Month: July 2025

Hey, with Steven out of town this week, the guys planned a banked episode featuring emails from you, the Indiecast listener. Topics include the growing instances of AI songs showing up under the names of real bands (including Uncle Tupelo), the biggest “jaw dropper” moments when listening to albums for the first time, the best musician biopics, and the surprisingly decline (maybe?) of phones at concerts.

In Recommendation Corner, Ian talks about the latest from ambient band Disiniblud and Steven goes for the indie-country act Ryan Davis And The Roadhouse Band.

New episodes of Indiecast drop every Friday. Listen to Episode 249 here and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can submit questions for Steve and Ian at [email protected], and make sure to follow us on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) for all the latest news. We also recently launched a visualizer for our favorite Indiecast moments. Check those out here.

In the video for “To Be Free,” the euphoric new single from Sam Smith, the singer leads what can only be described as an exuberant revolution. While Sam sings on stage in an empty theater, the lobby is suddenly filled with high-spirited youths who dance across the bar on their way to filling the auditorium. As Sam’s voice is joined by a powerful chorus, the audience is seen singing along with expressions of ecstatic joy as they loose their inhibitions.

In the song’s press release, Smith says, “I’ve never had a recording experience like I did making this song. It’s one vocal and guitar take from start to finish – one live performance of me and my friend Simon Aldred in a pure state of music and expression. I wrote it five years ago while writing my last album Gloria and then parked it because I knew it was not a song for that album. It was created during a time in my life where I became free within myself.”

While Sam has yet to announce a longer project attached to the single, their first solo song since the Barbie soundtrack, they do have a 12-date residency at historic Brooklyn venue Warsaw. Tickets go on sale on Friday, August 1, at 10 am local time. You can find more info here.

Sam Smith – “To Be Free: New York City” 2025 Warsaw Residency Dates

10/08
10/10
10/11
10/15
10/17
10/18
10/21
10/22
10/24
10/29
10/30
10/31

Alt band Wednesday has been gearing up for the release of their new album, Bleeds, in September, releasing its first single, “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On),” with the announcement in June. Today, they followed up with another new single, “Pick Up That Knife,” along with a lo-fi music video featuring the band’s members wandering in the woods by a lake.

In the press release, their seeming spokesperson Karly Hatzman said, “’Pick Up That Knife’ is a song that revolves around feelings of helplessness, when every minor inconvenience hurts double ’cause you’re close to giving up. It’s also about when our pedal steel player Xandy threw up in the mosh pit during the Death Grips set at Primavera Sound in 2023.”

Bleeds was described by Hatzman as “the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential ‘Wednesday Creek Rock’ album. This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like. We’ve devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out — and I feel like we did.”

The band also announced the dates for their 2025 tour, beginning with a performance at Project Pabst festival this weekend, and starting in earnest after a few more festival slots in October.

Watch Wednesday’s “Pick Up That Knife” video above.

Bleeds is out 9/19 via Dead Oceans. Find more information here.

What do Camden markets, California beaches, and Nashville sashimi have in common? They’re all stops on Myles Smith’s My Dream Tour, a new travel collab between the rising British sensation, Uproxx, and Priceline that remixes adventure with music in mind. Smith is hitting the road for his highly-anticipated global tour and he’s inviting fans along for the ride. Along with the opportunity to see him perform at the historic Ryman Auditorium later this summer — fans can now enter for a chance to win a free trip to his show, courtesy of Priceline — Smith is also mapping out his dream itinerary of three cities that have inspired and shaped his sound: London, Los Angeles, and Nashville.

In the kickoff video above, Smith previews his perfect day in each city, sharing the must-dos, can’t-miss eats, and hidden gems that define the vibe of each destination — all powered by Priceline’s travel tools. From finding choice hotels in the center of London’s busy scene to renting a car so he can easily navigate LA’s star-studded streets and tapping Priceline’s Neighborhood Navigator tool to find cool scenes in Music City, the app helps him do it all. And the chart-topper’s got plenty on his to do list.

Fans wanting to recreate his city-by-city adventure guide should expect pit stops in Camden town and recs for good “munch” in London, stargazing dates at Griffith Observatory and Santa Monica views in LA, and Grand Ole Opry tours in Nashville. Wherever you’re headed, Smith’s got some quality tips for getting the most out of your trip.

Check out the full video above and stay tuned here for more from Smith and his road to the Ryman.

Despite Chappell Roan’s insistence that she is “so beyond far away from” releasing her second album, the self-declared Midwest Princess has kicked off the extravagantly titled Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things in Europe, and today, announced a handful of dates in the US. In September, she’ll be taking over Forest Hills Stadium in New York, the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, and of course, her hometown Kansas City’s Museum and Memorial Park for a slate of pop-up shows performing her new song “The Giver” alongside songs from her Grammy-winning debut.

“I am sooo excited to bring Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things to New York, Kansas City, and Los Angeles!!!” she said in the press release. “I love these three cities so much and wanted the chance to do something special for them this year. Since I started performing, I have always wanted my shows to be a party that everyone is invited to, and the only way to do that is to keep ticket prices affordable and away from scalpers. The Fair AXS ticketing process for these shows is one measure we are taking to ensure tickets end up in the hands of fans who actually want to be there.”

In addition, she says, “With these shows we’re also giving $1 per ticket to organizations that provide resources and support for trans youth <3 It is so important that I give back to the Trans community as they have given me so much throughout my entire career.”

Ticket registration opens on Thursday, July 24th at 12:00pm EST / 11:00am CT / 9:00am PT through Fair AXS. Fans must register by Sunday, July 27th at 11:59pm EST / 10:59pm CST / 8:59pm PST for the chance to purchase tickets. Fans will be selected at random between Tuesday, August 5 and Thursday, August 7 for a chance to buy up to 4 tickets. If selected, fans will receive a ticket purchase link via email. You can find more info here. See below for the full dates.

Chappell Roan Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things US Tour Dates

09/20 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
09/21 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
09/23 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
09/24 – Forest Hills, NY @ Forest Hills Stadium
10/03 – Kansas City, MO @ Museum and Memorial Park
10/04 – Kansas City, MO @ Museum and Memorial Park
10/10 – Pasadena, CA @ Brookside at the Rose Bowl
10/11 – Pasadena, CA @ Brookside at the Rose Bowl

It was likely only a matter of time until Margaret Qualley launched a musical career. After all, she’s married to pop production titan Jack Antonoff, who fittingly produces on two new songs introducing her musical alter ego, Lace Manhattan. The songs, titled “In The Sun She Lies” and “ODDWADD,” were co-written by filmmaker Ethan Coen for his upcoming detective film Honey, Don’t!, which stars Qualley as the titular heroine, Honey O’Donahue.

“In The Sun She Lies” is a psychedelic, folksy ballad driven by a gentle acoustic guitar and woozy Moog, with Qualley’s smoky vocals working as more of an accent to the mostly instrumental track:

“ODDWADD,” meanwhile, is a robotic, synth-dance track with a four-on-the-floor beat and chanting vocals from Qualley, which sounds a lot like something Sue, her character from The Substance, would shoot an erotic aerobics video to:

Although these are Qualley’s first tracks under the Lace Manhattan moniker, she previously contributed her voice to a cover of “How Deep Is Your Love” from Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness last year. At the time, she joked to Vanity Fair at a red carpet event, “It’s clear I’m not the singer in the family,” but you know what? She does alright as Lace Manhattan — at least, in terms of what these two songs ask of her. She probably isn’t changing careers anytime soon, but she does have us looking forward to seeing how these two songs figure into Honey, Don’t!

You can watch the videos for “In The Sun She Lies” and “ODDWADD” above.

Today, I learned that PUP is actually an acronym, which stands for Pathetic Use of Potential (give me a break, my beat is usually hip-hop). I learned this thanks to their return to NPR Music and its Tiny Desk Concert series, proving once again the utility and positive use of the potential of public broadcast radio.

That potential is now being threatened by some truly disgusting policy decisions from our wannabe overlords. If you want to continue to see cool stuff like PUP’s NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert, you’re going to have to show your support for public information with your wallet and not just your tweets. Donate to your local station and google your local House and Senate reps to yell at them about this and all the other stuff they’ve gotten wrong this year as often as you possibly can.

And, yes, the concert — which marks their first official appearance at NPR after doing their last one from home — is very cool. The Canadian pop-punkers open with “Morbid Stuff” from their 2019 album of the same name, rock right into their 2022 The Unraveling of PUPTheBand single “Robot Writes a Love Song,” and jump into “Hallways” from their new album Who Will Look After The Dogs?, which they released this May. After returning to Morbid Stuff with “Kids,” they cross the finish line with “Hunger for Death” from Who Will Look After The Dogs?

Watch PUP’s latest NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert above.

2025 XXL Freshman Samara Cyn made her late-night television debut on Wednesday (July 23) with a dreamy performance of “Hardheaded” from her new EP Backroads on The Daily Show. Guest host Josh Jackson told the Tennessee native that she was his first pick for musical guest when he found out he would be guest-hosting this week, and she gushed that she was also a fan of his, sending TikToks of his standup to her mom.

During the interview, Cyn admitted she didn’t dream of making music as a child, but “stumbled into” it and fell in love with the process of therapizing through music. She also contrasted Backroads with her debut album The Drive Home, saying that she wanted it to be more “lighthearted” compared to the “warm, serious” tones on that first project. Together, the rapper and comedian address the “hypernormalization” of the current political climate, with Samara opining, “I feel like we’re losing sight of all of that… all of the work that we’ve done of being a country first is being undone by the snap of very grubby fingers.”

Then, her performance expands from the stage, with a string trio embellishing her introspective raps. You can watch her performance above.

“Victory Lap,” the new single from Fred Again.. and PlaqueBoyMax, has already gone through a couple of transformations since its original June release. Back then, it featured a verse from Skepta, rapping over an interpolation of Doechii and Rico Nasty’s “Swamp B*tches.” But early this month, the duo dropped a second version, which featured Denzel Curry, following up two weeks later with a third version adding Hanumankind.

Today, we get the fourth “Victory Lap,” adding another buzzy alt-rapper in the form of Texas rapper That Mexican OT. Like the rappers before him, TMOT contributes a boastful verse, quipping, “Gangsta Mexican, feelin’ like I’m a cholo / Heavy and sexy, just like Moto Moto.” The continuing evolution of the project means he might not end up being the last addition, and it’s exciting to speculate who Fred and Max will tap to join in the fun.

In fact, it’s not just exciting — it might very well be productive. Many of the additions to the track were suggested in the chat of Fred and Max’s live stream documenting the original’s creation, which you can check out below. So, some of the other names that have been suggested just might make their way to a future version of “Victory Lap.” In the meantime, though, you can listen to the collected contributors on “Victory Lap Four” above.

Last week, Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist announced the long-awaited follow-up to their fan-favorite joint album Alfredo with a New Hollywood-inspired short film and the single, “1995.” Today, they shared the gritty video for “1995,” which elaborates on the storyline in the film.

In the five years since Alfredo, it appears the duo has traded in one variety of noodles for another, relocating to Japan and setting up shop at a ramen restaurant. There, they take drop-offs from local yakuza and make dubious exchanges from the trunks of old Toyota’s, all filmed with a nostalgic, neo-noirish filter of the sort you’d see in a movie like Black Rain or High And Low.

With the last Alfredo coming close to winning a Grammy, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of reception Alfredo II receives, five years removed. It’s certainly arriving at an opportune time to make a splash; despite recent buzzy releases from the likes of Clipse and Tyler The Creator, 2025 has been kind of a “slow year” for hip-hop in the eyes of many fans, giving Freddie a clearer lane to cross over than ever, with a road that has already been primed for bars-first, throwback hardcore rap.

Watch the video for Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist’s “1995” above.

Alfredo II is out on 7/25 via Rabbit Vision/ALC Records/Virgin Music. You can find more info here.