Best Indie Rock Songs, Bands, Albums

Flashback Tracks: 10 Years Ago This Month – Phantogram, Surfer Blood, Woodsman, Deer Tick, Bear Lake & More

Posted on by Max Hammer


NOTE: This post was first published on Oct 10, 2011; updated some links Oct. 2021

One of our favorite songs so far this autumn is “Don’t Move” from Phantogram; it’s simply a fantastic track that you just can’t but help to move to – even though the song title says not to move.

When we featured the song in one of the recent Fresh Tracks mixes, people downloaded and streamed it like crazy.

It only makes sense to kick off this edition of Best New Releases with the hot, new single from Phantogram. (We recommend listening first to last week’s BNR mixtape, for more stellar tracks.)

Surfer-Blood-Tarot-Classics

Surfer Blood return with their first release since 2010’s sensational debut LP, Astro Coast, an album that made them a huge hit in the indie circuits for the past two years. The band’s newest single is the compelling “Miranda”.


Following Surfer Blood is a double-shot from Woodsman‘s new album, featuring two songs that are masterfully arranged and executed. “In Circles,” and especially, “Specdrum,” highlight the band’s raw talent for combining elements of rock, pop, post-punk, electronic, and particularly, in the case of the two tracks below, their capabilities in creating pure jam psychedelic tunes, with impressive results.

Double-shot: “Specdrum” – Woodsman from Mystic Places EP


Deer Tick returns with a bit more rock in their sound with the lead track “Main Street,” a song which reminds us of Paul Westernberg and The Replacements, whether on purpose or just as some subliminal influence. This is a nice new maturation of style for Deer Tick.

It seemed only fitting to follow-up Deer Tick with the new single from Bear Lake (another animal-named band) who just self-released their new album, If You Were Me.


Italy’s 2010 breakout band A Classic Education return with their sophomore album and the lead track “Forever Boy,” is a sentimental, slow rock track marked by heavily melodic vocals and choruses, Wavves-style guitar licks, and percussion, and an obviously better overall produced sound throughout the album than their 2010 U.S. debut.


Just like other great surprises this week, another new-to-us band, The Beets, add more credibility to the garage rock-pop sound – of bands like The Vaselines – with their new track, “Doing As I Do” from the new album, Let The Poison Out, on Hardly Art Records.

Even better, we were lucky to find another killa track from the album, “Friends of Friends,” thanks to Pitchfork.

Double-shot: “Friends of Friends” – The Beets from Let the Poison Out.


Incorporating electronic beat pop styling with underlying cinematic, and psychedelic, rock infusions, woven with synth sound effects, violin and guitar riffs, and an assortment of wood blocks and cowbells, the eclectic indie band Brandt Brauer Frick Ensemble shine through on, “Pretend,” where they are clearly not pretending at all – the track is as real as it gets, and an incredibly complex arrangement at that.

Next, another new-to-us band, The Through & Through Gospel Review, offer one of the most memorable tracks of the week – the enchanting, almost carnival-like influenced song, “I Firmly Believe” from their self-titled, debut album.

As with other bands in this week’s Best New Releases, this is yet another pleasant surprise, and surely a band that we will keep our ears out for. In fact, we received a complimentary copy of the debut LP, and look forward to listening to it more in-depth later on; it’s just another album added with the dozens and dozens of others in our “To Listen To” playlist in iTunes.

“An Arcade From The Warm Rain That Falls” – Comet Gain from Howl of the Lonely Crowd

Although we generally do not post about remastered albums, the fact that Dntel‘s remastered (with bonus tracks)  LP, Life Is Full of Possibilities, is out this week, and features Ben Gibbard (Death Cab For Cutie, Postal Service) on vocals for the lead track below, definitely makes it an LP to consider repurchasing, and if you’ve never owned it before, that track, and many others, is reason alone to grab a copy.

“(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan” – Dntel from Life Is Full of Possibilities (remastered with bonus tracks)

The problem is the sound quality of the track itself. It’s ironic that it is a remastered track but is filled with what sounds like static, and we can only hope it is not intentional because that would make no sense. We’ve been unable to find any information about why this terrific ‘remastered’ track has static on it. We also tried to hunt down the originally released track, but without any luck. If anyone knows why the track has static on it – especially towards the end – we’d love to hear from you.

Next up is another band name that does not fit at all with the band’s sound and style. Gospel Music, present this semi-quirky track, “This Town Doesn’t Have Enough Bars for Both of Us” that has clear percussion influences from The Violent Femme‘s “Blister In The Sun,” whether on purpose or not.

Perhaps the only blues track in this mix, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, deliver the upbeat, and oddly optimistic, “Everything Will Be Fine,” with plenty of gusto and some steller musicianship – especially amongst the guitarist, bass player, and drummer. The vocals are clearly influenced by B.B. King’s singing style.

The Migrant mix New Orleans jazz influences with folk, pop, and rock to the appropriately thematic track, “The Hurricane.”  Plus, check out other tracks, including Peggy Sue‘s “Cut My Teeth”; The Strange Boys’ amazing “Me and You”, and Russian Circles‘ “Mladek”.

“The Hurricane” – The Migrant from Amerika (self-released)


“Cut My Teeth” – Peggy Sue from Acrobats (stream album)


“Me and You” – The Strange Boys from Live Music


“Mladek” – Russian Circles from Empros

 

Album Review: Samia’s EP ‘Scout’

Posted on by Fluxblog
samia

via Flood Magazine

On Samia’s new four-song EP Scout, the singer-songwriter explores and expands upon all of the love in her life by shining a light on the hidden crumbs in the cracks. Each track feels like you’re sitting in a room with her as she opens up about missing her dad whenever he calls, or a friend getting a new job at the golf course. In step with her debut album The Baby, Samia maintains a distinct harmonization and strong narratives which lend themselves to the release’s biggest highlights. 

The opening track “As You Are” acts as if it could also close out the album, filled as it is with melting harmonies, legato cadences, and satisfying resolve. Lyrics like “Mouth hanging open in your 4Runner / Digging up shark teeth with your mother” and “You tell your sister you’ll be home in an hour / If she cleans her room, she takes a shower” snuggle together tightly as verses augment the simplicity of the chorus.

In turn, the chorus’s cliché of being taken as you are by a loved one is strengthened when each verse unravels a certain intimacy behind the feeling expressed. Like defrosting food in fridges, details slowly melt in subtle motion until the chorus reels the listener back in. 

The EP concludes with a cover of When in Rome’s “The Promise,” an echo from the past that showcases her versatile range in successfully covering a song while maintaining her unique sound. Featuring vocals from Jelani Aryeh, the cover cements a brimming balance of vocal range and blend. Through the layering of simple instrumentation, her own lyrics always pin themselves as thoughtful and personal—the talent sticks, and she’s ever-evolving. Upon each listen, I imagine the careful detailing of crocheting a colorful meadow into a quilt.

Best Flashback Tracks feat. PLOY, Crash Island, The Colourful Band, Mike Amerika, Richard The Lionhearted

Posted on by Kate Stevens

Flashback Tracks is one of IRC’s longest running song/artist profile series. There is plenty to flashback too. When we do Flashback Tracks we are looking specifically for songs that we think didn’t get enough notice for how good they were.

So, let’s get it on. We’ll know by your likes and shares if the Flashback Tracks series is something you’d like more of. And if so, we’ll also start including more “popular” (or ‘mainstreamed’) indie bands and artists’ archival material worth noting. That’s always a difficult task when it’s tens of thousands of superb songs over just the past decade alone.

Please like and share (it helps spread the music). Support DIY/indie musicians!

PLOY – Washington, D.C.
Crash Island – Cardiff, England
The Colourful Band – Edinburgh, Scotland
Mike Amerika – Sewell, New Jersey
Richard The Lionhearted – Columbia, Missouri

 

PLOY – “Fool”

D.C. based duo PLOY makes music that causes people to “think and groove all at once,” according to vocalist Gil Wojcik.

His partner, Justin Victoria, is an old friend. Together, they love great music that is unique and original and decided to make some of their own.

“We think we have something special. I hope you like us.”

Influences: The strokes, Washed out, Two Door Cinema Club, Radiohead, Kanye West, Wild Nothing, Dashboard Confessional, Andrew Bird.

 

Crash Island – “Nothing’s Fine”

The story of Crash Island is about the wandering Basque/Spanish songwriter – Jeremy Levy – who washed up in Cardiff, his chance London encounter with a keyboard and guitar-wielding French octopus, their mutual acquaintance introduction to a bass rumbling, Jacques Cousteau-hatted French barista and subsequent London-born, and a South African-born, punk rock-inspired shakeup on drums?

The result? Warm. Cold. Passionate. Sophisticated. Raw. Honest.

 

The Colourful Band – “Stars”

In 2012, having just returned from Australia, Edinburgh, Scotland indie trio decided on a name – The Colourful Band – which came from “the contrast in how much color there is in countries with sunshine, compared with home,” says guitarist Jon Tyler.

TCB’s debut EP, recorded at Chem19 with acclaimed Scottish producer Andy Miller (Sons and Daughters, Mogwai, Arab Strap, The Fratellis), was well received locally.

One of the songs, “Stars” was licensed to the BBC for a TV drama giving the music some national and international play.

That spurred the formation of the band featuring Tyler, Steve Tonge on bass, and Dave Curry on drums.

A follow-up mini-album was home-recorded with a limited number of copies printed. The band sold them exclusively at shows as they toured around the globe.

The band has opened for artists and bands such as Jeremy Jay, The Corncrakes, Biffy Clyro, Yusuf Azak and are influenced by The Strokes, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, Neil Young, Belle and Sebastian.

 

Mike Amerika – “Impossible Girl”

Sewell, New Jersey solo artist Mike Mazzeo, who has been creating blistering rock music under the moniker Mike Amerika since 2010, released a spectacular DIY debut album in 2012, In The Business to Burn.

Together with bassist John Hughes and drummer Steph Brettman, his songs evolved from demo solo recordings to a debut album that generated plenty of buzz on blogs and zines.

The trio has also performed shows in and around Sewell. Not surprisingly Mike Amerika is influenced by The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Black Sabbath, Nirvana, Weezer, and Chuck Berry.

 

Richard The Lionhearted – “Miss Smith”

Columbia, Missouri’s psych-rock indie band Richard the Lionhearted‘s debut release, Outliers, is a six-song EP recorded, mixed, and DIY-style by the band in early 2012.

Outliers received favorable reviews from both critics and listeners: “melodic, moody guitars, British Invasion-era backbeats, creative time changes, and surprisingly soulful crooning,” wrote the Columbia Daily Tribune. Not long after, the news outlet named the band as one of four local bands “poised to enjoy a big 2012.”

In 2011, the band played several festivals and a handful of shows along the east coast and Midwest opening for national acts Other Lives, Oberhofer, Youth Lagoon, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Jerusalem and the Starbaskets, and Jessica Lea Mayfield.

Influences: The Byrds, The Stones, Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane, Cream, Roy Orbison, Everly Brothers, Townes Van Zandt,among others.

 

5 Notable New Tracks feat. Sea Power, Colleen Green, Sundog, Katherine Priddy, The Wonderfool

Posted on by IRC Staff

best-new-songs

So much terrific indie rock and alt rock music – from well-known to lesser-known to brand new artists and bands – crosses our wires and desks each week. Here is just a small selection of some of the best in recent weeks. More amazing posts – Best of 2021 Indie Rock; Best of 2021 DIY Songs; Best 2021 Indie Albums, are in the works.

Also, take some time to check out our new (and some still perfecting) pages covering Music Festivals; New Releases; Features; Cover Songs and New Songs.

Sea Power (formerly British Sea Power) – London, England
Colleen Green – Los Angeles, California
Sundog – Chugiak, Alaska
Katherine Priddy – Birmingham, England
The Wonderfool – Athens, Ohio

Sea Power – “Two Fingers”

The members of Sea Power, formerly British Sea Power, veterans of the U.K. indie scene for two decades, have officially changed the band’s name with new material.

“The band name was intended with a kind of wry humor. The idea of British sea power in the historical sense was an obsolete thing. It was now just the name of a rock band… Now, 20 years later, we’re recasting the name.”

It’s quite a crazy thing to really take in that this incredible band is 20 years on. Wow, the years really do fucking fly on by too fast.

Anyways the band’s newest album, Everything Was Forever, has spawned its first single, “Two Fingers.” The track has a strong modern alt. rock feel that should be interesting for the band’s long-time fans. The new album is set to drop in February 2022.

 

Colleen Green – “Someone Else”

Los Angeles singer/songwriter/guitarist Colleen Green‘s third 2021 single from her recent album Cool, “Someone Else,” is a deep, thoughtful track we really dig.

“This song is about double standards within a relationship, and how they can go both ways,” she said in a press release.

“It’s about coming to terms with you how you actually feel about something and taking responsibility for how that affects you. It’s about taking back power in a one-sided relationship and not letting someone else dictate your happiness. It’s about choices and the act of making them.”

From Hardly Art Records: “The track is a paean to power in which Green lets a lover know that double standards can go both ways. A groovy bass loop and zig-zagging guitar lines underscore her realization that happiness is in her own hands, and the vibe is set.”

Previously Green shared Cool’s first single, “I Wanna Be a Dog,” via a video for it. She is best known for the mini-Spotify hit, “Deeper Than Love.”

Cool is Green’s fourth album and the follow-up to 2015’s   I Want to Grow Up. Green co-produced the album with Gordon Raphael. The LP was mixed by Brendan Eder.

 

Sundog – “Millennial Man”

The minimalist-driven “Millennial Man” from Chugiak, Alaskan funkadelic band SunDog grooves on 70s-inspired garage-rock psych. The airy vocals of frontman Abi Sparkman along with the soaring chorus stir with powerful guitars, driving drums, and bass from Deven Lind and Philip Giannuli.

The unconventional single is gripping and potent, one of a few on the band’s most recent album, Cabin Fever.

 

Katherine Priddy – “About Rosie”

Based in Birmingham, England, folk artist Katherine Priddy is a hypnotic singer-songwriter who encapsulates the rich and often solemn side of artists gone by such as Nick Drake and John Martyn, delivering each word with genuine warmth and charm. This is her latest single, “About Rosie.”

(From GratefulWeb) The Wonderfool – the recording project of Ohio singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Matt Vinson —has released “Cool Shade.”

American Songwriter unveiled The Wonderfool’s single raving that “Cool Shade” “evokes a hypnotic dream state…a shimmering texture, creating more melodic depth to the summertime song…‘Cool Shade’ furthers his folk agenda, moving with ease into a dynamic new soundscape.”

Notably one third of the chart-topping folk group CAAMP, Vinson says: “‘Cool Shade’ is a song about finding a nice quiet place in your mind & observing all the good in the world around you. We all share the feeling sometimes of thinking that there’s more work to be done; love to share – But chances are everyone around you probably thinks you’re doing just fine!”

2021 Music Video Submits with Adar Alfandari, Jack Hooper, Post Profit, Soda Cracker Jesus and Bodoni

Posted on by IRC Staff

wonder

From the Mediterranean to the Middle East to Washington state, England, and Texas, check out these chosen music videos from the following indie recording artists who submitted directly to IRC. Daz da groovz.

Adar Alfandari – Rehovot, Israel
Jacko Hooper – Brighton, England
Post Profit – Longview, Texas
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 .”

Jacko Hooper – “This Was The Earth”

Bio: Having built a committed and loyal fanbase independently from his bedroom he has gone on to play across Europe to his devoted fanbase and also launched his own boutique record label, promotions company, and radio show: Folklore Sessions who have worked with artists such as Passenger, Chloe Foy, Junior Brother, Amber Run, Phil Cook and more.
Location: Brighton, England
Genre(s): folk,alt folk,singer/songwriter
Members: Jacko Hooper – Guitar, Vocals, Keys
Has Opened For: Michael Kiwanuka, James Bay, Chet Faker, Kiefer Sutherland, SOAK
Musical Influences: Damien Rice, James Vincent McMorrow, Glen Hansard, Father John Misty
Instagram: jacko_hooper

Post Profit – “When You Think It’s Rigged”

Bio: Post Profit is a four-piece Alternative Rock band born in the piney woods of Longview, Texas during the summer of 2017. When theyhit the stage they pull out all the stops and deliver nothing less than pounding rhythm, driving bass lines, blistering guitar riffs and soaring vocals.
Location: Longview, Texas
Genre(s): alternative rock, rock
Members: Matthew Jackson (vocals, guitar), Nick Hawner (guitar), Jordan Conley (bass), and Zach Hicks (drums)
Has Opened For: Filter, Saliva, Drowning Pool, To Whom It May, Sons Of Texas
Musical Influences: Deftones, Failure, Cave In, Queens of the Stone Age, Royal Blood, Highly Suspect
Instagram: postprofitofficial

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): “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.”

 

Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Minamata”

Posted on by August W. Zander

Ryuichi Sakamoto
Minamata (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
MILAN for Flood Mag
7/10

Somewhere between an Eric Satie still life and Jerry Goldsmith’s noir-jazz score for Chinatown exists the coolly emotional and subtly effervescent yet earthen music for the film Minamata from composer and instrumentalist Ryuichi Sakamoto. Starting with its gently halting piano opening theme and traveling through quietly whining atmospheric battles between sequencers, breathy voices, and real-time strings (“Landscape,” “Chisso Co.”), tonic glitch-hop riffs (“The Boy”) and their sinister equivalent (“Hidden Data”), opulent cello runs (“Boy and Camera”), and burnt-edged, electro-ambient (with squeezebox) scowls (“Into Japan”), the sonic monologue behind the true-life events of aged American war photographer Eugene Smith (played by Johnny Depp in director Andrew Levitas’ gritty film) documenting the effects of mercury poisoning on a coastal town in Japan is exactly what we’ve come to expect from latter-day Sakamoto.

Far beyond his historic, ethnographic co-penned score for Bernardo Bertilucci’s The Last Emperor (for which the composer won an Oscar), and more moodily along the lines of his intimate, textural 2017 studio album async and his recent soundtrack for Black Mirror: Smithereens, Sakamoto shows off a mind and a taste for menacing, tactile music which meshes the oceanic-winded scale of the elements, be it the organically orchestral or the sumptuously synthetic, with cricket nattering glitches for physical punctuation. If you didn’t think a score emulating the effects of industrial pollution and one man’s dedication to portraying pain and beauty could find a composer, you’ve missed the point of Sakamoto’s long career’s aesthetics.

Though the final track contains every trick in Sakamoto’s kit bag and pulls from his electronic dance past (its thumping, sequenced rhythms), “One Single Voice” was recorded by Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins (famous for a beloved Christmas episode of Dr. Who) after Sakamoto’s involvement in the project. The lush grand finale features all of the self-empowered heft and fine-boned focus of Celine Dion without a hint of the haughty or the saccharine.

Find the vinyl edition of the soundtrack pressed on a pair of 180-gram black vinyl discs and housed in gatefold packaging with liner notes from Levitas, for what the director calls Sakamoto’s talent to “represent both the absolute best of humanity as well as the worst.”

5 Outstanding Folk Video Singles w/ Thomas LaVine, N. Kerbin, Jacksonport, Jordan Hart, Shane Lentz

Posted on by IRC Staff

One of the greatest sub-genres of indie rock music over the past couple of decades has been the indie folk-rock movement. The stellar rise in popularity of indie folk-rock from the early 2000s through the 2010s, was especially noteworthy. The list of artists and bands is epic: Fleet Foxes; Bon Iver; Bright Eyes; Sufjan Stevens; Iron & Wine; Mumford & Sons; The Decemberists; The Lumineers; Band of Horses, to name just a few.

While many indie music lovers know the ‘big’ names of indie folk-rock, there are ten times as many talented indie folk/folk-rock musicians and bands recording and dropping impressive albums and singles every month, but they rarely get covered.

Over the past 15+ years that we’ve been covering indie rock, there are hundreds of posts featuring both popular and DIY indie-folk artists and bands.

Kicking off this post is one of the best DIY, or non-DIY, indie-folk songs of the past year by way of South Carolina musician and songwriter Thomas LaVine. Together with heartfelt songwriting, feel-good, melodic acoustic guitar playing, banjo interludes, and LaVine’s, and Luna Keller’s, expressive and silky vocals, “By The Coast,” is one of the exceptional folk tracks that were largely unheard.

Watch and listen to four other splendid choice picks include recent singles from N. Kerbin, Jacksonport, Jordan Hart, and last, but definitely not least, is the amazing folk instrumental, “As The Ice Thaws,” from the exciting and accomplished guitarist Shae Lentz who plays a style similar to the late and truly great Michael Hedges (see last video below).

And the Legendary Guitarist Michael Hedges

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

Posted on by IRC Staff

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

Posted on by IRC Staff

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

Posted on by IRC Staff

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.

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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

Posted on by IRC Staff

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

Posted on by IRC Staff

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.