Indiecast - New Albums By Kurt Vile and Guided By Voices, the Return of Wild Pink, and "Indie Rock" Electronic Albums

Episode Date: May 29, 2026

The guys open with a Sportscast about the NBA playoffs, including talk about SGA flopping and the New York Knicks dominating (1:56). They then talk about a new album announcement by one of the show's "mascot" bands, Wild Pink (13:57). They also discuss the new Guided By Voices album, and Steven's recent ranking of all the band's many members (21:20). Then they delve deeper into the week's new releases, including albums by Iceage, Paul McCartney, and Turnover. (28:49). They also touch on the new Boards of Canada release, and subsequently discuss indie-adjacent electronic music (47:23). In Recommendation Corner, Ian recommends Crash Of Rhinos and Steven recommends a new archival John Prine live album (52:16). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Indicast is presented by Amazon Music. Hello everyone and welcome to Indycasts. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We review albums and we hash out trends. In this episode, we talk about new albums by Kurt Vile and guided by voices, a new album announcement from Wild Pink and the best indie rock-friendly electronic albums. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host. He just followed Shay Gilgis Alexander, Ian Cohen,

Ian, how are you? So this guy's probably too famous to call it or remember some guys, but do you remember Julius Peppers? Oh, yeah. Of course. You're playing for the Packers. Oh, yeah, that's right. I remember him as the Panthers guy, but yeah. So Julius Peppers also played basketball at UNC, and I remember there was one game where they were

playing Virginia where I went to college, and Virginia was beating them pretty bad. This was a very down year for UNC. And at the end, towards the end of the game, they sent in Julius. Peppers. And I think in the five minutes he played, he just like fouled guys like five or six times. Just like go in there, foul out, leave the game. And I think that this is where the spurs are messing up. Like you need a guy who puts the fear of God in Chey Gildes-Alexander. That this would not have happened in the 90s. And by the way, I, I, this goes to show how little I know about the NBA despite checking ESPN 20 times a day. I just learned like three

weeks ago it's pronounced Shea and not shy, Gilgis Alexander. I was pronouncing it like the 90s R&B group who made Comforter, so shout to you for nailing it on the first take. I was going to say, is there a player named Jodacy in the NBA? That might be a weird pronunciation situation. We're doing a quick sports cast here for those who haven't noticed. And we're referencing SGA star player of the Oklahoma City Thunder who may have made the NBA finals by the time this episode post. They're playing Thursday night. game six against the San Antonio Spurs. We're recording Thursday morning.

It looks like OKC is probably in the driver's seat, although Wembe might go crazy and hit a bunch of half-court threes and tie this thing up. But we're looking at a possible New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA finals. And, you know, I feel like a bit of a fraud opining on this because I have literally not watched more than, I would say, three minutes of the NBA this year, including the playoffs.

I checked in to one of the Spurs Thunder games for about two minutes, and then I got distracted by something, and then I didn't go back. I've only been following, like, via social media. So I know, for instance, about Shea Gilgis Alexander. He's flopping all the time. people are just posting videos, talking about how annoying this guy is. I know that the Knicks are going into the NBA finals on like an historic run. I know they swept.

Who did they just play in the... The Cleveland Cavaliers, yeah. They played the Cavs. And did they sweep the Celtics? I don't think... No, the Sixers beat the Celtics. They beat the Sixers 4-1 and they beat the Hawks. Wow.

I feel like... Yeah, I am a total point-exter right now at the NBA. I have no idea. I just learned that James Harden was on the Caves. I learned that when the Caves got eliminated. And I guess James Hardin just has a fetish for being humiliated in the playoffs. Like, why is he on the Caves? Was that like a mid-season thing, or was he starting out the season with the Caps?

It was a mid-season trade. They traded Darius Garland, who said at the end of the year, like I was playing with nine toes. But yeah, this is how you find out which team James Hardin is on now by like who gets embarrassingly eliminated. It's sort of like how you find out like Beck has a new album by listening, like seeing the Grammy nominations. Right, right.

Yeah. James Hardin being embarrassed in the playoffs is the musical equivalent of Beck getting a Grammy nomination, which is an embarrassment maybe for the Grammys. No, we're taking shots at Beck here. Shouldn't we be liking Beck? We're like middle-aged guys who grew up in the 90s. Yeah, I saw his episode on Futurama. That was a good thing he did, man.

The Electric Bazoodie rhyming dictionary. I was watching some Beck music videos last night randomly because Odalae turns 30 in June. And man, that is the most 90s album, I think, of all time. O'Dole. Like the music videos for that are so 90s. You know, just all of the like kitschy references to the 60s and 70s. And the air quotes over everything. And like the somewhat problematic appropriation of hip hop culture where the joke is that you have like a nerdy guy standing next to break dancers.

Like that's the joke. And it's like that was hilarious in the 90s and now it seems a little weird looking back on it. I still like those songs though. The singles from O'DLay? I think hold up. I like jackass. That's a good song. That's a deep cut though.

That wasn't a single. I think it was a single. I think it was a single. That was like the fourth or fifth. Because I'm talking like where it's at, devil's hair cut, new pollution. Yeah. And then Jackass was maybe after that. Those are the big three singles, though, I think, from that record.

Totally. It also makes you realize how hard he was biting from the Beastie Boys at that point. Well, yeah. That record is so beautiful. We're turning into Dust Brothers cast. Yeah. But see, I already got distracted from talking about the NBA. So the Knicks are in, which is great for the celebs, because that's another thing I see on social media.

They always talk about Celebrity Row. So, you know, Ben Stiller, I've seen him, you know, crouched on the sidelines a million times. You've got Chalamey and one of the Kardashians. Which one is he dating? You got me there, man. Kylie? Kylie, I think. It's Kylie Jenner, I believe, is certain.

So she's a Jenner Kardashian. Billy Crystal, is he still in Celebrity Row or did he get bounced? He's a Clippers guy, right? I thought he was a Clippers guy. He used to be a Knicks guy. I guess he's in L.A. now. Has he always been a Clippers guy? I think that was back in the really dark ages, like the Donald Sterling, like when the Clippers

were always the worst team in the NBA. I think that was like one of their things, which is that Billy Crystal was the guy who was still sticking with the Clippers. You got Spike Lee obviously. Yeah. You've got Tina Faye and Tracy Jordan. Tracy Jordan. Tracy Morgan.

It might have been him in character as Tracy Jordan. It's Tracy Morgan. I think that's all the celebs. I'm sick of the celebs. If you've got a celebrity row for your team, this is me. This is like me trying to gin up interest in this finals because I always want to cheer for the Midwest team. versus like the East or West Coast team. But the Thunder are so unlikable.

I mean, they're so good, but they seem very workman-like, and they seem very nerdy. You know, they don't party at all. You got Chey Gilgis Alexander, who's a great player, but he's flopping all the time. I saw this morning that he filed a cease and desist

against some, I don't know if it was a website. Did you see this? Like he filed a cease and desist over the mock? Like a Drake, like when Drake sued, Spotify for bumping Not like, is that one? I haven't seen this yet. Yeah, it was, I don't know.

I think they were maybe posting clips of SGA flopping. So he sent a cease and desist which is a great idea. When you show that you're bothered by being made fun of and you demand that people stop making fun of you, that works every single time.

Like people are respectful of that and they don't mock you 10 times as hard, especially online. I find on the internet people are really respectful of that. So I'm sure that's going to work out great for him. But yeah, I don't really want to cheer for, I mean, I like the city of Oklahoma City. I've been there. Cool city. Oklahoma is a state. You know, the musical. I'm a fan of the musical Oklahoma. You like the flaming lips. You know, I like the soft bulletin. That's a great record. But, you know, the Knicks in a way, I mean, they are a likable team.

You got, you know, Jalen Brunson, very likable guy. It's just like all the culture around the next turns me off. You know, you got all the crazy people outside Massa Square Garden who like are, you know, throwing a ticker tape parade after they win one game in the playoffs. I mean, that's annoying and the celebs are annoying to me. So I don't know what to do. But, you know, I'm also saying this as a person who's a very disengaged NBA watcher. So my opinions mean nothing.

If you're upset by my opinions, I'm telling you they mean nothing. So don't worry about it. Yeah, I think this raises the question of, is it ethical to root for the New York Knicks? Really, any New York team. And I think that in this circumstance, I actually really like the Knicks. I really like what they're bringing the table. I think that the celebrities they have are very embedded in New York. And I think that the Knicks bring a regionalism to the NBA, which is not existed for a very

long time. I mean, you have the core of the team. Like, three of them went to Villanova, which is just, you know, like two hours down, like south in Philadelphia. I think it's cool for New York City to have, like, a really awesome Dominican and Puerto Rican player, given, like, you know, the Dominican Day and Puerto Rican Day parade. Spike Lee's always there. I think that's cool. Timothy Shalmay, we know he knows ball. He was on game day and he did the deal. And I got to say, like, so many of our, like, you know, outside conversations are about wishing that New York wasn't the center of attention. It didn't take itself so seriously. But I respect the Knicks fans because this team is like over the past 50 years, for the most part, like pretty terrible, kind of cursed in a comical way. And whenever the

Knicks are good, there is an energy that makes the NBA better. I thought Carmelow was awesome. Linsanity was super cool. And the Knicks are like one of the few major market teams where you can say the league is better when they're good and actually mean it. I don't think that's true of the Lakers. I don't think that's true of the Cowboys. Well, what? Okay, I got to interrupt you here because you've just been sucking up to Nix fans for the last several minutes it feels like, but I have to stop you with the Lakers thing. The Lakers, if they're good, they are, they make the league better. I'll grant you that the Nicks being good is good for the league, but the Lakers being good is also good for the league. I don't think that the Nicks being better.

better than the Lakers is good for the league, because the league's been fine, like you said, in the last 50 years, Knicks have been irrelevant most of the time. So I don't think they matter that much. Certainly not more than the Lakers or the Celtics. And I might even say, like, I love either one of those teams.

I'm just saying they're not as important. I will also say, too, that the Knicks being good after being bad for so long, I have less sympathy for it if you just have, like, a terrible owner. Yeah. And you're also in a city

that has all the advantages to be, to being good. Like, there's really, like, if you're in some, you know, lower tier market and you've always been bad and then you become good. I think that's more inspiring than like you're in the most famous city in the world and you have all the advantages of the media and the glamour and the money and you're still bad. Just like how the New York football teams are awful.

Like the most unwatchable football teams. They're hilarious. I think the league is better when they're actually bad. It's kind of the opposite of like the Lakers and the Cowboys. I think that there's a benefit to the public when the Jets and the Giants battle each other out for the most unsurious franchise in sports. So anyway, I'll grant you a lot of what you said. I do think that this particular team is likable. Like you know, like Dylan Brunson again, likable guy.

You know, even the celebs, you know, the celebs, you know, they seem like true fans. So I'll give them that. But I don't know. I want to see J.D. in the straight shot play the championship parade. You know that's going to happen. It's going to be this like Philly when the Eagles won times 10, and then James Dolan is going to interrupt it so he and like his boys from the Eagles can play some terrible blue song for 25 minutes. You know, and I've seen J.D. in the straight shot because I saw the, I went to an Eagles concert like a few years ago.

And, like, no, they weren't there actually. I saw them somewhere else. I saw them open for somebody. Because I feel like at MSG, he just pencils in J.D. in the Straight Shot a lot for some of these like Boomer, you know, concerts at MSG. So I feel like I've seen him. So it wasn't the Eagles, though, because that was the Doobie Brothers.

I saw the Doobies. It wasn't J.D. and Straight Shot. And no disrespect to the Doobie Brothers, who I love. I didn't mean to confuse you with J.D. in the Straight Shot there. we should maybe move on from sports cast and JD in the straight shot cast we got to talk a little bit about a very important bit of news in our corner of the world and that is the band wild pink a band that Ian and I love and have talked a lot about and written a lot about they announced a new album this week it's called still coming down it's out

August 21st and it was made with some people that certainly I'm a fan of and I know you're fan of as well, Ian. It was produced by Alex Farrar, the guy behind records by Wednesday and MJ Lenderman. M.J. Lenderman actually plays on this record because M.J. Lenderman is playing on everybody's record, feels like lately. Meg Duffy from Han Habits is also on the album, as well as some members of Wednesday. There was a single that came out this week called Round of Applaus at the end of the world. I don't know if you listen to that, Ian, but it sounds like a continuation of the last record Wild Pink put out, which was called Dulling the Horns, which was like a louder and more kind of like messier, noisier record than Wild Pink has made.

And in a way, I feel like that's been their most fruitful musical direction. You know, they started out in the late 2010s as sort of a hybrid of 80s Heartland Rock with like some emo sonics and dynamics in it. Death Cab for Cutie was off. a band that was likened to Wild Pink, even though John Ross, the main guy in the band. I don't think he really listens to Death Cab, or at least he hasn't really cited them as an influence. He's more of a full moon fever, tunnel of love,

you know, Paul Simon Graceland, Jackson Brown type guy. And just the way he's fused those two things together, we've often said, I think, that this is like the most indie cast band of all time. It fuses our interest into one band. But I feel like dolling the horns felt like a bit of a crossover into a wider indie audience. I think because of the heavier guitars.

And I feel like this record is poised to maybe capitalize on that. Yeah, which is crazy to think about because, you know, back in the yoke in the fur, the A Billion Little Light, which still my favorite wild pink album. and I love you so much. I, L-Y-S-M. Those were all, those sounded like, oh, I could hear these getting big, right? They were kind of poppy. They were accessible.

They hit that middle point that I love of, you know, war on drugs, but kind of death cap for cutie. And it's interesting how he's gone in a louder, sludgy direction. I think the last record was, you know, like full moon fever played on a distorted baritone guitar. It's a much more narrower sound, but that album seemed to break through in a way that the previous ones didn't. And this is, I think, the first time he's kind of stuck with the same sound from record to record. People really are into this one. Maybe it's just the, you know, the people I follow, or it's just like, the people who would be excited about a wild pink album are excited

about this one. But I think he's hitting a stride in a way that, uh, at least, you know, with public reception that he hadn't before. And, you know, last album, he opened for MJ Lenderman. This time around, uh, the fall tour, they're opening for shaky graves, which is a band, uh, that's like a rock band, right? Like, I don't even know what else to call it. It's like a rock band. And a lot of people, they're the type of band that always plays like festivals and, you know, the people I know at work who I don't know if they're into like much other types of music, like they like them. They're kind of like in that Lord Hero. sort of realm.

But I think that's going to open it. And I don't say like Americana too. They go into that as well. Like Americana tinged rock music. But yeah, definitely a band that isn't necessarily, you know, like Lord Huron not talked about maybe on music websites, but does well on streaming platforms and on music festival bills for sure. Yeah.

Also, I've heard the album and I've seen the lyric sheet. There are references to The Town and Heat. John Ross likes to sing about the movie Heat. and there's also sports references, particularly to Baltimore team. So this is a Wild Pink album for sure. Yeah, and I think this band, you know, they're not as popular as Rat Boys, but to me they remind me of Rat Boys trajectory. And both of these bands started around the same time, like I said, late 2010s.

Wild Pink at this point actually has like a pretty big catalog. I think this album. Yeah, I mean, is it even more than that? Is this maybe the seventh? Um, there was the self-title. And also, I, that the rap voice connection made sense to me, because, you know, they've collaborated together like, uh, the lead singer, Julia has been on, uh, some wild pink records, including family friends, one of my favorite songs there. So yeah, there was the first one in 17. That album's great, by the way. That is a, that is a potential indie cast Hall of Famer. Then they did Yoke and the Fur. They did Billion and Little Lights. I love you so much. Uh, the dolling the horn. So this is number six. Number six. They've had, I think, some EPs maybe and singles like Flor. Like Flor. Florida, which is an incredible song. You know, a deep catalog, but six records. This one's number six.

So, and that's over the course of about a decade. So, like, a pretty deep catalog already. And similar to... Five album test? Yeah, definitely. I think they've already passed it, but they're now stacking the deck. But I think with Wild Pink, I mean, there's a similar trajectory to Rat Boys in that they've never really been the flavor of the month or the band that was getting talked about

the most. But they've always had a steady climb, consistent. assistant catalog. And it really feels like similar to Rat Boys, like the last two Rat Boys albums have, I think, clearly been the most disgust and it felt like they've had the broadest appeal. And now you see Rat Boys being talked about more in the mainstream press. And they're just one of those bands that I think people look at, I mean, always in a way similar to this, although they have fewer albums. And I think, I mean, they're more popular than Rat Boys and Wild Pink. But it's a similar thing where sometimes if you can just accumulate a big

catalog, you know, people who maybe haven't gotten into you right away, at some point they notice and they go, wow, they have all these albums that are really good and you become an instant fan that way. And it feels like Wild Pink could be on that same path, which is great. I mean, we've talked about this band for a long time, you know, cheer for this band. John Ross, very talented singer songwriter. He's had some health issues in the past. Seems like he's on the men now, which is awesome. And yeah, just having some of these higher profile guest stars too on that. And, this record, I think, could really pay some dividends in terms of maybe more people talking about it and writing about it. But I think we would both agree that in terms of like indie rock bands, this is

like one of the most consistent bands of like the last 10 years. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And also a few weeks ago, there was another Howdy album released as well. So yeah, we're, we're going to be doing pretty well in August. Well, it wasn't released. I think it was announced. It was announced. My bad. Which, by the way, if the publicist of Howdy is listening, please send that to me. I've not received any emails about howdy. You are missing out not talking to me about howdy. I'm in the howdy critical community. So please send me that album. Also want to bring up that there's a new guided by voices album out today. Of course there is called Crawl Space of the Pantheon. I wrote about guided by voices on my substack this week. I actually wrote a massive column

where I attempt, well, I didn't attempt. I did it, but I ranked every member. of Guided by Voices over the years. Just so you know, if you're not familiar with this band, you know, they've been around since the mid-80s, the main guy, Robert Pollard, he is the only constant member, and there have been tons of people that have cycled in and out of this band.

On my list, there's 34 people that I talk about. There's also, like, a bunch of, like, sort of unknown people that have, you know, that they were just hanging out in Dayton while they were, like, laying down some tracks on a four-track machine. and they were drinking the MGD and all of a sudden Bob was like,

can you sing backup on this song? So those people, I wasn't able to list every single person who's ever been on a Guy by Voices record, but I did talk about people who have played in the band that have recorded with the band. And they are a unique institution in that,

you know, like there are a lot of long-running bands that cycle through members. But Guy to My Voices has had at least three lineups that I think are recognized as being relatively solid and steady. and recording over the course of several records. You know, there's a lineup in the 90s,

there's a lineup in the late 90s, early 2000s, and then there's the lineup that he's had for the last 10 years. And then on top of that, you have all these sort of random people who have nicknames like Smitty and Kregow and Captain Bazaar who have been in the band. So it's a fascinating story. Normally when people talk about guided by voices,

they only talk about Robert Pollard. They don't talk about all the other people that have been in the band. I should also mention that there's an interview with Tobin Sprout, who if you know anything about Guided By Voices, he is very high on my list. I will not say what spot he is in, but I have an audio interview with Tobin Sprout where he talks about the band, and that's really interesting. I don't think we've ever actually talked about GBV on this show, even though they're one of my favorite bands of all time. What is your take on GBV? Do you go deep on them at all, Ian? What I first want to do is check out the Guided By Voices Wikipedia page to see the chart at the bottom where they'll like say like so and so in the band for this amount of time. My favorite one is Shy Hulud, which is this like Florida hardcore band, which has like the most legendary like 50,000 people were in this band. The first thing I'm going to do is read that list because you just name the two guys I know from the band, which is Tobin Sprout and Robert Pollard. I don't do they have like an Alan Smithy type thing where if you were one of the guys who didn't pay the bar tab but you play guitar they just have to put like a you know kind of a redacted in there or do they all have like real names well some of the early albums just say like various you know where it's not totally clear because this is a band that there's a lot of mystery still with guided by voices especially like on some of those classic albums from the mid 90s B000 alien lanes you know people weren't

weren't keeping studio logs back then. They weren't keeping them for guided by voices albums. You know, it's not like the Beatles where you can look up and find out what sandwiched John Lennon ate on like February 12th, 1965. I mean, that stuff is super documented. Guided by Voices, you know, a lot of times it's unclear like who's playing what on a particular song. So there is a fair amount of vagueness or imprecision, but you know, there are things like the guided by voices database, for instance, which is a pretty extensive accounting of who does what and plays on different records. Because there's so many different albums in this band's catalog.

I mean, I assume you know the classic albums at least. Have you ever spent time with B,000 or Alien Lanes? Is that like too early for you in your music? Because it's around the 1993 line that we'd like to say, where you don't listen to music for 1993. Got my voice falls under that a little bit. Do those 90s albums follow? because I'm guessing you haven't heard any of the recent stuff.

No, I mean, I've never been, despite my age and my demographic, I've never been one of the guys at Pitchfork who they just throw a guy to buy Voices album too. But although B,000 and Ailing Lanes, they pop up at like the time where I started to listen to music. Again, I have not listened to any music before 1993. I did read all the 90s lists in like Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and so forth. So yeah, you got to listen to B000. it's really cool. But beyond that, I do not go super deep. I know Jimmy World covered Game of Pricks, which was cool. And you will know us by the Trail of Dead did Goldheart Mountain Top Queen

Directory. Also cool. They turned into like this Prague rock song that like Robert Pollard hears in their dreams. And yeah, I don't go super deep with them. I think that it's just there maybe was a time where I could have done a deep dive. I just, you know, no disrespect, don't have the time for it now. Like I don't have, my brain is too, it doesn't have the plasticity it had, it could have had in like my 20s where I could have gone in a got-of-by-voices deep dive. You can listen to B-thousin though. You don't have to do that. Oh, totally.

And I do listen to B-thousand. I mean, I was just looking, I mean, Death Cat for Cutie, they did a cover of tractor rape chain. I mean, there's a fair amount, I mean, I feel like emo bands, there's a fair amount of them that are influenced by GBB. Totally. Joyce Manor being maybe the most prime. prominent, modern example.

When I interviewed Barry Johnson, a long time ago, I think it was around the time of Cody, so that'd be like 10 years ago at this point. We talked about GBB, like a lot of that interview, because he loves that band. And, you know, there are a band that puts out 19-minute records. They're like the one band that makes shorter albums

than Guided by Voices does. So that's an interesting, you know, Liquid Mike, I guess would be another band, more modern band. that is sort of emo and sort of GBV at the same time. So those hybrids are always interesting to me. Because GBV, as they carry themselves on stage, seem like the opposite of an emo band to me in a lot of respects.

I imagine, like, Robert Pollardag hates any band that's ever been called emo. But I think what you can do is, for people like myself, the GBV curious, kind of doing like a bluffer's guide to guide by voices. It's like, okay, here's like the upper crust. here's the ones where it's like this is slightly deeper, like the GBV iceberg, if you will. Yeah, yeah, I would say the mid-90s records. I would also say some of the slicker major label records

that came out late 90s, early 2000s, do the collapse and isolation drills. Might be a little more palatable just because. I love the fact they were on TVT records, right? Yeah, very weird fit. But, you know, it was that weird time. where it seemed like, oh, maybe guided by voices can become a fairly, and they were bigish at the time, but they, you know, just too eccentric, too much music.

And then Power broke up the band for a while in 2004, and they needed a solo career. Anyway, all this stuff is covered in my column on my substack, Evil Speaker, so you can check it out there. Let's talk about some of the big releases that we haven't already talked about that are out today. There is a new dog star album, Ian. Dogstar, that's Keanu Reeves's band. Do you ever listen to Dogstar? I probably should. Or I should have somebody like give me like a blind taste test of them. Because if I go in knowing it's Dogstar, the entire experience will be colored by, oh, this is the guy who made The Matrix or this is John Wick. And my expectations will be guided by that rather than

Like, maybe he does play bass, like, in a way that I find it encouraging. Now, I've never listened to Dogstar. I mean, I don't know if he plays, I don't know if he sings. I think he's the bassist, right? He's the, yeah, I know, but I'm just saying he could sing, though, as the bassist. But because they're a power trio, and it looks like he doesn't sing. The lead vocalist is Brett Domrose, who also plays bass in the nuns. And I don't know any of this stuff.

I'm just literally reading off a Wikipedia right now. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I've been aware of Dog Star for 30 years. I've never felt compelled to put them on. But they might be an incredible band. Who knows? I just imagine they sound like Spacehog. I don't know why. Yeah, I'm picturing like Spacehog failure, you know, like a post grunge with some pop hooks to it.

That would be my guess. And maybe occasionally they do more of a punky song. You know, or maybe they occasionally cover. like a David Bowie song. They play Suffragette City or something as the encore. I'm just purely guessing what Dogstar does. Their album, by the way, is called All In Now. Keanu Rees, if you ever want to come on the show,

we'll interview you and we'll do a deep dive on Dog Star. Keanu, if you're listening, get in touch with our people. We can make it happen. The new Ice Age album is out today for Love of Grace in the Hereafter. You and I like to make fun of Ice Age and how they're overpraised by music critics.

Do you have anything else to say about this album, Ian? I mean, we don't condone gambling. It's a scourge upon our society, but we've always joked about, like, doing an off-track betting thing for, like, pitchfork scores, and, like, what does Kalshi exist for, if not laying odds on whether it gets that sixth straight best new music? I listen to the record.

It's fine. It's not, like, bad. Like, I say it's not a bad band. We just like to make fun of them, because there's just such a discrepancy between the praise and just like their actual existence in the world. Yeah, totally. Yeah, when I listen to this, the album that actually made me get Ice Age was not an Ice Age album. It was the last Fontaine's DC album, which, you know, like went supernova and it made me think,

oh, right, this is what, like, Ice Age would sound like if they made memorable songs. So I do get the sense that there is something there. so close to being a band I would like. But, yeah, I think maybe this is where the streak ends. Who knows? Maybe we'll find out by the time this episode airs. I don't know. I mean, a pitchfork in particular,

I feel like there's been a remarkable consistency over the course of like 15 years of like people loving Ice Age. It's incredible. I don't really get it because they're not generationally important in terms of popularity, which is fine. You know, it's not like that is the only reason

that would make them important. But yeah, they're just like a work. been like band to me. I think that at their best, they're like a 6.8 type band. Perfectly fine, but, you know, not exceptional really. And there are other people doing things like that that I don't feel like Ice Age is, because I mean, I feel like they're basically like a derivative post-punk band, which is a boilerplate genre for indie rock. A lot of people are doing that. I feel like there are other band. I mean, I talked about a band recently called Cola. that grew out of the Montreal band Oat.

I feel like they are a very similar band to Ice Age. And their last record came out, I thought it was quite good. And I talked about it, I think, on this show. But they don't get talked about in the same reverent way that Ice Age does. I just don't really understand it. They are projected to be this great band of the 2010s. And they just seem like a perfectly okay band to me. That would be my assessment.

The classic gets really good reviews and then like disappears. by the time the year end list comes around. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Kurt Bile has a new record out today called Philadelphia's been good to me. I've listened to this record. I've enjoyed it. I feel similar to how I feel about his last couple records, where he's really gone into this songwriting style

that is less Neil Young in the 70s and more Neil Young in the last like 25 years, where it feels like it's less about compact, chunky, chunky, rock songs that just burl their way into your consciousness and that you can listen to a million times and never get sick of. Songs like, you know, Jesus fever and pretty pimping and waking on a pretty day and, you know, freeway. I mean, there's a ton of songs in that vein.

And I feel like he's now embraced a style that's a lot shaggy. You know, the songs often are quite long. I mean, you know, it might be 10 minutes long at times. And, you know, I like Kurt Viles' music. I am in you know I'm on board with his persona and I know you aren't like I'm saying that with a smile because I can feel what you're going to say but I'm I'm generally a fan but yeah it's not hitting me as hard maybe as the classic albums which I would say are from constant hitmaker to believe I'm going down I think that would be the golden era for me of Kurt Bile I think for you it's

shorter than that yeah and I got to be careful with what I say because I have learned that my niece and Kurt Bile's daughter run in the same circles. Wow. In Philadelphia, they were both in a production of Chicago. So, you know, is Kurt. I know my brother's probably listening, so I don't know if he's going to, you know, eye down Kurt Bile like that. Yeah.

Man, smoke ring for my halo is maybe like my epitome of like, man, that's a great guitar tone. And I would say that and waking on a pretty day. are like top tier ones for me. They were probably top 10 albums of those particular years. I fell off hard with Believe I'm going down. And look, I respect what he does. But when I listen to that first song, Zoom 97, I'm like, I'm out, dude.

Like, this felt like very, I guess like the kind of self-mythologizing of Kurt File. Like Kurt File's songs about Kurt Vile, like just really kind of turned on me. So I gave it a shot. Not for me, but, you know, I respect it. I respect him doing what he does. Anything that gives Philly a little bit of pride, so be it. Just to clarify, the album is waking on a pretty days. I said, the song is waking on a pretty day.

The album is waking on a pretty days. Just in case any Philly people out there are going to get on the horn. Just wanted to clarify that. Paul McCartney has a new album out today called The Boys of Dungeon Lane. I have not heard this album. I am a Paul McCartney fan. as is most of humanity. He was recently on Saturday Night Live,

and his voice sounds older. I don't know if you listen to that at all. No, I've not heard of Paul McCartney's solo album in my life. Well, I mean, did you hear him perform in a... Oh, no, I didn't. I was thinking about that, because how old is he right now? He's 83. So, you know, and he's been doing stadium shows

on a pretty regular basis over the last, like, 20 years. Like, he's just been on this schedule, now, it's not as extensive as Bob Dylan's annual tour. You know, like, Dylan just tours every year. He's not touring behind an album. He just tours because he tours. He tours like a jam band, tours. And McCartney has done something similar.

Doesn't play as many dates, but he just tours every year. And his voice has held up a remarkably long time. And lately, you can hear the age creeping in, which is a poignant thing. with someone like McCartney because it just reminds you that these guys are fragile and they are it's easy to because a lot of these guys

are living and working into their 80s like McCartney, Dylan, Neil Young, the Stones and it does make you forget sometimes that you're pretty old in your 80s and McCartney looks great he's still making music

I'm curious to hear this album apparently it's more of a personal like nostalgic looking back type record But yeah, I mean, because he's such a great singer And he's had such a powerful voice for so long And he's always had kind of like a boyish voice really And to hear the inevitability of getting older creeping in You know, there's a beauty to that in a lot of ways

That I appreciate that he's still singing But there is also some melancholy And it's not like Bob Dylan Because Bob Dylan's always had like He's had like a ravaged voice for years Yeah And his voice actually sound smoother relatively, you know, than it did maybe like 10, 15 years ago. But he's like made

it work. I feel like Dylan, his secret was, I'm not going to try to look or sound like I did 40 years ago, which is what, like, McCartney and the Stone, like, most of these guys try to do that. Dylan's like, I'm going to like make my voice sound cragier. I'm going to sound even older than I am. Because Dylan just turned 85. He sounds like he's 170 in some of his songs. But he's like, no, like, screw it. I am emphasizing the age. In a way, it makes it seem less striking when you hear him sing.

You're used to it. Whereas with McCartney, it's like, oh, he doesn't sound like he does on the records that we all love. And there's a, like I said, a poignancy to that. Yeah, I mean, with Bob, I don't go as deep on any of those guys as you do. but I know that like with time out of mind from that point going for is like yeah every Bob Dylan everything Bob Dylan does just like puts mortality at the forefront and so yeah he's like one of those guys like an actor who figures out like he's never kind of looked young I mean Bob Dylan's obviously looked young but he's looked he's been he's played up the old piece for a very

very long time it's just I mean I'm starting just like man there's I can't imagine a time when we're not going to have one of these two people around. It's crazy. It's wild thing. And like Billy, I also feel like Willie Nelson. He's like he's still tours too, I think. Apparently it's like kind of hard to watch sometimes, but apparently. But yeah, he's still doing it too.

I mean, I've seen him recently. I thought it was, I thought he was really great. I mean, he's obviously. I mean, he's, he's the oldest of everybody. I mean, like, like Willie, you know, I think was old. older than Buddy Holly. Like I did this math once that if Buddy Holly were alive today,

he'd be 88, I think, or 89. And so, like, Willie is like three or four years older than Buddy Holly, you know, who's been, obviously he died not of natural causes. He died in a plane crash, but I'm just saying historically, like, he's around Elvis's age.

You know, like, he's around, like, the age of these legends that aren't with us anymore. So it just underscores how amazing that he is, that it is that he's still around. So let's see. I lost my place here. Oh, of course, I was too excited.

That's why I lost my place. Because there's a new Shinedown album. Yes. And the album is called 8. And I'm confused by this because, okay, so the album's called 8, but it's stylized so that the number 8 is substituted for the letter G. So. Okay.

You know, like how 7 they put the 6. Seven in place of the V. Here they put the eight in the place of the G. Presumably this is the eighth Shinedown album. That would be so sick if it wasn't. It's like when that band Restoration is another Indycast favorite, they like made like LP 1. And then the next one was like LP 5,000 or something like that.

Right. But then Shinedown goes one step further and they're like, we're going to put a weird stylization of them. No, it is their eighth album. Can you name another? shine down album? I cannot name a shine down song. The best I can do is not confuse them with Switchfoot and I know Switchfoot's the one from San Diego where I shine down. I think they're Floridian but yeah, I just think of like this

term I made called the Shine Down Circuit where it's like you're playing these kind of off markets like you're touring like Fargo, Nebraska and Bangor, Maine. I thought of this because I saw that there's a Lil Wayne the game and Two Chains tour that's going to like Bangor, Maine and like a city in New Hampshire and state college Pennsylvania. I'm like, that's the Shinedown circuit right there. So I'm just looking at Shinedown album titles here, and I'm just going to read them in order because I feel like the album titles are reflective of the band. Because Shindown to me, they are the most boilerplate anonymous radio rock band of the 21st century.

Like, if you look at their Wikipedia, they have, I don't know how many number one, like modern rock songs. You know, songs that just dominate radio. And yet, like you said, I couldn't name one Shinedown song. I couldn't hum a Shinedown song. If, like, a guy wearing I'm a lead singer of Shinedown shirt walked up to me, I'd be like, what band are you in? I don't recognize you. So album titles include, leave a whisper, us and them, the sound of madness. That rocks.

That's a good title. That's a great one. Amarillis. I don't know if it's like a city name. Maybe that's like a, I don't know. I don't know what Emeril's. Oh, that's like probably their like artsy album, right? Yeah, right.

It's like we're incorporating electronic influences on this one. Yes, exactly. Threat to survival. That's back to basics. The political one. That's the political one, for sure. It's 2015. So you think they were doing like, like Black Lives Matter stuff or anything?

Yeah, it's their too pimper butterfly for sure. Oh, my God. Attention, attention. That's their like social media record. Right. They're everything now. Planet Zero and then eight. Planet Zero's got to be their muse one, right?

Their sci-fi epic. I think we need to just do an entire episode where we take these active rock bands and just try to guess what they sound like based on the album title. Shine Down Rules. I just love how everything is, if you were to just make up a band for a book,

or like a TV show, it would follow this exact path. Yeah. I love that you said shine down rules. I hope Amazon just breaks out those two words to promote this episode. There's also a new turnover record out today called Down on Earth. I've listened to this record. I enjoyed it.

Turnover is an interesting band to me. For those who don't know, this is like an emo band that has a lot of dream pop elements to it. I feel like they are defined by their 2015 record peripheral vision, which is I think we can call that a modern classic of of emo music. I guess you would know better than me, but I feel like that record seems to be a touchstone for a younger generation of people. I like that record quite a bit. If I listen to anything by that band, it's going to be that record. And they really had that idea. It's a really smart idea of like taking emo or pop punk style songwriting and applying dream pop guitar tones to it. And I know other people have done that, but like that record

seems like it's maybe one of the most famous examples. You know, I guess title fight moved in that direction toward the end of their career as well. But I feel like on this new record, they're not really deviating too far from that template. But, you know, if this is the kind of thing you're into, if you like Peripheral Vision, I think you'd like this record. Yeah, I would also call Peripheral Vision a modern classic,

even though I gave it a 6.6 back in the day. And I still would. I still would give it that because it's a great idea. The execution is not particularly, like, there's some serious cringe on that. It's kind of similar to the balance and composure out of my review a few years back as well. But, I mean, this band played Red Rocks for its 10th anniversary of Peripheral Vision, which is just crazy to me, not just because of how popular this record is, but look, even in their best day's turnover was a unremarkable live act.

I remember seeing them once with Turnstile back. in 2018 and the difference could not be more, more alarming in terms of stage energy. But I would actually recommend for anyone who is turnstile, turn over curious, you are correct in that peripheral vision is the one record they will never live down. But I think the next one, good nature that came out in 2017, is better overall. I think the highs aren't as high. it's not as innovative but i think they ironed out a lot of the uh i would say we used to open for newfound glory elements of their lyricism and uh it's just that it's sort of like man i kind of wish

a wild like i miss wild nothing no i mean they still made music but they're the type of band who's like man i my life changed when i heard beach fossils in wild nothing and that's actually true so um i respect they do they're it seems like they're course correcting on this one because the last couple of records, uh, they were going with like, I don't even know, like it was kind of more of like a latter day wild nothing sound.

It didn't really work for them. Uh, so I'm looking forward to checking this out. So, and one more album we should mention, uh, that's coming out today is the latest from boards of Canada, the Scottish electronic music duo.

They have a record out today called Inferno. And this brought up something that you mentioned this week as we were chatting about want to talk about today. You called them Gateway electronic albums. I would rebranded a little bit to like indie rock, like friendly electronic albums. Electronic albums that had real appeal to the indie rock audience, you know, because with Boards of Canada, you know, one of the big electronic records of the late 90s came out in 1988, their record music has the right to children.

I feel like that was around the time that like a lot of indie people started. listening to electronic music or listening to like modern stuff. Not talking about like craftwork records or Brianino records or all that stuff from the 70s. But like around 98 you had like Air Moon Safari. You had daft punk homework. A little bit after that you had the justice record that came out. I mean, it feels like would you group in like chemical brothers dig out your own hole? Oh yeah.

Totally. What we're really talking about, and this is going to be a dog whistle to the 40-something indie cast audience, is the show AMP on MTV. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like, this was a, I mean, I'm showing my age here, but this was around the time. And I imagine everyone in high school at this time had this experience where, you know, the guy who, I'm thinking of your friend who made you listen to like suppletura in their truck, you know, or what have you. Right, right. This was about the time where they kind of stopped smoking weed.

Like the guys you would like hang out smoke We play golden eye with all of a sudden We're going into raves And yeah it's like hey Ian Turn off Mace's Harlem World I'm gonna play you boy girl song by Apex Twin And that was a time where you could turn on MTV Granted it was late night

And see Chemical Brothers dig your own hole Or Richard D James album Or The Prodigy Fad of the Land I would say electronica as a whole But there were a lot of What I would describe is very like instrumental electronic records. It wasn't, you know, Discovery is a, it's like a pop record.

But this was like when Warp and Madidore, I think, had a partnership together. And that really kind of opened the door, it's like to, if you're reading like a Rolling Stone list in the 90s, they're going to include Richard D. James album. They're going to include music as to write the children. It's a gateway, but it's also like you said, if you own one electronic. album, this is the one. And it's a tougher one to parse in the 2000s because I think a lot of, I think Kid A just kind of blew it wide open in terms of rock bands incorporating electronic music. Yeah, it was less of a novelty.

I think for the indie music fan, where maybe you only listen to bands on Madador records or something, you left pavement in GBV to have homework by Daft Punk. or the Boards of Canada record or the Air record, it was branching out in a way that now seems maybe like funny. It seems kind of weird to talk about this now because you're like, well, why is it so, why was it so strange to listen to an electronic record as an indie fan? Because it's not now,

but I think at the time those records felt like a mini movement in that corner of the world. Yeah, especially with, like, I mean, again, showing my age, like boards of Canada as the sort of ones like hey man like we're not going to listen to pink floyd when we get high you got to check this stuff out the one and only time i took mushrooms i definitely put on music as the right the children they didn't work uh so we ended up watching new jack city instead but that's the kind of mindset i was in i'm that might be just an individual thing but um well see my see my record in that ilk was the virgin suicide soundtrack oh yeah like we i took this car

trip where we it was a we alternated between like pills and mushrooms and and we listened to that album a ton uh for whatever reason and that's a great record it's also pink floydie a little bit like like maybe that was the gateway like if you were just the fan of dark side of the moon and it's like well all these electronic records like the india rock records aren't giving you that but these electronic records will give you that if you're looking for that flavor yeah yeah it's uh And that is the beginning and end of drugcast. We've now reached the part of our episode where we talk about records that we like. It's called Reconnaughtation Corner.

Ian, uh, want you to tell me what you're into. Yeah, so it's unbelievable that I did not mention this one last week, but I sort of lost track of the actual release date of this record. After doing what is likely be my last piece of actual music journalism in 2026, not because I'm quitting, but because I am very immersed in the book.

It is Crash of Rhinos. their third album logbook and like boards of Canada, their last album came out in 2013. That was not. It was one of my favorites from that year. And fun fact, I'm pretty sure that was the first emo revival album that I was allowed to review at Pitchfork. So, you know, very influential in its own way. They were relatively older guys. They were from the UK. So even as that record got some attention, it was tough for them to make a go of things. So they went on hiatus for about a decade. So until they had some time to self-record, self-released this new one. And it's great. It is a very rare fine in the world of emo in that it's got that kind of muscle-bound bearded,

all like five guys who are bearded and bald and maybe wear hats on stage without getting too hot water music, like sleeve tattoo, craft beer guy with it. It's got that math rock element, but it's not too wimpy-tap stuff. It's catchy, but it's not cloying. It's. It's not cloying. and they know what they're doing this for the love. They know what they're doing. It's very much a late 90s style emo album with like better production values. And I can appreciate the small niche at fills. Check out Knott's from 2013.

That's got, that's a longer record. It's got higher highs and more kind of ambient pieces. This one is just all muscle. Great workout record. Once again, Crash of Rino's logbook. And you can check out my interview. with them in stereo gum as well. So I'm going to talk about the opposite of a great workout record.

And it's called Live at Old Town School of Folk. It is a live record by the late great John Prine. It was recorded back in 2010. Of course, John Prine passed away six years ago. But he would have turned 80 in 2026 had he lived. And there is a bunch of retrospective releases being planned for 2020. There is a concert film that you can watch on John Prine's website called You Got Gold. There's also going to be a big all-star tribute show in Chicago later this year that's taking place in October.

And now there is this new digital release. It's available on the John Prine website. I don't think it's available to stream. So if you want to hear it, you're going to have to pay for it. But I assure you it's worth it. It is a huge live record at this show. he played 28 songs. It's like one minute under three hours.

And whether you are a fan of John Prine or you are a novice, I think that this record will really hit the spot. Particularly for people who are interested in John Prine and maybe you haven't listened to him before. This is like a greatest hits album, essentially. He plays a lot of his most famous songs, but he's also telling stories between the songs. And it's in this very informal, homey atmosphere.

Really, I think the best. best way to hear this material. You know, Prine, again, I think is considered like one of the great singer-songwriters of the last 50 years, and he's someone that I still see artists name-checking and interviews as an influence. And I'm really excited to see that his name is being kept alive because, you know, you always see artists like this, especially when they're not a writer anymore, it's very easy for them to fall back on the back burner.

but this live record, it really makes John Prine feel like he's alive again. So it's highly recommended. I would check it out if you love John Prine or if you just want to get into him for the first time. That about does it for this episode of Indycast. We'll be back with more news reviews and hashing out trends next week.