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 Porches, Cassandra Jenkins, Shellac, and more.
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This Is Lorelei – “Where’s Your Love Now”
As one-half of both Water From Your Eyes and My Idea, Nate Amos shrewdly leavens his experimental tendencies with pop-centric songwriting. This Is Lorelei, the New York artist’s solo project, finds Amos gravitating toward those poppier inclinations far more than in his other bands. “Where’s Your Love Now,” Amos’ latest single from the forthcoming Box For Buddy, Box For Star, is another masterclass in experimental pop. He has always shown that catchy songwriting and avant-garde artistry don’t have to be mutually exclusive, and “Where’s Your Love Now” is yet another compelling case for that statement.
Shellac – To All Trains
Steve Albini was one of indie rock’s greatest producers (though he would much prefer the term “engineers”). The Chicago linchpin engineered classic records by Nirvana, Cloud Nothings, Pixies, PJ Harvey, Joanna Newsom, and many, many more. One of his bands, the punk trio Shellac, has just released their first new album in a decade, and, while it wasn’t intended as a final statement, there is an undeniable ring of finality to it now. Over the course of 10 brief, hard-hitting songs, Albini, bassist Bob Weston, and drummer Todd Trainer rip through them with palpable urgency. Let those classic Albini drums ring out for decades to come.
One Step Closer – All You Embrace
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania outfit One Step Closer tactfully infuses hardcore with melodic, emo sensibilities. Whereas their debut, 2021’s This Place You Know, was pure hardcore from front to back, All You Embrace finds the four-piece retaining that aggressive edge while leaning into their pop-punk and even power-pop proclivities. It’s a soaring achievement from one of the scene’s best bands.
Sasha Alex Sloan – Me Again
Naming an album Me Again is a shameless declaration of selfhood. Fitting in perfectly with the confessional pop zeitgeist of the still-unfolding 2020s, Sasha Alex Sloan’s third record leans into its autobiographical nature. Couched in the plush sonics that Sloan’s new home of Nashville is known for, Me Again is an extension of the indie-pop-meets-country stylings recently exhibited by Kacey Musgraves and Kelsea Ballerini.
Liana Flores – “Nightvisions”
Liana Flores’ soothing voice is as diaphanous as her finger-picked jazz guitar. It’s a striking yet hypnotizing complement to the seasonal shifts she sings of on Flower Of The Soul, her debut album out on June 28. The British-Brazilian songwriter merges bossa nova, jazz, and Brazilian folk on songs that use nature as a larger canvas for reckoning with internal conflict. “When over a new planet, the yellow dawn did rise / I woke alone and took a form I did not recognize,” she sings gently on “Nightvisions.”
Cassandra Jenkins – “Delphinium Blue”
New York indie musician Cassandra Jenkins recalls briefly working at a flower shop as “survival instinct kicking in,” she says in a press statement. With beautiful flowers surrounding her for most of her waking hours, she “began to dream in technicolor,” and “flowers became the language” of her subconscious. Thus, “Delphinium Blue,” Jenkins’ latest single, was born. When you listen to a song this breathtaking, you’ll soon begin dreaming in technicolor, too.
Porches – “Joker”
When Porches opened for indie-pop stalwarts Phoenix on their Alpha Zulu tour, the NYC-based Aaron Maine reconfigured his band to embrace rowdy ’90s alt-rock. He imbued his sumptuous synth-pop with a grungier bite; there wasn’t even a synth on stage with him, just a three-piece of guitar, bass, and drums. Maybe that’s why it’s not surprising that Shirt, Porches’ new album out September 13, is Maine’s heaviest endeavor thus far. Still, this is Porches, and his new single “Joker” is as pop-forward as his most well-known material. This time, however, guitars are more in focus, complementing his Auto-Tuned, unmistakable vocals with aplomb.
Strand Of Oaks – “Future Temple”
Next month, Tim Showalter (AKA Strand Of Oaks) will release Miracle Focus, the follow-up to 2021’s In Heaven. Showalter’s new preview of it, “Future Temple,” is a notably synth-heavy tune, just as previous singles “More You” and “Party At Monster Lake” were. With influences as far-ranging as Beastie Boys and Alice Coltrane, Strand Of Oaks’ latest seems like it will be an assortment of everything we love about Showalter’s work.
Wishy – “Love On The Outside”
Music history is famous for its creative duos: John and Paul; Mark and Tom; Morrissey and Johnny; Jack and Meg; and the list goes on. Wishy, an indie rock band from Indiana that’s part dream-pop, shoegaze, and power-pop, is also built on a core, but much less fraught, songwriting partnership. Kevin Krauter and Nina Pitchkites, the songwriters in question, complement each other’s styles in perfect harmony. Triple Seven, their debut album out August 16, is the follow-up to their excellent EP, Paradise, from December, and it expands on the reciprocal dynamic so expertly laid out there. “Love On The Outside,” the album’s lead single, is a stellar display of not only Krauter and Pitchkites’ artistic duality, but a wondrous hybridization of the reference points they draw from. On “Love On The Outside,” Wishy continues a fortunate streak.
Alex G – I Saw The TV Glow (Original Motion Picture Score)
Jane Schoenbrun and Alex G are a match made in indie heaven. The Philly indie rocker’s score for Schoenbrun’s debut film, 2021’s We’re All Going To The World’s Fair, enhanced the movie’s otherworldly logic and foreboding aura. He achieves a similar feat with his instrumental OST for Schoenbrun’s new film, I Saw The TV Glow. From the shimmering synths of “Opening Theme From The Pink Opaque” to the ethereal drones of “High School Hallway,” Alex G augments the suburban ennui and latent dysphoria the director so potently captures onscreen.
