Death Cab’s Indie Homecoming and the AI Resistance [Stereo Current]

[00:00] Sloane Rivera: Welcome to Stereo Current, your daily frequency for the Indy Underground and the wax that keeps it spinning. [00:07] Sloane Rivera: It's January 31, 2026. I am Sloan Rivera. [00:11] Julian Vance: And I'm Julian Vance. Today, the pendulum of the industry is swinging back toward the soil. [00:17] Julian Vance: We're seeing a major reclamation of the independent tag from some of the biggest names in the game. [00:22] Sloane Rivera: Starting with the Pacific Northwest's most enduring architects of melancholy, [00:27] Sloane Rivera: Julian, a death cap for QD has officially left Atlantic Records after 22 years. [00:33] Sloane Rivera: They've signed it with Anti-Records, home to Tom Waits and Fleet Foxes, [00:38] Sloane Rivera: It feels less like a business move and more like a spiritual homecoming. [00:43] Julian Vance: It's a massive pivot, Sloan. [00:45] Julian Vance: They were with Atlantis since the trans-Atlanticism fallout in 2004. [00:49] Julian Vance: Moving to anti puts them back in that curated artist-first ecosystem. [00:54] Julian Vance: Ben Gibbert said they're joining a roster of old friends. [00:58] Julian Vance: And they're celebrating with a monster tour this year. [01:00] Sloane Rivera: The lineup is a dream. Japanese breakfast, J-SOM, and Nation of Language. [01:06] Sloane Rivera: It's like a victory lap for the band that proved you could be on a major label without losing your soul, [01:11] Sloane Rivera: even if they're finally deciding the corporate view isn't as good as the indie one. [01:16] Julian Vance: And while Death Cab returns to their roots, Bandcamp is pulling up the drawbridge against [01:22] Julian Vance: the machines. [01:23] Julian Vance: They just announced a total ban on music generated wholly or in substantial part by AI. [01:29] Sloane Rivera: It's a bold line in the sand, Julian. [01:32] Sloane Rivera: While Spotify is busy verifying AI avatars like Sienna Rose, Bandcamp is basically saying, [01:38] Sloane Rivera: if there isn't a human heart beating behind the track, it doesn't live here. [01:43] Sloane Rivera: It's the digital equivalent of a no-robots-allowed sign on a record store door. [01:49] Julian Vance: It's necessary. [01:50] Julian Vance: We've seen Warner and UMG start to flirt with these AI generators like Suno and Udio. [01:56] Julian Vance: Bandcamp is positioning itself as the last sanctuary for the actual craft. [02:01] Julian Vance: They want fans to have confidence that what they're buying came from a person, not a prompt. [02:06] Sloane Rivera: Refined resistance. [02:08] Sloane Rivera: I love it. [02:09] Sloane Rivera: Speaking of craft, James Blake is doubling down on his own autonomy. [02:15] Sloane Rivera: Two years after leaving Republic, he's announced his first fully independent LP, Trying Times, dropping this March on his own Good Boy records. [02:25] Julian Vance: The lead single, Death of Love, with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir, is already out. [02:31] Julian Vance: It sounds like Blake is finally untethered from the pressure of the pop charts. [02:36] Julian Vance: He's got Dave and Monica Martin on the record, too. [02:39] Sloane Rivera: It's a theme today, Julian. [02:41] Sloane Rivera: From Death Cab to Blake to the very platform we buy our digital flax on, [02:46] Sloane Rivera: the theme for 2026 seems to be take the power back. [02:50] Julian Vance: It's the only way the scene survives. [02:53] Julian Vance: You can't automate soul and you can't corporate manage a legacy forever. [02:57] Sloane Rivera: Exactly. [02:58] Sloane Rivera: Keep your ears open and your turntables spinning. [03:02] Sloane Rivera: For Stereocurrent, I am Sloan Rivera. [03:05] Sloane Rivera: Visit Stereocurrent.neuralnewscast.com for more. [03:08] Julian Vance: And I'm Julian Vance. [03:10] Julian Vance: We'll see you at the record shop. [03:11] Julian Vance: Neural Newscast is AI-assisted, human-reviewed. [03:14] Julian Vance: View our AI Transparency Policy at neuralnewscast.com.