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The Smiths

The Immaculate Crows held a mirror to human-derived harrow in their psychedelic alt-indie single, Dolly

The Immaculate Crows never fail to strike all the right chords with their sympathetic sensitivity and superfluous arrangements; their single, Dolly, was no exception to the rule. With a Southern country folk twist to psychedelic new wave indie, they orchestrated the ultimate soundscape for profound reflection.

A tale of torment-driven suicide and domestic violence could have easily sat heavily on the soul, but with the rich tapestry of psych, folk, indie, pop and country rock, The Immaculate Crows efficaciously advocate for a reality that gravitates around compassion and kindness.

The sonic olive branch may be small, but sometimes, all it can take is one push in a more positive direction to create a ripple effect of change, and therein lies the beauty of The Immaculate Crows’ discography. It holds a mirror to human-derived harrow before melodiously illustrating the capacity for tenderness, which lies in us all.

Stream Dolly on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tom Fleur has made his debut with the indie jangle pop gem, Paranoia Song

Any indie artist that kicks off their career with a track as bold as Paranoia Song is one that we will always champion. The up-and-coming artist, Tom Fleur, opened his debut single with the lyric, “I’m on edge on the edge of the bed”, sung in a This Charming Man-esque vocal melody and sealed a place on our radar forever.

To freshen up the iconic new wave indie jangle pop sound, Fleur threw in the influence of 60s girl group melancholia and Ray Davies characters, but he’s every bit as self-aware as Morrissey was back in the day before he couldn’t figure out why his career tanked around his rampant racism.

After promising that his lyrics also explore the themes of hedonism, anxiety, and love, we can’t wait to revel in more of his intellectual introspection wrapped around his colourfully distinctive guitar lines. Finding a new artist that compels you to drink in every swoonsome syllable so as not to miss any of the disconcerted resonance doesn’t happen every day. I haven’t felt this lyrically seen since I first slipped into the solidarity of The Fear by Pulp.

Paranoia Song is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ireland’s most experimental luminary ReHumanise has unleashed his monolithically surreal love song, Elemental

After a psychedelically soulful introduction to Irish multi-instrumentalist and producer, ReHumanise through his 2020 debut, our eyes and ears have been firmly affixed to the sonic maverick.

In his latest single, Elemental, he stormed in cooler and infinitely more visceral than Editors did when they unleashed Munich; it is a percussive electronic masterpiece with the acoustic snares snapping over the weight of the heavy electro beats. Juxtaposing-ly, every volatile fixture serves to contrast the soulful beckoning of the vocals as they project the canderous outpour of emotion in the celestial love song. It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if he had to travel to a parallel universe to write it.

Inspired by the likes of Depeche Mode, Radiohead and The Smiths, any true romantic with an affinity for unpretentiously humanistic experimental music will want to save space on their playlists.

Polished by the Grammy-award-winning mastering engineer, James Auwarter, Elemental is set to take ReHumanise to even greater heights after he released a top 5 hit in Ireland in 2017 under his real name, Damian Brady, and racked up over 90k streams on his seminal single 2020, Hu Man.

Check out Elemental on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Pulse Park went sub-zero in their off-kilter new wave indie single, Sine Wave

Phonac Music by Pulse Park

Canadian alt-indie newcomers, Pulse Park, have sent us right back to the golden age of new wave indie with their latest release, Sine Wave. I’ve long been fascinated with the bleak tales of Shackleton and other Arctic explorers exposed to bitterly cold untold misery. To stumble on a three-piece that first met during an arctic expedition in Canada and started to learn their instruments under the unrelentingly dark skies, was nothing short of serendipitous bliss.

All of Pulse Park’s music is an effigy to the less than temperate expedition that led to the development of their morosely arresting take on off-kilter new wave indie rock. The sweeter than sweet vocals are just as melt worthy as the vocal timbre from Tiger Army, The Smiths and Slowdive while the instrumentals kick up a hypersonic storm around the emotion-driven harmonised vocals. As far as we are considered, Sine Wave is the epitome of the indie earworm.

You can check out Sine Wave for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Schoolboys have released their very 2022 new-wave-meets-proto-punk love song, Think About It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjps0bKXZZ0

So many of the greatest songs have been written on hard and fast infatuation. The Schoolboys evaded all the usual tropes that have long since been outdated in their latest new-wave-meets-proto-punk single, Think About It.

If I told you the track itself was as sweet as the lyrics, “Isn’t this just what you asked for? I see you give up too fast, you should never walk away when there’s still something you want” would you even believe me?

The Schoolboys originally formed in 2021 as an alt-rock band in Reading, England, under the influence of the Strokes and the Smiths. Based on Think About It, the nostalgically-minded outfit had no trouble finding their own warmly overdriven sonic signature. Any fans of the Violent Femmes, Joy Division and Modest Mouse will undoubtedly want to pay attention.

Think About It is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

How to Define Indie Music?

There are no short answers when it comes to the definition of indie music. While some use indie to describe where artists of all genres are at in the industry, it has also become synonymous with an edgy guitar-based pop sound over the years.

Today, indie is an extension of the music that the indie pioneers created when they started to break away from the big four record labels (EMI, Warner, Universal and Sony). To definitively understand the definition of indie music, we have to get to grips with how it came around and became a descriptor for a particular off-kilter sonic style

A Micro History of Indie

The indie uprising started in the 1970s – although the roots of independent music go back to the soul, blues and Motown independent labels in the 50s. In the 70s, distinctions arose between artists on major record labels and artists independent of them.

The new wave, post-punk and alternative music releases in the late 70s started to fall under the indie category while picking up traction amongst music fans eager to hear music that was far more visceral, real and experimental. This new aural hunger led to Tony Wilson creating a roster at Factory Records, Daniel Miller establishing Mute and Chris Parry following suit with his label, Fiction, in 1978.

The Manchester-based outfit, The Smiths, were a pivotal part of UK Indie history; once they were on the Rough Trade roster in the mid-80s, they created a cultural movement with their politically aware, socially conscious and poetically morose lyrics. The Smiths inspired countless acts keen to emanate the jangle-pop guitars and the hooky despite the melancholy energy. Just a few of the indie acts that are under the influence of the Smiths are Blur, Pulp, The XX, Frightened Rabbit and The Killers.

Indie started to manifest in the industry in plenty of other ways from the 80s onwards, from indie dance to indie folk to indie hip hop, swathes of artists started to adopt the DIY ethos after watching the success of indie pioneers, such as Joy Division and Depeche Mode. Although indie artists are experimental as a default, the genre amassed characteristics over the years, such as bands having a cultural identity, almost existentialist mentality and being heavier than pop but lighter than rock.

The indie acts springing up under Sub Pop in Seattle in the 80s were far noisier and more discordant than UK indie acts. The independent label, Sub Pop, signed Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Sonic Youth and gave way to the grunge era that defined the 90s in America.

Technically, when independent artists, such as REM and Nirvana, signed multi-million-dollar record deals with major labels, they should have lost their indie status. Instead, their indie status remained for the culture that all of the indie bands since the 70s collectively created.

Today, indie music isn’t *quite* as popular as it was when it peaked in the 90s, but there are still thriving independent grassroots music scenes all across the UK and across the globe. In 2021, independent artists can take advantage of countless indie music blogs, indie playlists, indie radio stations and indie magazines to grow their fanbases away from major labels.

Louise Aubrie has released her soul-filling hook-laden indie rock earworm, ‘Last’.

If it has been a while since you encountered a truly authentic indie rock artist, hit play on the latest single from London and New York-residing artist Louise Aubrie.

The pop choruses make an earworm out of Last as the definitively jangle-pop guitars earn Last its indie rock stripes. It has all of the soul-filling appeal of Umberto Tozzi’s ‘Gloria’ track paired with the enliveningly energetic progressions found in the not-so-morose hits by the Smiths.

Blondie references are easy to make, but discernibly, Louise Aubrie has her own authentic voice; it just happens to exude the same ability to leave you utterly captivated by the imagery in the lyrics.

So far in her career, she’s pulled in acclaim from BBC 6 Music, recorded in Abbey Road Studios, played in multiple big-stage-venues in New York and London and worked with some of the biggest names in Indie Rock including Andy Woodward, Tom Edwards, James Knight, and Dave Collins. We’re fairly sure that the accolades won’t end there.

Whichever side of the pond you’re on, you’ll want Aubrie on your radar for her live performances. You can follow her via Facebook.

You can check out the official video to Last by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

ATMIG – Ah Hah: The Baroque Alt Folk Equivalent to John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’

Escape the 21st-century and slip into the sepia-tinged tones in Detroit-based alt-indie rock luminaries’, ATMIG’s, latest release ‘Ah Hah’ which chorally attacks the nature of consumerism and unfolds as the indie alt-folk equivalent of John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’.

Any fans of Amanda Palmer, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Smiths, The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen will undoubtedly want to delve to cigarette smoke-stained indulgent single which spills alchemy through the infusion of shoegaze, rockabilly, indie rock and traditional folk.

If Ah Hah was any more absolving, I’m pretty sure I’d be antimatter right now.

Ah Hah was released on December 31st, you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jangle Pop Meets Americana Rock in JimmyJimmy’s Latest Single ‘With You Soon’

US singer-songwriter JimmyJimmy released their latest single ‘With You Soon’ on November 24th, hit play, and you’ll appreciate Marr-Esque jangly upraising Indie intricate guitar licks which will lift you just as high as This Charming Man used to before Morrissey decided to make himself public enemy no.1.

The 80s New Wave Indie sound may radiate in With You Soon, but there are also rhythmic hints of Americana which make choruses as infectious as the reason we’ve all been deflated during 2020.

It’s no stretch to say that With You Soon is easily one of the most enrapturing Pop Rock singles we’ve heard this year. For your sanity’s sake, get him on your radar.

You can check out With You Soon for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Brat Pitt Has Released Their Unmissable Indie Dream Pop Debut Single “Wallow”

Singer-songwriter Brat Pitt has made their debut with their unforgettably stunning Lo-Fi Indie single “Wallow”. If you could imagine what it would sound like if you put the Beatles, Elliott Smith and The Smiths in an aural blender, you’ll get an idea of just how distinctively mesmeric Wallow is.

The intimate bedroom Pop feel amplifies the accessibility of the candidly connectable single which has plenty of earworm potential. While the nuances of Surf Rock, Psych Pop, and Indie Jangle Pop ensure that you’ve never ingested dreamy melodic alchemy quite like this before. With an upcoming EP in the works, Brat Pitt is definitely one to watch.

You can check out Brat Pitt’s debut single Wallow for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast