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 FKA twigs, Scowl, Real Lies, and more.
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FKA twigs – Eusexua
When FKA twigs was in Prague filming the 2024 remake of The Crow, she got really into techno. Whereas the British auteur previously shed tears in the club on the 2022 mixtape Caprisongs, her new proper studio LP, Eusexua, captures twigs’ rush of, well, euphoria. Through her portmanteau of “euphoria” and “sex,” twigs has crafted a neologism that already feels deeply entrenched in the cultural milieu. Fortunately, the music itself transcends it. From the filtered FM synth stutters of “Girl Feels Good” to Koreless’ pulverizing electronic percussion on “Drums Of Death,” Eusexua marks twigs’ masterful pivot to the dancefloor.
Lonnie Holley – “Protest With Love”
Lonnie Holley has spent his storied career blurring the line between songwriting and oration. On 2023’s Oh Me Oh My, the interdisciplinary artist recounted his traumatic experiences at the Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children during the 1960s, which required its occupants to engage in physical labor, including cotton-picking. The way he weaved the innocence of youth through the horrors of child labor and racism struck a deep chord. That album’s forthcoming follow-up, Tonky, remains just as resonant. On the D’Angelo-adjacent funk of lead single “Protest with Love,” Holley flaunts his artistic versatility and virtuosity in tandem. It’s the work of a true storyteller.
Scowl – “Not Hell, Not Heaven”
Hardcore rides hard for Scowl. The Santa Cruz punks broke through after an immediately classic show in 2022 at a Sonic Drive-In — and shot on film by hardcore documentarian hate5six — catapulted them to the uppermost echelons of their scene. Arriving with their first LP for Dead Oceans, Scowl freshly expands their sound on the forthcoming Are We All Angels to include shimmery ’90s alt-rock melodies while retaining their acerbic bite. “Not Hell, Not Heaven” recalls contemporary punk luminaries like Mannequin Pussy and Turnstile thanks to Will Yip’s punchy production and the band’s knack for indelible songwriting. Their incendiary riffs and pulverizing drums make it instantly clear that Scowl is at the vanguard of hardcore’s latest wave.
Hannah Cohen – “Earthstar”
Some of life’s most rewarding treasures lie in the unknowable. Love, for instance, relies on a sense of mystery. Learning about someone and appreciating their many layers of depth and complexity carry a degree of risk, given the sundry forms heartbreak can take, but it’s ultimately part of being human. Hannah Cohen suggests as much on her forthcoming fourth album, Earthstar Mountain, a paean to the inscrutable and how that inscrutability presents itself in the places and people we love. Quasi-title track “Earthstar” chronicles Cohen’s new life in the Catskills, where she has lived since 2018, through its lush guitars and ambling bassline. Here, the singer-songwriter posits the idea that love is as natural as the blue sky and towering trees above us.
Real Lies – “Towards Horses”
It must be impossible for Real Lies to make a bad song. After breaking through with their second album, Lad Ash, in 2022, the English electronic duo has kept up a steady stream of singles and EPs. The latest in that line, “Towards Horses,” is another banger fit for the club. Its throttling four-on-the-floor bass and atmospheric synths swirl around you like smoke in a dark room. With their new single, Real Lies maintain their impressive track record.
Alicia Rytlewski – When We Were Bears
Milwaukee composer Alicia Rytlewski’s debut album is a marvel. When We Were Bears, arranged for piano, merges conventional songwriting forms with a classical approach. Rytlewski’s compositions range from grand suites, such as the “Three Sisters Farm” triptych featuring her mesmerizing vocals, to intimate, bucolic snapshots like “Mushrooms And Pink Roses.” Across its 14 tracks, When We Were Bears captures Rytlewski’s majestic dynamism, highlighting both her careful ear for fine detail and resplendent totality.
Open Head – What Is Success
Toeing the line between sampladelic hip-hop and arty prog, Hudson Valley’s Open Head present a forward-thinking vision for the evolution of post-punk. What Is Success, their latest album, sees the group apply Model/Acrtiz’s danceable rhythms to Squid’s knotty labyrinths. The end product lies somewhere between throwing out your guitars and buying turntables and throwing out your turntables and buying guitars. “N.Y. Frills” recontextualizes ’80s Sonic Youth for the modern age, and “House” positions polyrhythmic Phil Selway-esque grooves against metallic guitar scrapes. What Is Success is a stirring statement from Open Head. It’s a record that draws from so many touchpoints that it results in something all the more original.
Sumac & Moor Mother – “Scene 1”
Each experimental in their own ways, Sumac and Moor Mother still seem like a strange collaboration on paper. The former, a post-metal supergroup, and the latter, a jazz-oriented rapper and orator, flout conventions within their respective genres, but on their debut joint album, The Film, they find common ground as outré obsessives. Lead single “Scene 1” finds Moor Mother weaving her poetry on colonialism throughout Sumac’s doomy tapestry of spacious guitar distortion. Noisy and dense, “Scene 1” doesn’t shy away from its own intensity. In their own catalogs, both artists showcase a predilection for cutting-edge, challenging work. “Scene 1” sees them unite their gifts for confrontation.
Kelcey Ayer – “Don’t Look Down”
Last year, Local Natives co-vocalist, co-founder, and keyboardist Kelcey Ayer announced that he would be leaving his longtime band. Although Ayer has helmed his Jaws Of Love project for a while, he’s now putting out music under his own name for the first time. “Don’t Look Down,” his debut solo single, marks a new direction for the LA songwriter. A syncopated, swung groove ushers in waves of soft horns, and Ayer’s hypnotizing voice rises into the mix like vapor from the sea. Whatever he has in store, it seems incredibly promising.
The Head And The Heart – “Time With My Sins”
Alt-folk staples The Head And The Heart have a new album in the works. Although they have yet to reveal more details, such as its name and release date, the Seattle group has shared “Arrow” and, now, “Time With My Sins.” In a press release, vocalist-guitarist Jonathan Russell says it’s a “song about vulnerability and hard truths that can feel scary to put out in the open like this, but I’m glad we did.”
