Indiecast - Our Q3 Fantasy Albums Draft

Episode Date: July 5, 2024

Steven and Ian are true patriots, and they pay tribute to the ol' U.S. of A at the start of this week's episode by picking some of their favorite patio music albums of 2024 so far, as well as their picks for the greatest patio album of all time (2:29). This is the music you'll want to rock at your July 4th weekend gathering. From there, they do a quick TVcast about the controversial third season of The Bear, which Steven defends and Ian mostly dismisses (7:58). Then they get into their latest Fantasy Albums Draft, which draws on upcoming releases from July to September. Can Steven finally win one of these, or will Ian take his fourth consecutive title (20:00)?In the mailbag, they address a listener question about Hate To Love, a new Netflix documentary about Nickelback, and they also give their yay-or-nay verdicts on the polarizing post-grunge band (51:10).In Recommendation Corner, Ian goes for the singer-songwriter project Growing Stone while Steven stumps for the Minneapolis rock band Ahem (1:04:45).New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 196 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 this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week, review albums, and we hash out trends. In this episode, we're doing our quarter three fantasy albums draft, and we're talking about the new Nickelback documentary. Cannot wait. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host.

I wonder how he will celebrate America this weekend. Ian Cohen. Ian, Ian, how are you? Well, I'm going to celebrate America the way I always have since, let's say, 2001. And this is always a huge hit at parties. You know, this is like after everyone's had a few drinks, I explain in great detail how Bleed American is the album you play during the day when everyone's drinking. And clarity is the one you play at night when everyone's drinking and the fireworks are up.

It's kind of similar to the at dawn as a day drinking album and it still moves as like kind of a dusk drinking album. I think we could do an entire episode on those sort of things, but that's how I turn the party out. And then is Z like the smoking weed at the end of the night album? Oh yeah. And then evil urges is when like the weird drugs come out. Oh yeah.

That's when it starts to turn at about two in the morning. So Fourth of July obviously happened on Thursday. I have a weird thing where I have to work on Friday. although let's be free. I need too. Maybe this is a common thing unless people are taking the weekend off. I kind of like that Friday

where you work, but it's known that it's not really a work day, like people are sloughing off. It's almost like a fake vacation day. Because I don't necessarily want to burn a vacation day on the 5th of July, because I kind of feel like it's already like a sort of, you know, like a phantom vacation day.

So you're almost getting like a free vacation day, but not taking the vacation day. My boss, by the way, do not listen to this part of the episode. I am going to be working very hard on music criticism on Friday, July 5th, I promise. This is, of course, a big time for patio music. I know you brought up how we should do a honorary indie castie for patio albums, because we didn't talk about that in our mid-year indie casties. episode. So I don't know if you have some mid-year Indy Kathy's in mind. I'll just say for me, I think I said this was like my number one album of the first half of 2024. So I have to give it

the Indy Cassie for Paddyo album. That's good looks, lived here for a while, excellent patio band, excellent patio record. I'll also say Bight Down by Rosalie would be a close number two for I'll just say too, all-time patio album. I don't think we could say this. This isn't a mid-year award. I'll say all-time. And I kind of feel like this is hands-down for me. Wildflowers by Tom Petty.

I think that is the number one patio album of all time. So I'm giving that the Indycasti for not just this year, of all time. And then for mid-year, I'll say Good Licks and Rosalie. How about you? What are you going to be bumping there on the, well, you don't have to be. have a patio. So wherever you know, I do know. Well, I do have a patio. It's just like only big enough to have like my wife and I on it. Plus, we don't have an outdoor speaker. Yeah, I guess that. I mean, I feel like for me, like people are like, oh, are you having a party? I'm like,

no, I don't have a party. I'm not having other people. It's like me and my wife and my kids or it may just be me. But no, come on. I'm, I don't want people at my house ever. Don't come over. I just want to be by myself and enjoy the outdoors. So anyway, so on your small patio with you and your lovely wife, what are the mid-year patio albums for you? Well, I mean, if we're talking about like the platonic ideal, and I think like wildflowers absolutely has to be that, you know, because it's kind of a longer and more stretched out Tom Petty Al, but it's still familiar enough where the singles are interspersed so it doesn't lose people. I still think at dawn. I fast forward through honest man.

I still cannot wrap my head around that song for the life of me after 23 years. But that to me stands out as my ideal patio album. Because a lot of my conception of what patio music really is was formulated while I was living in the American South. So whether we're talking about Kentucky or Virginia or Georgia, and I think my morning jacket covers all of the above. But this year was a great year. Maybe it's just we were looking for it. more because, you know, this is kind of like, it's a little bit of fan service by popular demand. People are throwing the patio music name back at us on Twitter, which is great.

I love the fact that we have a thing. And, you know, howdy, I put that, I think, at number three. Oh, yeah. That's patio music. That is big time. Oh, for sure. Yeah. And I think also Little Kid, I brought that up in a previous episode, a great album.

I think Bonnie Light Horseman can be there as well. That's a double album, so you can like that one rock for a few hours. I think you mentioned David Nance. I would say Mdu Maktar. Maybe it's a little more upbeat. I'm like hoping this conversation, I don't know, makes a Wild Pink album materialize. It's been too long since they put out an album. I mean, wink, wink, nudge there.

We'll see. We'll see what happens. Love all those choices. I have to say. my boy M.J. Lenderman dropping an album in the second half of the year. It may render some of this conversation moot once his record drops

because he is one of the masters, the young masters, the young up-and-coming challengers to the patio music throne. So that's going to be a big one. But that's not out until September. So we can't talk about that yet. You have good looks too

up on your patio. Oh, absolutely. Right. Yeah. Goes without saying, you know, like howdy and good looks. You can put those back to back. I think a tour with the two of them would just be absolutely perfect. You're living there.

Yeah, we are living Texas style. But the problem is that you would be in a club and not on a patio. That's the, you know, they have the tour patios, really. Because if I'm seeing those two bands, I don't really want to be standing in a bar. I want to be sitting in my comfortable chair with the sun going down and they're playing. there so maybe they can just come to my patio and play uh very true but i also think about like one of the best shows i've ever seen in my entire life was my morning jacket like in the year right before z came out i think it was yeah i think it was summer 2004 they were playing basically what became

okonokos um in the 40 watt in athens and it was just like the most insanely hot show uh summer in georgia people sweating their ass off drunk as fuck i mean i've also had many drive-by-tri-tri-tri-tri-tri-tri-tri-tri-trow trucker shows like that. There's an appeal to that as well. Yeah, Okanokos is probably my top 10 patio albums of all time. That is just an incredible record. Absolutely. So, okay, so you got some good choices there, people.

Put these on over the 4th of July weekend. You're going to be well taken care of. One thing I want to talk to you quick before we do the fantasy draft here. We should talk about the bear for a minute here. We're going to do a TV cast, breaking away from, We're going into TV cast here for a minute. It's been a long enough time now that I think if you care about the bear, you've at least started the season. You know, those episodes dropped, I guess, last Thursday.

So it's been about a week now that this show has been out. And it's been interesting to see the reaction because this is one of the most acclaimed shows on television. At least it was for the first two seasons. Lots of negative reviews. for season three. The people, let's call them the, I always thought it sucked,

contingent of the critical community that come out, the knives are out, and look, I'm a bit of a, you know, shill for this show, I've defended this show,

I'm an admirer of this show, and I actually wrote something this week talking about the soundtrack of season three and also in the intro, I wrote a defense of this season. I can acknowledge the many, flaws of this show and of this season in particular. Nothing happens this season, like nothing at all.

Like, it's incredible how little happens. The big storylines this season are, will my girlfriend take me back? Should I go to my ex's wedding? Should I take this job? And should I call my mom back? Like, those are the big drama moments of this season. So that's an issue. There's a lot of distracting guest stars on the show.

Like John Sina, showing up as a fact brother. I'm sorry, that just takes me out of the show for however long. It's like, this is John Sina. He's not a fact. What's he doing here? And there's a lot of ticks to the show, stylistic tics, which I have a feeling you're going to get into that have maybe become you know, a little

overused. But I'll say the thing about the bear is that even when the episode doesn't fully cohere, there's usually like one scene that's like pretty incredible that makes me feel like,

oh, this is still one of the best shows on TV. Like there's that episode, I think it's like the fourth or fifth episode between Tina and the guy who killed himself. Why can't I remember his kids? Mikey. There's a long scene between those two. Great scene. And like, the bear's magic trick is that they can just put two people together and have them talk for like 10 minutes. And it can be like some of the most riveting television ever. So even if you feel like, oh, nothing's happening on this show, it can still do that. So even with all the flaws, I still feel like I'm glad I watched this show because of stuff like that.

it's funny like how much the show itself parallels carmi, you know, like how this season, a big dramatic thing was like, they get reviewed by Chicago Tribune. That's like another sort of major plot point. And at the end of the season,

again, spoiler alert, I guess we've already been spoiling here. If you haven't seen the show yet, just fast forward here a little bit, but it's been out a week, you know, let's get with the program. But anyway, like the review comes out and it's implied that the review's not very positive.

And it's basically like the reaction to the show this season. Like it's self-indulgent, you know, trying to do too many things. You know, it has all of these like against stylistic flourishes that maybe don't have a lot of substance to them. Like that's the little clips of the review of the restaurant that you see at the end of the season. And it's like, this is exactly what people are saying about the bear. It's a very meta show in a lot of ways. Am I just a shill, Ian? am I like wrong to defend this season?

Like are you totally out on the bear at this point? I've seen some tweets from you that suggests. I was on one last night. Yeah, we got to, yeah, we did a little bit of a, we watched a few episodes. The matter of fact, like, Snarky Ian was coming out in those tweets. I feel like you are not into this season. Yeah, I'm like, damn. Like, I usually don't like tweet like this that much anymore, but I found myself, I don't

know if the tipping point for me was what should be the most like e-encoded thing imaginable, which is a Joyce Manor needle drop for constant headache. And I'm thinking to myself, first off, this is a scene involving the facts, which what, like, who the fuck was asking for, like, for them to be like a load-bearing character? Yeah, lots of facts. Oh my God, like the haunting thing. Like, what are we doing? Yeah. That doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you, but I understand. It is another example of, like, what people don't like about the show that hits on certain things a lot. And, like, the haunting thing this season, they were really hitting that hard. Yeah, I think it's been called, like, with The Simpsons, like, the Ralph Wiggumfication of certain characters where they just become, like, one style.

Like, they stop becoming characters and just, like, hammer on one tick. First off, you know, look, I'm glad that Joyce Matter got that sync. it's been kind of a, you know, it's kind of a renaissance for them between that and the John Malaney show. But like, these are like Chicago lunkheads. They're listening to Alkaline Trio. They're listening to Lawrence Arms. They are not listening to like one of the quintessential SoCal bands.

But beyond that, you talked about like the relationship with Claire, like, you know, that one thing that we all loved from season two. You know, like the love interest of this woman who's like a doctor. And, you know, like basic, like not manic pixie dream girl, I guess like Manic MD, not even Manic, but just like there, like the thing that we love about her so much is that she puts up with Carmi's bullshit no matter what, like I'm not rooting for this relationship. You know what I mean? I don't think anyone is and like that is the driver for like the entire thing. Yeah, I mean, they're doing some intentionally like frustrating things this season. Like the Claire stuff and also like Carmi and Sid are not getting along. And that's like one of the things that's great about like their relationship. is one of the things that people like about the show

and like now whenever they're around each other it's sort of like awkward and weird and it's like oh you're taking another thing away that I like about which in a weird way I admire about the show maybe I'm just like a simp for the bear like or I'm the gimp I just want to be abused by the show I don't know what it is but anyway

I think I cut you off we're going to say something else yeah I mean I just think that like and also another refused needle drop. Well, it's the same song, though. Yeah, totally. It is like, and that's one thing I like about the show is that the way it uses music sometimes, especially this season, like certain songs are like they have significance

and they get revived and they get brought back, almost like an overture type thing. Yeah, like Strange Currency. Strange Currency. Exactly. That's the love theme, new noise is the anxiety theme. Right. So, I like that. Yeah, I just feel as if like every, you.

character is just becoming like one tick and they're just hitting it over and over again. I'm like actually like I finished but like I'm getting like like legitimately mad. You know, I was trying to think of like musical comparisons to it and I know we've disagreed upon this album but this is just the best example I can think of like I loved love love love uh smoke ring for my halo and waking on a pretty days and believe I'm going down was not that different but just something turned where I just could not with this person's whole thing anymore. And I'm sure there are plenty of albums that, you know, maybe you feel like that where it's like not like has this, has the world changed or have I changed? As, you know, a terrible man once said. But also, I think your talk, you've mentioned how

there's a little bit of the knives coming out, like people are turning on it. I think there was like, it's sort of similar to like, you know, the chance the rapper, wife guy album or reflector where people may not have felt emboldened to say what they thought about this show and now it's like okay now the coast is clear now it's safe because you know the bear was operating on some pretty shaky territory as well just because of

maybe how associated it was with Wilco another band that like people kind of resented in a silence until it became okay to do so yeah I think there's definitely a sort of emboldening that's happened with people who maybe weren't on board with this show, but it was so critically adored that you felt a little lonely going after it. And now you have a season that's like, again, even for someone like me who's inclined to defend the show,

it's easily the weakest season that they've had. And there's a lot, again, just weaknesses to the show that I think are pretty glaring, even though I think overall, I think it's still a worthy show. But, yeah, I mean, some of the things I've seen written about it, I think, are like a little over the top, like saying this is a bad show. I don't think it's a bad show. I think it's a good show that tries to do a lot of things, and they don't always succeed. I mean, the thing is, like, with the criticisms of the bear, it does line up with a lot of problems that I have about prestige TV. I mean, people are kind of talking about this show, I feel like.

almost like it's a referendum on prestige TV, and the idea of how, why can't you just make a satisfying show that's satisfying in sort of a traditional TV way, rather than make a show that seems to have like cinematic aspirations, which the bear clearly does. And there's clear things that that show does where, again, it's like frustrating satisfaction.

It's like kind of going against like what a TV show is supposed to be. which is, you know, kind of delivering like you have the A plot and the B plot and the A plot is maybe more dramatic and the B plot is more comedic and they both get resolved at the end of the episode. You know, like that's just classic TV writing construction and like the bear doesn't do that. They may not even have any plot at all. Like there's no A or B, there's nothing. It's just people having a flashback to like, you know, a minor character and how they ended up working at this restaurant. You know, why are we showing this? There's no real sort of plot reason for it.

It's just something that might be kind of interesting to do. So I get that. I get being frustrated with that, but I don't know. Just pick on a different show. I think the problem is that like unlike, you know, like unlike bands, I don't, like I think when the TV show kind of hits this pivot, it's tough to get back to what was good. Like it's, I feel like the, with, with TV shows, like the doubt, it's, it's really hard

to get out of a tailspin. And also, the reviews have been like, like this has an 81 on Metacritic, but, and you can kind of see what we're talking about where the show is still well reviewed in the, in the macro sense, but you could start to see that rot coming in. Yeah, I, that, that kind of shocks me because I feel like what I'm hearing is mostly negative. but I don't know. I guess that is how social media distorts the discourse, I suppose. All right, that's the end of TV cast.

Put that to the side. Let's get back to Indycast. Let's do our quarter three fantasy albums draft. I don't even know if I really want to do this, Ian. Having a terrible time in the fantasy albums draft. Oh, for three, you're three for three. I fired myself again before this season, and I rehired myself as the genius.

Billy Martin style. Yeah, I don't know. I'm just trying to do something to shake up, get out the Schneide here. We'll see what happens. I mean, I said this before the draft last quarter. I felt confident. I feel confident before every draft, and I lose every time. But I do feel pretty good about my scouting report.

There's actually like a lot of good candidates coming up. We're talking about July through September, basically here. Some strong contenders here, some strong draft picks. This is not the 2024 NBA draft. We're not going to be picking Brony James in the first round, I don't think. So let's get to it here. Do we want to flip a coin to determine who goes first, or should I just go first because I'm such a huge loser? Well, I mean, yeah, I think so.

You're not a loser. You just have, you know, you're just like the pistons running. or I don't know, like the trailblazers running up against Jordan in like the early 90s. I just like, even when you think you have me down like last time, I just come back strong. Well, the piston's one though. The piston's one. I changed my course. I said the Blazers because I realized how bad that metaphor really was.

Right, right. Okay. So should we do the thing where like the first, like the guy who gets the first pick, you get one pick? Yeah, snake style, yeah. So then the person who draft second gets two picks? Are we going to do that? Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Well, then I don't want to go first. I'll go second. I'd rather have two picks, I think. So, okay. Why don't you go first? All right, so ground rule, neither of us can pick Los Campesinos because it was sort of like howdy last time around.

I'm reviewing Lance Lois Campesinos for Pitchfork. So that one's out right there. Would you have picked that if you could have? I don't think. Maybe it would have been like a back-ender choice, but I definitely would have. have considered it because, you know, maybe we'll talk about the show when the album drops, but I feel like they are, this is going to be like people who are, I don't know, like in the tank big time for those campuses, anders are all going to take the review.

Right. So also, I want to do, we should do like NFL like supplemental draft style where like one of us gets to pick brat. I can't believe none of us even could say, maybe it just like got announced after we did the fantasy draft, but that's like an all-timer one. So I am going to do a straight up defensive move. I'm going to pick M.J. Lenderman, similar to the Waxahatchie or the Jessica Pratt choice from previous times. I feel pretty confident that this one's got like A, it's a great record, and B, people were kind of sleeping on a boat song.

So I think what we're going to see here is I think that the floor is super high. And I think the ceiling is pretty high as well because, um, Yeah, I see this as maybe not like a Wembenyama type, but I think this is like a really safe number one pick. Yeah, it's sort of, it's, who's the NFL number one pick, man? I feel like that was safe too. Whatever quarterback was been number one. It was the dude from USC.

Caleb Williams. This is Caleb Williams. He's not going to reinvent the game. But I still think this is like a, this is like a blue chip. Yeah, I think, so I wasn't going to. take him number one. I was going to take him a little bit. He was on my draft board, obviously. By the way, we should say Manning Fireworks is the name of the album that comes out in September. So we can pretend that this is sort of like a preview of the next three months. Give it a little more background

here. But anyway, the thing with MJ Lenderman, I think he's a solid probably 85. If I had to guess his metacritic score, I think it'll be like 83 to 85. The one thing with him, and we talked about this, I think last week I think there's a little bit of potential for there to be like a mini backlash against MJ and Lenderman from people who feel like he's getting more hype than Wednesday.

Like a weird sort of like holding Wednesday against him. I just feel like there could be a thing of like and this is just among music critics not among normal people that there might be a thing of like we have to knock MJ Lenderman down a peg So he doesn't overshadow the other band that he's in. I agree.

And I don't think those people are going to be reviewing. I'm thinking that's going to be like post-review stuff. Like a social media type thing? Yes. I agree 100%. I'm waiting for, because I just feel like, oh, like it to turn into like, oh, we like the guy more than like the woman that he is in a band with. I just feel like that's percolating. I feel like that could happen.

So that's my one thing with MJ Lenderman. Otherwise, I mean, if this was like an indie cast-only reviews draft, he would be like an all-time candidate. But we'll see what happens. Okay, so that's a good number one pick, and you did it to hurt me. Good job with that. So I get two picks. I'm going to go with two posthumous albums by beloved artists who sadly passed away recently. I'm going to say Sophie, her self-titled posthumous record.

record, which comes out, I think, is this next month? No, it comes out September. It comes out at the end of September. I'm going to go with that one, and I'm going to go with the Ryuchi Sakamoto. Posthumous record. And that record comes out. That comes out in August, that album is called Opus. And I just feel like these are two beloved artists.

This is like their, you know, presumably like their life. last record that they're ever going to put out, no one's going to want to say bad things about these legends who have passed away. Unless these albums are terrible, which I don't think they will be, I think they will be good. They will at least get good reviews,

and they will probably get overpraised by people. So I just feel like they're both solid, 85 or up records. So I just feel like if you're going to bet, you want to bet on the dearly departed and that's what I'm doing. So I'm drafting these two, two legends, two

beloved artists, I think they're going to do strong for me. So those are my first two picks. The Sophie one is a real high risk, high reward one. We got like, this is like Frederick Weiss status right here. This is

like deep cut indie sports cast. But yeah, like I think with Sophie, obviously people would want to, I mean, if you're going to be drafting off like what's happening with Brat, good choice. But I think that there's a lot more volatility in Sophie than there would be with say like Riachi Sakamoto, who's, you know, just been doing this forever. People might find potentially the Sophie out and to be a little bit maybe in poor taste. I don't know.

But it's a great choice, high risk, high reward. So you think people might feel like, oh, this is music that she didn't want released and now it's being released against her will or, you know, without her. It's not out of the question. Okay. Well, that's okay. You don't win championships by going safe. And I need a championship here, so I'm going with that one.

What is your number two pick? All right, so this means do I pick one or do I pick two in a row? I think you just pick one. Okay. All right. So for my number two pick, this one's, I feel like this one's pretty safe. Nilufir Yanya, I believe that's how it is. This has been like really.

consistent artist always puts out good stuff um we're talking like uh i think you are you're a fan of hers as well and this just feels super safe to me uh a method actor i believe is the name of the album my method actor my method actor got it out on september 13th yeah this one just feels like you draft the left tackle who's been starting all four years at ohio state um you know the only risk is that perhaps it's maybe people it's not as like you know the novelty is maybe worn off a bit but I feel like this is just like like some of the picks I made in the past just super safe 85 style this one will not fuck me over I don't think we're going to get a fay webster situation where this album is seen as maybe like more of the same but less I just feel good about it and I also know that you like her so I'm just going to steal that one as well

yeah that was on my draft board as well I was hoping to draft her high her 22 record painless, really good record. I think that was in my top 10 that year. And I just got the promo of this album, and I've dabbled in it a bit. And it seems like painless. Like it doesn't seem like a radical departure from that, but she's a young artist.

This is her third record. I feel like she's not at the point yet, like where she's going to get penalized for building upon an established sound. I do feel like this won't be a failure, but it may underperform a little bit. We'll see. We'll see what happens.

But a very strong pick. I think at least in the 80s for her with this record. And you hurt me again, so good job with that. For my third pick, I'm going to go with something I think you might pick. And also something I think is going to get well reviewed because this band has a strong following and I think is not famous, but among people who know who they are, I think they're looked at as a genuinely important band

and that spirit of the beehive. Knew it. Were they on your draft board? Absolutely. My second pick came down to, do I take that one or do I take Spirit of the Beehive? Okay, so we heard each other. Yeah.

Because I wanted the Enya record, and you probably wanted the Spirit of the Beehive record. The record is called you'll have to lose something that comes out August 23rd. Yeah, I just feel like, and again, I haven't heard this album, so I can't really judge on how good it is, but I just feel like they're teed up to be well-reviewed. Because, again, they feel like a band that is still kind of under the radar a little bit

among just sort of general interest music fans, but for people that are into them and know who they are, they just have a ton of buzz, and it just feels like, if this record is good, people are going to really want to wave the flag for it. That's exactly why I wanted to pick it. Yeah, they're exceedingly influential. Like, maybe, like, on a lesser level to what Alex G does, where you just hear nothing but Alex G clones.

Like, if you know where to look for it, you hear Spirit of Beehive all over the place, especially as Shugays is kind of forming itself in their image. Like, anytime you hear, like, Autotune or some sort of, of like wean like production tactic on a shoegaze record like you can trace that immediately back to spirit of the beehive solid joy i mean it's an excellent choice and i've heard the record i haven't given it a ton of time yet they've always been a band i've like kind of held at arm's length a bit um i think if i had experienced them at a younger age i might be more or super into them but uh yeah i have the indignity of giving their two seven 17 out like a six point eight at pitchfork

and comparing it largely to wean i don't think i was wrong but um you know i don't get dink for that as much as I probably could. So good choice. Spirit of the Beehive. All right. So what is your number three pick? Because you've tried to hurt me and you have, you've succeeded in hurting me with your first two. Are you going to try to hurt me again or are you going to go for something that you want this time?

It's tough because like even as we, like this is one of those draft picks where when you watch the NFL draft that like kind of counts down to zero. And it's like, wait a minute. Like what are the fucking Vikings doing? It's always the Vikings for some reason. So I'm going to play it a little bit conservative, which I don't love, but I think that you might take this one. So I'm going to go with Cassandra Jenkins. This is an artist who had a really beloved album last time, I think it was 2020, 2021 with I forget with an overview on phenomenal nature.

That was an album that gave us hard drive, which I would say is one of the defining songs of the decade, at least in indie rock. You could hear a lot of people trying to make their version of a hard drive and just failing to do so. And so I think that record was a little undervalued. But I think that similar to what we talked about with both NJ. Lenderman and even Spirit of the Beehive, I think this one has a lot of momentum going into it. and all she has to do is really just stick the landing. I know you did a similar sort of pick with Katie Kirby earlier in the year, and that didn't really pan out as well.

I feel pretty good about this one. So Cassandra Jenkins, My Light, My Destroyer. This one comes out in about a week on July 12th, so we will get some early returns. So, and also I thought you might pick it. So I'm going to go with yet another concern. I'm putting together 85s. There's not a lot of, in my view, a lot of high upside plays here.

So this was not on my board at all. So if your plan was to hurt me, you did not succeed with your third pick. But this is a strong pick. This actually kind of flew under my radar a bit. I, for some reason, it slipped my mind her previous record. So when I was looking at who to pick, my eyes glazed over her name. But now I totally remember and that makes sense. Yeah, I think that that could definitely be, I mean, I think you're, you have a high ceiling and a pretty high floor with her.

I don't think that she's going to, you know, come up with like a 75 or something. I feel like you might be disappointed if she comes through with an 81, but you know, you need the 80s. I think in our, in our drafts, anyone that dips below an 80, that's like a liability. That's when you know your trip. That's like a massive flop. Yeah. So you at least want to get to 80, and then if you can get to 90, then you're really in good shape.

But at least get to, don't drop below 80. That's when you really start to get the drag. As happened to me last draft with someone called Taylor Swift, who ruined my team last quarter. Like, who would have thought? It's like I, you know, like she Russell Wilsoned me last quarter. Like, I thought I was getting the Super Bowl winning quarterback, and I got Russell Wilson late period. Let's go to my fourth

pick. And this is where it starts to get a little hazy for me. It's funny because your first two picks were like two picks I wanted to take fairly high. I'm going to go with Illuminati Hotties at number four. This record comes out August 23rd. It's called Power.

I think we're both fans of Illuminati Hotties. I feel like that band similar to like all artists that we're talking about generally has like a really kind of like a lot of goodwill about them but they haven't had maybe like a defining moment with a record like where it comes out everyone's excited about it at the same time and it just becomes like a moment in time when they get coronated I feel like with Illuminati hotties it's been more of like a slow build and Sarah Tudson

the main person of that band she's also become like pretty well regarded as a producer of other people's records. So I think, you know, she has that going for her as well. I just feel like, again, if this record can deliver, and again, I haven't heard the record yet, I'm just going kind of based on career momentum. I just feel like this could be, again, like a solid 80-ish type record. So, Illuminai Hottis number four on mine. Do you think that's a reach? How do you feel about that? It's an interesting question because I think that she's, you know, part of the Boy, Genius, extended universe now. Also, I believe Sarah was involved with the new Cloud Nothing's record.

Great producer. Like, her records always sound great. And, yeah, I think that they're always, like, a little bit undervalued. I also wonder about the ceiling for this band, though, because I feel like the last record was the one that built off the Goodwill from whatever, the one that she did in 2018, that was on tiny engines. It's, I think it's like a high floor, low ceiling solid play. all right

yeah because I do wonder if that sound you know one that I don't want to say co-opted but like you hear Olivia Rodriguez there's a lot of Illuminati hotties I feel like in her first album I do wonder if maybe

that sort of sound maybe isn't quite as popping as it was a couple years back but I could be wrong well we'll see again I wonder I have I have faith in her that it's not going to be the way it was in the early 2020s,

that there will be some sort of evolution with that. It has been three years since her last record and a lot has happened in the time since then, especially her work as a producer. I just feel like I kind of see what you mean with that 2021 record, but that also came out during the pandemic. I don't know.

I just feel like there's more of a potential for like a real moment with this record, if she can deliver. So, I'm hoping she can. I'm putting faith in her fourth round pick for me. What is your fourth round pick? All right. I feel at this point I got to do a classic Ian style pick, you know, like when the Spurs pick someone from, you know, Serbia and they keep them overseas for like four years and then he just balls out as a 25-year-old

rookie or when the Raiders pick just like a track guy who played one year of college football. I'm going to go with Michelle and Dege Ocello. No More Water, the Gospel of James Baldwin. Wow. I'm going to read straight from pitchfork's description, which is that Michelle Nadega Ocello's new albums, a tribute to the writer and activist James Baldwin. It features several spoken word interludes, features poet and activist Stacey Ann Chin, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hilton Alls, who edited the recent essay collection, God Made by Face, a collective portrait of James Baldwin.

I think that, first off, Michelle Nadega Ocello, one of the artists that was, I would say that I think she played Lilithair, but generally in the 90s, it's an artist who strikes me as someone who would be just like a mortal lock to get like 88s and 90s every time they dropped, but they were making the same exact type of albums they did

now. I think their scene is a little undervalued and only now people are starting to like re-appreciate what it is that she did. I just I think if she would put out any sort of album, it would be on my radar, but one that like links up with the

gospel of James Baldwin. It seems like a pretty, I mean, I feel pretty confident about this one's outlook. And also, if there is a pan waiting, I would just like kind of love to read it just to see what it would be like to say, like, yeah, this Michelle Nadego-Chel album with like James Baldwin words, yeah, this is trash me. So I think either way I win. Wow, I'm stunned by this pick. The people in the gallery are beside themselves. They don't know what to, they don't know what to, they don't know what they're like what is going on with this pick uh you're really kind of banking hard on sort of like the npr contingent coming out big for this record like better fucking believe it the people who who who rocked to her duet with john mellen camp on wild night back in the mid 90s

the the 55 year old music critics are going to come up big time is like robert crisco is his is he on metacritic i don't know i i feel like he will go for this record like it's a buck 65 record Chrisco loves buck 65 Northern State too yeah we're gonna bring out the Criscount classics

oh my god who man that's why you draft for these moments just an incredible move okay so for my last pick I'm gonna put my money on the sort of like pop

and I'm using this word because other people say it. I feel stupid saying it, but pop girly year that we're having, like young female pop stars, putting out music that capture the zeitgeist, that capture the critical zeitgeist, that

music writers can't get enough of these days. I'm going to say Sabrina Carpenter, her record, I think, which the song espresso has been very well received in critical corners, along with it being

a big hit on the charts. Her record is called Short and Sweet. It comes out August 23rd, which is a big day for our draft, by the way. Well, I have three albums that I drafted that come out August 23rd, so I'll know whether I'm going to win or lose on August 23rd. That's D-Day for me. But, yeah, I just feel like this is the kind of record

that, like, a mainstream-ish-type type, record that unless it's totally terrible I think it just feels like this is a moment where like this kind of record is like the thing that music writers are going to praise so I feel pretty good about this pick I was curious if it was ever going to be on your radar at all apparently not you're absolutely yeah I was kind of hoping to snatch that one not just because of espresso but like I saw I think it was Chris Malamfi. Like basically people who are outside, like people who write about pop girlies as opposed to like the pop girlie demographic were saying that like the second single, please, please, please is an even greater accomplishment. So I think this one has this, it's, its floor is like Olivia Rodriguez's first album, which people were like, yeah, kind of top heavy.

The singles are really doing the work. but even if you just get that, I think that this might be the one that wins it for you. I'm not going to front. Yeah, I feel pretty good about it. And I can't believe it fell to number five. I feel like I'm really getting a good deal here. But yeah, I just feel like the 48-year-old man that loves pop music,

they're going to be all over this record. Like that critic, you know, that's out there, they're going to be all over it. It's going to be like young women writers and, like, Middle-aged, like, pop-loving male writers. They're going to form a coalition, and they're going to put that record to the top. So, yeah, I think I feel good about that. What is your last pick? All right.

So, you know, I thought when you were first stogging, talk about it, that you were going to go this route when talking about, like, a certain type of thing that's, like, big these days. I'm going to, again, this one feels kind of safe. and I also feel like her last record was a bit underrated, so people might be more inclined to be back in the tank. I'll go with Clero. Her new album, Charm, which comes out in a week. So I got a couple of heavy hitters coming out next week. So it's no longer working with Jack Antonoff or Rostom, formerly a vampire weekend.

She's working with kind of a more of a hip-hop type guy, like Leon Michaels. I think her first single, sexy to someone, was well received. And I just feel like Clero, and I think we may have talked about this when she released Sling in 2021, really establishing herself as like a career artist as opposed to, you know, someone who got big off TikTok or, you know, like her singles, like Flaming Hot Cheetos. I think that she's kind of getting in that territory where you can just like bank on an 83 at all. times. Like it might not be high ceiling, but I feel like there's going to be a little bit of makeup call to this album. And it feels safe. I didn't want to go with like just the, oh, let's pick the, like the kind of left of center R&B album. Because that's been kind of like screwing me over a little

bit, with the exception in Yaya Bay. She really saved my ass last time around. I wish I picked something a little more adventurous, but, uh, this was on my draft board. I'm a little I don't know, I feel like this album could go either way. I think you could be right. It could be like a solid 83. I also feel like there's strong like drop and below 80 potential with this record. Just because I feel like the last one, I remember liking it at the time. It felt like a little sleepy.

And I don't know, like it does. I don't feel like that album had like a ton of legs, really. I just don't hear a lot of conversation about Clero lately. But again, that could just be the circles that I'm populating. Well, I mean, a lot of this is for me based on like the reception I saw when she opened for Boy Genius last year. You know, I said that she was the opener. I don't know if she was the opener for the entire tour, but that's what I saw. It was between that and the Milton Nassimento is bronze espalding album, which I could have done,

but that just feels a little like cheating. So that's another not like posthumous, but, you know, living legend type one. But I'm going to go with Claro. I don't feel great about this draft already, man. I would give myself a C-plus on some Mel Kuiper shit, you know? Well, we'll see. Again, you have a great track record, so maybe you're, I don't know, you're doing something like reverse psychology on me right now, maybe.

Let's go over our lineups here quick. You picked M.J. Lenderman, Malfour, Yanya, Cassandra Jenkins, Michelle Indigua. How do you say her last name? Michelle Indeghi Ocello. That's it. And Clero. And then I drafted Sophie, Ryuchi, Sakamoto, Spirit of the Beech. Beehive, Illuminati Hotties, and Sabrina Carpenter.

Some artists that we left on the board, Denzel Curry. I don't expect that. Nick Cave. Yeah, that was on. I feel, I don't know, he's getting a little anti-vax with it. He's getting a little cancel culture with it recently, so. Yeah, but it's going to be graying beards reviewing that record. And look, I'm a graying beard myself, and I love Nick Cave.

Graying Beards, we love Nick Cave. It would be hard for me to believe. That album won't be in the 80s. Jamie XX. Massive flop potential with that record. Suki Waterhouse. That's interesting. I saw her open for Father John Misty.

I'm not high on that one. Yeah, so those are the ones left. There's others that we left on the board. Yeah. Yeah, that Nick Cave one, I think, I'm surprised I didn't take that, but I don't know. Yeah, for me it was, you know, Milton Nassimento. I think that was when I was looking at.

Also, Raven Linnae, that would have been like the Yaya Bay, Nia Archives choice. You know, major label, left of center, Chicago, R&B. Also, like, the kind of Jamila Woods one as well. Her album finished number 32 on Pitchfork in 2020. And so there's a potential for her to, like, make an album that, like, just kind of vaults into the top 10. That was definitely on my radar. But yeah, Jamie X, Jamie X, Jamie X,

despite how well that album did into, that is like massive flop potential in my mind. Based on what? Based on like the way the singles have been received, based on the conversations I've had with people. I think that like, yeah, I just feel like that style of me. Like I think he's been just kind of spinning his wheels for like the past nine years and releasing not so great singles.

The first single was, to me, kind of a flop. I feel like what we were talking about with the bear, there were like some people who really fucking did not like in color in 2015. Like the real like electronic music heads, it was seen as this sort of laundering of rave culture, like too tasteful. Don't be like, look, I was actually talking about this with our pal Larry. And I'm like, we were talking about the flop potential of this. record and by flop I mean you know get a polite 7.0 review that reads more like a five you should say

Larry Fitzmanee's yeah can't just say Larry our friend Larry um all right well be that as it may it's good thing we didn't draft it then um all right let's get to our mailbag segment here and uh always great to hear from our listeners we had a bunch of letters that I put in the mailbag here but we don't have time to do them all we always end up cutting the mailbag I would feel bad about that we might have to do a just a mailbag episode maybe next week because we've got a lot of emails to get to but I do want to get to the Eminem album next week

we got to talk about the Eminem album that Jesus yeah none of us are going to hear it that might be a July 19th one is that like the death of Slim Shady isn't that what's called yeah Houdini enormous hit Eminem man he's a he's a vampire man you cannot kill him you know he's immortal he just keeps going

and going and sucking the blood out of pop culture. He does look. He's got that adrenochrome look about him. And that like painted on beard that he has? Very, I don't know. He looks like he looks like he's playing himself in fucking Def Jam Vendetta in 2003. He looks like a PlayStation 2 rendering of himself now. All right. Well, let's, let's do this first letter here. This comes from Kyle in London. And I'll read this one. Hi, Stephen Ian, long-time fan. Steve's book was just released in the UK last week. Oh, awesome. And I've been devouring it. Ian can't wait to hear what your possible book project is so I can devour that too. Kyle's hungry for rock literature. He's just consuming it.

This is almost a PSA because I know Steve especially is a keen purveyor of music documentaries. There's an official nickelback documentary that's been released on Netflix, which almost teeters on interesting territory about how the band has been received over the years, almost certainly unfairly. So I guess the question is, nickelback, yay or nay, we finally get to this question. Ian, well, first of all, have you seen this movie? No, I haven't. I unfortunately decided to dedicate my last night to watching episodes of the bear rather than the nickel back documentary. So maybe a strategic error, but I love the fact that Kyle's question implies that there are unofficial nickelback documentaries that have been floating out there and now we've probably got the real deal.

I'm sure there are on YouTube, you know, some, tubey or whatever. Some gorilla nickelback documentaries being made undercover. Release the Crager cut, yeah. But so I have, I did see this movie. And thank you, Kyle, you know, the PSA thing is no joke because I didn't know this movie existed until I saw this email. I was like, oh, a nickelback country, like documentary, I have to see this. And yeah, and I recommend it.

I liked it. It has that thing that a lot of band documentaries have now, like where, like, the last 20 minutes is, you know, showing a band that is not as popular anymore, but still trying to make them look like they're successful. I mean, like, Nickelback still, like, plays, like, huge concerts, and, you know, they're definitely not on hard times or anything, but, like, that 10-year period in the time,

2000s like where you know they just had hit after hit I think like all the right reasons I think that's what it's called their 2005 record like has gone diamond like 10 million records sold like selling or like the equivalent of like streams well I don't know I combination I think this was that was still the era like where albums would sell like that I feel like that didn't really stop until the 2010s like even with like all the piracy going on like you still had like physical records selling that much. So I have a feeling that that's probably actually sales. But anyway, yeah, I mean, look, they're all like really nice guys and they're all like

surprisingly handsome. Like I didn't realize like, oh wow, like the guitar player in Nickelback is a handsome man. Who knew? Like, I just pictured them as all looking like Chad Kroger or Kramer, you know. He's a handsome man too. but like how he looked in the 2000s where he had that kind of like poodley hair and like the grotes.

Nowadays rodent man is like the hot new thing with like Barry Keegan and like Matt Healy and you know Timothy Shalame so like he was kind of like a rodent male innovator. Yeah but now he has like shorter hair now and like a beard. So he looks just like a regular kind of handsome

guy but yeah they're all like you can't dislike them as people even if you hate their music because they're just nice Canadian guys and I don't know like you feel bad for him watching the movie because like Kyle says like a big part of the movie is about how people hate them and how they're like this go-to punchline and there's like a part of the movie like where one of the guys is saying like his kids would get made fun of at school because of nickelback and how the kid would try to defend his dad and the dad was like no don't defend us you don't have to do that like basically

giving him permission to like just shit on nickelback along with all the other kids for his own self-preservation. I mean, it really does show how stupid a lot of the conversation about nickelback was. I wrote a column for Grantland 10 years ago and the headline was the best of the worst. And I stand by that in my assessment of nickelback that they were the figureheads of this era in radio rock, this like post-grunge era. And that was this hugely, successful for a long time and they got the most grief because they were the most successful and the most famous but they really were the best band of that scene and i'm talking about you know seather and shine down and like five finger death punch and like avenge sevenfold and

bands that are just fucking terrible like awful theory of a dead man theory of a dead man like you don't think nickel back's good listen to that shit like nickel back and like you kind of get this impression from the movie like it reminds you like oh yeah like how you remind me pretty catchy song that Spider-Man 2 song

that Kroger did with the dude guy what's his name Josie Scott Josie Scott from dead or fucking the only guy to ever record songs with Chad Craigor and 3-6 Mafia

is he like a Deadsy or something like what they're? No he was in saliva saliva another just shitty band I am in my fucking bag right now man just terrible but like that like hero that's the Spider-Man too that's a good song like rock star kind of corny but like a catchy song

photograph pretty kid he writes songs like you understand why they're popular and so I'll say I can't say like yay wholeheartedly because I wouldn't want to sit down and listen to like an entire nickel back song And by the way, in the documentary talks about this,

they do have a lot of songs about strippers and, like, oral sex. And, like, even, like, the bass player is like, yeah, are some of our songs vacuous? Yeah, I think they are. Like, a lot of the, like, stripper songs are vacuous. So they have a lot of shit like that, but I can't go, like, to me, like, if you know anything, like, if you aren't just thinking of them as a punchline or as, like, oh, it's convenient to rip on this band

because I know no one's going to argue with me. if I make fun of Nickelback. But if you actually look at them, like, they're hard to hate. They're nice guys. They write these dumb songs that a lot of people like. So I can't be mad at them. So not a full yay. I'll give it like a half yay because of how you remind me

because I think they're, they seem like they're regular dudes. Yeah, I think that you bring up a good point in that, like, when Nickelback first started, I think they were even better than like what we had going with like, stained, you know, because when Nickelback was like first getting big, like when this is how you remind me is the name of the song. When that first came out, I was working as a alt rock DJ in 2001, 2002. And so you would play that pretty much every single shift alongside, you know, big hits from

the strokes and the white stripes. And by the time, that song became as big as it did, they kind of were out of our rotation. This, how you remind me, like legitimately, I'm not saying this be ironic. fucking song great chord progression great chorus i do it at karaoke sometimes it builds it builds really well oh that last time where like where the like the drums drop out on the last chorus so that's a legitimately great song um as far as like the other nickel back songs to me they were kind of hard to hate in because like i know the picture song from the memes and i'm vaguely aware of that song about like something in your mouth. Like I as I remembered it as like as I was typing.

But they were pretty easy to avoid, you know, because I think about like bands who have held similar positions like Creed or imagine dragons or Ed Shearren. And like I, you know, I get that stuff like hitting me against my will. Plus Creed had also that like weird religious component as well. And so like it's like, yeah, they're easy to hate, but they don't bother me. They don't impact my life. They seem like reasonable dudes. And, you know, I was sort of hoping that the basis when they were talking about how, you know,

they have a lot of songs about like, you know, strippers or whatnot that they did the Jason Newstead and some kind of monster thing. Like, yeah, we sell out every seat of the house. Every time we play anywhere we play. I was kind of hoping he would use that sort of thing. I just think their strip club songs are not particularly convincing. You know what I mean? Like, I doubt they really go to strip clubs.

They're not like buck cherry where it's like, oh, yeah, they're living. for real. Yeah. Well, like, most of them are just like, you know, dads. Like, like, Croger is the one who is, like, more of, like, the rock star in the band. And again... Well, didn't they have, like, one of the guys in the band dropped. Like, I think his brother or somebody, like, dropped out of the band because they love their...

It's like, they were so stoked, stoked about having a big tour bus. It's like, this is not why I joined Nickelback. Am I... Is that in the movie? No, I don't think... I don't know. That's not in the movie that I remember. You might be confusing them with, like, some other...

Maybe the guy in Cedar did that or something. But it wasn't Nickelback. I was thinking about, as you were talking about, like, Creed, like, in Creed versus Nickelback Battle Royale, I feel like Nickelback probably has more songs that I can tolerate. But Creed is, like, an objectively funnier band. Without a doubt. I would want to, like, watch Creed music videos

and, like, do a deep dive into their career. just because Scott Stapp is such a preposterous character. You have that legendary performance at the halftime show in Dallas where the dude was like, you've seen this clip. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, the Scott Stap jersey with the Cowboys, the guy who looks like he's in a live video like Live the Band. Yeah, this bald shirtless guy who like starts flying when they're singing higher.

Like just beautiful. So Creed, worse musically, but in a way, a more fun band like unintentionally like they're more like like like nickelback is just sort of like a workman like arena rock band they're just putting out songs

radio loves them they're playing packed arenas and stadiums they're very professional and creed is just like they're just more ridiculous so maybe in a way they're more entertaining yeah because like Scott Stapp had like legit like drug problems

right well they got sued by a fan because Scott Stapp's dad step was too drunk at a show and he wanted his money back that's like Dave mustane getting kicked out of Metallica for drinking too hard like you got to like really like fuck up big time to have that be have that taken to court but yeah like nickel back just they didn't really stand for anything in the same way that like creed did because you can lump creed in with you know a lot of things people don't like about you know mega churches or whatever like nickel back was easy to make fun of just because there was like no stakes to it you know and they're like they're cana they're from alberta as well so

it's not even they're like from vancouver or toronto like one of them or montreal like one of the more metropolitan parts but you know i thought of the earth baby they're salt of the earth they're like middle of nowhere i think that the time was called hannah hana albara is where they're from yeah i was just thinking about that performance i think it was maybe at the vmase that creed did where they were doing with arms wide open and scottstap was holding his baby while he was singing it Wow. I got to look that up on YouTube. That's like, that's legendary.

You're using your, your, your baby daughter or son as a prop for your power ballad at the award show. That's just so classic. Love Stan Stop. Yeah, maybe that was a deep fake. I'm like wondering if he has a kid. But yeah, I think with Nickelback. That's what the song's about. Yeah, totally.

I mean, I think the song's about him becoming the father. That probably. Or Jesus. It's, but it's one of those two. With Nickelback, like, I think that there, And I think that Creed had the opportunity to do this, but like Scott Stapp, maybe is just like a little too far gone. Nickelback is seemingly taking this career path that's opened up for people like Michael Bolton, Houdi and the Blowfish and Richard Marks, where you come back and you kind of act like you're self-aware and in on the joke. And then people can appreciate that.

You know, it's maybe not the most lucrative career path. But I think that it kind of allows you. you to extend your career. I don't think that nickelback's going to have people defending them. I think your Grantland piece is probably the apotheosis of that. But I mean, if you hate nickelback, you really just kind of like kind of have to ask yourself why you need to do it publicly, you know? Yeah, yeah. Love nickelback publicly. Try that for a change.

We've now reached the part of our episode that we call a recommendation corner where Ian and I talk about something that we're into this week. Ian, why don't you go first? All right. Yeah, I'm glad we got to a recommendation corner because I I wanted to put this one on last week. It's a project called Growing Stone, Death of a Mama's Boy. Yes, that is a Leonard Cohen reference. So the singer is Scholar Sarcus from a band called Talking Meds. They do more of like a kind of an alt-rock snarky sort of thing, which is quite good.

But I like this project he'd done. I think we talked about his last album in 2020. I had everybody snowed, which I described as like a dirtbag version of Yens Lechman's Night Falls over Cortadalla. This is the follow-up. It's in a more dour, like, Circa Among the Leaves, Sun Kill Moon type songwriting. A lot of it's just about Skyler's early sobriety.

There's one song about, about, like, wanting to smash the treadmills control panel because, like, you're just filled with so much self-pity about your past. Also, this is a hard subject to write about an interesting way, and I think he does it. Plus, I mean, for Steve's sake, there's a cover of Warren Zvon's play it all night long.

Should have started with that. So I think you would enjoy this one. I'm big fan of this project. Can't recommend it highly enough. So I want to talk about a band that's from the town that I live in, which is Minneapolis. They're called A-H-H-E-M. As you would say, if you're trying to get someone's attention, A-H-E-M. The album is called A-Voiter.

And I like this record a lot because not only is this band from Minneapolis, they're sort of like a tribute band to like the rock music of Minneapolis. Like this album reminds me of like major label. Soul Asylum combined with like the more sort of like rock and power pop elements of the Jayhawks. So like maybe like Sound of Lies era Jayhawks. And by the way, when I say major label Soul Asylum, that's a total compliment. I've been rocking Grave Dancers Union this week on the patio. Love that record.

Also like the next record, let your dim light shine. I think I got that album title correct. Yes. The one with misery. The one with misery, yes. Frustrated. Yeah, there we go. Frustrated Incorporated was an early

name for Indycast that we just did not capitalize on. That would have been a good one. That would have been a good one. But yeah, look, again, sometimes you just want a really good rock record, and this album delivers it. And look, I say rock record. It's not a punk record. It's on an emo record.

It's on indie rock record. It just delivers the goods. And I'm always a sucker for this kind of, this kind of band, this kind of album. I should go see this band. They're right in my backyard. I want to go track them down and go to a gig. I think that they're really good.

So again, the band is called Ahem. Ahem. A-H-E-M. The album's called The Voider. Check it out. Really good summertime music. Now I was listening to the Jayhawks just the other week. Not Hollywood Town Hall, but the one after it.

Tomorrow the Green Grass. Yeah, the one with blue. What a fucking song. Oh, my God. Yeah, I need to listen to this record. That's an album where it must have been hard to put on the second track. When you put Blue as the first track, you're almost kind of like, okay, what else we need to do? Our Runaway is a good fucking song.

That's a great song, too. There's lots of great songs on there. I'm just saying Blue, such a masterpiece. You're like, what else do you need? We're going to put out a four-minute album, and you're going to love it because it's Blue. Thank you all for listening to this episode of Indycast. We'll be back with more news, reviews, and hashing out trends next week. And if you're looking for more music recommendations, sign up for the Indie Mix tape newsletter.

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