Tag: Indie Rock
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Father John Misty ‘Fear Fun’ (2012)
Father John Misty’s Fear Fun introduced the world to a bold new incarnation of Josh Tillman in the early 2010’s that would eventually watch him become one of the more commercially successful indie folk artists in an era when it seemed like everyone was doing the vintage indie folk thing. Tillman cut his teeth in…
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Andrew Bird ‘The Mysterious Production of Eggs’ (2005)
Andrew Bird’s The Mysterious Production of Eggs is a lush, introspective journey that showcases Bird’s rare ability to turn eccentricity into elegance. Known for his cerebral songwriting and intricate arrangements, Bird weaves together violin loops, delicate plucks, and soaring whistles into something that feels like it almost comes from another world. It’s like waking up…
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M83 ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’ (2011)
Synth pop was absolutely all the rage during the 2010’s and there’s very few songs out their that capture that feeling of youthful exploration better and more succinctly than “Midnight City” off Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming. From the bizarre ass synth introduction to the massive drum fill that kicks everything into high gear to softly…
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Town Portal ‘The Occident’ (2015)
I got into Town Portal via Thrice drummer Riley Breckenridge’s running playlist and I gotta say, it’s a vibe. These dudes are from Copenhagen and have long thrived on the fringes of instrumental rock, building a sound that pits Meshuggah-level polymeters against jazz-like playfulness and the noisy melodicism of ’90s post-hardcore. The Occident is a…
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Custard ‘Wisenheimer’ (1995)
If you’re a parent of a kid under the age of 8 years old you are well aware of the Australian TV show Bluey. We covered the album a few years back, but the headline is that over a seven-minute episode the show will have you crying, laughing, and reflecting on how beautiful this time…
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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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The Beaches ‘Blame My Ex’ (2023)
Every once in awhile it’s great to listen to some good old fashioned pop rock music. Enter The Beaches (great band name) who on Blame My Ex channel their cheeky heartbreak into a hook-heavy blend of pop rock polish and garage rock grit. The band leans pretty hard into crunchy distortion and throwback alt-rock textures…
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The Libertines ‘The Libertines’ (2004)
The Libertines are one of those bands that basically were a live reality show that could have aired on Bravo during the mid-2000’s. Dual frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty, whose intense and often volatile creative partnership was the heart of the band, gave us some great garage rock songwriting which has stood the test…
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Nada Surf ‘High/Low’ (1996)
Nada Surf’s High/Low is one of those albums that sound nostalgic as soon as you hear it. Produced by Ric Ocasek, the album captures the band’s knack for writing emotionally direct songs wrapped in fuzzy guitars and simple arrangements where nary a note is wasted. While “Popular” became the breakout hit thanks to its sarcastic…
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Spanish Love Songs ‘Brave Faces Everyone’ (2020)
Spanish Love Songs isn’t for everyone. But they certainly are for me. I love their Americana-tinged pop punk, the raw vocals from lead singer Dylan Slocum, and the honesty in which they approach their songwriting. Every song is a story that comes from a place of honesty. While Slocum’s harsh “yell-sing” vocals may be grating…
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The Band CAMINO ‘tryhard’ (2019)
I remember hearing the opening guitar riff of “Daphne Blue” for the first time a few years ago and being totally blown away how fricking gorgeous it sounded. The hazy distortion, the reverb, the sweet delays, all vintage 80’s fare meets modern pop production until everything sounds massive. It was one of those songs that…
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The War On Drugs ‘LIVE DRUGS’ (2020)
The War On Drugs “LIVE DRUGS” is a celebration of the live performances from a band who has brought the nostalgic beauty of heartland rock to the masses. Today we dive deep into what makes this band so incredible.
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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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SKATERS ‘Rock and Roll Bye Bye’ (2017)
SKATERS’ Rock and Roll Bye Bye sounds like a scrappier, sunnier cousin to early 2000s New York garage rock, sort of like what The Strokes Is This It would have sounded like if they spent less time in dive bars and more time riding skateboards by the beach. There’s a loose, surfy charm running through…
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The Forms ‘The Forms’ (2007)
The Forms blend intricate indie rock with art-inspired elements, complex time signatures and captivating vocal arrangements. The band has created a puzzle-like quality that challenges listeners while maintaining a clear sense of purpose.
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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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Archers of Loaf ‘Icky Mettle’ (1993)
Archers of Loaf’s Icky Mettle is the kind of rag-tag early 90’s debut that feels like it’s about to fall apart at any second. But that’s exactly where its magic lives. It planted the band squarely in the center of indie rock’s messy glorious heart during the midst of the grunge wave, all jagged guitars,…
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Sam Fender ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ (2019)
I’ve been a massive fan of Sam Fender ever since I heard his sophomore album Seventeen Going Under, an auto-biographical collection of short stories masquerading as songs from his childhood. Fender has earned comparisons to my all-time GOAT Bruce Springsteen over the years due to the profound level of personalization in his music as well…
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Modest Mouse ‘Good News For People Who Love Bad News’ (2004)
For a band that had spent the late ‘90s weaving anxious existential crisis songs in near-obscurity Good News For People Who Love Bad News felt like a sharp left turn for Modest Mouse. At the center of it all was “Float On”, a song so relentlessly optimistic it felt almost suspicious (especially coming from the…
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Neutral Milk Hotel ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ (1998)
Released in 1998 to little mainstream attention, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea grew quietly until it became a sort of sacred text in the history of indie folk music. Lo-fi, cracked open, and bizarre in many ways, it made room for a type of vulnerable artistic expression that would define indie rock for the…
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MGMT ‘Oracular Spectacular’ (2007)
There was a time—somewhere between the collapse of the MySpace Top 8 and the rise of ironic mustaches (guilty)—when my generation went off to college and experienced our first real taste of freedom. You know the moments. BitTorrent running 24/7 on your laptop, skinny jeans that had lived three lifetimes, bedsheets that hadn’t been washed…
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Origami Angel ‘Somewhere City’ (2019)
Origami Angel burst onto the modern emo scene with a fastball-down-the-pipe energy which blended rapid-fire math rock with hyperactive skate-punk and added in a dose of unshakable optimism. Somewhere City is a nod to a world where childhood comforts like all-day Danny Phantom marathons and Happy Meals serve as legitimate forms of self-care (shoutout to…
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Fink ‘Hard Believer’ (2014)
Hard Believer is an album that has stuck with me since the first time I heard it. There’s a real pain underneath the surface of each and every song, a long forgotten wound that has been covered by scar tissue and hardened with the passage of time. Delicate acoustic guitar lines weave through shadowy atmospheric…
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Viagra Boys ‘Cave World’ (2022)
My brother shared this band with me a few weeks ago and it’s a total trip. The concept of Cave World is simple yet brilliant– the band dove deep into the world of terminally-online conspiracy theorists and wrote an album based off the first-person perspectives of those they were mocking. The band explores these topics…
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Bloc Party ‘Silent Alarm’ (2005)
I remember the first time I heard Silent Alarm it felt like some lightbulbs went off in my brain. Here was an album that defied a lot of traditional songwriting barriers and embraced a genre-blurring approach that fused post-punk urgency with electronic music. It was an album that threw the middle finger up to rigid…
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Further Seems Forever ‘The Moon Is Down’ (2001)
Pretty much everyone in my elder millennial age group remembers Chris Carrabba for his work with Dashboard Confessional in the early 2000’s. As I wrote about in my review of Dashboard’s 2001 album The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most, Carrabba single-handedly made the introverted kid lacking self-confidence blessed with a penchant for…
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Inhaler ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ (2021)
Inhaler’s It Won’t Always Be Like This was a fresh and energetic debut that blends the shimmering synth-pop of the 1980s with the raw edge of modern indie rock, creating a sound that draws on nostalgia while keeping things fresh and new. Drawing clear inspiration from bands like The Killers, The Strokes, Kings of Leon,…
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Frightened Rabbit ‘The Midnight Organ Fight’ (2008)
Frightened Rabbit sounds like the soundtrack to nearly every Indie film from the mid-aughts. Sentimental and cinematic, hazy with reverb and quiet in its approach. There’s a subtle longing in every word and note on The Midnight Organ Fight that feels like you’re opening a diary and reading the words verbatim on the page. It’s…
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The White Stripes ‘White Blood Cells’ (2001)
In the early 2000s The White Stripes almost singlehandedly reinvigorated garage rock and sparking a renaissance for the raw, unpolished sound the genre was known for. At their core was an enigma– Jack and Meg White, a duo whose relationship was shrouded in mystery. Were they siblings? Ex-spouses? The band reveled in the ambiguity, allowing…
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Wunderhorse ‘Cub’ (2022)
Two years ago I set out on a mission to listen to one album per day. I’m beginning year 3 of that journey starting today, and there’s no album more fitting to kick off 2025 with than Wunderhorse’s debut album Cub. It’s an album that demands to be listened as a cohesive whole, and one…
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Joyce Manor ‘Never Hungover Again’ (2014)
If you’re looking for an album that is a masterclass in brevity, you’ve come to the right place. Never Hungover Again packs an emotional punch into its 19-minute runtime that most albums twice its length struggle to achieve, and marked a turning point for the band which saw them refinine their punk-rooted sound into something…
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Sunny Day Real Estate ‘Diary’ (1994)
Diary came during a time when grunge dominated the airwaves but despite the fact Sunny Day Real Estate was based in grunge’s birthplace of Seattle their unique blend of post-hardcore and emo rock was able to cut through the noise (it also didn’t hurt that frontman Jeremy Enigk could channel the hell out of Kurt…
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Dawes ‘Stories Don’t End’ (2013)
Taylor Goldsmith possesses a rare gift for distilling the quiet beauty of everyday life into poignant songs that feel deeply personal and universally relatable. It’s everywhere in Dawes music– the idiosyncratic descriptions of the mundane going-ons of everyday events, the subtle character observations of quirky personalities, the romanticization of life itself. There’s no better storyteller…
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Chappaqua Wrestling ‘Plus Ultra’ (2023)
Chappaqua Wrestling’s debut album Plus Ultra is a kaleidoscope of sound that merges the dreamy textures of shoegaze with the swagger of Britpop, creating a sonic identity that is both nostalgic and forward-thinking. The Brighton-based band channels the shimmering guitars of My Bloody Valentine and the anthemic confidence of Oasis (once you hear it you…
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The Jealous Sound ‘Kill Them With Kindness’ (2003)
The Jealous Sound’s music occupies a bittersweet niche in indie rock’s history—respected by peers and beloved by fans, yet never achieving mainstream recognition. Rising from the remnants of Knapsack and Sunday’s Best, the band crafted a distinctive sound blending Blair Shehan’s understated, palm-muted rhythms with Pedro Benito’s shimmering leads. Their music, at once emotionally charged…
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Momma ‘Household Name’ (2022)
If you’re like me you love 90’s alternative rock and Momma’s Household Name is without a doubt a love letter to that bygone era, bringing the raw, unapologetic energy of grunge back to life with a fresh indie twist. Channeling the rebellious spirit of bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Pavement, and Hole by weaving those…
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