Browsing Tag

Jangle Pop

Katanak want us to be their ‘Valentine’

Posted on 3 April 2021

After supporting Pete Murray on his 2019 Summer Seasons Tour, Brisbane indie-pop artist Katanak was having a pretty stellar growth year prior to Covid-lockdownery; a ‘People’s Choice Award’ at 2020’s QUBE Effect awards, working with LMSUKmedia in the UK, and international radio play for his last single ‘Take Us Back’ are all justly deserved rewards for this upcoming indie-groove roller.

There’s a definite pop-influence to ‘Valentine’, like someone’s distilled all those harmonising boy- and girl-bands of the 90’s and 00’s, mixed them all together, and pushed them all through a blender of Wombats, 1975, and Vampire Weekend. With a beautiful, jangle-pop chocky-strummed guitar part and some delicious stop-start keys, all underpinning Katanak’s bouncy, upbeat vocal. Lockdown’s ending, spring is springing, and Katanak might have just delivered the first of this summer’s big indie-pop hits.

Check out ‘Valentine’ on Spotify; follow Katanak on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

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

Lance Houck swings back to the 60s with their single ‘With All My Heart’

Posted on 1 January 2021
https://lancehouck.bandcamp.com/track/with-all-my-heart

Upbeat, poppy, light and airy, with a distinct sixties/seventies vibe, carried in on a wave of woo-hoo-hoos and jingly clean guitar, comes ‘With All My Heart’, the new single from Californian singer-songwriter Lance Houck. Sunny, uplifting, and full of those happy West Coast vibes, ‘With All My Heart’, from Houck’s seven-track album ‘Unborn’, is a gem of a single, catchy, vibey, with as-you-might-expect elements of the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and The Lovin’ Spoonful.

There’s some nice guitar work too, Houck playing all instruments as well as taking on vocal duties, pushy drums, and a cute little rolling bassline, Houck’s vocal is well-delivered and tuneful, the track overall a proper little summery ear-worm which might be a nice little antidote to current UK Tier 4 Lockdown restrictions.

You can hear ‘With All My Heart’ on Bandcamp, and follow Lance Houck on Facebook.

Review by Alex Holmes

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

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

Modern Fools offer uniquely liberating resolve with their nuanced Indie hit “New Year”

Posted on 15 November 2020

If the state of modernity is sending you under, delve into the uniquely liberating Indie Rock hit “New Year” by Modern Fools.

While some are desperately waiting for 2020 to end as if that will be the end of our suffering, Modern Fools put an incredible spin on the naive narrative by offering absolving nihilism with lyrics such as “I don’t care what the new year brings” and “resolutions, they don’t mean shit”. That may sound depressive but letting go of any frantic desperation to see the world instantly fixed will do plenty of favours for your soul.

There’s a resounding sense of realism within the tonally sweet psych-laced feat of Indie Jangle Pop. They captured the mood, as well as the Verve, did in the 90s.

I have an infinite amount of admiration for Modern Fools and their ability to pour such mindful nuance into a track which addresses the state of our collective powerlessness.

You can check out the satirically-sweet official video to New Year by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Damien Darr has broken the Jangle Pop mould with their Psych-infused Indie Pop single “Supernatural”

Posted on 16 June 2020
https://soundcloud.com/damiendarr/supernatural

Alt singer-songwriter Damien Darr broke the monotonous Jangle Pop mould with their standout single “Supernatural” from their latest album “Paper Cuts”.

Supernatural is a blend of sticky-sweet Indie Pop along with a seriously nuanced injection of Psych Rock. The absorbingly intricate guitar licks demand you give this track plenty of repeat attention as they bravely explore the full tonal palette. From angular and cutting to kaleidoscopically transcendent, Supernatural offers it all.

There’s also plenty to be said for Damien Darr’s energetically entrancing vocals which will leave you endeared by their playful style before the first verse has run through.

You can check out Supernatural for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Vida Moxy – Nowhere to Go: The Indie Rock Track Your Lockdown Playlists Have Been Waiting For

Posted on 23 May 2020

With their latest single “Nowhere to Go”, up and coming LA Indie fourpiece Vida Moxy put their own authentically hypnotic spin on Indie.

With Jangle Pop and Post Punk nuances found in the exuberantly sweet soundscape, the melodies in Nowhere to Go are as absorbing as they come. And it’s safe to say that plenty of people will be able to relate to the lyrics which poetically allude to stagnation. Despite the melancholic inspiration behind the single, Vida Moxy kept the tone soulfully uplifting. Do I really need to tell you to add Nowhere to Go to your lockdown playlists?

You can check out Vida Moxy’s single Nowhere to Go for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Micky Blouse – Brother: Energetically Infectious Indie Power Pop

Posted on 9 April 2020
https://soundcloud.com/mblouse/brother-1

Power Pop, Jangle Pop, and Surf Rock all converge in the energetically infectious latest single “Brother” from up and coming Sheffield-based Indie artist Micky Blouse.

The high-pitched vocals may invoke nostalgia for the time when Hanson dominated the airwaves but make no mistake when you hit play on Brother, you’ll meet soulfully bold aural distinction.

The punchy Alt Rock instrumentals carve out ensnaring melodies which find the perfect balance between momentum and euphorically arrestive vibrant rhythm. Brother is the ultimate Indie Power Pop earworm which you’ll be desperate to share with others once it wriggles in, which should be just about when the chorus hits.

Brother is just one of the tracks to feature on Micky Blouse’s debut self-titled EP which you’ll definitely want to delve into if you’re as sick of assimilative Indie acts as we are.

You can check out Micky Blouse’s latest single Brother for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast