Rolling indie-rock and jangle-pop 2025 (& 2026)

There's a Tubs album coming out soon.

https://thetubs.bandcamp.com/album/cotton-crown

Some people don't "get it" but they made the best album of 2023, so...

(There is, however, a Tubs thread. This is not intended to be the Tubs thread.)

also, this is pretty good:
https://prismshores.bandcamp.com/album/out-from-underneath

a band I don't think I've ever seen mentioned on ILM that probably should be is Holiday Ghosts, they've been around quite a while now but I only found them a couple of years ago because they supported bands I went to see a couple of times. they're based in Brighton now but were originally from Cornwall. I haven't heard their latest one but their other albums are great. bit of a Flying Nun vibe

i like that prism shores album. it's a little generic but it's just good enough to keep me listening.

a band I don't think I've ever seen mentioned on ILM that probably should be is Holiday Ghosts, they've been around quite a while now but I only found them a couple of years ago because they supported bands I went to see a couple of times. they're based in Brighton now but were originally from Cornwall. I haven't heard their latest one but their other albums are great

Yes, a really fun live band! Definitely worth keeping an eye out for.

Alpine Static keeps up on music for this thread more than 1 that I started, so will let other one I started sit

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

Oh shoot, I seriously didn't mean to duplicate your efforts, curmudgeon. I just didn't realize that existed and I should've searched.

I'm more than happy to copy my posts here over to there.

I had hurriedly put that up on New Year’s Day I think, and then never got back to it myself. So since you have more comments we can just keep it here .

https://jimnothing.bandcamp.com/album/grey-eyes-grey-lynn

^^ James from mid-'10s Christchurch jangle-pop group Salad Boys' release late-ish last year on Melted Ice Cream; very much in the pastoral Flying Nun vein.

new feeble little horse song is a big stylistic curve ball, i like it a lot tho. takes some cues from jane remover-esque glitch pop (this is the regular indie thread so here is the warning that there is some screaming)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ5ARgm--Ok

this is absolutely terrific ... second half better than the first, so stick with it:

https://rottenapplelabel.bandcamp.com/album/good-flying-birds-talulahs-tape

Wow this Good Flying Birds is so good I feel like I'm flying

i'm sayin'

holy smokes i LOVED that

i thought you guys were talking about noel gallagher for a min haha

momma - "rodeo"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sry-CJbhx18

i love that there are still new indie bands making 90s rock homages that are this good

also loving the new wishy songs "fly" and "over and over"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-JV3dyxvoM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbwUwiReGJ4

"fly" in particular rides this really nifty line between like sheryl crow/sugar ray esque 90s radio rock (i've been wondering if "fly" is an intentional reference here) and more jangly/shoegaze-y 90s indie

"over and over" just has great guitar tones and playing throughout. title track i'm less hot on but really looking forward to the EP

wishy album from last year was one of my very favorites. i like 'em more when they're doing a driving shoegaze thing, but they have great pop instincts (and guitar tones) in whatever mode they attempt.

like this was a pitch-perfect "mbv tries to make a radio hit"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTAxJWX7iis

new hotline tnt, not bad. in other news, they are signed to third man records?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLxf7EKjVwo

and the punisher symbol? i have no idea what's going on over in hotline tnt-land

Yeah, iirc, the last one got released on Third Man as well.

The new Momma album is great; none of the tracks is quite as immediate as the two I loved most from the previous LP ("Callin Me" and "Speeding 72"), but I think it's considerably stronger overall. In addition to the track posted above, check out "Last Kiss":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OvVD8Ovjbg

the final 45 seconds of "rodeo" are so fucking good

both Lottie's songs are quite good... I particularly like "The Cut":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3g7uAa0nyI

Anyone into the new Dingus song? Also the new Whiff track is sick. My friend told about this band Booby that's supposed to be good - kind of a mix of Slimer and Gonz.

I think I'm probably just old but the band names are horrendous these days. I'm trying to make up stupid fake band names but they are better than the real ones I'm making fun of. "Momma"!?

Actually Slimer is a legit a really good band name. Gonna check that on Discogs to see if it's taken.

lol, by the time i was half way through that post i thought it was april fools!

wait it looks like i still missed the joke argh

xxp You srsly think "Dingus" & "Whiff" are better than "Momma"(?)

Fwiw, "Wussy" is one of the worst indie band names I know, and that hasn't seem to hurt their rep over two decades...

Heck yeah Whiff is way better than Momma. And after some thought, at least Dingus is like, purposefully stupid, so yes, it is better than Momma. I can't comprehend a band sitting around coming up with a name and someone's like "OOH what about 'Momma'? "I have an idea! 'Wishy'!"

Wussy is terrible but is orders of magnitude better than the recent (real) names in this thread. I'm enjoying the Momma song though. I wish they were called Slimer. Sorry for the derail.

The Whiffs is already taken, sorry ... and they rule:
https://digthewhiffs.bandcamp.com/album/another-whiff

both Lottie's songs are quite good... I particularly like "The Cut":

― uptight subreddit mod™ (morrisp), Friday, April 11, 2025 8:28 AM (five days ago)

I have a pet theory that "The Cut" is about DC Berman.

Snow on the mountain, print in ashen fluff
The wild and beautiful fluttering stuff
Humanity blew through you
Die on the doorstep, a wing pointed down
Silver cuts through me, a dime-colored sound
Back when there was less to do

Knew next to nothing they move sort of gnarly buzz
Too close for comfort the driver is leaving me in the cut
Cause you’re waiting
And you’re watching
Yeah you’re watching
Yourself go bye

His words are like diamonds, he’s lost in the high
Stick to horizons, they stick in my mind
Humanity blew through you
Stayed up a smoking, the sky smoking too
A feeling of fleeting, of time spent too true
Back when there was less to do

Knew next to nothing they move with the sort of gnarly buzz
Too close for comfort, the driver keeps leaving me in the cut

Cause you’re waiting
And you’re watching
Yeah you’re watching
Yourself go by

listening to the momma album now. good stuff. cracked a big grin when they did the collective soul rawk moment 2/3 of the way thru “last kiss” lol

Their playing is really tight!

Speaking of DC Berman connections... I was unfamiliar with this guy, Jeffrey Lewis; apparently he's a longtime NYC antifolk dude who has played & associated with various indie-rock heavies over the years (and has a Berman connection). Tidal suggested his latest album to me, with its goof-on-Dylan cover art, and I checked it out along with some of his other work. Much of his stuff seems a bit too jokey for my taste, but I love this song from the new album:

Do What Comes Natural

The new Beths single jangles pretty hard

Blondshell's new album comes out tomorrow... I've enjoyed all the pre-release songs, and I'm looking forward to it (I was a real fan of the first album). I gather she's not a flavor for everyone, but I think her songwriting & recording are really strong.

I had already liked the singles, but the whole Mei Semones album is really good. More bossa nova than I expected, which I mean in a good way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apfpm0G5icc

Wasn’t familiar with Blondshell before but I’m digging this new one pretty hard so far. One I just heard referenced the Carolinas, that’s always a bonus for me personally

"What's Fair," a grunge song about her deceased mother, is a highlight of the album for me (and a kind of song I've never quite encountered before):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvXT8BjqhUs

Liking the new Lael Neale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0vXgZunt2k

otm about "What's Fair," that's a good song.

Yep.

Interesting recent NY Times story on Blondshell

Teitelbaum’s formal education in songwriting came from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, which she attended for two years before dropping out because of her aversion to the school’s core curriculum requirements (“I was taking oceanography,” she noted dryly). While enrolled, she adopted the artist name Baum and recorded booming, brooding electro-pop in the vein of Halsey or Bishop Briggs. Colored with sass and a pop feminist perspective (“Don’t call me Barbie / Does it look like I own a thing in pink,” went one song, with an added expletive), the tracks garnered modest attention online before Teitelbaum retired the project around 2019.

In hindsight, that body of work reflected Teitelbaum’s strong songwriting point of view, but a weaker sonic one.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/arts/music/blondshell-if-you-asked-for-a-picture.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FE8.6xQO.YmjRDgE9oTR5&smid=url-share

Chezile - Alē
I did not get why "Beanie" was a hit, but I like this new one.
Hope he drops an album soon, and it's a swirly psych pop masterpiece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9TfLlLbuSo

some nice bubblegum indie with a great guitar riff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdo2SB_u3Ro

<3 SSM but I don't love this, will give it more time.

this song from the Momma album kicks so much a$$...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT17GDAC_-w

been meaning to check sharp pins since it got a great p4k review a couple months ago, and yeah, i like it a lot. very smart songwriting with big hooks and sticky verse melodies. lots of alex chilton in the dna, particularly on the acoustic songs.

"chasing stars"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhMR7j5dHjY

"you don't live here anymore"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7XCio3Uc3Y

"storma lee"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liYmiNtai-E

I heartily agree with this Sharp Pins love. Haven’t stopped playing it since it came out.

so the new sharp pins album was very disappointing to me. felt more like pastiche than anything on radio ddr. it did make me revisit radio ddr to make sure i still thought that one was great, and yeah, i do think that one was great. stronger songs across the board, less slavish devotion to 60s. more big star and pop-punk in the equation, less lo-fi lemon twigs

yup. it's not weird enough. i've been noticing a real chilton vibe to his voice, but maybe it's always been there. my favorite one is still the turtle one

the acoustic songs on radio ddr were some of my faves particularly because they reminded me so much of big star ballads! there were also moments on radio ddr where he reminded me of guided by voices or the pernice brothers, and i didn't hear any of those notes on the new one

agreed. won't stop critics from doing the "catching up so i gotta overrate it" thing, though.

I dunno, Radio DDR is more interesting, sure, but the new one is still damn good '60s pastiche imo.

Very minor, but the three-track EP Gather No Moss from Dutch outfit the Hobknobs is charming:

https://correctcassettes.bandcamp.com/album/gather-no-moss

It's Arie van Vliet from Lewsberg and Yaël Dekker from the Klittens - not a million miles away from the former's third VU album / YLT vibes; maybe a bit more Jonathan Richman / Belle & Sebastian.

anyone ever listen to or even heard of the Proctors? my brother just put me on to them, and I just listened to their record from last year which is really solid british jangle pop, lots of pains of being pure at heart in there. they get basically no press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuLzwoDHT3E

I saw the Proctors a couple of years ago in a local pub, supporting Swansea Sound. I liked them, they were selling a reissue of their 2013 album so I got a copy of that. didn't know there was a new one

ha interesting i guess i'm not the only one not feeling the new sharp pins as much

yeah i think it's the difference between making an album that is evocative of alex chilton and skip spence vs making a lo-fi lemon twigs style "i want you to think these songs came from the 60s" album

the slow summits album is really nice btw, thanks for the rec

has anyone in here heard the julian cubillos record from this year? he performed a little acoustic set at a friend of mine's birthday a few months ago and i really enjoyed it, a few people told me after that i should really check out his album & it's one of the better indie releases i've heard this year. really scratches the alex g itch for me that the actual alex g album did not

"talking to myself" is a great single, cool guitar playing on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKn106lMdy4

i like "flesh & blood" a lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTk6JxTGCl8

"fruit stripe" is a fun one that changes the tempo up

we're not reinventing the wheel here but sometimes a vanilla ice cream cone is really what hits the spot you know?

https://juliancubillos.bandcamp.com/album/julian-cubillos

is there a new year thread?

Re: The Proctors, this is may favourite of theirs (and locating that clip reminds me that I took the photo on the LP sleeve which forms the Youtube hero image, although unfortunately it’s been squished). I’ve always understood the band to be more or less the solo project of Gavin Priest, who way back in the day started out as lead guitarist in The Cudgels - their LP God’s Children is worth tracking down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVSx5W98iwA

I do have that Cudgels album but I didn't know the bands were connected!

Wow! A bit amazed to have contact with anyone who has that album. Another band related to The Cudgels is Oporto, who did a one-off single (heads up, if it were not already apparent, I can geek out on this sub-strand of indiepop).

never head of Oporto but I see they were on Sunday records which is a good sign - I also have a 7" by the Cudgels on that label

Anyone else heard the most recent Cloakroom record? It rips!!

Them in chill-mode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8aAWK_6bkI

Max shoegaze:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXTO-1ui0Ug

Wow! A bit amazed to have contact with anyone who has that album. Another band related to The Cudgels is Oporto, who did a one-off single (heads up, if it were not already apparent, I can geek out on this sub-strand of indiepop).

― furtho, Tuesday, January 20, 2026 11:39 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Do I get points for having all of those things on my want list? I have tons of other indiepop classics though, so please feel free to geek out. For instance, did you get the vinyl reissue of The Autocollants comp? I ask because mine just came in the mail (finally) today!

Cloakroom is great! loving this, most nu-gaze leaves me cold, just has this flat digital feel, no depth to the mix, I love this and they're not using gauzy guitar plug-ins as a disguise for having half-baked songwriting.

Haha I know exactly what you're talking about, but I still want to hear you name names (or post offending tracks).

I was just reflecting about the synthetic warble / gauze present in nu-gaze but wasn't as actively annoyed since I just sorta move on and continue my "old stuff' mining.

oh man I missed that last Cloakroom album, these tracks are so good

For instance, did you get the vinyl reissue of The Autocollants comp? I ask because mine just came in the mail (finally) today!

didn't know about this! it's not on discogs yet. the original is on my want list though

Yeah nobody added it yet. I'm hoping I don't have to do it.

This expensive variant is the only one barely in stock from the label if you want it bad enough.

https://www.daydreamrecordsofficial.com/store/p/n5tm4ep5myjm00i9c96ph9243pm0u5

oof no that's too much even without the inevitably eye-watering shipping costs, thanks anyway

Oof is right. I don't blame you at all.

Speaking of Discogs, lazily sharing my overall collection is probably the easiest way to prove my deep dive indie credentials

https://www.discogs.com/user/razenave/collection

since there isn't a 2026 thread yet, a new indie rock album i've been into is "away" by jo passed: https://jopassed.bandcamp.com/album/away
he put out an album on sub pop eight years ago then kinda disappeared for a while
new one is really solid - not sure what to compare it to. his voice can be quite elliot smith, the music is maybe closer to real estate/death cab. that all makes it sounds boring but give it a listen, it's nice.

I was in one of the bands on Sunday Recs and although I can’t honestly say I spend too much time listening to this sort of stuff nowadays, Sarah Recs and the worldwide slew of micro-indie labels in its orbit all meant a great deal to me from about 1986 to 1998 or so.

Yeah that’s the exact stretch that I've been soaking up obsessively in recent years. Favorite labels? Favorite deep cuts? Come on you promised some geekery!

Ten old favourites, more or less at random:

The Nivens Yesterday
The Bardots Sad Anne
The Visitors Goldmining
The Siddeleys Falling Off Of My Feet Again
St James Infirmary Terry Marriagehead
This Poison! The Great Divide
The Farmers Boys More Than A Dream
The Rainyard Beneath The Skin
The Church Grims Plaster Saint
Friends You’ll Never See That Summertime Again

there's a few there I don't know, will have to check them out. I have a flexi with St James Infirmary on it but I never heard anything else by them

Just passing through to check out what's new in the jangle thread, don't have much to contribute right now, but shall I add "& 2026" to the thread title?

Yes please

xP St James Infirmary have I understand continued to exist for many years and are essentially a one-man band who have been through different phases and styles. Terry Marriagehead is classic janglepop but may not be very representative of their overall sound.

Heres a song about some Irish hippies traipsing around Europe in the early 70s. I love it. I guess it fits the criteria?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_i2jCyvTnQ

are we as a society ready for the post-geese era? (i like this song, to be clear)

victoryland - "i got god"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpSYEyqS-eE

Thanks for the Cloakroom, Josh. Great sound.

A couple of things I had forgotten about.

First up, Osaka band Wallflower with a delicious slice twelve-string janglepop, I Wish Spring Would Last Forever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1PFk3jRyk4

A sensational four-track ballad called Brighton Beach Postcard (Sonar Ping mix) by Portland’s Imaginary Friend, who later became (earlier were? Not sure of the timelines here) Buddha On The Moon. God I love this song. I think it was released on a strongly-recommended compilation tape called Pop Machine put out by French label Cowly Owl.

I listened to that Oporto single this week, good stuff

Is there a 2026 Listening Club?

Some prime 80s goth jangle pop here, albeit made in 2026

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGPLVJAAq9Y

Carl Wilson of Slate says- "It feels like the only thing the music internet has been talking about the past week is Montreal’s anonyme duo Angine de Poitrine, w/ their dadaesque polka-dotted masks & costumes & their heady brew of outsider art & microtonal math rock."

Today is the first day I have seen a mention of this group. They're doing a tour of Canada and 2 shows in NYC soon

https://stereogum.com/2490052/prism-shores-i-didnt-mean-to-change-my-mind/music

it’s nothing groundbreaking, but this new single from prism shores is exquisite post-pavement core

Just got onto Twisted Teens, a New Orleans duo-plus-friends that's like garage-punk Americana with lyrical pedal steel overlays. Lead dude is Cas P. Ian/CPN, who is/was also lead dude of longtime anarcho-folk-punkers Blackbird Raum. This one's from their just-released second album. (First one's good too.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsq1-90teu0

the band name lets you know what they are about, but Detroit's Mod Lang absolutely nails the early 70s Big Star/Raspberries vibe, really sounds like a 70s record and they have the songs

https://modlangdetroit.bandcamp.com/album/borrowed-time

Loving the Mod Lang album

Shameless band name though

ha yeah I was kind of prepared to dislike it because the name is too on the nose but they have the songs you can't deny

I found Sorry's 2025 album "COSPLAY" recently and am surprised there's no mention of them on ilm. It's their 3rd full length since 2020. I was not blown away, but I keep coming back to it. I think it's somewhere between competent and inspired. You can tell they are mature pop/rock pros, who know what they're doing. Consistent, with plenty of variety, it would have easily made my top 20 last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvYpZV5nv0E

i dig them, but haven't liked anything they've done as much as their delightfully sleazy "rock n roll star" in 2020