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The term ‘indie’ in the music industry has become so ambiguous it has practically become as subjective as the meaning of life. Whichever way it is defined, it is still a massive part of the music industry in the UK and across the globe.

Originally, indie referred to how an artist distributed their music. Over the decades, it became a catch-all term for artists sharing the same sonic off-kilter edge; and, of course, the same moody yet inexplicably cool aesthetic. Indie, as a genre, only came around as the result of experimental artists in the 70s wanting to bring a new sound to the airwaves; instead of solely hoping for commercial success after appeasing one of the major record labels.

Indie artists adopted punk ethos they started to push the boundaries of pop. Instead of commercialising their sound, they pushed it into post-punk, shoegaze, synthpop, Britpop, avant-garde, noise rock and dream pop arenas. For all that separates bands such as Sonic Youth, the Cure, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, Joy Division, Elliott Smith and Radiohead, there is still so much that ties them together, namely their attitudes and the loud discordant style.

Along with the bands, iconic venues such as the 100 Club in London, the Hacienda in Manchester, and King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow had a pivotal part to play in the traction of independent artists and music. New Indie labels, such as Rough Trade and Factory Records, were amongst the first record labels to truly embrace and encourage experimentalism and authenticity in the artists they scouted and signed – taking New Order and Joy Division as a prime example.

It may have been a while since there was an indie breakthrough act as successful as the Arctic Monkeys, but indie music has far from lost its resonance. Besides, Monkeys won over 42 awards and sold over 20 million records, so that’s going to take some beating, and they’re certainly not the only indie artists currently thriving.

The Welsh indie rock icons, the Manic Street Preachers, celebrated their first number 1 album in 23 years with the release of Ultra Vivid Lament in 2021. The Tarantino-Esque Liverpool outfit, Red Rum Club, released their debut album in 2019, and got to number 14 in the official album sales chart with their album, How to Steal the World, in 2021. Perhaps most impressively, the world’s first CryptoPunk rapper, Spottie Wifi, made just under $200k in album NFT sales in 90 seconds this year.

Adelaide’s hottest post-grunge pioneers, The Yellow Wallpaper, prescribed volatile vindication in the chaos of their sophomore single, Run Your Mouth

Posted on 28 September 2023

The Yellow Wallpaper made an eternal impression with their debut single, Tell Me to Beg; their spiky attitude punctuated the ensnaring sphere of artful alt-rock, but that was nothing compared to the volition that went into as much overdrive as the guitars in their sophomore single, Run Your Mouth.

Veering more towards the 90s Seattle sound but still sinking their teeth into post-rock production styles, Run Your Mouth is a kaleidoscopic vortex of vindication. In a time when it feels like there’s a cacophony of vacuous contempt at every turn, every bark is worse than the bite and every bitch is in heat, sinking into the single, which delivers an exposition of the shallowness of the hypocrisy of public perception and the psychological effects, is as close to utopia as our dystopic epoch will allow.

Following the sold-out launch show of their debut single in mid-2023, the band is priming to do it all again by launching the single to their hometown crowd in Adelaide.

Run Your Mouth was officially released on September 22nd; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tiny Camels have got the minuscule hump in their sophomore release, One of Those Days

Posted on 28 September 2023

Determined to reinvent Britpop for the 21st-century airwaves, the Cardiff-hailing outfit, Tiny Camels, made melodious headway with their sophomore single, One of Those Days.

By abstracting the laddish swagger that became as synonymous with 90s Britpop as bucket hats with a sweeter vocal register that defies gravity with its interstellar soaring hues around the eternal sunshine in the indie pop guitars that wrap around the kaleidoscopic atmospherics, Tiny Camels delivered euphoria without the hits of ecstasy.

With indie rock hooks as sharp as the ones crafted by the Vaccines when they semi-permanently implanted Post Break-Up Sex in our mind for the entire duration of 2011 around the jangled and angular elements of new wave indie that creates a romantically effervescent sphere of the soundscape, One of Those Days lies on a plateau above the rest of the 2023 indie landfill.

One of Those Days hit the airwaves on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Susie McCollum – New Year’s Eve: part love song, part soulful indie-folk ode to bitter-sweet tradition

Posted on 28 September 2023

If it isn’t too early for commercial stores to deck their aisles with items that prove we’re in the midst of a consumer-industrial complex, it isn’t too early to pontificate on what will be the staple fixtures on our holiday playlists, especially when the singles are as superlatively resolving as New Year’s Eve from the folk singer-songwriter Susie McCollum.

Part love song, part soulful indie-folk ode to bitter-sweet tradition, the loungey and luxe feel of the NYC singer-songwriter’s debut single allows you to slip into a reflective sanctuary of a soundscape. The gentle piano keys against the minimalist acoustic guitars construct an absorbing platform for McCollum’s endlessly sonorous harmonic notes to drift into as the lyrics go beyond the commodification of the holiday, which, whether we like it or not, forces us to take sentimental stock of the year gone by and anticipate what we’ll be grateful for next year.

However you choose to spend it this year, there isn’t a situation McCollum can’t elevate with her Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones and Janis Ian-esque sound.

Add New Year’s Eve to your Spotify playlists now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Reality is fiction in Rooftop Screamers cosmic pop odyssey, Another Life, featuring Tim Smith

Posted on 27 September 2023

After celebrating critical acclaim in his power-pop band, Throwback Suburbia, the Portland-based drummer and songwriter Mike Collins created his studio project, Rooftop Screamers to showcase his original tracks and create an opportunity to work with local and world-renowned vocalists, musicians, and producers.

Swapping guitar solos for the far more euphonic timbres of synth lines, he orchestrated an interstellar sonic fantasy in his latest single, Another Life, featuring Tim Smith, but those power pop proclivities still worked their way into the sticky-sweet synthesis that will enamour any fans of Butch Walker and Father John Misty.

It is all too easy to affix an ELO reference onto any track that could be branded as a cosmic pop odyssey, but the fusion of Beatle-esque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography necessitated the reminiscence reference regardless.

Something tells me that Another Life will be an earworm that doesn’t quit until you have pandered to it repeatedly.

Stream Another Life on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MODEL CITISIN – Been and Gone: Manic Street Preachers Fans Will Glue Themselves to This Debut

Posted on 27 September 2023

Proving that time isn’t linear, the London-based outfit, MODEL CITISIN, fronted by Nick Swettenham, brought the 90s Britpop era right back around with their debut single, Been and Gone.

Muso nostalgists are hardly in short supply, but nothing about Been and Gone even comes close to antiquated. The resurgence of the brassy euphoria, psychedelically tined guitar tones, and crescendos carved from violin strings will tempt the souls of the most world-weary indie fans out of repose.

Unravelling as a mash of the signatures of the 90s, with enough room for authenticity in the high-octane melodic hooks that could ensnare a stadium, it’s impossible not to get excited about the foundling outfit’s potential.

With superlatively orchestrated guitar solos that could give James Dean Bradfield a run for his virtuosic money augmenting the sentimentality of the single, which throws in a few Grandaddy-esque synth lines for good measure, Been and Gone is easily one of the most promising debuts I’ve heard in 2023.

Been and Gone was officially released on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Linn Willner stood at the vanguard of emotionally intelligent pop with ‘Dancing on Roses’

Posted on 26 September 2023

For her latest single, Dancing on Roses, the indie pop enchantress, Linn Willner, melodically pulled on the parallels between blossoming naturalism and the early days of relationships, where we can’t see the thorns for the petals.

The orchestral strings in the indie chamber pop score carved a cinematically immersive atmosphere that evokes notions of romanticism while spurring the listener to remove their rose-tinted glasses and view the full kaleidoscope of betrayal-laden complexity when exploring love and human connection. Life will always find a way to strip away your naivety; it is better to pull back the layers with piano pop expositions on the highs and lows of relationships, which portray vulnerability as a strength.

The 22-year-old Swedish singer-songwriter became an icon of our enlightened times with Dancing on Roses. Beyond her beguilingly evocative vocal lines and command over minor piano keys, she’s at the vanguard of emotionally intelligent pop.

Dancing on Roses will debut on the 26th of September; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Angel Quintas – Feel at Home: Cosmically Cosy Indie Pop Worth Staying In For

Posted on 25 September 2023

If the Beatles entered their kitchen sink era while picking up a few Ziggy Stardust proclivities, their kaleidoscopically soul-affirming singles would be as cosmically cosy as the latest single, Feel at Home, by the Floridian adult contemporary singer-songwriter, Angel Quintas.

Rather than assimilating 60s and 70s icons, the self-taught musician and producer abstracted influence from their tonal palettes and weaved them into a tapestry stitched with more contemporary alt-indie production techniques to deliver a nostalgic sanctuary with modernist décor.

While it is all too easy to bemoan the lazy days that put few demands on your time, especially with the age of the influencer making you feel guilty for not living the lifestyle of the rich and famous every day despite being neither, Feel at Home, colourfully illustrates that few things can match home comforts while delivering musical theatre akin to the sonic performances of Father John Misty who always goes the extra euphonic mile to leave you fully consumed.

Feel At Home hit the airwaves just in time for Autumn on September 15th stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Roo Elizabeth – Ready to Die: A Dream Pop Redemption Story

Posted on 25 September 2023

Etherealism drifts through the latest avant-garde dream-pop installation, Ready to Die, from the Irish artist, songwriter, and fledging producer, Roo Elizabeth who has been taking the live circuit by storm after opening for Wyvern Lingo and Mary Coughlan and appearing on the bill at Electric Picnic and Forest Fest.

With a soundscape that bridges the gap between the melancholic intimacy of Bill Ryder-Jones, the hazy production techniques of Cigarettes After Sex, and the artful expression of Kate Bush in her The Kick Inside era, Roo Elizabeth gave her sophomore single a timelessly beguiling nocturnal quality, perfect for slipping into when you want to relish in introverted introspection.

The track title may appear macabre but the sonic experience itself couldn’t be more tender in its advocation for sanctity, acceptance, and authenticity. By illustrating the beauty of tragedy, in the same vein as Cultdreams, Roo Elizabeth rendered one of the most affirmingly inspirational singles of 2023.

In her own words:

‘READY TO DIE’ is about radical love. It’s about fighting for your own joy. Like a lot of others, I have grown up surrounded by addiction. It buries the spark in the people we love. This song is about cutting the ties of self-sabotage and rising to meet yourself in your own authenticity.

Ready to Die is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The indie raconteur Zarko let it flow in his acoustic expedition to ‘River Town’

Posted on 23 September 2023

If you still revere Closing Time by Tom Waits as one of the best albums of all time, you’ll find the latest single, River Town, from the Serbian indie folk raconteur Zarko just as resolving in its acoustic rapture.

The instrumentals may be minimal, but that didn’t get in the way of the up-and-coming singer-songwriter when he put his masterful mind to painting a panoramic picture of barflies in a town which used to conjure brighter emotions. I’m sure we can all relate to the alienating sense of dejection that ebbs away at our ability to feel anything but numb. With River Town on the airwaves, the sensation feels infinitely less lonely.

On the basis of River Town alone, Zarko should be celebrating the same success as Amigo the Devil with his delectable brand of folk blues. For your own sake, pay the hit song a visit.

River Town was officially released on September 2nd; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kayla Friend quelled the melancholy in her breakup track, Over, with enchanting ethearealism

Posted on 22 September 2023

Before putting down roots in Texas, the California-born, NY-raised singer-songwriter Kayla Friend forged a successful career in theatre before branching out as an independent artist following the pandemic; her experience as a music theatre composer lent itself effortlessly well to her sound. Her enchanting melodies and vivacious vocal harmonies create an otherworldly cinematic atmosphere you can easily lose yourself in before you find yourself in the all too resonant lyricism.

Her latest single, Over, follows the plaintively painful experience of separation; with the blossoming orchestral swells in the indie-pop score, the single is underpinned by a sense of rebirth to quell the melancholy in the perfectly emotionally rounded single. With the guitars that seem to pirouette around her celestial soprano vocal lines, Kayla Friend created one of the most stunning singles we’ve heard in 2023. It’s only a matter of time before she’s snapped up by a major label.

Over will be released on September 22nd; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast