November was not just a great month for regular single releases and album drops from more ‘mainstream’ and well-known indie/alt/rock/pop artists and bands, but also for DIY tracks submitted to us that most people haven’t heard.
If these DIY singles, skimmed from hundreds of submissions, did not have something interesting, redeeming or exciting about them, they’d never make our Top 10.
Don’t miss the Top 10 Indie Songs November 2021, featuring Holly Humberstone, Snail Mail, Black Marble, Courtney Barnett, Ovlov and Matt Pond PA, among others.
For the most part, we base our DIY picks mainly on what is submitted to us throughout the year. Sometimes it’ll be months after we first start listening to a song that it grows on us (or holds up as much as the first few exciting listens) – or weeks or months since the official release – and we become convinced of its place on the top of our DIY lists.
Of course, there are plenty of songs that we know right away whether we dig them or not.
Every song has been chosen for one good reason or another – it just feels/sounds good; the lyrics are impressive; the total production of the track is noteworthy; it has a hook; the song is a preview of an artist or band to watch, or all of them combined into one powerful track.
The one to ten format is not necessarily meant to be scientific or even decisive – it’s more of a loose assocation but we think the order is pretty solid.
* label-associated and/or ‘popular’/well-known
In This Installment of the Top 10 DIY Songs, November 2021:
#1 – Barrie
BROOKLYN, New York
#2 – Cloud Vincent
LONDON, England
#3 – RVST
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil
#4 – Drive
NEW CASTLE, England
#5 – Dear Other
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio
#6 – Atlantic Canyons
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire
#7 – Remote Control
RICHMOND, Virginia
#8 – Adam Stall
COLDWATER, Ohio
#9 – Jarod Grice
DENTON, Texas
#10 – Jared Rabin
CHICAGO, Illinois
#1 – “Frankie” – Barrie
BROOKLYN, New York
Indie enthusiasts may – or may not – be familiar with Brooklyn indie band Barrie. For the past few years, the band has been ‘band to watch’ favorites for many blogs, especially thanks to singles like “Canyons” and “Drag” and 2019’s “Dig,” – Barrie’s last single until now.
The band’s latest drop is the melodic single “Frankie” swirling synths and a driving hook. Check out the video above.
According to the band, “Frankie” was inspired by songwriting legend Glen Campbell.
“Glen Campbell had just died and the radio was playing ‘Wichita Lineman.’ It felt relevant to the social justice movements at the moment, to the push for democratic socialism, or at least a rejection of capitalism and where it’s gotten us,” Barrie explains in a statement.
“The Wichita Lineman has a shitty oppressive job that isolates and overworks him, as many Americans do, and instead of feeling outraged on his behalf we honor and lionize his commitment to labor. The song is a great litmus test. People either find the character really heroic and noble, or find the whole situation sad and fuk’d.”
#2 – “Can You Get Over Him?” – Cloud Vincent
LONDON, England
“Can You Get Over Him?” is for people who love a bit of indie, pop, and rock, with some singing/rapping, and an infectious groove. The song focuses on this summer sound, while detailing a story of a new relationship.
The single comes byway of Cloud Vincent a 23-year-old musician born in the U.S. and currently based in the U.K.
His sound revolves around catchy cheeky lyricism and warm vibes – “for sunny days with an indie-pop take on capturing summer nostalgia.” This new track is the first single from his upcoming 2022 EP.
#3 – “My Violent Friend” – RVST
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil
The powerful powerpop anthem ‘My Violent Friend” from Brazilian band RVST delivers a catchy and contagious chorus with a theme that ” celebrates the taking of the streets and the fight between the distorted views imposed by ultra-conservative rulers.”
RVST is the cryptic rubric that has been around the few rock venues and music-friendly spaces in Porto Alegre, Brazil, since 2015. Idealized as Rust Costa Machado’s solo project, the singer-songwriter has dedicated his efforts to tiny-lenght minialbuns (EPs, if you will), where he finds room the creations of his short trajectory.
Whether for his manipulation of duo vocals, on the combination of nostalgic and fresh melodic designs, or on the employment of the second language (English, the one he works with, as a teacher for Brazilians), RVST presents on his discography an original style of making the music he loves – ambitious, universal, yet bedroom pop.
Spot somewhere between the solemn and visceral, his third release Electrified dropped in October.
facebook.com/rvstmusic
#4 – “The Rain” – Drive
NEW CASTLE, England
The nostalgia-tinged single, “The Rain,” from the 80’s-influenced New Castle, England duo of Jake Fletcher and Andy Bell is “an 80s-inspired track reminiscent of some of our favourite coming-of-age movie soundtracks.
“It’s about coming of age in a small town which no one really gets out of,” Bell adds.
On FB, the duo announced: “‘The Rain’ is out now!! This is the first song we wrote as Drive and really think it captures who we are as a band.”
Influences include The 1975, Arcade Fire, Bleachers and “anything remotely 80s sounding.”
facebook.com/drivethebandofficial
#5 – “Houses Hallowed” – Dear Other
STEUBENVILLE, Ohio
“Houses Hallowed” is the lead single from Ohio indie rock/lo-fi folk band Dear Other‘s latest release "The Wizard Clip.", a recording that explores a 1794 exorcism in West Virginia.
“The Wizard Clip addresses dead friends, eternal life, and the ghosts we live with,” the band said in a statement, adding “House Hallowed” was “recorded in the attic of Marc and Marua Barnes, the vocalists for the track, on a Tascam 4-Track. This song is an apocryphal summary of the text, exploring our relationship to the other, to the poor.”
“Our music tends to be folkloric throughout, blending elements of indie rock, folk, lo-fi, with catchy hooks throughout tying it all together”
facebook.com/DearOther
#6 – “One More Minute” – Atlantic Canyons
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire
New Hampshire indie band Atlantic Canyons recently achieved the “number one most added EP” – See The Hue – on The North American College & Community Radio Charts. Behind the moniker is Andrea Levesque and apparently unnamed band members (unless she’s a one-girl band?).
Anyways, the top track, “One More Minute,” from the EP is dreamy, lush, and perfect musical soundscape for Fall.
“It bears witness to feelings of fear and loneliness, and there is catharsis in acknowledging unpleasant emotions,” she reveals. “By allowing myself the freedom to experience these feelings without judgment, I became unburdened by them.”
A fiery passion for playing music was lit within Levesque in childhood as she learned to play piano and violin.
“I really love feeling a sense of personal connection when the music resonates with other people,” Levesque shares. See The Hue is Levesque’s debut EP, written, recorded, and produced in her rural New Hampshire home. She constructed her project remotely with the help of some session musicians she met in online music chat rooms.
OK GO drummer Dan Konopka mastered the album, adding the finishing touches before the release. Orchestral elements combine with delicate vocal melodies, ethereal harmonies, and frequent lyrical references to the ocean.
instagram.com/AtlanticCanyons
#7 – “Blow For Blow” – Remote Control
RICHMOND, Virginia
Virginia indie band Remote Control began at the start of the pandemic and thus, their first batch of songs are influenced by pandemic-related issues.
The new single, “Blow For Blow,” is a “reflection on the futulity of arguing with people online in the way that we have seen recently,” says band member Bob Spires. “The song is a self-critique of the trap we all sometimes fall into.”
While the band calls its headquarters Richmond, Virginia, band members come from the Richmond, Philly and Athens (Georgia) music scenes: Spires (the Possibilities, Nutria, Jack Logan band); Nick Bergheimer (Sea of Storms, Landmines, Volunteer); Casey Martin (Sixer, Landmines) and Adam Caldwell (Fire in the Radio).
The band combines punk, garage, rock, and indie sensibilities with a classic two guitar, bass and drums setup.
Although it’s been touch and go for live events over the past nearly two years, Spires says the band loves the “fast, hard, loud, heavy, rocking, punky, poppy or catchy bands” they see play “as they combine all of those elements into a hybrid eclectic style. With a song by Remote Control, you can expect loud guitars, bashing drums and catchy vocals and lyrics.”
#8 – “Two Beaches” – Adam Stall
COLDWATER, Ohio
“Two Beaches” is the second track from Ohio artist Adam Stall‘s independently produced debut EP.
“A love song of everlasting and longing faith and hope, inspired by the picking patterns of John Denver and dramatic transitions of classical music,” he writes. ” Alternative rock with classic rock influences, an emphasis on vocals and bass guitar.”
His hometown of Coldwater Ohio, surrounded by friends and family playing music Stall is trained in classical piano and trumpet and is now a “fully realized, independent musical effort utilizing all my past experiences and influences.”
An upbringing with the legends of the 60’s and 70’s, classical music, and the blues influenced with antique flavors, but the production and soul behind the music is striving for a new and accessible sound of rock.
facebook.com/stallmusic
#9 – “Weary Hands” – Jarod Grice
DENTON, Texas
“Weary Hands ” is the first track from Texas musician Jarod Grice‘s forthcoming album, Cradle the Songbird, which debuts in March 2022.
“The song is about struggling with your own brokenness,” says producer Chris Howell. “It starts out with the idea of feeling worn down like a rusty machine…and moves into the realization of seeing that brokenness rooted in a common birthplace. We’re all being called back to the dust; we all struggle like our fathers/mothers/generations before us.
“This type of imagery haunts many of the songs on the new album, which will most likely find an audience among the indie rock/Americana crowd.”
The band members are: Jarod Grice – vocals, acoustic guitar, keys, songwriter; Bill Campbell – drums; Paul Alexander – bass and Joseph McClellan – electric guitars.
facebook.com/jarodgricemusic/
#10 – “Cold Rain and Snow” – Jared Rabin
CHICAGO, Illinois
Jared Rabin‘s arrangement of the traditional song "Cold Rain and Snow," the title track from the new album released this year is painted with down-home Americana bluegrass colors.
The album is Rabin’s first all-acoustic record and follows 2020’s acclaimed No Direction.
The album is a mix of bluegrass standards and "New Grass" originals and finds Jared playing all of the instruments (save for drums) and handling a majority of the vocals.
facebook.com/jaredrabinmusic
