Tag: indie rock

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Berlin’s Nilipek. Shares Expressive and Expansive “Yalan Söyledik”

Turkish-born, Berlin-based singer/songwriter Nilipek. has developed a sound and approach that has shaped the landscape of Turkish language alternative music for the past decade. Her critically applauded debut, 2015’s Sabah marked the arrival of a unique voice in the scene.

Since then the Turkish-born, Berlin-based artist has continually evolved, exploring new textures and sonic landscapes. 2017’s Döngü and 2020’s Mektuplar found Nilipek. embracing a decided shift towards a richer, more layered sound that blended introspective lyrics with bold, experimental arrangements.

Her striking reinterpretations of Turkish classics like “Gözleri Aşka Gülen” and “Bir Gün Beni Arzularsan Gel” helped to further cement her reputation for reimagining familiar songs in unexpected ways. Building upon a growing profile, much of her work has appeared in popular TV and streaming series, like 2019’s One Love Two Lives and Halka which have helped introduce her sound to a much wider audience. She has also collaborated on several boundary-pushing efforts like “Castles” with French indie pop artist Oscar Anton and “Vazgeçtim” with Turkish producer Taner Yücel, expanding her creative universe beyond the lines of genre and geography.

Nilipek.’s fourth album, last year’s Uydurduğumuz Oyunlarla (“The Games We Made Up”) was arguably one of the more interactive and emotionally resonant batches of material she’s written and recorded to date that sees her weaving poetic Turkish lyrics with cinematic arrangements and haunting melodies.

Album single “Yalan Söyledik” manages to recall PJ Harvey and Juana Molina with the song being anchored around an expansive arrangement with cinematic flourishes paired with Nilipek.’s sultry delivery. The song evokes a complex and confusing emotional landscape with seemingly lived-in sensibility.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Smut Shares Expansive and Anthemic “Waste Me”

After spending years in the Cincinnati DIY scene, Smut — currently Tay Roebuck (vocals), Andie Min (guitar), John Steiner (bass), Sam Ruschman (guitar) and Aidan O’Connor (drums) — caught the attention of Bayonet Records, who signed the band and released their sophomore album, 2022’s critically applauded How the Light Felt. The album brought the band to Chicago, a city with more room for their growing sound. 

But despite their early successes, they still faced the struggles of the modern working musician: instability, financial precarity, objectification and more. The band channeled a period of touring, personnel changes and personal upheavals into their third album, Tomorrow Comes Crashing. 

Officially dropping today, through Bayonet Records, Tomorrow Comes Crashing marks the band’s first recorded output with O’Connor and Steiner while seeing the band re-energized and trained on the limitless potential that comes with making music with people you love.

The band specifically focused on capturing the big emotions that come with falling in love with music for the first time. The result is ten of what may arguably be their most intense, bombastic and focused songs to date.

The Chicago-based band recorded the album’s material “as live as they could,” alongside Momma‘s Aron Kobayashi Ritch in a Red Hook, Brooklyn-based studio over the course of a breakneck 10-day session. Right before they went off to New York, Roebuck and Min got married, with the rest of the band by their side. 

“We have so much energy right now,” Smut’s Roebuck says. The recording sessions were a true labor of love — driving from Chicago with all their equipment, returning from 12 hour studio days to sleep on friends’ couches and floors, Roebuck completely blowing her voice by the end. Fittingly, the album is culmination of the band’s long-held DIY spirit — with the band creating a record that encompasses the intensity, moodiness and emotions of their journey so far. 

In the lead-up to the album’s release, I wrote about two of the album’s previously released singles:

  • “Syd Sweeney,” a song inspired by and named after the actor that describes the profound strangeness to be a woman, and how easily as a woman it is to be constantly misunderstood and misconstrued.

  • “Touch & Go,” a full-throated, 120 Minutes MTV-era power ballad that showcases the band’s knack for pairing rousingly anthemic hooks with, big riffs and earnest, lived-in lyricism and songwriting.

Tomorrow Comes Crashing‘s latest single “Waste Me” continues a run of hooky and anthemic material that recalls 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock — but under the big power chords and arena rock swagger is a softness that’s feminine but also thoughtful, lived-in and deeply earnest while arguably being the most dynamic, expansive and The Cure-like song they’ve written and recorded to date.

“Waste Me” is inspired by Greek mythology. “I wanted to write about ego, about building people up in our minds to unreachable heights, and pride,” Smut’s Roebuck explains,. “The story of Icarus was really ripe to elaborate on so I just extended the story. What if Icarus lived? What if someone thought he was the answer to their prayers?”

The accompanying video by Michael Fanos features collage-styled animation loosely based on the song’s lyrics.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Brisbane’s The Valery Trails Share an Anthemic Ode to Nostalgia and Aging

Formed back in 2011, Brisbane-based indie rock outfit The Valery Trails — currently, Andrew Bower (vocals, guitar), Sean Bower (bass), Dan McNaulty (drums) and longtime collaborators Screamfeeder‘s Tim Steward (guitar, vocals) and We All Want To‘s Skye Staniford (vocals) — traces their origins back to when the band’s frontman, Andrew Bower, an expatriate Aussie then residing in Houston, enlisted his brother Sean Bower and Dan McNaulty to start the band.

With the assistance of file-sharing through the internet and some occasional intercontinental travel, the trio develop da set of songs started in Andrew Bower’s home studio into the band’s full-length debut, 2012’s Ghosts and Gravity.

2014’s Buffalo Speedway and 2016’s Chameleon Bones further cemented their melodic and atmospheric rock sound while receiving college and speciality airplay in the States and critical applause from media outlets like PopMatters, The Big Takeover and many others across the globe.

Following Andrew Bower’s return to Brisbane in 2020, the band began their transition to writing in a much more conventional manner, gathering to to record 2022’s The Sky Is Blue with long-time collaborators Steward taking a more active role in the band while Staniford continued to provide backing vocals, as she has since the band’s second album. Radio airplay in several Aussie cities and an east coast tour helped to increase the band’s profile at home, while The Sky Is Blue charted on Stateside college and specialty radio.

The band’s extended lineup gathered last year to work on a set of songs, which would become the band’s forthcoming album, Winter Palace. Slated for a September 12, 2025 release, the Aussie indie rock outfit’s fifth album continues the eclectic approach of its immediate predecessor, with the material seeing the band explore synth-pop stylings, horn-driven retro flavors and some straightforward rock and roll sprinkled among the band’s long-held power pop crunch and jangle.

“Everything Is Temporary” Winter Palace‘s breakneck first single continues a remarkable run of hook-driven, crunchy, 120 Minutes-era MTV alt-rock-meets-Husker Dü -like rock. Thematically, the song leans a bit on familiar nostalgia while also viewing with a healthy and wizened suspicion of too much nostalgia. As LCD Soundsystem‘s James Murphy once sang “I wouldn’t trade one stupid decision for another five minutes of life” and maybe that’s a healthier way of looking back on things.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Flooding Shares Woozy and Bruising “depictions of the female body”

Fronted by Rose Brown, the Lawrence, KS-based indie trio Flooding formed back in 2021. That same year, the trio released self-titled full-length debut, which featured fan favorites “Insure Me, Procure Me” and “Delayed Gratification” and an attention grabbing sound that ranged from whispers and airy guitar riffs to intense lyricism and distorted blasts of noise.

The Kansas trio’s sophomore album, 2023’s Silhouette Machine received praise from Rolling Stone, Treble Zine, New Noise Magazine and others for a heavy soothing and otherworldly sound that brought in pummeling drums and guitars, just when the listener was getting comfortable.

Flooding kicked off the year, opening for Los Angeles-based outfit Cryogeyser‘s national tour. And building upon that momentum, the trio will be releasing the object 1 EP on July 11, 2025. The EP, which will feature the previously released “your silence is my favorite song” reportedly sees the Lawrence-based trio infusing pop-leaning songwriting into their sound, trading spoken word for melodies and thinking like pop stars when cultivating the energy of their live show.

The EP’s latest single “depictions of the female body”  is a bruising and grungy bit of 120 Minutes-era MTV alt rock that delves into the hope and desperation of unreciprocated desire, capturing the woozy and bitter ache of heartsickness in a deeply lived-in fashion.

“Sexual fantasies are a form of hope,” Flooding’s Rose Brown explains. “If you’re ever horribly depressed, you should try having a crush on someone.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Singapore’s Blush Shares Deceptively Upbeat “X My Heart”

Slated for an August 1, 2025 release through Kanine Records, rising Singapore-based indie outfit Blush‘s sophomore album Beauty Fades, Pain Lasts Forever sees the band with a revamped lineup featuring Soffi Peters (vocals), Daniel Pei (bass), Sobs‘ Darrell Laser (guitar) and Forests‘ Jared Lim (guitar, production).

Continuing the “tangled family tree” collaboration of the contemporary Singaporean indie scene, the album features songwriting contributions from Peters, Laser and Lim with the material showcasing subtle influences from the latter two bands. The album reportedly finds the members of Blush attempting to create pristine pop that simultaneously explores life’s bittersweet moments while featuring intricately crafted arrangements that swirl between dreamscapes and noise.

Yesterday, the band announced their signing to Kanine Records while sharing Beauty Fades, Pain Lasts Forever‘s latest single “X My Heart.” “X My Heart” is an undeniably sunny yet ironically deceptive bit of pop that sees the band pairing jangling guitar and a catchy hook and chorus with a deeply melancholy and heartbroken lyrics.

Shot, directed and produced by Goh Koon How, the accompanying video for “X My Heart” is viral visual that sees its protagonist take spiral from wistful lovesickness into murderous and obsessive delusion.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Beth Gladden Shares Rousingly Anthemic “Subdued Madness”

Beth Gladen is a Cleveland-born, Miami-based singer/songwriter, musician, producer and audio engineer, who works and records out of her Miami-based studio, Sweet Spot Recording.

Following on the heels of “Re-birth,” Gladen’s latest single “Subdued Madness” is a decided change in sonic direction. “Subdued Madness” is a hard-charging and anthemic, 1990s grunge/120 Minutes MTV-era rocker, featuring fuzzy power chords, woozy and eerie bursts of keys thunderous drumming, a supple bass line and some enormous, arena rock friendly hooks and choruses paired with Gladen’s impassioned shouts and crooning. Play loud, reminisce about the 90s if you were around then and rock out.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Bedolina Shares Rousingly Anthemic “We Are the Clock Ourselves Again”

Ken Gould is a Philadelphia-based singer/songwriter, musician, frontman and creative mastermind behind the emerging, experimental rock project Bedolina. The project’s name is derived from the Bedolina Map, a rock in the Italian Alps engraved with a complex topographical map and petroglyphs of people and animals amidst villages and roads, created between 1000 and 200 BC.

The Philadelphia-based band can trace its origins back to just before COVID-19 lockdowns: Gould brought four songs to Miner Street Recording‘s Brian McTear (Kurt Vile, Sharon van Etten) and Matt Poirier. When pandemic lockdowns caused the world to grind to a halt, Gould was allowed the opportunity to create a new, diverse set of introspective songs.

Tour cancellations allowed The War on Drugs‘ Charlie Hall (drums) and Robbie Bennet (drums), along with Dr. Dog‘s Frank McElroy to participate in the recording sessions for the material that would eventually comprise the band’s recently released sophomore album Sun and Flamingoes.

Sun and Flamingoes touches upon themes of surrealism, fascist dystopia and the unsettling nature of the modern world, while socially, the album’s material sees Gould and company establishing a sound that weaves together elements of experimental electronica, indie rock and classic pop among others.

The sophomore EP’s first single “We Are the Clock Ourselves Again” is a woozy rock anthem that showcases Gould’s unerring knack for pairing rousing and remarkably catch hooks and choruses with a relentless, driving rhythm and Dire Straits-like guitars. Featuring The War On Drugs’ Robbie Bennett (keys) and Charlie Hall (drums), “We Are the Clock Ourselves Again” as Gould explains is about “perceiving life through your innate sense of right and wrong.” Highlighting self-reliance, the song encourages those listening to march to the beat of their own “clock.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Hand Habits Shares Optimistic “Wheel of Change”

Meg Duffy is a Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, who over the past decade has spent the bulk of the past decade on the road with acclaimed artist Perfume Genius and as a solo artist, […]

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Frais Dispo Shares Ethereal and Shimmering “Dire je t’aime au téléphone”

Montréal-based indie rock outfit Frais Dispo — Élie Raymond (guitar, vocals), Antoine Lévesque-Roy (bass), Thomas Bruneau Faubert (trombone, synths), Charles Primeau (guitar) and Antoine Gallois (drums) — is simultaneously a rebrand and a markedly radical direction for its members, who first gained attention across both Quebec and Canada as Foreign Diplomats: Frais Dispo sees the Montréal-based band adopting a much more collaborative songwriting approach than previously. Lyrics are written and sung completely in French.

2023’s Teinte, the newly rebranded band’s full-length debut and last year’s Les teints du ciel n’ont aucun sens found the Montréal-based outfit firmly establishing a markedly new sonic direction with their sound drawing much more from alt-country, folk and indie rock.

Building upon the attention that Teinte and Les tients du ciel n’int aucun sens received in the Francophone world, the Montréal-based outfit’s highly-anticipated sophomore album is slated for a 2026 release through Audiogram. Along with that announcement, the band shared their first single of 2025, “Dire je t’aime au téléphone.”

Anchored around an ethereal and gorgeous arrangement of strummed guitar, shimmering pedal steel, “Dire je t’aime au téléphone” has a dreamy, psych country-meets-Laurel Canyon-inspired vibe. Featuring a stream-of-conscious lyrical approach, the new single features motifs that are dear to the band’s Élie Raymond and frequently appear in their work: having the wind blow through your hair, April skies in Québec, the sense of time flying by before your eyes . . . And much like their previously released work, the new single is rooted in a yearning nostalgia that’s familiar and deeply bittersweet.

The song also sees the band adopting a more laid-back, spontaneous songwriting approach throughout the entire album’s creative process. The album’s tracks were recorded live to make the songs live and breathe — and to create a much more organic sound. As “Dire je t’aime au téléphone” ends, you hear a bit of murmured voices, laughter, and a brief sigh and a phone ringing, which gives the listener a sense of being in the studio with the band — and a real warm, imperfect, human element. By working this way, the band wanted to focus more on the emotions at the core of the material rather than the technique, all while capturing the buzzy euphoria of the first studio recordings.

“Dire je t’aime au téléphone,” much like most of the forthcoming sophomore album’s material can trace its origins back to lengthy jams and jam sessions, which they shortened. “We started playing, and when I felt we had something interesting, I started recording. I played the drums one-handed to start recording on my iPhone, sometimes 10 minutes after I started jamming!” The band’s Antoine Gallois, who also served as the album’s sound engineer explains.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Bee Blackwell Shares Yearning and Anthemic “CLAWS”

Bee Blackwell is a rising Austin-based singer/songwriter and musician, who back in 2023 began posting covers of her favorite emo and grunge song online, which helped to create a fanbase that revels in her brand of heartfelt and cathartic music. What began as covers, quickly accumulated into her debut EP, that year’s Calico, an effort that featured fan favorite “Blue.”

The past year or so have been very busy for Blackwell, she released three singles “Dumb,” “The Same” and “Signs.” She made her SXSW debut this past March, along with a handful of energetic live shows around Texas. And with a few months of free time, the rising Texan-based artist wrote and her recorded her highly-anticipated sophomore EP, Nine Lives. 

Slated for a June 30, 2025 release, Nine Lives EP reportedly serves as a sort of personal diary entry, exposing her struggles, emotional hardships and life goals. While seeing Blackwell at her most introspective and daring, taking creative risks while maintaining the vulnerability and honesty that has won her fans. Sonically, the EP’s material showcases her knack for clear and atmospheric guitar hooks, smooth calming grooves paired with her love of 90s grunge and 2000s emo. 

Earlier this month, I wrote about “LALALA.” Self-produced and recorded at Sonic Ranch Studio over a three-day, breakneck stint, the Austin-based artist’s latest single “LALALA” is a decidedly upbeat 120 Minutes-era MTV-like tune, anchored around fuzzy, distorted yet dreamy guitars, swelling synths, Blackwell’s ethereal delivery that builds up to perfectly 90s grunge inspired bridge. And at its core, the song showcases a songwriter, who seems to effortlessly pair catchy hooks with earnest, lived-in lyricism. 

“‘LALALA’ is a conversation between two people who haven’t spoken to each other in probably years, with all the weird boundaries and walls that have built up over the time lost,”  Blackwell says. “There’s a sense of familiarity, but you still don’t know if you can fully trust them, so you just make things up to fill silence or to seem interesting.”

The EP’s latest single “CLAWS” continues a run of 90s/120 Minutes MTV-inspired indie rock featuring fuzzy and distorted power chords paired with Blackwell’s yearning delivery and her unerring knack for big, rousingly anthemic hooks and choruses.

“’CLAWS’ is the struggle of being caught between wanting connection and fearing vulnerability,” Blackwell explains. “Expressing emotion is hard, being a control freak is even harder.”

The accompanying video sees Blackwell and her backing band paying homage to a 1993 live performance from shoegazers Swirlies.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: heavy wild Shares TrIppy Visual for Brooding “Wasteland”

Led by Wolfgang Harte, rising London-based lo-fi outfit heavy wild just released their highly-anticipated Paolo Ruiu-produced debut EP Death Dreams. 

Sonically, the EP sees the London-based lo-fi outfit blending elements of alternative rock, post-punk, garage rock, shoegaze, indie rock, lo-fi and grunge — and is a culmination of the project’s output date, as Harte explains: “I think having a running theme through any body of work is always important. I tend to write subconsciously and never really with a specific idea in mind so looking back through all these tracks and identifying what they’re really about has been interesting, discovering the themes that underpin my writing. There’s a couple of well-loved tracks on there but I’m excited for people to hear some new stuff too and see the direction it’s moving in.”

The EP’s first single “Wasteland” is a brooding whirlwind of a tune featuring shimmering and reverb-drenched guitars and distorted synths and driving rhythm section paired with remarkably catchy hooks and choruses and fuzzed out yet plaintive vocals. Sonically recalling a woozy mix of Interpol, Crocodiles, Grave Babies and others, the song explores themes of fractured relationships, arrests and suicide.

“Ultimately, it’s an optimistic track. It’s about going through dark times and finding a way to keep on going,” Harte explains. “I had a bassline [sic] that I was just playing on loop and I started writing, and this montage of stuff that had happened over the years was flooding my mind, and the energy of that bassline [sic] just kept dragging more stuff up. I guess it’s me sort of processing some of those situations and reflecting on it all. It’s about standing in the wreckage of life and saying fuck it… just gotta keep going.”

Harte cites Wavves, Beach Fossils, Small Black, Girls and Crocodiles as a big influence on him — and on the track. “On this track, I think I was really going back to that stuff that I loved as a teenager when I was first making music and trying to capture that frenetic sort of energy. I wanted the song to sound like it could fall apart at any moment,” Harte says.

The accompanying video is a mix of analog tape fuzz, kaleidoscopic filters and footage of the band in studio shot and edited in a way that evokes our uneasy, near apocalyptic moment.