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 Jack White, Soccer Mommy, Foxing, and more.
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Yasmin Williams – “Virga”
Yasmin Williams first became interested in the guitar the way that many musically curious children did: Guitar Hero. The Virginian folk songwriter found it easier to hold the video game guitar controller in her lap, and she realized that she could probably play the real guitar this way, too. Even though Williams came into the guitar through the same video game that plenty of other aspiring musicians did, no one else plays the instrument quite like she does. On 2018’s Unwind and 2021’s Urban Driftwood, Williams makes the guitar sound like something else altogether: a magical instrument that belongs in another world. “Virga” sees her continuing to wring new sounds and possibilities out of the six-string. As an instrumental artist, Williams’ poetry resides in the textures she conjures from her instrument of choice. She makes it sound as lyrical as ever.
Foxing – “Greyhound”
Only Foxing would release an eight-minute lead single via a press conference to announce a new album. To be clear, Uproxx really was invited, and you can clock our reserved spot in the video. Located in their hometown in St. Louis, the press conference served as a weirdly funny backdrop for “Greyhound,” a sprawling highlight of their forthcoming self-titled record that sees them meld emo, post-rock, and dream-pop into a swirling, magnificent epic. It’s a mere taste of what may just be Foxing’s best album in an already excellent catalog.
MJ Lenderman – “Joker Lips”
It might be impossible for MJ Lenderman to make a bad song. To add to an ever-growing pile of evidence to buttress that claim, the Asheville songwriter has shared “Joker Lips,” the latest single from the forthcoming Manning Fireworks. Its tasty, bluesy guitar line perfectly complements the Wednesday guitarist’s singular vocal timbre. “Kahlua shooter / DUI scooter / With a rolling start on the hill / This morning’s tryin to kill me,” he intones in the instantly memorable pre-chorus. It’s yet another standout to add to Lenderman’s pile of evidence that he’s one of the best currently doing it.
Porridge Radio – “Sick Of The Blues”
“I’m sick of the blues, I’m in love with my life again,” Dana Margolin sings in the final moments of Porridge Radio’s forthcoming fourth album. For Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, the album in question, the frontwoman wrote many of its songs originally as poems. Such is the case with “Sick Of The Blues,” the lead single and closing track of the Brighton indie rock quartet’s new record. After dealing with creative burnout, Margolin took to poetry as a new artistic outlet. But then the poems became something different, and they assumed their current forms. In “Sick Of The Blues,” you can hear the strain and tension in her vocals give way to hope; it’s a real-time epiphany that her voice will eventually find itself. It will always be there for her.
Jack White – No Name
It’s such a cliche to say that a legacy artist has “returned to form,” “gone back to basics,” or “made a triumphant comeback.” With Jack White’s surprise-released new album, No Name, however, it’s true. This is the closest the Detroit-bred raconteur has come to making a White Stripes album since the last White Stripes album. It’s the best he has sounded on a record since, yes, Icky Thump. From the double-time punkish sneer of “Bombing Out” to the bluesy, rock-steady “It’s Rough On Rats (If You’re Asking),” No Name is a feat of simple yet no less incredible songwriting.
Haley Heynderickx – “Seed Of A Seed”
It’s been a minute (or six years, but who’s counting?) since Haley Heynderickx released new music. The Portland, Oregon songwriter’s debut album, I Need To Start A Garden, was a mesmerizing, mystifying listen from start to finish. Such is the case with “Seed Of A Seed,” her first new song since then. Let’s hope that we don’t have to wait another six years for a new record.
Illuminati Hotties – “The L”
Sarah Tudzin has got nothing but wins, even if her latest single is called “The L.” Still, maybe its title refers less to a loss than it does to a lesson. “It’s about putting your pride aside in favor of a resolution,” the Illuminati Hotties ringleader says in a press release. With its delightfully dirty bassline and immediately catchy chorus, Tudzin can count “The L” as another W. Next up in the alphabet…
Soccer Mommy – “M”
Sophie Allison hails from the late-2010s class of singer-songwriter indie rock, music rooted in introspective lyrics, ’90s alt-rock influences, and an economical approach to songwriting that recalls Sheryl Crow and early Taylor Swift. Since Clean, her 2018 debut LP as Soccer Mommy, Allison has gradually refined her stylistic foundation, such as the chorus-soaked, celestial tunes on 2020’s Color Theory and the Daniel Lopatin-assisted shoegaze on 2022’s Sometimes, Forever. The Nashville resident keeps it going on the forthcoming Evergreen. “M,” the single that accompanies the announcement, slots itself in with Allison’s most indelible songs. “I don’t mind talking to empty homes / ‘Cause I miss you / Like a loyal dog,” she sings in the first verse, bringing to mind one of her signature tracks. Its gauzy instrumental palette meets the middle point between Souvlaki, Doolittle, and Fearless, just like the best Soccer Mommy songs always do.
Jane Remover – “Flash In The Pan”
Jane Remover does not miss. Her debut album, Frailty, is arguably one of the best albums of the 20s, at least by my estimation. Census Designated, its follow-up, traded in digicore for shoegazey post-rock to great effect. But on her new single, “Flash In The Pan,” she fuses a half-time breakcore beat with soft keys and those beloved bleeps and bloops, which sit alongside lyrics about how “everyone wants a piece of me.” Jane Remover belongs to no one but herself; she’s no flash in the pan.
Wishy – “Just Like Sunday”
Morrissey once claimed that everyday is like Sunday. Even then, Wishy’s latest single from their debut LP, Triple Seven, takes more cues from one of their primary influences, The Sundays, and it goes beyond their shared name. Nina Pitchkites’ songwriting evokes that band’s penchant for melodic dreaminess while instilling it with the Goo Goo Dolls’ quest for yearning.
