The Big Indie Playlist: this week’s best new music
As the world’s favourite double feature of Barbenheimer finally hits screens, the music world has been inundated with an onslaught of new singles from at least one of those soundtracks (no guesses on which one). This has given a rather novelty edge to the whole of culture presently.
While the barrage of new ‘Barbie’-adjacent singles has crowded the new music market, they’re not the only songs to pick from. Over on the album front, Blur released their wonderfully dour and emotionally weighty The Ballad of Darren, but it wasn’t our favourite LP of the week. That honour goes to legendary indie rock pioneers Guided By Voices, who managed to strike gold with their second album of 2023, Welshpool Frillies.
In fact, if you want to check out the best of the new albums, you can check out our Alternative Album Chart that’s stock full of goodies just waiting to be discovered. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a quick fix, we’ve got you covered with the best new singles of the week.
From Willie J Healey and Big Thief to The Mountain Goats and the return of Allah-Las, there is once more a smorgasbord of surprises from the music world and few emerging talents to boot. Here are all the best singles from the week of July 21st. You can check them all out in a playlist at the foot of the piece too.
The new songs this week:
The best new folk songs:
Big Thief – ‘Vampire Empire’: New Big Thief is good news for the world. They continue to be the band equivalent of an adult comfort blanket. Even when they’re getting experimental and flirting with their explosive potential as they do on their surging new single ‘Vampire Empire’, there is still something about them that remains happily heartwarming. (4.5/5)
Flyte & Laura Marling – ‘Tough Love’: Crooned so delicately you imagine that there must have been dandelion pappus’ in front of the performers that they were hoping not to disturb when playing ‘Tough Love’. There is nothing tough about the track and that is a welcome thing in this gritty modern world. Alas, even though it is floaty, it still manages to build towards a gripping crescendo. (3.5/5)
Bombay Bicycle Club ft. Holly Humberstone – ‘Diving’: The indie stalwarts are making yet another comeback. With their first new music since 2020, the band are still happily still in their smoothly melodic vein. This time, however, they welcome the youthful invigoration of starlet Holly Humberstone who adds not only lilting tones, but a sense of vigour. (3.5/5)
The best new indie songs:
Allah-Las ‘ ‘Right On Time’: Through yet another hazy mirage of murky guitars, Allah-Las have re-emerged from hiatus with the trademark sounding ‘Right On Time’. With a simple, repetitive guitar-line, the track takes on a trance-like whirling disposition. They’re still cool, they’re still shabby and dishevelled, and they’re still very singular. (4/5)
Willie J Healy – ‘Woke Up Smiling’: Harking back to the prime pop of the 1960s, Willie J Healy’s latest serving, ‘Woke Up Smiling’, once again sees him blend genres with a stoner verse making way for a gospel-led chorus. His album may have been delayed earlier in the year, but that is evidently not concerning given the quality of the showings so far. (4/5)
Aurora – ‘Pink Moon’: There are few people more fitting to tackle the work of Nick Drake than Aurora. Both artists are purveyors of the ethereality of music and if Aurora’s take on ‘Pink Moon’ was any more delicate it could never be pressed on something as bulky as vinyl. There are moments when you want something to bite down on, but for the most part this is a floaty gift. (3.5/5)
Sherilyn Anjelika – ‘Paradise’: The debut single from Sherilyn Anjelika is a pillow-propped musical daydream about fleeting mental escapism tempered with the sobering reality that the grass isn’t always greener. Along the way, it fittingly tosses and turns under its quilted lusciousness as the musicology expands and swells as though you’re pulled through a wormhole to the landscape she croons of—one foot in the canvassed dreamy swirls of layered instrumentation, another in the earthiness of the melody. (4.5/5)
Emma Anderson – ‘Bend The Round’: Another of this week’s debut singles sees Lush’s Emma Anderson go it alone. “I am not someone that feels comfortable in the spotlight, so for me to take centre stage, metaphorically speaking, was quite a big leap,” she says. But the spotlight suits her fine, and perhaps that uncertainty has prompted her come up with a beefy melody that would give pep to any singer. (4/5)
The Mountain Goats – ‘Clean Slate’: Heady structured works have become The Mountain Goats’ bread and butter over recent years. Frontman John Darnielle and company have put out more than 20 studio albums across their long and varied career, with Darnielle only getting more specific and insightful with every new release. That means that it was only a matter of time before a rock opera inevitably rose out of the woodwork. ‘Clean Slate’ is the first preview of Jenny From Thebus, the band’s upcoming story/album. It’s the perfect scene-setter, introducing the main character and the particular brand of nerd rock that The Mountain Goats are taking on this time around. (3.5/5)
The best new alternative and rock songs:
The Bug Club – ‘Short and Round’: If Harry Nilsson was ever in a bowl cut garage band you might get something akin to the humour, tunefulness, and jagged, off-kilter, scuzz of The Bug Club. Their latest effort, ‘Short and Round’, features epic lyrics like, “My dad just had a really nice haircut […] The Secretary of State has exactly the same haircut.” (4/5)
Split System – ‘Alone Again’: Melbourne garage-punks Split System are still fresh from their debut, but have enough fizz about them to drop yet another hit. Garage-punk comes with its own preconceptions, but Split System defy many of them with a hook that Lindsey Buckingham would’ve been proud of and a chanted vocal that could crack the ceiling of a flat-roof pub.
Citizen – ‘If You’re Lonely’: You don’t expect such earnest lyrics with such riff-driven indie. But Citizen singer Mat Kerekes very candidly says: “I grew up around a narcissistic parent and absorbed a lot of that behaviour over time, negatively affecting people close to me. ‘If You’re Lonely’ is about recognising that, growing from it, and becoming a reliable shoulder to lean on.” That creates a song that stings like the proverbial bee and floats like proverbial MTV2 ’00s band. (3.5/5)
The Gaslight Anthem ft. Bruce Springsteen – ‘History Books’: If you’re going to go full heartland rock, you have a full 50-year lineage of American music to account for. The Gaslight Anthem have completed their transition away from their more hardcore punk rock roots and have embraced the rough-hew of age. Who better to shepherd them into that role than the elder statesman of heartland rock himself? Getting Bruce Springsteen to sing on your song is a major coup for anyone, and just like he did when he guested on The Killers’ ‘Dustland’ a few years ago, Springsteen adds that hard-to-pin-down genuine edge to ‘History Books’. That final wail from Springsteen just hits right every time. (3/5)
Tame Impala – ‘Journey to the Real World’: You didn’t think we’d fully ignore all the new ‘Barbie’ songs, did you? Unfortunately, Billie Eilish’s ‘What Was I Made For’ and Ryan Gosling’s hilarious ‘I’m Just Ken’ aren’t eligible for this week’s singles list, but another heavy hitter from the indie world certainly is: Kevin Parker. ‘Journey to the Real World’ is everything that we’ve come to expect from Tame Impala – dancefloor-ready rhythms, trippy psychedelic keyboard, and spaced-out sonic bliss. Sure, it’s more of an interlude than a proper song, but this is still new Tame Impala music we’re talking about. (3.5/5)
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