Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week, we got new music from Beabadoobee, Mercury Rev, and more.
While we’re at it, sign up for our newsletter to get the best new indie music delivered directly to your inbox, every Monday.
Bacchae – Next Time
D.C. has long been one of the epicenters of cutting-edge punk music, most notably for its influential ‘80s hardcore scene that boasted the likes of Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and Fugazi, among myriad others. Bacchae, whose work mines the catchy, pop-minded new wave of acts like The B-52’s and Blondie, is one of the most exciting groups to emerge there in the past several years. Their fourth album, Next Time, solidifies their penchant for a hook-forward, biting strain of punk rock.
Los Campesinos! – “KMS”
Emo legends Los Campesinos! are just over a week away from their first new album in seven years, All Hell. Before its imminent release, the Welsh septet has shared its final pre-release single, “KMS.” Featuring lead vocals from keyboardist Kim Paisey, “KMS” is another banger, heralding the long-missed cult favorites’ grand return.
Mercury Rev – “Ancient Love”
Psych-rock greats Mercury Rev are back. Their first album in five years, Born Horses, is slated for an early September release, but they’ve given us a preview of what’s to come in the form of lead single “Ancient Love.” Jonathan Donahue’s spoken-word vocals glide over a concoction of hazy soundscapes, intermittent piano riffs, and a steady, jazzy percussion pattern. For a group once described by the Denver mayor as “a bus idling out of control,” Mercury Rev make their meandering atmospherics sound as deliberate as they are natural.
Show Me The Body – “It Burns”
Show Me The Body’s iteration of hardcore punk is as delightfully unpredictable as ever on their new single, “It Burns.” Starting off like a conventional hardcore song, wiry guitars and pummeling drums guide the tune’s first 30 seconds or so, but they eventually yield to haunting piano and, almost immediately thereafter, growling industrial synth bass and punchy electronic percussion. “It Burns” shows SMTB at their most defiantly subversive.
Sumac – The Keepers Tongue
Recently, the experimental metal trio Sumac released The Healer, an epic, towering record that clocks in at over an hour with only four songs. Its remix EP, The Keepers Tongue, retains the original material’s gritty, gauzy sprawl while reinterpreting it. Moor Mother’s version of “World Of Light” and Raven Chacon’s take on “The Stone’s Turn” offer a new perspective on one of the best metal albums of the year.
Equipment – “Tequila Redbull”
Toledo’s Equipment push their guitar noodling to the crunchiest possible precipice on their new single, “Tequila Redbull.” Combining power-pop, emo, and early-aughts’ indie rock, Equipment conjures Death Cab For Cutie’s We Have The Facts And We’re Voting Yes and Teenage Fanclub as much as contemporary emo outfits like Oso Oso and Microwave. Still, Equipment is uniquely its own thing, and “Tequila Redbull” demonstrates as much with Nick Zander’s idiosyncratic vocals, hooky songwriting, and sticky-sweet choruses.
Anna McClellan – “Like A Painting”
The Father/Daughter signee Anna McClellan has largely stayed out of the public eye since 2020’s I Saw First Light. Aside from intermittent releases like a Lucinda Williams cover and a rarities compilation, the Omaha singer-songwriter has remained relatively quiet. Now, however, she’s back with a brand-new single, the chameleonic “Like A Painting.” Despite its conventional three-and-a-half-minute runtime, “Like A Painting” subtly shape-shifts like a symphonic orchestra, switching from single-note piano melodies to stumbling, staccato guitar notes. Here, McClellan demonstrates how she can make the typical sound anything but.
Oneida – “La Plage”
Experimental rockers Oneida are on the cusp of sharing their new record Expensive Air, which, at this point, is mere days away from release. Still, the Brooklyn quintet have graced us with another fiery single, “La Plage.” Built on cascading, menacing guitar riffs, explosive drums, and discordant noise, “La Plage” is another one for Oneida’s songbook of incendiary heaters.
Beabadoobee – “Ever Seen”
Beabadoobee, also known as Beatrice Laus, has been working with producer-mogul Rick Rubin on her forthcoming LP, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, which is scheduled for a mid-August release. “Ever Seen,” her latest single from the record, is another departure from the Britpop-indebted stylings of 2022’s Beatopia and 2020’s Fake It Flowers, instead opting for flowery, baroque instrumentation that flits behind Laus’ gossamer vocal timbre.
The Voidz – “Overture”
Julian Casablancas and the boys are back, but not with those boys; he’s back with the other boys: The Voidz. It’s been a long while since 2018’s Virtue, but Casablancas and co. will return in September with Like All Before You, and they’ve given us the briefest of previews imaginable with the one-minute instrumental piece, “Overture.” Composed of nothing but sparse organ-esque synth pads, “Overture” sounds like a foreshadowing message from a telegram, one sent from the future in order to prepare its recipient for what is soon to come.
