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 Julien Baker & Torres, Horsegirl, The National, and more.
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Whispers – Yom-Ma-Lok
The band’s name is a misnomer. Whispers are known for their self-described “Bangkok evilcore,” and it’s as apt a description as any. Yom-Ma-Lok, the Thai hardcore band’s latest EP, opens with a track of the same name as their coined subgenre, its droning soundscape slowly yielding to sludgy guitar riffs and pulverizing drums. Whispers are not ones for meditative quietude. Any semblance of tranquility is soon shattered, jolted alive with double-kicks and guttural screams without a moment’s notice.
Amen Dunes – Death Jokes II
On his final album as Amen Dunes, Damon McMahon gets the last laugh. Death Jokes II isn’t a remixed version of its predecessor so much as a recontextualization. Death Jokes, the sixth Amen Dunes record, which came out in May, concerned itself with the transience of life: how both its accompanying joys and sorrows pass without warning. Its sequel is noticeably softer and pared back, allowing McMahon’s musings on modern human existence to resonate that much more clearly. Stripped of their sampladelic, lo-fi milieu, these songs take on newfound clarity. There’s a doubtless finality to Death Jokes II, yet you can’t help but consider it something of a rebirth, too.
Thanks For Coming – “Untitled”
Water From Your Eyes and Interpol have been tourmates for a while now, which culminated in a free Mexico City gig earlier this year that garnered over 160,000 fans. WFYE vocalist Rachel Brown, who also records solo work as Thanks For Coming, has shared their rendition of an Interpol classic. “Untitled,” the opening track from Interpol’s 2002 debut Turn On The Bright Lights, is a faithful recreation of one of the great NYC indie-rock tunes. Assisted by their WFYE bandmate Nate Amos on drums, Brown pays homage to their sonic forebears.
Thursday – “White Bikes”
Geoff Rickly described “White Bikes,” the latest single from post-hardcore legends Thursday, as “our gift to you this holiday season.” And what a gift it is. Frontman (and now-novelist) Rickly’s voice glides over spacious guitar melodies and anthemic power chords. As the follow-up to their first new song in a decade, which they shared back in April, “White Bikes” will certainly tide us over into the new year. But let’s hope that these new songs hint at another Thursday LP on the way soon.
The National – Rome
Cincinnati indie rockers The National are infamous for their live-recording gimmicks. Remember when they played “Sorrow” for six hours straight at MoMA PS1 for a performance art piece? How about their decidedly lo-fi cassette that took inspiration from bootlegger Mike Millard? Now, the quintet have returned with their first post-Swiftian live album in the form of Rome, taken from a performance in June at the Italian capital’s Cavea at Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone. Spanning 21 tracks over the course of 98 minutes, the Dessners, Devendorfs, and Matt Berninger trek through deep cuts like “Murder Me Rachael” and “Lit Up” alongside standards like “Fake Empire” and “Bloodbuzz Ohio” for an enthralling tour of their discography.
Horsegirl – “Julie”
Chicago trio Horsegirl are slated to release one of the early highlights of the new year. Phonetics On And On, which comes out this February, is the forthcoming sophomore album from the indie rockers. “Julie,” the latest preview from Nora Cheng, Penelope Lowenstein, and Gigi Reece, sees them lean further into the avant lo-fi stylings of previous single “2468,” trading in fuzzy guitars and walloping drums for understated arrangements and intermittent guitar squawks.
1010Benja – “Get In The Way”
One of the best debut albums of the year — and best albums of the year period — is 1010Benja’s Ten Total. Whereas that record hinges itself on maximalist bursts of blown-out production, hip-hop, and electro-pop, 1010’s new single, “Get In The Way,” is his take on mellow, sumptuous R&B. “Can we get our escape / To know just what we’re missing,” he pleads in the chorus, his yearning palpable through his sultry, mellifluous vocals. Co-produced by Kaito and 1010 himself, “Get In The Way” posits inhibition as intimacy.
Twin Shadow – “As Soon As You Can”
On “As Soon As You Can,” George Lewis Jr.’s voice is cloaked in a mixture of regret, grief, and love. Taken from the forthcoming Twin Shadow record Georgie, his new single coasts on a drumless, sparse bedrock of swelling synths and lush vocals. “I must’ve said something I didn’t mean / I talk in my sleep now and tell you my dreams,” he sings in the intro. Georgie, scheduled for release in early 2025, is a heartfelt tribute to his late father’s life. Through that lens, “As Soon As You Can” rings both like an elegy and a celebration of the record’s inspiration. It’s among the most tender and riveting songs Lewis Jr. has ever penned.
Julien Baker & Torres – “Sugar In The Tank”
It sure seems like singer-songwriters Julien Baker and Mackenzie Scott — AKA Torres — have something on the horizon. Making their collaborative debut with the (seemingly) one-off single “Sugar In The Tank,” Baker and Scott don bejeweled cowboy hats for the twangiest outing either of them have ever been a part of. The two of them swap out their indie-minded proclivities for a genre that previously left queer women on the fringes, reclaiming it and reminding us of the genre’s outlaw history, how it gave a voice to those on society’s outskirts and the power it lent them. Given the batch of tour dates they have coming up together, “Sugar In The Tank” doesn’t seem to be a random flash in the pan. Rather, it seems like a new beginning.
Two Shell – “Magic Powers”
The willfully enigmatic electronic duo Two Shell released their self-titled debut album back in October, and they’ve already returned with a new single. “Magic Powers,” a collaboration with another producer duo Peterparker69, expands upon the glitchy, kinetic framework Two Shell have become known for. Its frenetic BPM, four-on-the-floor undergirding, and serpentine production ensure the song never stays in one place for too long, keeping the dancefloor moving just as it should be.
