Showing posts with label indie pop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indie pop. Show all posts

Aug 20, 2026

Brother Bird • “Landlord” • 2026

 

“'Landlord”'was in a big pile of songs I started in 2023," Glaser says of the track. "I had just turned 29 and was essentially starting over. Most painful, beautiful, necessary year of my life. I was bopping around between friend’s guest rooms and my parent’s basement in St. Louis. Writing is genuinely all I wanted to do. This was one of the first that came out that really excited me… I started playing the little arpeggiated synth line & just let it loop for hours.. slowly wrote words over it and added a clunky guitar part. It was the first one off “The Lodge In Miller County” that I brought to other people. I made a demo with Owen Lewis & Jamie Dick in Nashville.. Hearing real drums kind of turned the “I’m making these into album” switch on. It also gave me maybe the most severe case of demo-itis I’ve ever had?? There are probably 14 different versions of this song."



Aug 16, 2026

If the Pop Kids Unite, They Won't Be Divided • 2026




indiepop has always been about the little things.
A melody that stays in your head all day.
A guitar that sounds better because it isn't perfect.
A handmade sleeve. A tiny label. A song recorded in a bedroom.
A record passed from one friend to another.
But perhaps most of all, indiepop has always been intimate.
This compilation brings together songs from different corners of the indiepop world, connected by the same spirit: melody, independence, friendship, intimacy, and the simple joy of making and sharing music.
There are no rules about what indiepop should sound like. It can be jangly, noisy, sweet or melancholic. What matters is the feeling the sense that these songs were made because someone had something they wanted to say, sing, or share.
And maybe that's why the pop kids have always found each other.

Forget Them Wendy • Apple Pie • 2026



Forget Them Wendy are an indie pop/grunge duo
made up of Newcastle-based songwriter Laura
James, and Edinburgh-born producer and guitarist
Oliver Price, now living in London. The band take
their name from a line in J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan:
“Forget them, Wendy. Forget them all. Come with
me where you'll never, never have to worry about
grown up things again.” Shaped by their shared love
of 90s records from bands including The
Cranberries, Smashing Pumpkins and The
Breeders, the pair combine indie pop melodies with
grunge influences and playful, self-aware
songwriting.

Their latest single, “Apple Pie”, sees Forget Them
Wendy showing a softer side, with acoustic guitar
taking centre stage. Written in the height of summer,
the track is inspired by those hazy, lazy days that
seem to stretch on forever. Laura sings, “‘Life’s an
apple pie, let it float on by’”, a line she admits she
doesn’t really know the meaning of, but somehow
knows is important.

Aug 11, 2026

The Flip Phones • Tumbleweed • 2026


 

Spinning Adrift is about the search for meaning and finding a sense of place in an increasingly complex world. “It’s a Sign,” inspired by the Happy Foot/Sad Foot sign in Los Angeles that gained popularity as a means to predict how one’s day would go, is an upbeat song that explores whether our best-laid plans could be upended based on luck or superstition

Aug 9, 2026

Josaleigh Pollett • If I Let It Quiet • 2026


"Breathtaking...A boundless collection of folk-tinged electronic pop." – KEXP

"One of the most exciting indie releases of the year so far." – Paste Magazine

"Rich, electronic textures act as sonic diversions to Josaleigh's questions about life. A tender triumph." – NPR Music


 “Josaleigh Pollett’s third album, In The Garden, By The Weeds felt like a breakout moment of sorts for the Salt Lake City based musician. It would seem their musical evolution continues on If I Let It Quiet, a fantastic record that embraces gorgeous art pop (leaning on the pop end to fantastic results) and soft focus synth experimentation. Due out on July 24th via Audio Antihero (Frog, Avery Friedman, Tiberius) and Lavender Vinyl, the avant-pop album is deeply focused despite the production being split between Utah and Japan. Perhaps it’s in that freedom to step into the unknown that lets the album breathe the way it does, moving in plumes of smoke and a dreamy (but never “gazy”) disconnected bliss that’s plucked, strummed, and programmed into being. At the core of it all is Pollett’s beautiful voice which has never sounded better, their words given emotional strength from a dynamic melodic range that’s spellbinding throughout.” – Post-Trash

Jul 27, 2026

Teenage Fanclub • Day In The Sun • 2026



Norman Blake and Raymond McGinley have been making music together in Teenage Fanclub for 37 years, and while some parts of being in a band have gotten easier with time, the simplest things can still trip them up. According to Blake, “It’s difficult when it comes to, y’know, coming up with a name for an album. Especially after you’ve made 12 of them.”

Jul 5, 2026

Utopia PKWY • I Knew You Were Trouble • 2026





"Beckmann’s latest project favors hooks and immediacy while remaining delightfully strange and somewhat damaged" 
-Magnet

"‘I Knew You Would Be Trouble’ introduces the project as something melodic and immediate, but still carrying Beckmann’s taste for warped detail and cinematic atmosphere."
-Psychedelic Baby Mag

Jun 28, 2026

Tele Novella • Paper Crown • 2026





With fable-like storytelling and thoughtfully crafted arrangements, Tele Novella's songs draw from folk fantasy, American Gothic imagery, and old-world traditions, often weaving together unexpected textures like chimes, dulcimers, toys, and vibraphones. The result is a sound that feels both wise and childlike, as though these stories have been passed down through generations before finding their way onto tape.

May 21, 2026

Josaleigh Pollett • The Witness • 2026




“The Witness is a song about knowing that to be seen and held and understood, you must first see and hold and understand. It’s about love, beyond limits and gender, across multiple universes. It’s also a little bit about deleting my Twitter account. This album is an exploration of what it takes to quiet the noise of geographical and emotional distance in order to hear ourselves and the ones who see us.

In true independent DIY fashion and similar to 2023's In The Garden, By The Weeds, If I Let It Quiet is recorded mostly at home between my Salt Lake City makeshift home studio and Jordan's apartment in Japan. The difference this time is that we're bringing in more collaborations. In particular, Andrew Goldring, who in addition to mixing and mastering, brought deeper instrumentation to If I Let It Quiet.” 

– Josaleigh Pollett

May 11, 2026

CHINESE AMERICAN BEAR • Dim Sum & Then Some • 2026

 


The sounds on the LP are more musically dense and exploratory, marking an evolution for the duo. The band finds themselves delving much further into experimental territory, while also incorporating more traditional pop elements than they ever have. There's a mix of sonics on this album, featuring warbly guitars, hints of psychedelia, pop, disco, and strings, while also incorporating synth driven, electronic, sounds, as well as droney, hypnotic elements. The LP is a true reflection of the Chinese American Bear ethos: open, curious, and lighthearted. 

Apr 4, 2026

Tom Rosenthal • Uncontrollably • 2022

 

linktr.ee/tomrosenthal


above me • Soften The Blows • 2026



above me is the main songwriting vehicle for SF based artist Rick Altieri, formerly of Blue Ocean and drummer in Aluminum. A project defined by guitar driven pop songs reinforced with drum machines, sampled beats, dreamy synths and strange sound design treats.

Equally rooted in the realms of shoegaze and sample based electronica, above me doesn’t set out to reinvent any particular sound but pays homage to a wide variety of influences from mbv and Chapterhouse to Autechre and OPN.

Mar 28, 2026

The Leaf Library • After The Rain, Strange Seeds • 2026


locates the avant-pop sweet spot - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mojo
experimental Londoners hone sprawl into melodic brightness - 9/10 Uncut
a quiet, melancholic wonder The Quietus
a pure and unashamed blast of drone-pop heaven - Moonbuilding
full of droney, dreamy indie rock - Brooklyn Vegan
welcomes the art-school kids, stoners, and indie pop sentimentalists alike - All Music
beautifully crafted and light - Is This Music


London quartet The Leaf Library return with their fourth studio album After The Rain, Strange Seeds (out on 20 March via Fika), a luminous collection of pastoral indiepop, drawing inspiration from suburban isolation, unreliable memories and the surreality of the weather. Their most immediate and melodic work to date, the richly evocative songs brim with chiming guitars, buzzing organs and warm, dulcet strings, evoking Yo La Tengo’s more contemplative moments, The Clientele’s autumnal jangle pop and early Stereolab’s motorik melodicism. 

Mar 15, 2026

Eggs on Mars • Good Morning (I Love You) • 2026

Our new album is a collection of love songs in which we turned our melancholia into soft melodic pop songs and wis out now via Enigmatic Brunch Records. Through our midwestern lens we try to summon the sound of the Monkees if they were chosen over the Velvet Underground to be Warhol's Factory band. We like Harry Nilsson, John Andrews, and Chris Cohen a lot!

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Mar 10, 2026

ifitbeyourwill #166 • The Flip Phones


The Flip Phones Know Something You've Forgotten
There's a version of music-making that doesn't care about the algorithm. No release schedule optimized for Spotify editorial. No singles engineered to hook in three seconds. The Flip Phones — Lindsay and Ryan, a married couple turned band — make music on their own clock, and it shows in the best possible way. Their new EP, Spinning Adrift, is the document of that philosophy.

Two People, One Sound
Lindsay brings a classical background and a journalist's precision with language. Ryan traces his listening from 60s pop through Britpop. You can hear both at once: melodic instinct that feels inherited, lyrics that feel reported. What they've built is an acoustic-led sound held up by harmonies, melodica, and a stubborn commitment to writing songs that say something specific.

Where the Songs Come From
A guitar fragment. A notebook line. Something half-remembered and left to sit longer than it probably should have. Spinning Adrift spans years of accumulation — pandemic-era writing, older material that finally found its shape. Some drafts, they explain, deserve time to ripen. In 2025, that reads almost like a radical act.

The Room the Record Was Made In
A trusted producer who drums. A bassist who colors the edges. A visual artist whose cover art feels inevitable. The studio process favored flow over speed — including a deliberate decision to close on the record's darkest note. It doesn't surrender hope. But it doesn't lie about where the light is, either.

The Deeper Aim
The dream of a TV or film sync is real and spoken out loud. So is something harder to quantify: songs that outlast the week they're released. Fewer. More considered. Built to last longer than a social post.
After the conversation, we close with Where The Space Falls Away. Stay for it.

Follow the show, share it with someone who misses when music felt like it had somewhere to be, and leave a review if you have two minutes. 



Mar 7, 2026

Bory • Never Turns to Night • 2026

At the vanguard of PNW guitar music is Bory, the solo project of songwriter Brenden Ramirez. His work recalls the pop hooks of the Shins and the thoughtful songcraft of Elliott Smith. Never Turns to Night—the debut release on Ducks Ltd. bandleader Tom McGreevy’s new label Bleak Enterprise—is a totally sticky, emotive rabble-rouser I’ve been listening to all week. “Living Proof” and “We’ll Burn That Bridge When We Get to It” are serious scorchers, and they’re the first two tracks on the album! But “By the Lake” is power-pop perfection on a headphones record full of great tones. Give it five years and we’ll be calling Ramirez one of the best living guitarists. He graduated at the top of his class from Tony Molina’s shredder school. Look, if you’re looking for riffs stacked on top of riffs, or punchy lyricism from a guy who just gets it, Bory’s new joint will brighten every one of your corners. —Matt Mitchell [Bleak Enterprise]

Feb 20, 2026

BEATRIX • Class Reunion • 2026

Website

The official video for “Class Reunion” feels like Twin Peaks meets The Office, set in a sterile community center. With a firm grip around commonplace anxiety, it is mesmerizing how Beatrix stares straight into the camera and holds the viewer captive — Watch.