Some bands are sprinters; they release new material with impressive speed. But other bands are more like marathon runners, taking their time with each release. Canadian indie pop group Alvvays are the latter since their new album Blue Rev is their first in five years. In this week’s Indiecast, hosts Steven Hyden and Ian Cohen review marathoners Alvvays’ latest release as well as Björk‘s mushroom-inspired LP Fossora.
The biggest music news of this week was a pleasantly surprising No. 1 single. It’s Steve Lacey’s R&B hit “Bad Habit,” which dethroned Harry Styles’ long-running “As It Was” No. 1, and it seems like a very organic ascent. In other news, indie music celebrated the 10th anniversary of a majorly influential album: Tame Impala’s Lonerism. While the idea of celebrating album anniversaries is a relatively new phenomenon, it does encourage younger listeners to revisit classic albums in an age when we’re constantly introduced to new music.
This week’s recommendation corner has Ian urging listeners to check out his recent interview with Will Sheff and his band Okkervil River’s new album Nothing Special. Steven suggests Zach Bryan, a 26-year-old singer-songwriter whose 34-song LP American Heartbreak is one of the year’s most sprawling albums.
New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 108 here or below 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.