Browsing Tag

Indie Post Punk

Sleep Walking Animals have released their post-punk infused folk single, ‘Dance Laura Dance’

Posted on 26 May 2021

Folk and indie post-punk collide in the latest single released by the alt-rock luminaries, Sleep Walking Animals. Refreshingly, reminiscence to contemporary folk chart-topping artists are there, but Sleep Walking Animals didn’t allow them to dominate their organically progressive single.

In the same way that Frightened Rabbit’s music was darkened by an inexplicable despondence, Sleep Walking Animals’ latest single gives that multi-faceted sense of emotion, making the euphoria-bleeding choruses so much sweeter.

With cutting post-punk tones spilling from the basslines behind the steady, momentum-building, choral guitars, Sleep Walking Animals created the perfect platform for the richly harmonic imploring vocals that reach out with enough finesse to reassure you that Sleep Walking Animals have exactly what it takes to be the next big name in indie.

The Manchester/London residing artists may be relatively fresh from their inception, but they’re already proving they’re one to watch.

Dance Laura Dance released on May 21st; you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Pleasure Centre – deep, ethereal dreampop with ‘Blue (Bertha)’

Posted on 8 May 2021

Carving a unique niche in the overly-effected and saturated tones of the current Shoegaze scene is a tricky call, but that’s pretty much what Scarborough’s Pleasure Centre have managed to do with ‘Blue (Bertha)’, mixing up old-school Slowdive, Ride, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, and BDRMM with Beach House, bits of Bloc Party, and a touch of Morrissey’s vocal vibrato and lazy delivery. Add in some Psychocandy-era Jesus and Mary Chain, a touch of Swervedriver, and a liberal sprinkling of Fleeting Joys, and you get ‘Blue (Bertha) – a gentle, ephemeral thing of beauty, all chiming chorused guitars, pushing, background-soaking bass, and layered, reverb-drenched vocals. Melancholic, ephemeral, and echoing, this is a floaty, ethereal take on post-rock dreampop that – for all its delicacy – really deserves to be played loud.

You can check out Pleasure Centre on BandCamp now, and follow on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Biz-ARD invites you to get into ‘The Vibe’ with his dopamine-boosting alt-pop playlist staple.

Posted on 19 April 2021

If there is an up and coming pop artist worth paying attention to in 2021, it’s Liverpool-born high-vibe alchemist Biz-ARD. His latest single is a stylish funk-filled invitation to shake off the apathy and to ‘step in the vibe’. You’ll be putty in his hands before the first verse runs through.

With choppy guitars akin to the ones in Bowie’s Let’s Dance paired with Biz-ARD’s indie and post-punk tendencies, The Vibe is accessible from the first hit while still unravelling as a brand-new sonic experience. Mostly because you’ve never encountered an artist like Biz-ZARD before.

To truly appreciate The Vibe, you’ll need to check out the official video that documents Biz-ARD’s greenscreen-enabled globe-hopping and vibe sharing. It is available to view via YouTube.

The Vibe is also available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Empire Of Lights ‘Hit The Highway’ out of South Wales and into the big leagues.

Posted on 9 April 2021

Small towns in Wales seem to regularly turn up superb melodic rock bands, and Empire of Lights – with their new single ‘Hit The Highway’ is no exception to that rule. Sparse, echoey guitar, pounding drums, and driving bass are the order of the day here; there’s a gothy vibe to the music, a feel of ‘The Forest’ or ‘Jumping Someone Else’s Train’-era Cure, mixed with Johnny Borrell Razorlight vocals from singer John Aziz.

It’s a vaguely psychedelic, spacey sound – there’s something special about the dynamics of three piece rock bands; think Hendrix, Cream, Husker Du and Sugar, and of course Nirvana. The interplay between instruments and vocals, the necessity of accepting and using space rather than simply turning everything up louder than everything else, allows for a different approach and that serves Empire Of Lights well here, adding to that slightly ephemeral, dreamy feel, and coming from such a young band – drummer Eifion Davies is still too young to drink in the bars that Empire Of Lights should be playing this year – shows a realy understanding of arrangement and songwriting. The future looks very bright for Empire Of Lights.

Hear ‘Hit The Highway’ on Spotify; follow Empire Of Lights on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

LA indie darkwave duo Darkplay have released their latest single ‘Only You’

Posted on 28 March 2021

Ahead of their forthcoming album, LA indie darkwave duo, Darkplay unleashed their entrancingly atmospheric synthpop single, ‘Only You’ which takes the listener on a trip to the murky depths of 80s post-punk while never sacrificing the melodic gravity of the single.

With a similar revivalist nature to bands such as Spector, Darkplay succeeded in teasing nostalgia while putting a brand-new spin of a familiar sound. Each crescendo comes laden in reverb for the ultimate psychotropic effect, and to sweeten the track, the perfect balance of light affability and dark despondency was found. Just imagine what it would sound like if Joy Division and the Human League had an aural lovechild.

Only You can be heard on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Giant Sky show us the meaning of ethereal with their latest post-punk dream-pop single ‘Snow’

Posted on 14 March 2021

Brace yourself for the sonic sting in London and Bristol-based alt-indie powerhouse, Giant Sky’s latest single ‘Snow’ which showcases Olivia’s ethereally evocative vocals which share propensities with the likes of Desperate Journalist, Cocteau Twins and Wolf Alice while the instrumentals pull in post-punk and shoegaze dream-pop tones.

As the release affirms the fragility of our mortality with lyrics such as ‘we’re lucky to grow old’ followed up with ‘I don’t want to go into eternity without you’, it’s lyrically crushing, but the kaleidoscopically colourful instrumentals nicely cushion the blow as they throw you into walls of dizzying noise.

Snow is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Divisions vent their ‘Quiet Frustrations’ on post-truth politics and social division

Posted on 20 January 2021
Divisions by Divisions

If UK alt-rock five-piece Divisions had scripted 2020, they still couldn’t have come up with a more appropriate time to release their eponymous second album (due out March 12th). In preparation, they lead in with this, the opening single from the ten-track album, available via Bandcamp and with an accompanying ‘lockdown-special’ video on YouTube.

‘Quiet Frustrations’ is a powerful track, a statement around social division, post-truth politics, the frustrations of pandemic-stricken Britain, and that horrible over-arching ennui and exhaustion that’s seemed to blanket us all for the last couple of years. It’s a great song, potent, intelligent, thoughtful, and unusual yet with enough commercial nous to appeal to a wider audience; think Thirty Seconds To Mars with a little more introspection and inner-city tower-block feel, and you’re pretty much on the money.

See the lock-down video for ‘Quiet Frustrations’ on YouTube. Buy ‘Quiet Frustrations’, and pre-order ‘Divisions’, from Bandcamp.

Evade FOMO-driven anxiety with Drop Down Smiling’s single ‘The Fear Of Missing Out’

Posted on 15 January 2021
Drop Down Smiling

Lockdown 2020 has generated a LOT of frustration and anxiety, and for most people – eye-test trips to Barnard Castle aside – have found that most of their interactions and experiences this year have come via social media. Now Drop Down Smiling are here, blinking and squinting in post-hibernation sunlight, to point out just how self-destructive those filtered ‘rose-tinted glasses’ choreographed lifestyles on Facebook and Instagram can actually be, with their red hot new single ‘The Fear Of Missing Out’. And it’s an absolute scorcher.

Launching with a subtle, melodic distorted guitar line before kicking in full overdrive-and-reverb style, ‘The Fear Of Missing Out’ is a slab of cracking alt-rock, a tasteful mix of B.M.T.H. and Biffy Clyro, with maybe a little Stone Sour or Architects and a dash of Interpol on the echoey picked guitar line. It’s a perfect blend of noise and melodic space, the dynamics in the track adding to the energy. It’s a powerful track, with some proper rock n’ roll groove in there, just enough electronica mixed in with the rock guitars and punchy drums to appeal to the radio crowd as well as the out-and-out rock fans.

‘The Fear Of Missing Out’ is out on the 8th January; check it out via Spotify, and follow Drop Down Smiling, via Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Alex Holmes

Shared Image Redefines Who Does What on their superb new single.

Posted on 25 December 2020

Soft, jangly indie-pop is overdone at times these days, but ‘Redefined’, the first single from Shared Image’s new album ‘Who Decides Who Does What?’, is a cut above the usual ‘three lads with Telecasters from Crewe’, with a charm and style all of its own.

Shared Image – hailing from Thunder Bay, Ontario, which is a little more exotic than Crewe for sure – have pretty much answered their own album-title question here – this is the brainchild of Craig Delin, a 20 year veteran of bands now forging his own path by writing, creating, performing, and producing ‘Who Decides Who Does What?’ all by himself. So it seems he decides pretty much who does everything, and on the basis of ‘Redefined’, that’s working to extremely good effect.

Vocals, guitars, keyboards, drums and programming, and synth parts are all down to Delin, the whole track sitting together beautifully; there are elements of old school alt-rock indie goodness in the likes of Pavement, a little of Johnny Marr’s guitar work and certainly some Modest Mouse, coupled with a little of They Might Be Giants and maybe a touch of Crowded House in the mix too. That’s a pretty heady mix, and on ‘Redefined’ it works extremely well. Based on this, Delin deciding Who Does What is a pretty sensible plan.

‘Who Decides Who Does What?’ is out now across all major streaming platforms. You can hear ‘Redefined’, and the rest of the album, on Spotify, and follow Shared Image on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

Sonic Indie and Celestial Soul Collide in Nikola’s Transfixing Alt Indie Rock Single ‘Pink Lights’

Posted on 22 December 2020

After spending years successful touring bands, Minnesota-hailing artist, Nikola Hamilton, released their ground-breaking EP ‘Darling’ and established themselves as one of the most luminary singer-songwriters who have made their debut in 2020.

The standout track, Pink Lights, will allow you to imagine what would happen if Interpol chose to team up with Hozier. You get the cold, cutting sonic style with the almost celestial vocals which tear though the darkly atmospheric soundscape and speak directly to your soul.

If Nikola made a bigger impression with their sleek Darkwave debut, we’d have concussion.

You can check out Nikola’s EP for yourselves which was released on November 13th, 2020 via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast