Indiecast

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 (1...

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 F...

This week's episode opens with Steven and Ian remembering the old Pitchfork "stunt" review of Jet's 2006 album Shine On (0:27), which was dissected this week in an article by The Ringer. While stunt reviews are kind of dumb, Steven and Ian still miss them a little. The guys also explore the indie-rock guest stars on Beyoncé's new blockbuster album Cowboy Carter (7:11), including Adam Granduciel, J...

Steven and Ian begin this week's episode in an unlikely place — a discussion of the 2010 comedy  Get Him To The Greek,  which in light of the recent (horrifying) Sean Combs' news might be the most canceled film of the 21st century. From there, they quickly pivot to two other films about musicians, the forthcoming  Bob Dylan biopic starring Timothée Chalamet and a reported Bruce Spri...

Steven and Ian begin this week's episode with a very non-indie rock topic — the story about  Bruno Mars owing $50 million to a Las Vegas casino (4:29). They shoehorn a brief Sportscast about the emerging gambling scandal involving Shohei Ohtani, lamenting the bad side effects of gambling while also hoping to get some gambling sponsorships for the Fantasy Albums Draft. Speaking of which: Ian i...

Steven and Ian open this week's episode by rehashing a surprising trend from last week — Indiecast angered some people online! The (minor) mishap prompts a discussion about previous Indiecast -related controversies. After that they proceed to a quick Sportscast about the latest insanity over Aaron Rodgers, and Steven's inability to simply enjoy the biggest Wisconsin sports stars (9:34). Next, they...

Indiecast went on as usual last week, but Steven and Ian haven't actually recorded together in about two weeks. (It feels more like six months.) Steven was off recording the audiobook of his forthcoming Springsteen book  There Was Nothing You Could Do  (out May 28!), and he recounts the experience. (It was hard but rewarding!) (9:45). After a brief tangent about the recent "13 Albums To...

Was this a big indie news week? Steven and Ian hope it wasn't. Steven was off recording the audiobook version of his forthcoming book  There Was Nothing You Could Do  (out May 28,  you can pre-order now! ) so the guys had to bank this episode ahead of time. And you can immediately tell this was a banked episode, as they spend several minutes talking about the Kings Of Leon album tha...

Steven and Ian begin this week's episode with an impromptu Moviecast about the news that Sam Mendes is directing four separate  biopics about each member of The Beatles . Steven has often said that he can't ever have too much Beatles content, but this might finally test that theory. The guys also try to think about music biopics that are actually good, and come up with  24 Hour Party Peo...

Steven and Ian open this week's episode by doing something they promised themselves they wouldn't do — taking shots at the new  Idles  album out today,  TANGK (Even the title is annoying). Of course they then proceed with a quick Sportscast about the Super Bowl in which Steven explains how he can't bring himself to hate the Kansas City Chiefs in their current "dominant" era (5:05)....

Steven and Ian start today's episode with an in-depth critical analysis of one of the hottest songs in pop right now, Ice Spice's  "Think U The Shit (Fart)."  Probably too in-depth, really. But the song is truly a rich text. From there they do the inevitable Sportscast on this weekend's Super Bowl game. Anyone who gets their sports news from indie rock podcasts will want to hear Steven a...

Steven and Ian begin this week's episode by discussing the recent story about Talking Heads  being offered $80 million to reunite  for some festival gigs... and turning it down. Do they really hate each other that much? Or do they accept that you can't perform  Stop Making Sense- style magic in your 70s? (2:34) The guys also apologize to the city of San Francisco for some recent spo...

Today's episode begins with a quick Sportscast in which Steven mourns the defeat of his surprisingly good Green Bay Packers and pays tribute to the lovable Detroit Lions (3:49). He and Ian also compare Detroit and San Francisco as music cities — it's Bob Seger vs. Huey Lewis time! Then they do a quick update of the winter Fantasy Albums Draft, as it is a big day for Steven's team with new releases...

Steven and Ian recorded this week's episode a day earlier than normal, which means that the guys just missed the big (and bad) news about  Pitchfork  suffering massive layoffs  and being folded into  GQ . So they got together later and recorded an emergency 30-minute segment about what this all means for the fragile music media ecosystem and put it before the proper episode. In...

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 t...

Steven and Ian have not recorded an episode in three weeks. Can you believe it? So there was a lot to talk about in the latest installment of Indiecast, starting with what the guys did over the holiday break. Ian won a ton of money playing fantasy football and Steven watched Paul Giamatti go full-Giamatti in  The Holdovers (5:13) .  Once they were caught up with holiday talk, the guys pa...

Last week, Steven and Ian kicked off part one of their most sacred annual tradition, the Indiecasties. This week, they bring home part two. (This is a banked episode so if any major indie-rock news occurred this week, the guys won't be talking about it.) Part one had many incredible categories. But Steven and Ian saved the really good stuff for this week. Categories include Biggest Disappointment...

As we near the end of 2023, the time has come for Steven and Ian to revive their most sacred annual tradition: The Indiecasties! Like the Oscars, the Indiecasties goes long every year, so we actually are splitting it up into two episodes. (Part two drops next week.) Before that, however, the guys do a quick Sportscast about a wild week in Wisconsin-based athletics, including a Packers loss to Tomm...

It's that time of the year again when critics try to think of every record they heard in the previous 11 months and determine their favorites. Steven and Ian are up to the challenge in this week's episode. But first they talk about the stock albums that seem to populate these lists — the "arty" and "obscure" hip-hop record with an unpronounceable name, the near-unlistenable "acclaimed" death-metal...

It's the calm before the storm on the show this week — Steven and Ian are working on their year-end albums lists ahead of the big reveal in early December (1:57), so in the meantime they decided to answer to some listener questions. But before that, Ian shared the shocking news that he watched  The Last Waltz  for the first time over the Thanksgiving break. What did Ian think of this fou...

Fair warning: Steven and Ian assumed they would be in a turkey coma this week, so they banked an episode ahead of time in order to fully enjoy their Thanksgiving celebrations. Hopefully, they did not miss any world-changing music news. If they did, just assume that the guys were killed in some music-industry related mishap. Keep their memory in your hearts! The upside of this is that Steven and Ia...

Steven and Ian took a victory lap at the start of today's episode upon the news that Air is reuniting for a  Moon Safari  tour next year, right after they talked up the album in last week's Best Of 1998 episode. Can they take credit for actualizing this? Probably not. But they did anyway. From there, they talk about one of the weirdest album release days of 2023. First, you have the new&...

Steven and Ian are hopping in the time machine this week. They're heading back one quarter-century to 1998, a fascinating year when artists were imagining the sound of the future and combining rock with jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music like never before. For Steven and Ian, it was a time of attending college and getting high while playing video games. You could be amazed by simple pleasures lik...

It's not every day that a new song by the popular indie-rock band The Beatles drops . But that's what happened right as Steven and Ian were scheduled to record this week's episode. So they started late, and listened to "Now And Then," and then decided... that it sounds like a '90s power pop band attempting to sound like The Beatles. Not necessarily a bad thing? But is it really necessary to take a...

After a short Sportscast segment in which Steven and Ian mourn the sorry states of their respective teams at the moment (Packers and Phillies), they get down to some inside-baseball chat about reckonings at major music publications.  Rolling Stone  published several articles this week that addressed  Jann Wenner's recent comments  about female and POC musicians, and Bandcamp wa...