Maquillage - ArMOR (2025)

I love cases like this: a band I'd never heard about coming to my playlists with such a verve and glam that they leave me choice but to stay silent and get showered with their sound propositions. This time the situation is provided by the Belgian outfit called Maquillage lead by You, Nothing's vocalist Gioia Podestà. Wow.

So, first of all, this is indie rock music but with a strong bias toward the airy and dreamy vibes. But they draw from these without giving up the insanely catchy melodies and paces. This music is so much fun! Every other song on their debut (!) album is of the kind that you need to start humming together with the singer almost immediately. And the whole thing (and each particular song) is rather short, adding to the feeling of a short but powerful breeze going through your life, living it slightly more colourful.

But the airy bit is absolutely here. Songs like my favourite two: Are You Safe and Desire certainly benefit from the almost whispering choruses that are simple but also simply stunning. The lyrics feel slightly unnerving in some places, but overall what strikes you is the warmth of the sound and the catchiness of the repetitive phrases. Short synthy passages or sound samples only make their compositions richer without obscuring the main thing: the ethereal fun.

ArMOR costs 7 EUR.

Check: Desire 

Country: Belgium

Genre: melodic dream pop

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Meena - Different Now (2025)

A blend of genres that gives birth to a concoction that is as airy as it is catchy? Count me in! The Manchester-based Meena has released three EP before their long-play debut, but this is the day now! Or it was in August. Nevertheless, Different Now is hell of an album.

"An incomparably intricate wonderfully listenable burst of mayhem, beautiful delicate sounds woven in a cathartic wave" says the band when asked what they play. I say that the intimate layer of oneiric music, mostly due to the extremely ear-pleasing vocals, is definitely there, mayhem I don't hear. But it doesn't matter as the vocals are accompanied by an artistic blend of electronic music, rock music, trip-hop music, post-punk music. You know how sometimes you see something you know was made out of different elements, but you don't see it at first glance? I have this with this album. 

The electronic sounds in the backgrounds sometimes create melodies but sometimes give out some of the post-punk's roughness (like in Money), which sometimes feel restricted in the trip-hop-like beats. I like artful complications and this is exactly what I get here.

Different Now costs 12 EUR (9.99 GBP).

Check: Creation

Country: UK

Genre: airy electronic wave

Meena - Newspapers (2023)

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chirrp. - Lurid (2025)

Following the trail of lo-fi shoegaze bands from Asia from last week, this time it's time for a new group from a country with solid shoegaze traditions. chirrp. are young and beautiful but already showing great skills at noising up melodic songs and making them as hazy as possible.

They say that they are "good at kneading broken sounds and space into a soft but solid wall of sound, and then hiding behind it" which is such a lovely way of saying that their music is filled with indie pop-rock melodies with a healthy dose of noise. Accordingly, the warm, twee vocals add to the extremely inviting an open atmosphere of the album. It's clear to me that the artists have fun doing their music and that it must be equally fun to see them performing live. 

Running to the Sun is a perfect example: a perfectly mesmerizing melody supported by suddenly raising guitar noise. No wonder that it's already visibly more popular than the rest of the songs here. The only thing I don't like is that Silhouette is clearly inspired by Slowdive's Dagger, a little too close to the original I feel. I think that the talented artists from Taiwan don't need to use hit melodies that already exist.    

Lurid costs 8 USD.

Check: Running to the Sun

Country: Taiwan

Genre: lo-fi hazy indie rock

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Favorite Obsession - Bliss (2025)

Four years after their debut EP and only a month or so after their live appearance at Kraków's Shoefest, the young Czech band Favorite Obsession released their first ever full-length album entitled in the most shoegaze way possible. Bliss makes a promising debut with a number of melodies that are as catchy as one would like.

Recorded "in-between line-up changes, mental breakdowns and gender changes", the album presents a case study of indie rock music with a heavy influence from shoegaze and dream pop genres. There is a healthy dose of noise in this material (which was especially noticeable live!), but it's more about melodies, the fun from singing them aloud, the energy coming from the stage. At least in most of the songs because (Inside) I Bloom makes a beautiful, very intimate and emotional (just take a look at the lyrics, the song starts with "20 year old crisis/6 strings are helping me survive") ballad to provide some balance.

There is something weird going on in Taxi Driver and I can only assume that it's a way to stress that (Inside)... is such an important part of the album. If this is true, I'd make the silence shorter. Because it's not the end of the release! Of the engaging, catchy and very emotional release to be truthful.

Bliss costs 7.5 EUR (180 CZK).

Check: (Inside) I Bloom

Country: Czechia

Genre: noisy indie rock

Label: Golden Hive Studios

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terraplana - natural (2025)

The Brazilians from terraplana made it to my blog already two years ago with their debut album and they are back so soon. Their sophomore release called natural proves that making the melodic, noisy and very honest music for them is, well, natural.

This is the kind of shoegazey, noisey music that feels like fun indie rock reworked to be airier and noisier with a big addition of the DIY honesty to the compositions. It is led by the duality of vocals with the more cheerful female ones provided by Stephani Heuczuk and the gloomier male ones. Interestingly enough, the new album features also a collaboration with Boston-based Winter and I have to say that hear a whisper has to be my favourite track here, the whispery additions fit so well to the otherwise upbeat song. I'm very happy to hear that the gazey scene in Brazil is alive and kicking and terraplana is my favourite proof for that.

Natural costs 10 USD.

Check: hear a whisper

Country: Brazil

Genre: noisy indie rock

Label: Balaclava Records

terraplana - olhar pra tr​á​s (2023)

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Bezsenna - We mgle (2025)

Ah, yes, a good and fresh Polish post-punk, haven't seen that for a while. Although Bezsenna are called like a dream pop band (meaning "sleepless" for a female person), they are in fact energetic and rebellious (at least against the horrors of human existence) artists who are here to make use of some impressive guitar riffs.

While the structures of the songs and the vocals are very much (post-)punk in vibes, the real gold can be found underneath them. Don't get me wrong, I like the lyrics, they seem more focused on the ridiculous elusiveness of human's life and interpersonal relationships, which I find more universal and generally more interesting than punk's usual anti-system attire. But what I like the most is the modern approach to music that plays in the backgrounds. It is so catchy and modern-sounding that it may almost be indie rock-like. In the positive sense of course. I like this mix of punk's alternativeness and indie's approachable nature, makes the music potentially closer to bigger audience. I will be looking at the band's career with big interest.

We mgle costs 30 PLN (7.5 EUR).

Check: Palcem na wodzie

Country: Poland

Genre: modern post-punk

Label: Koty Records

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SPANAWAY - Songs of Yesteryear (2024)

The Pennsylvania band's sophomore album is clearly more appreciate than the debut, and his to be said that their Nothing-like nugaze with more focus on melodies and less on the noise has everything to be one of the most important releases of the last quarter of 2024.

Nothing was the first thing that I came to my mind while listening to Songs of Yesteryear: there is something very familiar in the vocals and the high-quality guitar backgrounds. In fact, their PR company advertises the album talking about "alt-rock masterpiece" with "lush, heartbroken songs" and comparing it to Nothing among other artists. The only difference between the two bands is that SPANAWAY really focus on the melodies and catchiness of their song as well as the soft cushion of the vocals that accompanies the listener on every step while the noisy aspect of nugaze is less prominent (even if it appears from time to time like in Terrible).

But it's not a problem, especially that I like the sadder face of the album with songs like Twenty Seven or Born to Lose so I'm labeling them in my head as Sadder Nothing and I hope they'd like it.

Songs of Yesteryear costs 7 USD.

Check: Twenty Seven

Country: Pennsylvania, US

Genre: melancholic nugaze

Label: Burial Whisper

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Strangers in My House - Leave It Undefined (2023)

Although on the local stage, they feel like they have been around forever, technically speaking, the Kraków-based Strangers in My House have only just released their debut LP. And with Leave It Undefined , the band proves that they are one of the best noisy bands in the country and perhaps one of the most underrated ones in general.

The band is known for their love for classic shoegaze music (RIDE for instance) and it's clearly felt in their songs. The hazy guitars backgrounds give away those inspirations pretty easily: while the songs in general are pretty much traditionally formalized, the chaos in the backgrounds can be pretty impressing. But this noise and this chaos are mostly kept in the backgrounds give way to the melodic vocals by Magdalena Radecka. Those are quite far from the distorted shoegaze standards and bring more of the fun, indie rock vibes. Indeed, the band admits that they wanted to keep the debut album in a more "energetic and groovy" atmosphere, compared to the previous releases (which is especially audible in the swift and surprisingly fast Destination Point).

The symbol of their musical road is Words, a song that featured on their very first single in 2019, now, in an improved form, is one of the highlights of the debut album. And to be honest, next to all of the tracks on this short album deserve to be called "highlights".

Leave It Undefined costs 7 EUR (30 PLN).

Strangers in My House - Strangers in My House (2020)

Check: Destination Point

Country: Poland

Genre: noise indie rock

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Oceans - Dreamers in Dark Cities (2023)

The Australian Oceans, who are known for "fusing various genres together to create unique sonic landscapes inspired by ambient, new wave and 90s shoegaze", have appeared on my blog already when in 2022 they were part of the split release with the British band Wilt. And finally, they managed to release their debut album this year with Dreamers in Dark Cities being a fantastic take on the melodic shoegaze music.

This is the kind of music that fills a need for the atmospheric blessing and the melodic energy. The compositions are very much based on the distinct bass line that can be particularly fast while the heavy, fuzzy guitars around it give slower, more monumental vibes. This is, traditionally one can say, balanced by very ethereal and dreamy double, male and female, vocals (sometimes more uniquely sounding like in parts of Feels Like You, but usually following the genre's style guides). This balance is usually tilted in favour of the lighter, more melodic side of the project and it feels right for the band, although I'd be curious to hear them in heavier, more shoegazey compositions too (like in the final track of the album).

Dreamers in Dark Cities costs 7 USD.

Wilt & Oceans - Wilt (2022)

Check: Feels Like You

Country: Australia

Genre: atmospheric noise pop

Label: Shelflife

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Softcult - See You in the Dark (2023)

Mercedes and Phoenix Arn-Horn make music as Softcult. The Ontario-based artists haven't released a long-playing album yet, but See You in the Dark makes already their third EP. And it may well be the best one yet.

This is the kind of music that blends the energy and fun of indie rock with the expression of punk and the dreaminess of noise pop. Everything is very melodic, the pace is high and it makes you feel like dancing. Songs like Dress are real bangers that could be in the repertoire of the biggest indie rock bands. But there is also a hint of melancholia, some sadness in the compositions' dispersed vocals and hazey backgrounds. And the further the album goes, the more striking it is. The final songs are pure guitar haze with delicate vocals put on top: a music to feel and to shed a tear to (Love Song is sooo beautiful).

See You in the Dark costs 6 USD.

Check: Love Song 

Country: Canada

Genre: noise pop

Label: Easy Life Records

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Svntax Error - The Vanishing Existence (2023)

Coming from Sydney, Australia, the "psychedelic post-rock for the apocalypse" from the band of Svntax Error brings some unexpected developments on the post-rock music front line. The band's new album, The Vanishing Existence, is the second in their discography and it proves that the artists feel more and more comfortable with the music they make.

The first thing one notices about their music is the synthy, psychedelic sound that exists besides the guitar and drums. This is actually theremin, one of the most mysterious instrument out there. It gives this mesmerizing, otherworldly taste to the compositions which, to make the effect more striking, are not very fast, the pace is steady and, in turn, hypnotizing. This is complimented with the melodic, indie rock-like vocals that transform some of the tracks into psychedelic rock gems.

The album is written to investigate the "themes of loss in all its myriad forms and the human, emotional and physical responses they inspire" which, with the overall sound of the album, makes a rather gloomy impression. The band is going to appear on this year's dunk!festival in Ghent and I can't wait to see them live there!

The Vanishing Existence costs 6 EUR (10 AUD).

Check: Backwards Through the Storm

Country: Australia

Genre: theremin psychedelic rock

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Full Moon Little House - Funeral (2023)

Kévin Navizet comes from Bretagne and leads the Full moon Little House band. The Frenchmen make an interesting, calm and dreamy take on indie music and it's definitely worth trying. Their debut LP called Funeral was released in March.

It's all about the subtle and oneiric (but not too subtle and oneiric) vocals and catchy (but not too catchy) melodies that makes this music so captivating. The music is also rich with psychedelic elements, but, as everything here, it's not overwhelming, but rather approachable. It's also fun to find out what kind of  artists the band are inspired by. My favourite is probably Suuns, as Eyes sounds like it could be taken from Suuns' Zeroes QC, one of my most favourite albums ever (also, June totally sounds like Radiohead towards the finish). The atmosphere here is a bit all over the place (there are elements of electronica, post-rock and other genres), but the unassuming vibes and great way of engaging the audience are what drives me to this album.

Funeral costs 8 EUR.

Check: Eyes 

Country: France

Genre: dreamy indie rock

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Excellent Skeleton - On Mercury Sea (2023)

The Cardiff-based Excellent Skeleton debuted this year with their combination of psychedelic noise scapes and traditional rock & roll" on the album called On Mercury Sea. And this is one solid and promising debut if I've ever seen one.

One of the music genre they quote as influential on their music is shoegaze, but it has to be said that the loud and noisy guitars sometimes give way to the lively melodies and unpretentious vocals (as in the very catchy Train Station). And if it is noisy, it is noisy in the style of Spiritualized: music as psychedelic as it can be packed in a good dose of loudness. This also includes the "choral" vocals that, for me, always felt like almost a gospel-like and I have a great sentiment for them. This debut from the British Isles sure sounds like happened some around two decades ago and I appreciate it very much. They know what they like in the music from back then and know what to do to achieve a similar sound, that's for sure.

On Mercury Sea costs 12 EUR (10 GBP).

Check: Mosquito

Country: Wales/UK

Genre: noisy psychedelic rock

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Arima - Beldurrez beste egitean (2023)

The Basque Arima are back with their third ever EP. The artists play their take on noisier indie rock with psychedelic influences and, as it's their signature quality so far, Beldurrez beste egitean is really good.

The artists admit that the album marks the end of some phase of their career as a band. The music here feels like "leaving the darkness of the sea, to feel the sun's rays on the skin" with the shift in their perspective that is characterized by the compositions with less of the noisy bang around them and with more focus on the songs themselves. As a result, we can experience four slower, more ballad-like tracks with a lot of weight put on Paule Bilbao's very rock-like vocals. They draw a lot from the noisy genres, building a good, solid base on the noisy guitars with beautiful oneiric moments, but it seems to me that there's more indie rock here that can gradually evolve into very post-rock-like instrumental blizzard (as in Kea eta larruak) kind of orientation. 

I like how short and economical in a sense the lyrics are. They are poignant and straightforward, leaving at the same time a lot for the listener to add from themselves with the best example being Oroigarri bat where Bilbao basically sings how bad she feels without this special someone. 

Beldurrez beste egitean costs 7 EUR.

ARIMA - Metamorphosis (2019)

Check: Kea eta larruak

Country: Basque Country/Spain

Genre: noise rock

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YEAHRS - Transfer.Transform (2023)

The four-piece band from Berlin playing shoegaze based on very post-rock guitars, this is YEAHRS and their maybe debut album or maybe second EP called Transfer.Transform.

The quality of the guitar music that this album is based on, was the first thing I noticed. The guitars feel crunchy and the compositions well-written and complex enough to potentially function without the vocals as post-rock music. But with the dispersed, yet melodic, vocals, the album gets a lot to the oneiric experience, making it virtually a treat for shoegaze lovers. That is until it suddenly gets heavier and faster with the soothing vocals starting to coexist with post-hardcore screams. I like surprises like this. I really am looking forward to more from the Germans.

Transfer.Transform costs 5 EUR.

Check: Judgement Day

Country: Germany

Genre: shoegaze rock

Label: Night Ritual

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Pastry - Cyan Fabrics with Stains on Them (2022)

Indie rock meets noisy inspirations, this is the Polish band of Pastry. Coming from the Tricity region on the Baltic sea, the band showed their debut LP called Cyan Fabrics with Stains on Them towards the end of the last year.

The fast, melodic songs show how well indie rock can coexist with noisy and dreamy elements. The vocals are, for the most part, properly distorted, the guitars noisy and enthusiastic. On this album, the artists changed their sound a bit towards slightly heavier, darker notes and I feel it makes their melodic music slightly unnerving and exciting (so well audible in Mute). It is especially tangible in more experimental tracks, like in Black with the spoken word vocals that turn into mesmerizing chanting. This marks the post-punk inspirations in the overall more noisy music from the Polish outfit.

Cyan Fabrics with Stains on Them costs 3.5 EUR (15 PLN).

Check: Mute

Country: Poland

Genre: noisy indie rock

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MOLLY - Picturesque (2023)

Although I missed it on this blog, MOLLY's debut album All That Ever Could Have Been was a true highlight of 2019 for me. And as the sophomore Picturesque is at least as good as the first one, it simply had to appear in here.

The Austrian duo's post-rock music formed as indie rock compositions has been compared to variety of other bands, including most notably Sigur Rós. For me, it is close to what The Boxer Rebellion used to make at their beginnings: high-pitched, soft and emotional vocals in melodic compositions for which the backgrounds are pure post-rock sounds. The new album is opened exactly like that: the single track Ballerina is fairly short and radio-worthy, but at the same time shows the heavy post-rock influences, audible from the very first notes. But already the second song is very different: four minutes of more traditional artsy and indie composition, followed by almost 10 minutes-long pure post-rock masterpiece.

The whole album balances between indie art rock and post-rock noisy crescendos. This combination is both tear-jerking and euphoric, lyrical and heavy. In this unorthodox approach to the genres, MOLLY remind me also about their compatriots from Our Ceasing Voices - while the music is slightly different, the overall atmosphere is similar.

Picturesque costs 7 EUR (6 GBP).

Check: The Golden Age

Country: Austria

Genre: post-rock art rock

Label: Sonic Cathedral

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Wang Wen 惘闻 - Painful Clown & Ninja Tiger (2022)

The Chinese icons of post music, Wang Wen, are back with their new album called Painful Clown & Ninja Tiger. For over 20 years, the artists are known for the fact that their music is far from the traditional definition of post-rock, yet still appealing to the genre's fans.

The new album is a hodgepodge of traditional, instrumental post-rock very much in the old God Is an Astronaut style, with vocal-led moody songs. But unlike those from Immanu El or ef, the vocals here are not oneiric ghosts, they are more like traditional, slightly old-school music-inspired. These old-school vibes are noticeable throughout the whole album, in the vocals, in the sound of saxophone, in melodies that feel like taken from the 80s. It has its charm, that's for sure. It may feel a bit disorientating genre-wise and it's probably not a thing for everyone, but the slower pace of the compositions and the artsy take on the instrumental music really are entertaining.

Painful Clown & Ninja Tiger costs whatever you want to pay.

Check: There's a Wallmart Underneath the Olympic Square 

Country: China

Genre: old-school post-rock

Label: Pelagic Records

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Haiku Garden - Loose Contacts / Tense Present (2022)

The Slovenian dream rockers are back with their second album. Four years after the debut Where If Not Now, Haiku Garden released Loose Contacts / Tense Present to make their name sound even louder in the psychedelic music world.

Their label advertise the album as "clear, direct sound that punches you in the face and yet manages to stay articulate and refined" with hints at that the Slovenians got more musically matured and refined. But this doesn't affect their energy, so audible in the guitar-heavy compositions. Perhaps the way they balance the energetic and the soothing songs is a prove for this more mature approach to song-writing with Structures subtle psychedelic magic that borders with the high-paced Levitate. But, what's more important to me, the band can also create a real guitar-fueled storm of noise as it is the case in Loose Contacts or more synthy in Tense Present, if only they decided to do so more often.

Lyrics-wise, the album is said to be exploring the "themes of ever-changing relationships and division" while staying hopeful in that matter. And the music reflects that very well: serious and noisy guitars playing catchy tunes is my favourite kind of rock.

Loose Contacts / Tense Present costs 7 EUR.

Haiku Garden - Where If Not Now (2018)

Check: Loose Contacts

Country: Slovenia

Genre: psychedelic indie rock

Label: Kapa Records

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Minaxi - Lazuleen (2022)

Minaxi are from New York but their inspirations reach more distant places. Their hit-worthy indie rock with some noisy elements can be admired on the band's sophomore album called Lazuleen.

The most interesting part of Minaxi's music is the multicultural dimension of their works as they blend the Western genres (psychedelia, shoegaze, dream pop, noise rock) with the South Asia's sufi music - no wonder the band calls it a "sonic buffet" for the audience to choose from. And similarly, on the language side, English dominates on the album but there are also part sung in Hindi audible. It is all because of one of the band's leaders, Shrenik Ganatra, who traces his origins to this region of the world. But the overall impression while listening to the band's music is that it is a well-done indie rock music that draws interesting flavours from various places. The guitars are very clearly the driving force of the compositions: sometimes rock-like heavy (like in Lost in the Water), sometimes more subtle. There's certainly some of the oneiric genres within the pool of inspirations but the music here can hardly be called noise pop/rock, it's more about the catchy melodies and either dance-inspiring energy or relaxing, mellow music subtlety.

Lazuleen costs 11 USD.

Check: The Deep Blue Sea Conveys Your Love

Country: New York, US

Genre: dreamy indie rock

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