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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 41m

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and for behind-the-scenes content and interviews that cut left on the cutting room floor, head to 2004pod.com

2004pod.com

Home | 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke

Go back in time to the golden age of indie rock.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 41m

And that's not even the Shins' strangest TV moment. Ask him about the time he showed up to Gilmore Girls in a winter sweater to play a spring break in Florida.

Notebook page on an orange plaid background. Text reads: "I remember talking to Stuart Meyer at Sub Pop. He said that this guy in a comedy show wants to use the song. He's going to direct a movie... Natalie Portman wasn't cast or anything like that." Attributed to James Mercer, The Shins. Below the quote is the pale blue album cover for Oh, Inverted World by The Shins, showing white branches with berries. Line-drawn doodles include a suited figure with a question mark for a head, pink hearts, and a vine.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 41m

He tells the whole story in Episode 3 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, from the phone call to the awkward night he went to see it himself.

Notebook page on an orange swirl background. A polaroid labeled "Let's begin" shows a dark-haired man with light stubble looking at the camera in a pale, teal-tinted room. Large text reads: "The thing about that movie was that I okayed that early on, and then I forgot about it because it wasn't until 2004 that it came out." Attributed to James Mercer, The Shins. A film reel and a hand-drawn movie projector decorate the page.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 41m

James Mercer said yes to a movie before it had a cast, then forgot about it for two years. By the time Garden State hit theaters, Natalie Portman was handing Zach Braff a pair of headphones, and a song he'd okayed from a van was suddenly everywhere. 🎧

Scrapbook-style notebook page on an orange wood-grain background. A taped polaroid labeled "Jumping in" shows four men in orange life vests and patterned swim trunks standing on a dock by the water. Large text reads: "I kept getting people saying that they had seen Garden State and that I had to watch it." Attributed to James Mercer, The Shins. The 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke cover art, flower doodles, and a pen decorate the page.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 2h

Not everybody was thrilled to join the party. Some bands had a blanket "no thanks" policy to licensing music. We get into the money, the trade-offs, and what it meant to be a band whose music became the soundtrack to someone else's life — even though they never bought the record.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 2h

Six Feet Under gets an Arcade Fire original. Friends ends a season with Interpol. Then Garden State shows up, and so does a pair of headphones. 🎧 James Mercer of The Shins admits he barely remembered saying yes. Sub Pop's sales numbers will never forget.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 2h

It wasn't just happening on one show. One Tree Hill turns every episode title into a song. On Gilmore Girls, Lane Kim becomes the music snob a lot of us needed. For Grey's Anatomy, Tegan and Sara found their biggest song and a new audience, and Tegan explains why she said no to writing the theme.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 2h

Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie tells us what it was like to throw a watch party for your first-ever TV placement and realize the characters were talking about you. The band's fans split into two camps: Those who'd been there from the start and those who found them on Thursday night.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 2h

Showrunner Josh Schwartz spent the first stretch of the show emptying his own iPod onto the screen with tracks from Spoon, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, and more. Then a certain band from Seattle landed way more than a placement.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 2h

Back in 2004, a fictional teenager in Orange County started name-dropping his favorite band, and a whole generation went looking for the record. In Episode 3, we follow indie rock into your living room. It starts with The O.C.

An image designed to look like an email sent from the 2004 podcast to Bethany Cosentino says: You’re watching some show, and a song comes on. In the mid-2000s, it was very likely that song was by an indie rock band.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 19h

The two boxes of burned CDs they handed out at CMJ while sleeping on Metric's floor. And the one SXSW show at Momo's that changed the band's year. We put it all in a behind-the-scenes post for our mailing list. Sign up and read it at 2004pod.com.

2004pod.com

Home | 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke

Go back in time to the golden age of indie rock.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 19h

Jeffrey Remedios helped start Arts & Crafts with Broken Social Scene. When we talked to him for Episode 2 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, he had more to say than we could fit. Like the six-figure Hummer offer Broken Social Scene turned down.

2004pod.com

Home | 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke

Go back in time to the golden age of indie rock.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The conversation ends on love songs, because as his friend Torquil Campbell once told him, that's all there is. Subscribe at 2004pod.com

2004pod.com

Home | 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke

Go back in time to the golden age of indie rock.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Kevin walks her through shooting "Cause = Time" in his parents' backyard with 65 people, army gear, and bags over everyone's heads, as the Iraq War was on the precipice of starting, at a time when very few musicians were getting involved in politics.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Then there's the part you won't hear anywhere else. Courtney, who was working in MTV's music programming department in 2004, digs into Broken Social Scene's music videos, a conversation that did not make it into the podcast.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Kevin looks back on the moment everything changed for the band, with a Pitchfork review in February 2003 that ricocheted from their South by Southwest appearance that spring and just kept going while they toured Europe.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

In a bonus podcast interview for subscribers, 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke executive producer Courtney E. Smith sits down with Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene.

A designed tile says 2004: The Bonus Interviews. Below is a photo with a mustard filter of Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene playing his guitar.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Kevin walks her through shooting "Cause = Time" in his parents' backyard with 65 people, army gear, and bags over everyone's heads as the Iraq War was on the precipice of starting, at a time when very few musicians were getting involved in politics.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Tegan Quinn on the "who cares" attitude from the NYC bands, Robb Nansel on the "Saddle Creek sound," and Mac McCaughan on the night Arcade Fire packed a 250-capacity room. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts and get more at www.2004pod.com

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a quote that reads, "We really did feel like there was this whole musical movement that was changing things." Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene. At the top is a photo of Kevin perfoming.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Plus: Ben Gibbard on growing up in the shadow of grunge, James Mercer on trying to impress the coolest kid in Albuquerque, Carl Newman on the moment he realized the world was noticing Canada,

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a quote that reads, "By 2004... we're selling four to 5,000 copies of You Forgot It In People every week in the United States. It Would go on to sell over 250,000 copies in the U.S., probably another 75K in Canada, more around the world." Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene. Below is the album art for You Forgot It In People.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene takes us to Toronto, where a roommate argument about indie labels versus major labels turned into Arts & Crafts Records. We hear how a band of friends became a whole community, and how You Forgot It in People broke sales expectations.

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a photo a man playing guitar backstage at the top, and a quote in the middle that reads, "We wanted to do our own thing and have our own label. So we birthed Arts & Crafts based around 'You Forgot It In People.'" Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Episode 2 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke goes back to the years before the breakthrough. Indie rock was still being made in dingy clubs and tiny scenes across North America, long before anyone was putting it on magazine covers.

A card designed to look like a page in a scrapbook has a photo of two men at the top, and a quote in the middle that reads, "Suddenly we found ourselves... building off the inner circle of Broken Social." Kevin Drew, Broken Social Scene

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Isaac loved it and passed it to Sub Pop president Jonathan Poneman. By 2000, the band was on the label. This episode goes back to the years immediately before 2004, when the scenes in New York City, Toronto, Omaha, Albuquerque, and more were laying the groundwork. Listen anywhere you get podcasts.

2004pod.com

Home | 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke

Go back in time to the golden age of indie rock.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A little preview of Episode 2 of 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, which comes out Wednesday, September 30. 💿 When the Shins were still Flake Music, they toured with Modest Mouse, and James Mercer handed Isaac Brock an early version of "New Slang" on a burned CD.

An orange box has a design in it that looks like an email. The text says: "The Shins caught their break the old-fashioned way — by giving a friend with connections a burned CD."

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Hear more of her story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23 — wherever you listen to podcasts.

A poster has eight red doors, stacked four and top and four on bottom, with the words 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke on them. Gold and orange records flow out from one open door on the bottom right.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

But that kind of exposure came with a cost that not everyone was thrilled about. Being name-dropped and played on the biggest teen drama on television didn't sit right with every fan — or every band. Alex remembers exactly how that tension showed up, and who felt it first.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

They weren't there because a marketing person at a record label demanded it, but because Alex and showrunner Josh Schwartz were digging through record stores and burning CDs, chasing what they actually loved. She was working from a fan's instinct.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

That's what made The O.C.'s soundtrack for the first few seasons feel so different from other teen shows at the time — Spoon, Death Cab, Bright Eyes, Camera Obscura, Doves, all showed up.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Alex Patsavas was music supervisor for the Fox teen drama The O.C., which in the early 2000s meant her job included having a physical relationship with a mountain of CDs. It was on her to actually listen and figure out what fit.

A Post-It note card has a quote that reads, “I had a small office in Hollywood, and it was just ceiling-to-floor CDs in a practically oppressive way.” Alex Patsavas, music supervisor, The O.C.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hear more of that story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Laura watched a label built for steady, manageable growth get pulled into something closer to a full-blown machine — doubling staff, fielding calls from Target's headquarters, figuring out Walmart logistics, all in the span of about a year.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The first pressing sold out almost immediately, and the intricate silver-foil artwork took so long to manufacture that Merge kept selling out of every subsequent pressing before the next one even arrived.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Arcade Fire didn't follow that math. Merge pressed 4,000 vinyl copies and 1,000 CDs of their first album, Funeral, optimistic that they'd sell maybe 5,000 total. It ended up moving more than half a million.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Laura Ballance of Superchunk co-founded Merge Records. For most bands on the label, success meant a record that sold a few thousand copies and got a band from one city to the next on tour. Bands would build slowly, city by city, on word of mouth and a fanbase.

A Post-It note card has a quote that reads, "It didn't even occur to us that a record on Merge could explode in the way the Arcade Fire record did." - Laura Ballance, Merge Records

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Hear the real behind-the-scenes on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode is out now. Listen to it everywhere you get podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

She helped negotiate endcap placements at Best Buy that put indie records in front of people who didn't know they were looking for them. The unglamorous infrastructure behind 2004's indie rock explosion is one of the stories nobody tells. But Amy does.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Amy Dietz worked at the Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), the company that partnered with indie labels including Sub Pop, Saddle Creek, and Barsuk when the old distribution system started collapsing around them. She watched distributors go bankrupt and take labels down with them.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Before a record could change your life, it had to get to the store. And before it got to the store, someone had to move it there — physically, in a truck, through a warehouse, into a distribution network.

A frame designed to look like a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "If somebody doesn't pay you, you can't pay somebody else. That's, in many ways, the nature of being independent." Amy Dietz, ADA

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

What happened next was a huge learning curve for Kris and everyone at Domino. Hear about it in 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. The first episode is coming on September 23. Get it anywhere you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

He was just a guy at a tiny label who happened to be doing the job of five different departments at once, because there weren't five different departments yet. A year later, Franz Ferdinand's debut sold over a million copies in the US.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Then he sent CDs to writers he half-knew and a few he'd never met, and somehow it worked: The Fader wanted a photo shoot and a feature; Time Out New York wanted a show preview. Kris wasn't a publicist.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Kris lined up a run of shows for Franz Ferdinand during their first trip to American in 2003 that included a Thursday at Pianos and a Friday at a weird West Side room with an aquarium behind the bar.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Kris Chen was the second guy hired at Domino Records in America, to replace Daniel Kessler of Interpol, who was leaving to do his band full time.

A frame designed to look like a post-it note holds a quote that reads: "I used my personal credit card to buy flights for Franz Ferdinand. I booked hotels and booked the first couple of shows." Kris Chen, Domino Records.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Hear more of his story on 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke. New episodes start September 23 — wherever you listen to podcasts.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

At a panel for the show, someone stood up specifically to tell him to stop playing Death Cab. He was a fan too. He took it to heart. Josh talks about that tension honestly — being the person responsible for breaking a band wide open and drawing the ire of the people who loved that band first.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

His show generated seasons' worth of CDs full of indie rock semi-hits and then sold them at Best Buy, which made him a target for the same fans who'd been listening to these bands for years.

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2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke @2004pod.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

He wasn't hiding his enthusiasm. He was, by his own admission, a little drunk on the power of it. His enthusiasm put him at odds with a chunk of the audience he loved most. Being the guy who name-dropped Death Cab on primetime television.

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