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.

I didn't love "Song for the Messenger" when it came out as a single. I thought it was too similar of a cadence to "The Coward Forgets," which I love, and easily entered my personal all-time top 1000 songs when I first heard it last year. I do love most of this new album. The first two and the last two tracks I'm not feeling so much, but the 10 track stretch in the middle I love.

Im really liking the new Styrofoam Winos album "Any River". That sweet spot between laid-back indie rock and alt-country. A nice breezy summery record.

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.

― etc, Tuesday, November 25, 2025 1:01 AM (seven months ago)

Debut album is out!

https://thehobknobs.bandcamp.com/album/helmets-off

Nobody does dry/droll like the Dutch, eh.

x-post- Chanel Beads now have their own thread someone made and there's a discussion there of cloud rock.

Im really liking the new Styrofoam Winos album "Any River". That sweet spot between laid-back indie rock and alt-country. A nice breezy summery record.

― Saxophone Of Futility (Michael B), Sunday, June 28, 2026 8:26 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

this and Iceage are probably my fav indieish albums this year

Westside Cowboy seem like a fine young band coming out of Manchester. They're pretty popular already? Songs are well arranged and played with earnestness and enthusiasm, with occasional little rave-ups to shake your head to. The EP that came out in January is fine. I think an album comes out in August. This new single is fantastic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdx0uQR_Sro

TV For Cats - Talking About It

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg9XjuR7R0Q

this track was played on bbc 6 music tonight, very snappy and catchy track. riyl Blondie, A Certain Ratio, ESG, Bush Tetras, Au Pairs, Tom Tom Club.

the clipped guitar funk, the dry snare, the spoken‑sung vocal, the elastic bassline.

https://www.instagram.com/tv.forcats/

TV For Cats
14TH AUGUST - The Prince Albert, Brighton
28TH AUGUST - The Shacklewell Arms, London

They're really zeroing in on a specific sound, huh...'80 - '82? '81-'83?

reminds me a bit of Bananarama too

thanks all for the styrofoam winos rec, that record is a dream

yeah soooo good and leagues above the nu alt countryish stuff it could get categorized with imo

yeah soooo good and leagues above the nu alt countryish stuff it could get categorized with imo

TV For Cats - Talking About It

a little B-52's in there too!, no?

oops scratch that !

Styrofoam Winos are an exemplary group but I still haven't spent very much time with the new one

sorry for the self-promo but gonna throw my band's new album on here
shredded sun "never odd or even"

more indie rock than jangle but check out "skyscraper" if you like the jangle

listened to the whole thing last week, really good stuff and well worth ppl's time

I really dig this song by Westside Cowboy from Manchester, would have never guessed they were from England just based on the audio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdx0uQR_Sro

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/sweeping-promises/sweeping-promises-interview-august-2026

Sweeping Promises latest is getting lots of favorable attention

I think a lot of people would like this GB - 'Herzsprung' record on AD 93, very jazzy and stripped down.

yea, an aoty contender for me

this is interesting...definitely reminds me of Karate at points

The Spook School have reformed!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j9WpAXgQQs

was just coming here to mention that! so happy

I like the Victoryland album quite a bit, and it's growing on me with every listen. I'm pulling my hair out trying to think who the vocals remind me of. Nice variety, and he really sells the sentiment. The Westside Cowboy album disappointed me a little, but that's mostly due to expectations, I think. I really liked all three of the singles. Love all these 10-12 song albums under 40 minutes that seem to be about now.

nice song off the new Slag EP. The singer evokes a little Chrissie Hynde on occasion, and has a real style to her delivery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ds4J9Vh2nc

untitled (halo) - easy rider

So, on BBC 6 Music "New Music Fix" show tonight this track was played, and I reckon it is one of the defining tracks of the year, that is going to show up in a lot of EOY lists.

untitled (halo) releases "easy rider", the newest single from their upcoming self-titled debut album, released on 6 November via Dirty Hit. https://t.co/w5Xu1J2g6Z

— THE LINE of BEST FIT (@bestfitmusic) September 16, 2026

https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/untitled-halo-share-new-song-easy-rider

Speaking about the track, vocalist Ariana Mammon explains it as:

The closer for the record - where we feel the summation of all the previous tracks. A classic rock song, strong simple guitar, a jam at the end, a moment where the band sings together echoing lyrics.”

imagine Harriet Wheeler jamming with MBV and Sonic Youth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=828gaktZx9I

speaking of sounding like harriet wheeler, this is uncanny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hphaxxjz2Wc

beabadoobee - Memories

I really like all the untitled (halo) stuff I've heard, and that single is great and shoegazey.

gotta say, this Mildred album (although its mixing/sonics need a bit of love) is really beautifully scratching my old-school Okkervil River/Pinegrove/Silver Jews kinda itch

isn't as insider-vouched-for but enjoying it at least as much as that Ryan Davis record last year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBh_H09IHiI

oh! Friendship! that's the other band they remind me of

Enjoyed the Mildred album. Fine literate songwriting and well crafted arrangements for a debut. Had to laugh when I read how smart they all are:

An environmental lawyer and crossword savant (Will Fortna)
An atomic physicist studying the titanium atom (Jack Schrott)
An architect, carpenter, and former monastery resident (Matt Palmquist)
An affordable-housing advocate (Henry Easton Koehler)

"They live together, and their songs are born out of living room free-association and dinner-table arguments over what a song actually means. They literally wrestle lines away from one another. If one member absentmindedly mumbles a piece of a lyric for a few days, another will grab it, refine it, and build a world around it."

Sounds like they all write and sing.

wow. thanks for sharing.

Loving this Mildred record. Thanks for the suggestion. Really awesome drum production.

Bellringer from New Orleans, feat Caspian from Twisted Teens playing guitar in a more backup role, really like the singer's vocals and lyrics

is this the afterlife | Bellringer https://share.google/QJpEo22cBsHfvJ4sU

I wasn't familiar with the Drin, but the new double-album is good. Reminds me in various places of the Velvets, Pavement, Jason Pierce, but all filtered through Ohio and with saxophones.

Like so

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVS308pin4U

New Kiwi Jr record is great!

oooh The Drin is good stuff

Yeah I'm very Drin-pilled after spending the weekend with it. Also like the Kiwi Jr., those guys are sort of chronically overlooked imo.

drin length is intimidating but it seems like #myshit

There are too many songs, it's an indulgence for sure, but most of them are pretty good.

Yeah that Mildred album is really good, I dug that.

On a similar note, really loving the new Lily Seabird album, Lightspheres on Their Way. The slightly dismissive, but not entirely wrong, elevator pitch is probably Adrianne Lenker meets MJ Lenderman. "Portal to the Past" and "Blackstar" are my current favorites, nicely reflecting different facets of the songwriting.

https://lilyseabird.bandcamp.com/album/lightspheres-on-their-way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg2pDplzp0w

I love, love, love the new Klittens album. 13 songs in 33 minutes that never go quite where you expect and are all brilliant. Wish I had heard it before I had to submit my end of year list a couple of weeks ago :(

the new New Age Healers album is so gorgeous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35GYyG76koQ

Kittens is awesome, these drum sounds are so great, and agree it goes in surprising little directions during the songs

Repped these guys in the AOTY thread but haven't seen them mentioned anywhere on ILM and figured this group would dig them. Symphonic Japanese rock band (prevalent piano) with big, big highs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Ns7W1uAy0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFbiNCSR5V4

Really a huge fan of Greg Freeman's (not the Pell Mell guy) new album, All Set the Bone. He's released three killer albums so far but this is my favorite, he's completely lost the more alt-country vibes of the first two albums (no more pedal steel, nearly all the twang gone), which I liked but I think ditching them helps the new album out a lot. He has a bit of a Jason Molina delivery but that's about the end of the comparisons.

Anyway, I think this is a great record:

https://gregfreeman.bandcamp.com/album/all-set-the-bone

Not sure if "indie-rock" is the best descriptor for this, but I caught Cor De Lux opening for Slift the other night and they were tremendous. The drummer was a beast and I can't remember the last time I saw a drummer enjoying playing so much.

Year of the Horse is their second album, on Ipecac, and it's great:

https://cordelux.bandcamp.com/album/year-of-the-horse

i like the greg freeman album, maybe a little less than burnover from last year. there are a couple too many songs where he goes full malkmus on the new one, imo