Indiecast - The Best Albums Of The 2020s So Far

Episode Date: January 12, 2024

Before Steven and Ian get into this week's episode, they had to hash out a longer-than-usual Sportscast about their respective football teams (the Packers and the Eagles) making the playoffs and the absolutely insane and hateful video Stephen A. Smith dropped about Jason Whitlock this week. Sports media in general is melting down this year, and the guys can't get enough. After that, they revisit their predictions made at the beginning of last year about 2023, and check to see how right (or wrong) they were (11:05).Then it's on to a new fantasy albums draft for the first quarter of 2024. Who landed the just announced Waxahatchee record, sure to be one of the year's most acclaimed? Who pulled the jazz record with mainstream appeal that critics are guaranteed to love? Did anyone dare draft the new Scott Stapp record ironically? Let's find out. (19:32)Finally, the guys follow up on Steven's column this week taking an early look at the contenders for album of the decade from the first 40 percent of the 2020s. This is not a conversation about personal favorites — it's wild speculation on critical consensus based on what music writers have embraced so far. (44:59)In Recommendation Corner (58:30), Ian goes for the hardcore band Infant Island while Steven plugs the forthcoming album (due in March) from Rosali.New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 171 and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [e-mail], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Indycast is presented by Uprox's Indy Mix tape. Hello everyone and welcome to IndyCast. On this show, we talk about the biggest indie news of the week. We review albums and we hash out trends. In this episode, we do our fantasy albums draft for the first quarter of 2024. And talk about the best albums of the 2020s so far. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host. He just spent an hour calling Jason Whitlock, a fat bastard on a different podcast.

Ian Cohen. Ian, how are you? We don't body shame here over at Indycast. I'm like thinking back till like 2018 or whatever when you would read these articles saying like, hey man, like let's lay off calling Donald, like making light of Donald Trump's physique, you know. But I think I'm glad we got to talk about this Stephen A. Smith performance. Like maybe one of the most incredible dramatic readings I've ever, I've ever seen. Yeah, yeah, we got to do a quick sports cast here, and maybe it's like sports media cast. Sports media so far in 24 is incredible.

I love sports media. People are airing it out. You know, you got the Pat McAfee stuff. He's calling his boss a rat on his show. You've got the Aaron Rogers going on McAfee and him and Jimmy Kim will go back and forth. You got Shannon Sharpe's podcast. got Cat Williams going on there calling Kevin Hart a industry plant. And then the greatest thing so far, Stephen A. Smith records an hour-long podcast where he just eviscerates Jason Whitlock.

Jason Whitlock, of course, a long-running troll in the sports media world. He was a newspaper columnist for a long time with the Kansas City Star, then he was on ESPN, then he was on Fox News. Now he's on Glenn Bex. Blaze TV. Yeah. I was going to call it a network. I don't know what it is.

It's like an internet thing, I think. I don't know. Yeah, I felt like it was like that network that like Pete Ditty started like revolt or something like that back in the day. It sounds like Vlad TV where he's just like interview rappers who snitch on themselves. Yeah, I don't know what Blaze TV is. So apparently Jason Whitlock went after Stephen A. Smith because in Stephen A's best-selling memoir, he writes about being a high school basketball player.

And I don't know all the particulars because I don't really care that much, but Whitlock was insinuating or not even insinuating. He was accusing Stephen A. Smith of exaggerating his basketball career in high school. And this pissed off Stephen A. Smith so much that he recorded. this hour-long podcast where it is incredible. I mean, it's, it keeps going. It's so, like, when you think it's over, like, even after like 30, 45 minutes, like, he's not, oh, fuck, he's not done. Like, I actually got to do some other shit tonight.

I know, exactly. It's like, you kind of get exhausted by the end of it. It's so long. And look, I don't want to body shame anyone either, but the phrase fat bastard just makes me laugh. instantly. It's like, you know, they say cellar door is like the most beautiful sounding combination of words in the English language. I think Fat Bastard is the most comedically sound phrase in the English language.

Like, I don't want to laugh at it, but I just do. Just something about the word bastard is very funny to me, and then you put fat in front of it. Very funny. But he also calls him a piece of shit. Yeah. Which I think it's funny to call someone a piece of shit. It's just a very funny thing to call somebody. He likens him to the devil and Kane. The character from the Bible,

Kane and Abel, the guy who, like, killed his brother. Bible cast. I think that's a first. Brief Bible cast there. When I was watching this, you know, I'm trying to put myself in, Stephen A. Smith's place. And I was thinking, like, okay, is there anyone in the music writing world that I dislike enough to make me want to record an hour-long podcast where I call them a piece of shit over and over again? And there's definitely people I dislike in the music writing world.

But there's no one I dislike that much, where I would have so much hatred that it could fuel me for that long. And Stephen A. Smith, you know, famously a very demonstrative guy. He's very... I love Stephen A. Smith. He's very entertaining. But he's like shouting. And he's like getting into it.

He's also doing this kind of weirdly calm thing too. Like in the video, like it's very... My friend likened it to Samuel Al Jackson and Paul Fiction. Like before he kills that guy. Like how there's something sort of soothing about his voice and then it erupts into anger.

But there's no one that I dislike in my life, my professional life, personal life, whatever, that would make me want to do something like that. It really put my own grudges in perspective. It's like, I thought I had grudges, but no, I don't, because Stephen A. Smith shows you what a grudge really is in this video. I think the best part of this whole thing is where Stephen A. Smith, not just like the contract clause about like how he won't work with Jason Whitlock that's like

somewhere buried in the errata but like uh also that he called his pastor like I don't think that's the best stuff I think the funniest part is that his pastor is like yeah yeah okay man go in like do this hour long thing he's like go for it dude yeah like apparently because Stephen A Smith he has this long intro where he spends like five minutes saying like I don't normally do this This is not the kind of person I am. You know, my family isn't going to recognize the person you're about to see. Like, he's setting up his rant. And then he says, yeah, like, I consulted with my pastor.

And I want to know what this conversation was. Was he like, pastor, there's this man in my field. I want to call him a piece of shit on my podcast. Is this biblically kosher for me to do this? Biblically kosher. I love that. Yeah. And thus the end of Bible cast.

Right. And the pastor was like, sometimes you got to do what you got to do. I think that's what he literally says, according to Stephen A. Smith. So even the pastor was like, yeah, Jason Whitlock is beyond the pale. You can do this. It's an incredible video. If you haven't seen it yet, look it up on YouTube. After you listen to this episode, though.

Yeah, after you listen to this episode. Other quick sports cast things, Bill Belichick, and Nick Saban, both gone. A good old-fashioned dinosaur call and Pete Carroll, man. Pete Carroll, yeah, all the 70-year-old coaches are leaving. Incredible. Yeah, I mean, a big theme of this episode is just the passage of time and, you know, feeling like, you know, the narrows pass you by.

But, I mean, these people have been around, like, literally forever, you know. Like, I can imagine, like, if we were to look up, I don't know, the number one Paas and Jop album from, like, the last time, not. of these guys were a head coached. I think we're looking into like arrested development type type times, you know? Right. And Belichick is probably going to go somewhere else, it sounds like. He's just leaving New England. I think he's going to probably coach. There's like a bunch of vacancies. Don't do that to yourself, brother. I know. I keep hearing the falcon. I don't understand why you'd want to go there. They just fired Arthur Smith, who looks like a

Paul Giamatti character. You know, to bring up Giamati again. Do we want to talk about playoffs at all? Because you got the Eagles for you, Packers for me. I'm feeling great. We're going to lose by 20 points probably to the Cowboys, but it doesn't matter because we are in the just happy to be here zone, which I love being in that zone. I mean, I thought we were in a rebuilding year.

We made the playoffs. We're going to get killed by Mike McCarthy, our former coach. It's fine. Your team is like in a historic free fall. I don't know what's going on. with the Eagles. Yeah, I remember in 2018, I interviewed Dan from the Wonder Years, and he talked about, like, when the final Hail Mary to Rob Grunkowski, like, fell to the field, he got down on his knees

and cried, and Rob McElheny on Welcome to Rexum, talks about how the Eagles winning the Super Bowl. It was like a top five moment of his life, including his wedding. And it's easy to forget, like, after all of that, like, two years later, Doug Peterson was out on there, his ass, and Eagles went, like, four and 12. So, like, I like how Nick Siriani is, like, speed running that entire process in, like, less than 10 months. The Eagles have just, like, I don't even want to say the worst vibes in the NFL because the Panthers still exist. But, like, and here's the thing about all this.

Like, even if we're talking about, like, this is, like, end of the era, hardened M.B. type vibes. Just, like, rancid dog shit vibes. They're going to win this weekend. There's always one team that has, like, no business winning. I mean, you're not going to trust Baker Mayfield in the playoff game, are you? I don't know, man. I'm pulling for Baker Mayfield.

I like the Baker Mayfield redemption arc. And I hate the Eagles. I'm sorry to say that. No offense. You're an Eagles fan, the Philadelphia indie rock community out there. I mean, no disrespect to you. I love the Philly. I love Philadelphia as a city.

Like, I've been there. I really liked it. War on drugs. Obviously, my boys. Kurt Vile. You know, I love Philly, but I hate the Eagles. and it's because they've tortured me in the past. So it's a hate born out of respect for the Eagles.

Okay, we should end sportscast. This is a long sports cast. Sportscast, Bible cast, we're really heading all the marks here. TV cast, I think we maybe got, nah, I don't know if we got TV cast. But yeah, all of our favorite miscellaneous casts. Yeah, yeah. Well, if we're going to do TV cast, we could talk about the curse. But, you know, we'll hold off on that.

I want to see how that show ends. The last episode is airing. will the day this episode post. So I'm curious about that. But anyway, enough sports cast, TV cast, Biblecast. Let's get into Indiecast here. Before we get to the news at hand, the best albums of the 2020s so far

and our fantasy albums draft, we got a letter this week, or it was an email, from one of our listeners, asking us to revisit our predictions from 2023, that we made at the beginning of 2020, They're like, okay, you guys made your predictions for 2024, but what about the predictions you made last year? How accurate were they? And I thought, wow, that's a good idea.

So we should do that. So I went into the archive and I dug out our predictions. And we each made three. Do you remember your predictions at all? Not really, but I'm like, I was taking aback by how similar to they were in style to the ones we made in 2024. Yeah, I realized, well, I literally made the same prediction last year that I did this year, which is that masochism is not going to come out. I've made that prediction last year about Sky Ferreira, and I did it this year.

I was right last year, obviously. That's the only prediction I had right. So hopefully I'll be right. Well, not hopefully. Actually, I hope I'm wrong. I do want to hear that album. But that may be the only prediction I get right this year as well. So your first prediction was, well, it was partly right on the money.

Your first prediction was that the album of the year for 2023 was going to be the Rihanna album that we thought was going to be coming out and actually didn't come out. So that prediction was wrong. I still think it's a good prediction. Yeah. Like when that eventually comes out. It's like you predicting masquism won't come out. It's like not, it's something I could probably renew every single year until I'm proven.

wrong. But your mortal lock, this is the words you use, the mortal lock for the album of the year for the indie rock world was Wednesday. And you were right, you were dead on. I mean, is it safe to say that that was the consensus choice for best indie rock album? I feel like it was. Slam dunk. I mean, that one felt like too easy.

That was like you saying that MJ Lenderman's going to be your album of the year this year. Right. Yeah, that was like batting practice. So I don't want to take too much credit for that. All right, but still, you know, take your flowers. You got that one right. Your second prediction was, we are now living in a post-turnstile world.

Hardcore bands get side to major labels. Brendan Yates does a bunch of rap guest spots, a la Kevin Parker. I don't know about the Brendan Yates part, but like, were there a lot of hardcore bands that signed to major labels? Partial credit. I mean, I think military gun was the most obvious beneficiary. of the post-turn style world, I think knocked loose playing Coachella, if not being on a major label, was like a major moment. So I don't think we saw, like, the candlebox and the

bush and the sponge of, like, hardcore. I mean, maybe we did. I just didn't see them. There's, like, maybe they're huge on TikTok. But, like, you know, turns out of like a remix out with bad, bad, not good. So partial credit, I'd say on that one. I showed my work. Man, you got me excited about the sponge of hardcore. That'd be amazing. Yeah, some people would probably tell you that's military gun, but I don't believe that. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah.

Do they have any song as good as Rodding Pignada? I mean, well, Rodding Penaenaed is the album. The title track's not the... Isn't there a song called... There is a song called Rodding Pignata, but we're talking about Molly. We're talking about plowed, wax, static. Have you seen Mary? That's the second record.

Yes. Wex... But, yeah, plow... and Molly. Yeah. Yeah, those are the two jams on there. And then your third prediction was, blog rock is the new indie sleeves.

I don't know what I was trying to get across there because we have like several episodes about indie slees and all we got was, you know, my blog rock, best blog rock albums of all time list for up rock, which is probably the most popular thing I did. But in 2020, you kind of like were, you were kind of trying to fix this one. Because you made this prediction and then you were like,

trying to manifest it. Yeah. But, yeah, I don't, yeah, well, the Indies thing, too, is, in a way, maybe you're right, because Indie Slees was this constructed media narrative that really wasn't reflective of anything in real life. So maybe in that respect, your prediction is correct, because you wrote about Blog Rock and you kind of manifested it in the same way that people manifested Indy Slee's. So, yeah.

I'll give you, I'll give you like 25% credit for that one. My predictions were not as accurate. I had the Sky Ferreira thing. I predicted masochism would not come out in 2023. I was correct. Now, this is me repeating myself because I made another Jack Antonoff prediction in 2023. I did it this year, too, where I was talking about always, him working with always.

In 2023, I said that he would post a photo. on his Instagram of himself working with Mitzki. I swear that happened. I thought that happened. See, all these Jack Antonoff scenarios that you make up or that I make up, they all sound like they happened, but I don't think they actually did. I don't think that happened. Someone out there could fact-check this for us. I don't think that actually happened.

And, of course, the album that Mitzky put out this year was very sort of in the opposite direction from Jack Antonoff. her going into this Nashville skyline type vibe, which I loved. I loved that record. The land is in hospitable and so are we. So I'm glad that prediction didn't come true. Number three, my third prediction was Oasis announces a reunion tour, which did not happen, but like there is... Rumblings.

There were rumblings all year. There was a recent story, I think it was in the sun, the British tabloid, that, you know, Liam and Noel are really getting along well now because Noel recently got divorced. And apparently his ex-wife was trifling. She's a trifling woman meddling with the, you know, meddling with the friendship between the Galgar brothers, which is a terrible narrative. You're going to blame the wife for these two maniacs not getting along. I mean, that's really shitty.

but I do buy into the idea that Noel's divorce financially will eventually compel him to get back together with Liam. I think that that's like the real story there, not that like, oh, the wife was messing with their relationship and now that she's no longer with Noel. They can get along together. I'm, you know, I'm going to revive this prediction, actually. I'm going to say this year. I'm not going to say they're going to tour this year, but I think they're going to announce. a reunion tour this year. Put it on the books. I'm reviving this prediction for 2024. Bohnhead's, uh, bonehead is waiting with bated breath. Oh man. Bonehead has to be

involved. Yeah. You know, you can have, uh, have Zach Starkey there. There. As the drummer. Because he's a great, he's the best drummer they ever had by far. Get Andy Bell back. Oh, Rye just came back there. I don't know if, uh, he's going to be available. But he's not doing ride 24-7 and if they call him up and they you know get the the the jump truck of cash or pounds or whatever it is of of shillings wait no no after brexit i'm not sure whatever they use over there uh he'll he'll be like sorry ride i'm going with oasis uh so i guess i'm cutting jim archer out of the picture here but yeah Liam knoll bonehead Andy Bell and Zach Starkey.

That is the ultimate Oasis lineup as far as I'm concerned. Make it happen. I think it's going to happen in 2024. All right. Well, let's get to our quarter one fantasy album draft. Now, we did our first ever fantasy draft

last fall. It was a big hit. It was a big hit with us anyway. Like, we liked doing it. Do you think our listeners liked it? It seemed like they were into it. I think they brought it. I think they liked it.

I mean, people would message us about it, and they were predicting metacritic scores along with us. And you know what? If it's a flop, we can just do something else next time. No way. I think this is a new bit on the show. We're going to do quarterly drafts, I think, all the time. We encourage our listeners, get together with your pals,

do your own fantasy drafts. It's really fun. We like doing it. We're talking about the first quarter of 2024. We're talking about albums coming out between basically now in the end of March. And this is traditionally not a super active time for releases. Certainly January, it's kind of a wasteland. Once you get into March, you start to really see a lot of stuff coming out. But I was looking at the release schedule, you know, and there's going to be things announced, obviously, in the upcoming weeks.

but I thought there was actually a good selection of things to pick from. As you were doing your scouting report, did you have trouble coming up with albums you wanted to pick or that you thought would do well? A little bit because, I mean, when we did this last year, you have Olivia Rodriguez, you had like Taylor Swift, and Steve, yeah, Sufion Stevens. There was like some pretty obvious heavy hitters.

You know, that was like the 2003 NBA draft. This is more like 2013 where, I feel like that it's not particularly top heavy, but it will reward the more creative choices, you know, playing the game. And a lot of my candidates might seem a little bit like cheating because they're very much trying to game the Metacritic system. But, yeah, I think this is a little more granular than our last one. So who knows if it'll, you know, be as compelling to the average user. Yeah, this is for the real heads out there. The people who are digging deep into the release schedule.

You're right. I mean, our last draft, that was like if you're looking for a franchise quarterback, that was the draft. This is more like you're looking for your second receiver, you know. Good interior guard, your second receiver, a solid running back. People that you think are going to be on the team for a long time, but maybe not the headline grabbing people. These are your glass eaters, not the guys you can take the top off of defense. Right. You know, I actually, it occurred to me.

I didn't bring this up in the outline, but I actually thought, like, it might be fun in addition to our fantasy team to, like, pick an album that we think we'll get the worst score. Oh, God. Because there's some, like, I was looking at the schedule. You got, like, there's a Scott Stap album coming. And Lenny Kravitz in the same week. Stap and Kravitz. it's uh you know you've got uh i'm curious like how this m gmt album will be received i don't know if you've heard that yet i think well i think that their last album was really kind of uh seen as underrated

so i imagine there'll be a good bump for this one i like them a lot i i just like them historically and uh you know it's interesting they've had a good post kids career um yeah i'm just looking at Wow, you also have a Dragon Force album the same week as Cravitz and Stap. I don't really know what their deal is, but I bet I can imagine it. Dragon Force? I think it's like very sort of, yeah, very theatrical metal. Right. So, I don't know.

Like death clock or whatever? Yeah, something like that. Maybe we don't want that kind of hater energy, though. We want to keep it positive here. Yeah, we already talked about like an hour long, like just completely. destruction of a human being to start this off. We're trying to be positive. We're trying to balance that shit out.

Positive vibes. Okay, so we're each going to pick five albums here. And again, the idea is we're picking albums that we think will be the best reviewed of the year. Not necessarily like the best album or album that we're most excited about, but albums that we think when all of a sudden done and we add up all our metacritic scores, it's going to give us the score that's going to beat the other person. So I have a coin here.

I'm going to flip it and you can call it in the air to determine who goes first. And do we want to do the thing where if you go first, then the second person picks two albums? Yes. Okay. So then if you win the flip, I guess you can choose if you want to go first or second. All right. All right. I'm going to go with heads.

Okay. It's heads. All right. Okay. So you want to go first? Absolutely want to go first. Okay. Okay, so I have a feeling I know what you're going to pick.

Yeah, I'm right. Because there's an album that was announced this week that this is an album that I think is going to be very well reviewed. And it's also an album that I personally am very excited about. So if you want to burn me as well as picking a really strong contender, this is the obvious pick. So why don't you say, what's your number one pick? That's right. We're going to go with idols tank. No, I'm kidding.

Of course, you know what Steve's referring to is Waxahatchy's new album, Tiger's Blood. I'm picking this A because I think it will score quite high. I think this is going to get like Mitzke type numbers. And also I know that if I didn't pick this, Steve would. So, yeah. Yeah, it seems like the first single was received very well. I think that she's a backlash-proof artist. You know, even if we're talking, regardless of like the question.

quality of the record. I think that this feels just like an incredibly safe number one pick. Yeah, as offense and defense. There was no doubt in my mind. Yeah, that was the strongest pick on the board. You didn't even mention that M.J. Lenderman is

on the first single. He plays guitar and he duets with Waxahatchie. So that even makes it more in my wheelhouse. I was a big fan of her previous record, St. Cloud. which came out like four years ago. Yeah, geez.

It's been a while. But that's a very beloved record. It may come up again later in this episode when we talked about the best albums of the 2020s so far. But yeah, that is the strongest contender, I think, on the board. So you got that one. I'm disappointed. I knew you're going to do that.

But now I have two picks, and I feel good about my two picks. I'm going to go Julia Holter. That was definitely on my list. Her albums are very well reviewed historically. Her last record, I think, got the 8.2, but no best new music thing from Pitchfork. But, yeah, I just feel like she's at least high 70s on Metacritic and probably more like mid-80s. So I'm going to go with her, and then I'm going to go with the smile as my other pick. here. The smile, of course.

Tom York, Johnny Greenwood, they have a new album coming out at the end of January called Wall of Eyes. I think I have that title correct. But people love their last record, I love their last record, and it just seems like

a Tom York, Johnny Greenwood album, I can't imagine it not being critically acclaimed. Like, it would have to be a real stinker not to be well reviewed. And it's not a stinker. I've heard the record. It's of course very good. We'll talk about it, I'm sure, later on this month when it comes out. So yeah, the smile. That's my other number two pick. Oh, man. I was, I had my fingers crossed, my toes crossed, held my breath, hoping that you

wouldn't pick this one. I'm going to go with Brittany Howard. Oh. Yeah, that's one like you might not think of immediately, but, you know, to kind of put our Indycast listeners up to speed. This is the former, I guess former Alabama Shakes, uh, singer, songwriter, guitarist. Is that official? Like,

are they done? There just seems like a given that they're done. I mean, since they've been on hiatus since 2018. I think like the drummer had like some pretty bad legal stuff happen. I can't, I don't want to like get into slander or whatever, but like,

I think it was pretty bad. Um, so, I mean, and I think that like we've been just kind of waiting for like, Alabama Shake comeback because like I think it would be really well received but like I don't think we need that like if we're talking about like metacritic or narrative Alabama Shakes was kind of holding her back because no matter like what sort of progress they made on you know their second

album which one was that what was it the color or something or other what was that sound and color I was about to say the color and the shape but uh we know that's not what it is um yeah I think that like they are kind of tied to that sort of, you know, pork pie hat suspender kind of, even if they don't really belong there, they're kind of still seen as that. But whereas Brutie Howard can be kind of seen as their own thing. And I think that her album so far has been, you know, well received. The single has been well received. People are really rooting for her.

And regardless of like whether or not it's seen as like a cool album, like you know, that when November No, actually like when October comes in like the print magazines like Mojo and Uncut have to release their best of 2024, this is definitely going to be on there. So I mean has this been Does it have a release date?

February 2nd. Oh wow. Okay. I believe that's what it says on Wikipedia, man. Unless I'm God, unless I'm wrong. Because on the Metacritic site there's no release date. put for it. So

are we going to trust Wikipedia? Well, trust it for now. We might have to revisit this. I believe it was on Pitchfork's most anticipated. Okay. Yeah, she's touring with Lorraine. I mean... Okay. That's why it slipped my notice because Metacritic apparently is slow on the trigger here putting it on their schedule. So my scouting reports are faulty here. I got to fire one of my scouts

for that one. That's a good pick. For my next pick, I'm going to go with Serpent with Feet as my next pick. This is something, you know, we've talked about this in the past, in our last draft. The Dune North for music critics is this already experimental R&B type music. And, I mean, Lorraine, I think, falls under that. And her album was very well received. Her album is like, I wouldn't even call it R&B. It is more like in the experimental side

But like that kind of music Just always does really well with critics And I know like the last Serpent with Feet album was well received I just feel like this is the kind of album That is going to get good reviews Probably low 80s, maybe mid-80s I would be surprised if it was lower than that So that's going to be my next pick

Serping with Feet That's a good pick I feel though that This is like when me doing in like my scouting report, I feel like, this is like someone who has like a low key injury history. Like I think that I do, like this was all my list as well,

but I also think that Serpent with Feats like kind of peaked in terms of like critical appeal. So it was, it was something I would pick at the end, take a flyer on it. But I still think that's a solid pick. Yeah, I mean, I see what you're saying.

I still, I mean, I don't think it's going to get the, uh, earth-shaking reviews, but I do think Serpent with Feet is in that zone, like, where... It'll get you at least some Sampah numbers. It's going to get, like, a 7.8 to an 8.2, like, on pitchfork.

It's going to be in that zone, unless the album is terrible. But I think it had to be really terrible for it to do less than that. So I feel good about that. That album, by the way, is called GRIP. It comes out February 16th. So... Same day as idols, by the way. Are you going to take idols?

No. Isn't my pick, though? Yeah, it's your pick. All right. Well, I'm not going to go with idols, but, you know, I should probably wait to pick this one because I don't think you're going to go for it. But whatever, I like a good segue. So as I was, like, researching for our best of the 2020s discussion, one of the highest rated albums of this past decade is Black Country New Roads, ants from up there, which I think absolutely deserves it. one of my favorites of the decade.

But I'm going to go with a quite similar act with Yard Act. So I think that this band, this is like one of those talk punk bands in the UK. They got kind of an LCD sound system thing going on. They're like on a major label now, I think, like Island maybe. And I feel like this one has that kind of ants from up there potential where regardless of like, you know, what, you know, American public. publications think about it, I do anticipate the British ones going absolutely apeshit over it. So I think this is like a, it'll probably hold on Metacritic at like a 98 for a few weeks

and then go back to a more reasonable level. But I'm pretty bullish on this one. Yard Act. When does that album come up? I believe March. March 1st, I believe that is. That's right. Because Metacritic does factor in the British press. So it's not just Americans here that we're talking about. The Brits, and the Brits, they're like, they put the thumb on the scale. Yes. They tend to, like, really go for something if they like it. So that is a good pick.

Second album bump, I'm thinking nuance from up there. Okay, all right, I like the pick. For my next pick, I'm going to go with Manicin Pussy. Their new album comes out, I believe, March 1st. This is the first full-length album that they put out, I think, in five years. Yeah, 2019. They had an EP that came out a few years after that, but it's been like a weirdly long time since they put out a record.

I've actually heard this record. I think it's quite good. I just think that there's a good amount of goodwill toward that band. I could see people really embracing what they do. It's like a very kind of like 90s sounding rock record. And they are on epitaph, so, you know, they come by that connection. naturally. Yeah, I just think this album, again, I think it's going to be like a solid, like, low to mid-80s

type performer. And I think it deserves it. I think it's a good record, and people are going to go for it. So Manicin Pussy is my next pick. Yeah, I like that pick. That was up there. I've heard the record. It's really good.

I think there might be a little, that's like a solid pick. There's a little bit of a ceiling on it, I think, because. But, yeah, solid nonetheless. But, you know, that's the draft we have, though. Like, there's not, you know, I think, like, Waxahatchie, I think Julia Holter is another one that will do really well. But the rest of these, you're really looking for something that's going to at least hit the 80s. I think that's... A road grader, a nail eater.

Like, I don't think any of the albums we've mentioned so far will go into the 90s, with the exception of Waxahatchie. I think that could maybe enter the 90s level on Metacritic, but the rest of these, I would be surprised if they score that high. All right, so I've picked four albums. You've picked three. It's time for your fourth pick. What do you got? Okay, so I'm going to go, okay, so with my next pick, I'm going to go, you know, last time we did this, I went really, really heavy on kind of left-of-center R&B slash pop.

And, you know, I hadn't done that yet, but now I'm going to go with Cal Uchis. She has an album coming out this Friday called it's Orcadias. I believe it's, again, this is a Spanish language album for the most part. so I'm going to completely butcher it. But this is someone who's been like pretty reliable as far as putting out, you know, pop or like pop records slash R&B records that are really well received, but not overexposed. And, you know, pretty prolific. And I saw a guy album of the week on Stereo Gum, which, you know, what are you going to do? It's not much else happening.

But, yeah, I feel like this is, uh, how. high ceiling album. Especially, I do think the fact that it is, like Spanish language, is going to be helping it out because you're going to get like the person who, you know, like really, really focuses on Spanish language music reviewing it, which means that they're going to give it a lot more of a, you know, a meaningful listen than just someone's like, oh, this is a popular album. I guess we should cover it. So this one feels, this one feels pretty safe for me.

haven't heard it yet, haven't seen what the reviews are, but yeah, I feel like this one. I got to go with what's worked for me in the past, which is, yeah, kind of left of center R&B. All right, that's a good pick. I've got one more pick here, and I'm going to take a flyer on this artist here. I actually think that this person will be very well reviewed,

even though they've been somewhat under the radar. It's a singer-songwriter from Texas named Katie Kirby. She has an album called Blue Raspberry that is dropping this fall. I am Googling this as I am talking. It comes out at the end of the month on January 26th. And this is going to be her first record in three years. Her last record came out in 2021. It was called Cool, Dry Place.

And it wasn't widely reviewed. But it's one of those records that I feel like built-up buzz. after it came out. Like, Pitchfork, for instance, didn't review the record, but then when they did one of those, like, roundups of, like, albums you might have missed. Like, it was in there. And I really feel like this is the kind of artist who maybe people weren't on top of her record

when it came out, but they discovered it after the fact. And now they've built up this love and goodwill over the last three years that they're going to put into her next record. So the love that people had for Cool, for Dry Place will transfer, to this album, and this is going to be the record where people who are into her are really going to be able to sing her praises. So taking a little bit of a risk here, because I don't know if that groundswell is there, but I sense that it is, and I think that this record could be like one of those early year gems that people get excited about. So I'm going to say Katie Kirby is my fifth and final pick.

It's a good pick. You know, there's a lot of makeup call potential for this album. In the sense that you're right, the previous one was a grower. I know a lot of people are super into it. They're on anti now, which, by the way, anti-records got like Waxeahatchy, Katie Kirby, the M.J. Lenderman, I don't know what they're cooking over at the office at the epitaph anti-offices. But gosh, big year for them. Yeah, they're doing great.

In 2020. Good stuff coming. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe convince Japan droids to put out something because I think they're still on the anti-website. We'll see. Do we have any Japan droids predictions for 2024? I'm going to say there will not be a Japan Troids album in 2020. Yeah, I don't think there will be a Japan droids album. No, it's a sensitive singer

song right around from Brian King, you know, just him in an acoustic guitar. Ooh. All right. What's your last pick? All right. This one feels kind of like cheating. Or it's like one of those like late round flyer is in the NBA where you pick like someone who's just like dominating the Macedonian league or whatever or they're just like someone who's like 16 years old but like seven foot four I mean that like I'm not trying to like knock what this person's doing but um I'm playing the numbers and you know what do you want to know what the highest rated metacritic score of all time is uh well it would be a hundred not really it's It's a, it's a, I'm looking at the album releases of all time.

It's an album called 10 Freedom Summers by Wadada Leo Smith. It's a four-disc set from the jazz trumpeter inspired by the civil rights movement. It came out in 2020. It came out in 2012. So, I'm relying on, I'm going to go with something jazz here. So it's jazz, but something that does get reviewed by mainstream sites. So I'm going with the VJIA trio. They got an album called Compassion coming out in,

I believe March. And their last album, which was called Uneasy, got a 8.5 on Metacritic. It got an 8.6 best new music. And so this strikes me as like, if there's going to be one album mainstream places review, this is going to be the one. So, yeah, it's a little off the beaten path. I'll listen to it because, you know, VJ.I. Air did a, he, he, he, he, he produce a Das Racist song back in 2010 as well.

So I feel like this one's going to kind of be a surprise. I think that this one might be a tiebreaker. If we're getting close, like this is one where I think playing the numbers is going to help me. See, this is, this shows the depth of your scouting department going with this because going with like the jazz record that gets reviewed by mainstream sites, that is such a good. I got to take my cap off to you.

This is like, you know, going, like finding a soccer player to be your field goal kicker. You know, like, Dallas did that. No one thinks, oh, we got to look at football teams. Like, no, I'm going to go to people who actually kick a ball all the time. That's going to be my new kicker. The rugby punter. Yeah. And, yeah, the, because, yeah, there's no way, like, if this album gets reviewed, it will be because people love it.

You're not going to, like, trash a jazz record on a mainstream site because people won't care. So if you've got the jazz group with like mainstream critical cachet, yeah, that's at least like a 85 on Metacritic. Damn, that's a good pick, man. That's your best pick. That was a smart pick. Yeah, it really is. Yeah, I was wondering if you would like come from like the previous one trying to like take a different tack. But yeah, it's.

Well, I will now. I will now. Yeah. I've learned from you. Like that is a, that's a smart pick. Yeah, I also had other out, like Callie Malode, who's like a kind of a modern classical person who like is reviewed on major sites and I think married to someone from Sonno. Yeah, so I had a lot. And also I had Letitia Sadiere from Stereo Lab as the possible like Sparkle Horse pick for like just like all the 50 year olds are going to like give it a positive review.

Oh yeah, for sure. I did my, I did my homework. I mean, the absolute best pick is if you got an electric. artist collaborating with a jazz artist. Like that is like... The floating points, pharaoh standards. Exactly. That is like, you are... You're going to be eating with that

on your team, man. That is like the best fantasy album draft pick of all time. So, okay, so we have our teams here. Your team is Waxahatchee, Brittany Howard, Yard Act, Cali Uchus, and the VJ Iver Trio or Iler or Iyer? VJ Iyer Triot. My team is the Smile, Julia Holter, Serpent with Feet,

Mannequin Pussy, Katie Kirby. I feel good. We'll see how it goes. The jazz pick kind of threw me off because I think that's a really strong pick. And you got Waxahatchie. Those are two strong picks. But I don't know.

I think my team got the smile. I think that their money in the bank and they got a lot of bunch of other solid people. So we'll see what happens. Excited to see it unfold our fantasy draft. And again, at home, if you're listening,

together with your pals do a fantasy draft let us know who you picked great to hear from you um let's go to our last topic here and this is related to a column i wrote this week where i wrote about what i think are the early critical favorites for the best albums of the 2020s uh we're 40% done with this decade already and it seems early to be talking about this but i guarantee that by the end of this year you're going to be seeing mid-decade lists by all the publications. Like this is when they... Maybe even by the middle of the year. Maybe.

I mean, it's going to be done. So, like, I'm not that ahead really of the gun. And I had a list of 10 albums that I think are maybe going to be the ones in contention. And we'll talk about that in a minute. But one of the, I guess, I guess the central thesis of my column is that I think that with these best of the decade lists, albums that come out earlier in the decade, especially, you know, from the year ending in zero to the year ending in three, there's a certain kind of home field advantage that those records have. It seems like most of the time, the album of the decade comes from that period or maybe like the mid part of the period. Like once you get to like the year ending in eight or nine, those records don't even show up a lot of the time, at least like, not at the top, at least in lists that are made in the moment. Like if you're doing like a retrospective list, like if you're doing like, oh, the best

albums of the 70s and you're writing that in 2024, that obviously changes things. But like in the moment, I think that there is a home field advantage to an album that comes out earlier in the decade just because there's a certain sort of baked in prestige with those records. In a sense, they've already stood the test of time, or at least they've survived the decade. So I think it's possible, and maybe even likely, that the album that will be named eventually the best album of the decade has already come out. At least that's the theory I'm forwarding in this column. What do you think about that?

Do you think that's legit? Do you have any quibbles with that? I think it absolutely is legit. You know, I would, if I were to write the same article, it would, if I would write a similarly themed article, be almost exactly the same. because, yeah, I think that when you do a decade list, you're not just ranking the best albums of the decade or your favorite. You're trying to, you know, present a narrative of what happened, right, in that particular decade. So, you know, like, never mind. I mean, like, if you're talking about the nice, that's got to be up there.

Or if you're, like, more Indian-clined, you've got to say, like, slanted and chanted. And in the same way, when we look back on the 2010s, I think you're absolutely. absolutely correct in that blonde is or Channel Orange, you know, one of those two is going to be the album that really signifies what the 2010s were for people who write about music. I need to make that. Right, right. And Blonde is like at the outer edge of this. That's like mid-2010s.

That's 2016. Channel Orange, obviously. That's early. That's 2012. My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, you know, was 2010. that's another one that gets mentioned. I think if Kanye hadn't lost his mind, that might still be considered the best album of the decade.

Yeah. It was when we did the mid-decade at Pitchfork, which, by the way, it's really, I would recommend going back to that because you can really see the recency bias of that, like Benji's in the top 10s that clearly came out before War on Drugsuck My Cock. Right.

We did that in like the middle of the year. I'm like, yeah, this seems a bit early. But, yeah, you get like, how to dress well on there, real estate, Atlas, like big 2014. Well, and that's the flip side of what I was saying before is that sometimes there is a thing that happens where by the end of the decade, you might look at stuff that came out earlier as being maybe dated or from a different time. And I didn't write about this in my column.

I kind of wish I did. I thought about it after the fact. But an interesting wrinkle in the 2020s is the shutdown, period. you know that like 2020 to 2021 period and how how is that going to age? Like are people going to look back on that and cringe? Or are they going to look back on that and say there was something really important about that period that we want to remember? Because I get, well, let me run down my list. These are the 10 albums that I picked out just based on year-end lists that have come out that I think are the early contend. for like an album of the decade type conversation.

We got Always Blue Rev. This is an alphabetical order. Always Blue Rev. Fiona Apple, fetch the bolt cutters. Beyonce Renaissance. Boy Genius, the record. Beebe Bridgers Punisher. Japanese Breakfast Jubilee.

Olivier Rodrigo Sauer. Rosalia Motomami. Taylor Swift folklore. Tyler the creator. Call me if you get lost. And Siza, SOS. What am I missing from there? I would switch maybe Japanese breakfast with turnstile

just because I think that turnstiles impact is so much more profound. Like Japanese breakfast will definitely be up there, but I think that's kind of a self-contained thing. But otherwise I got nothing to disagree with. I think that as far, there's going to be some stuff that obviously comes out of the woodworks because, I mean, we're trying to speculate, like, 2029. Like, even when I was doing the 2014 mid-decade, I'm like, yeah, the industry, like, the way we talk about music,

it's probably going to be pretty similar in 2019, but I can't guarantee that in 2020. I don't know. Like, I feel like when you look at these best of the decade lists, they tend to be loaded with albums that were loved immediately. Like, there really aren't a lot of grower records on those lists. Again, like, when people do the, the retrospective list where they're looking back with some perspective, that's when you get

the grower records on there. You know, like when we talk about the 80s, for instance, like Kate Bush does way better now than critics in the 80s when they were making their list. You know, like people just look at her as more important now than they did then. So, I don't know. I actually disagree with you on Japanese breakfast just because I feel like she has a level of fame even beyond music. You know, she wrote a best-selling book. I just think that that aspect of what she does is going to add some importance to that record. I mean, I feel like maybe Bad Bunny should be in here too somewhere. Oh, yeah, right, right.

That's one person I would add. But anyway, you know, it's not a perfect list, but it gives you an idea of what, you know, was in critical favor, I guess, so far this decade. And it is interesting comparing it to like the 2010's list, because what you get in the 2020s is less big tent hip hop, which in the 2010s, like, that was it. That was it. It was Kanye.

It was Kendrick Lamar. It was Drake. It was Drake. And Staples. Right. Yeah. Those are the people dominating these sorts of things. But in the 2020s, you're seeing less of that and just a ton of female singer

songwriters. Like, female singer songwriters like run the show. in 2020, starting with Taylor Swift and all the way on down. What I predicted in my column, I was like, if I had to put a million dollars on an album that I think at the end of the decade, out of the ones that I've already come out, like what would be called the album of the decade, my bet was Punisher, the Phoebe Bridgers record. I do think that's a good record, but I also think that it's just so, It feels influential and it feels emblematic, certainly of the decades so far.

What do you think about that? Yeah, I hate to be kind of boring with it, but I couldn't pick. That feels like it's it for me because, you know, I think this past decade has felt a lot more, like, reactive to what's going on as opposed to even like 2010 to 2014 and still felt like the music press, like, could help shape. the narrative in ways that like weren't going to be played out by the public. But yeah, like bolt cutters has the best numbers, but it still feels like kind of this isolated incident. I don't see it as like being this massive, you know, influential album. I mean, I don't think it could really be replicated. And, you know, things like Taylor Swift or what have you, I think you could put it there, but it's that that, it still feels again like a little too reactive. And I think Punisher

threads the needle of being of the pandemic. I think that's important, but it's not like tied to it. If that makes any sense, like, it reminds you of, like, what it was like to be in the early 2020s. It is extremely influential. Like, we're still living in the Punisher era, I think. And as far as, like, what gets signed, what gets covered, like, the way music is written. And, and I think that.

that aspect of Punisher gives it the, like, this gives it like the, this is the biggest fatal flaw because I think of anyone we mentioned so far, that is the artist with the biggest possibility of a, of a backlash. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because, like, I mean, boy genius, like, obviously it parlayed in all three of them, the hype and the love.

And I don't think that there's this sense that like people are kind of getting tired of that sound, that persona or what have you. But I also think that there it happens with every generation that like maybe Phoebe Bridgers by the time we get to 2029 as seen as the equivalent of LCD sound system where a lot, but I mean in the sense like LCD sound system spoke so. directly to a certain generation's anxieties and their ways of interacting with music. And it seemed like that run would never end, right? Or Animal Collective, for that matter. There's the possibility that Phoebe Bridgers is seen in a very, very short amount of time as like, oh, like, OK, Boomer or like millennial stuff or, you know, like Gen Z when they get kind of usurped in the cultural canon. that can happen.

I'm not saying it's going to happen, but compared to every other artist that we've mentioned so far, like her legacy still feels like it's in play. That's not true of Beyonce. That's not true of Taylor Swift. So that'll be very interesting to see. Yeah, I think that's a great point. And it will be interesting to see how different the early 2020s are

in comparison to the late 2020s. Like, look, this is just like a thought experiment We're not obviously seriously talking about, you know, the best albums of the decade. We know there's like a lot of decade left and there may be records on the horizon that just blow all these away. I actually hope that happens because it's exciting to think about what's ahead of us. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see like how different things are or how different they're not. You know, I mean there will be changes obviously. And depending on how things unfold, people are going to look at Punisher as like,

a foundational record, like a nevermind, or they're going to look at it like you said, you know, LCD sound system, this is happening, you know, and comes out in 2010, one of the most beloved records of that year. And then, you know, 10 years later, maybe people feel something different about it. I think with LCD sound system, the fake breakup, that can't be overrated in terms of, like, how they're looked at. I know, like, for me, it just made James Murphy look kind of clownish, you know, especially that movie that he made.

Oh, yeah. You know, like, where he's crying, looking at his gear at the end of the movie. It's like, come on, dude. It looks so fake. And look, I don't want to get into the weeds here. We don't need to digress on James Murphy. I'm sure he felt that way in the moment, but it just looks bad, given what happened afterward.

But, yeah. I think he likes gear more than people. So I found that to be very believable. Yeah, I suppose. But yeah, I don't know. Phoebe Bridger's punisher. We're giving you the crown right now. Congratulations, Phoebe.

Maybe you'll finally start getting some press. We've now reached the part of our episode that we call Recommendation Corner, where Ian and I recommend something that we're into this week. Ian, once you go first. All right, so I want to recommend a band called Infant Island. At the day we're recording, Thursday, a interview. up at Stereo gum. They are a, I guess you would call them, like, kind of screamo,

uh, black gaze, ambient, kind of, uh, they got a cosmic gumbo, if you will. But no, if you like that, if you wish like death heaven albums were like half as long, uh, that's about as good of a pitch I can give to it. Um, also Alex, the guitarist from the band, great, uh, Twitter follow as well. Uh, they represent, uh, Virginia, which I always love. Um, but yeah, I mean, this is, it's kind of odd to like,

have an album drop on the 12th. You know, it's like this is before the album release cycle picks up in earnest, which is why we're doing kind of this, you know, kind of a buffet style episode today. But yeah, this one, if you have gym resolutions and like you're already like, ah, fuck this. Put this one on. It'll help you out.

I love you getting back into gym music. I feel like you haven't done like a gym recommendation in a while, but I know that that is like one of the bedrocks of your. musical aesthetic. So it's good for the gym listeners out there, for the gym cast fans. We've got a good recommendation there. So I'm going to talk about a record that's not going to be out for two months, but there's just not much going on right now. And this album was announced this week. So I want to hype it early here. It's called Bite Down, and it's by an artist named Rosalie. And this is my favorite record that I've heard so far this year. I've had this record for a while. I've heard,

I've got a lot of promos for albums coming out in the early part of 2024, but this album is my favorite. I listened to it a bunch over the holiday break. I just think it's a brilliant record. Rosalie, you may know her. She put out a record three years ago called No Medium that I was also a big fan of. That was in my top five albums of 2021. And she's a great singer-songwriter.

She has been working lately with this guy, David Nance, who is a dude from Nebraska. He has a great band called Mode Sound. They have a very sort of like crazy horse type vibe to them. And they give that to Rosalie. She has like a beautiful voice. Like one of the best singers, I think, around. Kind of reminds me of like Sandy Denny from like Fairport Convention era.

And then you put that voice next to this like rock and band. Lots of chugel, lots of like feedback guitars. It's so great. and I'll be talking more about this album when it comes out. I'm planning to write about it, but I just want to put it out there. There's a new single from the record that you can find on streaming platforms. Definitely look it up.

It's a great taste of the record. Go to No Medium, too. If you haven't listened to that yet, the musically, aesthetically, it's very similar to the album, Bight Down, coming out in a few months. And of course, I also have to hype. We already talked about this, but Waxahatchie, the new single called Right Back to It,

with MJ Lenderman, need I say more, that's great as well. That's also out March 22nd. So that's going to be a big day for me in the springtime. So, yeah, sorry, I couldn't talk about an album out today. Just couldn't find one, but there's some good singles for you to check out and records to look forward to you in a few months. Yeah, I mean, you could have done Bill Ryder Jones, which is out today. He's got an 89 on Metacritic right now.

Oh, man. Yeah, it's his first album, it's the British singer-songwriter, first album since 2019's Yawning Yon. If you could believe it, record collector and uncut love this thing. Oh man, see, that's another one. That's another category, the like uncut record collector type core, you know, like if you can. King Creosote, yeah. If you get in that, you can kind of like cheat, like the album that's only going to be reviewed by three places.

And you end up getting a 90 for that reason. That's a good way to game the system. Another way, another thing to consider in the next draft. 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 Taped newsletter. You can go to uprocks.com backslash indie, and I recommend five albums per week, and we'll send it directly to your email box.