The Alternative Album Chart: The best new indie albums this week
We’re past the midpoint of the year now which prompted us to recently reconcile the albums that have been released in the indie world, and come up with our best of year so far list. This attested to the fact that, in an almost under-the-radar sort of way, 2023 has been a truly great year for music. This week’s list proves that trend largely continues.
The reason that the greatness has been somewhat understated is tied to some readily observable reasons. We live in an era where the internet has dispersed scenes and there is no fixed zeitgeist. In some ways, this has levelled the field of play and allowed for more exploration to take place. This might mean that there is less fanfare as albums don’t really have a unified collective to rally behind them, but from a listener’s standpoint there is a smorgasbord of delectable treats to wrap your lugs around.
While we’re still in the midst of festival season, the album releases are still rather busy. However, the first few autumn pitches are also sneaking into the array of summer bangers, bringing a touch of yellow leaves to the sea of green gems. Next week, we’ve got our eyes fixed on Jessy Lanza and The Clientele, proving that this odd assortment is set to continue.
However, this time out we’ll be looking at a very interesting concept album that plays out like a bookshelf, the return of Britpop legends Blur, and a fresh new serving of bliss from the ever-comforting Moon Panda. Enjoy the good, the bad, and the ugly amid this week’s indie offerings below.
The best new indie albums this week:
Welshpool Frillies – Guided by Voices – 4/5
At this point in time, the name Guided by Voices is seemingly a guarantee of quality. Their latest album Welshpool Frillies does not depart from this standard. A collection of 15 tracks, the record is yet another robust offering of the fuzzy indie rock that the band are masters at producing. Touching on psychedelia and punk, with their experimental edge still present, Welshpool Frillies grows on you with every listen.
It keeps you on your toes with plenty of unexpected twists, and Pollard’s typical hooks are ample, counterbalancing melodic bouts with the group’s lo-fi origins. Demonstrating how this record symbolises a return to their scuzzy roots. Unlike the group’s other recent releases, such as La La Land, which was recorded at Magic Door Studios in Montclair, New Jersey, producer Travis Harrison recorded Welshpool Frillies live to tape in a Brooklyn basement. In tandem with the band’s skill, this decision instils the new offering with tangible energy. The LP also indicates that the quintet have retained their live edge – and how. [Words: Arun Starkey]
Sing Spaceship, Sing – Moon Panda – 4/5
This serene album marks a new, exciting era for Moon Panda – infused with the euphoria of newfound joy and human connections as the world emerged from the clutches of the pandemic, Sing Spaceship, Sing’s tapestry of experimental soundbites resonates deeply enough to garner repeated listens. “It’s still very much about your sense of self,” Myers said in an interview with Far Out, “But it’s a lot more about the people around us and yourself in relation to others”.
The duality of Sing Spaceship, Sing is truly a testament to the band’s commitment to delivering art of such high standards to those it will mean a lot to, it might be bliss, but it isn’t ignorant: you can listen to the album in the background of other activities, or you can give it your undivided attention. Either way, by the end, you’ll feel like you understand yourself a little bit more. [Words: Kelly Scanlon]
DEN7 (EP) – Miss Tiny – 4/5
Although it may just be an EP, the first offering from Speedy Wunderground’s Miss Tiny is rammed with a rambunctious rabble of rotten ideas, in the best possible way. Like Lou Reed at his darkest, there is a beat poetry about the modern life skewered on the wry DEN7. Paired with angular post-punk guitars that wax and wane between grungy rattles and rather more lilting touches of bassline-driven pop, the texture to this Burroughs-like espousal is what really draws you into its peculiar ways.
The duo consists of super-producer Dan Carey on guitar and vocalist / drummer Benjamin Romans-Hopcraft usually of Childhood and Warmduscher. Invigorated by their new project, they travel through themes of heritage, rebellion, and a years old friendship in five songs of roaming originality and a spirit that makes lethargy seem like a vitalised pursuit where interesting things happen.
In My Mind There’s a Room – Mull Historical Society – 3.5/5
When you hear about an album featuring an array of novelists, your preconceptions guide you towards an ambient soundscape clad in tweed prose. And that sort of avant-garde, spoken-word meets electro-folk tradition, would’ve been all well and good given the talent involved here. However, Mull Historical Society (Colin MacIntyre) decides to offer something that you won’t just pleasantly listen to once, with In My Mind There’s a Room. MacIntrye signifies that from the get-go with the utterly melodious, slightly angsty, and riff-driven ‘Not Enough Sorry’.
So, what exactly is the concept? Well, MacIntyre assembled esteemed writers in Ian Rankin, Nick Hornby, Jacqueline Wilson, Val McDermid, Jennifer Clement, Sebastian Barry, Jason Mott, and two Scottish poet laureates’ in Jackie Kay and Liz Lochhead, and more to serve as wordsmiths. To each of these, he set a challenge: write about a room that has played a significant part in your life. He then took their words and set them to fitting music infused with his own vision for this sonic library of an album. It defies expectations and plays out like a trip down memory lane right down to the ’00s teen indie playlist musicology.
Cut Worms – Cut Worms – 3/5
In essence, the songs on Cut Worms are sweet slices of vintage pop, echoing artists from the 1960s and early 1970s, moving between the British guitar bands that defined the era and the Californian, summery tones popular across the pond. Clarke weaves between these influences with comfort, sounding perfectly at home as he sings alongside guitars that wouldn’t sound out of place on a George Harrison record.
While the album has many beautiful moments, from gorgeous guitar riffs and perfect vintage-inspired vocal performances, Cut Worms, though cohesive, often lacks enough musical variety to maintain extended interest. Often, the record just teeters into tedious territory, allowing itself to morph into background music, albeit pleasantly at that. Cut Worms is easy listening, and while it would make for the perfect soundtrack for a relaxed summer gathering, some of the tracks lack enough momentum to stand on their own for the long run. [Words: Aimee Ferrier]
The Ballad of Darren – Blur – 3/5
After nearly a full decade away, which followed in the wake of another decade-long break/reunion cycle, Blur are finally back with their ninth studio album, The Ballad of Darren. The eight-year gap between the band’s latest release and their most recent studio album, 2015’s The Magic Whip, isn’t quite the longest gap between Blur releases, but it does find the band in a completely new headspace.
It may not be the most heartwarming album of the year, but the fearlessness and unflinching emotion that fills up The Ballad of Darren is more than enough to place it proudly within the Blur canon. The dreary melancholy that overwhelms The Ballad of Darren will be off-putting and uninteresting to anyone who either isn’t already a dedicated fan or prefers to live in a time before Blur became a part-time entity. Blur themselves don’t seem at all fazed at appealing to those people, preferring to reward their followers with something truly different and uncompromising, albeit a touch hook-less and stale at times. [Words: Tyler Golsen]
Look Now – Oscar Lang – 1.5/5
Look Now follows from Oscar Lang’s 2021 album, Chew the Scenery, which combined optimistic open-string guitar work with fuzzy psychedelia and featured the summery hit, ’21st Century Hobby’. Musically, the record was fairly straightforward psych-inspired indie, though there were moments of excitement. On Look Now, he abandons any sense of experimentation in favour of simple, piano-driven pop tracks with swelling strings and juvenile lyrics.
For a breakup album, there’s a distinct lack of heartache to be found on Look Now. In fact, the record’s finest moment comes when Lang abandons all talk of his lost love in favour of blowing cash. It’s too safe. It’s not quite bold or juxtapositional enough to make a mark, nor does it lean enough into the hurt of heartbreak. Between the chosen genre, the clean-cut production, and Lang’s often distant, underdeveloped lyricism, the record unfortunately falls flat.
Reissue: Wild Flag – Wild Flag – 4.5/5
First touted in 2010, there was a year of speculation that followed Carrie Brownstein aking” “What is the sound of an avalanche taking out a dolphin? What do get when you cross a hamburger with a hot dog? The answer is WILD FLAG.” Months later, Wild Flag was revealed as an all-female supergroup comprised of Brownstein, Mary Timony, Janet Weiss and Rebecca Cole. Each member baptised in successful alt-rock bands, including Helium, Sleater-Kinney, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks and Quasi, looked to bring their breadth of experience and refined virtuosity into a new, thriving creative realm.
One year after forming, in September 2011, Wild Flag released their eponymous one-off album to rapturous applause. A treat for any alt-rock lover, Wild Flag, indeed,exuded the greatest aspects of each member to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. This is, of course, nothing in the way of a discredit to the musicians involved in the project, but Wild Flag boasted the greatest material of any of the fourpiece’s prior careers. [Words: Jordan Potter]
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