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.
Indie Rock
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.
Ireland and Northern England unite for an anthemic explosion of raw punk energy and outright uplifting rock rowdiness. DEAD RAZE are based in the mighty Liverpool, and their single Feeling tackles the ever familiar fear of failure that all too often stops us dead in our tracks.
Real indie reverb and riffs for days, vocals that are beautifully alluring, pairing moments of bold passion and softness throughout – Feral Family have that independent energy and confidence to gift the music scene something outstanding this year.
Everything from the lyrics to the arrangement breathes new life and creative realism into the space. ELROD is humble but effective, the melody short and snappy, the production subtle but purposeful. Vulnerability is bold yet also vague, meaning you can make this your own, attach your meanings and memories, whilst believing that every word is authentic and heavy to the singer.
The verses have a kind of old-school trip hop vibe to me, melodic and charming, unpredictable but effective, and the lyrics further this connection and sense of lostness and self-scorn that is the freedom of thought; through darkness, highs, lows, and everything in between.
If you play this track in Spotify, you’re likely to find yourself immersed in an indie realm of algorithmic joy. The song fits beautifully amidst the likes of The Libertines, James, St. Jimi Sebastian Cricket Club, and it also blends pop and rock quite seamlessly, with snappy rhymes and a fully-loaded rock and vocal arrangement letting the music naturally uplift.
Capturing a sense of both mental instability and the sheer punk-rock outcry of rebellion, Daily Grind’s hook resounds somewhere between the likes of awakening and melancholic. The chorus is heartbreakingly and painfully relatable, not least of all for those who’ve sacrificed their dreams and freedoms just to make a cheque or pay rent.
Most recently, Kivo Van Twist launched the single and video for Lay Down, capturing the energy and intentions of the band quite perfectly. From surf-rock hooks and grooves to alternative sentiments and lashings of personality, the performative wonder and musicality of Kivo Van Twist is gripping, and impressively unique.
From Sea Gods to the solo life, Bolton-born musician and rock artist Jack Flint captures a moment quite beautifully, with the raspy vocals, short lines and smooth, soulful riffs of Dirty Road.