Browsing Tag

Indie Jangle Pop

Michael Barrow & The Tourists – Clover: Sonically Strident Alt Indie Rock

Posted on 25 February 2021
Michael Barrow & The Tourists

Since making their debut in 2018, Indie Rock trailblazers, Michael Barrow & The Tourists have proven that they’ve got exactly what it takes to be the next iconic indie outfit. After amassing millions of streams garnering a hysteria-level of hype with their compassionately soulful earworms, it’s easy to see that as just the beginning. Especially on the basis of the first track to be released from their forthcoming album ‘Clover’.

After a tender prelude which pays nuanced odes to post punk, the title-single picks up the pace until it is as sonically strident as it is soulfully sincere. With relatable and exposing lyrics such as ‘I’m afraid I won’t get hurt this time’, and ‘heartbreak starts to feel like home’, Michael Barrow & The Tourists capture the fear of vulnerability and the necessity of it to navigate modern dating. It’s perception-shiftingly beautiful.

You can check out Clover for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Jonah Atkins – Not Ready: Chorally Consoling Alt-Indie-Rock

Posted on 24 February 2021
Jonah Atkins by Jonah Atkins

If you’re sick of your own lockdown-inspired introspection, delve into Ontario-based singer-songwriter Jonah Atkins’ through their latest single ‘Not Ready’ instead. Given that we’re all experiencing a collective period of stagnation where it’s safer to look back than it is to look forward, the lyrical resonance within ‘Not Ready’ is invaluable.

2020, and now subsequently 2021, is the never-ending New Year’s Eve, where you know what you need to do to move forward, you feel the guilt for what you haven’t done and the uncertainty of your capacity for success every day. Not Ready wraps all of those painfully shameful emotions together and still manages to unravel as an upbeat feat of alt-indie.

With vocals which are somewhere in between the Strokes and Kurt Vile breaking through a light layer of reverb, the accessibility parallels the distinction while rich choral tones weave garagey sonic indie new wave progressions to bring a shimmering sense of optimism to the soundscape.

Not Ready is available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Tapples created a convergently timeless hit with their indie jangle pop-rock release ‘Where You’ve Been’

Posted on 18 February 2021

Massachusetts six-piece, The Tapples, has garnered plenty of local hype since making their debut with their 2019 EP ‘Bus Recovery’, with their most recent indie jangle pop-rock release ‘Where You’ve Been’ they’ve proven that their convergently electric sound oozes international appeal.

With a touch of Rolling Stones-style swagger to the guitars, punchy bass growls, rancorous percussion and nuances of 60s psych pop to the high-energy vocals, Where You’ve Been pulls together a myriad of different styles and eras to create a timeless hit which will always be happy to feed you aural ecstasy. These may be dark and trying times, but there’s no amount of ennui which the fuzz-laden optimistically sweet track can’t dissipate. Take my word for it.

You can check out Where You’ve Been by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Did I Hear Dare? – timeless alt-rock with ‘I Can Feel (You And I)’

Posted on 7 February 2021

Hailing from Columbus, Ohio, Did I Hear Dare? smash out that brand of mid-Western alt-rock that seems timeless and at the same time bang up to date. ‘I Can Feel (You and I)’ could just as easily be from 2001 as the first month of 2021, and that’s no bad thing at all. Think Killers, Kings of Leon, and maybe a little Arcade Fire for good measure. There’s a definite Brandon Flowers touch to the vocal, a cracker of a bouncy lead guitar line, and a perfect pop-indie-rock lift coming into the chorus, itself an absolute earworm of a radio-friendly-unit-shifter.

The follow-up to their 2020 EP ‘The Ghost Stories’, ‘I Can Feel (You And I)’ is a perfect prelude to 2021 for Did I Hear Dare?.

You can check it out on Spotify now, and follow on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Youth Antics grab ‘This Moment’ with some seriously catchy Indie New Wave glory

Posted on 26 January 2021

Poppy, upbeat, sparkling, jangly, and utterly, indecently catchy, ‘This Moment’ is the new single from Floridian quartet Youth Antics. Unabashedly retro yet bang up to date, wearing a bunch of 1980’s influences on its presumably pushed-up-suit-jacket sleeve, ‘This Moment’ is that rare beast of simultaneously ear-worm pop song and seriously credible indie-rock track.

Riding on the sunny, neon-and-dry-ice-loving tide of Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, The Cure, and their ilk, ‘This Moment’ is a proper New Wave track, trebly guitars to the fore, bouncy rhythm parts, and reverb-laden deep baritone vocals. Easily equally at home on any number of indie festival stages this summer as in a John Hughes or Daniel Waters film soundtrack, ‘This Moment’ is a genre-crossing, time-defying banger of a track; if ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ had a drunken night with ‘The Broken Hearts Gallery’ over cocktails and a couple of Blockbuster Video’s VHS finest, then ‘This Moment’ might well be the musical love-child outcome.

Listen to ‘This Moment’ on Spotify and follow Youth Antics on Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Edenhill has taken indie pop to anthemic new heights with ‘Reliever’

Posted on 21 January 2021
Edenhill

Elements of anthemic EDM pop and indie jangle-pop coalesce in the sophomore release, ‘Reliever’ from up and coming London-residing artist, Edenhill, who may be one of the only artists with the ability to unite club kids and indie kids through one release.

Sonically angular guitars bite against danceable beats and experimental synth lines which almost bring a touch of psychedelia into the radio-ready soundscape which bleeds mainstream pop potential. While the instrumentals bring the authenticity, Edenhills vocals bring the accessibility and ensured that Reliever became one of the most infectious perennial pop earworms we’ve heard recently.

Reliever is due for official release on January 8th, you’ll be able to check it out via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jangle Pop Meets Americana Rock in JimmyJimmy’s Latest Single ‘With You Soon’

Posted on 29 December 2020

US singer-songwriter JimmyJimmy released their latest single ‘With You Soon’ on November 24th, hit play, and you’ll appreciate Marr-Esque jangly upraising Indie intricate guitar licks which will lift you just as high as This Charming Man used to before Morrissey decided to make himself public enemy no.1.

The 80s New Wave Indie sound may radiate in With You Soon, but there are also rhythmic hints of Americana which make choruses as infectious as the reason we’ve all been deflated during 2020.

It’s no stretch to say that With You Soon is easily one of the most enrapturing Pop Rock singles we’ve heard this year. For your sanity’s sake, get him on your radar.

You can check out With You Soon for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ride the New Wave Indie tides in Pretty Visitors’ single ‘Hollywood Tantrum’

Posted on 5 December 2020

From the first jangly tonally tropic note in Pretty Visitors latest single ‘Hollywood Tantrum’ which features on their AA release alongside ‘I Think My Life is Working Out’ you’ll instantly feel the endearing warmth which raises the temperature in the New Wave Indie Pop hit.

With a nuanced Jazz infusion, Hollywood Tantrum exceeds every expectation you have when delving into a new artist’s sound. Authenticity, check. Rhythmic magnetism, check. Soulfully-expressive lyrics, check. It may be a sticky-sweet track, but it was never in danger of resonating as saccharine thanks to the hint of vocal despondence which ensured that every hint of euphoria you feel is grounded in gritty reality.

The Essex-based trailblazers are undoubtedly one to watch.

You can check out the AA release via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mansion Family lightens the mood with their enchantingly jangly Alt Pop hit ‘It’s Not Safe’

Posted on 26 November 2020

The artist formally known as 8uDdha Bl0od returns once more, and whilst nothing has changed, everything – everything – is different. A mix of Alt-Rock and Britpop, ‘It’s Not Safe’ is a stunning, enchanting three-minute jangly pop song in the ‘oh-so-English’ observational reflective style of Menswear, The Divine Comedy, or Pulp. Inspired by lockdown, Covid 19 restrictions, and the one-in-one-out policy of the local Tesco, ‘It’s Not Safe’ squirms and wriggles its way into your head, donning its mask and gloves on the way and gently but firmly making its presence felt.

Effortlessly tongue-in-cheek, with a delicious self-effacing humour, but still defiantly a ‘serious’ pop song rather than comedy or pastiche, ‘It’s Not Safe’ is a gorgeous little piece of refreshingly glitzy songwriting with a sublime catchy hook, delectable jangly guitars, and a crackingly nonchalant vocal delivery. Absolute, total fun-pop. That’s a thing now.

Listen to ‘It’s Not Safe’ now on Soundcloud.

Review by Alex Holmes

Kiss Hello says an Experimental Indie Rock “Goodbye” with Their Latest Single

Posted on 30 September 2020
https://kisshello.bandcamp.com/track/goodbye-smiling-my-way-home

LA Ambient Indie Pop artist Kiss Hello has released their endearingly experimental Lo-Fi single “Goodbye (Smiling My Way Home)”. It will be some time before we fully recover from the sonically sugar-coated feat of synth-led experimentalism.

With elements of Synth Pop, Post Punk and Shoegaze in the hypnotically prodigal track, it’s safe to say that you’ve never heard anything like this before. With plenty of bendy distortion obscuring the Jangle Pop guitar notes, you’ll pick up on reminiscences to the Smiths and The Cure along with plenty of the effervescent authenticity which radiates from Kiss Hello’s galvanizingly quaint take on Indie. There’s also a lot to be said by their resoundingly dynamic vocals which won’t fail to test your soul’s capacity to feel.

You can check out Kiss Hello’s single Goodbye for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast