Browsing Tag

Experimental Indie

flecks – Only Nuts Rise to the Top: A Sanctum of Synergy, Sorrow and Nick Cave-Esque Shadowed Sincerity

Posted on 6 February 2026

flecks leans fully into the darkness Brighton seems so intent on gifting its singer-songwriters on Only Nuts Rise to the Top, a release shaped with the same pensive poignancy that has coloured the recent balladic works of Nick Cave. There must be something in the water that sombres Brighton-dwelling artists, because flecks channels that emotional weight with a clarity that cuts straight through the neo-classic shadows. Rather than keeping the piece diaphanously lush with shadows and solely piano driven, flecks opts to broadside listeners with swells of synth distortion and echoes of Hammond organ keys that deliver a gospel-esque gasp of salvation before they meet the brass timbres that mainline urgency into the soft unravelling of conflicted emotion.

As the score widens, those textures gather into something close to spiritual collapse, each added element tightening the emotional coil. By the time the outro arrives, there is a sanctum of synergy you could live within for hours, a space that feels carved from catharsis and tension in equal measure. But flecks chooses to close the ceremony of Only Nuts Rise to the Top with a Cohen-esque final reprise of disdain on how nefariousness is almost a prerequisite to success in all avenues of life, on how manipulation so often becomes the only safeguard against being trampled as part of the down-and-out masses. For the virtuous, the artfully affecting release is pure vindication.

As a Brighton-based songwriter with five years of recording behind him and a lifetime spent writing, flecks’ instinct for emotional excavation feels firmly earned. Following his debut album Hibernate to Accumulate, he has been shaping a new collection of ten tracks he proudly calls all killer. Collaborations with Maps and early work with Martin Noble of Sea Power signal the calibre orbiting his talent.

Only Nuts Rise to the Top is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Powers of the Monk turned 2nd Century poetry into a meta alt-indie folk vignette with Bread & Circuses

Posted on 4 October 2025

Instead of attempting to un-placate the masses by putting a new spin on 2nd Century Roman poetry, Michigan’s Powers of the Monk used the proverb with Bread & Circuses to shine a cerebral light on the absurdity of modern America through a meta vignette that feels like a sly wink at chaos itself. It’s the kind of concept that makes you wonder why Nobel prizes aren’t handed out to orchestrators of alt indie folk.

Everything about the production leaves you tingling in the same way as ASMR audio; the ethereal vocals become mellifluous spectres within the arrangement, which somehow turns old school honkytonk folk into an avant-garde serenade of semi-lucid scintillation. Even if you met Wayne Coyne in a carnivalesque baroque fever dream and asked him to sing you a song in soprano, it wouldn’t come close to the haunting ingenuity of Powers of the Monk.

Based in the Pontiac-Detroit-Ann Arbor area, Powers of the Monk reformed in 2020 with David S. Monk (vocals, guitars, keyboards) and CasSondra “Pontiac” Powers (vocals, violin, bass guitar, keyboards). John O’Reilly Jr. adds guest drums on this release, which was produced by Powers of the Monk themselves, mixed by Bryan Cook in Los Angeles, and mastered by Brian Callhoun in Nashville.

The song itself circles around an institutionalised patient with multiple personalities who escapes, burns down a circus and watches the escaped lions chase down the clowns and eat them, before seeing babies launched into space in bubbles. Just another day in America.

Bread & Circuses is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

PoST’s All My Faults Puts Nostalgia in a New Frame

Posted on 30 January 2025

PoST’s standout single, All My Faults, from their third LP, Ten Little Indies, is a testament to the band’s enduring ability to reinvent themselves while staying rooted in their unmistakable sound. With a subtle nod to 80s nostalgia and an undercurrent of suave Italian soul, the track offers a romantically artful sonic sonnet that seems to float through time rather than follow the breadcrumbs of modernism. There’s an undeniable magnetism in the track’s deliberate retreat into tradition, yet it manages to punctuate its narrative with innovative flourishes, crafting an atmosphere that’s daringly cathartic.

When the theremin’s ethereal timbres emerge in the middle eight, stretching across tantalising time signatures, it feels as though the song is gently bending the listener’s perception of time and space. This bold instrumentation choice punctuates the track’s lush arrangement, showcasing PoST’s skill in infusing melancholy into melody.

After the members of PoST put their musing minds together in 2001 in the Turin music scene, where their evocative lyrics and minimal arrangements first carved out their niche, the line-up may have changed, but the creative spirit endured with Daniele Maresca’s synthesisers and pianos shaping a new sonic path. Ten Little Indies, recorded at Real Sound Studio in Milan and mixed in London by Pietro Cavassa, encapsulates this evolution.

Stream Ten Little Indies on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ascend with Lunar Paths’ dark indie Avant-Garde single, Rise

Posted on 24 July 2022

Any artist with a track titled MetaGoth#1 in their discography has my immediate perpetual attention; with their latest single, Rise, Lunar Paths went even heavier on the dark haunting beguile.

The layered and looped percussive patterns and eastern rhythms steadily inch you into the heart of the psychedelically tribalistic feat of ethereal indie, which laments the lack of soul in our era that makes mental resilience a necessity; lest you be swept away by the dystopian waves. Rise acts as an all too efficacious anchor, with its glimmers of hope in the shimmering echoes.

The transatlantic duo made the Bela Lugosi’s Dead of this era with Rise. It’s not the darkwave you’ve ridden the crux of before; it’s the ethereal Avant Garde sanctity we sorely need.

Rise is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gentlemen’s Crow has released their psychologically thrilling experimental Indie single “You Were Never Really Here”

Posted on 15 August 2020

After a successful debut, Floridian Indie artist Gentlemen’s Crow released their romantically enrapturing single “You Were Never Really Here” on August 7^th.

Gentlemen’s Crow seems to exude the level of cool which Alex Turner attempted with the latest Arctic Monkeys album. It’s effortless, it’s intellectual, it’s simply mesmerising. With infusions of Psych Blues nuances into the anthemically-charged soundscape, the choruses won’t fail to leave you adrenalized.

As for the lyrics and concept for the track, You Were Never Really Here is a testament to the talent, imagination and wit of the artist. It’s not every day that you encounter a single which offers both a psychological thriller and a fresh-new Indie sound. Gentlemen’s Crow is well worth putting on your radar.

You can check out You Were Never Really Here for yourselves by heading over to Spotify. For more info, you can head over to the artist’s official website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Roussett – We Might Just Do This All Day: Hypnotically Psychedelic Alt Indie Pop

Posted on 5 February 2020

“We Might Just Do This All Day” is the psychedelically serene latest single from up and coming Alt Indie artist Roussett.

If Elliott Smith experimented with spacey and colourful tones, I’d imagine that it wouldn’t sound all too different from the ethereal catharsis found in We Might Just Do This All Day which would be haunting if it weren’t so soothing. The lucid layers gently weave through their Jazz-infused progressions as the delicately amorous vocals find the perfect synergy alongside them.

I don’t make Mr Bungle comparisons lightly. But the soundscape perceptibly shared the same kind of ingenuity which you’d find in the hazy, oceanic avant-garde tracks such as Retrovertigo and Pink Cigarette.

There will be plenty more to come from Roussett in 2020, so do your blood pressure and get them on your radar.

You can check out Roussett’s latest single We Might Just Do This All Day for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Blacktate has made their debut with the transfixing Alt Indie Pop EP “While the World’s on Fire”

Posted on 31 January 2020

Up and coming Alt Indie Pop artist Blackstate has made their debut with the eclectically-inspired endearingly unforgettable debut EP “While the World’s on Fire”.

With the first track “Wolves” allowing you to dive in headfirst into the cathartic instrumental experimentalism and grounding lyrics. You instantly get a taste of Blackstate’s refreshingly distinctive songwriting approach. There’s a palpable visceral feel to each element of the soundscape, from the lyrics to the vocals to the melodies which carry the perfect pinch of melancholy while exuding fragile optimism.

The second track “Lost My Crown” will allow you to imagine what it would sound like if Elliott Smith experimented with synths. If I wasn’t emotional after the first single, I definitely was when I fell into the pensive grips of Lost My Crown.

With track three “The Arsonist” Blacktate has switched up their sound once more, offering a bass-heavy EDM-driven mix which incorporates elements of Darkwave EBM which wouldn’t sound out of place in a sticky goth club.

Track four “Tulips” offers yet another instrumentally-driven mix, this time, there’s elements of glitchy analogue beats which almost flirt with Drum and Bass yet the track never breaks from its mellifluous concordance.

The concluding single “Dancing Wolves” revives 80s Synth Pop under a brand new effervescent guise, if you hadn’t already warmed to the vocals and their charmingly devilish experimentalism, this is where it hits hard.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll deal with the fact that the world is a little bit depressing right now by immersing yourself in resonant music which makes you feel not quite as alone in your existentialism. For this purpose, I can’t recommend Blackstate enough. In their own words, here’s what they had to say about the EP:

“Blackstate is about Friday. Two o’clock. About almost surviving another day. Another week. About the weekend and about getting f*cked. About how social media is great. About eating a burger. About the “good life”. About cat videos. About being sane. About the fact that anxiety is perfectly normal. About the fact that insecurity is (not) a fear of the future self. About more cat videos. About not needing the truth. About being a wolf. About an angry emoji. Love emoji. About how this country sucks, but you’re really okay. You’re happy. You’re sane. One day less alive.”

You can check out Blackstate’s EP which dropped on January 25^th for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Keep up to date with the latest releases and tour info from the band via Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Maimo – scraps: Ethereally Composed Experimental Indie

Posted on 3 May 2019

17-19 by Maimo

Straight from the first few notes of up and coming experimental Lo-Fi artist Maimo’s latest single “scraps” you get a sense that there’s minimal chance of an archetypal track unfolding.

Even though there is plenty of adoration to be found within scraps for any Psychedelic Pop fans, there’s a sporadic, chaotic energy behind the soundscape which compels you to listen to each progression with infinitely more investment. Maimo also ensures that no concordance is lost through the Lo-Fi recording of the single, each texture sits vibrantly and crisply in the mix allowing you to hear the porous notes of the guitar along with the unpredictable percussion and mesmeric vocal layering. If you could imagine Frank Zappa and the Beatles meeting perfectly in the middle, you may get a little bit of an idea of how this intricately masterful offering of Jazz Rock resonates.

You can stream and download Maimo’s ethereally composed standout single which was released on April 20^th for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast