This week’s best new indie/alt/DIY rock songs playlist #4 features some exciting new, interesting and talented artists and bands.
As with so many of our playlists, this new batch of carefully-selected tracks once again shows that so, so many under-the-radar artists, bands and musical projects throughout the world don’t get a fraction of a fraction of the love that so many talentless Hollywood hacks with their cookie-cutter crap songs get every day. (Help us keep the fight going and submit your songs too).
Since 2007, IRC has easily featured thousands of indie rock, alt, and DIY artists and bands, as well as oodles of ‘sub-genre’ bands too, many who never saw as much high-level exposure as they have on IRC.
Commercial cookie-cutter music ain’t got nothing on the thousands of amazing and original songs posted on iRC during the past decade. Help spread great DIY music by sharing this post.
Alternatively, stream the full playlist uninterrupted at the end of the post. Enjoy!
In This Installment:
Bleach Day – Burlington, Vermont
Nautics – New York, New York
The Boring Tapes – Tokyo, Japan
Joshua Ritchie – Toronto, Ontario
Sonic Break – Vancouver, British Columbia
Bleach Day – “BBs in the Grass”
Vermont-based duo Bleach Day has dropped a slick new single, “BBs in the Grass,” the second from the band’s sophomore album, As If Always.
The gorgeous new track from the duo has a wonderfully jazz-infused vibe together with a shifting tempo and a smooth funky rhythm which altogether creates a warm chill experience. We just wish that the track went on for a couple of minutes longer.
This memorable 2020 track is buoyed by muffled, borderline chirred, vocals, plus moody piano keys, wobbling guitar techniques and audio morphing effects.
It’s no wonder why the duo, featuring musicians and producers Vinny Marksohn and Louie Kiley, are in demand among other artists and bands. They are not simply turning out tracks and throwing them over the fence. These are instead pieces of art.
The experimental, art-banquet-appeal of Bleach Day’s music has helped propel their reputations as cutting-edge musicians in Vermont, landed them a label contract, and increased their demand within the larger indie rock sphere of influence.
It only makes sense that a vivid and colorful song like “BBs in the Grass,” would be one of the first offerings from the band’s sophomore album. While the video is entertaining, the track by itself is simply golden.
As winter soon gives way to spring, all of the little pieces of the song and video production line up to make the timing nicely calibrated to the season. The band says the song “is reflective yet forward-looking.”
“It is celebratory, but accepting of the fact that you’ll soon be back in this very same spot – ending the cycle, so it can begin again.”
Nautics – “Post Madonna”
The sultry electro-pop track, “Post Madonna,” was recently featured on Spotify’s Fresh Finds. While not for that reason, we couldn’t resist its infectious, pop-oozing grooves.
The track came by way of NYC indie pop band Nautics. It’s a gorgeous, heart-tugging track with thick melodies seeped in a traditional pop foundation.
The lyrics for “Post Madonna,” the band says, “speak to the idea of feeling lost but then finding oneself, whether you’re an alien taking in your new surroundings or a listener who’s coming to terms with self-awareness.”
Nautics was formed in 2014 by four high school friends: singer/guitarist Kenzo Repola and ably backed by Van Cameron on bass, Levitt Yaffe on drums and Amir Brivanlou on keys. The guys all met in high school and formed Nautics.
And they haven’t been just recording tracks. Nautics has performed at top NYC venues like the Bowery Electric, The Bitter End, Sidewalk Cafe, and Webster Hall – all before any of the members reached the age of twenty.
“Now I’m in a shitty teen rock band,” Repola sings on one of the band’s early songs, 2017’s “Cosmonaut.”
The band members continue to play gigs and record while attending college. While the track was originally released in 2019, it has found continued life into 2020. Their biggest musical influences are The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys.
https://www.facebook.com/Nauticalmyson
The Boring Tapes – “Butterfly”
Tokyo DIY outfit The Boring Tapes take us right into the big city nightlife with a woozy yet steely, clinical sound flowing with irresistible beats and synth feedback riffing.
caught our attention recently thanks to the amazing new track, “Butterfly”. If you dig synthwave and bedroom pop then you might just become a TBT fan/follower (you know, both those terms suck, but it’s all we have really).
The Boring Tapes was founded in 2018 as a bedroom studio project by artists Hiromu Koinuma and Sota Kodera. The duo is heavily influenced by U.K. and U.S. indie rock.
This is apparent on “Butterfly” as well as the duo’s experimentation with hints of shoegaze, lo-fi, hip-hop, and electronica, in addition to synthwave and dream pop.
Koinuma commands vocals, guitars, bass while Kodera commands chorus and percussions. Both add sounds on keys and programming. TBT music is influenced by bands and artists such as Washed Out, Tycho, New Order, Men I Trust, POP ETC, and Galileo Galilei.
https://theboringtapes.bandcamp.com
Joshua Ritchie – “Louder”
Ontario-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Josh Ritchie breaks out on his own with the new drop of his solo debut single, “Louder.”
The fiery track lives up to the name with a forward-driving percussion, riveting guitar parts and an 80’s almost Jackson Browne vibe. This is the type of track that you put on to make you feel better in our troubled times.
“I was away at college, meeting new people, being out of the house for the first time and enjoying all of it,” Ritchie says.
“But it wasn’t the same. I was yearning for the familiarity of a close-knit group of friends; something I think all of us have felt at some point. So, really, ‘Louder’ is about that feeling of invincibility you get when surrounded by your people.”
“Louder” is the title track of Ritchie’s self-produced debut 10-track album. His instrumentation is full of blazing and stinging guitar rock coupled with poignant, care-free, and poetic lyrics.
In early 2019, Ritchie took to the studio to record his debut album. He was armed with the title track which he says inspired much of the album.
Ritchie’s recent album release party was sold-out as the title track was climbing into the Top 100 list of the 2020 CBC Music Searchlight competition.
It’s no big surprise that Ritchie gravitated to music; he grew up surrounded by music teachers, performers, and songwriters. Music has simply been a huge part of his life from a young age.
His love for music became a life passion and pursuit. Just 20 years old, Ritchie’s maturity and musical abilities are beyond his age.
He has also been working hard on his vocal skills, developing range and power in solo and choir and projecting from whispery vocals to boisterous roars. Ritchie is also a producer and engineer, and naturally as a one-man band solo project, he played, recorded and mixed all of the instruments.
https://www.joshritchiemusic.com
Sonic Break – “Spaceman”
Musician brothers Roary (vocals/guitar) and Jamie Mackay (vocals/guitar), together with drummer Ryan Grohn and bassist Ashish Shenoy, are the engine that powers the exciting Vancouver alt. rock band Sonic Break.
As apparent on the new single, “Spaceman,” from the band’s debut E.P., Is This An Intervention?, Sonic The band has a hard-edged rock drive with upbeat indie-pop elements.
In describing the origin of “Spaceman,” Mackay wrote: “We were making a conscious effort to write music designed to make the listener feel good and as soon as that first guitar riff hit [for ‘Spaceman’], we immediately knew we had something special.”
“The song is about that person you know in your life who is bursting with potential, yet has been struggling,” he adds. “It is an upbeat and hopeful song that chronicles that person’s refusal to let failure stand in the way of their dreams.”
The band teamed up with acclaimed Canadian music producer Darren Grahn (Metallica, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue), among others. With Grahn’s guidance, Sonic Break bursts out with lush, infectious indie rock/pop guitars, seductive percussion, and rich vocal harmonies.
Described as possessing a diverse and distinct sound, the band is keen on mixing components of other influences, including pop, grunge, and indie, but always with a rock base.
The band’s live performances have been described as exhilarating by fans and some press. Sonic Break’s debut single ‘Collide’ accumulated more than 50,000 streams on Spotify in just a few weeks.
http://www.instagram.com/sonicbreak.band
Stream all of the songs in this post on this playlist. Uninterrupted, commercial-free.