UK music is fiercely impressive when it needs to be. This year feels important for live music and creativity, and Fierce Friend is firmly a part of that.
Indie Rock
Funky basslines and live rock energy carves out a band-sound that’s hopefully making a huge comeback this year. The Lucky Angels deliver the distortion, depth and soul required to light up the space, with the solid rock stomp and tone of The world’s for sale.
Personification, metaphor, and all-round powerful songwriting elevate the appeal of an indie band well and truly paving their own way. Glasgow’s Revelation 23 have that something fresh and fascinating to their sound, something topical and piercing about their sense of purpose, their rebellious intrigue, and Veal is a fine dedication to the craft.
This classic indie rock anthem is both gentle and impassioned, thoughtful and uplifting, and that natural connection to the songwriting and playing process, along with the band’s extensive years of experience on the scene, is what effortlessly sets The Monumentals apart from most of the indie acts you’ll scroll past during this week’s algorithmic downpour.
Taking us back to the bedroom recordings of eras past – the simplicity and realism of garage demos and honest indie music. What’s On? created the fifteen original tracks of What’s Off? in between studying software development and working fulltime in a warehouse, and it’s an experimental guitar-pop collection of quirky, often catchy alternative jams.
The inspiration for the project was an envisioned world ruled by a tyrannical regime, within which individuality is deleted, and a revolutionary movement must ignite the final fight for liberation.
New music from the distinct indie corner of organic production that is Willie Alex – Leave Me Or Love Me builds up a secure and recognisable sense of identity, with a selection of layers that feel like both an alternative electronic loop and a live indie rock performance.
The brilliant Lion Drome continue their climb, this time briefly softening the mood with something sultry, funky, but ultimately dark and intense in its commitment to concept. Featuring lush vocals, expressive and fluid, with long-form verse melodies that descend and satisfy with charm and character, Goodnight Sleep Tight is a compelling taste of the upcoming … Continued
Great songwriting – real music, live music, and a timeless organic style. Jason Greco has crafted a gem with this latest single, blending eighties vocal harmonies, reverb, lush guitars and live drums, with something like an introspective twist of The Smiths.
An instant favourite from recent submissions. Despite the animated artwork, hedas captures something incredibly real, pure, and evocative, with the low-key passionate tone and tempo of a wanderer ascends.
Bright and beautiful indie rock, high energy guitars, bass and drums backing distantly mixed, nostalgic indie vocals – Robin Brown delivers short, snappy lines and precise storytelling, with the melodic charm and uplifting groove of Alone in Sydney.
Be Happy cries out loud for you, its chorus resounding and looping in the mind, and it’s the perfect antidote to the trivial fakeness of forced joy and overproduction from much of the recent music realm.