Tag: Alternative

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Alice Merton – Island

Artist: Alice Merton

Song: Island

Genres: #indiepop

Location: Berlin, Germany

Release date: September, 2021

Comment: I don’t know much about this German-born Irish-Canadian #singersongwriter. She achieved notoriety around 2018 with her hit No Roots but I can’t say I liked it that much. Last month, Alice Merton dropped two songs that should be part of her forthcoming sophomore album: Hero and Island. Hero is the one that got a music video recorded but Island is the track that caught my attention. I really dig it and that’s why I wanted to share it here. Hope you enjoy it as well.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Feeder – Comfort In Sound

Artist: Feeder

Song: Comfort In Sound

Genres: #indierock #alternativerock

Location: Newport, United Kingdom

Release date: October, 2002

Comment: A few days ago when J. Zito was featured here, I compared him to indie rock band Feeder, but some people had never heard of the Welsh band. They peaked in 2001 and 2003, when they won Kerrang! awards, but they’re still going strong today, after 10 studio albums (the last one in 2019) and 40 singles.

Their most popular single is Buck Rogers, a UK top five single in 2001, but the track I’ve decided to feature as this week’s #ThrowbackThursday entry is 2002’s Comfort In Sound, a personal favorite (fun fact: had The Alternative Mixtapes been taken, I would probably have called this blog Comfort In Sound. It was a matter of time before it showed up here). Feeder’s original drummer, Jon Lee, committed suicide in 2001 and the surviving members of the band were close to calling it quits. Jon’s family convinced them to continue and that’s when they wrote this great track about finding comfort in music even during your worst moments. I, for one, can relate to that.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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Ruby Fields – Song About A Boy

Artist: Ruby Fields

Song: Song About A Boy

Genres: #indierock #alternativerock

Location: Sydney, Australia

Release date: July, 2021

Comment: If you like distorted guitars, then you’re going to love this vulnerable track from Australian #singersongwriter Ruby Fields, who has emerged as one of the most talented artists in the alt-rock scene from the Land Down Under. Song About A Boy tells the story of a love relationship gone awry and it comes accompanied by a great music video inspired by the movie Midsommar. Both track and video are well worth your time.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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DYGL – Half of Me

Artist: DYGL

Song: Half of Me

Genres:  #alternativerock #poppunk

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Release date: July, 2021.

Comment: Formed in 2012, DYGL (pronounced “Day-glo”) is an indie rock band from Japan that sounds incredibly good. Half of Me, for example, is all kinds of catchy with a touch of pop-punk rhythms. Their press release calls it a “killer tune” and, quite frankly, I have to agree with that. This song is one of the singles off their latest release, A Daze In A Haze, which is well worth a listen.

I hope this is just the start of a trend of great rock music coming out of Japan. We need this.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Punk-Rock

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Sylvan Esso – Funeral Singers

Sylvan Esso - Funeral Singers

Artist: Sylvan Esso

Song: Funeral Singers

Genres:  #folktronica

Location: North Carolina, United States

Release date: September, 2018.

Comment: One of my favorite tracks in Third Eye Blind’s new album, which we have discussed before, is Funeral Singers, which I thought was an original song until the band shared their influences for the new album on instagram and one of them was Sylvan Esso‘s Funeral Singers. It turns out that Sylvan Esso‘s version is also a cover, with the original being from experimental rock band Califone. Each version is different but if I had to pick just one, I think I’d choose Sylvan Esso‘s. There’s something about lead singer Amelia Meath‘s voice and the acoustic strums in the background that I find mesmerizing.

If, like me, you were not aware of Sylvan Esso before, I hope you enjoy this cover from 2018 (which features American musical ensemble Collections of Colonies of Bees) as much as I do.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie

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Transistor – Silver Lining

Artist: Transistor

Song: Silver Lining

Genres: #indierock #alternativerock

Location: Alabama, United States

Release date: July, 2021

Influences: The Strokes, Bruce Springsteen, The Killers

Comment: Silver Lining is the third single off Transistor‘s debut album and despite its upbeat rhythm and fun vibes, it got a sad and deeply moving backstory. Lead singer Patrick Davies’s mom was just like this song: upbeat and energetic, and that did not change even after she got a terminal cancer diagnosis. Silver Lining refers to searching for meaning and something to hold on to despite having everything against you. Don’t get me wrong, Silver Lining is a really good song but knowing it is a homage to Patrick’s mother takes it to a whole new level.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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in earnest – i feel alone even if i’m not

in earnest

Artist: in earnest

Song: i feel alone even if i’m not

Genres:  #indiefolk

Location: Southend on Sea, United Kingdom

Influences: Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers.

Release date: October, 2021.

Comment: Regular visitors to T.A.M. should already be familiar with indie trio in earnest, as they have been featured here a couple of times before. They are back now with their sophomore EP, reasons to stay alive, which is also their most artistically ambitious project to date. It is a six-track record with no gaps between songs that you could listen to on an infinite loop. Ideally, you would listen to the EP from beginning to end but if I had to choose just one song, then it would be I feel alone even if I’m not because of its haunting melody and emotional vocals. If you’re looking for some music to listen to during some alone time, you just found it.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie

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The Summer Set – Street Lightning

Artist: The Summer Set

Song: Street Lightning

Genres:  #alternativerock #poppunk

Location: Arizona, United States

Release date: September, 2021.

Comment: The Summer Set, a pop-punk band from Scottdale, Arizona that after achieving a decent following went on a hiatus in 2017, surprised their fans in August when they announced that they were back to making music and dropped their first single in 4 years. Street Lightning is as catchy as anything they’ve ever released with, as depicted in the music video below, some 80s music vibes that fit it really well. As lead singer Brian Logan Dales described it on his Instagram: “This song is about chasing the high of life as fast as you can, written by a guy who finally learned how to slow down and take in everything around him.”

Enjoy!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Punk-Rock

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Chxrlotte – Hey?

Artist: Chxrlotte

Song: Hey?

Genres: #indiefolk

Location: Brighton, United Kingdom

Release date: June, 2021

Comment: Ukulele-based indie folk music is hardly a novel idea, but when it is done well and has a compelling melody, who cares? That’s exactly the case with Hey?, the latest single from British #singersongwriter Chxrlotte, a talented young artist with a bright future that you should check out.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie

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allie – ETYG

Artist: allie

Song: ETYG

Genres: #indierock #alternativerock

Location: Nashville, United States

Release date: June, 2021

Comment: J.Zito very generously recommended Nashville-based singer-sonwritter Allie Cuva (they/them) to me and I was blown away by their song ETYG (which must stand for Even Though You’re Gone). It sounds like a really good alternative rock song from the late 90s that was recorded with today’s tools. Allie’s vocals during the chorus are mesmerizing.
ETYG is part of allie’s debut full-length album under that moniker, released back in August. Worth checking out.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative