On Monday, Scottish electro-pop trio CHVRCHES shared a brand new song, “He Said She Said,” which is about the modern challenges of being a woman.
Category: 2021 Indie Videos
5 New 2021 Indie Music Videos We Dig, Vol. II
This is the second volume of our favorite 2021 indie music video series from artists and bands across the globe. Not by design, there are two videos below that have seizure warnings for people who react to strobes and blinking lights.
Don’t miss the first volume of 2021’s best new indie music videos.
Arctic Lights – Cork, Ireland
The Melting Minds – Jakarta, Indonesia
Saint Vice – Raubling, Germany
Bradley Coomes – Louisville, Kentucky
Orion Vincent & Danny Schultz– Vancouver, British Columbia
Arctic Lights: “King of America”
Released: 1/15/2021
CORK, Ireland
Genre(s): Indie rock
SEIZURE WARNING: This video contains STROBE LIGHTING effects
Arctic Lights is a new music project by Liam O’Callaghan (Bulkhead) and Edward Butt (Emperor of Ice Cream), two Cork, Ireland who once opened for Manic Street Preachers. The duo’s debut EP, Tabula Rasa was released in January along with the ragging single cut, “King of America.” Butt is a bassist while O’Callaghan handles vocals, guitar and drums.
The Melting Minds – “The Snake”
Released: 1/28/2021
JAKARTA, Indonesia
Genre(s): Psychedelic Rock
Influences: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
SEIZURE WARNING: This video contains STROBE LIGHTING effects
Indonesia-based indie band The Melting Minds creates “musical experiments of imagination” by a guy known only as Slinky Bones. The musical project, formed in the ‘the apocalyptic year of 2020’, was spawned on the initiation of his long-term friend, Dhandy Satria (a.k.a Aamaga), through a long-distance connection between two major cities in Indonesia: Jakarta and Yogyakarta. Later guitarist Ahmad Tubagus joined along with bassist Restu Prabawa; synth/singer Yafet Yerubyan, and dual drummers Christian Gratia and Wawa Kzk to fulfill the “fractal-chaotic and sonic-synergies” aspirations of the Slinky Bones guy.
Saint Vice – “Calling For Backup”
Released: 02/03/2021
RAUBLING, Germany
Genre(s): Indie Pop
Influences: Justin Timberlake, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Keys
The fresh single, “Calling For Backup”, is the debut single from the German band Saint Vice. Spearheaded by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Nick Reitmeier, the band also includes musicians Tim Buchanan (drums), Elias Herb (bass), and Phil Maze (guitar).
Reitmeier’s background includes solo albums that made the German album charts as well as his songs that appeared in television and film. He sang with Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music), supported inter alia Thees Uhlmann, The BossHoss, and worked with U.S. producer Damien Lewis (Katy Perry, Rihanna).
Bradley Coomes – “Are We Fast Enough?”
Released: 01/29/2021
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky
Genre(s): Instrumental, shoe gaze, post-rock
Influences: My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Cocteau Twins, Michael Rother, Dino Jr.
Solo songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Bradley Coomes is a veteran of the Louisville music scene. During the past two decades, he has opened for bands like Spoon, Brian Jonestown Massacre, and My Morning Jacket. His terrific debut single as a solo artist, “Are We Fast Enough?” is from his debut album The Work. Coomes played, recorded, and mixed all of the guitar, bass, synths, and vocals.
Orion Vincent ;amp Danny Schultz
Released: 2/7/2021
VANCOUVER, British Columbia
Genre(s): rap, rock, ska, hiphop
Influences: Linkin Park, Fort Minor, Limp Bizkit
Long-time Vancouver musicians Orion Vincent and Danny Schultz met on a gig and realized their similar tastes and goals with music. Vincent, a 20-year rapper, and Schultz, a vocalist in ska and rock bands for a decade, each grew up heavily into bands like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit.
Therefore, the duo decided to combine the two genres of rap and rock on the LP Toxic Wasteland, featuring the track and video, “Alone”. They’ve opened previously for bands like Onyx, Merkules, DJ Roc Raida, Snak The Ripper
facebook.com/orionvincent0
5 New 2021 Indie Music Videos We Dig, Vol. I
IRC has been watching and rating new 2021 indie rock videos sent into us in the past couple of months by indie artists and bands across the U.S. and around the world.
This is the first batch of five new indie music videos that we’ve been digging in the cafe (we never close). It goes without saying that a music video needs a great song to start with but it also needs to be a good video. A huge advantage nowadays for musicians is that video equipment – both hardware and software – is smaller, cheaper, better than ever before.
These videos are not in order of best to ‘least’ best. You can always rate which are your favorites though! NOTE: IRC puts more emphasis on the song than the video itself, however, we aim to present the best songs and their accompanying music videos.
Bands Featured in This Edition
- Messier – Helsinki, Finland
- Present Company – Minneapolis, Minnesota
- DUMMY – Hillsborough, New Jersey
- Atalhos – Sao Paulo, Brazil
- Frozen Mind – London, England
Messier – “Salt Water Flush”
Released: 02/02/2021
HELSINKI, Finland
Genre(s): Indie rock
Balancing beauty and anger, hope and despair, tension and release, Finnish trio messier’s exhilarating debut single, “On Malaise,” is an explosive mix of indie rock, alt-pop, and classic punk energy fueled by instantly memorable hooks and airtight vocal harmonies. The band was founded in 2020 by Lauri Huumonen (vocals, guitar); Antti Orajärvi (vocals/bass) and Kristian Jokilahti (drums). The song is the title track from the band’s upcoming album.
Present Company – “It’s Not Looking Good”
Released: 2/12/2021
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota
Genre(s): indie, alternative, post-punk, pop, synth rock
Influences: The National, Radiohead, LCD Soundsystem, Gary Numan, Joy Division, The Smiths
Eddie Chisham (lead vocals, guitar, synth) and Christian Nelson (lead vocals, guitar, synth) came together in 2018. They were joined by Seth Lemmon (bass) in 2019 and Berin Joseph (drums) in 2020. They are influenced by post-punk bands like Joy Division, The Smiths, Gary Numan, and Talking Heads as well as modern alternative bands like LCD Soundsystem, The National, Radiohead, and Dry Cleaning.
DUMMY – “Suddenly”
Released: 1/22/2021
HILLSBOROUGH, New Jersey
Genre(s): Indie pop-rock
Influences: The Smiths, Sad Lovers & Giants, U2, and The Cure.
Five-piece New Jersey-based indie pop-rock band DUMMY formed in 2019 with vocalist and bassist Ben Nelson and guitarist Jeff Fetzko getting things off the ground by writing songs to “old riffs and rough melodies.”
The duo brought on some musician friends to record and integrate alt. rock, indie, new wave and surf rock to create a sound of 80’s and 90’s nostalgia. Therefore it is no surprise that the band is influenced by artists like The Smiths, Sad Lovers & Giants, U2, and The Cure.
Atalhos – “Mesmo Coração”
Released: 01/02/2021
SAO PAULO, Brazil
Genre(s): Dream pop, post-rock
This spiraling, at times minimalistic, instrumental from Brazilian indie sextet Atalhos is one of the best instrumentals we’ve heard this year. The self-described dream-pop outfit recorded the track and dropped it in late December – qualifying it for 2021 considerations. We considered and we approve.
Frozen Mind – “Lockdown”
Released: 1/22/2021
LONDON, England
Genre(s): Indie Pop, alt. pop
London musician Aaron Sibley, aka Frozen Mind, dropped this sweet little number at the beginning of the year as his ode to 2020. He also created and produced the video’s visual effects, as he says, “within my humble home.”
Sibley first attracted fans after placing as a finalist in the 2017 Pride’s Got Talent contest which culminated in a performance in Trafalgar Square. In 2018 the single “Once Upon a Time” qualified in the Eurovision National Finals in Moldova and in 2020 the track “Wildfire” was also named. His six-song debut EP, Holiday Love, was released in 2019.