Indiecast - The Most Anticipated Albums Of Fall 2020

Episode Date: September 4, 2020

With most of the year behind us, it's time to look forward to what we are expecting from the remaining months of 2020. In our fall music preview episode, Steven and Ian discuss upcoming projects from artists like A.G. Cook, Sufjan Stevens, Bartees Strange, Mary Lattimore, Matt Berninger, Deftones, Lana Del Rey, Idles, Touche Amore, Beabadoobee, and Respire.In addition to the albums Steven and Ian are looking forward to this fall, this week's Recommendation Corner is dedicated to Bill Callahan's 'Gold Record' and the 2002 film '24 Hour Party People,' starring Steve Coogan.Check out our full list of anticipated fall albums here: https://uproxx.com/music/most-anticipated-albums-fall-2020/Sign up for the Indie Mixtape newsletter: https://uproxx.com/indie/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're going to be looking ahead to the fall of 2020 in previewing some of our most anticipated albums of the season. My name is Stephen Hayden, and I'm joined by my friend and co-host, Ian Cohen. Ian, how are you?

Well, I think every week I just kind of see, like, just how grim 2020. is and my example is that earlier in the week the the big tweet prompt was post a picture of yourself from January 2020 where you were unaware of what was to come now I had no pictures of myself at the time I did have a video of dog leg playing Kawasaki backflip opening for Glass Beach that was cool that being said it just really drove home how the acceleration of nostalgia it's like man Remember January 2020? That was awesome, man. We were all like sitting around,

listen to that Destroyer album that came out. It just makes me realize, particularly with this show, like if the trend holds, we're going to be looking back at this. Like, man, remember September 2020? Those are the good old days. What the heck were we doing

looking forward to anything? So that's the kind of state I'm in right now, Steve. How about you? Yeah, you know, it's so funny that like January 2020 now is this sort of Halcyon age that we all look back to. with such nostalgia because I feel like at the time, you know, people were just complaining about

Donald Trump or, you know, whatever else was going on in the world at that time. But, you know, it's fun to look forward to the fall here and all this music that's going to be coming out. I'm curious, like, you're in San Diego. Do they actually have autumn in San Diego? Is there any, like, distinction to this season? So we don't really have, like, fall, like autumn per se with, like, like, like the change of the foliage and so forth, or football for that matter, since the Chargers left

town. But we do have like June gloom and also kind of like May gray as well. So those are like weather specific patterns that are, like, are native to San Diego. So we don't get fall, but we kind of get that like really wistful time. It just so happens to go on while everyone else is experiencing summer. Okay. So, like, I guess, so instead of it being like 78, it's like 74 degrees? Yeah, it's like 68 all day for like five straight weeks. And it's like there's not, the sun's not out, and maybe one time it rains.

And then in the winter, there's like two days where it just like torrential downpours and everything gets muddy. So, I mean, we got it, we got a rough out here, man. Yeah, well, you know. No time to barbecue. Well, actually, that's not true. We could barbecue like 300 days of the year. Yeah, I was going to say, like, I live in Minnesota, and everyone knows what it's like in Minnesota in the wintertime.

We're actually, my wife and I are actually talking about buying some heat lamps so that we can hang outside in the winter. And, you know, I can grill out more and all that stuff. So, you know, we have to revert to heat lamps just to go outside where I live. I just realized, why did we not call this podcast, looking California and feeling Minnesota? I don't know, that's a major missed opportunity. Oh, wow, man. Yeah, well, you know, again, looking at this year, and I don't want to dwell too much on this before we get to our fall preview

because I'm sure we're going to be talking about this later on this year. But just looking at 2020 overall, I've got to say, like, I think this is like a pretty strong gear for music. And I tend to be a little resistant to making proclamations like that because I really think that every year is a strong year. year for music if you know where to look. And there's also always disappointments in a particular year so you could always make the case that maybe years down if you're looking in a bad area. But I don't know. I just feel like for all the terrible things that have happened this year,

it seems like there's been like a pretty consistent week in and week out turnout of like records that are pretty strong. I don't know like how you feel about that. I mean, do you have any kind of general feelings about this year so far? I think this year has been really strong for the narrative. Like there have been a lot of, you know, big time albums that people have really rallied upon. Now, on a personal note, it just seems that even like when a record comes out and no matter how much I like it, I tend to, it kind of slips my mind like two weeks after it comes out because usually, like I talked about this with bands who are releasing albums now as compared to 2018. and if you're not touring or if you're not putting out like videos or what have you, it's really tough to stay in people's minds. And even records like I truly love stuff,

that's going to be in my top 10. I have to like remind myself to listen to that only because, you know, like they kind of have to fade away for a second and also because I'm just trying to find new things. But I think this year like you're right. There's no such thing as a bad year. But I think there are some years you can look back like 2000. for example or 2012 where it's like that was a year for a lot of big records like a lot of real consensus kind of meaty records and that's definitely been true of 2020 thus far yeah and you know i think you're

right in that and this is i think just the function of the way the world is now with social media and streaming music that like it seems like albums have less of a time in the spotlight that you have maybe a week where people are talking about it a lot and it seems front of mind and then it fades away. However, there are a couple records that I feel like I see people bringing up consistently, like the Phoebe Bridgers record for instance. Of course, yeah. Or like the Waxahachi record saying cloud, I feel like comes up. People seem to be listening to that consistently through the year. So, you know, I think you can already see the albums that are

going to probably be the, you know, sort of benchmark records of the year. And then, of course, course there's always the albums that are, you know, maybe not as paid attention to in the moment, but then they end up being really huge when you look back on the year. So, you know, that's always fun to see how that develops. But before we get to that conversation, because I'm sure, again, we're going to be talking a lot about 2020 retrospective things very soon on this podcast. Let's look ahead to the fall of 2020. We're each going to talk about five albums that for the most part we're excited about. In some cases, they're just albums that we think are going to be notable, even if maybe we have mixed feelings about them like you or I.

But why don't you start? What is the first album on your list? All right. So first album on my list is, I mean, at the risk of playing too much to type, it's the new Deftones album, Oams, which comes out in about four weeks on September 25th. So Deftones is a band that can take four years between albums, but they're always kind of there. I don't think I go more than like three days without like a rank the Deftones album sort of tweet thread going on.

They, I mean, they haven't gone away since Gore, which was their last album in 2016. They had the Dia De Los Deftones Festival in San Diego of all places. Like I think that is so indicative of what Deftones are about. They have this awesome festival. They have like Doja Cat and like Megan the Stallion years before they topped the Billboard charts. They had like Hum and Goeura and Rockin from the Crip. And they had it in San Diego, like at Petco Park. This just like really cool thing, but with like a really uncool packaging.

And that's Deftones for you. But, you know, with this new album, I'm excited about it because they reunited with Terry Date. He's the guy who produced the first four Deftones albums, including around the fur and white pony and also Allison Chain's Dirt. I got to talk to these guys for this project I'm doing. And I brought up to them this tweet about. how they're more influential on indie rock than the Velvet Underground at this point.

I mean, they all laughed it off and they're like, this is absolutely ridiculous. But if you look at like every heavy band that tries to play kind of pretty, like on run for cover or triple crown, there is like no heavy band that doesn't acknowledge that Deftones' his influence. And between them and Hum dropping a record this year, I wonder if a lot of those bands kind of wish they held off. That being said, this one I'm excited about because Steph Carpenter, he's the guitarist. He was playing an eight-string guitar, and if you think if you look at the video for the title track, he's playing a nine-string guitar now.

This one, I just get carpal tunnel just looking at it. But this record, I'm excited about, A, because it's a new Deftones record, they've never put out anything that is remotely mediocre, even if I think their game-changing days are behind them. but what excites me about it is that people who weren't into their last couple thought it was too spacey too mellow like this one is riffs like you will hear all nine strings on this album and i think the people who these are deaf tones fans like oh when you're going to make a heavy record again like this one's for them so uh always fun to talk about deaf tones this time they have an actual album maybe they'll put out black stallion which is the rumored uh white pony remix album so let's clear the vaults, guys.

Well, and I have a feeling that we're going to be talking about that record again when we're reviewing it versus previewing it. So it's fun to mention that record at this point. I got the promo of this album yesterday, and I listened to about a third of it. So I can say that the first third definitely reflects what you just said about the heaviness of the record. I'm also talking to Chino Moreno next week for a story on uprocks.com. So just a little preview there for people out there. I'm excited to talk to Chino. I talked to him on my previous podcast, Celebration Rock, when Gore came out.

So, yeah, I'm sure we'll be revisiting Deftones probably very soon on this podcast, I imagine. The first album on my list is a record called Apple by a guy named A-G Cook. That's A-period, G-Py-Cook. That record comes out on September 18th. And if you don't know Cook's work, he's, I think, probably more celebrated as a producer at this point. In 2020, he's already had a very busy year. He was the executive producer of the Charlie XEX record, How I'm Feeling Now. He, I believe, has been involved in her last four records. He's also the executive producer of the upcoming Yonzie solo album, Shiver.

But for me, like, I've been most interested in the music that he's put out himself. Before the record that's going to be coming out in September here, he put out this massive release called 7G. It's a 49 song album, which he delineates as being on seven separate discs, which as a CD fan, I love people speaking in the terminology of CDs. And it's important thematically on 7G because each disc has its own theme. And Cook really, he is like a musical polymath. He can go to many different styles of music. There's pop music, there's electronic music. There's even some sort of like throwback sort of indie rock. a little bit on those on that album and I have to be frank that I haven't listened much to

Apple yet because I've been so busy listening to 7g I mean there's so much music on that record in a way it kind of reminds me of the Magnetic Fields record 69 love songs just in terms of being an expansive record of course it's not quite as big as the Magnetic Fields record but Cook to me is just one of those artists that it's a super talented person can really do lots of different things. But no matter what he does, he's always coming up with like really melodic, catchy songs. And I think along with 7G, you know, Apple is more of a conventional record, much more succinct. He's just one of those people that's on my list right now where I'm always curious about like what he's going to be doing.

I guess I've gone this far. I should also mention that he is of course one of the, I think he is the mastermind of PC music, which of course has been a very strong force in the field of indie pop. for the last several years. So again, that record's called Apple. It's by A.G. Cook, it comes out September 18th. Steve reppping for PC music, man. Hey, man.

He says, he says bop on the last episode and, you know, all of a sudden. Like, we are seeing the pivot right here. Renaissance, man. Yeah, I want to bring up the fact that A.G. Cook's, uh, 7G. The guitar part of it, like it has a cover of Blur's Beetlebum on there. But the important thing to note is that that stuff really sounds like American football. like a shock like shockingly like emo revival type stuff and um i want to like one tweet that was sent uh to me was uh joyce manner saying they asked uh ag cook to do a remix of heart tattoo in 2014

like back when pc music was at its absolute like zenith of uh internet hype and uh a g turned them down so uh i hope that i hope those two finally get to meet up man yeah i mean maybe that's like a recent uh thing that he's into you know the sort of email thing. In 2014, Joyce Manor might have been one year out the other, but maybe he's just digging American football lately. And who isn't? It's fall, man. Exactly. What's next? So, Steve, as much as I'm like excited about music that's coming out like at the fall of 2020, I'm just a fan of the game. I'm a fan of the narrative, so to speak. I like a good internet day. and I'm going to bring up a couple albums, which to me, I don't know how excited about them,

like, for what the content is, but just for what content it might produce. So I think we have to bring up Lana Del Rey's album, Chemtrails Over the Country Club. It was supposed to come out, I think, on next Friday. It has been obviously delayed. But what I'm interested to see is that I think every now and again you get this consensus beloved record where there's this, like, bubbling sense. that not everyone's being heard, particularly the people who aren't, like, totally into it. I saw that with Arcade Fire's Reflector.

I saw that with Chance the Rapper's Coloring Book, where people who weren't quite into it just kind of kept their mouth shut. And I think maybe that's sort of the case with Norman fucking Rockwell. I mean, it's a, I think it really played the role of 2019s album in the year really, really well. I think she's an artist that's always going to be kind of both like really underrated and really overrated at the same time. But that being said, I think the backlash is probably going to come.

But what I really love about what she's doing is that she's leaning right into it by releasing a poetry book and maybe just putting out like a quick record with an album title like Kemp Trails Over the Country Club. I'm interested just to see if there's any residual backlash from the last down, but also just to see where she goes from this point. Because in a lot of ways, Norman Focke and Rockwell was the culmination of the 2010. and just interesting to see how she pivots into this new decade

that she kind of predicted throughout her past work. Yeah. I mean, it's interesting to me with Lana Del Rey because you mentioned Chance the Rapper and Arcade Fire. I think the difference with Lana Del Rey is that those artists had a honeymoon period where critics really loved them and then there was this sort of exhaustion that set in

that I think also coincided with them putting out kind of lousy albums. Well, yeah, of course. But like with LDR, I mean, she's always had backlashes throughout her career. So, you know, I don't know if there is necessarily going to be a backlash with her. I do think with Norman fucking Rockwell that there was a theme in a lot of the reviews of that record where I think some critics felt like they had to sort of almost correct the historical record. It was almost like responding to critics back in, I guess, what was that, 2012 or so when Born and I came out.

And it was like saying, no, you were wrong. She was always a genius. And this record is sort of the, you know, the confirmation of that. And, yeah, I think you're right in that there were probably people that weren't as into that album as, you know, some of the very sort of gushing reviews that that record got. I'll say personally that, I mean, I've always liked Lana Del Rey for the most part. You know, I remember being sort of mixed on Born to Die, but then, like, you know, when she started putting out the records after that, she really kind of showed that she was, like, a really great songwriter in a lot of ways

and had, like, a really well-developed kind of fascinating persona. And, again, I mean, she gets compared to Father John Misty a lot. I think, like him, she is, like, a genuinely interesting, larger-than-life star in the indie world where there aren't a lot of people like that. And that's what's so appealing to her about that for her. But yeah, I mean, not only did she put out the poetry book, but she also kind of went out of her way to like, like bite the hand that beats her in terms of critics.

Like she kind of went out to critics a lot, like, which I understand from her perspective. I, you know, because I mean, she's been beaten up a lot over the years by critics. And so now that critics love her, I could see her just saying like, well, I didn't need you back then. Why do I need you now? I'm not going to suck up to you now. because you're writing nice things about me. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see,

A, if that record is as good as Norman fucking Rockwell and B, if critics are going to be as receptive to it as they were. It's just a stimulus package for the narrative, you know? Like, every now and we kind of need that as, like, you know, critics who have seen their freelance budgets really slashed. It's just, she really helps out the people, you know, a good person for the economy. Yeah, exactly.

All right. And the second part of it is, so one of the best tweets of music criticism I've seen since Riley Walker made fun of King Cruel is this individual named Ivan. Their Twitter handle is Joanna Newsome, Sum 41, spelled as it sounds. And they said this band Idols

is basically punk music for people who say, you sir won the internet in 2013. And this band, like, they are so fascinating to me because they're a bunch of guys making loud, raucous rock music with the political angle. So people are like, dude, man, are you into idols? Like, this is a band in real life that people always ask me. It's like, dude, man, like, what do you think about idols? And I just can't because their last album, Joy, is a foreign resistance.

since it's, it sort of makes me think of all the people who said that Donald Trump was going to be great for punk music in 2017. And if there's any, they have a new album called Ultramano coming out on September 25th. I'm looking forward to it just to see what people write about it because the last album, you know, I had themes of being against, you know, they were pro immigration. They were against toxic masculinity, which, I mean, if you have to learn that from an idol's record, so be it. but it just makes me think of like when I look back on 2017 to 2020, the kind of resistance humor like where people are like, John Oliver eviscerates Donald Trump, like all these things that, you know,

seem really impactful in the moment. It's like this is not going to make a lick of difference, dude. And, you know, if there's among the many reasons I'm hoping for a Joe Biden victory, is that maybe this style of humor or music or posting might go away for a while. That being said, I said that being settled. I don't know what's up with me today. But with this record, I'm just interested in seeing whether people still are relying on idols to be the voice of conscience in rock music.

So, yeah, if nothing else, I'm just interested to see how easily critics are suckered by a narrative. Yeah, you know, I can't say that. that I have a strong opinion one way or the other about idols. I've listened to them. I think it's fine. They remind me of that newish band Fontaines, D.C., I don't know if you've listened to that band, where it's the same sort of like, it's like that European punk that I feel like music critics like, but I don't really see making an impact outside of those circles. Oh, no way to no way, man. There is so much of an in real life imprint with these bands. Like you go to a pop show, you'll see Idol shirts. You go to a Joyce Manor show, you'll see Idol shirts. They have an enormous in real

life footprint. Same with Fontaine's DC. Well, I stand corrected, but I don't know. It's like, I don't dislike it, but it doesn't really make a strong impression on me, uh, musically. I always feel like these bands are, uh, you know, they get an A for effort and A for sort of like their politics and their attitude, but like the music to me is always sort of like B minus. And to me, it just kind of gets people who, like, it just directly speaks to, like, the 35-year-old to, like, kind of skipped over rock music for a little while. And it's like, oh, yeah, rock is back, man, because it sounds like, you know, British post-punk. Right. And, yeah, I feel like I'll get Twitter messages sometimes about, like, like, why isn't

idols the biggest band in the world? And, like, well, I think it's pretty self-evident, like, why they're not. And again, nothing against them. It's just, you know, we are long past the point where the pop world would even give the... Society has progressed past the need for idols. Right. Well, anyway, okay, so let's get out of the backlash corner here and get back to albums that we're excited about. I am excited about the new Sufian Stevens album, the Ascension, that comes out September 25th. And, you know, it's interesting with Stevens because I feel like in a way he's been as prolific as ever in the past few years. Of course, he wrote the Oscar

nominated song for Call Me By Your Name, performed on the Oscar. You also put up that like weird like new age record is it like aporia I think it's pronounced That it was a collaboration with a stepfather Lowell Brams that came out earlier this year which is a record that I I know I've heard but I can't really remember much of it so but anyway definitely exists it definitely exists But I feel like for a lot of people like the last like real Sufian Stevens record was Carrie and Lull which came out in 2015 So I think that's going to really sort of increase the anticipation for the essential since this seems to be, I guess, a proper Sufianne Stevens album.

But based on what he's previewed so far, and I should say for the record, I have not heard this record yet, although I think I finally did get a promo of this again yesterday. Yesterday was a big promo day for me, so I'm excited to dig into it. But based on what he's previewed so far, I'm thinking of that 12-minute single America. I guess I'm holding out hope that this will be in the vein of his 2010 record, The Age of Odds, which is an album that I've actually really gotten into this year. I remember, like, for the longest time, I was a little resistant to that album.

I really couldn't get into it. I'd have to say Sufian Stevens in general to me has always been a little hit or miss. But The Age of Oz is a record I've really gotten into. Just sort of crazy, insane, very dense, abrasive-type record. And I tend to prefer Stevens working in that mode to the more sort of like, I guess, orchestral mode that he was in when he made Illinois, his most celebrated record.

I like it when he gets like a little noisy and gritty and a little more out there. So I guess I'm holding out hope that the Ascension is, in a way, a sequel maybe, in some ways to the age of odds. But either way, you know, Sufian Stevens definitely like one of the great artists of indie rock of the last 20 years or so. So I think anytime he puts out an album, if you're into indie music, you have to pay attention. Yeah. I think age of odds is a record that I turn to pretty frequently, if only because it's not as overexposed.

Like, don't get me wrong, I love Illinois. That is a landmark record of my mid-20s. But between that and Carrie and Lowell, like those two are like acknowledged as classics. So age of odds, you can kind of go. There's more to kind of explore there also because it is extremely dense and, you know, Impossible Soul is 25. minutes. So there's always more that you can get out of that record. This one, I'm kind of nonplussed by the singles, but then again, I think that's always been the case. I just want to be able to absorb it as a whole. But the issue I guess I'm anticipating is that, like I said before, like there's so little

time to really absorb and think about an album that I'm just concerned that if I don't immediately, it doesn't immediately click with me, I might move on to something else. And it won't sink in the way Illinois or Michigan or age of odds had in the past. So I don't know. Maybe that's the sort of record like with last week. We'll have to revisit like four months after it comes out. Yeah, I think that Sufian Stevens is an exception to the rule in the instance that I think people know at this point that his records often require a little bit of, you know,

absorption level. I guess Carion Lowell was like a pretty direct record that you could hear once and you know what it was about and it hit pretty strong. But again, like I said, age of odds. I was listening to it 10 years later and I felt like, oh, I'm discovering new things in this record, you know? And so knowing that,

I am going to be more inclined that if I don't get the ascension maybe immediately, that I'm going to know, like, well, if I revisit this a month or two later, I'm probably going to find something new in it. Like, a lot of albums are not worth revisiting. You know, like, just because they're not good or there's not that much going on,

but I think Sufiann Stevens makes records that you feel like you can revisit it and find new things. Yeah, I mean, I do think we, you know, we kind of owe him that trust. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also just, as usual, concerned about, like, whether I can, you know, a lot of the time that's necessary for it. So moving on to our next one, right, Tuchet Amore. So this is one of, like, this is one of my favorite bands.

they are probably like the best if not the like among the elite of hardcore and they've you know they haven't put out a record since 2016 stage four which was about Jeremy Ball and the lead singer his mother dying of stage four cancer was also their fourth album and they've done some side projects they've kind of like laid low for a bit and now they come out with this new record called Lament which is out on October 9th. And a lot of this record, ironically, is about what it's like to interact with fans to expect a lot out of you because you've made a very powerful hardcore record

about your mom dying. The thing that interests me the most with this besides the fact that every Tuchet Amora album is a classic. Like, to the beat of a dead horse is survived by stage four. They just keep upping the Annie without getting corny,

which is really, really difficult for a hardcore band. to do. This one is produced by Ross Robinson. Now, if you're not familiar with the guy himself, you probably know the bands he produced. Ross Robinson's kind of like the Phil Spector of New Metal. He did a lot of the corn albums at the drive-ins relationship of command, Suppletorah's roots, that one Cure album where they tried to go new metal in 2004. And so that part is exciting to me as well, but it's not that, too-shae-a-morae has gone new metal. As a matter of fact, they've kind of gone in just like kind of a more mainstream rock direction with this one. The first single

limelight is about being kind of a washed-up emo guy. It obviously hit me in a pretty vulnerable spot. It featured Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra, who I really hope is putting out a new record in the near future. It has pedal steel on it. And they actually had a list of influences of songs that they were listening to when they made this record. And it had REMs how the West was won and where it got us. I believe it had the traveling willberries on it. It also had, there's a lyric on this album about how counting crows around here isn't quote, almost perfect song.

Oh, man. There's a speaking my language here. Yeah, and the last song talks about how he's still really into the Cohen brothers. Yeah, if you look at the, influences list on this album. It is basically like indie cast porn. Yeah, dude. I want to invite him to come over for a beer, man. Let's do

a socially distance hang in the backyard, man. And they're real about it. I mean, when I've seen him out of shows, he has, I believe it's like a big Leonard Cohen songs of love and hate patch on his jacket. So, I mean, I always get worried when hardcore bands inevitably do

their Leonard Cohen thing because then that means they start to move away from their strengths. But with this album, it's just a band that somehow keeps getting better and better and more accessible, but Jeremy Bollum still sings like he did on the first album. So I don't think it's going to be the sort of thing

that becomes a massive hit amongst a critical community. It's just going to, people who are already in this band are just going to lose their minds over it. I don't feel like referencing Counting Crows is like the way into most music critics' hearts. But it is a way to get a way to get into the hearts of Indycast, so I have appreciative of that.

And I've not heard this record yet, but I've always liked this band. And I'll just say, too, that for people out there who maybe don't listen to hardcore bands, Tusha Moray, I would say, is a band that is able to take that framework and do something really interesting with it. Like, they're not just doing this sort of straight ahead, hardcore thing. As Ian has suggested, by describing the new record, they are bringing other influences into the fold that I think make the band a little bit more palatable for people who maybe don't normally this and that kind of music.

So definitely put that record on your radar. I think it's going to be really great. The next record on my list is an album that I know that we're both excited about. It's called Live Forever by a guy named Bartiz Strange. I feel like in the sort of punk emo corner of the world that Ian so much spent so much time in, this might be like the most anticipated album of the year, or at least like one of the most anticipated albums of the fall season. For those who don't know, Strange is a Washington, D.C. based singer-songwriter

who I first heard about earlier this year when he put on an EP called Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, which was a five-song collection of reimagined tunes by the National. So, of course, I was going to be on board with that. Live Forever, however, is his first LP, the first album of original songs that he's putting out. And I feel like we're going to talk about this probably. in another episode in the future. So I don't want to review the album too much, but I wrote a fall preview for uprocks.com this week,

and I described this album as sort of having, like, if there was like a mood board for this record, I would say that there's like Death Cab for Cutie over here. There's a little bit of like a Frank Ocean thing going on. And maybe even like, you know, a little bit of like the killers in there, you know, added for good measure. It's a record that you could definitely hear the email influences on it, but he's also bringing in some really cool sort of R&B flourishes.

And I would say overall, the record has like a real sort of anthemic fist pumping quality to it. It's a record that really appeals to the head as well as the heart type album. And I'll leave it at that because, you know, again, I think we're going to talk about this later on. But yeah, definitely put this record on your radar. I would definitely say that in terms of like debut albums, this is one of the ones to really look out for in 2020. Yeah. Yeah, this guy's the real deal. He was also used to be in a band called Stay Inside that we talked about on our Sleeper albums

from last year. So, yeah, when he was in Brooklyn. But yeah, say goodbye to Pretty Boy. I love that album because it took national songs that I already loved and it kind of made it sound like foxing. He's kind of in that realm. But I mean, this record, it's just the real deal as far as like it's, you know, it's subject matter, its range of influences.

Like, it's really hard to, you know, evoke death catholicuity and Frank Ocean with out sounding, like, really corny or, like, trying too hard. But this one, if you do follow in, like Steve said, the punk emo corner of the world, like this one is, people are just, like, really pulling for this guy. It's, to me, it's just a slam dunk. So we are definitely going to talk about this one later. So, yeah, we'll hold off most of our praise for later on. but yeah, just put that on your radar for now. Yeah. So the next one I want to talk about.

So it's a 20-year-old Filipino-British artist called Bibadubi. I have no trouble saying that name because, I mean, just look at some of the other bands I love. Like I have said, Guitar Fight from Cooley Fully Out Loud. So I have no platform to find fault with people's names. But anyway, so this is a... an artist most people might know from her guest vocals on a deathbed by an artist called powfu it's a it's a big it's a big song on tic talk i think it has something along the lines of 650 million spotify plays jesus um i mean this is the new this is the world in which we live

but um she also um is on the 1975's dirty hit label which is a really interesting a collection of artist because Maddie Healy makes it very clear that he doesn't want like he when with this label he's signing like basically not white male bands like his own and I think a lot of the bands on this label have the spirit of the 1975 and that like all like all music is equally on the table like Rina Salyama like did a little bit of new metal on her new album you have like Japanese house which is kind of going more for like an 80 synth pop sort of thing and it I mean if you want to feel really old. I read that she was first inspired by Kimya Dawson on the Juno soundtrack to make music. And what excites me about this album, I mean, I like her songs, but

it's kind of a combination of I see an artist like this and I feel really super old. Like there's this entire world of like TikTok music and Zoomer stuff that I just cannot process at all. And yet She also has a song called I Wish I Was Stephen Malchmus. And you listen to the singles from her upcoming album, Fake It Flowers, which is out in October. And it makes me think that this might be the one like Zoomer album that I can actually like kind of relate to or I can actually process because so much of it is taken from a 90s kind of alt rock sort of sound like particularly like late 90s alt rock. And I think what this album might prove, this is kind of, this has been something that's circling in my head a bit. But I think if we look back on the last five years, I think that Soccer Mommy's Clean might be the most, if not influential album, indie rock, indie rock album the last five years, at least the one that kind of showed the direction in which we're going. Because now you hear like late 90s, Cheryl Crow, new radicals, like late Baruch assault as kind of being like primary colors for Zoom or music.

And look, I've heard a lot of like really mediocre facsimiles of clean. But, you know, with this one, I think it might take things a little bit in a more like extroverted direction. I have no idea what to expect from this record. I imagine it'll be a, it'll be very, very popular. But I don't know. Maybe it's just like a window into a younger generation of like what, because influence has change. I mean, 10 years ago, we wouldn't be talking about, like, deaf tones as being this, like, super accepted influence.

And now, with this one, maybe we'll start to see, like, it's like, oh, yeah, Cheryl Crow, of course. Yeah, I just love that, like, Tuesday Night Music Club is now this, like, hugely hip touchstone reference for so many people. And, by the way, I would actually, I love that record. I would actually say soak up the sun, I think, is the more, is like the hipper Cheryl Crow reference. I don't know.

I mean, I just feel like I hear so much, like, strong enough. in people or like that second like Cheryl Crow record the self title one like if it makes you happy there was a time where everyone was covering if it makes you happy which they should that's an incredible song I always said

I heard the world is a beautiful place cover it man like I mean that's how deep it went and I never got sick of hearing covers of that song it's an incredible song so I'm not familiar with that record but I'm excited to check it out the way you're describing it sounds like it'd be up my alley so I'll be digging into that after this episode

Next album on my list is called Silver Ladders by an artist named Mary Latimore. Now, you may know Mary, if you are a fan of recent records by people like Kurt Vile and Thurston Moore. She has lent her talents to albums by those artists. And it's interesting with her because you might have thought that like Joanna Newsom had the market cornered on like harp playing in indie rock music. But I am happy to say that there is now a new harpist in town. And we can now say that if you say in Indy Rock Harpest, you can't just assume it's Joanna Newsom. You might also be talking about Mary Latimore.

On her own record, she tends to make these albums that are, I think, pretty soundscapey. You know, again, I hate to keep comparing her to Joanna Newsom. But, you know, like with Newsom, they're very pragy, very dense. There's, like, lots of different movements to them. There's obviously the freak folk influence. Whereas with Mary Latimore, her records, can veer a little bit into that direction, but there's almost like this sort of like ambient feel to it that's also emerging like with classical music influences and art pop influences as

well as the sort of indie rock milieu that she's working in. But, you know, as much as she adds like this, I think really unique flavor to other people's albums as a guest musician, her own albums, I think really kind of speak for themselves as well. And Silver Ladders, which I haven't heard the whole record yet. I'm very excited. hear it, but like what I've heard so far is really intriguing and really beautiful. There was a single that she put out, uh, this summer called, sometimes he's in my dreams, uh, which, you know, again, like I hate when people keep doing this and I've done this myself and things I've written where you want to link every new song you hear to like the mood of the times or like how strange

things are. But this definitely is the kind of record that like you put on headphones and it maybe makes more sense right now than it would in a different kind of period. Like I, It definitely evokes a sort of disquieting yet calming headspace. So I'm very excited to hear this record. Again, it's called Silver Ladders. It comes out October 9th. I'm guessing that this is not Ian Cohen music at all. Not true, man.

I mean, I've enjoyed her past work. I've not really dove in. Like, I'll hear a song and I'm like, oh, I should really check that out. But then, like you said, it's a little more ambient, soundscapey. and it kind of escapes me. I think the real lesson from this discussion is that we totally need a third harpist, man. Like we need someone else to, we just need more people playing harp so we have different comparative points.

Exactly. More hard players. It makes me think of like when I remember back in the day I read this interview with John Popper of Blues Traveler and like no one had any frame of reference to compare his harmonica playing. So people said he sounded like Bob Dylan. and he just found that to be so insulting because, you know, like Bob Dylan just like plays kind of huffing on it and whereas John Popper was a like a maestro of it. So more, please, it's, we actually priced a harp recently.

It costs about $500 to get the cheapest one. Instead of getting a jazz master or like a telly, get yourself a harp, man. I mean, it's, you might be on this podcast. I just can't believe that you worked in a jazz master. John Popper Reff into this episode. I guess because he's blowing harp. You could say he was blowing harp. Oh, yeah.

There you go. But I just love that we, again, reference Counting Crows in another episode. Like, I feel like Counting Crows comes up in every episode. And now we're, you know, bringing up blues traveler. Part of the collective unconscious, Steve. That's really what we're plumbing into here. What's our next album? All right.

So this is, in this album, it's kind of a grouping. I feel as if I'm a little bit inauthentic with this episode because the albums that I'm probably going to love are the ones that I'm looking forward to either haven't really been announced yet or are just going to like come out of nowhere, particularly if we're talking about the punk and emo world. They aren't usually privy to like three month rollouts. But there are a couple albums I just want to kind of mention real quickly. A golfer, a Toronto, a Montreal band on Top Shelf. Their new album is, I'm really excited about it. like get to know a band called record setter. They're from Denton, Texas, kind of a screamo band that was kind of popping up in the Reddit

backslash emo world. Their new album, whenever it comes out, it's probably like top 10 for me. And that's what happens with all these bands is that, you know, the album exists and then they're just probably waiting around for a label to sign them or something like that. Like, yeah, we're just trying to figure out the label release and maybe we'll drop it around Halloween or something like that. To follow these bands is, you know, frustrating and exciting because

you never know if they're actually going to put out a record or break up or just kind of fade away for lack of interest. But those, and also a band called Nice Three Eyes period at the end from Minnesota. Stoke for that one as well. The one I want to talk about specifically, though, is been announced and just earlier this week is a band called Respire.

They are, how would I describe? this maybe orchestral screamo or orchestral black metal from uh canada and to to understand this ben i think we kind of have to talk about sunbather we didn't really get into this album that much in our 2013 episode but deaf having sunbather is i think maybe the last metal album that will have that will be talked about as like one of the premier albums of its year i mean i can't think of really too many metal albums that have taken center stage in the indie world like that one. And what it did was it combined black metal with shoegaze and post rock in a way that was super accessible. Now, as much of a game changer as that record was, it was also really easy

to copy. And so when you hear a band with like black metal howls, but like really basic guitars, it's kind of hard to impress anyone anymore. But in the past couple of years, I see that there's this group of bands that includes Respire, Infant Island, who put out two of my favorite records this year, and Nouvelo Escura, who are taking things in more of an expansive, like literally orchestral direction. And Respires' 2018 album De Numaunt. That got a lot of hype in metal circles because they're, like,

we're not talking about like orchestral figuratively. They're actual like oboes and bassoons and strings. and this album comes out in November. They just released the first single earlier this week and it's pretty much like metal and also Godspeed you black emperor at the same time. It's bigger. It sounds fuller.

If you like metal that can take you places, this is one I would highly recommend you pay attention to. And I think just the kind of nature of heavy music, whether it's been just an incredible year for screamo hardcore metal all variants of heavy music the problem is it like I was saying with death heaven it never takes center stage so pay attention to this one because they'll probably come out in November and like I'll flip over it Tom Brian at stereo come probably will as well yeah and maybe like that's and maybe the two

other big metal like people who follow metal like there's going to be a handful of people who flip over it, but it is sort of niche. Yeah, I mean, I think, and I feel like that's by design a lot of the times. I think the difference with Sunbeather was that it was a record that was reaching out to people who don't listen to that kind of music. Where I, as I feel like, you know, you're talking about the screamer world, hardcore world, the metal world, the bands there tend to cater to people that already like that kind of music. So instead of maybe like really kind of pushing the ball forward in a way, it's about

reiterating things that the genre does really well, which if you're in, that world, it's great because you're always going to find bands that you really like and aren't going to be doing the crossover thing. Like, even you said before, like, you get a little wary if there's hardcore bands that are sort of venturing outside their lane too far. It kind of becomes a drag if you're really in that scene. But like for anyone who's outside of it, if people aren't venturing outside of it, it can just be hard to be like, well, what's, what distinguishes this from any other record like this? You know, and that tends to be like my question. with a lot of these bands, like, you know, that I can recognize that it's good for what it is,

but I also feel like I've heard like a million bands that sound like this. It could just be hard to really kind of find an entry point that, like, makes it sound different, you know, or is going to make you excited in a way that, like, all the other records that are in this vein, you know, maybe haven't made you excited in the past. So, but I'm going to take your word for it. That record that you described there, I think that sounds pretty cool. again, that record you just

respired. You just like listed like a million records I feel like in that like five minute stretch for I hope people are running down. They're all great. They're all great. The last record we're going to talk about is by an old favorite. I think for both of us, I feel like you know, we've talked about a lot of emerging

artists in this podcast. I have to give a shout out to a legacy artist at the end and that's Matt Berninger of the National. He's putting out his first solo record. Serpentine Prison on October 16th, I laugh a little bit because I just feel like that's such a Matt Berninger album title. I feel like if there was like a Matt Berninger bot, it would have come up with serpentine prison. I say that as a compliment, of course. I mean, I think that to be a songwriter

who has an established aesthetic, I think that's what every songwriter eventually wants to be able to have where people know your artistic voice and, you know, you can even be parodyed because you have your own voice. But I get to, this is the first solo record that he's put out. He did put out a record, of course, with Alvi, that synth-pop duo, Return to the Moon, came out in 2015. I feel like that record wasn't really well received. I happen to enjoy that record for what it is. I think he was actually pretty funny on that record. But Serpentine Prison does feel like a different sort of record for him. He's working with the great musician and soul great Booker T. Jones. Of course, he was the leader of the

great band Booker T and the MGs. And I feel like we're going to be talking about this record. This is another instance where I feel like we're going to be probably reviewing this at some point. So I don't want to talk too much about my feelings about this album yet. But I will say that if you got into the National because some algorithm pointed you to them from like Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen, then this is probably going to be an album that you really get into because he's really leaning into that sort of like boatman's call type vibe, you know, where it's a smooth, cool middle-aged guy purring, crooning, you know, being very cool,

singing these like very evocative, beautiful songs, which is a vibe that I think is very much in tune with this season that this record is coming out in. If this album was dropping in the summer, I think people might have a hard time with it. But coming out in the middle of October when, you know, those of us who don't live in San Diego are going to be huddling under blankets and getting cozy, hopefully, with another person. You know, maybe with a nice bottle of wine. This is going to be a record that I think people of that elk are going to be embracing. I feel like I'm hearing you make like sort of like dismissive sounds over there on the other. It's like, look, you can't just listen to weightlifting music all the time, Ian. Sometimes you have to listen to like snuggle under a blanket music.

And I feel like this Mrett Berndor record is going to be that. So again, it's called Thirpetine Prison, October 16th. I'm excited about that record. Me, look, man, I think it's worth pointing out that two of the artists that we've covered thus far, like Barty's Strange, he covered an entire EP of National Songs, and Tushé Amore, I believe, covered available back on a single in maybe 2020. 12 or whatever, but to me, it's like, Matt, I hate to, I feel like he's been the least interesting part of the national for quite some time. And I feel like there's kind of a path of least resistance

in kind of going toward the Nick Cave, like Leonard Cohen sort of thing. Like, let me, I've made my thoughts clear about what I like to call Pee Blinder's Corps, where it's that kind of like dark, crooney, middle-aged, romantic crooner sort of thing. Uh, look, man, do you Matt Berninger but he's not leveling up is what you're saying he's not gonna level up he's not he's not producing rippers

no what this record doesn't rip enough I don't know I feel like in a way that first single was kind of Matt Berninger like bought maybe I just need to like let the entirety of the album like get immersed in that but it's kind of veering

close to parody at this point to me. I don't want to feel bad for liking the national. I love them. Don't get me wrong. But I think that in a way, it's like Matt Berninger is playing the role of Matt Berninger rather than like, I don't know.

But like, okay, couldn't you say that about like the deaf tones then? Like what are they doing on their new record that like they haven't been doing for like over 20 years? You know, I just feel like if you are around for a long time, you have your voice and you have the thing that you do. And to say that you're lapsing into parody, I don't think that's necessarily a fair thing unless the idea is that having an artistic voice or having a personality is automatically bad.

I just feel like that's such a music critic thing to say because music critics were addicted to novelty. And if you aren't constantly doing like a novelty thing, novelty in the sense of like, you know, oh, I've been there, done that. You know, do something different or it's not valid anymore. I feel like there is something to be said that if you have something you do and you do it well, I think that's valid.

My argument is that I'm not sure if he does it well anymore. Okay, well, we'll see. All right, so we've reached the part of the show where Ian and I like to recommend something that we're into right now. We call it Recommendation Corner. Ian, what do you recommend this week? All right. So I was informed over Twitter that 24-hour party people was available on Amazon Prime for free. And so I haven't seen that in a long time. For those who need a refresher, it's a 2002 movie starring Steve Coogan, kind of a not a mockumentary because there are actors in it, but it's based on a true story of factory records.

The story of them rising through the late 70s and 90s, legendary label that was home to Joy Division, New Order, a couple of lesser bands. And it kind of ends at the Happy Mondays in Manchester. What they don't mention is how like kind of grunge and alternatives sort of killed it and also their shady business practices. But to see a movie like this in 2020, it's not like debauchress in the way like, you know, Motley Cruz the Dirt. is, but there's still like a lot of drugs, a lot of weird financial things like, you know, New Orders Blue Monday, like lost money because the label invested all their money into a club that was losing money because everyone was doing ecstasy and not drinking alcohol. But watching this movie, not only do I feel nostalgic about, you know, the music itself,

all of which is, you know, for the most part incredible. I kind of like I wish like man I would have liked to have been a raver I mean not really not a raver but just someone around you know in the early 90s in England because like mad chester that combination of like dance music but also like psychedelic rock is still one of the most promising notes of you know indie throughout you know the past several decades and if any band even remotely touches on it like screamadalica or the first or the third happy mondays album thrills and pills and belly aches, I'm going to listen. The Happy Mondays, by the way, I think you just need to watch that movie just to see them record a failed album in Barbados where they brought, like, they brought four weeks of heroin and it got destroyed in the airport. But, you know, listening, like, watching this, I'm like, how can I, like, really justify listening to a bunch of, like, dudes in Philly with Dad hats singing about anxiety? It's like, man, it's like, God, man. It's like, how can I really go with music this earnest and, like, kind and loving when there's the happy Mondays out there, you know? Now, I just want to say that I'm pretty sure you heard about this because I tweeted about it because I watched this movie.

I also watched this movie last weekend. I watched it back in like 2004, back when dance punk was becoming a thing. Well, yeah, I mean, I saw it back then, too, but I'm just saying that, like, I tweeted about it because it just left Amazon Prime. It was like, I think August 31st was the last. So I was saying, like, you should watch this movie because I noticed that I was about to leave. So I was like, oh, I haven't seen this movie in years and I rewatched it. And I think you could still, someone told me that there's, like, other subscription services where, uh, you can watch it for free. Like, not Netflix, but like, like, uh, you know, like there's quibby or the, not quibby, but there's other, there's, you know,

You can watch 15 minutes of it. It's not Quibi. There's like other streaming services that are sort of like down market that like have movies that like I think you have to watch commercials every now and then to see them online. But yeah, I also just really loved rewatching this movie. And it did send me down a rabbit hole of listening to factory, listening to factory records bands.

Not so much Happy Mondays, although I do like Happy Mondays. And I will say too that like if you're looking for Happy Mondays dirt, the Chris France book from Talking Heads, his book, in love. Yeah, because a lot of yes please. They recorded that album. Yes, please.

Yeah, they did Yes Please, which was like the most infamous record, you know, where Sean Ryder was like, again, like he was a heroin addict and they couldn't get heroin down there. So then he started smoking crack. Like in, I think they were in Jamaica. And selling Eddie Grants, uh, who did Electric Avenue, they sold his furniture. Right. But I, but I've actually been listening a lot to New Order the past week.

Yeah. Because I've always loved that band, but I've never really dug deep into their albums. I've always just listened to their hits, basically. That sort of essential greatest hits album that they have called Substance is like such a essential collection of 80s sort of synth rock music. But digging in the albums in particular like Brotherhood, I think is a really great record. And of course, you know, Power Corruption and Lies. That's a classic album from 83. So yeah, that movie is great and it's a great portal into so many just wonderful bands that Factory Records was involved in.

The recommendation I'm going to make this week, and it's going to sound like I'm trolling Ian after our Matt Berninger blowout before, but I'm going to talk about the new record by Bill Callahan, Gold Record. Bill Calhann, of course, you may know him from Smog. He's been putting out records for nearly 30 years. I think that he is like one of the great living singer-songwriter, certainly in indie music of that time. And there was a period where he didn't put out a record for a while.

It was like a five-year gap between, actually I think it was a six-year gap between Dream River in 2013. And then he put out a record called Shepard in a sheepskin vest that came out in 2019. That was a double record. And you might have thought like, oh, he's putting out an album with 20 songs. It's going to be a while before he puts out a new album. But here he is again with another record one year later. A much shorter record, it's only 10 songs. But I would say that for me, this is a record that probably,

speaks more to me than to you because I am, you know, I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I have kids, and this record really speaks to that. You know, I have a review of this album that came out today where I liken the ambience of this album to like sitting in a house at night and hearing the sounds of people sleeping all around you, the people that you love most in the world. Like that kind of ambience, that kind of quiet still, but contented type feeling. And I think that record really has this. It also reminds me a lot of the songs of John Prine, which I think is kind of a new development in a way for Bill Callahan,

where he's really great at writing these sort of like miniature stories about average people going through like a mundane life, but then something extraordinary happens in the course of the song that maybe you don't quite expect. Like there's a song on there called The McKenzie's that I really love, where it's just about him hanging out with his neighbors all day long. it's a really funny song and then it kind of takes a tragic turn at the end that is a gut punch to some degree. But Bill Calhander me, he's like one of the most consistent artist in indie

music. I can't really think of like a bad record that he's made. He's certainly made albums that are better than others. But gold record to me, you know, again, I think in this time where there's so much chaos and craziness, the stillness of this record. And the gentleness of it and the kindness of it, it's so great. Like, it's just a great place to spend 40 or 45 minutes of your time. So, again, I'm sorry. I am again leaning into the croonery, middle-aged, what'd you call it, peeky blinder, binders type rock or whatever?

No, no, Bill Callahan's not Peaky Blinders. Well, he's American. He's American. He's more of like in a Willie Nelson vein, I feel like at this point. Like you. Yeah, I like Bill Callahan. I mean, I like, you know, I particularly loved. Sometimes I wish we were an eagle in apocalypse.

And, you know, I'll listen to this record. And in a way, like, I'm not bored by him. Just I get sometimes kind of bored by artists who are subject to, like, universal acclaim. And so, I mean, I'll listen to this. I'm excited. I'll do it, you know, I'll do it for the discourse, man. above all else. I love the grudging surrender in your voice right now.

There's just like this grudging like, all right, fine. I'll listen to another great album by Bill Callahan. He twists my arm. It's great. This has been another episode of Indycast. It's always fun to talk about music with you, Ian. I look forward to doing it again next week. Until then, thank you for joining us on the show.

And we'll be back with more news and reviews and hashing out trends in our next episode 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. Thank you. Peace.