Indiecast - Our Favorite Albums Of 2024 So Far

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

Steven and Ian begin today's episode by reflecting on the short-lived beef between Dave Grohl and Taylor Swift, which was initiated by a dad joke told on stage by the former about the latter (0:26). The guys also discuss the new album announcement from MJ Lenderman, and Steven tries not to be too annoying about what will likely be one of his favorite albums of the year (7:47). Then they take a hard pivot to talking about the life and passing of Crazy Town singer Shifty Shellshock (16:00) before revisiting (and resolving) last week's Donutgate in the mailbag (21:12).Finally, they get down to naming their favorite albums of 2024 so far (24:22). Each guy picked five albums, and there were no repeats. Will one of your faves be among the ten selected? Will you disagree vehemently with the choices? There's only one way to find out!New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 195 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [e-mail], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Indycast is presented by Uprox's Indy Mix tape. Hello, everyone, and welcome to IndyCast. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week, review albums, and we hash out trends. In this episode, we talk about our favorite albums of 2024 so far. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host. He's not taking sides in the Dave Grohl versus Taylor Swift feud. Ian Cohen, Ian, how are you? Yeah, there's really blood in the water for, we.

weird major pop star beefs. I thought we were going to talk about like Cheryl Crow looking shots at Drake for using AI. But yeah, I guess we're just going to focus on the red meat right here. Yeah, that was a good one. I don't know why Cheryl Crow waded into the waters there. Apparently Drake used AI to recreate Tupac's voice on a song. Am I getting that right? Yeah, that is true. And, you know, I wish I had done a little more research to figure out how Shell Crow plays. And this aside from like probably getting asked some softball question and an interview and just like kind of being mad about AI in general but I wouldn't be surprised if she crossed paths with Tupac you know yeah they probably rub shoulders at some award show in the mid 90s I wouldn't

be surprised by that you know Tupac's favorite album or one of his favorite albums is famously August and everything after I did not know that you can look it up he did an interview where he talked about how much he loved that record so From Baltimore, reigning in Baltimore, I see the connection. Yeah, so if you were in a counting Crow's zone, you know he picked up Tuesday morning music club or, you know, the self-titled record. You'd probably check those out. By the way, that seems like an AI-generated feud.

Cheryl Crowe versus Drake over Tupac. That seems like something, it's like, did you really say this? Did some tech bro cook this up? Anyway, let's get back to the task at hand. Dave Grohl Performing with the Food Fighters in London I think this was last weekend Yeah

Do some stage banter And I'll quote here This is from USA Today I tell you man You don't want to suffer the wrath of Taylor Swift We'd like to call our tour The Errors Tour Get it?

Instead of the Eras Tour The Errors Tour We've had more than a few errors No sorry We've had more than a few eras and more than a few errors as well. Just a couple. That's because we actually play live.

What? Just saying. So, look, I think Dave Grohl is joking here. Can we just say this right away, that I don't think he was really taking a shout at Taylor Swift. I'm pretty sure these two have hung out, like at Paul McCartney's house at some point, you know, with other super rich musicians, you know,

like Bono is probably hanging out and you know Beyonce's in there with Jay-Z they're all together I don't think they would hang out with Dave Grohl I don't think that would Jay-Z would Yeah Jay-Z definitely would

100% would And then Beyonce That's as she's gonna be there Maybe it wouldn't be her first choice But Jay Z and Dave Grohl Definitely hung out I have no doubt in my mind But anyway I doubt this was a real shot

I think it's just him making a little joke I don't really understand the thing about her not playing live. I guess there's probably some backing tracks that she's using maybe on that tour. There's got to be. Like for the 1989 songs, there's probably some, I don't know.

But like, you know, she's got a band on stage. Seems mostly live. I don't know. But yeah, this was like a thing, of course, people were just getting upset about this. The worst discourse I saw that this feud sparked was people, because, you know, like on Twitter, you got the 4U tab.

That's where you go when you're just like, I don't give a fuck anymore. I'm going crazy. I'm going to play Russian roulette with social media. I saw so many tweets speculating on whether Kurt Cobain would have liked Taylor Swift. And guess what? Swifties, they decided that he would, like Taylor Swift. Whereas non-Swifties, not so sure. They don't think Kurt Cobain would.

Personally, I am disgusted by that whole line of discussion, so I'm not going to speculate on it myself. But I don't know, what do you think? Do you think Dave Grohl meant malice when he said this on stage in London last weekend? No, like, when was, when has Dave Grohl ever been, like, outwardly mean to someone in public? I mean, like, he's more of an ambassador for music right now than an actual rock musician, even though they did just release an album.

I think what I take away from this is not that he means any actual shade towards Taylor Swift because what I know is that even Taylor Swift fans make errors tour compilations about some of the minor slips that happen during the show. So they kind of use it as a joke as well. And I guarantee you Dave Grohl called Taylor Swift the future of rock and roll numerous. times because she actually does write her own songs on like pop stars or whatever and you know it's just like a meatball of a dad joke took a swing and i mean he hasn't had to go into hiding his tour hasn't been canceled and my takeaway from this is i mean does this mean like taylor swift is like kind of closer to like dave grull status than like untouchable pop star because we hear a lot

over the past few weeks and months about how there's the sea change happening when pop music with like chapel rhone and spina carpenter gracie abrams the summer of bratt i mean is is taylor swift kind of like being boosted to the senior circuit is she kind of safe to lick shots at now i don't know it's so weird with this kind of thing i do think that in the critical community the reaction to this whole thing is a lot different now than it would have been in like the mid-200 Like just imagine Dave Grohl in 2015 implying that Taylor Swift uses backing tracks. We would have been

getting like a month's worth of think pieces from music critics talking about the lingering pernicious influence of rockism. That would have just been a discourse that went on forever. And with this thing, I feel like it was just people online making jokes about it. But I wasn't seeing a lot of sort of the intellectual class weighing in on this.

So that, I think, is a relief. Maybe that's part of the sea change that you're talking about. Isn't Gracie Abrams in the Taylor Swift universe? I think they wrote a song together, maybe. I feel like I saw a video for that. That's JJ Abrams' daughter, right? I thought you're about to say like the alias universe or something like that. She's probably in the Taylor Swift orbit.

You're going to have to ask some 50-year-old writer, you know, who covers this stuff for real. I just know I know what the album cover looks like I've not heard a Gracie Abrams song I'm not saying that as a point of pride I am saying that just this kind of just to show like the level of engagement

I have with you know what is apparently the most important you know summer for pop music in probably a decade. Right, right. Yeah. Yeah. That's just the conversation

that I want to have on this show but unfortunately I have to change the to something I don't really want to talk about, which is the new M.J. Lenderman album that was announced this week. And of course, I'm being facetious because, look, I'm trying to temper my own commentary on this record, which, by the way, is called Manning Fireworks. It comes out September 6th. There was a single release this week called She's Leaving You. I think it's well established that I am a strongly pro MJ Lenderman

supporter and we've got a ways to go here before the album comes out so I don't want to be over the top or obnoxious or annoying because I feel like maybe that could inadvertently hurt MJ Lenderman being like oh god

these 46 year old music critics will not shut up about MJ Lenderman I have to say though I think the song is excellent I think the album which I have I've had it a while. I'm going to hold off on talking about the record. I want to wait until it comes out. But I'll just say, if you're in the MJ Lenderman camp, we're so back. We are more back than

you can believe, my friends. I'll just say that. We're going to be eaten in September, though. Okay? So just say that. I'm curious for your take on Lenderman. I mean, we've talked about him before, obviously. But like, for me, look, I'll just say, I feel like he's the complete package for me. He is doing exactly what I want, and I feel like he has not made a false move in his time in the spotlight, which goes back to both songs coming out a few years ago. He has this thing about him where there's so many people, especially like young dude, singer-songwriters, who are trying to do what he does. And 99% of them, even the good ones, don't quite hit the mark completely.

There's always something about them that's maybe like a little bit off. And usually it's because they're trying a little too hard. You know, like maybe they're trying too hard to appear serious or authentic or in the lineage of great singer songwriters.

You just feel like maybe, I don't know, there's something maybe a little calculated or something like affected about them. And I honestly feel like with Lenderman, there is none of that at all. There's a guilelessness to him that I find.

completely irresistible and I feel like it infuses his music like he's funny but he's not joky he has a strain of melancholy in his songs but he's not like a performative sad sack he comes across as a very affable likable guy but he's like not beating you over the head with like how nice of a person he is or how good of a person he is uh musically he has clear antecedents, like clearly Jason Molina, clearly like a lot of alt country. But again, unlike a lot of people who are influenced by that kind of thing, I just never get the feeling that he's a slave to those influences or that he, again, is like trying to affect some sort of posture image that will, I don't know, make him seem like this great singer-songwriter. You know, like the kind of great

singer-singer songwriter. I'm putting this in quote-marks type posturing. Like, he does do that. He just does what he does extremely well. And it's just, I feel perfectly pitched. I don't know. Am I going over the top here? I sense I probably am, because again, I love this guy. I love his music. But as someone who's maybe a little more in the middle, like, what's your take on him? Well, I think the first thing we got to mention is that that release date, September 6th, and I just looked that up, is that the weekend of NFL week one? Absolutely. So, It's also the day before my birthday, okay? So again, this guy, he is just given me what I want exactly.

He's given me like the musical references that I want. He's given the right mix, again, of humor and sadness. I don't know. It's like he's made in a lab for me. I just think he's kind of perfect. Yeah, I mean, we got, you know, people like, you know, yourself and myself to, you know, to a certain degree. I mean, we got like one day of getting to have that parisocial kind of early, earnestly embarrassing Stanhood that Charlie XX or like Taylor Swift or Phoebe Bridgers fans have almost every single day. And like both of us are check. Both of us are like kind of checking ourselves like, hey man, we got to like watch ourselves here because we don't want this backlash to happen to MJ Lenderman because the dude's rock contingent went too hard.

And I think you're right that a lot about MJ Lenderman exudes guy you'd want to grab a beer with because, you know, he writes about sports. He writes about being a little bit melancholy but not like performative sad dude. He's like funny but not try hard. And I think the, the interesting thing about this is, you know, having interviewed him and I say this, you know, with all due respect, like he doesn't like. He doesn't come across totally. He's like, oh, yeah, I'd love to grab a beer with this dude. He's a little more reserved and you probably have to kind of get to know him. He doesn't seem like the type of guy who, like, would, you know, go get beers with his fans after the show.

You know what I mean? I mean, he's not, I would say he comes across as, like, a regular, unpretentious guy. Yeah, that's what I mean. Like, he's not the kind of guy like you'd interview and go, oh, he's writing great songs. Like, he does seem like a guy that would just be on your block and you'd see him around and you wave to him. him and you're like, oh, that's just like a nice guy. And then you realize, oh, he's actually potentially a generational

songwriting talent for this kind of music specifically. I mean, I think he is potentially like the best guy or person doing this kind of thing, this sort of alt-countryish Americana type thing.

Because there's a lot of people doing the John Prime, the Tom Petty thing, and they're so overly going for it. Or the Jason Molina thing? So many people are leaning on that. He's like the only MJ Lenderman.

I think that's really what gets it for me. Is that like it's in that style of music, but he has his own kind of language with it. He has his own turns of phrases. And it's not just, okay. Like, you know, I was listening to pop punk until I was 18 and someone gave me, you know, songs, oh high.

And I completely switched my whole shit up. Yeah, I don't know. I feel like there's so many people doing this and there's so many people who are, like, pretty good at it. And there are the tools that are available where you can kind of automatically sound pretty good if you have, like, the right references and you know, like, what records to listen to

and, like, what you're going to draw from, like, in your aesthetic palette. Like, you can make a pretty good all-country record almost, like, out of the kit. Just like you can make, like, a pretty good shoegaze record out of the kit of, like, certain, you know, reference points or whatever. So for me, like, to work in that milieu and, like, actually take it to a place where it feels special, I think it's extremely difficult.

And I think that's the thing I'm most impressed by because there's so many, like, 80% good people in this arena. So, like, to get to, like, where he's at, I think, again, a real achievement. But, again, I'm trying to check my gushing here. I've got to space out the gushing. Yes. We got a lot of time for this record comes out, so maybe we should leave the gush right there because we're going to get to our favorite albums of the first half of the year.

But before we do that, a couple items of business here, we should acknowledge this is a hard pivot for MJ Lenderman, but RIP, Shifty Shellshock, lead singer of Crazy Town passed away this week at the age of 49. I had no idea that the singer from Crazy Town was named Shifty Shell Shock. I have to say, did you know that? I absolutely did know that, but I also get him confused with the other guy in Crazy Town.

Right. Is he the rapper or is he the singer? You know, they're both, it's tough to, I think it's like kind of, it's not quite like a Lincoln Park sort of thing where there's like the rapping guy and the singing guy. I think it's a little more, you know, fluid. But I feel, I'm like, damn, I'm like all of a sudden like, the Crazy Town expert on this episode? I don't know.

But like I do know. It was like in the band, like sometimes Leibon Helm rapped. Sometimes he sang. Sometimes Rick Danko rapped. And he also sang, yeah, I get it. I said to say like, you know, I don't go deep on Crazy Town, but like anyone, I know the song Butterfly. And I have to say, I feel like that is one of the definitive id defeats the super ego songs for me. Meaning that, like, you know, the id is the part of you that is just pure instinct and gut sort of impulse and desire.

And the super ego is like the critical part of yourself. And then the ego has to manage the id and the super ego. Like mentally, I know this song sucks. But anytime I hear it, and I mean like every time I hear it, even if I don't admit it, like I like that song. I have a good time listening to Butterfly. I'm not proud to admit that, but it's the truth. I think that's a good song. So I got to give it to Shifty for that one.

I don't know. Am I crazy to say that? Are you, am I going to crazy town myself? To the Joker, it's a regular town. Do you have a new for Butterfly? Yeah. I think we just got, I hope this has gotten changed by the time this episode airs, but I looked at the Wikipedia entry for one, Seth Brooks Binser.

and I mean both, I'm pretty sure like both the guys in Crazy Town are like L.A., you know, Jewish people from L.A. I think one of them, their dad worked for Billy Joel in some way. They're kind of nepo babies. But, you know, the Wikipedia entry for Shifty Shell Shock says that they're known for their hit song Butterfly and less for his solo career. He abused substances throughout his life and appeared on the television reality series, celebrity rehab, and sober house. And so I feel bad because this guy clearly has. had some demons like prior to being a crazy town and it just seems like someone who was in no way shape or form ready, ready or able to handle fame of any sort, which just kind of escalated

the downfall. But I feel similar to the way I did when Steve Hartwell from Smash Mouth passed away, which is that, you know, RIP, but fuck, man, I hate it All-Star. I still do. And I fucking hated Butterfly. Oh, man. I fucking hate it. I don't know. No, no id? Not even the id response to the butterfly. I was listening to

a lot of id ass shit when like Butterfly was dropping. You know, this was like when I was maybe second or third year of college. So I was like heavy into the new metal stuff. But there was just something about that song in particular that I just

couldn't get down with. And I'm trying not to be a snob about the whole rap rock fusion i've written positively about like lincoln park and corn and but i i fucking hated limp biscuit too so i did have like points where i would draw the line and i just fucking couldn't with butterfly man i just this is a rovalversal here i can't i know right i'm the one defending butterfly i will say for smash mouth i think the real heads are more of like a walking on the sun yeah like partisan for bushoe man yeah well i mean i mean i mean Walking on the Sun is a song

I think that's legitimately That was kind of when they were like Oh this is kind of a quirky pop band Like when they dropped that song And then All Star That brings in the Shrek era Yeah they went from like kind of Post Austin Powers

That that weird era of music Right exactly You could have like a kind of 60s Organ Right So Right Yeah I mean like I didn't like walking on the Sun

That much either But it was like oh okay this is, I don't know, this is something I'll see on MTV and I don't mind it, but all-star. It's like late 90s. We have nothing to worry about. We're going to wear bowling shirts and play the Farfisa. It's going to be great. Yeah, that post-BEC like sort of shit you'd hear at the Gap type music, which we could probably do an entire episode on.

Shout the Brand Band 3000. Yeah, Odelay Corps. That was a real thing in the day. Quick mailbag here before we get to our favorite albums. Just to put a button on the, frankly, you know, people are talking about this all week. Donut gate, you know, where someone brought some donuts to my book reading in L.A., they brought a lot of donuts, actually. And Ian and his lovely wife absconded with the donuts right after the reading, and I didn't get any donuts. So I know I've had a lot of people reach out to me to express their condolences, wondering if we're still going to be.

have a show if I can get beyond it. And I did. I'm over it. But we did get a email this week from the people who brought the donuts. I don't know if you saw this, but they're listening to the show and they wanted to just do a point of clarification here. So I'm going to read this email. This is from Chelsea and Will, who came to the reading. Very nice people. Hi, Steve and Ian. We're the couple from the Book Soup event who had the donut arrangement made for you. So happy you enjoyed them, Ian and co-workers in parentheses. But if you look closely, you'll see it actually says Steve Zero, Ian 3. I didn't notice. Did you notice that? I did not notice that. I didn't be staring at that arrangement for a month and not know that. I didn't notice that because, you know,

at the event, they had this line of people coming up because I'm signing books and all of a sudden Chelsea and Will have this enormous tray of donuts. and there's a line of people behind them. So I was like a little distracted because, you know, you want to engage with people that come up. But then you also, you don't want to make people way too long. So I didn't notice that. And of course, that's referencing the fantasy draft score. Ian has three wins.

I have none. By the way, fantasy draft next week. Yes. You got to do that next week. Anyway, so yeah, it was in reference to your current fantasy album's draft score. Yes, rubbing it in there, Chelsea, that hurts. So even though Ian grabbed the donuts. ran, maybe the silver lining could be that it was a prize for the undefeated champion.

We did it to make you both laugh, plus donuts are life, Chelsea and Will. So she's saying that you deserve the donuts because you have won three times in the fantasy draft. She may have a point there. I think maybe she's right. Yeah, okay. I mean, like I do wonder if this, I don't know, Castle Paul, if it's bad juju or whatever you want to call it for the next time around.

But, yeah. I'm over it. I think this will encourage us to do more events together and for people to bring us donuts. And maybe we can even the donut scales. It's going to be like bare naked ladies where everyone brings like mac and cheese. You know, if we're going to like follow up on the post-Oto-Lay core discussion, which of course everyone wants. Yeah. People are just going to bring mac and cheese and throw it at us.

Wow. We're touching on Crazy Town. making bare naked ladies references. This is totally 1999 in this episode today. All right, let's get down to it. Favorite albums of 2024 so far, Ian and I both have ranked lists. We did a top five. I have not seen Ian's list. He hasn't seen mine. I should say that on uprocks.com today, today being Friday, I have a column on my favorite albums of the year so far. There's I think 20-ish albums. I think it's like 22 or 23.

Some weird number like that because I couldn't quite get to a zero number or a number ending in five. And that list is not ranked. I just put that in alphabetical order. But we are ranking here. I don't feel great about my rankings, to be honest. I feel like I could change this tomorrow.

So I'm just throwing that out there as a disclaimer. But I'm pretty sure that these are like, my five favorite. There's like five other albums I could have put in my top five, but I feel pretty good about this top five. How about you? Like, was it easy for you to pick five? Or did you have to narrow it down? Was it difficult? Like, where were you at with your list? Yeah, I mean, I felt confident doing a rank list. I'm usually not a huge fan of like ranking individual lists. Like publication lists absolutely should be ranked. But, um, because I'm like, yeah, I know what my number one is and so yeah the rest should be easy but i found myself over the past you know a week or two

once we you know kind of centered in on the day we were going to do this listening to a lot of the records i've really enjoyed and maybe listened to two or three total times over the past year just like because i have less time than never um and i'm like fuck man like i don't know about these like is this number five like am i just putting this here like as a reflex or which ones have i and two the most. And yeah, I mean, I think there's been just personally a lot of good albums. But none that like really have like blown me away to the point where I'm like, yeah, this is clearly number three.

I kind of feel the same way. And it's funny because there are albums coming out in the back half of 2024 that I've already heard that I feel like are probably better than what's in my top five. even though I really like my top five. And I could see many of these ending up in the top 10 of the year end list. But yeah, I don't know. I like how we're both equivocating hardcore before giving our... I don't really know about this ranking.

But, you know, it's fine. It's a mid-year list. Not a lot of pressure, I think, here. I think... And I have a feeling that we're not going to have any repeats. I'm going to say that. I have a good feeling we're not going to have repeats. There's one record that might be repeated between us.

I'm like 99% sure I know what your number one is. I'm predicting one repeat, though. Okay, well, we'll see. All right, let's get to it. What's your number five album of the year so far? And this is the one that I'm going to go, like this just kind of happened to be at number five, and I do think it's going to be the repeat.

So this is the number five slide is the one I've earmarked for both of our favorite word of the year in, music Twitter, which is hauntological. So, you know, I'm going to put an album there, just something that fits that need. And I thought, like, do I want the Cindy Lee album in there? And I mean, I'm sure this is, you know, not going, this is going to be a not uncommon statement to make for the rest of 2024. After that initial burst of excitement for that record, Diamond Jubilee, I haven't really revisited much because it's so intimidating to think like, okay, this is like a two-hour record, and I still haven't figured out a way to get the artwork on my iTunes, Apple Music, not iTunes.

And, you know, the album that gives me the same sort of feeling, but one that is much, much easier to listen to is Jessica Pratt here in the pitch. I've listened to that album a lot. That's going to be my number five. A beautiful record does exactly what it sets out to do in about 27 minutes. Very escapist, very atmospheric in a way that is just like, I need a break from reality, and I'm going to get it, and then I can get back in the world. Side note, I did see Jessica Pratt live recently at this new venue in San Diego, and I mentioned this on Twitter, but that was also a weirdly aggressive crowd, similar to the Sarah McLaughlin story.

It's a, like, it was this weirdly shaped venue where if there was anybody at all standing up, you would not be able to see any of the band because they're sitting down. It's not a raised stage. And so there was this huge like, sit down, sit down, chant before the band went on. And everyone sat down and sat cross-legged on the floor and a great cheer went up. So, yeah, the weirdness of live music has not escaped this. I don't know, this extremely not 20-24-sounding record. But love it. Definitely going to listen to it.

It's definitely going to be in my top 10 by the end of the year. I feel it's a pretty safe pick. So to be clear, you did not put Cindy Lee in your top five. I did not. Okay, so you put Jessica Pratt number five. That was on my extended list. It's not in my top five. But it was in the running, and I could have put it in my top five.

Great record. I will say she's coming to the Twin Sinclair. cities here, I think, next month. And I'm not sure if I want to see her live. It's great. Is it great? Okay, because it just seems like a record, I think the reason why people get violently upset about, you know, people standing or if there's talking, is that it's such a vibe and

it's such a mood. And if someone messes with it, it kind of kills the music. You know, like, I feel like with a quiet artist, that's a much bigger deal than if it's, like, a loud band or something. So I worry that the experience wouldn't be as good live as it would be just listening to it on headphones. That almost did happen, but democracy prevailed and, like, people were shamed and shutting the fuck up.

So you loved her live? You thought it was a great show. Oh, I thought it was great. The best part is that they have, like, I would say a percussionist. It's like this drum set that, you know, kind of vaguely looks like a drum set, but fill with all those strange. percussive sounds that you hear on the record like the I don't even know what the thing is called but it's like almost like a theramine sounded thing and there's like a kick drum but like a wood

it's like a woodblock kick drum uh really cool to see plus there was like a saxophone the guy playing saxophone we never heard him okay all right well all right you may have talked me to go and see that show so it should be good yeah great record uh but you thought that would be a repeat yeah nope not a repeat so we have no repeats then well Maybe we do, and I'll surprise you with something I pick. My number five album is called Box for Buddy, Box for Star. It's by, this is Lorelei, the side project from Nate Amos of the band, Water from Your Eyes. It's funny because, like, water from your eyes, I feel like everything I read about that band emphasizes, like, how weird this band is.

This band's so weird. It's a weird band for weird times, and just weird, weird, weird, weird. and with this is Lorelai I feel like the experiment for that record was like what if I just wrote great pop songs and I didn't do that thing where I make it weird at the end you know and I just presented these songs more or less straight like to make a wean analogy which I think is pertinent here because Nate Amos has talked about wean being an influence Water from Your Eyes is the pod and this is Lorelei is White Pepper.

Oh yeah. These are just really kind of beautiful pop rock songs, great melodies. He does some things with his voice sometimes to change, you know, to pitch it down or pitch it up. And again, like in a very kind of wean-like manner. But, you know, this record just came out so there might be some recency bias for me.

But this is an album that I have found myself dipping into almost every day. Like, it's just a record. It's endlessly listenable, endlessly playable. You know, there's certain songs on there that I think are just like some of the best songs of the year.

We're all fucked up. That song is fantastic. The last song on the record, which is called an extra beat for you and me, just sounds like a modern day like Buddy Holly song. I mean, it's so well done.

I think this guy's really talented. you know, between both of the bands that he's in. And I just think this record, I feel like this is a record that I'm going to want to listen to all the time moving forward. So that's my number five album. I like this one a lot too. And, you know, if I spent, if it came out like a couple weeks before,

I would probably have it in my top five. But I just haven't listened to it enough to the point where I can confidently say, oh yeah, like that's it right there. Yeah, I do. I like water from your eyes. I think this is like, yeah, the white pepper or maybe even the mollusk to certain extent. I think that comparison sticks. And also, there is a not insignificant element of post-Oto-A core to it as well.

Oh, totally. Yeah. Definitely. It definitely has some of that like, yeah, like late 90s. Dreamworks, records type shit. Like a singer-songwriter with electric beats. Like there's definitely that vibe going on. And it's like, oh, I like that.

aesthetic, I guess. I haven't heard that done in a while like this well. So I feel like this is a record that is going to do really well at the end of the year. It just feels like an album. If you haven't discovered it already, it will get discovered and it just feels like an album people are going to want to play a lot. The Eels Assents is upon us. Yeah. All right. Let's get to number four. What's number four on your list? So, yeah, you know, the reception of this record, or I suppose the lack thereof, makes me feel, I don't know, just a little bit nuts because, look, I know that there isn't a huge critical audience for, you know, revival era emo. But I always think there's this, you know,

the more niche publications would be all over this. But, you know, I'm looking at the mid-year lists at places like Brooklyn Vegan or get alternative. And I don't see Southtown Lanes anywhere. It's a record I talked about a few weeks ago, South Town Lanes. The record is called take care. And, you know, my pitch for this album was that, hey, did you like law dispute and, like, home like no place is there? And touche amore, like the songs that are specifically about their parents dying, you're going to like this record. And also throw in a little My Chemical Romance in there as well. It's kind of like what you were saying about MJ Lenderman. In some ways, this album is so, uh, so designed for my.

my preferences that it almost feels like I have to check myself. Like, wait, is this actually as good as I think it is? Or is it just like pandering to my specific taste? But, yeah, I think if this band was like a younger band, like a newer band, and I think there would be a lot more conversation around it. But, you know, they made a record in 2016, and it took them eight years to do the follow-up. So I know that for, you know, a certain audience is a lot more difficult to get excited about an older band. you know, might not necessarily be able to tour and make good on it.

But, yeah, this album is, it is just like 2.11 levels of intensity at all times, which is, you know, a good change of pace from a lot of the, you know, emo or hardcore stuff that I've been listening to nowadays, which is a little more reserved or bedroom pop. This is, it's just like throwback 2014. get a 7.8 in the C-slot pitchfork review, emo music. I'm going to recommend this any chance I get to the, and I just hope that people who would be into this thing are into it.

Yeah, this is like a very niche success. I don't see this, you know, having much crossover appeal, but I'm going to continue to rep for it. When you were going into that description for a second, I thought you might say the Fricko album. I listened that this morning and think, Oh, am I going to like, maybe this should be on there. But yeah, that's long list.

Okay, because that snuck onto my mid-year list at the end. I didn't really listen to that a bunch when it came out. But when I was thinking about albums to put on my list, I revisited Fricko. And that's really grown on me a lot. I think that's quite a good record. It definitely has that kind of throwback, big sounding indie rock type thing going on. I feel like LP2 from them is going to be the one. Like this is going to be more of a slow burn, but I listened to Friko this morning thinking, oh, maybe this all put in my top five.

I haven't listened to this in a while after I reviewed it. But a great record, but I think that LP2 might be like the one for them. So number four for me, you mentioned this as an album you didn't put on your list. I am putting it on mine. It's Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee. And I think you're right. I think for a lot of people, you know, there was a moment when this record came out. and it was certainly like an indie world.

It was a big deal. And I think even now it's still like one of the more sort of heartwarming stories of the first half of the year, at least from the audience's perspective. Again, inside Cindy Lee, the sudden rush of indie fame might have been a little disorienting. But just the way this record came out and the way it creates its own world, it's such a unique record. And yeah, it is long. It's 32 songs.

It's about two hours. But the way I've been revisiting it is, you know, I don't listen to it from the back all the time, but I do drop in and I listen to it in six or seven song chunks. And I find that that's probably the ideal way to listen to this record. And every time I put it on, I find myself to be totally transfixed by it. And it totally sucks me in again to this very kind of unique, you know, atmosphere that is unique to this record. It's one of the most absorbing records, certainly, that I've heard all year. So, yeah, I am a little curious if, like, a lot of people are going to be like you and feel like,

oh, I liked it when it came out, but it didn't really have legs for me as the year goes on. I feel like there's a potential for that, but I would tell people, if they are tempted to make that argument, just go back to the record because it wasn't just hype over how that record was released. I think that it actually does bring the goods in terms of just, number of songs, variety of different sounds on that record, and just the vision that exists there. Really good record. Number four on my list. Do Diamond Jubilee. I guarantee that when, if I do follow through on my commitment to buy a PS5 to play NCAA football 25 this summer happens, that will make me the captive audience that I need to be

to revisit Cindy Lee and appreciate it the way that I did when it first came out. because I think it's great. It's just that, like, damn, man, I feel like with an album, I got to, like, actually listen to the whole thing, you know? And maybe I can revisit it in chunks. You know, I still think it's great. Don't get me wrong.

The thing with that record is that I really think that the second disc is better. I agree. So, like, if you're going to listen to it from the beginning, because the first disc is really strong, too. But, like, for me, I tend to start with the second disc and then go back. so I'm re-sequencing it myself. But, you know, just think of it as melancholy and the infinite sadness or something.

You know, it's got a similar vibe to that record. Number three, what do you got? All right, so this is like a little bit more of a manageable version of the Cindy Lee record. You know, a part of me wonders any time I review a record and give it best new music at Pitchfork, like whether I've like overrated it

because I'm excited that something is a candidate for it. But yeah, the Howdy record, self-titled Howdy Record, it's got, the legs are strong with this one. I always find myself revisiting it, like, A, because I think it's, you know, it's a great record and it's very resonant. But also, you know, it's like when, what do I want to listen to? I don't know what I want to listen to right now when I'm doing notes or like just in my car and waiting a long ride home. The Howdy Record suits that. You know, it's porch music, but it's also like kind of being stuck in traffic at 4 p.m. In San Diego music, it's being on an airplane music.

It's well suited to just about any environment. Also, like, what if other people are in my car and I can't play something like South Town Lanes. You know, I think that this is a... Sometimes I do play, like, the reduced version of it where I might like skip a song or two. But the highlights of this record are some of the highest of the year, like, bad, news, Gene, forever. Just a great collection of songs. And it really just feels like a statement from a band that I thought was good. I like them. But now I can say like I legitimately love them. And I really hope they do get the tour on some headline shit this year. Like I saw

they announced the tour, but they're opening for Biba Doobie. So, you know, I don't think I'll be able to get to that one. But yeah, this is just, it's just a record I really love. I don't think it's like reinventing the wheel. I don't think it's this, you know, see change in the way like folkie indie rock is made like some of the Alex G albums. But yeah, this is probably going to like hang on it like number 48 on most people's list, but I think the people who love it are going to vote it super high. Yeah, this was on my extended list that's on Up Rocks. my unranked list of, you know, 20-some records. I really like this album a lot.

If I'm going to make a minor criticism, it's maybe a little too long. It's like 19 songs, and a lot of them are in the same sort of vibe of like a mid-tempo, beautiful, foky strum type song, which is their bread and butter, and I love it when they do that. I will say, I think true love for me still gets the edge over this record. That was their previous album that came out in 2021. I love that record a lot. But again, I put this on my year-end list. I like it a lot.

Very enjoyable band. If we're talking about patio music, this band is, like, they might have been born on a patio. Or, like, two patios had sex, and then this band was born. You know, I feel like they're just so perfect for that environment. So, yeah, really good record. Have you ever seen The Ruin My Ride video? I don't think so. That's from, I believe, they're actually.

album that came out in 2019. The name of that album escapes me, but I think it's heavy lifter, but watch the, watch the video for Ruin My Ride. And, I mean, that is like the definitive howdy work. It's, you know, it's, it doesn't sound all that dissimilar for what they're doing now, but it looks like it's filmed in their backyard in Austin, and they're all doing line dancing and hanging out. It's like, it is straight Richard Link later, like, wish fulfillment.

I wish I never got older. than 24. I think that, watch that video. If you're Steve or if you're anyone, like that captures the essence of Howdy or, like, any, I have not seen a video that's captured the essence of a band more

perfectly than that video. We should say, too, that if you're not familiar with Howdy, howdy is spelled with two Vs, not a W. So, if you're punching that into your nearest streaming platform, make sure you do the double V in sort of the always type tradition.

Number three on my list Frog and Boiling Water The latest record from Dive This album Look I was talking about this album before it came out I was talking about it being one of my favorite albums Of 2024 so far So I have to put it on my mid-year list

It's definitely one of the records I've listened to the most You know Dive is a band that I think For me has a very consistent catalog I am a fan of each of their four records I love the live acoustic record that they put out last year. I just think that they're an incredibly consistent band. And they fly under the radar a little bit. I feel like this record actually did get a lot of good press.

It did have some partisans. There were some weird reviews of the record where, again, there's some like lingering sort of collateral damage going on from like some of the more sort of, I guess, tabloid aspects that have, happened with this band. At this point, several years ago at this point, it doesn't really seem like it's really a part of who they are, what they're doing in 2024. But again, if we're going to talk about Shugay's music or Dream Pop, all the bands that are trying to do that these days, I mean, Dive, for me is, like, clearly one of the best bands doing that right now. And this record,

I think, with the political commentary going on it as well, there's just so many layers to it. I just think it's such a smart, well-made record. I really love it. I think it's one of their best. Frog and Boiling Water by Dive, my number three album of the year. I am seeing them tonight like the night we record.

I'm seeing them in San Diego. They are gutting a body of water, I believe, is opening. So I'm looking forward to that because I don't think I've seen dive since the ocean days. And yeah, speaking of videos, you watch the one for Douse, and it's like, that

is that is 285 Kent era like to a T what's going on in that video the way people are dressed the way live music looks but yeah I think people still think of them in some sort of way as that sort of band like a New York hype band and like look Zach he's been through some stuff he's been very open about sobriety now and so you know that that part is baked into the music but you know to kind of judge them based on that, she seems like, I don't know, there are other ways to hit word count.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, it seems unfair. I mean, because especially, you know, given, I mean, I don't know how old they are exactly. They've got to be like mid-30s, probably at this point.

Something like that, probably. I mean, you know, he's a dad, right? Yeah, exactly. So they've been around a lot, and I think, you know, when you've put out, like, four really good to great records, I think you've, like,

kind of established that you're not, like, some flash in the pan. So yeah, anyway, really good band, really good record. I like it a lot. What's your number two? All right. So, you know, aside from South Town Lanes, I'm a little surprised at how kind of chill most of this stuff I've liked this year is. We are going to the complete opposite direction of that with my number two, which is an album called You Won't Go before you're supposed to by Knocked Loose. So howdy is the album I've talked about being very very versatile, you know, if I'm driving, you know, if I'm driving home, if I'm driving to wherever,

if I'm just like hanging out. Knocked loose is an album I can only listen to in the gym. Good news is I go to the gym just about every single day. And this is like one of the more fun success stories of 2024 because, you know, with metal or hardcore for several years, people were like, oh, who's the next turn style, like assuming that meant the band that hell a similar space would go in a similar direction, which is to like make very accessible, very pop, hardcore. Knock loose is going the completely opposite direction. This is just straight up goon-ass music. But done in a way that's like not too inaccessible.

There's just like a little bit of like early corn. There's some supple Torah. There's some like House of Blues metal core. And it's like, how do they, like, it's a breakdown. How exciting can this be? But this is sort of like John Wick where, you know, it's like, oh, fight scenes can be really fucking awesome if people can utilize both like physical skill and also some CGI.

It's now my respect a lot, but it's just so much fun to listen to, which I think gets overlooked when we talk about heavy music, where it's got to be either like super political or super against the group. rain or um you watch knock noose locked noose knocked loose uh play like cochella or bonner and people are having a blast you know this is very fun music and just that very aggressive like lizard brain i guess it over super ego did i get that right there you go yes yes and also yeah it's like they're extremely popular they played like the shrine in la which i think is like a 6,000 cap venues. So

I like this album a lot for what it does. I like for what it represents. I like how still it seems like some people are kind of slow to come around on like what this band is doing. But, you know, in a good year for pure noise records in general, this, this album just, it is an example of like a very narrow, like a very narrow sound being just done so fucking well. I think this is going to be looked back upon in, in 2020 is like a landmark for heavy music.

Yeah, I have to admit that I'm not in the headspace at the moment to appreciate a band like this. I respect what they do. I understand why it's appealing. I get like the way you're describing it. Totally get it. I'm just like, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff right now. I may go back to it. I've had my periods where I was really into, you know, that kind of thing.

I'm just not at the moment. So maybe I'll get back there. I'm sure it's a really good record. My number two album, look, my top two, these are records that I really love. And it was really between these two as to what was going to be number one. And I have to say, it's a situation where I love the records, but I also like really cheer for the bands, because there is sort of like an underdog aspect, I think,

that both of these bands. They're both middle American bands, and I always have a soft spot for that kind of thing as well. So I'll say number two for me, Paul Bunyan's Slinghot by Liquid Mike. This is a band from Upper Michigan. They have a, their main songwriter is working for the post office. That was a thing that was mentioned like in every story about this band.

I actually did my own story on this band and it was kind of funny because Mike of liquid Mike, that's the main guy. He was talking about how he didn't really want this to become the narrative of the band, but it is sort of an irresistible narrative tag. And it really speaks to the blue collar appeal of this band. So you have that going with them. You have a very obvious guided by voices influence on this band. So again, you're speaking my language with that.

There's a song about American movie on this album. You're speaking my language with that. There's a lot of songs on this record about just the culture of small towns and how much of it is adjacent to alcoholism and drug abuse. And that's something I'm also familiar with, just from family members and friends and all that kind of stuff. But it's also just a really fun record. I mean, even when he's writing about some pretty dark things on the record,

it's always done with a sense of humor. And the music itself is very infectious. It just sounds great. It breezes by in, I think, less than a half hour. I think it's either a half hour or it's maybe about 28 minutes or so. Just a really, really, really good rock record. with lyrics that are memorable and the backstory to me is incredibly appealing. So Paul Bunny and Slingshot by Liquid Mike, my number two album of the year so far.

Yeah, I like what I've heard from it. I haven't fallen in love with it yet, but maybe that'll change over the years, particularly as it gets summer and this music probably appeals to me more. I like the fact that they opened for Joyce Manor recently, which, you know, strikes me as, you know, it's a great sort of co-sign, but also it makes me think of like how in that realm, like the emo or post-punk, not post-punk, pop-punk adjacent world, so many bands have tried to do power pop and just done weak-ass teenage fan club, you know, rehashes, whereas this one sounds, it's on like a little bit of a different

plane. So, yeah, the talent's pretty obvious. I think that the excitement around it feels very, very. authentic so well in Joyce manner I know Barry is also a big guided by voices fan so they have that as you know in their shared DNA uh here we go our number one albums of the year so far Ian what's your pick so I mean I've had this album in my possession I guess for like damn near a year at this point I came out like very early in 2024, I think like before. Basically, while like most publications are still kind of in that refractory period after announcing

their year ends. But if you know me, it's obviously Glass Beach, Plastic Death, the much anticipated follow-up to 2019 is the first Glass Beach album. And, you know, I guess like loving this record as much as I do, like, of course I'm going to look for it on mid-year list and see how, you know, it's being received. elsewhere. I think it's tough for me to say how this record stacks up in terms of the expectations. I think a lot of people find it to be like the difficult follow-up because it's not quite as, you know, highly online. It's not quite as meme, uh, memed out as the first one is. But I think

just the accomplishment of this record shows the deep, deep, deep level of like technical skill and talent and imagination that Glass Beach has. Um, because, you know, sometimes I'll hear, you know, emo records or whatever like whatever you want to call this emo adjacent universe and it's like okay this is fun but like I'm not quite sure if like the bones are there if like this is a band that

like is in it for the long haul or if they just kind of stumbled upon some great songs and maybe they'll make another album before breaking up but you know Glass Beach I mean it just encompasses so many cool things because there are like wigged out Prague stuff going on there's a lot

of like electronic music happening as well, but there's like some really catchy indie rock songs on here as well, like puppy and, you know, rare animal. And it's a journey. It holds together really, really well as an album. You can tell they think about this stuff very deeply. And I also think that the ambition of this record contrasts with how they approach, you know, the rest of being in a band, like their, COVID really messed them up in terms of touring. So they don't tour a lot. And I think that they might stop touring after this, after this, after this, after this album, maybe those make albums going forward. But I'm a little sad and disappointed by the lack of attention it's gotten

just in the wider sphere of things. Because I think it's just like a really special record. It sounds like absolutely nothing else in 2024. Any way you look at it, I think this is just a massive accomplishment. And, you know, whether or not people agree, I'm going to continue to bang the drum for Glass Beach. Plastic Death, not Plastic Beach. That's the Gorillas album. Everyone gets that confused, even Glass Beach. But I imagine that it's going to take a lot for anything to knock this out of my number one

by the time we reconvene to do our lists in December. So, yeah, I like this record. It did make my Uprocks column. I will say I find it a little exhausting to listen to at times. I think it's really good. but sometimes if I think about putting it on I'm like do I want to get into this right now do I need to be in a different

maybe I shouldn't be sitting down and listening to this might be a little too much for me but I agree with you there's like a lot of ideas going on with that record and I think if it was about the most imaginative bands

it would definitely be on my list there's a lot of imagination going on with this group and you're not going to be bored listening to this record I can guarantee you that. My number one album, lived here for a while by the band Good Looks. I said before my top two are bands that I think made really good records, and they're also bands that I want to cheer for,

because I think there's an underdog quality to them. And Good Looks is a band that has had not one but two vehicular-related disasters in their career. Their guitar player was hit by a car and had brain injuries that he had to get. get over for over the course of many months. And there was a van accident when the band was on tour that destroyed all their gear. And like this is like a band. I mean, they've actually been around for a while. But there's like Leonard Skinner level levels of like just catastrophes happening to them.

And they continue to move forward and to get better as a band. And what I love about this record is that you have a real partnership going on between the singer-songwriter and the lead guitarist, which I think is a really, which I think is a really fascinating dynamic. You have Tyler Jordan, who's writing the songs, who has this combination of, like, autobiography and socialist political activism going on in his song. So he's either writing about, like, childhood trauma that he suffered, he had a really bad childhood, but then he's also sneaking in, like, little bits of, like, hard left ideology into the lyrics in ways that sometimes aren't perceptible,

but if you know what he's referencing, it all comes to the fore, and it creates a really interesting sort of combination of perspectives. So he's writing kind of like in a Steve Earle-type singer-songwriter style, and then you have the guitar player, Jake Ames, who I think is like one of the most innovative guitar players working in India Rock right now, playing these really sort of grand, improvised guitar leads

that have like a post-punk flavor to them, them and really take these songs from like, again, more of like a maybe singer-songwriter lane to like a bigger Vision Questy kind of War on Drugs, Heartland Rock type vibe. It's a really, really good record. It's gotten a decent amount of attention, but I feel like this is a band that when people ask me, like, what's the band I haven't heard of and should check out? I often recommend good looks. And more often than I, more often than not, people,

end up loving this band. And I think there's a lot of potential for them to grow. So I'm going to put out number one on my mid-year list. Lived here for a while by Good Looks. Yeah, I like this record a lot, too. Easily my favorite interview of 2024 thus far. I did that one for Stereo Gum. And it's just such a great,

Tyler's such a great guy to talk to. The record's great as well. I mean, I could have put this at like number four, swapped it with Howdy and been just fine. with it but yeah this is kind of like a total package and I also agree that this record does a lot of what like people say they do in terms of like oh our band is like you know we're in that style of like heartland music but we're like we have political valence it's like no like good looks is like doing that for real and uh I think right yeah this is sort of like the old school heartland rock thing

yeah because I thought you would go with like wax a half at number one because it's technically from uh it's kansas city now no like i like waxahatchie a lot i like that record a lot it was on it's on my uprocks extended list it was like in consideration for the top five um but to be honest i've listened to the good looks record more than the waxahatchie record i mean that's that's an album i'm continually going back to and just to reiterate your point i mean when people talk about heartland rock you know they often forget about the lyrical aspect and like if you think of those artists in the 80s, they were writing about like sort of small town life

and they were writing about, you know, political issues in the country. And a lot of bands of this ilk don't really do that now. And like Good Looks is doing that. So like there is that kind of classic quality to what they're doing. But again, the guitar player takes it to a different place where I think without him this would be more of like an Americana band. And they really aren't. Like the, those soaring guitar parts

it really adds another layer of atmosphere to it where it's not in that Zach Bryan zone you know it's somewhere else it's it is again taking it more towards the war on drugs so just like that combination of influences and sounds is like catniff to me gosh I wish there was like a book that you know went deeper into like what heartland rock

really was right I wonder that's true gosh man if I could just will that into existence how would I God, man. Well, it's funny you bring that up because it's the one-month anniversary. There was nothing you could do. My book about Bruce Springsteen and Born in the USA. It's been out a month. Great response.

Great sales so far. Thank you all for people who have read it and checked it out. And if you haven't checked it out yet, luckily for you, you can still do it. You can still buy it. Read it in time for the 4th of July. Could there be a better way to celebrate America than to read that book? I don't think so. So thank you for that assistian.

I appreciate the plug here at the end of the episode. Thank you all for listening to Indycast. We'll be back with more news, reviews, and hashing out trends next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie Mix Tate 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.