the New York Times, like, they were generally well reviewed overall. And also weirdly popular in Northern Europe. I've

I've heard that, like, in Denmark and Belgium, kind of fulky Americana is super duper popular. And I think you pointed that out in your interview with Jim James, how the Tennessee Fire did exceedingly well in the Netherlands, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. When I interviewed Jim James, he talked about the, I think it was, it was like Belgium and Denmark.

I can't remember the exact countries that he said, but it was something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Infinite Arms comes out. 2010, that was a top 10 debut for that album. Yeah. It debuted at number seven.

So that was really their commercial peak. Yes. And it probably was... And the next one, Mirage Rock, I think, was like number 13. Yes, exactly. By the way, I reviewed Mirage Rock for Pitchfork. It was probably like my highest profile review for Pitchfork. Because normally I was reviewing like Johnny Marr and like Camper Van Beethoven Records.

You know, like, they were putting me, like, in that outpost for Pitchfork. I didn't really review anything important for that, for that website. But, like, Mirage Rock was maybe, like, one of the biggest reviews I did for them. It ended up getting a 4.0 for Mirage Rock. So it really got slagged for my review. You know, look, everything all the time, cease to begin. You know, those records to me are still. like the

you know like the peak band of horses records and in terms of like things are great like they put out this single crutch last week that I was really into because it reminded me of the first two records it has like the chunkiness of like the first record

and like the melodicism of the second record which I think are like the strengths of those respective albums like everything all the time it just has like that my morning jacket meets built to spill hybrid quality that, you know, being like in the indie rock zone, it just totally hits all the buttons. And then C's To Begin has, I mean, I don't know if this is true in terms of streaming numbers, but like, you know, that song, that.

No one's going to love you. No one's going to love you. That like, like, C-Lo covered and, you know, it kind of became like a modern standard. Infinite Arms, I went back to it because. of this email and because people were again bringing up infinite arms when I was tweeting about the new band of horses single I'm sorry but it still just sounds like bland country rock to me it seems very flat very slick it just doesn't have like the qualities that I love of like my favorite band of horses records and I love those first two records so much but I don't know

Like, Infinite Arms, it still doesn't really do it for me. Yeah, I would say that and Mirage Rock, like, range from, like, forgettable to, like, actively bad in a way that, yeah. Yeah, like that I wouldn't expect from band of horses. I mean, I actually went back and listened to them because I, because I, you know, as we've talked about on this show before, I turned around on Manchester Orchestra. and when I reviewed the like Cope and Simple Math, the records I didn't really like at the time. I thought of them as like maybe best case scenarios for major label band of horses. They kind of sound a little similar.

But yeah, it's just, I can only imagine like what it must have been like in the Columbia office to be handed this and to be like, hey, your big investment from subpop, they kind of sound like 38 special in Poco now. Exactly because They're probably expecting Oh, they're going to give us another funeral You know, they're going to give us No one's the one's going to love you

Like songs like that Maybe that's not what they really wanted Maybe like I mean look You can't They wouldn't have wanted the funeral Like a song like that Like I don't know To me that's like oh give us more of that

Yeah Because that You can't argue with numbers man Like these these these these These albums did numbers Yeah I just Uh wonder if it was because The first two records were so good

And then they had their moment and it just coincide. But clearly there's the infinite arms people out there, the constituency, who, you know, they feel like Laredo is like their highest, it's like the high water mark. So you and I could be wrong. Look, I like Band of Horses.

I'm actually excited for this new album because I like the single. Cautiously optimistic. Yeah. And again, they're a band that, like, I want good things for. I like, you know, The albums of theirs that I like, I really, really like. And I guess I'm still hoping that Infinite Arms and even Mirage Rock will eventually reveal their charms to me. But just revisiting them this week, it's like, no, these are still pretty bland, just, you know, sort of retread country rock records to me.

I would say Band of Horses Peak when I interviewed Ben Bridwell for Grantland about UGA football. He's like one of the most prominent Georgia Bulldog football fans out there. I think that was their peak. You know, RIP Grantland. You know, we're going to have another Grantland reference, I think, in this episode. Oh, yeah. Because I have some Grantland experience with both of the bands that we're going to be talking about in the meat of our episode. So maybe we should get right to it.

Let's transition to that. So the first band that we're going to be talking about in this episode is my morning jacket. They have a new album out today. It's their ninth album. It's a self-titled record. And it comes just one year after the waterfall two, but that was a record that was really in the can for several years before it was released. So this new album is the first really new music that this band has made in over five years.

And I did an interview with the front man of my morning jacket, Jim James, this week. We talked about the bands. entire catalog, including the new record. And it was a great interview because he was very candid about the fact that, like, this band was basically finished, I think. You know, they haven't been very active. You know, they didn't produce a whole lot of work in the 2010s. And Jim James has been really invested in making solo records more than my Morning Jacket

records. But, you know, he told me that, you know, they played these two shows at Red Rocks. in Colorado in 2019. And I watched the live stream of those shows and they were like excellent, just transcendent shows. And it really re-energized the band. And shortly after that, they went into a studio in Los Angeles and they made this record. And of course, it was delayed because of the pandemic.

But it finally came out today so we can all hear it. And it's interesting because I mean, I feel like you and I come from a similar position. with this band and that we both really love them, I think especially their first four records. And then after that, as Jim James's interest kind of wanes, like maybe our interest wanes a little bit, you know? Yeah. But now they're back with this new album. I wrote about this record already a little bit, so I kind of showed how I feel about it. But I'm curious, where are you coming at with my morning jacket at this point in 2021?

So you're absolutely correct in that. First four albums, just incredible. Like I would say in 2005, they were my favorite band in the world. I saw them play a show during the It Still Moves Era at the 40-Watt in Athens. It's like 500 degrees in that venue. Wow. That'd be a great room to see them in. Incredible. Like, just one of my favorite shows of all time.

And, you know, then they, of course, then, Z came out, which I think is still their best album. I would say that there was like nothing that was impossible for this band. Even, you know, with evil urges, I still think that's an interesting record. Even if it has, even if it is like they're kind of their infinite arms, you know, they got like together with Joe Chichorelli and made this very slick, almost wean-esque kind of genre hopping record. but yeah i don't know if it's maybe the fact that like i stopped going to you know three or four hour marathon shows or i don't do day drinking like i used to when it still moves and that dawn came out but i i never really thought about the fact that like maybe jim james had lost interest in this band

um and yeah because like when you look at like the solo albums and all the band members who were kind of side people to begin with they're getting involved with i think one of them played with like Roger Waters and such. And yeah, I mean, I liked the waterfall when it came out in 2015. I positively reviewed it and I've barely listened to it since. The Waterfall 2 just came and went. And with this one, you know, when you self-title an album, that either means you're reinventing yourself or just getting back to basics

and reminding people what you love about them. And man, like I feel like I might have to. to like mirage rock this album. I spend so long since I've like written about an album that, you know, I didn't really like. I think that's kind of a benefit of being in the position I'm in. And it's like, I put this album on and I'm just like, oh, God, here we go. Because I think like you were saying, this one was delayed by the pandemic. Like this album makes me think of like when you, when I put it in light of.

their rejuvenation after Red Rocks. It reminds me of what it must have been like to make a New Year's resolution on New Year's Eve 2020, where you're super excited to get like it's a round number a year, a new decade, and you're ready to go and then all of a sudden you can't do shit. And I think that this is kind of how that albums played out because I know they kind of jammed on this album to construct their songs, but the lyrics are like it's, it's, it. It just seems like Jim James is like sitting down on his couch watching the news and, you know, kind of kind of, like, what's up with these clowns in Congress and, you know, these kids on their TikToks and so forth. And look, Jim James has never really been a lyric guy.

I'll admit that even my favorite records have just, like, run through. I don't know what he means by run through the ghetto on that one. but it sounds like Alman Brothers and Black Sabbath, so I'm going to deal with it. Yeah, I think that they are inspired, but like there's no actual, like, I just,

I just feel like Jim James is just kind of like vamping reading the news on this one, and it's really hard to behold. Yeah, you know, I think I like this album a little bit more than you do. I know when I first got the promo, I wasn't totally connecting with it right away, and it slowly ingratiated itself with me.

And I think I am connecting with this record primarily on a musical level that, like, as you said, that this is, I think, in a weird way, the jammiest album that they've ever made. And my Morning Jacket has always existed on that nexus point between, like, indie rock and jam rock. I think some people have even described them as a jam band,

even though they're not really a jam band. although they do extend songs live on stage. But on this record, there are songs that are eight to nine minutes long. And when I interviewed Jim James, he talked about how in the studio, it was really an open-ed situation where everyone was encouraged to play for a really long time. And there was this idea that they would take the best parts of all these jams that they were doing in the studio and they would edit them together into songs in a similar way. He likened it to what Miles Davis did in the late 60s and early 70s when he made records like Jack Johnson and in a silent way.

You know, during his fusion period where he would just record for hours and then they would piece together from the jams, you know, these albums that he made. And that was the idea with this album. And I think that's a pretty interesting way of making records. It's interesting you bring up Z from 2005 as being your favorite record. And that's certainly the most popular studio record that my mind. Morning Jacket is made. And I feel like in a way, they've made different versions of that since that record to varying degrees of success.

Like songs that are basically like concise, catchy pop songs that last for about four to five minutes. And they just haven't really produced songs as good as, say, wordless chorus or, you know, any of the other, you know, memorable songs from that record off the record. off the record. Ever since Z, the second song has sort of kind of always sounded a little bit like it beats for you. Yeah, exactly. Like, even on this one. Without it really being quite as memorable as that. No. I appreciated on this album that they were really trying something different. And it was, I think, an attempt to harness what they do on stage on a record in a way that I don't think they've really done since it's still moves. Like, it's still.

moves. You mentioned Z as being your favorite. It still moves, I think, for me, is my favorite my morning jacket record. Because to me, that album comes closest to approximating what they do on stage on album. And I think this album is attempting to do something similar. It's not as good as it still moves. But I appreciate that aspect of it. I mean, you mentioned like the lyrics. I mean, there are songs in this album where he was talking about like going to the mall. And like the Yeah, the nine-minute song about going, the first line is like,

about him watching the finale of Stranger Things and he licks some shots at Sephora. Like this is all, and this is a nine-minute song right in the middle of the album. Yeah, but look, I mean, I don't think lyrics have ever been their strong suit. I mean, I always think of the song Bermuda Highway

from at Dawn, which I love that song, beautiful song. But that song doesn't call, the lyric, your ass, it draws me in like a Bermuda Highway. That's poetry, man.

Which, I mean, the thing about that lyric is that because his voice has so much reverb on it, you don't really understand what he's saying. So you don't,

that doesn't really sink in. And, you know, maybe it's a mixed blessing that Jim James's vocals are clearer now than they were on the earlier records.

You know, you really just want the evocation of the emotion of the lyrics, not the actual text of the lyrics to be coming through in a lot of my Morning Jacket songs. You know, really with this band,

I have to admit that even more than the albums, I appreciate this band still being around because they're always going to be like one of the best, I think, live rock bands that you could see in person. You know, like it really does seem like there was a time like where maybe this band was never going to play live again. And now, you know, they're going to be playing some shows.

I know here, you know, in late October, going into November, you know, when I interview Jim James, he talked about the Red Rock shows that they played in 2019, being a real sort re-energizing force for the band. I watched the live stream of those shows, and, like, they are still a transcendent live rock band. I mean, those shows are great. And, you know, I have the bootlegs of those shows. I still listen to them. Okonokos is one of the best, like, live albums of its time.

I mean, that might be my favorite My Morning Jacket record, to be honest. Like, even more than the studio records, Okanokas, I think it's such a great, great record. So, you know, even if I'm not totally sold on their studio albums, the fact that this band is still together, that they're still going to be touring, that there's a chance that they might show up in your town and play a three-hour show that's going to blow your brains out the back of your skull. It makes me happy. So, you know, I'm glad it seems like they're in a good place.

Yeah. And I hope that this band stays together and that we all have a chance to see them in the years and decades to come. Because there's, you know, I think on stage, more than on record, but on stage, they're a very unique and special rock band. And so I want them to still exist if only for that. And I also want like one of our intrepid younger listeners who's familiar with like the slowed and reverbed, uh, trend that's happening on YouTube to take this album, do the slow and reverb thing. And like maybe I'll like confuse it with at dawn. But, um, yeah, like I would, I would prefer that, you know, I'm hoping Jim James has this got this out of his system, you know, a reference to a circadal song. Um, you know, so I don't have to hear him, uh, uh, you know, complain about our cell phones or Sephora or, you know, how, you know, we all just need to get along. Well, let's move on to the second band we're going to be talking about today, which is Parquet Courts. And this is a band that you and I do not agree on, I don't think.

I guess not. Great band name. One of the best band names is going. Well, and I feel like you, because you have historically talk smack about this band, certainly on social. media. And I have written positively about this band in the past. And it's amazing to me because they have a new record out today. It's called Sympathy for Life.

This is their seventh studio album, which kind of blows me away that we're now at the point of talking about the seventh studio album by Parquet Courts, that this is now a certifiable legacy rock band. Because in my mind, I still think of. them as like an up-and-coming band on some level, but they've now amassed like a pretty sizable body of work. And certainly I think for like younger people, you know, this probably is a band that they think of as having just been around for a really long time. We were talking about Grantland earlier. And I remember I profiled this band for Grantland around the

time that the sunbathing animal came out, which is... 14. Yeah, that was 2014. Prime Grantland. And it was their third studio record coming after Light Up Gold, which came out in 2012, which was their breakthrough record. And I remember, like, the angle of my story for Grant, which, by the way, I hung out with Parquet Courts in Brooklyn for this piece.

We went to a bowling alley in Brooklyn. And it's like one of those things like where... You're profiling a band, and it's like, we got to do something together for the premise of this piece, you know, that we can write about, something kind of, you know, quirky. And, yeah, we went bowling together, and I wrote about it. I did that for Grantland, too, with Joyce Manor, but it was at the bowling alley where they actually formed. You know, what was the last great, like, you know, I'm going bowling with an indie rock band profile? Because that's still a, I feel like that doesn't really exist anymore. I mean, we're in COVID time, so.

COVID has taken so much away from us, most of all, the Bowling Alley profile. I mean, like, you know, is anyone going to bowling with dry cleaning or something? Or, you know, bowling with, you know, I don't know, like, boy genius. Is anyone doing that? I don't remember reading any good bowling indie rock profiles. I went bowling with boy genius is like probably best-selling fanfic. If I were to write that story, like, I don't know, I'd be like, I would be like a real internet celebrity as opposed to whatever it is that we are now. If there's any publicist listening, I'd be honored to go

bowling with Boy Genius. So, you know, if you want to like book a bowling alley and Julian Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus, let's go bowling. I don't know how good is Phoebe Bridgers is probably like a great bowler. You know, she seems good at a lot of things. I really wish this was a call-in show because we could have like our listener say, hey, who do you guys think it's the best indie rock bowler? Let's hear from the, let's hear from the, let's hear from number three. Yeah, that would be, that's a good question, actually. I mean, I, you know, obviously, you know, I feel like, like Yoletango or something

would probably be good at bowling. Yeah, I bet they're super good at bowling. You know, like, James McNeu is probably like average. Super chunk. Super chunk, they can probably bowl. Yeah, you know, or like the mountain goats. I bet they just bowl the hell out of a game, you know, John darn. yell. He's probably like a

2-10 average with bowling. Yeah. But anyway. Guided by voices, I mean, like, that goes without saying. Well, yeah. I mean, well, Pollard is a baseball pitcher, which makes me think you'd probably be good at bowling.

Some of the skills are surely transferable. Yeah, absolutely. But anyway, I went bowling with parquet courts. I don't remember how good they were at bowling. They might, I don't remember if they were good or not. But anyway, the premise of my piece was that, like, they were like the next great New York band and almost like they were going to be like the strokes of the 2010s.

And I don't really feel like that happened with Parquet courts. I think that they're a band, to me, I wouldn't compare them to the strokes. I would almost compare them to a band like Spoon in a way. Yeah. Where they're like this band that when I look at their- It's from Austin. Well, yeah, I guess. Andrew Savage anyways from

Austin. But they're a band that is, I look at their catalog, it seems very consistent to me. I think all their albums are like pretty good to like very good but I don't know if they've like hit a home run. You know, to me like when I think about this band,

I almost feel like the first two songs on Light Up Gold, you have mastered my craft and borrow time like that one-two punch. I almost feel like that is such an exhilarating open to an album I feel like that might be the best

one two punch opening an album of like the last decade I'm just going to throw that out there I can't think of a better example I think that is like such an exhilarating open to an album and I'm like

as much as I like the rest of their catalog it kind of feels like they never really match that it's like oh it's so good there and the rest of their records are really good but it's not quite as exciting is that. I don't know. They always seem like a band to me,

and this includes the new record, which I think is quite good, but it's not like a home run. It's like three and a half stars out of five. All their albums to me are about three and a half stars out of five, which is nothing... There's something to be said for consistency. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that.

Like, I'm not... That's not a criticism, but it's, you know, they... I feel like there was an expectation that they were going to be a transcendent sort of era-defining band. Really? Well, yeah, I mean, I don't know. Maybe I'm just looking at my own piece.

I feel like my own piece was like sending this bar for them. Like, they don't have it, is this it? You know, if we're going to like under the strokes, or they don't have a room on fire even. You know, but they have a lot of, like, you know, albums that are, you know, they... Do they pass the five album test? I don't know.

I don't know if they do. If they're saying great albums, I don't know if there's like five great albums in a row. I think there's five very good albums in a row with them. But I'm curious to hear what you have to say because you have always sort of clown this band over the years. I mean, I think they're fine. I just think that like you were saying,

for them to be like a transcendent band, they always seemed to me to be a band that, like, was going to always hold down the 6 p.m. slot at, you know, indie rock music festivals. Like, or, like, they just seemed like they, like, transcendent really wasn't in the cards for them. I just also, I always feel like it was, like, Parcate Courts fans who, like, just criticize the shit out of the music that I liked at the time. It's like, no, man, we don't like that emo shit. We parkade courts, post-punk.

I think with Parquet courts, like, I just, there's something about just how there's, I think we talk about like the deaf tones test in a previous episode where I need to get some sense that this band liked uncool music at some point in their lives. And I don't get that from Parcate courts. It's always like, oh, yeah, you know, this one's kind of got some can going on, maybe some fall, the pavement, you know, there's some pavement going on. But they made their last record, like, why do it? awake, they made that with Danger Mouse. I feel like when you reach the Danger Mouse era, you're not, I mean, because in a way, because I understand.

I like total football. That was the song that had fuck Tom Brady. I can get behind that. Because I feel like your issue with this band was always that they were like a little bit too cool for school. And I almost feel like they're old enough now, like where they don't really qualify for that anymore. Like they're not,

I agree. They're not the too cool for school band. And even like in this new record, um, you know, I like this record. I mean, they've kind of gradually

I don't even know if they would still be post-punk they've kind of moved in more of like a funky direction they're like a danger mouse black keyed them with like a little bit of like early 80s talking heads you know influence you know like where this is a record that if I was

at a barbecue with an indie rock fan between the ages of 37 and 45 I could put this record on and we would like nod our heads together and be like, oh yeah, we're enjoying this music. You know, this is something that we can commune together on and not feel totally irrelevant by playing this, you know, but it's like not going to like blow our brains out of the back of our skull,

but like it's going to be enjoyable for us. It's going to be, again, like a good three and a half stars out of five record for us. Yeah. And, you know, I feel like I'm criticizing the band by saying that. I really don't think so. I think to put out seven records that are like three and a half stars is like an achievement. Like they are a consistent band. And I'll say too, like I've seen this band live a few times.

Very good live band. Like if they were in my town, I would go see them. They've got a good catalog now. I know I'd have a good time. But yeah, they're just not like the band that I'm going to be super excited about. They're going to be the band that like, oh yeah, they're a good band. if they're playing at the barbecue, I'm going to like it. If they're playing in my town and I'm hanging out with a friend and we're talking while they're on stage, we're going to have a good time.

But, yeah, they're not going to be like my favorite band. I don't think ever. Yeah. I mean, I can appreciate it. Like, when a band, when they're at the phase that they're at right now, like, whenever I feel like just so alienated from, you know, wherever the indie rock Zykeyes is going, like, I know. I might go back and reassess some of the bands I've, like, just clown, even, clown more than I actually dislike their music. For example, like Mac DeMarco and Ice Age, who I don't, you know, totally dislike.

I just, you know, I just, like, them, really? Them? Yeah, Parkett, the new album's good to enjoy. I like the fact that Rodide McDonald produced this album, like the guy from the XX's first two LPs and how to dress well. that that's kind of an interesting move and look you know I will never go out I will never actively you know pursue a parquet court show uh or but you know if I hear a song on like you know on on Spotify on weekly playlist I'll probably listen to it um yeah look festivals need this kind of

band that will occupy the 35 to 50 demographic 3 p.m. spot dinosaur junior has been in that spot for like 35 years, man. Holding it down, by the way. I love Dinosaur Jr. God love him. But yeah, you can't just have Dinosaur Jr. holding down that spot. You got to give Jay Mask a break.

You know? Maybe let him play at 5 o'clock. We've now reached a part of 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? So, I always love when I discover a band that's from a part of the country. or like a part of the continent that I'm like completely unfamiliar with because if there's like a band from like North Dakota or like South Dakota,

I can ask myself like, I know this band's got like one album on band camp, but are they the best band from South Dakota ever? And I bring this up because my selection this week is from a, you can tell from the band name, which is swimming. They got the Garin Tense. They're an emo band. And one from New Finland. and their new album is called That's Okay.

It came out, I believe, a week ago. It's got that classic fourth wave, twinkly tapping sound with the off-key vocals that are still somehow very tuneful. And I just got to ask, is this the greatest band from Newfoundland ever? Like, Steve, like, do you, have you ever heard of a band from New Finland Canada?

Man, I feel like I'm blanking on it right now, and then we're going to get a bunch of email saying, What about this band? What about that band? No, bring a boy. But for now, I'm just going to say, I'm just going to plead the fifth, I think, on this for now, because I don't know if there are.

But, I mean, this is probably a great band. This might be the best. So I do appreciate this one at a time when, you know, one of the elements of Fifth Wave Emo is to talk shit about fourth wave bands, like, you know, Fox Anger, the World is a Beautiful Place. Like, this one takes that 2011. 2012 sort of sound. It updates it with a couple of new fifth wavey post-internet elements.

But it's still like, it's almost like whatever the version of, like the emo version of the Parquet Quartz barbecue type thing where it's like you throw it on, you have a couple of fourth wave emo people to be like, yep, that's some good rock and roll right there. That's what Swimming does on their new album. So for my selection, I'm going to cheat here. and I'm actually going to talk about two records because one of them I've already talked about in this segment of our show.

It's Trace Mountains. They have a new album called House of Confusion, which comes out today. I've talked about this band in a previous episode, but this is a record that I've been playing a ton in the past few weeks. Just a beautiful Americana Heartland Rock type record. You know, if you're into, say,

like The War on Drugs meets phosphorescent I think you would really be into this album just beautiful pedal steel guitar all over the record lots of great songwriting so definitely check that out I also want to talk about an album

that I haven't really talked about at all in this show yet and that is Dilettante it's by a guy named Mo Trooper he's a singer-songwriter from Portland and look I looked at the track list for this It was 28 songs in about 50 minutes. I was already sold on the album when I saw that.

Because my favorite album of all time is Alien Lanes. That also has 28 songs. It's a little bit shorter than this album, but it's the same idea. It's a lot of lo-fi power pop songs, a lot of fuzzy guitar, a lot of just beautiful choruses. And it's just one song after another. They get in, they give you a great hook, they give you a beautiful vocal, and then they get out. and then there's another great hook, another great vocal, and it's just one after another.

And Mo really just, he delivers the goods. He's putting in the work. And it's just like a really enjoyable record. If you love Guide of My Voices, if you love Teenage Fan Club, if you love the raspberries, bad finger, all that sort of stuff, you're going to love this record.

It's a great fall album. So definitely check it out. It delivers over and over again. So again, Trace Mountains, check that out, and then Mo Trooper, Dilettante. I hope I'm pronouncing his name correctly. It could be Mo Trooper. I think it's Mo Trooper. By the way, great merch, great Twitter account.

Yes. All around Munch. He has a great head of hair. Yes. Like a big, you know, kind of afro going on for Mo. We can call it a Jewfro. He's got Herschel Christofsky, young Herschel Christosky on his merch. Yeah, I think we, look, I can say it's not cultural appropriation for Ian Cohen to mention a Jufro.

Yes, it's great. We've now reached the end of our episode here on Indycast. Thank you again for listening. We will 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 Indie Mixedape newsletter. You can go to uprocks.com backslash indie. And I recommend five albums per week and we'll send it direct. to your email box.