Indiecast - Our Favorite Albums Of 2020

Episode Date: December 4, 2020

Approximately 25 years after it started, 2020 is finally coming to an end. As is customary in the music world, before one can look ahead, one must look back. Our latest episode is no exception, with Steven and Ian reflecting on a year of excellent releases in the indie world to choose their ultimate top five. Featuring efforts from The 1975, Bartees Strange, Dogleg, Bob Dylan, and more, Steven and Ian have each respectively crafted their list of 2020’s definitive records. If you're looking for more music that you might have missed this year, check out our full list of the year's best albums here and the indie-specific list here. As for new selections in this week’s Recommendation Corner, Ian has been spinning 'I Had Everybody Snowed,' the debut solo album from Taking Meds vocalist/guitarist Skylar Sarkis that has been a work in progress for nearly a decade. Steven, on the other hand, has been enjoying '2020,' the aptly titled latest effort from Magik Markers, their first in seven years.Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly music recommendations in your inbox and stream the official Topsify playlist.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 Uprox's indie mixtape. Hello everyone and welcome to Indycast. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We review albums and we hash out trends. In this episode, we're going to be talking about our favorite albums of 2020. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host Ian Cohen. Ian, how are you? Steve, not to start on a downer note about the state of being a music journalist in 2020,

but I dedicated, as you know, to Up Rocks a couple thousand words about the 30 best deftone songs. I wrote about a 72 minute smashing pumpkins album, a new 72 minutes smashing pumpkins album, mind you. And I did like a two-hour podcast about a 1975 album. And I think about all the effort I put into those things and none of it will have even the slightest bit of impact compared to me just saying on Twitter, Mick Rib is short for my chemical rib.

This thing I did in like five seconds on the way, like, to the break room at work. And I think it's like the most popular thing I've ever written. But that being said, I'm stoked about it because, you know, every time people have like a viral tweet, they have to like post their SoundCloud or whatever. I'm wondering what this is going to do. I wonder if IndyCast is going to get a bump from this. Maybe this is the time where we start shooting up the Spotify charts, man. Like, I can feel this is our moment.

You couch so many of your highlights of the week in that little space right there. And you kind of wrapped it in a nice package of self-deprecation. That was very well done. I appreciate that. How was that Smashing Pumpkin's record, by the way? I didn't read your review. I assume that that's... It's a masterpiece.

It's definitely 72 minutes long. I'll tell you what, it's actually like this, I would say it was the one I've enjoyed the most since Machina in the sense that like at least it does something different. Like the problem with the, you know, Oceania and monuments to an elegy and zeitgeist is that it all, they were just kind of depressing in a way because they were similar enough to old smashing pumpkins where you could just remind yourself like how it's not that. and just like, you know, smashing pumpkins in 1995,

like ruled MTV. And then in 2007, the best they could do is like get five seconds in a Transformers movie. So this one, it's got its moments. It just has, it's just,

it has its moments. It also has, it is also 72 minutes of an album produced and written entirely by Billy Corgan. And he's actually, 72 minutes doesn't seem like long for him though. I mean, you know, that could almost be like a Billy Corgan EP relatively. It's actually shorter than a door and it's shorter than Machina.

Did he make a record where he was just playing like one song? That was like on an organ? Did he record that or was that just a live thing? I have no. I think that's the one he did at his T-shop. There's like so much stuff that he said he's going to do that like he's done, but I can't remember if it was properly. released. I don't know, maybe one of these days, like, they'll evolve into like a kind of jam band

tape trading sort of entity and then we could like approach them from a completely new angle. Oh, I like that. Particularly here on Indycast where we love to talk about jam bands and washed bands from the 90s. So. Exactly. That's what this show's about. Although not in this episode. We're going to be talking about our favorite albums of 2020. Ian and I noticed that like no one was ranking albums this year and we thought we'll be the first people to rank our favorite albums of 2020 and yeah I think I think we have some good lists here I should mention that I wrote my list out for uprocks that went up on Thursday I have a top 20 list there I'm only going to be talking about my top five in this episode but if you want to hear me I guess not

hear me you want to read me talk about 15 more albums go to up Broxen read my top 20 list. But before we get to our lists, we have our mailbag segment. This is always one of my parents. Always putting the fans first. That's what we do here. It's all about the fans. This email comes from Danny.

Thank you, Danny, for writing in. Danny says, hi, Stephen and Ian. Love the podcast. It's one of the very few I listened to, probably because I followed both of your writing for ages and partly because it gets me going down all kinds of of rabbit holes for what albums to listen to when I don't know what's... Does Danny have a question? He does.

He does. But, you know, I always like to leave in the compliment at the beginning because it's nice to get compliments. I'm not going to lie. I appreciate the compliments. And I've said this before. If you say nice things about us, pretty good chance I'm going to pick your question. Or if you have a very funny insult of us, then I'll probably read your question.

When you were talking about bands who disappeared. with a small but great output like Neutral Milk Hotel in a previous episode. Was that our last episode? I can't remember. That was a long time ago. We took a week off, so it's been a little while. But yeah, we talked about Neutral Milk Hotel a bit in a previous episode. And combined with J.R. White of Girls' death last month,

it had me thinking about how disappearing or breaking up in your prime once added mystique to a band, but for more recent bands like girls, it seemed to do the opposite. they sort of faded from popular consciousness. I don't know the last indie band of note that disappeared where it helped their legacy. I'm sure Ian will point out that this seems alive in emo circles. And Danny mentions modern baseball, Empire, Empire. But emo always seemed to have more of these short-lived bands and more reverence for them. So I'm not sure if the effect is as strong as it once was.

Anyway, is it fair to say that this mystique is gone in the online era? Am I forgetting a band whose legacy remains strong or got stronger? Is it just that no indie band would have that kind of legacy to have it improved by breaking up? Or am I just too young to remember all the bands who split up and were quickly forgotten? Is there an indie band or artists in their prime right now that you think would become a bigger deal by 2030 if they just stopped and went quiet? I have a feeling I know what you're going to say to this. Really? There's a band.

Well, I was going to say like hotel year for you would probably be the band. because, I mean, are they officially broken up? Or is it just assumed? Because the lead singer is like a professional gambler now. He's making, I'm sure, tons more money doing that than doing any rock. As it turns out, being a very skilled online poker player has proven more lucrative for Christian Holden than a fourth wave emo or what have you. But I don't know if Mystique is the right word for that. But I think that Danny is correct.

in that it's almost more natural for emo bands to like generate that kind of. I don't think mystique is the right word to describe modern baseball. They're guys who wore like cargo shorts and crocs on stage. But there's a romanticism to that though. Yeah, absolutely. You go out on top. I think in an emo and punk generally there's this ideology of being non-sentimental that like you make your records when you're good and then you go away when maybe

you're not as relevant anymore. You go to college. Yeah, but I do think he's right in the sense that like there will always be kind of a, maybe not a nostalgia, but a aura surrounding bands like modern baseball, Empire Empire, I was a lonely estate, we're going to say the whole name. But as far as, you know, he mentions girls. And I think that's an interesting case because had they just kind of disappeared. here completely.

Perhaps they would have more mystique, but, you know, Chris Owen went and made a bunch of solo albums that weren't, you know, particularly strong. And I think that with girls, like, I think girls are more indicative of a greater, a greater desire to kind of erase that era of indie rock in so many ways, you know. And so maybe people aren't as nostalgic for that just yet. As far as indie bands who could break up, I will say, though, for Lil Peep Juice World, unfortunately, like in some genres, I mean, in, you know, in Joy Division as well, like death is oftentimes a way to, like, create mystique.

You know, it's like they just couldn't bear this pain and this talent they had in them. But I don't know, like, which indie band, like, it always, it always catches you by surprise because like it's always a band that like appeal to a smaller amount of people and maybe they weren't so much like a main uh consideration at the time and then they end up just becoming huge i mean like american football for example gets brought up a lot uh you know as a band that mike consella made a ton of music in between 1999 in 2014 but american football made one and like no one really cared too much about them in 1999 they weren't this they just happened to have this album that became super influential and the absence created their mischief.

Yeah, I was going to say, like, you know, a lot of times you don't know necessarily, like, what band is going to matter to younger generations, because really it's about younger generations building mystique. It's not so much people who were around at the time when, you know, that band was active. Like, a band that I'm thinking of, and this is somewhat on a smaller scale, but I think it was felt certainly in indie rock circles, there's that band Dust. you know, that was like, like, oh, of course. I think they were like late 90s or so. And they were, I think, moderately popular in the late 90s, but like not considered like

one of the major bands of that era. I wrote about them in, I think, 2018 when they put out like some reissues. And they were the type of band who at their peak, like, showed up. I think they were like the fifth biggest band on like K or Up Records at, or Up Records at the time, you know, like way behind like 764 Hero. Like that was their status. Which now, I feel like more people would probably care about Duster than 764 Hero. By a landslide.

I think I would add too. I think one thing about how bands operate now is that I just feel like bands don't really break up anymore. They don't, at least in the sort of like formalize, like we're going to make an announcement, we're going to make it official. there's always these sort of hiatus periods that happen now where a band might come back after like a decade where they didn't officially break up

but it was assumed that they were probably done and then they come back and as you were saying with Chris Owens and girls it's not just a matter of coming back you also have to come back with something good you know like if you come back or you keep pretty old records that are sort of like okay that certainly affects how people think of you

but you know just looking at 2020 for instance you know, you think of a band like Humb, for instance, you know, hadn't put out a record in like 22 years. And I think they were pretty well loved in the 90s, but, you know, a band that like, I think certain circles certainly had mystique, but maybe wasn't totally front of mind for a lot of people. But then they come back this year with their album Inlet,

which is an album, spoiler, that is on my year-end list. It's not on the year-end list that I'm going to be sharing in this episode. It's on my bigger uprocks list that went up on Thursday. But, you know, that's a fantastic record. And I think also, you know, you think of a band like Bright Eyes, too. Like, they came back in 2020. And even though Kahnar Oberst was, like, pretty prolific in the time between, like, official Bright Eyes records, there was a lot of excitement for Bright Eyes, you know,

that as an entity. Yeah, absolutely. So I think that still happens. but yeah it's curious to think like who is like the contemporary band that is going to have that kind of appeal to younger generations and I don't know it's like really hard to predict that I think you know we need to get like a five or a six year old in here nah we need like a 13 year old but like the five or six year old is going to be a teenager in 10 years is my point like they're going to be the kid who discovers a 2020 band, you know, that we're all sort of sleeping on, you know, a band that came and went. So, uh, very curious to find out what that will be in the year 2030, but for now, let's focus on 2020.

We're going to be sharing our year endless. And, uh, you know, I'm excited to share our year endless, but I'm also excited about something. We have, we have something cooking for our next two episodes, like our last two episodes of 2020. We're calling it the Indycasties. and it's our year-end awards for 2020. And we're looking to you, the Indycast listener, just to, are there certain categories that you want Ian and I to give awards for?

Think of it like a high school superlatives, you know? Exactly. I mean, like, one thing that we're going to do for sure, I think, is like most memory-hold album. That'll be a category I think we'll do for sure. I think we're going to do maybe like worst or funniest musician tweet. I think that will be fun. Things like that.

Got a lot of candidates for those. Oh, absolutely. So, you know, it's fun to talk about, like, our favorite albums, but, you know, like, a lot of people are doing lists. And, I mean, and I joke before that we were the only ones doing it. Of course, a lot of people are doing it. But we are for sure the only people doing Indiecasties. So, yeah, hit us up on Twitter or email me at Hydensteven at gmail.com.

hit us up with some category ideas. And they don't have to all be like, you know, most disappointing or like what have you. They can be positive as well. Exactly. We're about positive vibes. Exactly. Just things that you don't think might get covered on like a year end list.

Like, I mean, most underrated is obviously one or like, you know, best album with the worst like narrative around it or, you know, or even like album that you rediscovered in 2020. That's not from this year. So we're keeping it very open-ended. Absolutely. So that'll be fun.

I'm excited to get into those episodes. But before we get to that, let's talk about our favorite albums of the year. We each have five records that we're going to be talking about. And there's no overlap in our top five, which is cool. I think it's covered in a pretty good range of ground here. So once you go first, Ian, what is your number five record of 2020? I just want to thank first off again, like all of our lists. who've followed us on this journey in 2020 and we finally reach our destination where you find out

how I'm going to rank Fiona Apple, Waxahatchee, run the jewels and Hymie in my top four. It was just they knew it was that. It was just which order. And today you're going to find out. But before that, let's get to number five, which is I have Jeff Rosenstock's No Dream at number five. Now, it's, you know, probably not a surprise that it's on my list at this point. What might be a surprise, you know, if you kind of know what my tastes are is that. And before this album, like, dropped, the prospect of a Jeff Rosenstock album in 2020,

I was a little nervous about it, to be honest. And I think, you know, that's because when I, like, Post was an album that I reviewed quite highly and I liked it a lot when it first came out. But it's not when I returned to a heck of a lot. I think that was a situation where it was, it kind of wrote out the goodwill of, you know, it dropped on New Year's Day in 2018. That was super exciting. And I also think people really wanted to take the opportunity to, you know, kind of make up for the fact that worry wasn't given the amount of praise that it really deserves.

So that happens sometimes. You know, you kind of overcompensate on the next record. And so just kind of everything that's been happening. with Jeff Rosenstock, you know, the Neil Young covers, the more shift towards power pop. I would wonder if he, you know, if Worry was his masterpiece and he would just kind of go on making, kind of being this, with all due respect, like a super chunk or like a Ted Leo type guy where, you know, the songs rock and they're catchy and the politics are good. But it just, it stops being kind of vital. And it appeals to like, you know, this handful of like 40-year-old,

like washed rock dudes. Yeah, but like no dream is like not that. Like no dream is not that at all. Like it once again dropped as a surprise release. Like I, I at least got like to hear post two days before it dropped on the low. This one I heard at the same time as everyone else.

And it really got back to the fact that like Jeff Rosenstock comes from like bomb the music industry. It had some real like hardcore dbeat interludes. It has like the electronics going on. and it just sounded far more punk and alive and nasty and angry. And as Jeff Rosenstock albums tend to do, it isn't about the pandemic in the same way that worry wasn't about Donald Trump. It was written before that election. But I guess just the trajectory of American life means that we are always catching up with Jeff Rosenstock.

And everything that he talks about on this album being, you know, like a song like Airbnb, for example or No Dream or Nike's about I guess like the way like consumerism and disruption like are seen as these positives

and just the effect they have on the average person and of course you know like police brutality and protest like it's never ever on the nose about being on point with where it's at politically but like when it came out this was like

when most of the protests were starting up. And it just seemed to capture this sense of like, we are so, like, beaten down. And the way, like, the pandemic just exacerbated everything else about, like, you know, economic, you know, instability, you know, fear of, like, what if the next four years are exactly like this? And so, yeah, like, I will, he just has a way of doing it. to the point where I was considering whether this album might actually top worry for me, which I didn't think was possible.

So the fact that it's even in the conversation means that this has to be in my top five. Yeah, I really like this album a lot. It was just outside my top 20. It would have been in my like 20 to 30 range if I would have made a list that long. But, yeah, Jeff Rosenstock is, I think at this point he is the most consistent artist working in like the punk emo realm. right now. I feel like if he's putting on a record, very good chance that it's going to be great. Like he has established a track record with his last several releases where he's extremely solid. So hats off to Jeff Rosenstock. My number five record is by a guy named David Nance.

The album is called Staunch Honey. And I've been talking about this record a bit in the past few weeks. I think I've mentioned it at least once or twice here on Indycast. This is definitely my favorite album of like probably the fall of 2020. Most of my albums, most of the albums in my top five came out earlier in the year, but this album kind of really took over for me at the end. And for those who don't know, David Nancy, he's from Nebraska. He's been making records since the early 2010s. He's been pretty prolific. If you go on Bandcamp, you know, he has several records. One of my favorite things that he does is he records album length covers of albums that really kind of go off in very unusual directions.

Like he's covered Lou Reed's Berlin. He covered the Beatles for sale, the Beatles record. And on his own, he's been gradually working in a more refined style. Like his early records are very noisy. I would like him to tie Segal, except he's not really garage rock. He's more in this like Neil Young and Crazy Horse-type vein with like a whole, with a whole lot of Chugel. This is the Chugel Rock record of the year.

But I think Stanch Honey is the kind of record that if his older records maybe would be maybe a little bit too noisy or unrefined for a lot of people, this seems like the album that I think should get more people into what he's doing. Because I really do think

that as far as people working in this sort of like classicist rock vein, like he is the best person doing it right now. And this record staunch honey. You know, again, if you like your blue collar Heartland Rock, you can't do much better than this record this year. So definitely in my wheelhouse. Love staunch honey. It's my number five

record of the year. What's your number four? Yeah, this is another band that's similar to Jeff Rosenstock like I'm very much into, but I wouldn't expect them to make a top five album for me in 2020. That would be too-s-a-moraes lament. I thought, that stage four, their album in 2016. Like, I just couldn't imagine how they would top that. I mean, this very cathartic and just devastating record about Jeremy Bollum's mom dying of, you know, stage four cancer.

And I heard a couple of songs they did with Ross Robinson a few years back. And they, they were good. But I figured maybe this band has kind of reached its limitations. But then Lament comes out. and Ross Robinson, a guy who produced at the drive-in, slip-knock, corn. This album just, it immediately hit me in a way that it's, that, like, I was completely unexpected. It's, it's, and, like, I know that, like, a lot of hardcore bands, they get super corny when

they try to really pivot into other things. Like, you know, I think a band, like, Ceremony, who started making, like, Interpol rip-offs and it just fell flat. but I think what Tushy and Moray did here wasn't that they kind of switched their sound to a more accessible something more accessible to bring in a greater number of people.

I think that they made themselves a band that their fans can follow along with because hardcore people love them some Leonard Cohen. They love them some national REM as well. And this record really integrated those influences in a way that seemed very organic, but also turned, you know, kind of turned it into this consideration of what it means to be kind of a washed, hardcore guy. A lot of the songs are sort of about, like, thinking about one's own legacy and one's own relationship with music and the people around them.

And also, it just kicks ass in a way that, you know, most rock albums don't really allow themselves to do. And people joke about Ross Robinson, you know, being this new metal guy. on this album is better than like I've heard on just about any rock record in 2020. So maybe it'll take another five years for them to follow this up. But once again, prove me wrong, too. Shay and Moray. So my number four record is an album that we've talked about quite a bit on this show, which is Live Forever by Bartice Strange,

who is my 2020 indie rock rookie of the year. Not only did Bartis put out Live Forever, he also put out a really great album of national covers called Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, which took those... That was this year? That was this year. That was early. I think that was February that album came out. God.

And then Live Forever came out, like, I think... That was October. It was okay. I think that was, like, more October. Was that more October? It's hard to know sometimes because you get promos early. You don't know exactly when it's come out. But two great records this year, Live Forever is his proper debut.

And I call him the rookie of the year Not only because he put out two great records But he is the artist that I am Most excited to hear like what he does next Because while I think Live Forever is a great record It's the kind of record that I feel like Is exciting for what it suggests Like this person might do in the future

Like there's a lot of things on that record That I'm curious to see like how he's going to develop As he moves forward It's one of the most ambitious rock records of the year just in the style of music that it covers you have songs on there like Mustang and Boomer which are like relatively straightforward like emo punk songs

and I think those songs are as good as I heard in 2020 of like you know of an artist working in that style but then like by the middle of the record he's going off in all other sorts of directions like where there's like elements of hip hop there's electronic music there's like dirgy folk music and it's done in a way where it doesn't feel

heavy-handed or inorganic. This is a record that, like, I think it's only about 36 minutes long, so it moves very quickly, and yet it covers, I think, more ground musically than many albums I heard this year. And I'm also excited, too, to actually see Barty Strange play live. And I don't know if that will happen in 2021 or what, but, like, just based on what I've seen on video, he seems like a very energetic performer. I think that if, you know, when he is able to tour behind this record or whatever record he does next, I think that will also really help his star rise because he's a pretty infectious performer,

I think an infectious personality, and he really delivers the goods musically. So, yes, Barty Strange Live Forever, my 2020 indie rock rookie of the year, and my number four album of 2020. Yeah, that was, that's in my top 10 as well. And I think I'm excited to hear what he does next. I think it might, I think he's probably going to do a lot of collaborations, maybe before the next record. That's just the kind of guy he is. And also I think an interesting point about this is like for a rookie of the year,

like he, I think he's in his 30s, you know. He's been around for quite some time. And I think that record really reflected someone who's done this for a while and took time to really craft his sound and come up with something original. So, yeah. So if you feel like you're, you know, too old to release that debut record, man. Like, let this album be an inspiration.

I think it's fantastic. And it was really heartening to see people unify behind it. So that leads to number three. Speaking of Allen's people unified behind, that would be the 1975s album, Notes on a Conditional Form. Yes. So, so the biggest difference, I think, with 2019 and 2020 was the way I found myself listening to music. A lot of the way, a lot of the, a lot of the backdrops in which I,

you know, experience albums were taken away in 2020. Like, my commute to work was cut in about half. I switched jobs and like, I don't have as nearly as much paperwork to do or notes. And that's usually where I'd get in a zone and like listen to an album for two hours. And so a lot of the times I listen to music in like 15 or 20 minute chunks. And I think that really worked well with this 1975 album, which as we talked about on this podcast before, the beginning sequencing is just makes no no sense at all. But once it actually gets going and there are no interludes or Greta Thunberg talking for five minutes, it's an album that's like really compelling to listen to about 15 minutes at a time. I mean that in a way that and like that's how I experienced it

for most of the year. And then when I came back recently to like listen to it as a whole, I was just stunned by how consistent it is once it really gets going. And I think that they've, I don't know if the 1975 were going to make albums like this anymore. I see them as a band that's really going to kind of look more into maybe like EPs or just different sort of ways of conveying music. But this one stuck to me as a.

like my playlist of 2020. Like for a time where it's like, okay, I need to immerse myself for a little bit. And, you know, before I move on to the next thing and then I listen to 20 minutes more, because it as a whole pretty exhausting. But I think this just speaks to the fact that they are a band who know, like they, I think they just exist in such a singular plane that everything they do is interesting. but like at this point everything they do is still really really good i think that some people have brought up that maybe this is their best album i don't agree with that i think it's maybe their second

best i think it's definitely an improvement over uh of their previous album which similar to jeff rosenstock i think that album was a little overhyped because maybe people weren't uh properly giving their due to i like it when you sleep um i know this ain't going to be on your list but like I think the 1975 is going to be getting an indie castie from me but probably not for a good category I will say that they are definitely

that was definitely like one of the most obnoxious press cycles for me like the album cycle for that Maddie Healy Maddie Healy was really getting on my nerves this year and I wrote a review of this album I came out pretty hard against this album I still don't really like it

I think that this band has, how can I put this delicately? They enjoy the smell of their own colon, okay? I'll put it that way. Like, they are very far up themselves in their body cavity at this point. You're talking to Smashing Pumpkin Superfan, number one. That is clearly not a disqualifying factor for me. And, you know, if we want to say, I like it, is their Siamese dream.

And then we're now in the Machina era, you know, then I would agree with that. I think we're still a door. I think we're still a door. I, okay, I don't know. Look, there are things that the 1975 have done that I like. I think they're more comparable to Drake and that this is there, you know, if you're reading this, it's too late. I don't think they've gotten to views yet.

I mean, you know, part of my problem with this band, I think, and I'll admit this, is probably how they're discussed, because I think that there's a level of, like, intelligence and, like, commentary that's projected onto the 1975 that I think is totally unwarranted. I don't think this band has anything interesting to say. I think that they write some good songs. I think, you know, some good pop tunes. But I think they're a pretty shallow band that are, that just deal in signifiers. And they know the right signifiers to draw upon if they want to like get critics to write nice things about them.

I think Maddie Healy is a canny person in that regard. But in terms of like social commentary, I think he has nothing to say. But, you know, I think they have some good albums. I don't think this was one of them, but I appreciate you putting on the list. I feel like this record was kind of memory-hold by a lot of critics who wrote nice things about it in the moment, but I'm not really seeing it show up anywhere on lists. I am. Are you?

Okay. I feel it that way. Not, not, I mean, not, I think most of the one, the list that have come out right now are probably not 1975-centric. Yeah. But once again, we're still pretty early in the process. But like, I don't think it's going to show up on as many. as their previous to, but I don't think it's going to be, I don't think it's going to walk away like weekend-esque empty-handed, you know?

Right. And Maddie Healy comes back to Twitter talking about, like, how there's a big conspiracy, you know, that, that would be kind of fun. And he's right, and I'm in on the conspiracy against the 1975, the Shadow Week of Ball trying to stick to Mattie Healey. So I guess number three on both of our list is being reserved for old favorites, because my number three record of the year is reunions by Jason Isbell in the 400 unit. I love Jason Isbell, as I'm sure is painfully obvious at this point to anyone who follows me.

I made this analogy online a couple days ago comparing reunions to Trouble Will Find Me, the national record, and that it's a record that comes about six or seven albums deep into an artist's career. I think Trouble Will Find Me was the sixth national record. and this is the seventh Jason Isbell record. And it's the point in the discography where a lot of times you start looking to like older albums being the ones that people are the most excited about and where people maybe appreciate the new record, but they don't really feel all that passionate about it. And I feel like for me anyway, Trouble Will Find Me was like,

ended up being one of my favorite national records just because it felt like, oh, this is them sort of doing what they do in the best possible. way. And I feel like that is what Reunions is for Jason Isbell. I also feel like this is the record where he fully embraces being like a 1980-style heartland rocker. You know, like I think Isabel still is perceived as this folk country artist, but like there's virtually no country music on reunions. And there's really not a whole lot of folk music. It is mainly these very vibey, big sounding guitar songs mixed with Jason Isbill's just wonderful storytelling

in his lyrics. And again, I think that in terms of lyric writing, he is one of the best people in the game. There are tons of just great narratives on this record. But I think it's also helped by just how robust the music is. And sonically, I think it is

probably his most dynamic record. So this is an album, again, where I loved it when it came out, but as the years gone on, much like Trouble will find me with the National. It's become, at this point, I think maybe like my, maybe like my second or third favorite Isbell record. I think Southeastern is still his masterpiece. But this album, I think, is really good. And I really feel like it's going to be the one I revisit as much as any Isbell record. So that's my number three

album of 2020. What is your number two album? First up, I got to say, like, that is such a, that is such a beautiful Stephen Hyden moment of comparing a Jason Isbell record to a national record. Well, you know, exactly. Spider-Man versus Spider-Man. It's apt. Hey, man, we're in the dead rock cortex here. Yeah, I think what Jason Isbell is, I mean, I respect the hell I do it. I would say it's like college football, Twitter core, maybe.

That's a very distinct genre of music. Well, and he's been tagged with that, but, you know, like sports writers, they love Bruce Springsteen and they love Isbell. They love Run the Jewels. But like Isbell, going back to the Heartland Rock thing, I think when you looked at the 80s and you had people like, you know, Springsteen, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, like that sort of class of rock artists that now typically get classified

as Americana. Like, you know, Isbel is like the reigning iteration of that right now. I think he's like the best version of that. And I think that, I think this is the record that like where he really embraces that type where musically it sounds like that kind of stuff it's not just i i got to respect that and i feel as if like i won't fully get into his solo work until like i have kids maybe i'll just like adopt some kids for a week and like see if that really makes me understand how to you know appreciate jason isbell's music once you have kids you'll love jason isbel and you'll start

being irritated by maddie healy oh god i don't know it's you know as as as enticing as that sounds but let's get okay so my number two album um is record setters i owe you nothing um this it feels a little weird to like be to have an album that is this high on my list that isn't really i mean it's it's gotten some notice in some places but it's still like maybe it's it's still quite an obscure album on the whole um but of course that's kind of what happens when you deal within like you know screamo and post-hardcore. And I think that 2020 for me, it's tough for me to tell whether this was just an exceptionally strong year for like the more louder versions of emo or like post-hardcore or screamo or everyone to call it or whether I was just paying more attention to it because it just really

suited my needs this year. And I think the issue with, you know, the how many great records there are in this realm is that it can be hard. It is very much a niche and it can be hard to like. recommend it to people who aren't necessarily like following this world because most of the albums are like 18 or 20 minutes long and they they don't immediately signify like oh yeah this is a massive leap for the genre or for the band and when I first heard record setters album it was sent to me by the band as it was like one track on sound cloud it was one 32 minute track or so and to me, even though it's still very much in that realm of, you know, like scrams, if you will, the segues between songs and the way it used dynamics led me to believe it almost sounded like

an avalanches record to me, the way they kind of pasted things together and made it sound like this full body of work. And it gave it this kind of heft and excitement, like, wow, these guys are really going for it to a degree that could possibly reach beyond. you know, this type of person who might just put like Gulch or Nuviluscura on or Infant Island on their year end list. This, it, it reminds me of like the more accessible parts of Tuchy Amore and the less accessible parts of like the hotel year or something along those lines. And or also against me's, you know, transgender dysphoria blues. A lot of the album relates to the transition of Judy Mitchell, the lead singer. But in a way where it could just be about like, you know, ripping up and starting over anything in one's life.

I love the way that this band engages with their audience with putting on e-gigs and putting out videos and so forth. And will this, I just hope that more people kind of discover this because it can feel a little bit lonely like having albums up this high on your end list that aren't like the big narrative ones, you know? Um, so I am fully on board with this one. If, if you get anything from this episode, or at least from what I say, like, just the first three, if you're not in by the first three minutes of this record, by all means, move along. But like the first three minutes of this album, if you like it, you're going to love this one. It, it just hits that immediately. And I see myself listening to this one. I think it's kind of a genre standard going forward. Um, and hopefully people will, uh, agree with that. So my number two record of the year is my favorite hardcore album of 2020, which is Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan. And look, I'm a huge... He's kind of got that gruff sort of, you know, fest, like, like PBR sort of voice nowadays, you know? Oh, yeah.

And, you know, he can do Iron Sheek or Ladder Man covers. Absolutely, absolutely. And, you know, the thing with this record is, you know, obviously when Bob Dylan puts out an album of originals, critics tend to go for it. they are excited about it. This is an album that garnered, you know, ecstatic reviews when it came out. Although it's interesting to me that this album was like pretty much,

I don't know if it was nominated for any Grammys. It might have been totally shut up by the Grammys. If it was, it wasn't nominated in the major categories, which you would think for like a major Bob Dylan record. It would be. And I feel like even like on critics list, I'm not, I'm seeing it here and there, but like not a ton of places.

And I think the thing with this record is that it's, it's a pretty deep record, but it's also like, I think, a proudly silly record at times. Like, the thing I appreciate about this album is that, you know, Bob Dylan, this is like his 39th record. He's never made an album like this. Like, there are songs on this record that, like, have no melody at all that go on for a really long time. You know, like Murder Most Fowl. On a Bob Dylan record. Bob Dylan Records that always have melody.

There's no song on a record of his, like, I contain multitudes, or Murder Most Fowl. where we're really talking about some of the most challenging, like, songs that I heard this year, like, songs that, like, have no conventional song structure at all that aren't really based on any kind of, like, pre-existing idiom, unless it's this sort of, like, a jazzy kind of music with, like, spoken word over it. And you would think that it wouldn't work. And yet there, to me, this record is always really riveting. Like, I am sucked into it. There are moments of real wisdom on this record. And there's moments on this record that just make me laugh out loud. It's a record that I think shows him still in full command of his craft,

but then there's other moments on the record where I feel like he's gone completely off of his rocker. And I just love that aspect of this record. The fact that this guy is 79 years old and can still make an album that is unpredictable and doesn't color in the lines. And I just found it to be really inspiring because most records I hear, even the ones I really like, It's like I can draw a line from that to something else. But there are songs on this record that I think, again, are just kind of unprecedented.

That, like, I've never heard a song like this before. And I don't feel like it should work. And yet he makes it work. And I think it's a real achievement. And as much as a record like this gets praised, I think sometimes albums like this kind of getto-wise as like a prestige item or like you made some joke before about like, oh, how lists have like the same albums at the top all the time. You kind of dismiss them for that.

But this is not like a typical record. I don't think that this is like critic bait either. Like this is a record that I think is pretty risky. And there's things on here that should not work and yet they do. And I'm really amazed by it. I think it's like a really great record. And I really think that like there are songs on this album that are more daring than any other like album that's on our list. Like there's no songs like there are on this album that just kind of break the mold.

of conventionality. And for an artist who's been around as long as Bob Dylan, I think that's a real sort of inspiring thing. And that's why I love this record. And it's why it's my number two album of the year. Well, yeah, I do respect that, you know, Bob Dylan is still kind of doing things that can confound critics. And I think that for this album,

if like you want to listen to rough and rowdy ways, there's really not any substitute for it, which is cool. Can you bench press or run to it? Probably not. Well, some of us don't need to best press to like a record. You know, that's not a qualification. Like, you know, something doesn't have to slap, you know.

Yes, it does. Slapping is not like the be all end all of music, you know. So, yeah, like, you can weight lift to record setter, man. I'll listen to the Bob Dylan record. But, like, when you do your weightlifting, you can listen to record setter and probably, like, what your number one record is. Yeah, you don't have to get, you don't have to get me for a wifter, you know. And I don't think, and I just think that's like not a standard that I really care about for music.

So. Yeah. But, but likewise, I think that it's cool that, you know, you know, people have different priorities because, you know, there are people, there are plenty of people who, uh, use, you know, the kind of, I want, like, well-crafted songwriting or something that, like, makes me want to, like, sit and kind of ruminate over things. But I think there does need to be, like, counterbalance where, um, I think being able to put forth, um, you know, energy. you know, this pen-up energy is something that can be just as craft-based as, you know, writing a song like Murder Most Fowl. Of course. No one's disputing that. No one said that that's not well crafted.

I am giving lead up to what is my number one album. And I feel like I have to kind of qualify it a bit because, you know, most of mine, most of the time when I pick like an album of the year, it has to have some sort of like a grander scope to it or a bigger impact on a genre. You know, I think like Glass Beach last year, that was a, you know, obviously like a big, a big sea change for, I guess, like, fifth wave emo or whatever, like, near my God, that was also extremely ambitious, pre-cancellation science fiction. But this year, my number one is dog legs melee, which on the one hand, it's very straightforward.

It's an album that just has a couple of speeds which are like fast, faster and much, much faster. And it's every single song could be every song on here could be a single. Now, it can also be like I think of it similar to like, you know, maybe Cloud Nothing's attack on memory where I love that album. But in 2012, that wasn't going to be my number one. But what Doggleg does, and I think that this is something that speaks, particularly to my sensibilities. I know we've talked on this show or maybe on Twitter about like whether or not Trail of Dead source tags and codes deserves a 10.

This is an album that like if you think that album deserves a 10, you're going to love dog leg. And they also, they're not lying about like what their influences are. It's bands like Trail of Dead, Cloud Nothings, Bear versus Shark Crash of Rhinos. And they put them together in a way that a lot of the bands they liked were kind of of like not seen as the legends but it's like but they're legends to me sort of thing and what melee does is they put them together in an album where it's like what if you just wanted out that's like all action what if like you don't need to do a ballad as the sixth song like what if the

song that like just slapped was the whole thing and in 2020 I needed that energy more than anything Like I would have loved to have all these albums that kind of top year end list like resonate with me. But when it really comes down to it, what is what best suited my needs for wanting to run around the block because all the gyms are closed or like needing to get myself out of bed because there's such a despairing, you know, tone in the world. And, you know, it doesn't speak to anything larger. But personally, like when I think of 2020, it's going to be like hearing the riff of cow. Asaki backflip, and for the next 20, 30 minutes, I feel like a superhuman being rather than someone living in 2020. All right.

So my number one record, the record I think slaps the hardest. The one that I lifted the most weights to this year was St. Cloud by Waxahatchie. And you made a joke about this record already. I guess this is an album that has shown up on a lot of year-endless. But, you know, sometimes albums, they show up on a lot of year-end list because they deserve to, because they're a great record. And I think that this is the album of 2020. It's a record that I loved pretty much from the moment I heard it.

And it is a record that I think, for me, marks a high for Katie Crutchfield. Because her work in the past, I've liked it, but it hasn't totally won me over. I always thought that she had a lot of talent. And there were always songs on her records that I enjoyed. But this is the record that I think where it all really comes together for her, where I feel like this is going to be the album that people look at. at as like her best record as sort of like a career defining album. And, you know, from the songwriting to the production, I got to give a shout out to Brad Cook, who is really, I think, one of the

great producers working in this realm of, I guess, indie Americana records, like where his albums always have this great live in the studio, organic sound, where he's able to get like the best musicians. It's usually. usually like a relatively small bands of like, you know, guitar-based drums, maybe some pedal steel, some organ. And just aesthetically, everything is in its right place on this record. Vocally, I think this is her best record. This record really spotlights the power of her voice in such a good way. And the songs, again, I think it just unfolds in such a great, thoughtful, and yet, like, sort of, I keep using the word organic.

but like it really feels like this album just it feels like opening the windows of your house or taking a deep breath. It's very sort of fulfilling and uplifting to me. And this is one of those albums that I bought on CD so I could throw it in my car and like take it on road trips, you know. And I feel like it is the kind of record like where, you know, you think of like a record like Paul Simon's Graceland or something like that or one of these albums that just kind of gets passed down from generation to generation. I think, like, St. Cloud is going to be that kind of record. So, yes, my list is being headed off by one of the usual suspects of 2020, but I stand by it. Just like in 2019, if I would have had Parasite on my list, it's like, well, that's a great film.

So it should be at the top of the list. I really think that St. Cloud, when people look back on 2020, this album will deservedly be looked at as one of the great records that came out this year. Yeah, and I think it's a great, I think, think it's a good, I think it's a good record. Like, I listened to it and I'm like, okay, I can understand why people are into it. But also, you know, it's just, I joke because in like every single, like, critics list, like, begins with nothing was the same in 2020. It was a year of so much upheaval and which is true. It's true. Like, what are you supposed to? I mean, people make, make fun of that,

but like, what are you supposed to say? Are you supposed to say, like, uh, everything was the same, you know, totally normal year? I mean, It was a crazy year. It was like an unprecedented. So like, what else you're supposed to say? But I think it's funny how like that contrasts with like a top five of like all artists who are like very much kind of down the middle indie who have been around for like a long time. Yeah.

But like Waxahatch. She's never made a record that was this critically loved. I mean, this is a. I don't know about that. She's never had a record that was like topping lists like this. I think it's different for her. And like, again, if a person makes a. great record. Do you just put a less, like a less famous record at the top? Like, just to like,

to, like, to me, pick the best records. Pick the records you like the most. To me, to me, to me, but like, but you just said, though, that you would pick a more obscure record. Well, like, if everyone loved dog leg, would you still put it on your list? Like, does it, I think that, that would be, that would be kind of sick. But, like, I think that it's more, um, it's, it's, it's, more a matter of like in a weird way, just kind of showing the consolidation of like opinions or what have you. And like, look, this is exactly the kind of record that I expect to top a list or whatever. But, you know, like I think in general, like rock, the kind of music I like, like rock music. Like you can go through many, many lists and not find something that like actually

rocks. So I don't know. I think it's, I think that, you know, the story has not, has yet to be written about 2020 and yeah all all these albums are deserving like they like Fiona apple's album is great like waxahatchie's record is a very strong piece of work like I can like it is very much suited for what it's being praised for um run the jewels we'll talk about on the next episode okay we've now reached a part of our episode that we call a recommendation corner where Ian and I talk about something that we're into this week Ian why don't you go first all right so um I think one of the things with making lists that people talk about is like, how can you put this list out in December 1st?

Like, what if albums still come out? But like, for the most part, most lists are already done. Most great records don't come out in December or late November for the reason they might get ignored on your end list. But for me, an album that came out on Monday is a project called Growing Stone. The artist is Skyler Sarkis, who is in a band. called Taking Meds. They're more in kind of that like snarky, like scene reportage,

punk mold, like similar to like self-defense family or drug church. They make fun of like DIY kids from Sunni purchase and so forth. And, you know, I've always enjoyed their Twitter presence. I enjoy their perspective. But what he did with this new record, Growing Stone, it came out on his day of sobriety, November 30th. and it's an album that is much in the style of, say, crooked fingers or, I mean, we got to say sunk Hill Moon, the first song, like, actually has, like, classical guitar playing on it.

And, or like Fred Thomas, you know, a guy making this kind of ornate, very shockingly pretty songs about everything that happened before he got sober. There are a lot of songs about like buying nitrous at Party City or just getting completely hammered on a family trip to Cancun. And it does so in a way that's like not exploitative. But in a way where it's it's kind of like you hear a guy like talking about like what it was like before he got sober. And I haven't seen a lot of mention of this album yet. But nonetheless, I think it is for people who I think it's. I think it kind of fits in the indie cast core realm of like that, that threading that needle between someone coming from like an emo perspective, but also like having kind of a rootsy singer-songwriter vibe to it as well.

So, I mean, traces of Bill Callahan. But basically, if you want to listen to just really devastating but ornate with like, you know, drum machines and strings and backup vocals. songs about like, I don't know, doing whippets or whatever. Or also like, you know, wanting to like, you know, wanting to scam people for unemployment. Growing Stone, I had everyone snowed. It just came out on Monday. And like if, if this, if we did this episode like two weeks later, this might be in my top five. Like I've not been knocked on my ass by an album like this in quite some time this year.

So go check that one out. Like, I cannot recommend it highly enough. So the album I'm going to recommend this week is called 2020. Funny enough, it's by a band called Magic Markers. This is a band that you might know if you were into like noisy rock in the early aughts. That's when they first got their start. Probably are most famous for like their association with Sonic Youth.

They toured with them in the mid-aughts. They put out their first record on Thurston Moore's record label around that time. And for a long time, they were very prolific. They put out, like, a series of CDRs that I think, like, really sort of, like, captured, like, this band. Like, they have, like, a pretty chaotic energy live. Definitely, like, I guess, like, in the early style of, like, Sonic Youth, like, early records like Evil and Sister, like, the noisier stuff.

And then, like, as they've progressed in their career, they have had, like, a Sonic Youth-like arc in that they've become more of a conventional rock band, more or less, as they've aged. And that really comes to the fore on 2020, which is their first record in seven years. He had another example of a band taking a long break and coming back, I think, with a pretty strong record.

And this is just like a really, like, great record for people. Again, like, if you're into, like, I guess, like the noisier side of indie rock, the more experimental side, the more improvisational side, this record will definitely hit the spot for you. Well, also, I think, really developing the band's songwriting to a degree that maybe wasn't as a parent on past records. You know, again, like I said the word conventional a couple moments ago. I don't know if that's really the right word because I think there's like a lot of songs on this record that like could be alienating for people.

It's definitely, you know, not, you know, a killer's record or something. But again, I think if you are into that kind of, I guess, like Sonic Uthi experimental rock thing, where really cool guitar tones, taking songs in like sort of surprising directions, and yet also having that core of melody. I think 2020 is going to be the record that you want to check out. So again, that's Magic Markers. The album is 2020. That album came out in October, I think, but like this week or so.

Yeah, exactly. But I've really kind of gotten into it like in the past week or so. It's been big on like, you know, jammy Twitter or dead. head Twitter. People have been talking this record up a lot. Is Sonic Youth kind of considered a jam band nowadays? I mean, there's definitely, like, people who are into that, and again, like, Twitter isn't, like, totally representative of, like, the larger population, but people who are into, like, the dead and, like, improvisational music, like, Sonic Youth is definitely, like, one of the go-to, like, indie bands, I would say. And, yeah, there is, like, more of, like,

improvisational aspect to what they do than it is, than there is, like, for, like, certainly, a lot of other bands of their ilk. But it is interesting how they and like pavement have both been, I think, absorbed into that retrospectively. Anyway, that concludes our episode of Indycast this week. We're going to be back with an episode next week at the first part of our Indycastees episode. That's going to be a lot of fun. So again, hit us up with your suggestions.

And also hit us up with your mailbag questions. We always love answering your questions. So thank you again for. listening, we'll be back with more trends and news and reviews here in Indycast next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie Mix Taped newsletter. You can go to uprocks.com backslash indie, and I recommend five albums per week, and we'll send it directly to your email box.