Indiecast - Our Predictions For 2025

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

The boys are back! Steven and Ian catch up after the holiday break with a quick Sportscast about college football and the NFL [2:58]. Then they do their Fantasy Albums Draft for Q1 of 2025 and discussing upcoming records from FKA Twigs, The Weather Station, Ethel Cain, and more [18:45]. (Also, is it possible that Steven didn't win the Q4 2024 draft after all [15:18]?)From there, they review their predictions for musical happenings in 2024 — how accurate were they at anticipating the most hashable trends of last year [39:39]? Then they set about making predictions for the new year. Will this be the year that Sky Ferreira's album finally drops? Let's guess [46:17]!New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 220 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 Uprocks's Indy Mix tape. Hello everyone and welcome to Indycast on the show we talk about the biggest indie news of the week, review albums, and we hash out trends. In this episode, we make our predictions for 2025. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host. He's going to tell me that Cam Scataboo isn't the eighth track on Californication. Ian Cohen. Ian, how are you?

That's absolutely more of like a... Track 10 on disc two of Stadium Arcadium name. Well, or like a real big fish song. Yes. Because I made that joke on the old app, formerly known as Twitter, now known as X. I think I also did on Blue Sky. Which one did better numbers? Well, take a guess.

It was definitely the app formerly known as Twitter. Yeah, still not feeling Blue Sky, I have to say. All you blue sky partisans out there, no offense. Still not really feeling it. It feels a little like all the resistance era Twitter people are on blue sky now. And I don't know about that. It's not great vibes. It's a little too much.

It's like the three bears. This is a little too, this porridge is a little too hot. This porridge is a little too cold. I'm looking for like the perfect porridge. really getting it on either platform. Maybe there's still a home for you on threads. Well, we'll see. I hope not.

I can't keep joining social media platforms. We haven't done a show in a few weeks. No, we haven't. No, we haven't. No, we haven't. I hope you had a good holiday. I did. I went through a big micro house phase for a couple weeks.

I don't think we ever talk about this on the show because this always happens when we're not recording. but at the end of the year, you know, during that kind of interregnum, or however you pronounce that word, between like when 20, when all the year end list published and then the next year starts getting started in earnest. I like listen to pretty much nothing but electronic music and I've been getting really into, you know, early 2000s compact. You know, your Michael Mayer's, Matthias Aguio, super pitcher, things of that nature. but I'm out of that now. I'm ready to get back into Porsche music.

I'm ready to get back into Ozark Mountain Emo. I've gone on my little meditation retreat, but I'm back. That's beautiful to hear, man. I made a reference to Cam Scataboo in the introduction. And I just want to do a little sports cast here quick, because you've been watching a lot of football in recent days. the college football playoff has been pretty terrible. I think we can all agree.

Not good games. Your boys are playing the night that we record Thursday night, so we'll see how they do against Notre Dame. I feel like they're going to blow out Notre Dame. I have absolutely, I do not agree with you in the least bit. I mean, just watching, look, Cam Scadabotabot's great name, Gunner Stockton, I really want to believe that this guy is going to become like a legend for Georgia. He, like, is actually what you would expect from a guy named Guntherstockton.

But throughout the year, they just not looked right. But it's Notre Dame. Notre Dame, I feel like, is the biggest fraud. You know, they are most years, but they look pretty fucking good. I think that it will be close either way because I don't believe in the offense of either team. But this just does not feel like one of those years for Georgia. Like, they've not dominated in the way that I am accustomed to in the past. And, look, if they win, great.

I do, thank fucking God they don't play Ohio State. But, you know, like, I think they can absolutely beat Penn State. Like, I have no doubt about that. That's a fraud-ass team right there. I think you'll be fine. But we'll know, I guess, by the time this episode posts, whether you guys won or not. The only good game so far was Ohio State and Texas. Arizona State in Texas.

What did I say? You said Ohio State, which absolutely ran. Yeah, yeah, they absolutely ran Oregon off the floor. I meant to say Arizona State. I'm sick right now if you can't tell, if you can't hear the phlegm in my throat each time I talk. So I'm a little cloudy-headed. I meant to say Arizona State. And Cam Scataboo was just incredible in that game.

Awesome. Down 24 to 8. he's throwing touchdowns, he's like running touchdowns, he's like throwing up on the sideline, he's going back in the game, just incredible. There's one thing in that game that maybe you can explain to me as more of a college football aficionado. Late in the game, Arizona State is driving, they get stopped short of a first down, their player gets nailed in the head, helmet to helmet hit, lays on the ground,

looks like he's probably concussed. There's this thing called targeting. apparently, which I'd never heard before. They have to review the tape to see if the Texas dude targeted Arizona State. I assume that means that you're intentionally trying to hurt someone or you're recklessly playing in such a way that hurts somebody. And it seems like pretty clear that he targeted the guy, whatever that is. And then they review it and they're like, no, it wasn't targeting.

Goes to overtime, Texas eventually wins. It seems like if Arizona State had gotten that call that they're probably going to win the game. So was this just like more college football chicanery here? Like we have to protect the shield. We have to get Texas deeper into the playoff. It seemed like total, it seemed like a terrible call to me. Yeah, I mean, with targeting, I think we're in that sort of space. It's sort of like the inverse of like forward progress or making a football move or tuck rule or like in the NFL, that rule, where basically if a catch looks cool, it kind of doesn't matter if he actually came down with it. You just got to call it.

It gives a little bit of, I don't know, artistic license. I don't really understand targeting. I think if it looks bad, you got to call it. I also don't know if, like, that was the real turning point. I think Arizona State, like, look, all, you know, all respect, dude, you got to stop them on fourth and 13. Yeah, that was an overtime. Yeah. But they were driving there at midfield.

that would have given them the first down. They were moving the ball. They probably could have won it in regulation if they got that call. It seemed like bullshit to me. But I guess they don't want to decide the game on the call. That was my takeaway from that. They don't want this call to determine the winner,

which is fine, but I don't know. Whatever the hell targeting is, if the dude's concussed from a head-to-head helmet, come on. I don't know. What is targeting if it's not that? Yeah, I think we got to get with targeting. You got to go with like the result rather than, you know, the intention.

It's like if a guy's like concuss, he's got like the NHL 93 Gretzky split head thing going on. You can say it's targeting. But of course, then again, you'll probably get like your Shannon Sharps or your Pat McAfee's saying that like targeting is like woke bullshit. And, you know, that's ruining the game. Like back in my day, you could like, you know, get a Daryl Stingley thing happening. Well, maybe in the Trump era, we won't have targeting anymore. It's a new day. Can I just share quickly my biggest pet peeve with college football?

Yeah. And that was a rhetorical question because I'm going to do it anyway. The Ohio State helmet stickers. Huh. That is the lamest thing I think I've ever seen in sports. And I was familiar with this before. I mean, I've watched Big Ten football a lot of my life. But I don't think I really, I don't think I ever really reflected on how stupid it is that,

they give stickers out to players when they win games or when they do well in a game? Like my daughter is eight years old. She plays soccer. They don't hand out stickers anymore. They're too old for stickers in my daughter's soccer league. But they're handing them out at one of the most storied college football programs in the country. Are they giving them like Capri Sons after the game? Are they handed out orange slices on the sideline?

This is the lamest thing ever. Like, no one else. Does anyone else do that? Does anyone else have like helmet stickers for a job well done? I think they do. I mean, I can't even all. First off, I do think we have to, I love that you're bringing this to the table because we got like plenty of like Ohio State fans who like in the music writer's fear. Like maybe even as many as Michigan.

I'll tell you what though. Like, and I know this might not be a convincing argument, but in my own like real life job, you'd be shocked how much. motivated adults are by stickers. Oh, my God. Yeah, it is, it is, and I, I think it's a bit of pageantry that is, I don't know, kind of unique. It might not be like cool per se. I think it's fucking cool.

Like, I think it's cool? Yeah. Did they hand out stickers for winning? Like, come on. For doing cool shit. I mean, like it's almost, here's your sticker. Yeah. Here's your sticker.

You did a good tackle. Come on, this is so dumb. I mean, shit, you see Ohio State out there, like, you know, running teams off the field. And it's effective. I mean, it's like, I don't know what else you can really do to rule. Well, I mean, also, let's see. I don't know. You have NIL money at this point.

Let's see if that works anymore now that you can actually pay players, you know? Well, yeah, it's like, they're not doing that in the SEC. They seem to be doing pretty well. They're not handed out stickers. to their players? I mean, they're treating them like, you know, that's because those teams have stuff on their helmet. You know, Ohio State has the blank helmet.

I don't like Ohio State. I don't like their coach. Their coach has a ridiculous beard. It's a very CGI beard. Just let it go gray. Come on, man. I hate the Ohio State thing. That's so stupid.

Get out of here with that team. I don't like them at all. I hope they lose. I think it's a bummer that, Oregon had to play Ohio State in this round of the playoffs. I think they totally got screwed. Yeah, that rating is bullshit. Like, Ohio State is by, like, I think that's, like, one thing they probably do have to

clean up in the 12-team playoff next year, which is the rankings. Like, you cannot tell me, I test-wise, that, like, Notre Dame or Texas is better than Ohio State. Like, Ohio State, like, I said this yesterday, like, they remind me of me playing NCAA where if I don't like take myself out of the game by just like boring like just I get bored and throw in a triple coverage or like just try a bunch of run plays like I'll win every single game like Ohio State just has way more talent than every other team in the country and I think that's kind of true like I like the 12 team playoff and I like the fact that it allows like SMU and like

Indiana to get in because if we're being real there's only like six teams with enough talent to run the table otherwise if you don't allow those teams in like SMU it's like 99% of college football teams would be what the fuck are we even doing you know uh they almost need like an nit playoff where you have teams that aren't good enough to be in the real playoff but are like the second tier teams and they play each other for some other title that you can make up because just in terms of like watching competitive games that are entertaining like those early rounds games have been terrible. Yeah, they're awful. So they shouldn't be playing the better team. They should be playing teams of their own ilk, and it can be some other tournament.

What we need is promotion and relegation, like in the Premier League. Because, I mean, what you're describing is pretty much the old bowl system. Well, yeah, but you would advance. It'd be a playoff. You know, there would be some overall champion. Yeah, relegation, like, that's what we need. Like, Virginia is never going to be able to compete with Clemson. and like SMU is never going to be able to compete with, you know, Alabama. It just makes sense because eventually, like, when the, when it really becomes obvious what you need to spend in order to compete at the highest level, like, you know, Wisconsin's not going to do that.

You know, like North Carolina is not going to do that. So, but I would love to see North Dakota State play, like Virginia to see who can play at the next level. Like, that's exciting to me. And if you win that tournament, you get the really nice stickers. We're talking the top flight stickers. You get the puffy glitter ones. You get the puffy glitter stickers.

You know, we're talking about college football for so long that we haven't really talked about NFL. And we should get out of sports cast here because we have a lot of actual music to talk about in this episode. But I just have to say that if the playoffs started today in the NFL, it'd be Packers Eagles in the first round. Really? So, yeah, it's... I'm hoping that the commanders lose to Dallas and that the Packers, which should happen, we're playing the Bears. We ought to win.

If we win and the commanders lose, I think we would end up playing the Rams. Because I don't want to play the Eagles on the road. I think that's probably an L for my boys here because my main man, Jordan Love, can't throw off his front foot. He has to throw off his back foot every single time, which is not doing so well for us lately. even though he hasn't thrown any picks in a while. He just can't play well in the first half of games, at least not against the Vikings or the lions.

So, I don't know, maybe we'll talk about that next week. We've had a lot of sportscast here, but if it's Eagles Packers in the playoffs, next week's sports cast could be pretty spicy. Yeah, unless we have like 50 minutes of material on the new Ethel Cain. I mean, I'll see. One of my predictions for 2025 is that like sports, unless like a lot of the heavy hitters that haven't released albums in like four or five years come back. Like we might be doing half sports cast all year.

Well, we'll see. I mean, once we get past mid-February, it's a bit of a dead zone. Unless we just want to do episodes every week on why NBA ratings are so bad. We might have to do that. We'll see what happens, though. God knows that there needs to be more discourse about that. But that's enough of sports cast, get it out of here. Because before we get to our predictions for 2025 and also reviewing our predictions for

2024 to see how accurate they were, we need to do the fantasy albums draft for Q1, 2025. Before we get to that, Ian, you scared me over break because you informed me that maybe I wasn't going to be the winner for Q4. Like my hard fought win, my first win ever, because of some shifting metacritic scores, I actually saw my lead shrink because I did a little bit worse and you did a little bit better. Did I actually win Q4? All right. So we didn't talk about this on our final episode of the year, nor did we talk about it on Twitter

because I wanted to keep a little bit of drama. You know, just leave it on a cliffhanger. I let Steve know that Michael Kiwanuka was like leaking oil down the stretch. He was like a like a 90 or something like that. And he was once, you know, mainstream non-British publications started to review that record, it got down to a 93. You know, Kim Deal like kind of came back down to Earth relatively speaking. And a couple of my albums started to gain some points to the point where this like seemingly

insurmountable lead, it's like soccer. If, like, you're up by, like, five, it's like, there's absolutely no way some of the other team's going to come back. But Steve was up by a single point, meaning that in the next couple of weeks, if, like, some late, like, late running review of a Kim deal, of the Kim deal, I'm giving it, like, an 8 out of 10 or something like that or a 7 out of 10. Like, that might shift the entire game. I don't think at the end of the quarter, if you're winning, you won. Yeah. And, you know, but that, that was true. like on

on December like 15th I wanted to give it a couple more weeks and Steve did win by a single point 430 to 429 I'm blaming Godspeed you black emperor they are the Brett Auburn

oh actually Texas won that game but yeah they tanked it for me which is a bummer because like when I look at like some of my picks like Godspeed and Mount Erie they really outperform their scores on year end lists so my system

is sound. It's just that like my players weren't executing. So I feel pretty confident going in, going to Q1 2025. Even though like I'm looking at this list of albums that are coming out, I have honestly, man, I have no fucking idea what I'm doing this time. I can't believe it. I, I had the quarter of my life. Yes. And I barely beat you. I, this is tough. I am definitely, I'm not, I'm not from a Power Five conference. Yeah. For sure. In the, in the fantasy. draft. I'm the upstart. I need some serious Cam Skadaboo action. I need Cam Skadaboo to throw and run in like five touchdowns just to have a chance against you. It's very difficult. But I feel pretty good. I actually feel pretty good about this quarter. I think, you know, there's no huge names that are

jumping out. But I don't know. I feel good about my draft board. I think I could do pretty well. here. So why don't we get into it here? All right. And I don't know. How do we determine who goes first here? Well, I think it's, God, like, I feel like you've determined. I think like the loser get to determine, like, the order of the draft, but like I've never lost, so I don't remember. We've like flipped a coin in the past. Right. But, yeah, why don't we just say that loser determines? So do you want to go first? Or do you want two picks second? I'm going to pick first.

Okay. Yeah, I'm going to pick first because, like, I feel pretty sure about my number one pick, and I just kind of want to see where you take things. So we alluded to this on the past few episodes about, like, what the, what the, you know, Shadur Sanders and Cam Wards are of this draft. I'm going with FKA Twigs, her new album, Usexuala. Look, I know like she's like kind of the gold standard for like really cool music, but we just got to talk about how fucking goofy of an outtidal that is because it is like, and this is, I'm not making this up. It's euphoria, but like take instead of four, it's sex.

So it's like sex euphoria. That's what's happening here. Look, I could be wrong. It's been five years since the last down, which I thought was like madly overrated. but I've also know that like her self-title or not the self-title LP1 from 2014 is like a generational thing. It might be like kind of like this might be like Portishead album three, which I feel good about. But yeah, I think that this feels like the closest thing to a sure thing. It might not be as celebrated as the previous two, which were like sky high.

But you know, this is like in the same way that it's like I don't know if like Shadur, is going to be like an Andrew Luck or Trevor Lawrence type thing, but it's something you can build a franchise around. So I just feel more sure about this than anything else. So I'm going to go with that number one. Okay. So I had that on my draft board. Definitely in the top two or three, but it wasn't my number one pick.

So I'm going to go with my number one pick with the weather station, Humanhood, is the album title. And look, Weather Station, I just feel like she is just money in the bank. Yeah. Guaranteed, you know, if you're doing the pitchfork review, guaranteed like 8.3, 8.3 to 8.6. Weather Station, of course, is the project. It's sort of like a folk rock project, and there's usually some sort of philosophical bent to the lyrics. So it's very, I think, attractive to music. music writers looking for a narrative.

And also, if you want to write about a record that you feel like is important with a capital I, I think the Weather Station makes records like that. And just the title, Humanhood, I feel like you're teeing people up for some sort of expectation there. I don't know if it's a record about animal rights maybe. You know, like we're how we treat animals maybe or a quality of people in the world. I don't know what it is. but I feel good about that be my number one pick so I'm gonna go with that record

I will say though that this album that the one album that came out in 2021 that got like a nine from pitchfork and did not make the half decade list but I don't think it's gonna get less than an eight like you're that's like a Laura Marling type pick you're good to go totally and I yeah I just feel like the person reviewing it

I can't imagine someone getting assigned to review the weather station to pan it. No. There's just no scenario where that makes sense to me. So, yeah, I think that's, I'm not saying it's going to be the best reviewed album of the year. This is more of like, you know, this is like a weak draft class.

It's just someone I know, it's like a solid less card. Yeah, it's going to fill the box score. I doubt that it'll get less than 88. And then for my other pick, I'm going to go with a horse girl. Chicago band And I actually have heard this record It's probably the 20-25 album

I've listened to the most I actually like this record quite a bit And Again they're a Chicago All-Female post-punk band All really young I believe this is their second record And

I just feel like They are a band They've already been well-reviewed This is a good record I just feel like it's going to be teed up for people to respond favorably to this album. I'm just looking up to confirm this is their third record. Well, they had a record called Rough Trade Superdisc. I don't think that's a proper record.

I think this is like the second record. Anyway, it's called phonetics on and on. And yeah, I just think it's going to be, I think it's going to do well. So, again, not an all-timer pick. I don't expect this to do nines or anything like that, but I think it's going to be really solid. I think it's going to be mid-80s, just put it in the bank. Yeah, I like this one too. It was on my draft board.

I feel like you got a pretty accurate assessment of what's going to be happening. It's sort of like picking, you know, like a top tier offensive guard in football. It's like, you know, it's not going to, it's not one that's going to, like, energize the fan base, but like you're going to appreciate it having it in the starting lineup. So good choices for you. I like what you're putting, I like what you're putting together. So do I get one pick or two next? You do two picks.

Okay. So I'm kind of shocked you didn't pick this one because I know you had alluded to it on a previous episode. I'm going with Ethel Cain perverts. I'm taking my chances with the zoomers who are into kind of like, like avant, artsy, pop-adjacent stuff. I love Ethel Cain's cover of American Football's for sure. And I think this album's like 90 minutes, but they're calling it an EP anyway. But yeah, I think that this is going to get, you know, kind of a makeup call from anyone who didn't rate the last album as highly as it should.

this one has kind of high variance but nonetheless I think it is a solid choice for me and I also know that you would pick it if I didn't so I'm going with that and I am going to say Can we just talk about Ethel Cain here for a minute because we had talked back in

2024 a year ago well actually just a few weeks ago I had said that I thought this was going to be the lock number one pick, the Shador Sanders of the Q1-2025 draft. And I was scared off a little bit because this record, you know, as you said, it's 90 minutes, but it's built as an EP and it's not technically considered the follow-up to the, like, her big record from 2022.

And I haven't really dug into this record yet. I'm going to be writing about it, and I assume we'll be talking about it next week. It is more of like an experimental record, and it feels like it's maybe not quite, quite like proper songs. And the reviews I've seen of it so far have been a little iffy. Oh, man. The Guardian actually put out a review this morning, and they gave it three stars out of five.

So I don't know. This seems like a record that people might respectfully review, but I don't think they're going to be raving about it. So that's why I didn't take it. Fuck, maybe that's why you started five minutes late on the pocket. I was scouting up until the moment. moment here. I know I've got to bring my A game against you. So that's why I was going to maybe take a flyer with my fifth pick on Ethokane, but I didn't want to take it up high. So I'm actually

glad you took it. I'm curious to see how that plays out for you. You may be right. I think if that record is well reviewed, it will be people doing the makeup call for the last record being more of a slow burn online phenomenon that critics weren't really on top of in a big way at the beginning. I feel like they coned up to that record. Maybe they put the praise into this review, but I don't know. It's a risky proposition.

This record basically has like, you know, like it has like a tricky knee, I would say. You know, or like ACL type issues. I would call it more like drafting the 22 year old in college basketball, you know, like, it's like, yeah, what's

the ceiling here? So, all right. I already feel like shit about my team. My next pick is going to be just kind of classic fantasy draft maneuvering. I'm going with Squid and their third album, Cowards, which is out February 7th on Warp. So they're British, they're post-punct, they're on Warp. I feel like maybe this is going to be, I feel like the second album didn't get quite as much hype as the first, but I feel like they're going to do kind of a third album. Oh, they're going to nail it on this one.

I feel like the second album came very quickly on the heels of the first. And maybe this one is just going to be the, I'm going to, this just popped in my mind. Like the third Wolf Alice album, like that, the one that got like a 96 or something like that on Metacritic. I'm thinking maybe we're, I'm thinking maybe that's what's going to happen here. At least on my fingers across because like Ethel Cain might fuck me over big time. Well, I think with Squid You're going to do well because of the British press Absolutely

Those reviews are all going to be ecstatic You know You'll probably get some hundreds There and then Even if the American reviews drag it down a little bit You should still be golden I had Squid on my board as well There

I feel like a lot of those British post-punk bands Get more interesting As they go along You know like the first record tends to be a little more sort of stock what you would expect from a band like that. And then the second and third records are where they really grow. So along with that being well reviewed, I haven't heard that record yet, but I would imagine it has a good chance of being good. Okay, this is where it starts to get a little shaky here. And again, I'm just kind of going with like reliable people who in the past

have been really well reviewed. So at number three, I'm going to go with Sharon Van Nettin. And she has a record actually, it's being billed as a band. It's. It's a band. It's called Sharon Van Etton in the attachment. And this is another record I've heard. I actually like this record. I like Sharon Van Etton when she is in rock band mode versus the more singer songwritery stuff. I mean, I've enjoyed those records as well, but this definitely leans more in the

rock direction. It's sort of like a synth rock project. And I like that sound for her. I feel like she's always well reviewed. You know, maybe the hipper indie site. will be a little more sort of respectful but not glowing about it. But you're Rolling Stones, the British Press. I think they'll all review this record well.

It's a good record. So I'm putting it at number three. And along those same lines, I'm going to go with another reliable veteran who always gets good reviews, even though I don't know much about this particular record. I haven't heard it yet. I'm going to go with Bonnie Prince Billy at number four. Will Oldham. You know, he has that Nick Cave energy.

You know, Nick Cave puts out a record. You kind of know what it's going to be. If you're into that kind of thing, you know it's going to be good. Certainly critics have always written about him pretty well. I feel like this could be more of like a high seven than like a low eight. That would be bad for me. But I guess I'm just banking on critics in the early part of the year. There's not a lot going on.

maybe this is going to make this record seem a little more special. So, Bonnie Prince Billy, I'm going to put it on before. All right. So with both solid picks. So do I get two picks now or one and go back? You get two picks.

All right. So, yeah, so I'm going to close out. So I'm going to go with a little bit of a curveball. I'm not sure we've talked about this person ever on here. But, you know,

just based on the kind of Brittany Howard type pick of, you know, maybe they're on AT, or something like that or do kind of like a rock with, do like bluesy like roots rock

with a little bit of edge. I'm going with someone named Benjamin Booker. Oh yeah. I like that response. No, like it's been a while since he's made a record. Yeah.

So new album called Lower. And this one I am, it is on my radar because there's the involvement of Kenny Siegel who is the producer, it's co-producing. with Benny Siegel or Kenney Segal who was on you know the guy who did maps with Billy Woods my favorite album with

2023. I think they've got this artist has gotten some interviews and like bigger publications like Rolling Stone. Yeah, this one I feel pretty good about it. I think it's got, you know, a little more press behind it. Yeah, this one I would have picked it earlier but like I kind of banked on you not knowing who this person is because they are on my board. You're on my board. I think with Booker, you're going to be banking on what we've talked about in the past where the one freelancer in your rotation or the one person on staff who really likes Benjamin Booker, they're going to be the one who ends up reviewing the record.

And they're inclined to give it a good review. I think that is the path forward with this pick for you. Because I think with him, I mean, I remember him because I have been covering this stuff for a long time. But I think a lot of younger people may not have immediate name recognition. No. And I think this is where the Kenny Siegel thing comes in because this is going to like perhaps draw in the people who might otherwise be listening to like JPEG mafia and so forth. So right. I think this one's going to, I think like this is going to be like a possible 90 for me.

Wow. Okay. And I'm going to close things out with, you know, I'm kind of doubling up. here kind of like, you know, when the Lions picked Jemir Gibbs, people were like, oh, this is a luxury pick. I'm going with the murder capital. So this might be kind of like it. I think they're kind of, I don't know, like, hey, we've got Fontaine's DC at home.

But, you know, they're an Irish band. They're post-punk. The new album is being produced by John Congleton. So, you know, I feel pretty good about that. The album's called Blindness. I think at the end of the day It'll probably be like 83, 84 type stuff You know, just something that'll round things out

Fontaines I don't think any of us picked Fontaine's DC But man, that was a mistake on our part Because that album, clean the fuck up So yeah, third album, Irish post-punk band Yeah, what could go wrong So I have one more pick And I'm trying to decide There's two people I'm looking at here

and one of them I think is again a solid pick who I'm trying to decide if they're going to get into like the 80s for me and Metacritic. And the other one is maybe more of a gamble, but I think that there's potential for this person being like the Sabrina Carpenter of Q1 2025. So I think I'm not going to take Barty's Strange. even though we both like him. I'm looking forward to that record. I think it will do well. There's a lot of goodwill towards Bartese's really good artist. But I think I'm going to go with Tate McCray at number five for me.

Just because I feel like there's always energy for this kind of pop star who's like a B-level pop star that the critics who love the bops, what a-list status. And I know there are a lot of people that love that song Di Pepsi. by Tate McCray last year. Isn't that Addison Ray? How do I fucking know that? You're right. You're right. Tate McCray, is she like the Canadian one who like does like hockey related stuff? That's right. So wait, so there's Addison Ray and Tate McCray. Those are two different people. Wow. This is like the Vikings like not picking like losing their pick or what.

Well, I haven't officially taken it. So I'm not going to take her. I'm going to take Barton. T's strange. Fine. I'm taking Bartiz Strange, baby. You should have let me walk into that.

Oh, fucking A man. You should, you should, this is like, this is like totally like targeting. Like, do,

do, do we, do we like go with that? Like, look, I think, yeah, take Bartis.

Like, I'm taking Bartis Strange now. I totally mix that up in my mind. They shouldn't be two separate people. They're like the same person. They like look the same. They have like a very similar sounding name. It's like a Mark Kazelik,

Mark Itsle, you know? Exactly. Okay, God damn. That's brutal. Okay, well now I'm feeling bad because, I mean, should I have to take Tate McCray? Because you took Ethel Cain and then you got information afterward that made you not want to take Ethel Cain. So should I just have to eat shit and take Tate McCray? Uh, nah, I, I think that I still feel like somewhat confident that Ethel Cain whereas like Tate McCray, that might be like the version of you taking, I don't know, like a Jesse J. like a Jesse J album or something like that or like a Rita ORA album. So yeah, or this might be the, well, it's not quite the version. I'm just thinking of like in baseball because there's like 68 rounds.

Like in you'll see in like round 63 like someone might take, you know, like their cousin or something like that. So yeah, I want to keep this. competitive. Also, like, I think that Bartiz Strange, this might be kind of similar to your soccer mommy pick in that it's my, a lot of goodwill, a lot of people like Bartiz, both as an artist as a person. I'm sure it'll do fine, but it might be like past the peak of like where they are, you know, really like doing numbers. So I think it's a fair compromise. I think it could be high 70s. That's that's my feeling with Barty's Strange, but hopefully I'm wrong. I actually like the single that he put out at the end of the year last year.

So, and I have to dig into the record. I ever heard the whole record yet, but we'll see what happens. Man, this is a crazy draft. Let's look at who we picked here. Yes. Ian, you have FK.A. Twigs, Ethel Cade, Squid, Benjamin Booker, and the murder capital. I have the weather station, horse girl, Sharon Van Nettin, and the attachment, Body Prince Billy and Bartiz Strange.

So we'll see how it goes. Really going with like kind of the, I don't want to say rootsy, but like, you know, it's very guitar focused, very, you know, very, very reliable stuff. Very porchy. Yeah, yeah. And again, I'm not just picking on personal preference here. This is, these are who I think are going to do. I mean, I would have taken twigs if you hadn't taken her number one. that probably is the

I think that is the rightful number one yeah and again this is not a great draft class so you have to just try to make safer bets I think but yeah

somebody's gonna blow up in our face and someone that we didn't take is going to emerge I'm sure as the big favorite of the quarter but that's why you do the draft it's part of the fun of it let's get to our predictions

for 2024 but before we do the actually predicts for 2025, but let's review our predictions for 2024, because we do these predictions every year at the start of the year. And it's good, you know, for us to have some transparency and, you know, just see how well we did. I have to say, my predictions, uh, we're pretty spot on. Yeah, yours are good. These were my predictions. Sky Ferrar's album will not come out. I said that. Lo and behold, it did not come out. I said, Vampire,

a weekend would pass the five albums test. Of course, that's a subjective thing, but I feel like the record. Only Guy was above us. Definitely, I think, their best reviewed record in a while. I think it did better than Father of the Bride did with critics. Oh, absolutely, because I had that one. I had that one, and we were both kind of shocked at how well it did. Yeah, very, very well-reviewed record.

I said, the Heim album will be the album of the year among critics. That record didn't come out. So that was a miss. And this last one is a little chock, but I'll take it. I said that M.J. Lenderman would be my album of the year. And guess what? It was. I know, pretty chalky.

Wasn't really going on a limb on that one, but I was correct. How did you do on your predictions? So a lot of these feel like I kind of had to punt on them because not that they were proven wrong, they just didn't happen. The first one I did was an arcade fire comeback, like a real comeback, not them like getting put on festival or something like that. But I don't think that really happened. They're still kind of keeping quiet. I feel like they've been name check more, though.

I do feel like I saw more conversation, you know, because it was the 20th anniversary of funeral last year. In around the time of that album, I don't know. I feel like people were celebrating that record. pretty openly. I mean, you wrote about it, right? I did. Yeah. Um, so that's not a full blown comeback, but I don't know if I was expecting more like more new music, being out on the live show like, uh, you know, kind of doing the Lizzo like perfectly like Lizzo coming back with a song called Perfectly Imperfect like, you know, like that sort of thing. Um, but so yeah,

I don't think that really happened in the way that I predicted. The next one would be a Joanna Newsom album of the year and also like possibly getting like a 10 that didn't happen again there was no album there was no album uh and you know what if she does put out an album i think all that applies but um you know what that didn't happen i also predicted again this is another one i could probably do every single year which is that we were going to get a major flop album from an a list artist in other words like a centipede hurts like something that really announces that the old guard is out um I predicted Tame and Paula would be the one to make that out. They didn't put out a record, nor did Turnstile, nor did Phoebe Bridgers.

So we got a lot of artists who made like pretty definitive early pandemic records who just have not come back yet. Yeah, I wonder like there's a Julian Baker Torres project. Yes. They put out a single, I wonder how that's going to be received. Same. Because that would be the canary in a coal mine that you're talking about. I mean, we're really, we're really waiting for, like, one of the boy genius people to put out a record. Yeah.

And to see how that's received. And, you know, aside from the quality of the record, which, you know, we don't know, but are people going to have the knives out and want to put a pin in that era? That would be an interesting thing to see. I think, I mean, that could be a prediction that one of us makes. You know, is that going to happen this year? Like a definitive critical backlash? because I think there's been sort of like an ambient backlash.

You know, you hear things here and there a little bit of exhaustion with that type of, with that era, but it hasn't really manifested itself in a real way yet. Yeah. Also, you know, I saw a Japanese breakfast is on Coachella, so that might be another album. I mean, I don't think that has anywhere near the baggage.

Boy, genius. But nonetheless, like that and crying in age martyr very much, like a 20-21 thing. And the other thing I predicted was a stomp clap, hey-ho music, comeback. I don't know, does Noah Cahan count? Absolutely. Okay. And Benson Boone, that terrible song?

I don't know if you've heard that. I've not. I mean, you probably heard it and didn't know it was Benson Boone. Even like Shaboozy is like a little like that. Yeah, I think that counts. Like jelly roll maybe. Like I think like Benson Boone is sort of like to what Noah Cahan is. Like whenever I hear a song and I think, hey, is this Imagine Dragons?

And like maybe two out of five times it is Imagine Dragons. But the other three times, it's like Foster the People and Cold War Kids making music that kind of sounds like Imagine Dragons. So maybe that's like kind of where we're at with the Stomp Clap, Hey Ho thing. But yeah, I feel pretty good saying that one kind of came to pass. Yeah, yeah. And that's been, and that's an ongoing thing. And I mean, the only thing you might dispute with that is did that ever really go away? way, which in a way I feel like that hasn't ever gone away. I think that that kind of music is always

like, you know, like luminaires, head in the heart. Like those groups, I think stayed popular. True. You're judging by like festival slots. You know, they, people love that shit. It's just, it doesn't get written about. It's not fashionable. But it's very durable type music. I will compare it to a lot of the shops that I see in North County, San Diego, which also, which is like a place where it's like 10 years behind, like, whatever's happening in, like, L.A. And, like, you see a lot of the stores that have those, like, like, happy birthday, you stupid bitch type cards. Like, there's a great show somewhere and someone somewhere on HBO that just ended.

It takes place in Manhattan, Kansas. And, like, they have those types of stores there where it's, like, throw pillows with, like, saucy things on them, like, live, laugh, lunch, or beats don't kale my vibe. Like in the same way that stuff never goes away, I don't think like stop, clap, hey-ho stuff goes away either. So. Yeah, yeah, exactly. People love that.

All right, let's get to our predictions here. We each have four predictions. Yes. Why don't we just go back and forth? What's your first prediction? All right. So I think we just get this one out of the way because I feel like you may have teased that you have something on your mind about this as well.

So I'm not just predicting a reckoning with the boy, era. I'm predicting all three of them put out solo albums of some sort in 2025 and that the backlash doesn't happen. I think that, I think that, well, I don't think Lucy Dacus ever caught backlash. I think that people always want to protect her and Julian Baker do an extent as well, but I think that like there's going to be kind of this weird backlash to the backlash with the Phoebe Bridgers album where people see that, oh, this is what it's like when an excellent artist does this style of music after years and years of hearing cheap imitation. So I think that we're going to see albums from them, and we're also not going to see the backlash.

You might see some like Hayton, but like in terms of reviews, I don't think the backlash happens. And I think that's, I think you're on to something there. I think they need to do something a little bit different sonically. That would be my only caveat there. that they, I think, like, if Phoebe Bridgers actually turns up the amps a little bit and rocks a little bit harder than she has on her previous records, which would not be very difficult to do, I think then that would hold up the backlash. If she makes, like, Punisher Part 2, I think that that could maybe not fly in 2025. But, you know, maybe she latches on to some of this like alt-country energy we've been having lately.

throws a little pedal steel on a couple songs, you know, stuff like that. Dave Cobb up in there, yeah. Yeah, maybe, maybe something like that. Have Carly Hartsman drop in, do a backing vocal on a song. I think something like that, I think that would stave that off a little bit. But, yeah, if it's just repeating what they've already done, I don't know. She's obviously like a great lyricist. They're all great writers.

But musically, I think, I don't know, maybe I'm just projecting because I'm a little tired of that sound. I think if Lucy Dancis makes the same sort of record, that'll be fine. Like, Phoebe is, I think, the one who has to do something differently. Yeah. I mean, Lucy did get some backlash. I feel like... Really? I feel like on the Boy Genius record, maybe this is just in the circles I'm in.

Like the Leonard Cohen lyric. I think people clown that a lot. You know, there were some lyrics from that record that I think people dunked down. Not like in a big way, but there was a little bit of a backlash there. But no, that's a good prediction. I'm curious to see how that plays out. My first prediction, I do this every year. I'm going to pivot a little bit, though.

Massacism, Sky Ferreira record. I say we'll come out this year. I think it's finally going to come out. I think we've had a little bit of. build up for a long time. When was that pitchfork story where they interviewed her and it was launching the record? I think that was like 2018.

I'm going to look this up. Because it reminds me of 2019. 2019, here it is. Sky for error returns. Yeah, so six years ago now. I think it's time. And I think people will be excited to hear it unless it's terrible. I actually think it will be good.

And I like her last record which came out, wow. 2013. 2013, a long time ago already. I think she's a really good artist. And I really just like her. I like her energy as a pop star, sort of like a darker pop star,

someone who's not in that Taylor Swift mode of, you know, I'm HR vetted and I'm perfect and I'm, you know, delivering these shiny pop songs to you. There's a lot of serrated edges to her music that I really appreciate as well as just her whole thing, her old persona. So I think we could definitely use some of that energy in the indie adjacent sphere right now. So I think it's going to come out. I think this is the year I'm planning the flag for masochism in 2025.

I think it's a good call. I think it's just going to be like a surprise drop. But I do think it'll happen. So with mine, I'm going to go on a variant of a prediction I made last year with, I still think an arcade fire album comeback could happen, but I'm not, like, stumping for that. So, um, one of the things that I saw over the last year, and I think this is maybe like a cultural shift in general is that like, you know, bands who were, you would think were canceled are coming back to, like, do tours. They're not like, heavily promoting them, but like, like, yuck. I know

that Ryan Adams is doing like a 25th anniversary Heartbreaker tour. Um, like, you would see Sun Kill Moon touring and I don't think this is like a very bold prediction because I think it's already happening but I think that brand new is going to try to come back in 2025. I saw that I saw that like apparently they played a surprise like kind of secret show in Nashville and of course the joke was made how can it be a secret show when you have to inform the neighbors that you're moving in but I think that like I've been hearing rumblings about this and I will say that if the comeback does happen and I think that I don't know if it's going to be a big announced tour or something like that but I think they're going to have to

cancel the tour like if it gets announced like yeah like I I know that like you're Ryan Adams your Sun Kill Moons can play in front of crowds that are like either like oblivious or forgetful or forgiving but brand new it was just like one of the most. definitive like yeah this band is canceled because like it came largely from the fans like this was um like i don't i think the type of music they make and the sort of shows that they would need to play uh just doesn't allow them to kind of do this low level um yeah we're coming to like maybe the uh thousand cap room in your town um but i think that they're going to try it and i don't think it'll be well received. See, this is something I'm not as ensconced in that scene as you are,

but just from looking at other artists who have come back from cancellations, the thing that gets reiterated time and again is you can only be canceled by the people who love you, not by the people who don't. And you're saying this came from the fans, and that might be right. But do we know that it's not just the online fans. I feel like there's probably a very vocal contingent that would not want them to come back. But is that a minority of fans? Or is there a majority out there who are just not online and don't care? And they will be excited to see them play.

Just based on other artists of this ilk, I'm inclined to say that there is a majority of people who don't care. I could be wrong. But I think, you know, you come back, you put up with the online chatter, people who don't want you to come back, and you just ignore it and you sell tickets. That seems to be the formula here. And eventually the people who don't like it, wear out, and you can just do your thing.

I think that that could happen with them. But maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. I guess we have to see how representative the online people are for the overall fan base. I feel pretty confident that like other bands in the scene Like it's not like Arcade Fire who are kind of like a universe unto themselves I think that like just the type of like what Jesse Lacey was you know alleged doing and like pretty much admitted I just think that there's too much like there's just too much to overcome but they're going to try it

I know they're trying but well we'll see we'll see interesting story that'll be good fodder for the show which is the most important part of the story. My next prediction, because I have to make an MJ Lenderman-related prediction every year, is that M.J. Lenderman will be a genre in 2025, meaning that we're going to be seeing a lot of curly-haired brunette guys playing sad songs with funny lyrics and possibly sports references. I think that that's been bubbling a little bit already,

but I think Manning Fireworks was to M.J. Lederman, what Punisher was to Phoebe Bridgers. And once that happened, you just saw a flood of similar singer-songwriters who really diluted the field. And unfortunately, that ends up reflecting on the person who inspired a lot of those artists. We were just talking about Phoebe Bridgers becoming like a figurehead of this scene. really through no fault of her own. It's just because she made a record that was very influential

that a lot of people loved, and then a lot of inferior artists latched on to it. I think that's going to happen, or start to happen in a big way, with Lenderman this year. We're going to be... And look, look, I will have a higher tolerance for that than most people, but I really think that this is probably going to become a caricature

by the end of the year. As much as it pains me to say that, I just think, you know, we haven't had like a critically acclaimed male singer-songwriter in the way that M.J. Lenderman is in a really long time. Indy music in particular has been dominated by female singer-songwriters going back to the late 2010s. So if you're a dude in a band and you're not going anywhere and you're like, well, how can I get some critical love? This might be a shortcut for you. Just copy this guy.

I think that's going to be happening. People are going to be quitting emo bands. They're going to start buying Sunbolt records. Oh, that's been happening all the time, man. I know, but that as a viable career path, I think, will really develop this year. So, yeah, I think he's going to be a genre in 2025. Yeah, if you're an emo band, you either discover all country or shoegays. Those are the only two options.

So, but yeah, I think maybe we're going to see that a bit more. I think that's an absolutely good prediction, one that, like, sort of like, brand new is probably already happening as we speak. So, oh, yeah. Yeah, so I'm not quite sure how to quantify this prediction of mine. This feels more, it's going to be one that's like, when we look back on this year, it's going to, like, I'm not sure how we're going to say, oh, that happened or that didn't happen. So, and again, I don't know a ton about the mechanics, but I feel like I'm just going to go

with like kind of social media. Oh, before we get into this, I know that, like, we usually have the preface. that we can't predict deaths and cancellations. Right, right, right. We don't want to wish ill. We don't want to wish ill on anybody. Of people. But with that being said, I do predict that a one big social media forum, be it TikTok,

be it blue sky, be it X, or a big publication is going to die in 2025. Of course. Yes. And I think it's going to be something that's, like, quite shocking. that like either like ticot gets banned in a meaningful way or blue sky like goes away or that like a publication that um you know has been around for us for like 20 years also dies i know that like a lot of like what we talk that's a pretty broad prediction can we narrow this at all like do you not want to name names is there like a oh okay well i'll just say like ticto like ticot like suffers a major major

fucking blow in 2020. Okay. Yeah, that's like what I can see that. Yeah. So I think that, again, it feels a bit vague, but I also like, it's just like what I'm thinking is that like the way social media is with TikTok, like something major happens there. I wonder if Elon's going to do something with X in 2025 that finally kills it. Yeah.

Now that he's so inside the upcoming presidential administration. I mean, he puts so much money in. to that. I don't know if he would kill it outright, but I wonder if, I don't know, I could see Twitter going down. Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Like one of the big ones. Yeah.

So, similar to yours, I'm not wishing death or cancellation on an individual, but I will say for an industry, I think festivals are in for a major reckoning in 2025. And this has been building for a while. But there's no pitchfork festival this year. Coachella lineup is pretty, you know, ho-hum. We don't know who's playing Lalapalooza or Bada Roo, but if Coachella's any indication, there's really, there's not a ton of clear-cut headliners

who wouldn't just do their own tour, and then the middle class of music has really been affected in a major way. So it feels like once you move down the poster of names for these festivals, you're really kind of coming up short. And I think a lot of the regional festivals maybe start to either going on hiatus

or just going away. But yeah, I think that that bubble is going to break in a pretty significant way. I'm not saying that Lollapalooza or Bonarue are going to go away, but I think that they could have down years and I think that's going to filter down to some of these smaller festivals

having some major issues. Yeah, I think that was like a kind of side a piece of the prediction I wanted to make about social. It was either going to be like one social media platform is going to tank or like one major festival is going to tank and

that was kind of what's on like in both those situations. It's like the way things are does not feel sustainable. I think Coachell is going to have a major, major reckoning for itself, whether it ends up being like one weekend going forward or they just completely changed the format.

So yeah, I think we're looking at both of our predictions right there feel like, hey, there's just some big structural stuff that's going to happen. And, you know, I mean, Coachella's like 25 years old. Or this is going to be the 26th year. It's been around a long time. And I think there is something to be said about whether that is still a generational

landmark in the way it used to be. I don't know if you could take that as a given. And I don't know about any of these festivals. And it just feels like there might be, we need a new Coachella maybe. You know, whoever's going to start that up and what that's going to look like musically, you know, I don't know what it is, but it just feels like something's going to break in that arena. All right. So with my last pick, it's sort of connected to the previous one.

You know, just saying the quiet part out loud, like so much of our discussion, our inside baseball stuff in 2020. 24 was predicated upon, like something that happened pretty early in the year, which was the massive turnover at pitchfork, kind of, you know, GQ fork or whatever it was called. And I think throughout the year, it was still trying to find its footing. You saw the difference between the mid-decade list and the year-end list and, you know, just how things have evolved there. What I see in 2025 is that I think that the kind of new regime is really. really going to start throwing their weight around.

And I'm just going to predict the number one album of 2025 is going to be something that you and I have never heard of at this point. You're talking about for pitchfork. Yes. I'm talking about like there's going to be like some rap. I'm going for like a 2025 album of the year or at the very least like a 9.0 from like a rapper you and I have never heard of. I think that the transition is going to complete this year.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see that. I mean, who knows what the overall state of music journalism is going to be like in 2025. I would imagine it's still going to be pretty chaotic. But yeah, I mean, that would make sense. You know, there's a generation coming up. They want to remake things in their own mold. and maybe this will be the year that it happens in the middle of the decade.

It would be well-timed. For my final prediction, I'm going to say that I think that live music recordings are going to be more central to how bands in the indie sphere grow an audience. And by that, I mean,

I think there's going to be more indie bands following the jam band model of posting shows either on nugs.net or on bandcamp. And I think you have to look at the success of a band like King Gizzard and a Lizard wizard who put their entire tour on bandcamp for free, each show, and how that really has turned them into one of the biggest live attractions, certainly in the indie sphere of recent years.

And I've heard rumblings of other artists doing things like that. I just think that's going to be something that becomes more and more central to how bands grow their audience because we are in a situation now where the music press has been diminished and you can't really rely on album reviews to get people to pay attention to your band. I think there needs to be other ways that you reach out to an audience,

the way you organically cater to fans. and I think that putting out live recordings, which will also influence how bands play shows, not playing the same set list every night, changing it up a little bit, maybe playing more cover songs or dropping in little things that don't dramatically change the show every night, but make it a little bit different

and make it more worthwhile for people to want to check out your live stuff. I think that that's going to be something that we've seen growth in that in the last, I would say, four or five years, I think that's really going to become something significant in 2025. I think that's a fantastic prediction. I'll be very interested to see which bands actually do that because, you know, like King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and, you know, a lot of associated bands, like, yeah, they change

up the set list every night. I do wonder, though, if we're going to see that from an artist, like, say, Alex G., who I'm kind of surprised not of us made a prediction about him, seeing as how he's on a major label and hasn't put out a record in three years, he's probably going to come back. Like, well, Turnstile do that. Another band that hasn't come out, you know, in four years and is, you know, big on live music. I mean, I think that's, I think everything that we've talked about here speaks to a massive structural change in the reviewing, in the releasing, and in the, you know, handling of music in 2025. So, yeah, yeah, it feels like.

Like, the early 21st century is maybe in the process of falling away. And we're now entering like the, you know, second quarter of the 21st century. And obviously it's not going to all happen in 2025. These things are going to occur over many years. But I do think that there are definitely inklings of the old system falling away. And now we're figuring out what's going to replace it. So it will be fascinating. Lots of trench to hash out this year, I think.

Yeah, like my wife said to me yesterday, like when we were just like walking around, it's like, yeah, the 2020s are half over. Yeah, which crazy. I mean, when you put it that way. Well, just to say we're in the year 2025 is kind of a trip. Yeah. That's pretty crazy for at least us 20th century babies. Yeah.

People born in the old world. It's weird that we're this deep into the 21st century at this point. But I will assure the Indycast listener that we are still going to do like 20th anniversary reminiscences of Alligator and the first block party album. So we're not going too far in the future. That's it, man. So we ran out of time. We're going to have to bump our mailbag to next week.

Please write us. The mailbag is a little empty. So I look forward to hearing from all you Ohio State fans, hit us up at Indicastmailbag at gmail.com. The Indicastmailbag. We should actually have that for any college football related beefs. Yes, exactly. Well, thank you all for listening to this episode of Indycast.

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 Mixedape 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.