Tag: Indie Pop
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Hannes ‘When The City Sleeps’ (2021)
When The City Sleeps settles in with the easy charm of late-night bedroom pop, the kind of handmade sentimentality that comes along with lo-fi and heavily autotuned vocals. Hannes has a knack for making even the simplest melodies feeling honest and lived-in. There’s no big showmanship on display here, just a natural voice carrying songs…
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Noah Cyrus ‘The End of Everything’ (2020)
Being the sister of megastar Miley Cyrus and the daughter of similarly commercially popular father Billy Ray Cyrus doesn’t leave a whole lot of room on the family tree for another well known music star. But it seems like Noah Cyrus may revel in that sort of environment. Her 8 song extended play The End…
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Foster The People ‘Torches’ (2011)
When I think of Foster The People I think of Coachella and the music festival scene of the 2010’s. I never saw them live during any of their stints at Coachella, but damn do they embody the sound of that era and the feeling of being young and free. Torches is kind of a low-key…
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Portugal. The Man ‘Woodstock’ (2017)
Portugal. The Man’s album Woodstock emerged from a creative reset after discovering a 1969 ticket stub. Featuring slick production and punchy grooves, the band went global with the success of hit single “Feel It Still”.
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JR JR ‘JR JR’ (2015)
Spring is one of my favorite seasons– flowers blooming, glorious sunshine, and a sense of renewed purpose. JR JR’s bright pop rock is an ideal pairing for relaxed mornings drinking coffee on the porch.
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Cherub ‘Year of the Caprese’ (2014)
If you’re looking for a hedonistic ride through a world where druggy electronica meets slick indie pop, Cherub’s Year of the Caprese is kind of made for you. The Nashville duo leans heavily into funk-laced synths, bouncy beats, and falsetto-driven hooks in an album tailor-made for late nights and hazy mornings. At the heart of…
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Fitz and The Tantrums ‘More Than Just A Dream’ (2013)
I wouldn’t call Fitz and The Tantrums a guilty pleasure because I don’t feel guilty for liking them, but I do recognize the fact that their brand of pop meets 70’s disco soul is a little heavy on the cheese factor. But damn do I ever enjoy flipping them on whenever I’m in the mood…
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Peter Cat Recording Co. ‘BETA’ (2024)
Peter Cat Recording Co.’s BETA is a kaleidoscopic journey through sound that defies genre conventions with its avant-garde spirit and restless creativity. Emerging from the vibrant indie scene of New Delhi, the album feels like a sonic experiment conducted in a dimly lit jazz club on a spaceship. Layers of waltzing horns, hypnotic vocals, and…
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Two Door Cinema Club ‘Tourist History’ (2010)
Jangly and energetic guitar-driven Indie Rock was all the rage during the late aughts and early 2010’s, especially across the pond in Europe. Irish-based Two Door Cinema Club’s debut album Tourist History (aptly named after their hometown of Bangor which is a popular tourist destination) is one of those albums that somewhat flew under the…
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Chappell Roan ‘The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess’ (2023)
Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess reminds me a whole helluva lot of a combination of Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Cyndi Lauper, which certainly makes sense considering her aesthetic and musical inspirations. Roan takes a lot from Swift’s melodic traits, blends it together with 80’s synth pop, and adds a…
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The Temper Trap ‘Conditions’ (2009)
I spent the better part of last weekend listening to The Temper Trap’s 2009 album Conditions and asking myself if this album was a low-key late aughts masterpiece that time somewhat forgot. The Australian-based quartet has all of the delayed glittery guitar grandiose of Edge from U2, the driving rhythm section of Coldplay that sounds…
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HAIM ‘Days Are Gone’ (2013)
HAIM’s brand of pop rock that harkens back to the days of Fleetwood Mac and the Doobie Brothers was somewhat of a revelation in 2013. The trio of sisters, who grew up together in a music-loving family and formed a family band that played at local county fairs alongside their parents, made R&B infused soft…
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Wallows ‘Nothing Happens’ (2019)
Nothing Happens is the debut studio album from Indie Pop group Wallows, who has taken the city of Los Angeles by storm in the past few years. One of the primary reasons why? The band is comprised of B-list actors Dylan Minnette (best known for his role as Clay Jensen in the Netflix smash hit…
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Parcels ‘Parcels’ (2018)
The true magic of Parcels is their obsession of seemingly endless repetition that still finds a way to surprise you in the midst of its relative monotony. The candy-coated pop hooks that loop endlessly for three and a half minutes, stacked with instrumental and vocal accoutrement that enhance the flavor of the song with each…
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Peach Pit ‘Being So Normal’ (2018)
As a guitar player I sort of hate listening to Being So Normal by Peach Pit because it’s such a goddamn perfect guitar record. Neil Smith and Christopher Vanderkooy absolutely shred their way through the entirety of the album with dynamic and unique lead and rhythm parts– it’s in their phrasing, note selection, rhythm, and…
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Death Cab For Cutie ‘Plans’ (2005)
Death Cab For Cutie’s lead singer and songwriter Ben Gibbard has been such a fixture in the Indie Rock scene for so long now that it’s easy to forget in 2005 Death Cab was just beginning to reach their star power. Following 2003’s excellent Transatlanticism that was released independently and saw the band achieve cult-like…
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Phoenix ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix’ (2009)
If you went to college in the late 2000’s there was no escaping Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. This was one of those glittery boppy Indie rock albums that was custom-made for the coming-of-age college demographic, fun and carefree and subtly sophisticated in the sort of way that made you feel like a child and adult all…
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La Bouquet ‘Sad People Dancing’ (2019)
80’s music has had a significant resurgence over the past decade or so, rolling back in full force over a range of genres. You don’t need to look further than pop heavyweight The Weeknd’s 2020 album After Hours, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, the success of films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Top Gun II in…
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Feist ‘Let It Die’ (2004)
My first exposure to Feist was through the excellent Broken Social Scene, effectively an art collective doubling as a massive musical experiment. The group has boasted nearly 25 members over the past two decades (at one point having 16 at a single point during the early 2000’s). Feist was one of the throng, played a…
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Del Water Gap ‘Del Water Gap’ (2021)
Del Water Gap is the solo project of Brooklyn based musician Samuel Jaffe. His self-titled debut is a nostalgia-soaked collection of 12 songs that delights in surprising you at every turn in a charming way that Indie Pop is known for. There’s a slight 90’s alternative hum buzzing underneath the surface that finds its way…
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Maggie Rogers ‘Heard It In A Past Life’ (2019)
Just about everybody and their mother has seen the video of Maggie Rogers sitting down with Pharrell Williams and listening to her song “Alaska”. Rogers was a college music student at the time, Pharrell was invited to the class to critique and offer feedback, and after listening to the track he simply says “Wow” and…
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Fievel Is Glauque ‘God’s Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess’ (2021)
Fievel Is Glaque’s 2021 album God’s Trashmen Sent to Right the Mess is a collection of live mono cassette recordings that were cut in Brussels during the COVID-19 pandemic that rocked the world in 2020. The ensemble includes American keyboardist Zach Philips and French singer Ma Clément as well as a collection of nearly 30…
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The Shins ‘Oh, Inverted World’ (2001)
During the indie pop folk craze that dominated the early 2000’s, The Shins were gigantic. It’s pretty much impossible for anyone in my generation to not at least be vaguely familiar with the two singles “Caring Is Creepy” and “New Slang” based off their prominence in the Garden State film featuring Zach Braff, Natalie Portman,…
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Broken Social Scene ‘You Forgot It In People’ (2002)
Broken Social Scene were Indie darlings in the early aughts, known for their ambient instrumentals and song structures that featured an eclectic collection of musicians. What I’ve always appreciated about the group is how freely their members floated in and out of the group. Over the course of their 25-year history as a band, Broken…
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49th & Main ‘Must Be Nice’ (2022)
If you’re looking for hooks, 49th & Main’s Must Be Nice is a convenient one-stop shop. Blending indie, disco, house, and 80’s soft rock has been done once over but there’s something especially catchy about the Irish duo’s approach. It’s been a week since I first went through this album and I don’t think there…
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alt-J ‘An Awesome Wave’ (2012)
I was fresh out of college and into the working world when An Awesome Wave came out in 2012 and can still vividly remember this album encapsulating my feelings at the time– wistful nostalgia for friends left behind and the hope of what life had in store. Listening ten years later, there’s still something about…
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The xx ‘xx’ (2009)
The xx are almost as much as an aesthetic as they are a music group. Featuring guitars drenched in reverby delay, light electronic drum machines, subtle ambient synths, and thick bass lines that pulsate underneath it all, their minimalism is just as important as their message. Frankly it’s safe to say it’s more so. Softly…
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