IRC’s first Top 10 Indie Songs (January 2022) for the new year presents the best new indie rock tracks we’ve heard so far this year.
New singles are dropping left and right – we’ll keep doing our best to bring you the best music you know and don’t know about.
This installment includes amazing songs from a mixed subgenre bag from rock to pop and folk to punk featuring Band of Horses; Yard Act; Black Country, New Road; Animal Collective; Beach House; Beirut; The Wombats; Metronomy; Broken Social Scene and Local Weatherman.
Enjoy and plz share and follow so we know you want more of these.
A nice surprise in our mailbox came way of three musicians well-known in the indie folk rock world – Jason Lytle (Grandaddy), Tyler Ramsey (formerly Band of Horses), and independent artist Kramies Windt.
Lytle, Ramsey and Windt have been friends and toured and worked together for years. So it’s not that big of a surprise when this unofficial, mini-supergroup dropped a new triple-single this week, Over and Outsider, featuring one new song from each artist.
“We decided to do this project – ‘over and outsider’ – to try and put some light and love back into the world during this crazy time,” the trio’s statement reads. “All three songs are lovely.”
Windt is best known for his work with Lytle and Patrick Carney (The Black Keys), Jerry Becker (Train), and Todd Tobias (Guided by Voices) and has toured and performed with artists like Spiritualized, Yo La Tengo, and Calexico.
He established a new indie record label called VanGerrett Records on which the trio released the split single. ‘Kramies’ – as he is more commonly known – is a collector and maker of rare split singles, one-off releases and “magical moments that can only be found here.”
Kramies two 2021 singles, “Days Of” & “Ohio I’ll Be Fine,” entered the U.S. & Canadian college charts’ Top 10.
For this 2022 release, Kramies wrote and recorded “She’s Low Tide”
Lytle, long revered as Grandaddy’s frontman, performs his track, “Drop That Hero,” while Ramsey, a free agent musician since leaving Band of Horses, presents his new song, “Arrow to Bow.”
The breadth of these songs; the quality of songwriting; the emotional pinging of each chord – all come together the way a light rain, a soft wind and singing birds do on a sweet summer afternoon.
Indie/alt rock trailblazers Sonic Youth will release a new mini-album of rarities called In/Out/In on March 11th.
The mini-album assembles five previously-unreleased tracks recorded between 2000 and 2010.
The songs on the new EP were recorded in a number of locations across the country in the early 2000s.
“Basement Contender” and “Machine” were recorded in the Sonic Youth rehearsal room in Northampton, Massachusetts (homebase since forever). During the scrappy, long sessions also emerges “The Eternal.”
The track “In & Out” was recorded in Pomona, California while “Out & In” was recorded in Echo Canyon, New Jersey with Jim O’Rourke , who also performed on “Social Static”.
A passage by the band on their Bandcamp page addresses the amount of ‘rarities’ they still have to go through: “…it’s a massive mountain to chip away at in the sense of the group output alone; individual members’ projects are a whole other game, needless to say. ‘In/Out/In’ ably delivers a new slab of mostly-unheard Sonic righteousness, with a scope on the post 2000-era band in especially zoned/exploratory regions.”
“‘In/Out/In’ ably delivers a new slab of mostly-unheard Sonic righteousness… ” – Sonic Youth
The release of five additional previously unreleased ‘rarities’ from the band follows their 2020 Bandcamp album Raritites 1 featuring a dozen previously-unreleased rarities.
In/Out/In Tracklist: 1 Basement Contender 2 In & Out 3 Machine 4 Social Static 5 Out & In
This week’s quick hits features new singles and videos from Destroyer, String Machine; Destroyer; Partner Look; Spoon; Young Prisms. Coming up: the latest Singles Club; January’s best album drops and fest updates.
Destroyer gets gritty on “Tintoretto, It’s For You”
It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from regarded alt rock songwriter and musician Destroyer, aka Daniel Bejar.
His sizzling new single, “Tintoretto, It’s for You,” is an intoxicating mix of orchestration and synthesizers and crazy drumming.
Destroyer’s new album, Labrinthitis, drops in March.
String Machine reveals anthemic new single
Know Hope Records’ artist String Machine drop the video single, “Touring In January”, ahead of the release of the album Hallelujah Hell Yeah on February 25.
The track is full-blown, anthemic indie baroque pop that is reminiscient of bands like Arcade Fire.
Partner Look drops new jangly single
Melbourne rock band Partner Look will release their new album By the Book on February 4 via Trouble in Mind Records.
You wouldn’t be far-off if you think “Right Here” sounds like a Go-Betweens cover, but this track is an original recording. However, there is clearly a Go-Betweens influence.
Spoon goes western on new video
Spoon is best sticking to the studio – definitely not making westerns of any sort.
But “Wild” is satisfactory as a track – still, a staple Spoon song; nothing really noteworthy. The band’s latest release, Lucifer on the Sofa drops in February.
SF’s Young Prisms drop first new single in a decade
You couldn’t have blamed anyone over the past number of years for thinking that San Francisco shoegazers Young Prisms had disbanded.
But a soaring and sizzling new melodic single, “Honeydew” is providing for an exciting return by the band. It’s the debut single from the band’s first album in a decade.
For her new Bjork cover of “All is Full of Love,” indie musician and singer Rosie Thomas enlisted an ‘indie’ all-star cast of guest vocalists for a virtual choir, including Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, Iron & Wine, Alexi Murdoch, Charily Theilen, Kanene Pipkin, William Fitzsimmons, Dawn Landes, and a bunch of others.
The cover track is off of the Lullabies For Parents Vol 1 EP, a “multimedia series of resources, entertainment, and encouragement for parents of all ages featuring music, podcast, videos, essays, assorted content and community that promotes finding common ground, connection, and comfort.”
The song is undeniably beautiful rolling through cycles of choir infusions. The problem is, however, that it is difficult to hear the full force of all of those voices as a listener would expect.
Nonetheless, and to be fair, unless you’re seeing the choir, or virtual choir, at the same time (like the famous Live Aid video from the 80s) then everyone’s voices pretty much get drown out, not to mention the music.
Perhaps one of the things that Quincy Jones did brilliantly with the song, and video, was to record them at the same time, in the studio. But even more than that, Jones realized the ‘drowning out’ effect and therefore had individual solos for a number of the top vocalists of the time – MJ, Bruce, Bono, Michael Stipe, etc.
Indie rock music’s latest new supergroup, the U.K.’s Holodrum, have dropped the debut single, “Free Advice” just weeks ahead of their self-titled album release (February 25th).
The new “disco-infused synth-pop group,” as the press release states, includes members of popular U.K. indie bands Yard Act and Hookworms, plus Cowtown, Virginia Wing and Drahla, with the full line-up consisting of Emily Garner (vocals), Matthew Benn (synth/bass/production), Jonathan Nash (drums), Jonathan Wilkinson (guitar), Sam Shjipstone (guitar/vocals), Christopher Duffin (sax/synth) and Steve Nuttall (percussion).
Speaking about the track, Garner said it “expresses the state of feeling invincible in the face of adversity and acts quite explicitly as a piece of good advice, applicable to anyone that’s gone out of their way just to harsh your vibe”.
Maybe Holodrum were destined to start at this point. This might be the first time they’ve all officially worked together, but between Emily Garner (vocals), Matthew Benn (synth/bass/production), Jonathan Nash (drums), Jonathan Wilkinson (guitar), Sam Shjipstone (guitar/vocals), Christopher Duffin (sax/synth) and Steve Nuttall (percussion) they’ve shared bands, mixed each other’s records, promoted live shows and made music videos together in and around Leeds.
As Holodrum, this is the seven-piece’s debut album, but the interlocking grooves and hot headiness of their repeato-rock-via-CBGBs dopamine hits have in one way or other been fermenting for years.
“When it comes to doing music most bands fall between two extremes of doing it for some goal or as an end to itself” says Shjipstone. “I think Holodrum is about the joy and complexity of living, and I just hope to god everyone gets to have a good time doing it.”
Ultimately the core of the group comes from Shjipstone and his former Hookworms bandmates Benn, Nash and Wilkinson. After their abrupt dissolution in late 2018, the four of them spent six months apart; Benn still had Xam Duo, his ongoing project with Virginia Wing and some-time James Holden & The Animal Spirits live member Duffin, Nash remains vocalist and guitarist of long-running DIY rockers Cowtown and helms his solo project Game_Program; and Shjipstone plays guitar with Yard Act.
However, the four of them missed the sixth sense synergy they’d built-up playing together over a decade and soon enough demos were being swapped and new ideas were discussed.
Veteran indie rockers Eels have shared a new bouncy and upbeat single “Amateur Hour.” The track is the fourth advance from the band’s upcoming 14th studio album. The LP, Extreme Witchcraft, is set to drop officially on January 28th.
Previously, Eels released the tracks ’The Magic”, “Steam Engine” and “Good Night On Earth.”
Frontman Mark ‘E’ Oliver Everett co-produced the album with alt rocker PJ Harvey and producer/guitarist John Parish. It is the first time Parish and E have worked together since 2001’s Souljacker release.
“John Parish is one of the most even-tempered, polite people I’ve ever met,” E said in a statement. ” A true gentleman. Actually he’s probably THE most polite person I’ve ever met. But when he gets into the studio he becomes a mad scientist.
“If you make music with John Parish, you get stuff no one else does. He has a really unique toolbox and musical outlook. Perhaps his politeness is a coping mechanism to keep Mr. Hyde under control when he’s out of his laboratory.”
Eels will head to the UK and Ireland in March for a tour starting in Belfast on March 11 and concluding on March 18 at the O2 Guildhall in Southampton before starting their European tour.
Black Country, New Road have dropped a new music video for the band’s latest single, “Concorde.”
The six-minute video combines a range of motion and scenery. According to video director Maxim Kelly: “”On the surface, the concept was straightforward, a walking video: An Ant from “up there”, sings Concorde.
But, for a band who namecheck everyone from Scott Walker to Kanye West, and the pronounced mix of genres in their music, it felt right to take an analogous approach with the visuals. Throw as many references together as possible and see if we, too, could get it all to hold together as a piece.”
“We took the 6 minute+ runtime as an asset,” Kelly continues. “It gave us the time needed to weave as much as possible into the film. A walking video in parts, but also with a narrative running through. We combined miniatures with VFX, and flanked the film with archival footage.”
The song itself is an advance from the band’s upcoming sophomore release, Ants From Up There, set for release February 4th, 2022.
Alt-J returns to the music video feed with the exciting new single “Hard Drive Gold.”
The track is an advance from the trio’s highly anticipated new LP, The Dream, set to drop on February 11th.
“‘Hard Drive Gold’ is a slightly tongue-in-cheek song written at what we thought was the height of the cryptocurrency gold rush,” Newman says.
t“It’s the story of the ultimate childhood fantasy, the schoolboy who becomes a millionaire overnight, and the different interactions he has with people in his life from teachers to neighbours.”
The video single drop was preceeded by the singles “U&ME” and “Get Better.”
The release of the video marks Alt-J’s Joe Newman’s directorial debut with co-direction from his partner Darcy Wallace.
