Rolling rock and indie-pop 2024

In 2023 there was an emo pop punk 2023 thread and a metal thread but not one for other 2023 psych or whatever rock or indie art-pop so this can be that thread again 2024

Here's the 2023 thread

Rolling rock and indie-pop 2023

despite the band name and album cover, i'm into this album by yungatita: https://yungatita.bandcamp.com/album/shoelace-a-knot

the opening track is misleading, it's mostly solid catchy indie rock a la the beths or charly bliss but with more of a willingness to get noisy when needed

^ intrigued by your descriptions and first impressions, thanks for pointing this out!

idk if this is quite the right thread for this, but i am glad that the narcotix are back! twisty, turny, vocal-forward indie a la anjimile or ibeyi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzJYn8v64zA

album of the year contender out today, straight outta the heart of the indie rock/pop universe: https://liquidmike.bandcamp.com/album/paul-bunyans-slingshot

Liquid Mike are great, yeah!

This album rules. Last years was great as well.

I know Blondshell doesn't have many fans here, but this is a nice new collab w/Bully:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if2juwy6T70

fans of the new waxahatchee album would do well to check out 'forgot about me,' the new album by pouty. my favorite track was "bridge burner"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILXD-MMswFs

Still House Plants latest is getting acclaim

you’d need a whiteboard to triangulate the various acts that come to mind listening to them – Bill Orcutt, This Heat, Tirzah, Zach Hill, Labradford; free improv, neo-soul, slowcore, post-rock, boom-bap hip-hop. But they wriggle free of comparisons, remarkable given they’re working with a simple, mostly unadorned vocals-drums-guitar setup...

Still House Plants are the most vital band in Britain today, in every sense, and we will be blessed indeed if we get a better album from these shores all year.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/12/still-house-plants-if-i-dont-make-it-i-love-u-review-inspiringly-fearless-and-free-art-rock

It's ok

That is quite the grab-bag of comparison points...!

Yep. I wish it on occasion got farther away from slowcore tempos. Freelancer Joshua Minsoo Kim is calling it a best of 2024 album too.

I kinda like the Reyna Tropical album more

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/reyna-tropical-malegria/

The hyperbole for the Still House Plants plus Pitchfork's recent 9.1 for Cindy Lee seem a bit too much

Lots of people who's opinion I usually connect with love that Still House Plants but it really didn't grab me. Great voice and the musicianship was great but the songs all kinda seemed bland to me. I'll keep trying maybe it'll grow on me.

Yep too samey, which people justify by saying oh the band has roots in slowcore

The new English Teacher album is really nice.

Curmudgeon, thanks for the Reyna Tropical tip. I'm really enjoying the music (sultry vocals, gorgeous rhythm section...) but I could really do without the interstitial blah blah blah. When I'm listening, do I really want to the singer to tell us how she used to be 'anti-singing'? It's like a movie that includes unexciting chats about directorial choices.

I found those interstitials charming, honestly

Really dig this album by Blue Bendy… they’re a UK band, but I feel it has kind of a Beauty Pill vibe(?): https://bluebendy.bandcamp.com/album/so-medieval

(I read about it in pitchfork… yeah, I’m basic)

Still really loving the latest from Ducks Ltd. — their best so far IMO. RIYL: Flying Nun, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Has a bit more craft and less pummelling drum machine than their first (still good IMO) LP

https://ducksltdband.bandcamp.com/album/harms-way

If you folks listen to one song from that Blue Bendy album, make it "Mr. Bubblegum"... damn, it's such a banger!:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fiuGqNiT4A

really liked that album and agreed that it’s the highlight

beauty pill wasn’t a bad comparison, also kind of felt like ought

I don't know Ought, will check them out (I also thought, like, Long Fin Killie meets Wolf Parade...)

Still House Plants are on the cover of Wire magazine. I still like Reyna Tropical more

Ducks Ltd are great!

Been pretty into this Rachel Love track — not really up on their deal or backstory but heard it on a radio show and it really hits the "when Broadcast/Stereolab get poppy" pleasure center

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_t1FAucP6Y

I think she used to be in Dolly Mixture!

She did!

I love Kindsight, best band in Denmark right now, and their new album is very good: https://kindsightkindsight.bandcamp.com/album/no-shame-no-fame-lp

From Alvvays-like pop:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OpwL1z69jo

To a final ten minute epic, which admittedly did sound better live:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJYIMvEP9nw

Oh wow had no idea about the Dolly Mixture connection! Makes sense but also feels like a sonic evolution? Very cool

English Teacher- This Could be Texas is good enough fussy artsy Brit pop

i love their song "only daffodils" but the record was waaaay too pretty and feathery and diffuse, really disappointing.

I can see that take, but some of it works for me, and some is good enough background music

can't believe people are discussing the still house plants album without talking about how incredibly grating the singing is. sounds like anohni but with no sense of melody or dynamics, just constant aggressive warbling

Yeah I checked out the Still House Plants after seeing Ryley Walker rave about the guitar playing, which was quite good, but I couldn't deal with the vocals.

it's decent yeah, but Dry Cleaning still have (by a margin) the best guitar in the current London post-punk scene

hadn't paid much attention to this band for a while but really dig this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10wN--7GxAY

new Les Savy Fav album is out. These 2 singles are pretty fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCXrv6kEkgw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qgo6HiMuX0

that kindsight album is quite good at what it is doing and i really like it, thx!

Yeah Kindsight is kicking it here too. Thanks!

really digging the first two singles from Good Looks' new album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbOtfn9-SxQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZpsahjVgP0

terrific band. their last one was a major, major grower and one of the best albums of 2022, imo: https://goodlooksband.bandcamp.com/album/bummer-year

the title track is an all-timer

their last one is just fine imo

new one seems to be a major major step-up if the singles are anything to go by

finally checking out the full album from the narcotix (posted upthread). hypnotic and arresting stuff. i think each song is based on a tarot card, but idk enough about that to confirm. this one scorches tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7im1pp6Voq4

It took a while to grow on me, but I love the MK.gee album that
just came out this February. It's ethereal and sexy and I don't think I've
ever heard guitar quite like this before. Can't really make out all the vocals,
but they seem there mostly to add to the vibe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB3ImSuqj64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFErYdXddyg

live on Kimmel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrTm_6VpTTo

Saw English Teacher tonight in DC . Singer can sing and some of their best songs were when the arrangements were least busy, and she was emoting

Crowd was a mix of young and old . English Teacher have postpunk, prog, folk & more in their sound at times plus some spoken word vocals ala Dry Cleaning but also sung lyrics.

for my sweeter-version-of-Dry-Cleaning fix i've moved on from English Teacher to King Hannah, whose new one is great

the new Goat Girl seems like a big step forward for that band

I won't be able to get into Mk.gee because the first I'd heard of them was an article about how Eric Clapton is a huge fan and thinks the guitarist is the best guitarist out there

Me too, for same reason!

Lizzy McAlpine sure sounds like some of Phoebe Bridgers catalogue but not as good . Lizzy is in Dc for 2 shows at a 4000 or so seat arena and I decided to listen to her online to see what the big deal is

mk.gee is great despite the slowhand endorsement

we discussed him a bit on the “listening club” thread

https://upsettherhythm.bandcamp.com/album/something-looming

Best straight-up indie rock album I’ve heard in months

I gotta hear that new Goat Girl. and La Luz album is incredible, somehow they keep getting better.

a few recent faves, incl. some late '23

Tomato Flower - Magdalene
Bloomsday - Dollar Slice
The Smashing Times - Burglary in Belvedere
The Bug Club - Marriage
Catbells - Leaves
Wishy - Too True -- there's a thread!
Tetchy - Voices

also new Friko album sounding good, though would be hard to beat IN_OUT

and going further back, somehow missed Central Heat Exchange even with a Living Hour feature - https://centralheatexchange.bandcamp.com/track/tulips-at-my-bedside-2

the new La Luz record is so fucking great, they do so many thing right, like they tap into that feeling of psychedelia without feeling like late 60s cosplay, they have such well crafted songs, and really beautiful ensemble group singing which is a lost art now.

no mention of this project anywhere on ILM that i can find, so i bring it to you, Rolling Rock and Indie-Pop Thread:

https://thisislorelei.bandcamp.com/album/box-for-buddy-box-for-star

Very, very good album of DIY indie-pop + synth-pop.

been meaning to check it out. this is the guy from water from my eyes, right?

That's what I hear. Not familiar with them!

Yeah, this La Luz album is good.

Someone for NY Times and Isabelia Herrera in Pitchfork are excited about Guatemala born , Mexico City based cellist rocker Mabe Fratti

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/mabe-fratti-sentir-que-no-sabes/

Listened to Sentir Que No Sabes by cellist rocker Mabe Fratti twice now and I like it. Rock en Espanol w/ tuneful melodic vocals and nice blend of cello and other instrumental sounds. Some of it doesn't wow me but most is pretty good

listening to la luz now, and it sounds like it would be at home on the soundtrack for lodge 49, along with all those broadcast songs

also sounds great alongside the new Habibi album - https://habibitheband.bandcamp.com/album/dreamachine

New “Big ‘80s”-flavored single from Sports Team (I think I’m the only person here who likes this band):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU6cOF65lU0

Sounds like they have a new album on deck for next February (long way off): https://www.rollingstone.co.uk/music/sports-team-announce-third-album-boys-these-days-with-single-im-in-love-subaru-41601/

I also enjoy Sports Team xp

x-post - La Luz isn't bad on first listen . Has that atmospheric pop feel mentioned above

anyone interested in down-home, harmony-laden heartland rock should check out the new album by fantastic cat, which apparently is an indie supergroup of singer-songwriters i've never heard of. good stuff tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7OMEesx2HE

this new High Vis song also has a certain old-fashioned rugged appeal (i quite like the way the old-fashioned way the drums are recorded)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvcs-23a_K0

I saw Reyna Tropical live last night. Good Spanish l language Latin pop w/ some Cumbia influences

https://quiversss.bandcamp.com/music

Quivers are an Aussie jangle-pop band now touring the US

The Courettes are a Danish & Brazilian 2 piece punky garage rock band influenced also by the Ronettes and girl group and power pop. They're on a North American tour now. In Baltimore tonight Tuesday and in DC Wednesday

no love for remi wolf on ilx? rinsing her new LP, so many earworms. it's shouty and maximal yet energizing and so much fun. 'pitiful' and 'soup' are top of the pops!

haven’t heard the new album but i liked the last one, especially “grumpy old man” which was a great evocation of 90s novelty songs like “how bizarre”

she’s been major signed for a long time tho, idk if she’s really a fit for this thread

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2024/09/24/molly-nilsson-unamerican-activities-review/

Washington Post music critic likes Molly Nilsson's new album "Unamerican Activities" that is pop with some lyrics about McCarthyism

Love this Cocteau Twins-meets-country hit from Danish duo Gorgeous. Admittedly the Cocteau Twins vibes has a lot to do with her weird accent (she does not sing like this on the rest of the spotty album, sadly) making it at times hard to comprehend, but still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaiD9KLIluc

that's nice!

https://kexp.org/read/2022/2/28/introducing-hello-mary-your-favorite-bands-favorite-new-band/

Had read some hype for NY band Hello Mary and some folks I know shared video clips from their recent dc appearance, but I am not wowed on first listen. Shoegaze with breathy female vocals and one more out there song that resembles a Kim Gordon singing with Sonic Youth one. They’re not bad , I just don’t hear anything new or unique.

A bit late catching up with this thread, but enjoying the High Vis album mentioned above.

Just came across French band Alvilda, described as descendants of the Dolly Mixture. They're pretty good. This is their first album, came out last month.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WLX5LRif_4

Didn't know where to put it, but wanted to share this article on the newish alt-pop scene in Copenhagen (ML Buch, Clarissa Connelly, Molina, Fine, Astrid Sonne etc) https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/scene-report/controlled-intuition-the-alt-pop-scene-in-copenhagen-and-beyond

It's been something to see it grow the last few years. In 2020 I thought Danish music was mostly rubbish, and what changed my mind was ML Buch and Clarissa Connelly releasing records in the same year. Four years later Connelly is on Warp and Buch got into Pitchforks top 20 of the decade so far!

Not sure where this goes, but this late find is one of my favorites this year.
Shirlette Ammons - Spectacles
great production, raps, singing, and attitude. Short and sweet, I've played it 15 times in last 2 weeks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEfClfU4uIo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axFLHuJ-VCs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EE-AgdQEq4

Blood Wizard - Devil Dressed In Disguise

(Gets most interesting at the end)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWFMvGhi-Ro

Rolling rock and indie-pop 2025 (for such music that doesn't fit in emo, punk, metal, etc threads)

2025 thread