Browsing Tag

80s Indie

The masters of funked indie rock melodicism Kinda Joke questioned ‘Where Is Home’ in the shimmering nostalgia of their latest single.

Posted on 18 September 2023

Kinda Joke brought a touch of playful panache and lashings of shimmering 80s nostalgia to their standout indie funk pop single, Where Is Home, taken from their debut LP, Cat Alarm.

If you can envisage the middle ground between Reverend and the Makers and the Midnight, you’ll get an idea of what awaits from the masters of indie rock melodicism and funky rhythms. With an atmosphere that enraptures from the first groove pocket-carving bassline and enough hooks to necessitate the hook, line and sinker metaphor, Kinda Joke’s ear candy couldn’t be more radio-ready.

Where Is Home is the sixth single to be released by the international trio; the German, Italian and Spanish flags all fly under the banner of the outfit which originally formed in Munich, where they discovered after jamming with each other that their sessions were somewhat reminiscent of an intoxicated Phil Collins-Coldplay-Dave Grohl amalgam.

Where Is Home is due for official release on September 15; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Von Venn illustrated the beauty of goodbyes in their 80s new wave single, In Time

Posted on 3 July 2023

As intrepidly melodic explorers of hope, loss, longing, nostalgia and attraction, Von Venn allow you to simultaneously experience all the aforementioned bitter-sweet sensations with their classic yet modernistically compelling guitar-driven indie singles.

Their latest slick with 80s new wave soul serenade, In Time, unravels as a panoramically rhythmic triumph which pulls you in from the first progression. From there on out, the melodies hold on tight with their ethereally caressive fluidity and refuse to let you go until you reach the slow fadeout, which proves how intrinsically entwined you become with the single, that illustrates the beauty in goodbyes.

With the singer and songwriter Gary Cox fusing his influences from Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, The Blue Nile, John Martyn, and John Lennon, Von Venn leaves nothing to be desired on the atmospheric originality front. The layered guitars against the harmonised vocals resound like a sonic Elysian dream.

In Time was officially released on June 23; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

London Graffiti put the writing on the wall in their art-rock tour de force, These Words

Posted on 2 April 2023

Keeping the soul of grunge but stripping back the sludge, the Oxford, UK-based alt-indie rock outfit London Graffiti unleashed the ultimate aural eye-prickler with their latest single, These Words.

If you melded the pensive folky panache of Frightened Rabbit with the art-rock arrangements of Radiohead and the progressively dark atmosphere of Porcupine Tree, you’d get close to the evocative mark made on the indie rock landscape by the band that has already won the favour of plenty of mainstream radio stations, including BBC Introducing.

It is impossible not to be choked by the emotion-fuelled energy in the single, which also pays tribute to the National, Joy Division, and the Doves. Originality oozes from every effortlessly cool pore of These Words, yet never to the detriment of the projection of frantically inhibited dejection.

These Words was officially released on March 16th; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast