Indiecast - Our First Fall Albums Fantasy Draft

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

The NFL season is upon us, and Steven and Ian are marking the occasion by launching their first ever Fall Albums Fantasy Draft. Here's how it works — they each pick five albums that are coming out this fall with the object of accumulating the highest overall Metacritic score. In this scenario, Olivia Rodrigo is like Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift is like Justin Jefferson. Does that make sense? No? It will when you listen! (36:34)Before that, Steven gives a recap of his weekend in Dayton for the 40th anniversary Guided By Voices shows (4:16). Was the line for the men's bathroom a disaster? Of course it was! Also, the guys delve into the online dust-up between Jeff Rosenstock and Steve Albini — and the Canadian punk band Propagandhi (?) — over music venues that take a portion of artists' merch sales. Finally, they pay tribute to the recently fallen icons Jimmy Buffett and Steve Harwell of Smash Mouth.In Recommendation Corner (1:03:30) Ian talks up a new posthumous album from Sparklehorse while Steven recommends the latest power-pop gem from Cory Hanson.New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 153 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [e-mail], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Indycast is presented by Uprox's Indy Mix tape. Hello everyone and welcome to Indycast. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We review albums and we hash out trends. In this episode, in honor of the new NFL season, we conduct our first ever fall albums fantasy draft. Can't wait. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host.

He's doing most of the work today because it's my birthday. Ian Cohen. Ian, how are you? You know, the times like these, I wish we did, I don't know, like a YouTube or something more with a visual element because, you know, first off, happy birthday. And instead of us giving you a gift, you've blessed us on the timeline with pictures of some of your favorite rock stars who also turned the age that you're turning. I don't know if you want to reveal that to the people. But yeah, yeah, go for it. I like to measure, I like to measure myself in that way.

I don't know if you do this, but I like a lot of the classic rockers. So, you know, every year I get older. I'm 46 now. I like to think about, like, what did Bob Dylan look like when he was 46? What did Bruce Springsteen look like? Risky. That's what they're looking like. Springsteen, it was in the middle of Ghost of Tom Jod era.

And he had like the long, slick back black hair. He had the goatee. He's looking like a Cormack McCarthy character. Like just, I think it's like actually like one of the hardest, looking Springsteins of all the Springsteen. The number one hardest Springsteen, of course, is Tunnel of Love. Springsteen, the cover there, it's just like the fucking hardest guy that ever lived. And then number two, I think, might be Ghost of

Tom Jodera. Dylan, it was in the middle of his late 80s wilderness period. 1987, he was touring with the dead. He's looking like a homeless person. And no disrespect to homeless people by comparing him to Bob Dylan in 1987. He's just looking like, he's in rough shape. He had like the leather gloves. Oh, yeah.

With the fingers cut off. It was like that era for him. We're in like a hoodie, very disheveled looking. So I'm somewhere in between, I think, those two guys. I'm not as slick as Springsteen. I'm not quite as disheveled as Dylan. Somewhere in the middle. But I'm happy.

I'm happy to still be around. Well, I'm looking at both Bruce Hornsby and Tom York at 46. And man, this really does. does make an argument for listening to like Bruce Hornsby rather than music about like the existential dread of climate change and like our technological, you know, our technological terrors going on because I mean Bruce Hornsby like this is the, this is like the quintessential like 46 year old man like this is peak male performance in this picture. Oh yeah. Well the thing with Hornsby that he mastered was that he looked like he was 46 in his 20s. But,

He also looks like he's 46 in his 60s. Like he's an omnipresent 46. So, you know, maybe when you're in your 20s, you don't want to look like you're 46, but it pays dividends over time. So he's like the eternal 46 that we all wish we could be. I'm not that person. I feel like I look a little bit older than 46, to be honest, just because I've got a lot of gray hair going into white hair at this point,

which is insane. but you can't color it. You can't color your hair because they still haven't invented a convincing hair color. I love that we're talking about this, by the way, die jobs. This is a new era of Indycast.

But you know, like how whenever someone dyes their hair, it's very obvious. It looks like a very unnatural brunette. Right, just like weight style, like where he dyes his beard, yeah. It's like either way too dark or it's like a chocolatey brown hair.

It's like a little unnatural. So you can't do that. I don't know. I don't care that much. I'm embracing my silver fox era. I like to think of it like that. Speaking of us, speaking of going to a guided by voices show,

what was Robert Pollard looking like at 46? Well, he was one of the people that dyed his hair for a long time. Really? Yeah, he did. If you go back and watch the video, the Strokes video for some day, that guided by voices is in. This is like one of the greatest music videos of all time. I don't know if you've ever seen it.

Oh, yeah. It's awesome with slashes in it too, right? Yeah, and it's like the strokes in GBV are on Family Feud. During the era when Richard Karn hosted it from Home Improvement, I'd forgotten that that was a thing until I rewatched the video this recently. Richard Karn, then the sidekick. Yeah, yeah, on Tool Time. I think that's his name, Richard Karn.

I'm pretty sure that's it. I'm going to let you cook on this one. I feel like Homer Truman is more. It's not Richard Kind, the great Richard Kine character actor, but it's Richard Karn, the guy with the beard. I'm pretty sure that's it. Yeah, Richard Karn. Yep.

You Googled it? Yeah, I Googled it. When he wears a hat, he looks like one of the other guys in the Beach Boys. Like a Carl Wilson vibe? going on? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, I went to the GB anniversary concerts last weekend. I had a really good time, hung out with two of my best friends. We've got an Airbnb. It was great. Ran into some other people saw Christaville of stereo gum. Shout out to him. He hung out at the Airbnb for a bit. Saw my buddy Jake Longstreet. Did a lot of bonding with him.

That was great. Saw some of my old AB club pals. Shout out Keith Phipps, Scott Tobias. Noel Murray. Shout out to you folks. Concerts were interesting. I didn't post about it. I didn't want to post at all. I thought about it, but I don't want to post. Because I don't know if you've had this. When you post when you're at a show, it can go either way. I've had situations where I posted. And then you get some people in the replies who are negative creeps. And it takes you out of the show and it ruins it. You know, someone will just say something crappy. and then you get into that. Like, I'm focusing more on my replies than the show,

and it's just stupid. I didn't want to get sucked into that, so I didn't post at all. I had kind of mixed feelings about these shows, I have to admit. I had a great time. And this might be me having Jam Band Brain at this point. But, like, there were a lot of repeats on the second night. Like, the second night overall was, like, a better performance.

and it just seemed like louder in there. I don't know, it was weird. They were in this beautiful Masonic Temple in Dayton, and it was almost like two nights of a venue for them. It was like a beautiful venue, but like you almost want them to be like in a run-down theater or something. And the first night, it seemed like a little stiff in the building, and it just wasn't turned up loud enough.

The second night, it was, it sounded way better. Pollard, I think, was drunker, too. That probably helped. But I don't know, there were a lot of repeats. on the second night and I don't know. I just felt like, okay, these are 40th anniversary shows. People are coming from out of town and they basically just played like a regular guide of my voice's show both nights. Like they didn't bring out any former members. He wasn't really busting out like deep cuts. I thought there might be more of like a retrospective feel to the show. Like we're

going to play song from throughout our career, including songs we haven't played in a long time. Like kind of like a special event. And they didn't really do that and I was a little bummed out about that. I felt like that was kind of like a misopportunity. It also made me think that I think Robert Pollard in general is someone who's a little ambivalent about his own history, at least in terms of paying homage to his own history. He's very much like a whatever the new album is, whatever my next song is, not really a looking back guy. I wouldn't be surprised if these shows weren't his idea, like if someone else brought up, like you should do a 40th anniversary show. just because again, I don't, I think in a way too, like he resents the idea that people look at the 90s as his golden era.

I don't think he likes that. I think he's defensive about that. And I think he would say, my golden era is now. And like the version of the band now is the best version of the band. And people that would feel like, oh, I want to see Tobin Sprout up there. I want to see Greg Demos up there. I don't know if these names mean anything to you. Tobin Sprout, yes.

I've been reading about guided by voices long enough to recognize that name. Yeah, so I feel like, because I think a lot of people in the audience would have freaked out if Tovin Sprout showed up. They would have been really pumped up. And I think Pollard is, on some level, would probably resent that, you know. Right. Because it's like, this is my band, it's what I'm doing now. So that was a little disappointing. But yeah, the bathroom situation was, you know, was, you know, obviously a lot more.

men at these shows than women. There were some bored-looking wives in my vicinity or girlfriends or partners, which, by the way, if you, I would never take my wife to a guy at my voice's show. That is a big ask. I think that's why I've been married for 15 years. I know not to do that sort of thing. But, yeah, there was a situation there where, like, on the first night, there was a bathroom downstairs that apparently no one knew about, except for.

the few of us who ventured down there. So you could go to that bathroom and it was like tumbleweed was blowing through it. It was brilliant. Like you could just go right up, use it. And the bathroom upstairs, meanwhile, would be like, you know, half a mile long line waiting to get in. The second night they blocked that off for whatever reason. So there was only one men's room in the entire place. And there was probably like a couple thousand people there.

I don't know. It seemed like the bad, because there were like eight bars in that venue. There were like two bars on every level of the theater, basically, but only one bathroom. That seems like kind of like a bad matchup to me. But I don't know. Overall, I'm imagining like a Burning Man type situation where like we start hearing like news reports about how like thousands of guided by voices fans are stranded with like no bathroom.

Right. Right. Joe Biden's on the horn like hearing about like this natural disaster. But you know, like yeah, it sounds like it was. was fun, but like, I do think it kind of tracks with just what I know about Robert Pollard to like not make a huge deal about it. Like, he's just going to give you a guided by voices show in the same way that it gives you a guided by voices album. Right. But I'm also just interested in knowing how the crowd received some of the openers because, you know, I imagine that

some percentage of that crowd are people who sort of kind of checked out on indie rock, you know, either in 98, 2002, whatever. And I would imagine, like, you know, the newer bands like Kiwi Jr. And Wednesday, like, it's like, wow, they still make bands like this. And all of a sudden we're like left with a 48-year-old being like the biggest Wednesday fan ever. Did you see anything like that? Well, I'm going to be honest, I didn't see Wednesday or Kiwi Jr. I didn't show up that early to the shows.

Another complaint I would have, these were great bills. I mean, you had, the first night it was GV, Dinosaur Jr. And then Kiwi Jr. And then the second night, it was built to spill. Heartless Bastards. And then Wednesday, Wednesday was the opener. And it's just too many bands. They're all great bands.

But, like, it was too many bands. And, like, you know, you're having, like, the pre-gaming thing going on. You're, like, meeting up people. And it was, like, to get to the venue at 7 o'clock, knowing that you're going to leave at quarter to one. Like, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't be there for, like, five and a half hours. So I miss Wednesday. I've seen Wednesday before, so I know they're great.

I know anecdotally talking to people that there were some converts to Wednesday, just from people I talked to there who did see them and didn't know anything about them going into it. They became a fan because of that performance. But I don't know. It was weird. It didn't even seem like the audience was that excited about built a spill. Like there wasn't, I felt like the people around me didn't know who they were. I don't know.

Which is a very strange thing. It's like if you're a got to by voices fan, you got to be a BTS fan as well. Maybe they thought it was the other BTS showing up. They were confused. That wasn't the K-pop band. I don't know. I'm thinking about when I went to see Hum and Mineral play shows. Like, you know, like very similar bands and like none of them.

of the hum fans were like stoked about mineral at all despite them being seen as like working in the same lane now and they kind of were in the 90s but i'm like shocked because like i've been to build a spill shows and i've seen like guided by voices t-shirts there so yeah i don't maybe it's just my section i but i felt like because they played mostly hits and it was great and they have there's like a new thing now like where he has like a female rhythm section that is awesome like his rhythm section's really good dog marsh yeah yeah yeah built the spell. I thought you're talking about Robert Poller.

Oh, no, no. No, no. Doug Marsh, it's like he, it's a reconstituted band. But his rhythm section is really good. I kind of wish he had another guitar player just so that, so the guitars would be a little bigger. But, you know, it's still always a pleasure to see Doug Marsh play guitar. So that was really good. Dinosaur Jr. was great.

It was a good weekend. Did you see the action this week on social media? There was a little bit of a feud going on. Between two DIY icons from different generations. Jeff Rosenstock, who it's hard to imagine him feuding with anybody. Very nice guy, very likable guy, a guy you want to cheer for. And then you have Steve Albini, who is not that. They got into it kind of this week, and it was really weird.

Okay, so did you follow this at all? You know, there were times, especially this weekend, where there were like things popping off on social media. And I'm asking myself, this sounds like good topic for the pod. But like, do I want to bother Steve at his Guide by Voices Festival? But yeah, with this, fortunately this happened when both of us were back in town. And I saw it. I mean, work's been super busy this week because it's a short week with Labor Day. And it's like when I saw it, you know, I just think, I saw the original tweet.

where Jeff Rosenstock laid out, you know, as he's prone to do, hey, this is what it's like for us on tour, here's what each venue that you know of that you think already sucks. Like this is what the merch cut is. And, you know, it's like Jeff Rosenstock, like you were saying, one of the most consensusly beloved figures in indie or punk or what have you. And one of the most like incontrovertible takes. Like who the fuck doesn't think that merch cut suck? This is something that's been discussed, you know, on and on and on throughout the

the past couple of years. And you just figure like, okay, cool, Jeff's doing his thing. I don't know how this became a controversy. Yeah, and just to elaborate here, like he posted like a spreadsheet listing every city on his upcoming tour and he listed how much each venue is taking from his merch. Like for those who don't know, it's a common thing now for a venue to take a percentage of an artist's merchandise sales, you know, and it might be 10%, it might be 20%. 20% might be even more than that. And the argument from the venue side is that we are providing

a space for you to sell your shirts, your stickers, your CDs, vinyl, whatever. So we are entitled to a cut of that. Of course, the only reason why anyone is at this venue in the first place is because of the band or the artist. And the venue is already making a ton of money from alcohol sales, from food sales, what have you. And the artist isn't getting a cut of that stuff. But the venue is asking for a cut of merchandise sales. I think this is something like you said, anyone would look at and go,

well, that is so unfair to the artist. Of course, this shouldn't be allowed to go on. And enter Steve Albini into the situation. And he's not, it's a very odd thing. Because, okay, he's not arguing against, Jeff Rosenstock necessarily. He's not arguing in favor of venues taking a merch cut. What he, what he came in to say was that, um, basically that you're a fool if you allow venues to do this, because either you or your booking agent should be insisting that venues not take a cut of your

merchandise. And then Albini says, in 40 years of playing shows, I've never had anyone take a cut of my merchandise because I put my foot down and it doesn't happen. And it's one of those things like where, let's just say he's right. Let's just say he insists, and it's not because he's Steve Albini, who in the world of rock clubs, he is a celebrity. He is an iconic, legendary figure. You know, there's no argument against that. How often does he tour?

Well, yeah, that too. music, but it's like, oh, cool, Shalak is touring for the first time in 10 years, you know what I'm right? Right, right. And, yeah, he's certainly not going on the road for like a month or two at a time. You know, he's probably playing like weekend runs or, you know, like four or five shows in a row or something like that. Because Albini, like, in a subsequent post, he's insisting, well, it's not because

I'm Steve Albini. It's just because I have the wherewithal or the acumen to insist that I'm not going to pay these, I'm not going to pay out to these venues. Let's just say he's right. Okay, let's just say that, okay, if you insist in anyone, any band, it doesn't matter who you are, if you just insist on not paying, then that will be good enough and you won't have to do it. There is a way to frame that where it doesn't come off like you're calling people a sucker

or like you're calling Jeff Rosenstock a sucker. You could say, you know, I've always insisted I'm not going to pay these merch cuts, but it sucks that you have to insist. Like, why should people have to insist on that? it shouldn't even happen in the first place or it shouldn't even come up as a demand. Like, he could have framed it that way, but I don't know. Did you see that story that Jeremy Gordon wrote for The Guardian about Albini? It was like a big profile.

Did you read that? Yeah, it seemed like kind of this culmination of Steve Albini sort of taking opportunities to kind of apologize for being this kind of punk rock curmudgeon in the past. you know, from calling, you know, a band Rape Man back in the 80s and, you know, also the, uh, his war against, what was it, like three whores in their press music stooge or something like that, that famous article. He wrote about Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Farran, uh, urge overkill.

Right. Yeah, it's just kind of like, hey, I've softened in my time. Let me tell you about it. Right. You get Gavin Rossdale to vouch for the guy. Right. I love that. Like, it was a good story, by the way, Jeremy Gordon, if you're up there

listening. It was a really good story. But I know when I was reading it, I kind of disagreed with the premise of the story a little bit, which was that Steve Albini was a jerk in the 80s and 90s, and he's not a jerk anymore. I kind of think he has a lot of jerky tendencies still. It's just that he has more of like a social justice bent to his persona now that he didn't have in the 80s and 90s. Like in the 80s and 90s, he was like this sort of punk rock transgressive guy. You know, Edge Lord's shit.

Yeah, it was like the peak of like ironic misogyny and ironic, like, where you say these offensive things, but you like don't actually mean them allegedly. And now he's a person who wouldn't do that sort of thing. And he's much more of like the, I mean, he is like the sort of like middle age MSNBC watcher type poster now. Like, you know, if we can like just, like that is an archetype, you know, like that's basically what he is now. and his public persona. But I do think that, again, like with Albini, he does have this arrogance, this sort of condescension about him

that rubs me personally the wrong way. Like the thing with Albini, look, great musician, great engineer, great producer, his rhythm section sound, you know, that signature, rhythm section sound, heavy, abrasive, violent sounding. Brilliant. You know, he's a great musician and maker of music. His persona, though,

he's a boorish person and I think he still is kind of a boarish person and this whole thing kind of bored that out I mean we haven't even brought the propaganda or propaganda part of this I would imagine it's propaganda yeah propaganda we haven't brought we haven't brought up that part of the story

that was like the like the tag team the middle age punk tag team like I'm going to tag you in Albini's tagging out and someone from propaganda Gandhi, they got involved in here. What did they tweet?

They tweeted. It's not about like sweatshop like garments. Like, oh, look at you taking a merch cut on your sweatshop garments. Like, you know, like a pretty obvious gotcha. And Jeff's like, yeah, these are not sweatshop garments. It says bands, bands really hate to be charged merch rates on their sweatshop garments. Right. Is the, is the tweet.

Sweatshart garments. What a phrase. I mean, speaking of GBV, that could be a good GBV song. But it's like, propaganda, are they, do they not sell merch? Is that the thing here? Or when they sell merch, are they selling like flowing robes in shawls? Like, I'm thinking of garments. Like, are they selling garments of that nature?

Or is this like a Fugazi thing like where you shouldn't sell merch? Is that the stance here? I'll be honest. Like, and I'm going to out myself. Like, I've never listened to a note of propaganda music. Like my understanding is that it's sort of like if you take the, I guess the ethics of Fugazi or just that general worldview, but like, you know, without music, you know, without like the great music, they just seem like one of those bands who, if you miss out on them as like a 16 year old, like you're never going to get into propaganda because their worldview is just like so us against them. And I think with, like, from the looks of things, like, a lot of people were both like, oh, man, that's really a bummer that, like, propaganda is, like, weighing in on this and they sound like old cranks.

And secondly, yeah, I'm not surprised that this is what propaganda thinks in the year 2020. You know, it's like, we rightfully mock, you know, like punk guys who at the moment they turn 25, they start becoming, like, alt country dudes or, like, jazz dudes. And, you know what? like after seeing this discussion, I think that's a way better outcome than like continuing to be a punk guy in your like 40s and 50s. Because that just leads your ass to some dark, dark places. I'm not even going to get into like the chrome eggs dude that are.

It's way worse. It's way worse, I think, especially if you're like a Southern California punk band like that whole scene. Oh, it's totally true. Don't get me wrong. You know, like if you're, you know, speaking of dyeing your hair, like you're dying your soul patch, you know,

you're 51-year-old punk rock guy, you're on Facebook, and you're posting about how whatever new punk band of the week, they're not really punk compared to some shitty band from like 1993. Like that's such an archetype. In this, propaganda, they also have a Twitter account, but I'm sure they're way more active on Facebook. I feel like there's so many, like, disgruntled 51-year-old punks posting on Facebook, you know, they're either posting about like how punk bands today aren't really punk

or they're complaining about like Kanye West. You know, they're still like Kanye West isn't music, you know, or it's like or whatever rapper isn't music like that, that sort of thing. Just, yeah, you're much better off. Yeah, be Bruce, be Bruce Hornsby. Don't be Tom York. Yeah, or yeah, or yeah, like, you know, start listening to Towns Van Zand and become an old country singer.

I think that's a good, that's a more dignified route to me. we should pay tribute to two people that passed away in the past week. You got Jimmy Buffett. I'll call him a great singer-songwriter, even though I'm not... I'm not really personally a fan, but I respect him. I respect what he does, and there's a lot of people who I respect who love Jimmy Buffett. And then you have Steve Harwell, lead singer of Smashmouth. He passed away.

Uh, has anyone written, like, the shitty think piece linking Jimmy Buffett to Steve Harwell about how the, they were both sort of like lifestyle type musicians, like they made music to be enjoyed in the summertime. I mean, has anyone done that yet? Or does, and I don't want to like, you know, manifest anything. But like, do we have to wait for like Jack Johnson to, like, pass away in the same period of time? So you have, like, the rule of three? Is it going to take that for someone to write that shitty think piece? Has anyone linked those two yet? I feel like that was kind of like something that was on the table.

And I was waiting for like the Twitter thread that linked those two. And I didn't see it. But I feel like someone could do that. What I did see was this guy Richard Hanania who he famously or infamously got booted off Ronda Sanis's PR campaign because he had a Nazi past. And he's like this guy who, existed in a lot of like mainstream publications, like writing some like dog whistle racist stuff. But he said, Jimmy Buffett taught Americans to hate their jobs and live for nights and weekends so

they could stuff themselves with food and alcohol. But pride and work is what gives Americans purpose and explains our success. Deaths of despair may be considered part of his cultural legacy. So we got that. But as far as, I know, right? I mean, look, I mean, Jimmy Buffett is the patron saint of like white collar workers. Like people that are working throughout the week, you're a middle management. You've got the polo shirt tucked into your khakis.

You've got at least one cell phone holster on you at all times. You've got the Bluetooth. And you're living for the weekend. You're waiting for the Saturday night Jimmy Buffett show at the local amphitheater. You're going to drink like a dozen coronas with your bros and you're going to have a good time. Like that was his brand. he was the softer version of the Grateful Dead. Like, if you like the idea of partying in a group, but you don't like so many songs about

death, then you get into Jimmy Buffett. And look, as a proponent of the patio music lifestyle, you know, I was someone who, like, I wanted to get into Jimmy Buffett, and I still do want to get into Jimmy Buffett. Like, I actually bought a box set at the beginning of the summer, a Jimmy Buffett box set. And I was like, I'm going to get into this guy finally. There's a lot of, there's a big lane to become like a Jimmy Buffett explainer. You know, Dylan, Springsteen. Oh, totally.

That lane is, that lane is completely packed. But Buffett, lots of job opportunities in the Buffett reassessment world. I think so. And, you know, look, like Bob Dylan loved Jimmy Buffett. There's like a lot of songwriters who have like paid homage to Jimmy Buffett. And they talk about like what a good songwriter is. And there's certain songs of his that I like. the song Come Monday. That's a good

easy listening hit from the 70s. I like changes in attitudes, changes in latitudes. That's a good song. That's an actual song. I thought that was just like a phrase. No, that's, well, he might have coined it or he reappropriated it for that song. That's actually a title of

one of his records. I believe that was in 77. That's the same album that has Margaritaville on it. So, like, so I'm able to spit some Jimmy Buffett knowledge here because I, because I've tried to get into him. It hasn't completely taken for me yet, even though I love the patio music lifestyle. The thing with Buffett is that

while I love patio music, I don't like music about patios. You know what I mean? Like Jimmy Buffett wrote songs about partying and having a good time. And at some point it becomes like a little too on the nose. It's like you've got to expand beyond that for me to feel

something deeper about the music. So I felt like, I think that's my stumbling block with him. But again, I respect him. I respect the hustle. You know, he was an incredible businessman, incredible acumen in building his empire. I don't know. Do you have any experience with Buffett? Did you ever dig in? Well, I liked Southern Cross. That was like a song where I'm like, wait a minute, that's Jimmy Buffett in the same way that I would hear touch a gray and think like, wait, that's the Grateful Dead. I guess that's like their overproduced 80s kind of like a rock outlier. But, you know, the thing about Jimmy Buffett, which I found fascinating is I would hear stories about when they were on tour after the show, like the rest of the band would be, you know, like doing things that you would expect from people who are in Jimmy Buffett's touring band.

And Jimmy Buffett would just be like in his hotel room looking over accounting spreadsheets. Like he was just apparently like this super like control freak workaholic. which I don't know if that like gives depth to his music in the same way that like you know Brian Wilson never surf but it does you know just kind of make me feel good about seeing more as like a business person who like had a music like who worked in the musical field than like an actual musician and um you know he's circling back to you know the smash mouth guy like it they make very different forms of music but I kind of associate him with like good times like I don't think people were out there trying to, you know, retroactively inject depth into Jimmy Buffett's

music or, like, say, like, Fushu Meng is like this, you know, this totem of late 90s culture. Like, look, Steve Harrow, he seemed like a great dude, which, you know, which makes me feel a little bit bad that, like, All Star is a song. I absolutely despise. Like, I just cannot with it. But, yeah, I don't think, I think maybe it's like a positive sign or at least a sign that, you know, the music writing industry is like completely collapsing that, like I have not seen anyone really try to think piece, smash mouth.

Yeah. I saw some people try and their heart just wasn't in it. Yeah, I was waiting for that too. I was waiting for the like, smash mouth was secretly a great band think piece. And maybe that's... Yeah, like the hooty style reassessment. Yeah, that might still be in the pipeline.

Look, for people who are going to write a think piece out there, let me, let me plant a little seed. because this might be an argument for smash mouth. Like, I'm with you. I hate All-Star. I hate that song. And, like, I saw people talk about how that was actually a great song. I can see why people would like it,

especially if you're of a certain age and you grew up on Shrek. You know, maybe you have some sort of nostalgic attachment to it. I can't stand an All-Star. I do like the song Walking on the Sun. Do you know that song? That was, like, their first hit. Yeah, of course. Yeah, that was, yeah.

I mean, I think that you could make an argument that that was, They certainly had a thing going on, which was very much of its time. Yeah. Like, I could imagine us thinking about them in the same way. You know, people have fond memories of, say, like, fastball or super drag. Man's of that nature. Yeah, like, Brand Van 3,000. Yeah, like, walking on the sun, it kind of has this, like, retro 60s pop vibe that...

The Far Fisa organ. Yeah, Far Fisa organ solo, which is pretty cool. I watched the video for it earlier this week, and, you know, they're all wearing bowling shirts and shorts. And they got like those like little hats on, you know, and the very kind of like late 90s look there, cool guy look. Yeah, and I think like that late 90s moment is like the last truly frivolous moment in popular music where it's before 9-11.

There's not a whole lot going on culturally. There's no expectation that pop music needs to be. profound or politically conscious or socially conscious. And you've got like this group of sort of alt rock bands. You mentioned fastball and, you know. Scott Jason, if you will. Marcy Playground. I mean, all those sort of like one-hit wondery type bands that I have affection for.

Smashmouth in a way you could say is like the quintessential band of that era, you know, in terms of that. So I don't know. I remember hating a lot of that music at the time. And now I look back on it and I have like a good amount of affection for it. I think because of like just the frivolousness of the time. Yeah. I mean, you hate.

And Y2K, you know, panic hadn't quite set in yet either. Right. And Y2K seems like such a innocent thing to worry about now. I don't know. There's something sort of sweet about it. It's not like, you know, you're worried, like the things that we worry. the things that we worry about now. Although, like, when you,

uh, um, listen to All Star. I was listening to All Star again for this. Do you remember like, there's like a verse in there about climate change? Uh, there probably is.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna take your word for it. It's sort of like how you find out in retrospect that like, like, you know, like slide is about like getting abort. Like, Google'd all slides about getting an abortion and so is like brick.

And I'm sure it's there, you know? Yeah. I trust you on that. I'm not gonna listen to it to back it up. but I trust you on that. Okay, because, okay, the line goes, okay, it's a cool place and they say it gets colder.

You're bundled up now. Wait till you get older. But the meteor men beg to differ, judging by the hole in the satellite picture. So, okay, ozone layer. Sounds like a 1975 song. The ice we skate is getting pretty thin. The water's getting warm, so you might as well swim. My world's on fire.

How about yours? That's the way I'd like it and I'll never get bored. So basically saying, got this climate change thing going on in the late 90s, the world's on fire, but it's great. I'm having a good time. Like, that's the message of this lyric. That kind of encapsulates, I think, how we felt about climate change back then. It was sort of like, well, whatever. Let's put on a bowling shirt.

Let's go see Shrek again. Life is good. And we'll worry about that in 20 years. And now it's 20 years later and now we're worrying about it. But, you know, again, like, you know, back then it was like, the world's on fire. How about yours? That's the way I like it, and I'll never get bored. What a great lyric.

What a great lyric that is from SmashMouth. He went in on that one. That could be, someone should be think-pieceing that, by the way. All right, well, let's get to our fall album's fantasy draft. I'm really excited about this. This is an honor of the NFL season, which began on, I guess, the day before this episode post, on my birthday. which is a wonderful thing to have on your birthday. This is the idea.

So we're going to look at upcoming albums that are coming out, starting today through the end of the year. We're each going to pick five albums. And the idea is whoever comes up with the highest cumulative metacritic score with our five albums wins the fantasy draft. So we'll have to follow up in December. Now, we were talking about this. and you suggested that instead of doing cumulative metacritic score

that we do the cumulative or the average I guess year-end placement on best of lists which is a good idea except and I'm making the case for medicritic score that's something that we can track throughout the fall so we're going to know what a metacritic score is as the albums come out whereas if we have to wait for a year-end list we're not going to know until December And I think it's just more fun. And also maybe a little easier to understand if we can just follow the metacritic scores

as the year goes on. So like, for instance, there's like a big album coming out today that I expect to be a high draft pick for one of us. We're going to know right away. Okay, that person, whoever drafts that album is going to have a big lead right away because we're going to know what that score is.

But then there's other albums coming out later this month into October and November. where we're going to have a little back and forth. And we can do updates on this throughout the fall. We can keep people updated on where we're at. Does that make sense to? Yeah, can we do like waiver wires? Like I'm trying to pick up like the third receiver for the Dallas Cowboys.

Like every single year, you know, I pick up like Michael Gallup or something like that. And that might just be like a jazz album that, you know, becomes like the token number 42 slots. So I'm excited to see how this evolves. but I'm really excited about the draft and also the possibility of it evolving throughout the year because yeah by the way I did join a I used to joke on this podcast

that you know back in like 2010 or whatever like pitchfork was more like a fantasy football league that reviewed albums and now I'm in a pitchfork fantasy football league with like people from 2010 wow I love it Texans is the reason that's my team name

that's a good one. I'm proud of that one. I like this idea. I wish you guys would make this public. It's almost like when they do like road rules MTV, like they have like cast members from the past. They come and compete. Like pitchfork should have something on their site where you have like the the old school pitchfork people come back and they have a fantasy league and you can follow them. Like is is Brent decryzenzo in your league? I want to. Nah, we're talking we're talking like 2010 era. So I was disappointed because in the dress. I was disappointed because in the dress. In the draft chat, it was like all talk about, you know, actual football and no one bringing up like twin shadow or gauntlet hair albums.

Oh, man. You know, already we're off to a poor start. Well, okay, let's get into our draft here. And the way it's going to go, I'm going to flip a coin. And whoever wins the coin toss can choose whether they want to go first or get the second and third pick. So like if you get the first pick, the next person gets the second and third pick, and then we'll go back and forth. Does that make sense? I like it.

Okay, so I'm going to flip a coin. You're just going to have to trust me, I guess, that I'm telling the truth. Okay, I'm going to flip right now. Call it. I'm flipping. Call it. Heads. It is heads.

All right. So you want the first pick, or do you want the second and third pick? I'm going to take second and third. Okay, very good. Okay, so I got the first pick. I feel like there are two big dogs in the fall pool of albums. and I'm trying to figure out which one I'm going to pick. There was one that I was going to pick for sure,

but then there was the other one, and maybe I'm overthinking it. I also wonder if you're not going to think of it, this other one. So maybe it's just obvious to me. So I'm going to go with what I think is the obvious one, and that is Olivia Rodrigo, Guts, which is out today. I think that album is going to be very well reviewed. you've talked about it being a potential album of the year candidate just because of where we're at critically. It seems like that's an album that people want to embrace.

I think it's going to have a high metacritic score. So I'm going Olivia Rodriguez as the number one pick. How do you feel about that? Was that on your leaderboard for? It wasn't because you mentioned in our pre-chat that you think of Olivia Rodriguez as like the Pat Mahomes of this. Which one of the one of the things that one needs. to consider before going into a fantasy football league is what the rules of the draft are. So, like, if I was, you know, putting together, like, who I think is going to be the MVP,

if I wanted to, like, build a team around someone, it would, of course, be Pat Mahomes in the same way I think that Olivia Rodriguez is going to win most of the years. But, like, if we're talking about straight up fantasy points, like, number one pick in every draft is Justin Jefferson. You got to put the person who they might not win per se, but they're going to get the highest score. So I think that's a good pick, but like this is the equivalent of me of someone picking Pat Mahomes first rather than Justin Jefferson. Very interesting. Okay, so what are your two picks here then? Okay, so I'm going to take my first pick is going to be the only one on my like, you know,

a cheat sheet, which I think you're going to possibly choose, and that's going to be Sufion Stevens. I'm going to choose him because A, I think he's on your radar and B, because I feel like we're going to, we're due for a very big balance. bounce back from this guy. I think that people really like the first single because it's going back more towards the Carrie and Lowell style of music that he was making. I think people have softened on the Ascension. So I see that as a big rebound year. And again, this album is called Javelin. It comes out October 6th. And it's like a sort of a throwback to Carrie and Lowell, right? Isn't that the idea with this record? That seems to be the case. Like, it's one where it's like, oh, it's kind of a quick and easy Sufion on album, like, which means that it took three years to put together rather than five.

Okay, that's a good pick. That wasn't, I had it on my list, but it wasn't like in the top three or four. So I don't feel burned by that, but it's a good pick. I think that'll be really well reviewed. What's your other pick? All right, so before I get into this pick, I think maybe I just got to throw out a ground rule in the middle. None of us can pick Taylor Swift's 1989 Taylor's version.

Whoa, wait a second. Why? Does that count as a new album? because that would be my second pick. Oh, yeah, that definitely counts. That was on my list of, that was the other album I was considering going at number one. Yeah. So that definitely counts.

Okay, if it counts, I got to go with that. Okay, yeah, that's a good pick. I mean, it is interesting because I've been thinking about this with Taylor Swift. You know, people are talking about, I mean, obviously she's having a real moment with the heiress tour, you know, incredibly, you know, for how famous she's been, for as long. It seems like she's bigger than ever right now. It's like an incredible moment she's having. I do think it's a little cheap when people are like,

oh, she's put out five great albums in the last two years. It's like, well, no, she's re-recording albums, and I know that she's putting a different spin on it. But it is interesting how these albums are being treated as like new records in a way by music critics. You know, like all too well, like the Taylor, that was like a much, expanded version of that song.

But I feel like people, you know, because they're not being reviewed as like retrospective releases. They're being reviewed as like new efforts from her. And it seems like a, I don't know, there's something about that that doesn't seem right. It seems like she's found a cheat code or like a loophole or something. You know what I mean? Because normally like an artist would just like reissue their albums,

like with bonus tracks. And it would be understood that like, well, this doesn't really count. as an album that came out this year. But she's, like, re-recording her albums, and now they're being counted as new in a way. Yeah, this is kind of like Christian McCaffrey in the sense that you get, like, you get, like, kind of two streams of points here,

first of which is that it's, you already know, which, you know, 1989 famously not reviewed initially by pitchfork. Oh, man, so they'll go overboard probably this time. Yeah, this is, I'm like, the fact that this is on the table makes me extremely confident. I think if we're playing by the rules of the game,

you know, this is definitely a metacritic score, but not year-endless. So I'm playing the hand, I'm dealt with. I'm very confident about this draft pick. Again, that was my other album I was considering for number one, and I'm having second thoughts now. I was really going in between Rodrigo and Swift. That's a good pick. For my number two, I'm going to go with an album that I've heard,

and I won't comment too much on it yet, because it comes out next week and I assume we'll talk about it then. But I have been listening to it a lot. And I have a feeling it's going to be really well reviewed. This artist, I think, took a little bit of a dip, at least critically, with her last record. My feeling is that she's going to rebound significantly with critics with her latest record. I'm talking about Mitzki. The land is inhospitable and so are we.

It comes out next week. That's my number two pick. I think it's going to be really well reviewed. Yeah, that's a good pick. We talked about last on a previous episode, how Laurel Hell took kind of an immediate hit, but then its reputation is really rebounded in the time since. So I think that's solid.

That's reliable. That's Jamar Chase. And, you know, obviously, from a commercial standpoint, it only helped her. I mean, she's a huge star now. Although when you go on Spotify, I feel like her most streamed songs are not from Laurel Hell. I feel like it's still be the cowboy.

Let me look this up. I just want to make sure I'm not wrong on that. But I feel like I looked at this recently and I didn't see any. She seems like the type where there's like maybe one song from like Barry Me at Makeout Creek that has like it's like she has her like harness her hopes. But no, washing machine heart is killing it. Yeah, that's like that's at 532 million streams. Odd. Yeah, like, bury me at Makeout Creek, very strong in streaming.

First Love, late spring, 270 million. Not even, like, the famous songs that I, like, you know, townies not up there. Like, there are two songs that just absolutely dominate from this one. Huh. This is a very interesting, very interesting numbers on that one. Yeah, and, you know, you think of a song, like, your best American girl, you would expect that would be up there.

and, you know, it's not in, like, the top 10. I think it's maybe just outside of it. Nobody, I think, is your second most popular song. That tracks. But yeah, there's... Yeah, that sounds right. So, yeah, I don't know. Again, I feel like Laurel Hell, I wasn't a fan of that album personally.

I feel like that album generally got good reviews, but it was like a little less ecstatic than you would expect for an artist like Mitzki. Again, I don't want to say too much about how I feel about the album, but I think that her latest album, in spite of having a pretty clunky title, the land is in hospitable and so are we. I don't know. I don't love that album title,

but I think that record, I feel good about that being my number two pick. Yeah, I'm not letting a clunky album title get in the way of my enjoyment of a record. Yeah. I think my track records be for itself. Of course. What is your number three pick?

All right, another one where I'm playing the hand I'm dealt. I'm going to go with, and this might not be on your radar. I'm going to go with Lorraine. This is an artist. That was on my radar for sure. Yeah, this is an artist who in 2021, I believe, had a record come out that was really well reviewed, but like she's still kind of under the radar as far as like mainstream publications.

Fatigue was named that record. One I really, really enjoyed. And I think that we're setting up now for a, you know, I think we're setting up for like a record where it's like kind of a makeup call. Not that like I'm saying, I haven't heard this record yet, but I feel like a lot of artists that, a lot of publications that like weren't up to speed on Lorraine in 2021 are going to come back like super hard on, I Killed Your Dog, which is the name of the album. She has kind of a, also she's like beefing with the wire right now.

She had like a cover story that like she did not like at all. And so that's kind of an interesting subplot. Like, look, we've all, I'm sure you've been in that seat where you've like done a profile and an artist that you really like and the artist hates it. That's the worst feeling. Yeah. But I haven't even read it because like the wire is like a print publication. Like people are man, they haven't even read it.

But yeah, this is an artist. She's kind of doing like a, it's indie rock. It's kind of indie rock, but it's also like, you know, a little more obscure and R&B. It's very much of the moment right now. And it sounds like the quintessential album that, like, critics like, and it's also, like, really good. She's a very cool artist. So I think that one's going to be, that's going to be in some top fives this year.

I'm very confident about that pick. Yeah, that was on my board, too. And it definitely slots into that critical catnip category where, like you said, it's a combination of, like, indie-influences and R&B, and there's a lot of, like, sort of RD experimentation going on. It just seems like just pencil that in as like an 8.8 or an 88 like metacritic score, you know? Right on. Like it's just going to, those records kill with critics.

Yeah, that was definitely on my list. That's a very good pick. For my number three, I'm going to go with a record that's coming out on September 29th. It's called We Buy Diabetics Test Strip. It's by a rapper called Armand Hammer. I just think that, again, this is the kind of record. We've talked previously about how there haven't been a lot of critically acclaimed rap records this year. And this record just feels like it could slot into that, like, Billy Woods zone.

Like what Billy Woods, what that record was for the first half of 2023. I feel like this album is good for like a mid-80s score on Metacritic. I just think it's going to do well. His first album or his previous record that came out in 2021, he got an 83. I would expect this album to do about the same. So Arm and Hammer, I'm putting that at number three on my list. I would be skeptical about that because Billy Woods is part of Arm and Hammer and Maps. The album that they, fucking incredible record might be my number one.

I think that maybe that's a little bit, that might have stolen its thunder. Plus, like, Arm and Hammer is, like, way more. abstract and inaccessible than Billy Wood's solo work. So I think it'll be received very well, but I think that it might be seen as like an accessory to map. But again, if we were doing the year endless thing, I think I'd be more concerned. But I think this album can still do well without it overshadowing the Billy Woods record.

I still think, you know, even the people like this one a little bit less, it's still going to be well reviewed. I also think that it may not be reviewed by a ton of people, but the people who do review it are going to like it. So sometimes if you can get the album that's only reviewed by about five or six places, that's like a good cheat code for this sort of thing. So I still feel good about that.

I'm going to stick with that as my third round pick. Yeah, you mentioned like if you're playing the hand you're dealt, you got to go with like the metal album that's like reviewed by like four places and gets like a 90. So I'm going to like my bonus pick I'm not going to go with. it but like something like baroness would be that oh yeah that's a good one that's a good one uh what's what's your number four pick so this one feels like a slam dunk to me i'm going with jamilla woods um her new album comes out in october it's called um what it's the fuck what water made us that's the

name of it um so she is a chicago r and b artist also a poet who um you know just like very well respected her previous albums heaven and legacy legacy did really really well and this is going to slot to me like the kind of all rmb like kind of like alternative slash indie out rmb album that like does it's in the top five of every single list i mean it's released on jag jaguar so i'm not saying like indie like that's indie for real so um this one just feels like money in the bank i know that the first couple of singles have been treated really well. And, you know, it's even more critical catnip in the year 2023 than maybe even Lorraine. I feel like this one is just, this is a sure shot to me. That's a good pick. Yeah, I think again, going in that sort of like indie rock R&B lane, that is just

money in the bank. You're not going to go wrong. I can't see a record like that doing worse than like, you know, like the 80 Metacritic score. I'm thinking 90s for this. This would have been my number one pick if I thought it was like a bigger deal. Yeah, I'm just talking about the floor. Like the floor for like that kind of record

is like an 80, which is like a really high floor. So you're always going good with that. But number four, this might be a little bit of a reach, but I have a good feeling about this album. I'm going to be profiling this band. And they just seem to be having some buzz. And I could see them getting that like oh, this is like an exciting young band bump, you know, that you saw from Wednesday.

People just, like, wanted to give that a good review. This band has a lower profile, but I could see them being really ascendant in the fall. And it's a band called Slow Pulp. They're from Chicago. They have an album called Yard that comes out at the end of September. Really good record. It's kind of band that I think, again, you could put in that, like, Rat Boys Wednesday Lane. but they're a little more, I think,

versatile in terms of what they can do. There's some country sounding songs on that record. There's some almost like pop punk sounding songs on that album. They're the kind of band that I'm sure, like there was like a paramour influence on this band at some point, but there's also like the indie rock thing at the same time. I just think they push a lot of buttons and they're a really good band. So there are a band that I think could sneak in

and do quite well, especially as you go out and you're looking at like the consequences of sounds out there and the pace out there. This is a band like, this is the kind of band that I could see doing really well with those kind of publications and just kind of sneaking in, like maybe higher than you would expect at the end of the year. So they're going to be my reach. Maybe I'm trying to manifest this because I just like the band. But I'm going to go slow pulpit number four, kind of a dark horse pick.

All right. Yeah, I mean, I think that album's going to do. be well received. I think that the, it's like a high floor, low ceiling pick. Like, I don't think it's going to be like the all ways of this year. I think Wednesday's in that spot, but I think people are going to like it a lot. I like this record. I think you rock comfort food. Yeah, it's going to go from like 80 to 85. I would expect it to be in there. And so, yeah, it's not the home run pick, but, you know, I feel like it's, I feel pretty safe picking them knowing that they're going to deliver like a double or a triple for me. Right on.

even though it's fantasy football that's true it's true mixing sports here mixing metaphors all right so am I at number five now or is that you yeah yeah this is your last pick all right so I'm like I'm like tempted to do the kind of

Deshawn Watson pick of like I feel fucking awful about this but I know it's going to do numbers like we can go with Rochine Murphy who's album like it's coming out this week and it's like kind of getting power like power bottom but also like really well reviewed at the same time. I don't know if you've heard about this one.

Oh, yeah. So you are, you're honestly going with Roche and Murphy? I'm not going. I just want to, I just, I'm not going with it. I just want to say I'm like fascinated by how this one's going to play out.

Yeah. Because like on the one, like this one was like set to be like straight up album of the year in some places until, you know, much like Propagandi and their fans, she had to pop off on Facebook about puberty blockers. So now the.

the album isn't even being like promoted by Ninja Tune. But I, some of the reviews are already out and it's, it's a very weird sort of situation. I can't wait to see how that plays out. But for my number five, I'm going to go with, you know, in the same way that every, you know, most of the previews for fantasy football this year say to go heavy on wide receivers, even if it's like a half PPR draft. I'm going to go with, I'm going to go with SAMHFA as my number five. This is an artist who, you know, kind of.

kind of like I would say R&B, but like they're on young. It's not called Young Turks anymore. I'm trying to think of what the way. It's called Young now. That's the name of the label. Kind of part of Excel. Like, you know, they're kind of XX adjacent. They had a feature on a seat at the table that Solange album in 2016. Their album in 2017 process was really well reviewed. And I mean, it's just like getting a volume receiver. If you go with like little left of center R&B, you can't go wrong, especially for some artists who hasn't put out a record in six years. Not really my thing, but I imagine this one doing super well. Again, like this is just the high ceiling, very high ceiling with this one.

So I'm confident at rounding out my roster. It's like an almost all R&B pop list. So I'm just playing the field right now. Yeah, those are good picks. man, you have a really good team here. I'm feeling a little nervous about my chances here. But you know what? I'm going to take another risk at number five.

I'm going to go with Marnie Stern at number five. She's coming back with her first album in 10 years. It's called The Comeback Kid. It comes out on November 3rd. You know, she's someone that I think that a certain kind of critic has a lot of affection for. And it's a critic who is probably a critic who is probably a around our age. That was what I was going to say.

They've been in the music game for a long time. And that person is going to be inclined to love this album because it is a comeback album. And this album is going to have to be pretty bad, I think, for not to get good reviews. I think that if it's just okay, it's going to get like a half star or half point bump or maybe even more than that. And again, it's going to be a. situation where you got a lot of music writers between the ages of, let's say, 39 and 47,

reviewing this record. No one younger is going to do it. But they're going to like it. And again, I think it could be an album that isn't reviewed a ton, but in the places that it is reviewed, it's going to be reviewed well. And I think it could go potentially mid to upper 80s for a metacritic score. So it's a risk, because you don't know, I mean, because the album could be bad. She hasn't made a record in a while, but I feel like generally, like, these comeback records, like, where there's a long gap, there's been a good track record where those albums end up being, like, pretty good to great. And I think she could deliver something really strong that people then are inclined to really, you know, give a boost to. So I'm going to go

with that. That's a risk, but I feel like it's a good risk. Yeah, this is like drafting like a tight end or like, you know, like the, like the Eagles defense, you know, it's not like a, it's not a sexy pick per se, but like, you know what you're going to get. And yeah, people who, this is going to get well reviewed by the 45 year old person at each publication, uh, who's just like super stoked to see Marnie Stern come back. You know, ponytail or, uh, I'm trying to think of other 2008 type bands come back. Like, uh, it would be the same. So that's, that's a solid pick. That is, that is, knowing the rules of the game and playing by him. I like that pick for you.

So let's review our picks. My picks are Olivia Rodriguez, Mitzki, Armand Hammer, Slow Pulp, and Marnie Stern. Ian's picks are Sufian Stevens, Taylor Swift, Lorraine, Jamila Woods, and Sampha. Yeah, you got a good team, man. I'm hoping that Sufion pulls a hammy here and lets people down. I feel like the others are really money in the bank. And we know Taylor Swift, 1989. I mean, that's for sure going to be.

We already know what that record is. So, you know, we know that's going to do well. But I don't know. I feel good about Rodrigo. I feel good about Mitzky. I think they're going to carry the day. And I took some risks, but I feel good about them. So we'll see.

Well, as the fall season unfolds, we'll do a scoreboard and we'll let people know who's a score. in the lead. We'll know me right away. Olivia Rodriguez will know next week. So, I hope she delivers for me. You're not reached the part of our episode that we call Recommendation Corner where Ian and I talk about something that we're into this week. Ian, why don't you go first?

So, I think this album's going to do pretty well, even though it's like kind of a niche, it's kind of a niche affair. So Sparkle Horse, a band who put out a number of, like, really incredible records throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. They are putting out a posthumous album called Bird Machine this week.

And, you know, for those, I imagine that a lot of people listening to this podcast are familiar with Sparkle Horse. But they emerged, at least in my view, as, you know, like a band that radio was into. Like, that was the best possible endorsement you could get in, like, 1996. And, you know, the singer Mark Linkus, he was from Virginia. And, you know, I lived in Virginia when he was at his time. peak and it was kind of this like junkyard sort of indie but also like orchestral. I mean, like I hear a lot of his work and like artists like Alex G nowadays, but you know, he is someone who had a lot of health scares, a lot of, you know, substance and mental health

issues and he died in 2010. And there were always a couple of, there were a couple of close calls before then. Good morning, Good Morning Spider was about the time he was like hospitalized and like, I think he like thought he was paralyzed. But, you know, I get iffy about posthumous albums, you know, but one of the islands I've come around a lot on over the past couple of years is Elliott Smith from a basement on a hill. So, you know, perhaps I'm like more inclined to, you know, maybe be sentimental towards stuff like this.

And this is actually, this is a good album, you know, it's nothing that like changes what you think about Sparkle Horse. These songs were kind of sort of done and finished by their family. I think Steve Albini was on the original recording. So these are from like 2009, 2010. And yeah, I mean, even though it's like tragic circumstances, you're listening to an artist who, you know, passed away like 13, 14 years ago, it still feels like comfort food in a way.

You know, it's like this is a band that I loved and it's, you know, they still got it and or they still had it. And they were still making like really strong, interesting music towards, you know, the end of their life. So, yeah, if you, if you haven't checked out a good morning spider, fucking incredible record, but this one's good too. So bird machine, Sparkle Horse. I got to say I've not gone deep on Sparkle Horse.

This is one of the bands on my long list of bands that I need to bone up on because I've always heard good things. David Lowry from Cracker, I believe, produced Viva Dixie Submarine. I cannot fucking remember the name of that title, but that was the one that put him on Radiohead's radar. You know, if you like the midpoint between Cracker and Radiohead, Early Sparkle Horse will fill that void for you. Maybe that was around the time that David Lowry did

This Desert Life for Counting Crows. By the way, I saw a bit of Counting Crows this past weekend. Yeah, Adam Duritz, he's definitely letting the crowd carry Mr. Jones these days. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's always taking liberties with that song, I feel like, you know, going back a long time. The album I want to talk about actually came out in June, but I've really been into it

for the past month. I actually wrote about it in my August 2023 roundup of records, but I haven't talked about it on the podcast yet this week. It's an album called, and this is an unfortunate album title, it's called Western Come, and it's by a guy named Corey Hanson, who you may know from the L.A.

Cyc Rock band Wand. I do. And he's also been working on his own. This is his third solo record, and it's just a delightful guitar rock album. I think someone on Twitter actually recommended that I check this out because they thought it'd be up my alley, and they were totally right. It is up my alley.

And it's the kind of record that I would say, it sounds a little like Boston in places, with the singer from Bread singing the songs. And there's also a little bit of Sloan in there, a little bit like raspberries, like a lot of power pop, but just like a lot of like 70s FM rock to it. Very melodic

songs, very just huge sounding guitars. There's like a little bit of like a punk influence on some of the numbers, like sort of like an art punk thing going on, which I think points to Hansen's work with WAND. Because WAND is more, again, it's in the psychedelic realm. Also, you know, there's like some crout rock stuff in WAND, and they're just like an artier outfit.

Whereas the solo material that Cori Ann does, it's much more red meat, you know, ear candy type music. And again, I've just been listening to this record a ton. It's a great late summer, early fall record. It flew under the radar for me, because again, I got into it about a month or two after it came out. But if you're into any of the bands I just mentioned, I think you will like this record a lot. Again, it's called Western Come, and yes, Come is spelled the way you expect it to be spelled. Kind of a gross title, but get past the title. It's a great. great album. Corey Hansen is the artist. Really good record. Yeah, that is one where I'm like,

how come Steve hasn't mentioned this on recommendation corner yet? But like, I love the fact that we, we have now mentioned, you know, Bread has entered the chat. Love it. I mean, and I could have said David Gates from Bread. I didn't want to get too nerdy with it, but I do know the lead singer of Brett. It's David Gates. And he just has that great soft rock voice, like maybe the greatest soft rock voice of the 70s and I think Hanson's vocals have a similar timber to them and it's a great juxtaposition with this like wall of guitars that he builds on this record. So again, very fun album. Yeah, Brett, I only know of bread because on The Simpsons, that's when that's what Homer's

looking for during the Homer Paloosa episode when he goes into the record store. So we have to close it out. We've covered fantasy football, guided by voices, bread. We are really, we are really owning our age right now. Baby, I'm going to want you. That's just the... Baby, I'm going to need you. Baby, I'm going to need you. Beautiful song.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Indiecast. We'll be back with more news and reviews and hashing out trends next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie mixtape newsletter. You can go to uprocks.com backslash indie. And I recommend five albums per week and we'll send it directly to your email box.