The Big Indie Playlist: The best new music of the week
Everything feels better when the skies are blue, and this week’s batch of new releases is certainly no exception. If you are too busy basking in these early glimmers of springtime to trawl through the new arrivals, fear not, the Big Indie Playlist has you covered.
After a stellar few weeks of juggernaut releases, it appears as though the titans of indie and alternative rock have used these past seven days for rest and relaxation. While the week hasn’t brought forth much in the way of high-profile singles – save for a select few by old favourites like They Might Be Giants and Death Cab For Cutie – the indie gods have more than made up for that loss with a plethora of incredible underground releases. They might be a little harder to find, but that effort is certainly rewarded.
As such, the week has been one for discovery, with new favourites like Sects and Ora Cogan standing strong against rediscovered masterpieces from Charif Megarbane and Bikini Mutants. ‘Indie’ might be the key word in the name of this playlist, but you will find much more than jangly guitars and floppy hairdos in this week’s musical offerings. From egg-punk to Arabic funk, there is no form of genre-phobia here.
So, whether you’re stuck inside or out soaking up those early rays of spring sunshine, join us as we delve headfirst into all the fruits that the music realm has had to offer us over the past seven days.
The best new music of the week:
They Might Be Giants – ‘Outside Brain’: With 1990s nostalgia rampant throughout all forms of the cultural sphere, the return of TMBG is always welcome. This single, taken from their upcoming LP, The World Is to Dig, builds upon the Brooklyn duo’s distinctive alt-rock twang, bridging the gap between their golden age output and more recent offerings. [4/5]
Death Cab for Cutie – ‘Riptides’: Leading the charge for their newly announced album, I Built You a Tower, the Bellingham indie rockers deliver a solid, sharp track that succeeds in building tension and energy as it carries on, while simultaneously building anticipation for the release of the full album. [3/5]
Continuals – ‘Second Floor Tom’: With a Keith Richards-esque guitar tone and heavy post-hardcore bassline, this track is an undeniable stand-out from the Washington DC outfit’s newly released Never Sleep album; endearingly rough around the edges with something of an earworm quality. [3.5/5]
Aure – ‘The Beginning’: This slice of emotive Parisian folk from the French singer-songwriter, perhaps marks the most gut-wrenchingly beautiful release of the week, as well as being a key preview of her upcoming debut album, which promises to build upon the infectious feelings bestowed in this track. [4.5/5]
Bikini Mutants – ‘Arcadia’: At long last, cult Yeovil outfit Bikini Mutants get a full-scale release from Sealed Records, who have faithfully compiled their two early 1980s demo tapes into an incredible odyssey of distorted DIY post-punk excellence, with ‘Arcadia’ as the opening track. [4/5]
Hedge Burners – ‘By Water’: Melbourne/Naarm’s garage rock scene continues to go from strength to strength, with Hedge Burners blending that raw, grassroots guitar sound with a few emo and country influences on this, the opening track of Fall Out Of The Future. [3.5/5]
Ora Cogan – ‘Believe In The Devil’: Existing in an unpinnable place somewhere between Vashti Bunyan-styled folk, experimental psychedelia, and a Lynchian landscape, Ora Cogan’s new record takes listeners into an entirely new realm, and the particularly ethereal ‘Believe In The Devil’ forms a particularly enchanting moment. [4/5]
Air Vent Dweller – ‘Cancer Cells’: Awash with the kind of fuzziness and spontaneity of all great DIY punk releases, Salt Lake City outfit Air Vent Dweller introduce their Race to the Bottom tape with this adrenaline-fueled earworm, perfectly suited to the cassette format. [4/5]
Sects – ‘HTS’: Harsh experimental noise straight from Chicago, Illinois, this post-hardcore, emo-slanted effort is hardly a song to listen to while on a spa day, but there is something within its dissonant offering that nevertheless resonates with the listener – perhaps it is something to do with how nightmarish the wider world is at current. [3/5]
Hutch – ‘Pepper Kettle’: A retro-styled psychedelic offering from Brighton-based Hutch sees them adopt the atmosphere of a strange but well-meaning hippie era children’s show, with a healthy amount of The Small Faces’ ‘Itchycoo Park’ thrown in for good measure. [3/5]
Midwest, post-death – ‘Fox’: Upbeat experimental emo crossed with DIY garage rock, this mysterious Seattle outfit reportedly formed and recorded an entire album within the space of a fortnight, imbuing tracks like ‘Fox’ with a special kind of spontaneity and infectious energy that cannot help but infect audiences. [3.5/5]
Off The Beaten Track – Left-field sounds:
Charif Megarbane and Ali – ‘Ombak, Ombak’: This week brought with it a new release from Berlin-based Habibi Funk, centred around the collaboration of Indonesia-based Ali and the Lebanese maestro Charif Megarbane, colliding disparate realms of the music world with utterly stunning results. ‘Omback, Ombak’ is a funk-fueled jaunt from the cityscape of Jakarta to the euphoric sounds of Lebanese folk, and it is a definite stand-out from the album, which is certainly worth delving into in its entirety. [4.5/5]
Les Imprimés – ‘Miss The Days’: Another soulful indie cut taken from Les Imprimés long-awaited Fading Forward LP due out via Big Crown in April, this effort sees the Norwegian outfit unite with Ama Li, giving a fresh breath of air to the growing number of singles released from the record thus far. [3/5]
Bill Orcutt – ‘And Warm To The Touch’: Experimental guitar offerings from the Miami-born master of punk-fueled free improvisation, Orcutt’s Music in Continuous Motion is a 21st-century triumph for the composer, and this song is a notable stand-out for its multi-layered, sprawling sound. [4/5]
