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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.

Ava Trepeck Cast a Multi-Sensory Cinematic Spell with the Beach House-Level Textural Sorcery in ‘Sphinx’

Posted on 20 July 2026

Ava Trepeck created multi-sensory cinematography with her seminal ethereal pop single, Sphinx. The New York City-based alternative dream-pop artist, originally from Birmingham, Michigan, has a voice that could see her hailed as this generation’s Kate Bush, a sound that establishes her as talented as Beach House when it comes to alchemising intoxicatingly timbred melodies, and that touch of je ne sais quoi that makes her so stylistically hypnotic.

The soft, reverb-lush way every note drifts in hazy weightlessness through the retro-futuristic colour of the pastel-toned triumph is enough to make you feel as though you’re defying gravity as you drink in the dreamy, artful textures. Beneath the beauty, Sphinx carries a deeply considered emotional architecture, exploring divine union within the self and the balance of masculine and feminine energies as a route towards safety, freedom and inner equilibrium.

Trepeck’s background in psychology and cinematic arts at the University of Southern California gives the single its rare sense of psychic detail and visual depth. You can hear why Dora Jar, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Kate Bush and Miley Cyrus sit within her wider constellation of influence, but Sphinx never feels derivative. It’s escapism at its finest, and it is proof that Ava Trepeck’s talent refuses to settle into complacency; there’s a palpable sense she’s pushing sound design into transcendently imaginative terrain with each of her new releases, and this is no exception.

Sphinx is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mert Spalty’s PODUNK Brought Queens Alt-Rock to a Scuzzy, Sweat-Slick Punk Crescendo

Posted on 20 July 2026

The writing is on the basement-venue wall; Mert Spalty’s LP, PODUNK, is the kind of woozy, scuzz-laced release to get the alt scene moving to the exhilaration of posture-free punk rock again. The Queens-based independent musician has played north of 300 shows since 2022, and that live-wire through dodgy PA conditioning burns straight through the album’s beer-spilt bloodstream.

With the same devil-may-care authenticity as Pavement, the raw emotional accessibility of garage-punk heavyweights Fidlar and inklings of Modest Mouse through the campy eccentricity and existential slacker humour, PODUNK traverses the alt spectrum with unruly purpose. Recorded in a shared practice space and Spalty’s apartment, then self-produced and mixed, the record captures bar basements packed with friends, cigarettes outside and punk rock with a bossa nova flute interlude.

The alt anthems are slick with the sweat of an artist uncaging himself. It just so happens that the outpouring of his fervent candour takes the form of some of the best alt-rock and punk instincts: almost innocently childlike creativity, high-fidelity lines ignored, sanitised mainstream potential kicked aside, reality placed front and centre.

With Fletcher Gull tracking drums in a single day before flying home to Australia, and a sold-out Ridgewood release show already proving the songs’ physical pull, PODUNK feels built for rooms where people remember why guitars and gigs you don’t have to skip rent for still matter.

PODUNK is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jim Laczkowsk penned a Nocturnal Love-Letter Lullaby with ‘by moonlight’

Posted on 19 July 2026

hold on by Jim Laczkowski

Jim Laczkowski delivers the kind of honeyed melancholy that stings, even when the bitterness is abstracted from the bitter-sweet dichotomy. The Chicago-based musician, writer, filmmaker and librarian has spent two decades recording and self-producing original songs for records and film soundtracks, and by moonlight, from his new album Hold On, is locked and loaded to disarm through grace.

Lyrically, the single drifts into a nocturnal take on You Are My Sunshine, followed by Neutral Milk Hotel-esque indie-folk experimentation to close out the accordant, rich and intimately eccentric performance. It is the ultimate indie lullaby for lovers who know the true beauty in connection lies in the simplest of moments; the moments that feel as tender as the timbres and harmonies in by moonlight.

Laczkowski’s voice carries the softer, more melodic side of R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe, but his artistic world is also shaped by film, literature and the kind of cultural devotion that led him to host Director’s Club, write about John Darnielle and compile Wilco covers to benefit Chicago venues. That wider creative life comes into focus with by moonlight, which feels curated by someone who understands memory as sound, image and feeling. With its Jeff Buckley-adjacent sensitivity and homespun glow, the single settles straight into the chest.

by moonlight is now available to stream on all major platforms. Support the artist by purchasing the single on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Juliez Andrewz Cast an Ethereal Post-Punk Spell with the Semi-Lucid Sermon, The Forgotten

Posted on 18 July 2026

If Juliez Andrewz is good enough to grace the stage at the Whisky A Go-Go, they are worthy of a spot on your darkwave playlists. The alternative-rock project, led by guitarist and songwriter Jed Tyler, has been performing since 2018, building a reputation across the U.S. and Canada for professional shows, movement-stirring songs and a catalogue that already includes RocknRoll Girl, Life in Rewind, Other Voices and Something From Nothing.

With a Protomartyr-level of panache to their ethereal take on post-punk in their latest standout single, The Forgotten, the spoken-word lyrics become a semi-lucid technicolour sermon. Reverb glistens through the arrangement that borders on avant-garde art rock, refusing to follow formulaic rules while still giving listeners enough rhythmic pull to sink fully into its strange emotional architecture.

You could almost imagine the single drifting through a soundtrack to an indie arthouse flick in place of Dream Baby Dream by Suicide. The cinematic pull of The Forgotten intensifies through its intoxicating psychedelic swells, proving that Juliez Andrewz know exactly how to achieve the correct dosage when alchemising allegories that hold a mirror to societal atrocities.

After four appearances at the iconic West Hollywood venue, Juliez Andrewz sound primed to convert cult intrigue into wider underground devotion.

The Forgotten is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, watch the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Soul Dive – Shell of a Man: a Brashy Rock Breakout with Slacker Rock Swagger

Posted on 18 July 2026

Fresh faces in rock are always easy to underestimate, but that only makes being gripped by the brashy, euphoric adrenaline of Shell of a Man by Soul Dive all the more exhilarating. Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the four-piece began where a lot of great rock bands do: in a garage, with loud guitars, raw vocals and a shared hunger to make music that actually makes you feel something.

So, imagine if the New York Dolls came onto the scene 20 years later and experimented with punk-riled slacker indie rock, then give that parallel sonic universe the melodic pull of 00s rock in the vein of Semisonic and The Calling, and you would end up with the infectiously authentic emotive pull and panache of Shell of a Man.

Rather than splicing together all the juiciest parts from the annals of rock, indie and punk in an attempt to create a Frankenstein’s monster of hook-rife rancour, Soul Dive organically make their music feel greater than the sum of its parts by the sheer will of their unfeigned imagination.

There is a wild current in the performance, as though you can feel the friction of Luca’s commanding vocals, Cristiano’s driving guitar, Santino’s rhythm and keys, and Rylan’s deep bass grooves pushing the track forward and rubbing against their determination to hook you into the momentum of their lyricism.

With influences spanning Pearl Jam, Green Day, The Black Keys, Radiohead, Audioslave, Metallica and Pink Floyd, Soul Dive are already naturally hungry for rooms as big as their sound.

Shell of a Man is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

close to u by Leea Clem Is Shadowy Dance Pop with Euphoria-Grade Seduction

Posted on 17 July 2026

If Maddy from Euphoria made moody alt pop, it would struggle to match the same demure volition as the latest single, close to u, by the up-and-coming sensation Leea Clem. The independent Italian artist has stepped into a sharper phase of her career with a release that understands exactly how to weaponise desire without losing its dreamy echoes of yearning.

Vocal seduction drips over the shadowy progressive dance pop hooks as oscillations of cosmic retro-futurism make the production feel infinitely expansive. It is the kind of all-consuming earworm that refuses to resonate as sound alone; the swirling kaleidoscope of cinematic colour psychology creates a vignette of basement club lust as the beats sonically pump adrenaline straight into your veins.

After debuting in 2021 with A Universe Apart, releasing moving on through Sony Music distribution with support from Puglia Sounds, performing at Medimex Showcase and following with SWEET REVENGE in 2026, Clem already has the foundations of an artist ready to scale beyond underground admiration. Now as an independent entity, she’s more uninhibited than ever; if close to u is anything to go by, she’s at her zenith when refusing to soften herself and fit into someone else’s vision.

As a club anthem, prime material for international radio A-lists and a single with serious viral appeal, if close to u does not break into the mainstream, it will not be because it leaves anything to be desired. If anything, desire is the epicentre of close to u.

close to u is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bitten Tongues Become Dreamy Alt Indie Rock Catharsis in Bushwick Princess’ Latest single, Temkins

Posted on 17 July 2026

Brooklyn trio Bushwick Princess channelled the pulled teeth of compromised peace into Temkins, a reverb-rich alt indie rock allegory steeped in post-grunge, melodic 90s rock and shoegazed art rock. The fourth single from their EP carries the strain of relationships stalled by stubbornness, pride and too much shared history, where potential remains visible while honest conversation stays trapped behind bitten tongues.

Matt Francini’s vocals drift through spectral Thom Yorke-esque harmonies and Cornell-reminiscent gravel, holding onto their honeyed vulnerability as angular guitars and choral bass movements swell around him. Kane Delaney’s drums give the arrangement shifting physicality, while Andrew Miller’s bass and synth work deepen the sense of emotional suspension. Every contortion in the production visualises the strain of loving someone through an impasse, accepting imperfection while swallowing the words that might disturb a fragile peace.

Francini’s classical background, years spent moving through blues, rock, alternative rock and industrial music, and later vocal training feed directly into the song’s precision and emotional reach. Recorded through a 100% DIY ethos in his Brooklyn apartment, Temkins carries the intimacy of something lived at close range. Its universalised alienation pulls the listener from a tiny interpersonal world into a spiralling vortex of connection, delivering a deliciously timbral, multisensory, synaesthesia-inducing experience with the philosophical force of discovering Kafka, Camus or Dostoyevsky for the first time.

Temkins was officially released on July 16^th and is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rick Vines Serenaded Bittersweet Acoustic Folk Consolation into ‘Alone in This World’

Posted on 17 July 2026

We all know we are born alone, and we die alone, but maybe it is time to acknowledge that, for many, loneliness is a default state; Alone in This World by Rick Vines is the ultimate bittersweet meditation on the expanse of endemic isolation. In the minimalist acoustic folk production, the phenomenon is never treated as taboo; Rick Vines’ voice resonates as a clarion call to anyone who needs consolation instead of judgement and pity.

Calling out to someone who feels alone in an oversaturated population, whether geographically or spiritually, the profoundly affecting release is haunting through its intimacy as it meets the disconnected exactly where they are through sincere compassion. The guitar is sparse enough to let every breath matter, while Vines’ warm, almost conversational delivery makes the song feel like someone finally saying the thing nobody wants to admit aloud.

Recorded live in a single afternoon at Marigny Studios in New Orleans, Alone in This World carries the city’s strange balance of sorrow and connection without forcing local colour into the frame. The Chicago-based songwriter draws from folk, Americana and jazz-informed phrasing, yet the release remains beautifully direct, shaped by a desire to sound like himself rather than chase perfection.

Taken from the 3-track release The Marigny Sessions, Alone in This World is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Josh Raines – Daydreaming: Gravity-Defying Indie Soul Pop to Wooze You Away from Melancholy

Posted on 15 July 2026

Josh Raines fits right into the Jungian archetype of the wounded healer; his latest single, Daydreaming, is his most potent dose of medicine yet. The addiction-medicine doctor and pop-Americana songwriter creates music to help his own mental health while helping others with theirs, giving the single an unusually sincere foundation beneath its sun-drunk melodic lift.

Semi-lucid reverie takes the form of surfy 60s indie pop as the earworm defies gravity and wraps you up in melodies that echo the woozy euphoria of Foster the People’s iconic single, Pumped Up Kicks, just with a few more oceanic waves lapping against the shore of the single, delivering an unrivalled high; you know it’s efficacious when an outro leaves you with a comedown.

All of the imagery in the lyrics only serves to take you higher as Raines enmeshes dream-like visuals with swoons of soulful sincerity. Produced and recorded by Raines, then mixed by seven-time Grammy-nominated producer and engineer Tony Hoffer, whose credits include Beck, Air, Depeche Mode, Phoenix, M83 and Foster the People, Daydreaming has the clarity and melodic architecture to travel far beyond indie-pop playlists.

Following a viral online moment that pulled millions into his orbit, Raines sounds ready for a wider audience. Even without a mainstream to declare a definitive song of the summer, Daydreaming is guaranteed to soundtrack the season for everyone who resonates with it.

Daydreaming is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Troubadour of political folk tragedies, Ken Newman, soulfully sirened whiskey-soaked truth in ‘Who Are the Bad Guys’

Posted on 15 July 2026

When Ken Newman sings, he mesmerises. You could hear a pin drop from the next room when you absorb yourself into his humble masterstrokes, and his latest single, Who Are the Bad Guys, carries that same arresting emotional gravity. Across Latin-inspired, finger-picked acoustic guitar, within a warm, timbre-rich production, he summons poetic introspective wisdom into the accordant atmosphere.

His life-worn, whiskey-soaked vocals evoke the same sensations as listening to Cat Stevens, Tom Waits and Townes Van Zandt, yet Newman’s phrasing belongs entirely to his own weathered conscience. Originally from San Francisco and now based much of the year in Zihuatanejo, he brings decades of storytelling, performance and creative direction into a song that examines power, inequality, propaganda and complicity with a steady hand.

Newman is one of the most criminally underrated political troubadours of our time. Socio-political tragedy finds devastating resonance through his voice, because he allows ambiguity, empathy and discomfort to alchemise. Instead of flattening the subject into sloganism, he lets the lyric turn the lens towards the systems around us and the parts of ourselves that keep them standing.

With the moral gravity of Leonard Cohen, the folk lineage of Bob Dylan and the atmospheric darkness of New Model Army, Who Are the Bad Guys cuts deep.

Who Are the Bad Guys is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

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