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.
With the new year off to a roaring start in the way of popular new indie rock releases, songs and Already this year, there’s been a steady and growing flow of new music video single releases from indie rock artists and bands.
In This Installment(Vol. II and III in next few days):
The Kooks – “Connection” from 10 Tracks To Echo in the Dark (July 22nd) Band of Horses – “Crutch” from Things Are Great (March 4th?) The Smile – “The Smoke” (single) Big Thief – “Simulation Swarm” from Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (Feb. 7th) Animal Collective – “Strung with Everything.” from Time Skiffs (Feb. 1st)
British indie-pop trailblazers The Kooks released the first of three EPs this week to accompany the announcement of the band’s sixth studio ablum – 10 Tracks To Echo in the Dark, set to drop July 22nd in its entirety via Lonely Cat/AWAL Recordings.
Following a trend lately in how new albums are released, the first two parts of The Kooks’ new material each consist of a three-track EP, while the final EP will unveil another four tracks from the LP.
The first EP, titled Connection: Echo in the Dark, Part One, offers the following new tracks: “Connection”, “Jesse James” and “Modern Days”. The video for “Connection” is the first music video to promote the new album. It will be the band’s first album since 2018’s widely-praised Let’s Go Sunshine.
Nearly a decade since the height of their success, Band of Horses has returned with a hit song, “Crutch,” marking the band’s first entry ever into the Billboard Adult Alternative Chart.
The accompanying music video is a bit freaky but it’s great if you love cats. If you don’t love cats, and freaky combined, probably best to let your eyes do the reviewing here.
The release date for the band’s first album in a decade – Things Are Great – was moved by BMG from January 28
Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet’s Tom Skinner have returned with another single as The Smile.
The new ghostly, reverb-soaked single, “The Smoke,” is accompanied by the lyric video above and directed by BAFTA-winning writer/director Mark Jenkin.
This marks the supergroup’s second official single. In January, The Smile dropped their debut track, “You Will Never Work In Television Again,” praised by critics and fans alike.
The marathon of advanced singles from Big Thief‘s new double-album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. So far, the band has dropped seven singles and today, “Simulation Swarm” becomes No. 8.
The eighth single from Big Thief’s would seem like overkill if it wasn’t so transfixing. The song has long been a favorite at live shows but was never officially released as a single until now.
The track is a “positively hypnotic tangle of acoustic guitar and bass, with James Krivchenia’s percussion doing just enough to reinforce its insistent groove,” writes Paste contributor Scott Russell.
A verse-heavy arrangement gives Adrianne Lenker plenty of room to unspool evocative lyrics like, “Once again, we must bleed new / Even as the hours shake / Crystal blood like a dream true / A ripple in the wound and wake.”
Friday marks the release of the first new Animal Collective album in a decade. The album, Time Skiffs, features 11 new tracks, including the nearly seven-minute track, “Strung with Everything.”
The colorful, artistic video that accompanies the song was directed by Abby Portner, sister of David Portner (aka Avey Tare) using a cut-out animatation technique with a raindrop-speckled pond and for contrast in different sequences – a wizard battling a dragon.
Its abundant flow of colors and symbols is interrupted only by the occasional lyric throughout the track’s melodic sprawl: “Let’s say tonight you and me / We’ll watch the sky fall into pieces […] And even though all hearts are strange / We’re all Strung with Everything.”
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.
Legendary folk-rock outfit Band Of Horseshas dropped the second single, “In Need of Repair,” from the upcoming new album Things Are Great.
The new single should make Band of Horses’ fans very happy: it oozes with breezy, lilting melodic riffs from Ian MacDougall, bumbling bass lines from Matt Gentling, sweeping and touching choruses, and the signature vocals of Ben Bridwell.
The track was premiered yesterday by Zane Lowe on his radio show and follows the release of “Crutch” earlier this year.
The new album, slated to drop in January, will be the band’s sixth studio album and the follow-up to 2016’s Why Are You Ok?
In the official lyric video for the newest single, a man lounges by a fire with his dog, writing out the lyrics with a marker on a pad.
Gentling had previously toured with the band in 2007 and rejoined as member in 2017. That same year, MacDougall was brought in as a replacement for Tyler Ramsey.
The band is scheduled to tour Europe and the U.K. in the beginning of the new year.
The Raveonettes‘ newest single, “She Owns The Streets,” was by far the most played and downloaded track on IRC in September, trailed by the second most popular song of the month, “Angels” by The xx. Other top singles of the month, in order, were the swaggering horn-laced romp ,”A Little Revolution,” by Firewater; the sassy duet, “Who,” from David Bryne and St. Vincent; the richly melodic “Old Friend” by Sea Wolf as well as the latest tracks, in order – top down from Stars, The Avett Brothers, Mumford & Sons, Band of Horses, and Django Django.
All tracks for the Top 10 Songs of the Month were first posted in the Best New Releases playlist mixes for the weeks of Sept. 4th and Sept. 11th (and Vol. II); Sept. 18th and Sept. 25th (click the links to view each week’s top singles from albums officially dropped that week) or a Fresh Tracks playlist.
There are dozens and dozens of spectacular songs in the Fresh Tracks series, as well as the Best New Releases from September. While this playlist features the Top 10 Songs of September – determined how many times IRC listeners stream and download a song – in the works are the week-by-week Top 10 Songs playlists which contain so many prime singles from the last month of summer. It takes time to put them together because we have to go through all the web logs to find out which songs were streamed and downloaded the most.
This week’s indie music playlist features recent releases from musicians and groups that are creating buzz among the music bloggers.
The single “No One’s Gonna Love You” by Band of Horses appeared on their latest album released almost six months ago. Yet, it wasn’t until yesterday (March 19, 2008) that the single was ‘officially’ released.
The psychedelic and Middle Eastern influences of The Ruby Suns is apparent on their latest single and The Helio Sequence returns with a new single after a four year new material drought (but the wait was worth it for HS fans).
Each of this week’s songs and the artists who created them were selected not just because they are recent notable releases, but their unique talent and important contributions to the silly thing we like to call ‘indie’ rock, aka independent music, helps keep the spirit, freedom and creativity of music alive in an age when overly polished and marketed music dominates the mainstream media.
Check out these free and legal MP3s from Band of Horses, The Ruby Suns, The Gutter Twins, The Helio Sequence, What Made Milwaukee Famous and Steve Malkmus and the Jicks.
MP3: The Ruby Suns – Tane Mahuta
MP3: The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead MP3: Band of Horses –No One’s Gonna Love You
Stay tuned for a complete band profiles of each of this week’s playlist winners or subscribe to the feed to get them as they are published.
———————————————————————- Note: Musicians, bands, promoters and labels, please submit CDs and music to review to POB 722, RE, CA 95044. To leave a comment, please click on the Post Comment link.
The above promo video for the 2008 Plug Awards held at Terminal 5 in New York City on Friday night was produced by Dell Lounge, a website that broadcast the award ceremonies live.
While there is no official Dell Lounge video of the ceremonies out yet, you can view a segment of the live cast via a hypercam streaming recorder, along with a clip of St. Vincent performing at the awards show, below.
The winners of the 2008 PLUG Awards include the best indie rock album of the year Strawberry Jam by Animal Collective and the overall album of the year Neon Bible by Arcade Fire.
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible Animal Collective – Fireworks
Justice was named the best new artist, and the male and female artist of the year awards went to Andrew Bird and Annie Clark of St. Vincent, respectively.
Justice – D.A.N.C.E. Andrew Bird – Heretics St. Vincent – These Days (J. Brown)
Here are some of the other winners and nominees in various categories of the 2008 Plug Awards.
Americana Album of the Year – Iron & Wine – The Shepherd’s Dog Metal Album of the Year – The Dillinger Escape Plan – Ire Works Hip-Hop Album of the Year – Aesop Rock – None Shall Pass Punk Album of the Year – Gogol Bordello – Super Taranta! Electronic/Dance Album of the Year – Justice – † DJ Album of the Year – Hot Chip – DJ-Kicks Avant Album of the Year – Liars – Liars
Listen to 30-second clips of all the nominees for all the categories.
The following YouTube clip features Annie Clarke and St. Vincent, plus Dizzee Rascal and Jose Gonzalez
Other 2008 nominees for Best Indie Rock Album of the Year:
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (Merge) Band Of Horses – Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) Battles – Mirrored (Warp) Deerhunter – Cryptograms (Kranky) Les Savy Fav – Let’s Stay Friends (Frenchkiss) Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl) Okkervil River – The Stage Names (Jagjaguwar) Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) Sunset Rubdown – Random Spirit Lover (Jagjaguar) The National – Boxer (Beggars Banquet) The New Pornographers – Challengers (Matador)
Not included but should have been: Arctic Monkeys’ Favourite Worst Nightmare, Editors’ An End Has A Start, etc.
Winner and nominees for the Best Album (overall) of the 2008:
Arcade Fire – Neon Bible (Merge) WinnerBand Of Horses – Cease To Begin (Sub Pop) Battles – Mirrored (Warp) Beirut – The Flying Club Cup (Ba Da Bing) El-P – I’ll Sleep When You’re Dead (Definitive Jux) Justice – † (Downtown / Vice / Ed Banger) Of Montreal – Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? (Polyvinyl) Panda Bear – Person Pitch (Paw Tracks) Radiohead – In Rainbows (self-released) Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – 100 Days, 100 Nights (Daptone) Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (Merge) The National – Boxer (Beggars Banquet)
Best New Artist of the Year winner and nominees:
Bat For Lashes Battles Dan Deacon Deerhunter Justice -Winner Los Campesinos! No Age Sea Wolf St. Vincent Vampire Weekend White Rabbits Yeasayer
Here is Mix Six in the 12 Plays series. This playlist includes a diverse collection of Christmas and wintry songs, just in case you are somewhere in the world where it is not going to be a white Christmas. Indie giants like Yo La Tengo, Comet Gain, Chris Letcher and Belle and Sebastian, plus relatively new bands like Band of Horses, Great Lake Swimmers and Phantom Planet contribute to this newest Christmas songs playlist.
[zbplayer]
(Above: The note Santa is reading in the cartoon reads: “Dear Santa, If you leave a new bike under the tree, I will give you the antidote to the poison I put in the milk – Tommy.”)
A Change of Pace offers up the introspective “Christmas on the Coast” and the Parenthetical Girls present indie cheer with “I Love Christmas”, plus holiday season songs by Dave Melilo, The Halo Brothers, The Reindeer Section, Phofo and Jason Gleason.
Arcade Fire – 
