The 10 best songs released by unsigned acts in 2024
Over 100,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify every day. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence is sharpening its tools that can already write a complete pop song in around ten minutes. Major labels are waging war with TikTok, while others are promoting it as an artistic necessity. And even vinyl sales dipped for the first time in over a decade. In short, the beleaguered music industry’s permacrisis continues.
The whys and wherefores are all largely underpinned by the mechanics of the same capitalist system that has battered pretty much every system, bar those pertaining directly to the top tier; it just so happens that music is part of the most belittled cultural wing—left to fend for itself as though the songs, that average person spends 20 hours per week listening to, and concerts that we attended a record-breaking amount of times in the last two years are luxuries we could do without.
Yet, like hardy cacti, artists have stood firm in these brutal conditions, and there is an argument to be had that the underground scene, abandoned by all support and vying towards an increasingly congested and uneven playing field, is as fresh as it has ever been. Clams Baker Jr from the band Warmduscher spoke about his experience with this boom when we caught up with him a while back. He was in a post-9/11 Brooklyn.
He organised a party called Broken Sunshine, and there was “this amazing art scene“.
Continuing, he added: “The artistic creation that came out of the feeling of everything being shit and wrong came together with all these amazing graffiti artists, and Suicide actually played; it was the best. Everything is shit – if you want to focus on that – but I’m a glass half full mother fucker if you know what I mean,” Clams says with his joyous cackle. “When you find the real hustlers scraping to get by, you’ll see it happening, and you’ll know it’s real.”
In an age where fakeness quite literally threatens the existence of the music industry, that realness is rattling the rafters of the system as still, against all the odds, unsigned acts are battling against the congestion, bullshit, and dwindling returns with growing eagerness. As an independent publication, we have felt this firsthand in every which way, so to celebrate another year of kicking against the pricks, we’ve plucked the best songs from our friends in the underground and compiled a list of some of the best unsigned anthems we have heard this year.
The 10 best songs released by unsigned acts in 2024:
10. ‘Hammerlock’ – Cheerless
A scuzzy blur of guitars proves so frenetic that shoegazers Cheerless have to occasionally glance up from their scruffed sneakers. The young Hackney band have been blossoming into bloom for a little while now after releasing their debut single, ‘Heat’, back in 2022. The four-piece who spent their formative years together in Cambridge now fittingly arrive at that culmination of ‘Hammerlock’.
The song builds from a mixture of feedback and mounting melody towards a rollicking finale—one that proves refined, swaggering and muscular beyond their current frame. Vitally, unlike many new acts in the shoegaze boom, the group don’t just angle for an ambience; they work in enough hooks to keep the track unpredictable and fresh. [Words: Tom Taylor]
9. ‘Everybody Needs A Hero’ – Orla Gartland
A reminder that being unsigned isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, the goal isn’t always to be signed or to be sucked up inside some big major label. For plenty of artists, being able to exist independently and maintain total control over their music and career is the ultimate aim, or at least it is for Orla Gartland, who, despite being a big and ever-growing name in indie, releases fully through her own label.
Her sophomore album Everybody Needs A Hero puts in an incredible argument for remaining independent as the whole album is full of bold moves clearly made by Gartland and Gartland only, as she can be uncompromising on her vision. The record’s titular and closing track is perhaps the perfect example of that as she writes a closing anthem for the album’s themes, summarising everything that came before with one roaring rock song. [Words: Lucy Habron]
8. ’86th’ – Short Porch
Frankly, ’86th’ is one of the tracks of the year from one of the bands of the year—an unsigned gem reflective of the bustling scene in Bushwick, Brooklyn. With ’86th’, a crunching indie swagger is augmented with quirky individualism, innate catchiness and lyrics that offer the same cold splash of enlivening wistfulness that unpretentious 1980s movies specialised in. Short Porch are a touch of class.
Brimming with nostalgia, Sean McNulty weaves a tale of cycling and new starts—like a bohemian version of a Bruce Springsteen character without a car. There is, as is often the case with the band, a certain darkness in the underbelly, but the musicality is light and airy. The slight slacker sensibility might hide it in a DIY fuzz, but there is also a truly anthemic and crisp sense of euphoria to the exultant playing on display. [Words: Tom Taylor]
7. ‘Matador’ – Luvcat
At the start of 2024, Luvcat was only just getting started with as many gigs as she could book on the London live music circuit. Quickly becoming the city’s worst-kept secret, her luxurious storytelling lyricism and her theatrical delivery saw her crowds swiftly grow. Then, with the help of a TikTok clip of one early performance of ‘Matador’ blowing up online, suddenly she’s skyrocketed to one-to-watch notoriety.
And for good reason. ‘Matador’ has that almost indescribable that a truly great song has. It’s an earworm without being obvious or cliche. It’s relatable while also packed full of deeply specific imagery. It’s bratty and packed with attitude, yet also totally sincere and emotive. With the other two singles released since and the mass influx of attention she’s fostered, it’s clear that not only is ‘Matador’ a stand-out track for 2024, but it was only just the start of what is surely a bright future for the Liverpool-born star in the making. [Words: Lucy Habron]
6. ‘Punish’ – Ethel Cain
Another artist proving the power of going it alone is Ethel Cain. While her 2022 debut, Preacher’s Daughter, made Cain a sensation, seeing her cult of fans swell in size thanks to the record, it was never the kind of album you’d imagine fostering commercial success. As a spiralling horror story of a concept album, the debut made it clear that the artist would never give up her vision or streamline her idea to make it more palatable for the mass public – which is exactly why being independent suits her.
Her new track ‘Punish’ is another statement of that fact. As the opening to a brand new era with her upcoming EP boasting tracks with insane run times of over 15 minutes, Cain’s independence affords her the chance to see her ideas through to their ultimate end. ‘Punish’ benefits from that as the song is long, subtle yet deeply impactful and moving, as the long-awaited launch of a new chapter in the world of the artist did not disappoint. [Words: Lucy Habron]
5. ‘Golden Hour’ – Danny Carroll
I Am The Cheese is a record that boats lesser-known tales of escaping small-town gossip, avoiding the apprentice hooligans in the dodgier edges of town, and perhaps most pertinently of all, the increasingly lurid propaganda stunt Match of the Day is routinely pulling with overdubbed crowd noises. Among that humble assortment, there are more than a few tracks worthy of a celebratory spot on one list or another, but for now, we’ve gone with the most polished accomplishment, ‘Golden Hour’.
Like Randy Newman at his best, there is plenty of beauty on display, but it is pitted with potholes that suddenly set your mind whirring about what is truly unfurling. Carroll’s witty rhyming meets with a sanguine, gathering tone on this occasion as his folk stylings are aggrandised by a building arrangement led by a far-away slide guitar. It’s the Dublin equivalent of Jonathan Richman’s ‘Summer Feeling’, in essence, ‘A Cold Glimpse of Sun at 6pm’. [Words: Tom Taylor]
4. ‘Dragonfly Serenade No 1 in C’ – Pet Deaths
Back in 2019, the London-based duo Pet Deaths, consisting of Graeme Martin and Liam Karima, put out their acclaimed debut album, To the Top of the Hill and Roll. Since then, they’ve been steadily expanding their sound with each new painstaking release. With jazzy inflexions and polished fullness, it is remarkable that such a sound can be mustered in a DIY capacity, evidencing their years in the industry.
This year, they offered up a ‘Dragonfly Serenade No.1 In C’ and ‘Dreams i) Dreams ii) Dreams iii)‘ as a double single, which followed ‘Love has Won’, which Pet Deaths shared earlier in the year. The releases marked their first new release since 2022’s Unhappy Ending, their second album in three years. Each offering sent them further down their own path of fluttering orchestral mystery, like being led through the mist by music. [Words: Tom Taylor]
3. ‘Ice On The Lake’ – Hutch
Close enough, welcome back The Beach Boys. As a cornerstone in Brighton’s bustling music scene, where so many great bands are emerging month after month, Hutch are one of the city’s favourites for good reason. All their songs make you feel like you’ve stepped into a time machine back to the trippy 1960s, but not in a lame way. Instead, they just bottle the joy and optimism our nostalgia for the period is coloured with and match that with the kind of experimental streak that the era’s best bands had.
‘Ice On The Lake’ especially feels like the sort of thing Brian Wilson would come up with if he somehow merged with a more psyche rock unit. The instrumentation is so spirally and intricate that when it breaks into its final big harmonic refrain, the impact is incredible. And if you think it sounds good on tape, that’s nothing compared to its might live on stage. [Words: Lucy Habron]
2. ‘Forward To The Kill’ – Sydney Ross Mitchell
Some lyrics are so good that you almost want to see them written down on paper in a poetry book to fully take in and appreciate. Sydney Ross Mitchell’s ‘Forward To The Kill’ is like that as each line is simultanously so light and effortless yet rich with deeper meaning that makes you want to get out a pen and annotate it, unpacking the layers of metaphor and symbolism involved.
At its core, it’s a love song navigating the waters of longing, lust, and the beautiful ache of knowing eventually, heartbreak will come. Sung with Mitchell’s stunning voice, it’s a faultlessly beautiful acoustic number that sits amongst a must-hear EP that demands attention too. [Words: Lucy Habron]
1. ‘Benchwarmer’ – Molly Payton
Molly Payton has been an artist worthy of attention for years now as her 2021 EPs Slack A and Slack B are packed full of incredible, tender songwriting, just like the rest of her discography. But on her debut album, Yoyotta, not only did she outdo herself musically and lyrically, but she did it on her own, too.
Casting off any label, the release was fully independent, and the songs beautifully reflect that as they feel totally undiluted in their commitment to Payton’s voice. Each track is worthy of a lesson, but ‘Benchwarmer’ is a real stand-out, bridging the gap between her softer offerings and the all-out indie sound she regularly dips into. [Words: Lucy Habron]
