The Big Indie Playlist: The best new music of the week
Approximately 100,000 new songs are added to Spotify every day. So, with 700,000 new songs a week, and if we say each song is around three minutes long, it would take a listener approximately four years to listen to it all. In short, it’s an impossible task, meaning that greatness likely slips through the cracks every week. That’s where the Big Indie Playlist comes in.
From our team of music obsessors to your ears, our playlist boils down the noise of the week into a curated selection of the biggest, best and most interesting releases. It doesn’t matter how new or old the artist is, how well established they are, or how well known they are. It doesn’t even matter what genre they work in, expanding far beyond indie into folk, rock, jazz and even some classical. All songs are considered there.
This week was a bumper one with some beloved artists making a long-awaited comeback. The Japanese House dropped a surprise love song, while King Krule shared a whole surprise EP. Charli XCX and Lorde made the pop crowd go crazy with a collaboration, while Fontaines D.C continued their rock domination.
In the world of up and comers, there were stand out releases from Orla Gartland, Sarah Kinsley, New York’s new favourite band Been Stellar and Lennon Gallagher’s troupe, Automotion. All delivering great new works, their one-to-watch status is only getting more solid.
If you’re looking for your new favourite album, head to our weekly Alternative Album Chart. Right here, we’re delivering a quick fix of the best new hits, all put in one playlist, so you simply have to click play.
The best new releases of the week:
Track of the week
The Dare – ‘Perfume’: For anyone not on board with The Dare yet, it’s time to get with it. Not only is he the new favourite artist of New York’s art crowd, but he is bringing the city’s sleaze back. He’s tearing his way around the world, delivering high-octane set after high-octane set. Being in the crowd at a Dare show feels like getting an insight into what one of James Murphy’s DFA Records parties would have been like, turning every venue into a sweaty pit of excited carnage.
‘Perfume’ is merely the latest soundtrack to that. Powered by an energetic instrumental that’s pure indie meets club beats, his lyricism is heavy with more comedy and charisma than the genre has seen in a while. With each new song, show or collaboration, The Dare is becoming a sensation, and we’re with it. [4.5/5]
Instant Classics – The biggest new songs of the week
The Japanese House – ‘:)’: The Japanese House returns as Amber Bain offers up her first track since her stunning 2023 album In The End It Always Does. ‘:)’ is a joyous little queer love song, made for fast-moving lovers and fizzing with the sense that when you know, you know. [4/5]
Suki Waterhouse – ‘Supersad’: For anyone still attempting to shrug Suki Waterhouse off as just another model dipping into music as a little hobby, wise up. As she announced her second album, ‘Supersad’ is the latest in stellar tracks that deliver spiralling, introspective lyrics over indie instrumentals borrowing heavily from Britpop era anthems. [4/5]
King Krule – ‘Time For Slurp’: King Krule made a surprise comeback this week when he dropped a whole new EP. ‘Time For Slurp’ stands out, merging his signature drawling vocals with a more outright rock instrumental, perfectly timed to sound huge at Glastonbury. [4/5]
Fontaines D.C – ‘Favourite’: With the quality of the two singles being this high, the expectations on Fontaines’ upcoming album are sky high. Following the punky energy of ‘Starburster’, ‘Favourite’ is a sweet anthemic ballad with a delicious emotional heart. [4.5/5]
Charli XCX, Lorde – ‘Girl, So Confusing’: This is one for the history books. After constantly being told they’re alike, leading to a strange rivalry between the two vastly different artists, Charli XCX and Lorde unite on a remix of the Brat track that fans suspected was about Lorde. Elevated far beyond the original, this Charli era is the gift that keeps on giving. [4/5]
Ezra Collective – ‘God Gave Me Feet For Dancing’: Mercury Prize-winning jazz troupe Ezra Collective have announced their long-awaited third album, Dance, No One’s Watching, with this infectious number that demands you get up and move. Elevating their musical sensibilities into a more polished yet parred backspace, it’s a vibey track sure to soundtrack many summer days. [3/5]
On the rise – releases to note this week
Sarah Kinsley – ‘The Last Time We Never Meet Again’: No one makes music like Sarah Kinsley can. It’s music that feels like it was orchestrated in a dream or literally in the beat of a heart, with drums and strings that capture the nervous flutter of tummy butterflies perfectly. Lyrically, this cut is beautiful, too, as a unique take on heartbreak. [4.5/5]
Orla Gartland – ‘Mine’: Orla Gartland has outdone herself here with this devastating and deeply intimate new track. ‘Mine’ manages to be both painfully tender and terrifyingly sharp, proving just how much power there is in honesty. [4.5/5]
Balancing Act – ‘Laylow’: There’s something about this new one from Balancing Act that really gets its claws in you with real ear-worm power. Maybe it’s the flawless indie instrumental or the fact that their singer’s voice has never sounded better. But either way, it’s a stunning new offering from a band to watch. [3.5/5]
The Howl & The Hum – ‘No Calories In Cocaine’: The Howl & The Hum deliver some terrible advice, but it is a very good song. As the second offering from their upcoming second album, it’s a release to get excited about for sure. [3/5]
David Keenan – ‘Radiate A Smile’: Irish folk wonder David Keenan has always been an artist in evolution, but this new track is something notably different from the artist with his most elevated and interesting instrumental in a while. [4/5]
Role Model – ‘Look At That Woman’: ‘Deeply Still In Love’ hooked us into Role Model’s new era, but ‘Look At That Woman’ is sure to keep up there. It’s just an expertly crafted song with beautifully layered guitars, lovely blues licks, and storytelling lyrics that are so vivid that they make a music video in the mind. [4/5]
Sarah Meth – ‘Feels Like Its Time To Forgive’: Sarah Meth feels like one of the most interesting artists in London right now. Her new mixtape Midnight Snacks Pt.2 is the continuation of an audiovisual project she made, inseparably tying her sonic art to a visual world. Amidst it, ‘Feels Like Its Time To Forgive’ is a gorgeous offering that grapples with sexual trauma with a tender touch. [3.5/5]
Been Stellar – ‘Scream From New York, NY’: Been Stellar emerge from their ones-to-watch cocoon with all that promise and then some on their debut album. This title track perfectly shows the power of the band, swelling from shoegaze moodiness to all-out rock glory and back end. [4/5]
Automotion – ‘It Was Over Before It Began’: With a father that famous, it’s a tough shadow to exist in, but Lennon Gallagher’s band Automotion are making a good go of it. Automotion’s new EP Dissolve is a genuinely great slice of angsty shoegaze with interesting instrumental details and rumbling vocal lines. [3.5/5]
Holly Munro – ‘First Prize’: For fans of the likes of Julia Jacklin, Stella Donnelly or any number of angel-voiced singers with indie rock sensibilities, Holly Munro is a new one to watch. On her EP, A Crescendo Ending, she more than proves her potential to be the genre’s next big thing. [4/5]
First spin – Debut single of the week
Forever Searching – ‘I Don’t Think I Love You Anymore’: Some debuts emerge sounding exactly like what they are: a first attempt. But in the case of Forever Searching, this opening number is polished and matured. The song doesn’t go very far in terms of structure or climax, but it’s atmospheric enough to make that OK. [3.5/5]
Off The Beaten Track – Left-field sounds
Erland Cooper – ‘With Silence (Mvt. 3) – Pt. 2 “wow and flutter of unearthed magnetic tape’: Erland Cooper made an album, but only one copy. Then, he buried it in the highlands for three years. Now unearthed, the version available on streamers is what happened when his album and the Earth collaborated. The music itself was already cinematic and stunning, but with every little glitch or jump, it’s even more moving knowing the process behind it. [4/5]
La Femme – ‘Ciao Paris’: French psych-punk rock band write a new anthem for their hometown on this more electro-led track. Perfectly made to soundtrack from a New-Wave coming-of-age flick, it’s main character music. [3.5/5]
