The Still Out is a New York City Indie Rock band whose debut record, Crystallized, was built on Shoegaze and Alt-Rock, but was halted when its co-founder tragically died. The album went largely unheard. In 2018, a quiet re-upload to Spotify caught the ear of Jack Rabid at The Big Takeover who ranked the record #13 among reissues of the year, above R.E.M., Neil Young, and Bob Dylan. Now, the band is back with a deluxe, remastered album, and dozens of new tracks to be released in future.
Producers Josh Stoddard and Arjun “Arj” Agerwala formed The Still Out in the late ’00s during the New York Rock resurgence. The two met as techs for Fountains of Wayne.
At the time, Agerwala was working at the Stratosphere Sound, owned by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne and James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins. All songs were written, recorded, performed, and produced by Stoddard and Agerwala, tracked at the studio on and off in their free time. In addition to Stoddard and Agerwala, Crystallized features Adam Franklin (Swervedriver), Jody Porter (Fountains of Wayne), Claude Coleman, Jr. (Ween) and Mikey Jones (LSD and the Search for God, The Lemonheads, Swervedriver).
After gaining some recognition, signing to indie label Hi-Speed Soul, and opening for Swervedriver and Longwave, the band took a break. Stoddard went on to become a prolific songwriter, videographer, creator, and sound bath artist. Agerwala pursued his studio career, working with artists including Iha, Television, Fountains of Wayne, Depeche Mode, Courtney Love, and Michael Stipe.
After a brief reunion and the release of a single to honor longtime supporter and Fountains of Wayne co-founder Adam Schlesinger, who passed from Covid in 2020, Stoddard died tragically by suicide in 2021.
In 2026, Agerwala reformed the band. After Crystallized, he will be issuing a wealth of unreleased songs in honor of his best friend and bandmate.
Angerwala says:
We were proud of the record, but we didn’t have any big plans in mind for it. We didn’t make the record for anyone but ourselves. It has taken me nearly five years to recover from Josh’s death. It feels fitting, now that I’m able, to share our vision and bring something beautiful out of that darkness. This album is now both a tribute to him and a literal record of our friendship and creative journey together. I want anyone who may be into this to be able to hear it. It also feels like a tribute to our mentor Adam Schlesinger. I know that his passing affected Josh deeply.
