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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.

Joseph Trem explored the darkness the mind can conjure while creating a moment of connection in ‘Ruminations’

Posted on 25 November 2023

Joseph Trem’s latest single, Ruminations, is a masterful exploration of the darkness the human psyche can harbour, delving deep into the agonising feeling of invisibility and the fear that even if you were to fade away into less than a spectre, your absence wouldn’t be noted nevertheless mourned.

The heart-wrenching reality of feeling worthless is a sentiment that, unfortunately, is all too universal for people battling with depression. Trem did so much more than vent his emotions with Ruminations; he extended validation to anyone who can relate. To amplify the earnest sincerity of the release, the track is anchored by striking piano keys, each note resonating with a sense of pensiveness around his rich and emotive voice which weaves through melodies to draw listeners into an exposition of vulnerable introspection.

The moment of connection within Ruminations positions Joseph Trem as one of the most promising names on the indie-pop scene. His sound, reminiscent of John Legend in ‘All of Me,’ is both haunting and beautiful, filled with a raw honesty that is rare in today’s music landscape. As we look towards 2024, Trem is undoubtedly an artist to watch.

The official lyric video for Ruminations premiered on November 17; watch it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Visit ‘Valencia’ Via the Neo-Jazz Pop Grooves in George Bone’s Evocative Masterpiece of a Solo Release

Posted on 24 November 2023

George Bone stripped everything back but the soul in his latest single, Valencia, which encompasses the 00s indie pop aesthetic while pushing it forward with the ardency in the wistful yearning, the colour in the neo-jazz pop grooves, and the instrumental sparsity which ensures every instrumental works with a singular agenda to amplify the disarming effect of the emotionally raw ballad.

Valencia is the first single released by the Essex-based evocateur after stepping off his tour with The Voice UK 2019 winner Molly Hocking. If Bruno Major and Conor Albert heavily feature on your playlists, you’ll easily find space for George Bone’s sonic signature, which scribes itself through emotionally provoking lyricism and easy-listening melodies.

George Bone Said:

“Eponymously named after the city it takes inspiration from, Valencia transports listeners on a Mediterranean journey of both loving and longing. It encapsulates the joys of travelling with ‘The One’ – summoning wonder, happiness, and the connections you feel rarely in a lifetime – and yet the wishful thinking of those who know that ‘drinking wine and [hearing] the breaking of the tide’ is only a feeling experienced in imagination. The song represents a bond in a relationship, where memories – both good and bad – are intertwined; where hopes and dreams are dashed and made; and where love is lost and found.”

Valencia will hit the airwaves on November 24; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Have a very chamber pop Christmas with Beware of Trains’ melancholy score, Forever Home

Posted on 24 November 2023

Beware of Trains stepped out of an anachronistic music box and onto the airwaves to share the histrionically ornate single, Forever Home, which carries all the glamour of the West End and all the alternative allure of the Legendary Pink Dots and Jason Webley.

The chamber pop orchestration unravels as a snow-capped fairy tale of a festive single; the all-bells and no whistles production takes the ordinary Christmas single and enchants it to the nth degree.

The origin of the single stems back to 2019 when Beware of Trains performed ‘A Kitmas Concert’ at Bradford Cathedral with members of Opera North to raise funds for Allerton Cat Rescue. Inspired by the charity’s slogan, ‘Helping cats and kittens find their furever home’, songwriter, Leighton Jones wanted to explore the sense of longing and belonging conjured by the phrase. If there’s any time of the year when the need to belong reaches its wistful peak, it is the festive holidays. If you can relate, prepare for the scintillating resonance and grab a few tissues. It hits harder than the end of Raymond Brigg’s symphonic poem, the Snowman.

In their own words:

“Forever Home is a symphonic festive tale that transports us into a snow globe and whisks us away through snowy Yorkshire fields and skies, revelling in the nostalgic sense of homecoming the festive season brings. But the song is also tinged with bittersweet melancholy, reflecting on the passing years and sadness of saying goodbye to the people and places we love and hold dear.”

Forever Home was officially released on November 24th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Freyja Elsy embodied the sentiment that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned in her single, Over It

Posted on 23 November 2023

Freyja Elsy’s latest single, Over It, from her upcoming EP, Modern Artifice, is a mesmerising blend of trip-hop, dark pop, and innovative electronica that resonates with the chillingly arcane Southern Gothic air of Chelsea Wolfe.

The single, which premiered on BBC Radio Wales on Adam Walton’s Introducing show, has been aptly compared to the likes of Massive Attack and Portishead, with a nod to the acid house genre in its production. The multi-layered auditory journey reflects the despondency of being cast into the harsh realities of adulthood and forced to contend with the seemingly arbitrary monotony which stretches for decades before those coming of age. Elsy’s voice, both haunting and commanding, unravels this narrative against a backdrop of spiky dream pop and leftfield electronica, creating a sound that is as visionary as it is haunting as it oozes the divinity of female power.

Elsy, who has had a remarkable year, opening for acts like Death & Vanilla and Welsh artists Eädyth, Ani Glass, and Small Miracles, never fails to showcase her ability to create a cohesive and clear vision in her music. Her previous singles, Lungs, Requiem, and Golden Hour, have already garnered international attention and BBC recognition, setting a high bar for her upcoming EP.

Over It hit the airwaves on November 17; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The soulfully-funked hues in Jeremy Hilliard’s single Lay Down Like Lovers captured the haze of utopic affection.

Posted on 23 November 2023

Taken from his LP, which is rooted in swathes of nostalgic funk and soul, Trouble for Another Day, singer-songwriter, Jeremy Hilliard’s standout folky neo-jazz pop single, Lay Down Like Lovers, is a fitting ode to the serenity of passion. The dreamy hues capture the haze of unconditionally all-consuming love as the groove pockets deliver oceanic depth, ensuring Lay Down Like Lovers is a release you can fully immerse yourself in.

If you can’t get enough of the lyrically driven song-crafting finesse of Paul Simon, Kurt Vile, Neil Young and Bob Dylan, you will be instantly enamoured with the poetically mellifluous beguile within Lay Down Like Lovers, which is hopefully the first of many hits from the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, who is coming into his own away from his successful band, PEAK, which has made America’s Northeast their touring circuit.

Stream Lay Down Like Lovers on Spotify and Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Buddy J Francis – Paralysed by Fear: Avant-Warped-Garde Psych Rock

Posted on 22 November 2023

Adelaide’s most endearingly audacious artist, Buddy J Francis suited himself in pink and his sound in psychonautic scuzz for his latest installation of Avant-Warped-Garde psych rock, Paralysed by Fear.

Each of the kaleidoscopically fuzzed instrumentals you hear on the release was individually tracked, giving the progressions plenty of mind-melting volition to captivate listeners within the lo-fi production, which laments the stagnancy that being afraid to take life-altering leaps breeds.

Even with so many experimental layers to his work between his instrumental experimentation, tongue-in-cheek guises and lyrical conceptuality, it is all too easy to get on the same level as the artist, who has transcended parody to deliver deliciously delirious subversion.

If Paralysed by Fear racks up 10k streams on Spotify in the first week, Buddy J Francis has vowed to get his nipple pierced, allowing his staunch fanbase to get their sonic and sadistic kicks in one swing.

Thankfully, there are fewer conditions attached to the imminence of his forthcoming LP, which Paralysed by Fear snuck out of prematurely; it is set to arrive in early 2024. Keep Francis on your radar for it, and undoubtedly other outlandish antics via Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Urban Cafe Crew unleashed their classically contemporary tinsel-wrapped perennial pop earworm, ‘Baby It’s Christmas’

Posted on 22 November 2023

Urban Cafe Crew wrapped a perennial pop earworm in tinsel to deliver the catchiest Christmas single since Mariah Carey dominated the festive sonic landscape with All I Want for Christmas is You.

Hit play on Baby It’s Christmas by the eclectic Australian music collective and instantly succumb to the modern spin on the classic Christmas motifs. From the first beat following the swells of classic strings, you’ll register that Baby It’s Christmas sets itself apart from the usual holiday fare.

From the bells to the butter-wouldn’t-melt croons to the keys working in complete synergy with the percussion to raise the energy, Baby It’s Christmas ticks all the sentimental boxes while oozing cross-generational appeal. It has been a while since a Christmas single melodiously moved with the times while keeping sonic traditions alive; Urban Cafe Crew achieved the feat effortlessly.

Even if you usually recoil to the tune of White Christmas on the radio when November rolls around, you won’t be able to resist turning a smile as you hum the exhilaratingly vibrant melody.

Baby It’s Christmas was officially released on November 10th. Unwrap it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lou Reed meets Tom Waits in the tender warmth of Lance La Breche’s latest seminal piano score, One Last Dance

Posted on 21 November 2023
Killing The Pistanthrophobe by Lance LaBreche

With vocal lines as arresting as the plaintive harmonies drenching Tom Wait’s Closing Time LP with soulfully spirited melancholy, the standout single, One Last Dance, from Lance La Breche’s upcoming album, Killing the Pisanthrophobe, is a piano-led score you’ll want to surrender to time after time.

The Lou Reed-esque keys also play a heavy hand in allowing you to succumb to the impassioned gravity within the single orchestrated by the Raleigh, NC residing self-taught singer-songwriter, who photographs architecture in the daylight and renders resolving melodies by the shroud of night.

The bluesy sepia-tinged tones and the endlessly compelling yearning for perfect nights to last forever won’t fail to fill you with the same tender warmth which flows through the score which abandons inhibition for vulnerability, to superlatively stunning effect.

Stream and purchase One Last Dance on Bandcamp, and keep Lance La Breche on your radar for the release of his forthcoming LP, which is set to drop on December 15.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

archie razed the airwaves with his latest augmented with attitude and style alt-indie hit, Mayalyn

Posted on 20 November 2023

With a voice which resonates with over 155k monthly listeners on Spotify and the confidence to create under the mononym archie, knowing that the name will become synonymous with his anthemic new wave indie aesthetic, it is no surprise to see that the 19-year-old singer-songwriter has hit razed the airwaves with his latest augmented with attitude and style single, Mayalyn.

With a vice-like grip which hits all the provocative and evocative marks, the track that starts with a saturated in delay jangly indie pop instrumental arrangement beneath his raspy croons, reminiscent of the 1975, evolves into a fiery feat of overdriven and modernised rock. With a seemingly infinite sequence of twists and turns, every progression is a revelation with Mayalyn. A revelation which paints its orchestrator as one of the most essential artists in 2023.

The classically trained Scottish singer-songwriter may only be getting started but he’s already giving every other up-and-coming act tips on how to raise the bar with lyrical ingenuity, which goes hand in virtuosic hand with his ear for a melody that will consume you when brought to life with his impassioned intensity.

Mayalyn was officially released on September 22; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Negate your way through the chaos with Midamerican Elevator’s jangle pop compass, Turn Left

Posted on 18 November 2023

With jangle pop guitar melodies reaching the epitome of effervescence under the dreamy vocal honey which tastes just as sweet as the harmonies that ensured Debbie Harry’s name would never be lost to history, the latest single, Turn Left, from the Chicago Indie Rock outfit, Midamerican Elevator is a resonant revelation.

By lyrically tracking how hard it can be to keep pace with the tumultuousness of modernity and how easy it can be to go around in circles, Turn Left speaks volumes to anyone who knows how it feels to be consumed by the franticness of society that leaves so many of us without a compass.

Between the killer chord progressions which elucidate that Midamerican Elevator will never be pedestrian at best and their capacity to fuse soul with style, they’re ones to watch out for. We’re stoked they’re back on the airwaves following the successful launch of their 2022 debut LP, Moon Ruler.

Turn Left will give indie rock fans a sense of direction on November 17th; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast