As summer rolls along at a clip (like it always does), we’ve been listening to dozens and dozens of new DIY indie tracks sent in through our submission form. And as usual, we come across some really good ones that we are inclined to share with all of you. Some of these artists may not show up anywhere else on the blogosphere but that’s because we are able to detect talent and potential where the others can’t – which has been part of our brand since 2008.
This second volume of our favorite 2021 DIY Song Submissions features a bunch of noise rock, dream pop, shoegaze and more. (Please like and share if you dig).
Desperate Journalist – London, England
Lucid Express – Hong Kong, ‘China’
New Math – Seattle, Washington
Don’t Connect – London, England
Burkini Beach – Berlin, Germany
Desperate Journalist – “Fault”
The fairly popular London-based indie/alt rock outfit Desperate Journalist belts out post-punk mixed with goth elements on the new track, “Fault,” in such a dreary and aggressive signal that it is borderline industrial rock/hardcore goth. And yet there is a gentle melancholy at play right along. Vocalist Jo Bevan’s vocals are fierce and firey, bursting with anxiety and fear.
The song’s lyrical content speaks to a situation in which the subject is basically about being stuck with bad decisions and not taking action to avoid bigger problems. Powerful shit.
Lucid Express – “Hotel 65”
Based in the precarious city of Hong Kong, five-piece indie rock band Lucid Express has dropped an impressive new single, “Hotel 65.”
It is the standout single so far from the band’s debut album dropped on July 16th via Kanine. The video for the song is described by the band as a collage of footage taken from the band’s travels in their native Hong Kong, as well as in Vietnam, Japan, the U.K. and the United States.”
“These flashes of scenery,” the band wrote, ” reflect the lyrical turns of the song, while being interspersed with the words themselves scrawled onto mirrors, notebooks and paper scraps.””
Shoegazed, fuzzy guitars wrapped around beautiful soft vocals make this dream-pop track one of the best of the summer so far.
New Math – “Lowe”
Multi-instrumentalist Chris Fish, aka New Math, busts out experimental shoegaze/noise pop to create blazing sonic artworks. This is on full display via his new album, Kudzu. If you’re a fan of experimental, noise pop or shoegaze, this is a place you may want to hang.
Fish, who is based in Seattle, picked the opening track, “Lowe,” as the first single from the album. The song, like the rest of the album, was and recorded during the quarantine “while I struggled with sobriety, the pandemic, and the collapse of society.”
“It’s not as depressing as it sounds,” he adds, ” I swear. The video is composed of edited stock footage, and I think it compliments the dreamy apocalyptic vibe.”
His solo ‘bedroom’ project began, he says, as “an acoustic drone experiment, Epigenesis (2013), and has since evolved into an experimental noise pop act [New Math].” Fish cites his top musical influences as My Bloody Valentine, Mclusky, and Kanye West.
Interestingly we also received a single the same week from the band Victims of the New Math. Stay tuned.
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Don’t Connect – “Burning Rubber in the Sun”
We don’t know much about the mysterious artist behind Don’t Connect, but we do know a few things. His name is ‘Charlie,’ he’s based in London, and his new song “Burning Rubber in the Sun” is fire.
Preferring to let his music speak for itself, “Burning Rubber in the Sun,” is a chilled acoustic guitar-driven slow-burner that picks up with percussion and rhythm in the second half of the track, a transition assisted by some taping effects.
Despite providing any more details about himself, the ‘unknown artist’ did provide some insight about the song:
“‘Burning Rubber in the Sun’ is a song written to capture the feeling of summer, escapism and the ability to forget about everything going on in your life and just have a good time.”
Obscure Sound wrote: ” The one-minute mark unveils playful interaction among guitars, synths, and a dose of backing strings; the feeling here is quite fondly reminiscent of Beck.”
Don’t Connect is aiming to drop his debut album Running soon.
Burkini Beach – “Crying at the Soundtrack”
Berlin indie rock guitarist/vocalist Rudi Maier didn’t provide many details his new single, “Crying at the Soundtrack,” simply writing: “I wrote a song to remind of the downsides of touring, haha. Thought you might like it.”
We do but we might like it even more if a song description came along with it. (Artists should really understand that the chances of them being featured on blogs greatly increases when a real song description is included. It gives the blogger something to post and it provides context. Additionally, an artist is much more likely to connect to listeners by providing a ‘behind-the-scenes’ description of the song.)
Anyways, Maier’s band, Burkini Beach, record and tour with him in between his projects and side gigs touring with Thees Uhlmann and Emperor XX and Das Paradies. The band members include Emma Elisabeth Dittrich (vocals), Simon Frontzek (keys, bass), Franz Neugebauer (drums), Sönke Corpus (pedal steel).
Burkini Beach has opened for indie bands like Cigarettes After Sex and Warpaint and include among its top musical influences Purple Mountains, Mount Eerie, and Phoebe Bridgers. The band was founded in 2017.
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