Author: IRC Staff

For more than a decade, dedicated to DIY, indie rock, alt. rock, singer/songwriter music, artists, and bands that don't get the exposure they deserve. Team of writers; editors; publicists; managers; producers, and promoters.

Top 10 DIY Songs, August 2021 – Wild Giants, Fake Parents, The Mananas, Jeremy Newall & more

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August 2021’s Top 10 DIY Indie Songs is a compilation of tracks that we received over the summer and listened to in order to create this Top 10 playlist featuring the following indie artists and bands from across the U.S., with the exception of an entry from Canada and Sweden.

Places represented include Phoenix; LA; Denver; NYC; Whitley City; Nashville and Chicago. Enjoy and please like and share.

Wild Giants – Phoenix, Arizona (“Souvenir”)
Fake Parents – Los Angeles, California (“Birthday Party”)
The Mananas – Denver, Colorado (“Back At U”)
Jeremy Newall – Toronto, Ontario (“Come On”)
Scotch Mist – New York, New York (“Operator”)
The Stupors Arizona – Phoenix, Arizona (“Simple Company”)
Milano Sun – Stockholm, Sweden (“Tough Sailors”)
Surviving Fate – Whitley City, Kentucky (“You”)
Sam McLeod – Nashville, Tennessee (“Sam McLeod”)
The Brand New Shoes – Chicago, Illinois (“With Airplanes”)

#1: Since its founding by recording artist Austin Walashek in 2018, the indie rock outfit Wild Giants has been dropping singles and playing live music all over Arizona. The band’s latest single, “Souvenir,” won over to take the No. 1 spot for DIY submissions in the month of August.


#2: Fake Parents, formerly ‘Parents’, is a Los Angeles-based indie rock band featuring members Garrett Hazen, Ryan Calaunan, and Blake Vallotton. The band records at Hazen’s home studio in La Mirada, California, and Vallotton directs the visual storytelling.


#3: “Back At U” is a recent 2021 single release from Denver indie rock band The Mañanas. The Ecuadorian indie pioneers "Nockah" originally composed the song in 2018. According to the band: “The song felt too "gringo" and out of place with their current discography. Fast forward two years, lead singer and composer Danny Pauta moves to Denver and meets with Brandon Unpingco to create The Mañanas where this song resurges. Watch the song video here.


#4: Jeremy Newall is a Toronto-based multi-instrumentalist (guitar, bass, piano, drums, synth) with influences ranging from Boy Pablo, Day Glow, Tom Misch, phum viphurit, and The Strokes. The Toronto musician’s new single, “Come On,” celebrates indie bedroom pop bliss. He writes the track is “light-hearted song about getting turned down.” To make this song much more entertaining he included samples from some iconic childhood cartoons. Last year, Newall lost his job as a touring musician in Nice, France due to covid leading to a total work-mode that resulted in various tracks that made up the EP Sheesh.


#5: The single, “Operator”, from the New York City indie rock outfit Scotch Mist bumbles along with all of the ingredients of indie pop-rock. The music project is the work of musician Eduardo Zighelboim.


#6: While no longer ‘active,’ the Phoenix indie rock band, The Stupors Arizona (formerly The Stupors), originally formed in 2005 and retired in 2011, still drops an occasional single and plays a few show or festival. This new track, “Done,” seems to have had time to simmer since 2011. Band member ‘Dibbs’ says it’s “an in-your-face-from-a-she/her-perspective on a bad breakup.”


#7: Based out of Stockholm, Sweden, indie rock/pop band, Milano Sun‘s new single, “Tough Sailors,” is what the band calls a “Storm kissed, salt-sprayed indie smash” that was “rescued from the once missing ship. Drenched with in-your-face guitar licks, psychedelic sound effects and 90’s clothing – it’s reusing sprinkles from all your favorite pop/rock decades from the 20th century.

The band is comprised of Johan Jonasson (Guitar, Vocals), Love Sivik (Bass), Zackarias Ekelund (Drums), and David Wikberg (Keys, Guitar, Vocals) with influences that include The Beta Band Beach House, Tame Impala, and Blood Orange.


#8: The brand new band Surviving Fate is a Kentucky-based duo of musical couple of Denny (all instruments,vocals) and Lyndsey Kidd (vocals) from Whitley. Denny Kidd has toured around the country in a previous band. That’s pretty much all we know about them, but if you dig the track, look them up. https://youtu.be/N40esh0xxXo


#9: “Baby Love” is the sweet new single from Nashville lo-fi/bedroom pop recording artist Sam McLeod. The single, he says, was written for the happiness he felt after the birth of the couple’s baby. “It started as a melody I started humming in Jan 2019 when I came home from the hospital with my newborn daughter” and felt a sense that as a couple he and his wife ‘made it.’ “with this amazing little girl to raise together.”

A Nashville native, McLeod’s style has matured from rock into an indie-folk sound that “creates a graceful fusion of influences like Ethan Gruska, Leelanhd, James Vincent McMorrow, and Jarryd James.”


#10: Based in the rock and roll city of Cleveland, Ohio, the Brand New Shoes is a DIY indie rock band featuring four friends and musicians who met in high school. They dropped a self-titled album in 2019, were sidelined for much of 2020, and have now released the album Still Love, featuring the single, “With Airplanes.”

Top 10 Indie Rock Songs, August 2021 – Villagers, Chvrches, The Killers, Liars & more

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August 2021 indie rock releases, and the accompanying singles, turned out to be one of the best months so far this year for new indie rock music.

Therefore, this Top 10 Indie Rock Songs playlist for August features Villagers; Chvrches; The Killers; Liars; Big Red Machine; Ty Segall, and others.

The album releases provided a good amount of listening material for the month. If you missed any of these, check out our Best August 2021 Indie Rock Albums with reviews from around the web and embedded album streams.

Please do us a tiny favor: like, share, and follow us if you dig what we do and want to encourage more. Remember, always choose love, in all of its forms.

Stream all of the 2021 Top 10 Indie Rock Songs playlists.

Gang of thugs who assaulted, drugged and murdered musician Elijah McClain arrested

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aurora-officers-arrested-1200

The Aurora thugs who jumped, choked, and drugged Elijah McClain, resulting in his death, have been arrested and booked.

Three officers, and two paramedics, were booked and released on bond late Wednesday, according to The Denver Post.

The gang of five was indicted by a grand jury and charged with manslaughter; criminally negligent homicide; and second-degree assault, among other counts.

Only after sustained community, statewide and national pressure and protests, a Colorado state grand jury was convened.

Now, after two years of blaming the victim, stall tactics, and non-action, a state grand jury came to different conclusions about the cause of Elijah’s death than earlier investigations.

The grand jury indicted Aurora police officers Randy Roedema, Nathan Woodyard and Jason Rosenblatt (no longer an officer) and paramedics Jeremy Cooper and Peter Cichuniec on 32 counts, including, the indictment outlines, manslaugther; criminally negligent homicide; assault in the second degree; crime of violence and various other assault and crime of violence charges against the officers and paramedics.

The indictment quotes Roedema as saying to investigators that his department tends to “take control of an individual, whether that be, you know, a[n] escort position, a twist lock, whatever it may be, we tend to control it before it needs to be controlled.”

Read the full official indictment in PDF.

“We’re here today because Elijah McClain is not here, and he should be,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said at a news conference announcing the charges. “He was a son, a nephew, a brother, and a friend.”

The indictment comes just over two years after McClain, 23, died after being violently attacked, assaulted, and murdered.

Elijah-McClain

Editor’s opinion: What is even more disturbing of all is the restraint and injection of the animal sedative ketamine by paramedics. What is wrong with the minds and hearts of people who swore to uphold the Constitution and to protect property and life?

These thugs didn’t care about Elijah; he was a target for them and it didn’t matter to them whether he did nothing wrong or not – they were intent on violating his rights, his mind, his body and shockingly to sedate him like a wild dog, leading to his murder. Walking home from the store; jumped by bully racist police officers (because a bag he was caring from the store looked “suspicious”.

NOTE: Watch out folks – LAW enforcement of all kinds do it every day. So, now, instead of calling it profiling, they call it ‘suspicious behavior’ so that later a cop can say he/she was “suspicious”; acting ‘suspicious’; walking ‘suspicious’; looking ‘suspicious’ as a way to violate people’s rights. If this happens to you and cops mention suspicious you then say a person’s perception of suspision is not probable cause and then invoke your 5th Amendment right to remain silent. As much as you may want to talk, don’t and make sure to film any encounters and ask if their bodycams are activated. Remain silent, film everything and call a lawyer.

Elijah-McClain-ameya

That’s just a huge open door allowing bad cops and other law enforcement officials to fuck with people. Now profiling has evolved to ‘suspicion’. They cannot stand that there are so many video cameras now everywhere.

In the days before cameras everywhere, cops really did whatever they wanted to. Even the cops that didn’t want to ‘go along’ had, and have, no choice but to defend the thin blue line at all costs.

In fact, another example of this deliberate lying by police officers is outlined in the indictment. When Roedema and Rosenblatt grabbed Elijah, Roedema later claimed that Elijah went for Rosenblatt’s gun even though Rosenblatt claimed he did not feel or see any contact with his “service weapon.”

elijah-mcclain

Elijah should still be learning, teaching, sharing, and making music. Who knows what else he could have done and all of the people, and animals (which he loved), he could have touched with his light.

But dark, evil forces took all of that from him in just minutes: Elijah was taken from his walk home by these evil forces. Grabbed; forced to the ground, assaulted; choked three times and injected with a powerful animal tranquilizer. Elijah suffocated and died.

His mother waited for him at home. She of course had no idea that her son was attacked, drugged and murdered for no reason at all by a gang of violent thugs – the same people who swore to protect and serve people just like Elijah.

Best Indie Albums, August 2021 – Villagers, Liars, The Killers, Big Red Machine & more

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August 2021 saw the release of a number of long-awaited album drops from The Killers, Villagers, Liars, and Chvrches, among others.

You can also see our album reviews section to get full reviews and more select indie album releases.

*Roll over cover art to play Bandcamp embeds.


Fever Dreams (84)
Villagers
Released: August 20th

The latest full-length release for the Irish indie-folk band, Villagers, led by Conor O’Brien was mixed by David Wrench.

Uncut (80): At its best here, this produces minor masterpieces like the shimmering romance of “The First Day” or “Circles In The Firing Line,” a lithe and bristling combination of John Grant and John Misty.

American Songwriter (80): The title says it all, giving an impression of wistful repose and a genuinely soothing serenity that’s become Villagers’ signature style. ‘These Fever Dreams’ are well worth holding on to.

DIY Magazine (80): Here, the sonic experimentation finds his production and arrangements reaching the same imaginative heights. A thrilling and unpredictable addition to Villagers’ gleaming canon.


The Apple Drop (84)
Liars
Released: August 6th

Angus Andrew includes Cameron Deyell, Lawrence Pike, and his wife Mary Pearson Andrew for the Liars’ 10th full-length release.

Record Collector (100): The rockier songs have a vague whiff of Faith No More’s deepest cuts, or even the lurching noir-rock of Tomahawk. … On the poppier moments he flaunts his range more confidently than ever. There’s a lot to take in. … Few bands remain so interesting for so long. The adventure continues.

Dusted Magazine (80): Overall, this new chapter in Liars’ fascinating story is perhaps their most easily digestible for years, synthesizing many laudable qualities of different chapters of the band’s career.

Beats Per Minute (78): Everything here sounds tighter than before, with an emphasis on riffs and melody, allowing the experimental tendencies of Liars to take a step back for a moment. As a result, ‘The Apple Drop’ will likely be labeled their ‘pop’ album, and that’ll be a justified assessment.


Refuge
Devendra Banhart
Released: August 13th

The ambient release from Devendra Banhart and Noah Georgeson features contributions from Tyler Cash, Todd Dahlhoff, Jeremy Harris, Mary Lattimore, Nicole Lawrence, and David Ralicke.

Glide Magazine (80): The result leaves the listener the way the best ambient music does, comforted, beguiled, and refreshed, and when the disembodied voice finally chimes in on “Sky Burial” it’s just enough to pull the listener in for the final stretch.

Pitchfork (62): Though the album is staid and formulaic by design, it doesn’t always color inside the lines: It feels more like background music failing up than ambient music failing down.


Pressure Machine (80)
The Killers
Released:

The poems Brandon Flowers wrote about the small Utah town he grew up in were the basis for the Las Vegas rock band’s seventh full-length studio release that also features a guest appearance from Phoebe Bridgers.

The Line of Best Fit (90): They’ve created something cinematic, pragmatic, and above all, fantastically like nothing we’ve heard from them before.

New Musical Express (80): A deeply satisfying entry into their catalogue. It’s a homecoming of discreet intentions, not the pompous heroes return they’re likely used to – the modesty and subtlety suits them.

No Ripcord (70): The band’s blinkered aspiration to create a classic again produces an album that is enjoyable but hollow. In that way, at least, Pressure Machine is a Killers album just like any other.


Screen Violence (81)
Chvrches
Released: August 27, 2021

The fourth full-length release for the Scottish synth-pop trio features a guest appearance from Robert Smith.

AllMusic (90): Not only is ‘Screen Violence’ Chvrches’ finest work since ‘The Bones of What You Believe’, it’s also their most purposeful. It feels like they took stock of who they want to be and what they want to say, and these epic songs about letting go but holding onto the ability to feel make for a stunning creative rebirth.

Consequence (75): ‘Screen Violence’ contains cathartic moments, anthems in the dark, and they approach them with tact and enthusiasm

Paste Magazine (61): It simply does what CHVRCHES have always done, but it falls short of reaching the exciting thrills of their earlier work. Rather than distilling their sound into its most captivating components, Screen Violence retreads already well-trodden territory.

How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last?
Big Red Machine
Released: August 27th

The second full-length release for the collaboration between Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and The National’s Aaron Dessner features guest appearances from Fleet Foxes, Lisa Hannigan, Ben Howard, Ilsey, La Force, Anaïs Mitchell, Naeem, Shara Nova, Taylor Swift, This Is The Kit, and Sharon Van Etten.

Spin (80): Though periodically unfocused, it mostly succeeds in not only championing the spirit of collaboration but also accentuating its guests’ artistic strengths. Throughout this record, Vernon and Dessner find joy in community.

The Guardian (60): The problem is that it occasionally sounds like Dessner and Vernon were simply enjoying themselves too much while assembling their friends’ work. The album lasts over an hour, and somehow feels even longer, perhaps because its tone never changes. There are tracks here that could have used an unsentimental edit.

Note: Remember to roll over album art to click play.

Draw Down The Moon (80)
Foxing
Released: August 6th

The fourth full-length release for the Connor Murphy-led trio was produced by Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra.

Exclaim (90): The band had already pushed well beyond their initial territory with Nearer My God. Draw Down the Moon transports them out of that world entirely and into a galaxy of their own.

Pitchfork (60): ‘Draw Down the Moon’ most often plays like a collection of Total Life Forever extended cuts, moments of thoughtful lateral thinking tacked onto the beginnings and endings of otherwise familiar indie rock songs.


Harmonizer
Ty Segall
Released: August 13th

The latest solo release for the Los Angeles-based rock artist was co-produced with Cooper Crain.

AllMusic (80): The songs jump from pounding metal excursions to tightly wound modern rock to synthy weirdness, each one ripping cleanly through the speakers with nary a ragged edge or stray shard of feedback. … Wrapped up tightly in slick modern clothes, they are something new. … Harmonizer is an exciting and intriguing addition to his bursting-at-the-seams discography.

Dusted Magazine (70): With ‘Harmonizer,’ Segall moves further out into his own personal weirdness, without compromising the red meat appeal of his rock aesthetic. It’s a neat trick, using different tools to make different sounds that, nonetheless, fit very squarely into his catalogue so far.


Into the Blue (77)
The Joy Formidable
Released: August 13th

The fifth full-length studio release for the Welsh alternative rock trio was recorded in Utah.

Glide Magazine (80): It is a multifaceted album of contrasts that melds pop hooks, rock guitars, and beautiful melodies in a way that crosses genres and tones and rewards careful listening.

The A.V. Club (67): It’s an undeniable return to early form, albeit with the clear sensibility of a band struggling to again find the magic in the formula.

In Dee Mail, Vol. XXXI – 2021 Bandcamp Tracks from Billboards, Everstill, Quitt & more

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billboards
Tens of thousands of releases are dropped on Bandcamp each year. The year 2021 has been a special one for indie/DIY music: not only because of the flood of amazing DIY releases – most recorded during, and as a result of, the pandemic.

Additionally, the exodus of DIY artists and bands from platforms like Spotify to Bandcamp has been a real industry shakeup, and we support that.

The Bandcamp allure didn’t end there: the platform also offers interaction with fans, lower costs and better profits for artists; vinyl, cassette and bundles, and the increasing popularity of Bandcamp Daily, the platform’s daily blog showcasing selected releases from DIY/small label indie artists and bands from an array of genres and sub-genres.

The following are some of our favorite DIY releases from Bandcamp that were submitted to our inbox via our music submission page.

Billboards – Cincinnati, Ohio
Everstill – New York, New York
The Strange Heroes – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Corrected Proofs – Chicago, Illinois
Quitt – Mainz, Germany

Billboards is an indie rock duo out of Cincinnati comprised of multi-instrumentalists Ryan Rockwell and >Eric Tuffendsam, both of who play guitar, bass, and keys. The duo’s latest single, “Run,” is, “a song about losing weight, and how it affects your brain, amongst other things. This song, like the other three on the EP is about finding something good in something bad.”

The duo’s influences include Kid Cudi, Chance the Rapper, Blink 182, and Coin.

The long-time friends have been recording together in one form or another for some two decades.

http://instagram.com/billboardsband

New York City indie multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Sara Aridi and drummer Luca Bertaglia– who record under the moniker Everstill – recently dropped the booming new single release, “Proxemics.”

The song, according to Aridi, “describes a pattern of obsessing over love interests that she repeatedly comes to realize are just distractions from existential fears and doubts she has to face. She weaves her melodic guitars and soothing vocals with Luca Bertaglia’s pulsating drums, building up to a powerful outro in which she finally confronts herself.”

The pair draw from a range of influences in compositions that are at once melancholic and euphoric. Aridi and Bertaglia, who hail from Lebanon and Italy, respectively, met in 2016 while playing in an alt-prog band and reconnected in 2020 to bring Aridi’s songs to life. Their debut album, "Longing," comes on the heels of their first two singles, "In Your Dreams" and "Waiting," which immediately landed coverage on platforms in the US and UK.

The single is from the duo’s debut Longing. Their musical influences are Warpaint, Wolf Alice, Interpol, Kurt Vile, Foo Fighters, and Nine Inch Nails.

High energy garage rock bellows on the new single, “White Wolf Black Sheep,” by The Strange Heroes. The Minneapolis indie trio, founded in 2012, will drop a self-titled album next month.

This dynamic and energetic trio features Brandon Lee (guitar/vocals); Taylor Ellis (drums) and Kaitlin Boedigheimer (bass).

Major musical influences include The White Stripes, The Beatles, The Stooges, among others.

Corrected Proofs – “Radio”

Chicago-based musicians Christopher Dean Hayes (guitars, bass, vocals) and Anthony Krecioch (drums), aka, Corrected Proofs have released a single, “Radio”, that tugs on the heartstrings.

The duo launched their musical project during the lockdown and have delivered the results. They are influenced by bands like The Weakerthans, Worriers, Against Me!, Sharks, Cheap Girls, Signals Midwest.

Mainz, Germany quartet Quitt have released the album “Ethik fallt,” and here’s a notable composition off of it.

“On “Alleine grinsen,” the musicians magnetically shuffle such genres as post-rock and post-punk. Their music moves from retreat psychedelia in the realm of Spacemen 3 to guitar vibrations and a fine dynamic a la Sonic Youth, while sometimes sounding like an alluring, strange light inside mountains.”

The wistful, warm melodies and the German lyrics are introspective and metaphorical.

Flashback Tracks – Royalball, WolfSaga, Desert’s Mind, Prisma & Nightcars

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The following profiles of under-the-radar bands from Europe and Russia feature kick-ass songs that we either featured only on playlists or social media but we’re now bringing to a post right here. These are some fine tracks worth flashing back to.

Royalball – Prague, The Czech Republic
Wolf Saga – London, Ontario
Desert’s Mind – Vladivostok, Russia
Prisma – Geneva, Switzerland
Nightcars – Madrid, Spain

The roiling track, “Pink Heels,” was a song that we shared on a number of playlists some years back. Not too surprising to us, the song did very well in that aspect. The track comes via Prague indie band Royalball. The band mixes indie pop and rock, Britpop, and alternative rock.

Our first introduction to the band was via this smoking, under-the-radar, The Strokes-meets-The Smiths-sounding single, “Pink Heels,” and the follow-up infectious song, “Whole Love Tonight (Love Is Calling Don’t Forget Who You Are),” both off the six-piece band’s 2013 debut EP.

Band Members: Jan Wonder lead vocal; Daniel Thatch drums; Matej Pleskac guitar; Ondrej Koci guitar; Valentine Wolf bass guitar; Daniel Patras – synths, piano
Musical influences: Morrissey, Blur, The Strokes, Gorillaz, Suede

Johnny Saga of London, Ontario, sent us the tantalizing electronic indie cover of Peter Bjorn and John’s “Young Folks,” featuring Lemon, way back in 2012 (seems like a few years ago; not nearly 10!).

It made the rounds big time on Soundcloud amassing nearly half of a million plays in a matter of weeks.

The swirling feel-good synth riffs, cooly-tuned drum machine beats, and bumping bass lines, not to mention the interplay of Saga’s and Lemon’s vocal stylings, made it a hit. In fact, Wolf Saga has dropped many covers over the years that have blown up – none more so than his cover of The Strokes “You Only Live Once” featuring Lyon.

Saga began producing electronic music using Logic Pro and a Korg R3 back in 2012. His musical influences are Phoenix, Dream Theater, Danger, David Bowie, M83, and Boston.

facebook.com/enterwolfsaga

Spaced out, slow jam riffs on percussion and electric guitars combine with snarly vocals. Driving in the dark, chilled night; haunting, melancholic industrial gloom and occult worship.

It’s Velvet Underground influenced jams with raw, emotive guitars, and booming bass and drums in the epic-like trilogy, “Shadows.”

These are the sounds and moods created by Desert’s Mind, a psych punk rock band from Vladivostok, Russia, up near the borders of China and North Korea in the northeastern most edge of the continent where Asia meets the Pacific Ocean.

Part Two of the “Shadows” song series delves viciously and head-first into a wall of punk-inspired guitar garage rock coupled with insanely powerful, and heavily reverb-laden vocals that are unforgettable. Damn! These Russos can bang your head with their full-force hurricane of angst punk psych rock.

However many times we try to word it – the fact is these guys play a mean punk/garage/psych rock stew that makes you believe they are a breakout band from a working-class American city, not hailing from easternmost Russia. Technically, they’re closer to America (Alaska) than most Russian, or even European, bands are. So, there is that.

Band Members: Aleksei Chepinoga, vocals; Egor Volokitin, guitar; Konstantin Chistokhin, bass; Andrei Taranin, guitar, and Alexander Shevtsov, drums.
Musical Influences: New Candys, Kyuss, This New Puritans, and Kap Bambino.

Based in the historic European city of Geneva is the indie rock band PRISMA. Founded in 2013 by brothers Paulo Mendoza and Dennis Benavides, and their fellow friend Costi McFrosty, the band broke through with a hot international single, “Prophet.”

They define their music as an exotic cocktail with influences such as Biffy Clyro, White Lies, Nirvana. In 2016, Prisma released its self-titled debut album which includes the band’s first international single ‘Prophet’. The 80s new wave keyboards, fast, punching beats, and shimmering synths remind us a little of the Pet Shop Boys.

Band Members: Dennis Benavides – vocals, guitars, keyboard, Paulo Mendoza – vocals, guitars, Costi Mcfrosty – bass Jose Pettina – drummer
Musical influences: Nirvana, Biffy Clyro, The Verve, and White Lies

Based in Madrid, the alternative indie bandNightcars features four friends/musicians originally from Venezuela and Uruguay.

The band’s debut single, “Neon Girl,” has obvious 80’s and 90’s influences, slick grooves, chilled keys, downtempo beats, frenetic guitars, and injections of soul and R&B elements.

The single is from the band’s debut album, Extended Play. Band members cite musical influences such as Lionel Richie; The Cure; and The Cars.

5 new select tracks from Gushh, Julia Gomez, Parents, Scotch Mist, TSA

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We are continuing to push out strong tracks submitted to us from indie/DIY/alt. rock artists and bands across the country and around the world.

Gushh – Bristol, England
Julia Gomez – Nashville, Tennessee
Parents – Los Angeles, California
Scotch Mist – New York, New York
The Stupors Arizona – Phoenix, Arizona

Gushh – “As Thoughts Float On By”

Weeks afterward, we are still marveling at this soaring, inspirational, and downright gorgeous instrumental. Built on shoegaze-fueled post-rock, the listener is immersed within this amazing composition’s sonic love-making.

The track, “As Thoughts Float On By,” is from Bristol, U.K. one-man-band Richard Stockley who records with the appropriately-chosen moniker Gushh. 

Shimmering layers of warm guitars blend with lightly bumbling bass. Lush keys add gloriously to the track’s uplifting ambiance.  This is the kind of piece that is perfectly suited for an enlightening scene in an adventure film or drama soundtrack.

Julia Gomez – “Grapefruit”

Julia Gomez is a Nashville-based singer, songwriter and instrumentalist.

A recent single “Grapefruit” has a fantastic good-feel summer vibe, melody, and rhythm.

Gomez says the drumbeat and whistles reference “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John and the guitar tones were inspired by “When You Were Young” by The Killers.

Her impressive vocal performance on “Grapefruit” evokes and emotes color, strength, and nonchalance. Her influences include Alvvays, Willow Smith, and Girl In Red. Gomez’s recordings range moods and genres, lending jazz chords, driving percussion, and soulfully alternative vocal performances to her collection, often accompanied by electronic instrumentations.

Her latest single, “Late Summer,” proves further her unique talent for songwriting.

Parents – “Birthday Party”

We don’t know what went on behind the scenes during the production of Parents‘ new single, “Birthday Party,” but it positively and unapologetically soars, full of vibes and flows of energy that cannot be ignored.

The musical project was founded by Los Angeles musician Garrett Hazen together with Ryan Calauan and Blake Vallotton.

Picking a band name like ‘parents’ makes it hard for fans and press to find information. We had a hard time finding anything on this band, so the best connection is the members’ names.

Milano Sun – “Tough Sailors”

Members of the Stockholm indie band Milano Sun threw their hearts, minds, and burning guitar fingers out there, to the big nowhere, and now they’ve returned to your ears. Like a boomerang.

Storm kissed, salt-sprayed indie track “Tough Sailors” is the first to be rescued from the once missing ship.

“Drenched with in-your-face guitar licks, psychedelic sound effects, and 90’s clothing – it’s reusing sprinkles from all your favorite pop/rock decades from the 20th century.” – Johan Jonasson (guitar, vocals)

The other members include Love Sivik (bass), Zackarias Ekelund (drums), and David Wikberg (keys, guitar, vocals). The band was formed in 2010.

Musical influences include The Beta Band Beach House Air Tame Impala Unknown Mortal Orchestra Blood Orange

https://www.instagram.com/milanosun/

Scotch Mist – “Operator”

New York City-based indie project Scotch Mist turns on the 70’s pop vibe on the new track, “Operator,” with sweet vocal harmonies, soaring strings and thick percussion.

The project is the work of solo musician Eduardo Zighelboim.

The Stupors Arizona – “Done”

The recent single release, “Done,” from the former Phoenix indie rock band The Stupors Arizona is dynamite.

Guitarist and vocalist Juicy Newt Dibbs says the song is “an in-your-face-from-a-she/her-perspective on a bad breakup,” apparently which is autobiographical.

Formed in 2005, the band broke up in 2011. However, they occasionally perform at a concert or festival, having gained a local fanbase. Recommended for fans of Pixies, The Gories, and The Coathangers.

Artist Spotlight – Al Berkowitz

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A few years ago we were introduced to the wonderful music of Madrid DIY art-rock band Al Berkowitz. One of the things that struck us most about this Spanish band was their originality.

The gorgeously mellow and dreamy, “How Could We Get Ourselves Lost?” is truly intoxicating. It may not be everyone’s dig, but chances are if you like this band, you’ll probably grow to love them.

AB was founded in 2006 by composer, producer and vocalist Ignacio Simón who decided to join forces with his psych rock band The Inhabitants and American beatnik Aldous Berkowitz (for whom the band was named).

When Berkowitz suddenly left the band in 2007 for personal reasons, the remaining members decided to pay homage to him by re-naming the band after him – a rare and interesting twist, wouldn’t ya say?

Sometimes loyalty runs deep. Just like the band’s songs. Simon told IRC that Berkowitz was such a mentor to the band that it was just a natural decision for himself, drummer Lorenzo Palomares and bassist Santi Estrada.

The second track we’d like to highlight from the band’s debut is the wonderfully melodic and sweet, “Magical Cynical,” a track which seems to have one foot in the sounds of the grandparents’ heyday, and another foot in the parents’ time, with sweeping, piano-driven choruses.

Al Berkowitz has combined strikingly original music with euphoric live performances, quickly becoming recognized as one of the most captivating and experimental DIY genre-bending bands from Madrid.

They’ve opened for artists like Standstill, Marcus Doo & The Secret Family and Robert Wyatt, and count among their top influences Scott Walker, Grizzly Bear, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, and Talking Heads.

Flashback Tracks: Bandcamp DIY Classics from IHNMAIMS, The Away Days, Shy Mirrors and others

Posted on by IRC Staff

We’re going back to the archives to pull out some great indie rock tracks from the past featuring:

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream – Berlin, Germany
The Away Days – Istanbul, Turkey
Shy Mirrors – Stockholm, Sweden
Nheap – Perugia, Italy
Matthew Squires and The Learning Disorders – Austin, Texas

*Click on cover art to play songs

The Berlin shoegaze, post punk band, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, otherwise known as, IHNMAIMS took their band name from a dystopian science fiction short story about survivors of a nuclear war.

The band’s shoegaze influences – Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine in particular – are clearly demonstrated on lo-fi rock tracks like “Drowning” and “PKD,” from the band’s 2016 eponymous debut.

IHNMAIMS also considers The Cure, Deerhunter, Nirvana and Velvet Underground as influences as well as “fellow Berlin bands The History of Colour TV, Brabrabra, Skiing and Jolly Goods, with whom we share current or former band members,” like Bastian Stein (vocals, guitar); Markus Mocydlarz (guitar); Angy Lord (keys), and Sara Neidorf (drums).

The band has opened for artists like The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Die Nerven, and Jolly Goods.

Even before the release of its debut album, the Istanbul-based DIY band The Away Days was on the rise, especially in Europe.

In fact, the band played a string of music festivals in Europe in 2013 and 2014 and have been featured on NPR, BBC, XFM, NME, The UK Guardian, SPIN and KEXP.

Living in Istanbul affords the members a unique view of the world; it’s an ancient city that has been the gateway between Europe and the Middle East for centuries. It’s not often that we get to hear DIY bands from Turkey.

We think The Away Days are worthy of their recent run of good press. The lush, dreamy psych pop soundscapes, with big, booming bass; reverb-heavy vocals and layered choruses; light, ambient, and soaring guitar riffs and stoner rock jams on songs like “Best Rebellious” and “Calm Your Eyes,” off of The Away Days’ debut EP, THIS, should make just about anyone a convert.

The Away Days have opened for Portishead, Belle & Sebastian, Savages, Paul Banks and Wild Beasts. The band lists their top musical influences as Mac Demarco, Local Natives, Tame Impala, and Foals.

If you dig lo-fi, demo guitar garage rock, and pop-punk, chances are you may find yourself listening to Stockholm one-man-band Mike Downey discography in full. He records under the moniker Shy Mirrors.

As the listener soon finds out, Shy Mirrors’ music is marked by a lo-fi indie attitude, snappy rhythms, buzzsaw guitars, and melodic, catchy vocals. Downey said he formed Shy Mirrors in 2010 based on a “selfish need to make rock music for me again after many years of, well, not making rock music.”

In the ensuing years he dropped a number of EPs and LPs and attracted a small but loyal following online. In 2016, Downey retired Shy Mirrors to work on other projects. It’s a good thing for lo-fi indie punk pop rock (that’s a mouthful) lovers that the discography remains online.

“I grew up listening to and seeing Screeching Weasel, Winepress, Pegboy, 88 Fingers Louie and loads of other Chicago and Chicago-suburb punk rock.

In 2007 Italian musician Massimo Discepoli started the Nheap project. Under this moniker, he composes and plays his own music, which is a mix of jazz, electronica, post-rock, avant-garde sounds creating dreamy, calming, and transformational soundscapes.

The Perugia artist’s amazing, and widely hailed album, Realight, is a jazz-driven compendium of jazz fusion, featuring compelling tracks like “The Snow That Never Falls,” and “Gradients.”

His musical influences include a diversity of artists, including Aphex Twin, Miles Davis, Squarepusher, King Crimson, Sigur Ros, Godspeed you black emperor!, Fennesz, and many others

Launched in 2012, Matthew Squires and The Learning Disorders is an ever-evolving band project seeded in the thoughtful and sometimes witty, songs of Austin singer/songwriter Matthew Squires.

Equipped with an odd, dry wit, a humble disposition, and a voice that finds strength in the midst of vulnerability, Squires is paving a very original path on the musical landscape of indie rock.

While lyrically powerful at their core, Matthew Squires’ songs are generally much more ambitious in their composition than mere vocals and acoustic guitar. One critic aptly described his sound as follows: “There is a sense of lightness and confusion that is delivered in the wrapping of electronic and acoustic instruments, each piece delivering something unexpected, and it is those joyous strides of disconnection that gives the material that floats around the room. Like a sage delivering wise questions, there is a prophetic feel to the outpourings with the almost chanted lyrics. The whole effect is slightly jarring whilst simultaneously cathartic.”

Formed in 2012; 2013 was a busy year for Matthew Squires and the Learning Disorders, which saw the release of three critically acclaimed albums and three corresponding music videos. They’ve opened for bands like Mother Falcon, Marmalakes, Casiotone For The Painfully Alone. Top musical influences are Leonard Cohen, Modest Mouse, Jeff Mangum, Bill Callahan, Daniel Johnston, and Elliott Smith.

2021 Indie Music Video Submits from Adar Alfandari, Soda Cracker Jesus and Bodoni

Posted on by IRC Staff

From the Mediterranean to the Middle East to Washington state, check out these dope music videos from the following indie recording artists who submitted directly to IRC.

Adar Alfandari – Rehovot, Israel
Soda Cracker Jesus – Tacoma, Washington
Bodoni – Ferrara, Italy

Adar Alfandari – “Wonder”

Bio: I am a 24 y/o Indie-Rock artist from Israel, and just released my third single "Gold Dust" from my debut album that will carry the same title.
Location: Rehovot, Israel
Genre(s): indie rock
Members: Adar Alfandari- lyrics, melody, vocals, guitars, keyboard. Nadav Hollander: Bass, Almog Lizmo: Drums. Idan Katz: Producer
Has Opened For: Idan Haviv, Static And Ben El, Muki, Dani Senderson
Musical Influences: The Black Keys, Jack White, Grizzly Bear
Facebook: adaralfa

Song Bio (from the artist): “The song is inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, the art of putting broken pottery pieces back together with gold. By embracing the flaws and imperfections you create stronger and more beautiful pieces of art. Or symbolically, create stronger human beings .”

Soad Cracker Jesus – “My Anthem”

Bio: Soda Cracker Jesus is the rock n roll brainchild of singer-songwriter-producer Regan Lane. Energy meets euphoria in a two and half minute sonic workouts. SCJ’S references are easy to draw, from a beefed-up Beatles or punked-out Kinks to those who took that sound forward including Robyn Hitchcock, Julian Cope, XTC, Anton Barbeau, and many more. Currently, besides Soda Cracker Jesus, Lane is the frontman /ringmaster for Psych-rockers Strangely Alright and their Eclectic Traveling Minstrel Magic Music Medicine Show.
Location: Tacoma, Washington
Genre(s): alt. rock, punk-pop
Members: Regan Lane: All Instruments and Voices
Has Opened For: n/a
Musical Influences: David Bowie, The Ramones
Facebook: sodacrackerjesus

Song Bio (from the artist): “A (soda) cracker (Jesus) of a power-pop tune, Tacoma’s Soda Cracker Jesus’ debut single ‘My Anthem’ hits all the right spots in its 2:22 duration. An infectious 4/4 glam stomper with fizzing guitars, pounding backbeat, and urgent vocals, it is catchy as anything and will bring a smile to anyone’s face.”

Bodoni – “Lipstick”

Bio: Too young to attend Nirvana concerts but too mature to forget the twin towers, it is in this period that the four boys from Ferrara, near Bologna, Italy grow. Inside their domestic walls, listening to 90 minutes long mixtapes with titles written on paper: alternative rock songs that rarely were played on radio or shown their videos on MTv.
These fuzzed and distorted sounds, screamed but melodic voices is where Bodoni get their inspiration.
The band takes its name from the Bodoni Font.
Location: Ferrara, Italy
Genre(s): alt. rock
Members: Nico P. – Guitar and vocals. Memo – Lead guitar. Parme – Bass. Danny – Drums
Has Opened For: Alice in Chains, Melvins
Musical Influences: Nirvana, Pixies, Sonic Youth, Weezer
Facebook: bodonify

Song Bio (from the artist): “Lipstick is the first (and hopefully last) song fully arranged and written during the total lockdown period, at a distance between us without the possibility of confronting each other in a quick and direct way.
The song takes inspiration from the tragic story of this girl who gets murdered by her then-boyfriend, stabbing her first and setting the car on fire after, thinking she was already dead.”

1

Middle Kids drop new video and North American tour dates

Posted on by IRC Staff

The popular Sydney indie rock trio Middle Kids has dropped a new music video for the track, “Stacking Chairs”.

The video features offbeat humor with a literal and stylized interpretation of the track’s lyrics. Colors of red and orange dominate the video’s texture and an interesting theme develops about miniature modeling.

In other band news, the Australian band will kick off a North American tour (first in two years), starting with a month-long national tour beginning in Camden, Connecticut and concluding in Nashville.

Locked down in Sydney for nearly two months, Middle Kids will be the first Australia-based band to tour the U.S. since the onset of the pandemic.

The band released the sophomore album, Today We’re The Greatest, this past March via Domino Records.

September 18 – Space Ballroom – Hamden, CT
September 19 – Sinclair – Boston, MA
September 20 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY
September 22 – 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
September 23 – Mr. Smalls – Pittsburgh, PA
September 26 – Firefly Festival – Delaware, DE
September 28 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON 
September 30 – A&R – Columbus, OH – tickets
October 1 – Loving Touch – Detroit, MI
October 2 – Metro – Chicago, IL – tickets
October 3 – Fine Line Cafe – Minneapolis, MN
October 7 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR
October 8 – Biltmore Cabaret – Vancouver, BC 
October 9 – Crocodile – Seattle, WA
October 11 – The Independent – San Francisco, CA
October 12 – Casbah – San Diego, CA 
October 13 – Teragram Ballroom – Los Angeles, CA
October 14 – Pappy & Harriet’s – Pioneertown, CA
October 18 – Mohawk – Austin, TX
October 19 – Tulips – Dallas, TX
October 21 – Aisle 5 – Atlanta, GA
October 22 – Exit/In – Nashville, TN