Steven begins this episode like he has many other installments of Indiecast — by complaining to Ian about the performance of his Fantasy Albums team. In this instance, he thought he had a sure thing — a new Taylor Swift album — but after a predictable wave of early raves, Taylor’s Metacritic score has tumbled amid a critical backlash. What happened? (0:30) Steven and Ian also recap their recent experiences at two very different concerts, Phish at Sphere and Cindy Lee in San Diego. (16:08)

After that, Steven proceeds to rant about Oasis not get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this year, and how this underlines once again the Rock Hall’s bias against alt and indie bands of the 1980s and ’90s. (25:24) He also compares Foreigner and Peter Frampton to former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer. and it definitely makes sense. Then the guys review the new album by the charming Austin indie-pop duo Hovvdy, who make very good patio music. (36:23) In the mailbag, a listener brings up new music from Menomena and if it’s ever bad to sound too much like yourself. (45:07)

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the “sasscore” band SeeYouSpaceCowboy while Steven goes for a classic rec with the ’80s band Love And Rockets. (52:57)

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 186 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven and Ian begin this week’s episode by talking about shows they plan on seeing this weekend — Ian is going to check out the buzzy retro-pop master Cindy Lee (3:56) while Steven is venturing to Las Vegas to see Phish play the Sphere (0:29). They also briefly touch on the iffy-looking Taylor Swift album out today, The Tortured Poets Department, which has high “unintentional comedy” potential (12:16).

From there they follow up on last week’s Coachella discussion to cover some of the festival’s viral performances, which also happen to be the biggest trainwrecks of the opening weekend: Blur’s indifferently received spot and Grimes’ glitch-filled DJ set (18:07). Then they review two albums out today by veteran rock acts: Pearl Jam’s Dark Matter (25:36)and Cloud Nothings’ Final Summer (39.18). Do they still have the juice? The guys hash it out.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian recommends Chanel Beads and Steven raves about the new single by Ben Seratan (50:06).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 185 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, 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.

Steven and Ian open by talking about J. Cole’s botched diss track targeted at Kendrick Lamar (0:26). Is it lame to record a diss track and immediately apologize? Or is this actually a sign of personal growth? From there, the guys talk about the slumping ticket sales for Coachella (12:43). Is this a temporary bump or is the festival headed for a permanent downturn?

The guys also check in with the Fantasy Album Draft, with the release of new records by Maggie Rogers, Shabaka Hutchings, and Nia Archives (24:01). They also talk about early contenders for Album Of The Year from Q1-ish of 2024, including Waxahatchee, Vampire Weekend, and Mannequin Pussy (30:21). In the mailbag, there are two yay-or-nay questions on two very different bands: Khruangbin and Our Lady Peace (48:17).

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the screamo band Heavenly Blue and Steven recommends the new documentary Lost Angel: The Genius Of Judee Sill (56:28).

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 184 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at indiecastmailbag@gmail.com, and make sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter for all the latest news.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.