It’s been a minute. Here’s a new best indie songs playlist featuring interesting indie music on Soundcloud that we’ve been listening to from indie bands in the U.S., Canada, England, and Sweden. Many of these are DIY artists that deserve to be ‘above the radar,’ thus their inclusion here.
The end of this post includes the full playlist of all of the tracks in this post so that you can stream them uninterrupted if you wish. Please follow, link to, share and like – it all helps let us know.
This installment includes Soundcloud indie tracks from:
The Figurants – Seattle, Washington
The Polaroids – Linköping, Sweden
Coma Row – Durham, England
FCE – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Andy Leon – Los Angeles, California
Middle Life – Nashville, Tennessee
Olloway – Vancouver, British Columbia
The Figurants – When we first heard “Your Uncle Morty” from The Figurants (an online-only music collaboration), we couldn’t help but to hear hints of Sonic Youth mixed with Dinosaur Jr. It’s rare to come across such an interesting, if unintentional, combination. And yet the duo has it’s own unique alt rock sound. We dig when artists dare to be different.
The duo behind The Figurants is songwriter Matt McClure (Red Kitchen), of Seattle, Washington, and producer Erik Sahd (Chauchat). The two originally met in high school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
After a 20-plus year hiatus and facilitated by the long-distance recording methods of indie rock band Sparklehorse, McClure and Sahd began to exchange recordings online and have since released three albums. The new album – worth a listen – is Vicarious Victims. The band had a mini hit not long ago with the track “Astricin.”
The Polaroids – A five-piece indie rock band from Linköping, Sweden. “Chinatown” is The Polaroids’ debut single from the album Whatever Makes a Profit, expected to drop next month.
These lads can rock, and are definitely influenced by the Arctic Monkeys and The Strokes. Solid driving rock and roll.
Coma Row – A new wave/indie rock project started in 2017 by Durham, England musician Andy Buchanan. The song “Dance (The Night Away)” is upbeat but still has an undeniable 80’s new wave synth vein running through it that makes his music a bit trickier to categorize.
His musical influences include New Order, The Cure, The Smiths, and Joy Division.
Andy Leon – On the song, “Sweetness,” Los Angeles vocalist Andy Leon’s voice is gorgeous, triggering comparisons, however lightly, with Norah Jones. The single is from the new album The Great Mouse Parade, titled after her backup band.
The GMP is a group of four college friends who each transplanted from Boston to LA within the past couple of years. The band performs shows around the LA area and are often remembered for “strings and horns” integrated into their sound and stage presence.
Middle Life – Nashville musician Jon DaCosta is the force behind the moniker for Middle Life, which is a brash, lo-fi, garage indie rock sound, as demonstrated on the brave track, “If I Was You.” The song is from Middle Life’s self-titled debut album dropped in February.
DaCosta has been playing in folk bands for nearly 15 years. During the past few years, he has been reconnecting with the music he grew up on – alt rock of the 1990s. DaCosta has channeled this early love into writing his own “songs reminiscent of that sound…Weezer, Radiohead, Stephen Malkmus, and Dinosaur Jr.
Olloway – Hailing from Vancouver, Canada, Olloway is the collaboration of two high school friends, and musicians, Paul Kane and Brett Fabian.
Olloway’s sound is based on a combination of their “astute production skills and the rock music that inspired their youth,” resulting in a unique genre-bending mix of sounds.
The duo’s musical influences are varied and include artists such as Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Porter Robinson, The Beatles, and Queen.
FCE – Minneapolis musician Chris Koza’s single, “Sleepwalkers,” has an indie folk rock feel on the back of a thickly veiled love song that is simply wonderful. That said, we still haven’t been able to find out what FCE stands for.
Stream All Songs
Stream the full playlist from above uninterrupted.