Tag: indie music

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Jenny Kern – Coming Back For Me

Coming Back For Me is an introspective indie pop track about solitude and self-acceptance. What I really like about it is the fragile atmosphere that Canadian-born singer/songwriter Jenny Kern surrounded the track with. The layered production and the ethereal vocals make the whole listening experience a very appeasing one.

Jenny Kern is based out of Brooklyn, NY these days. She’s been active since 2019 and got invited to tour Europe after her 2019 single Slow Burn got some global attention. She started 2021 on a roll, releasing Coming Back For Me in January and getting ready to drop another single in March. If you enjoy dreamy altpop and honest songwriters, you should check Jenny out. Her music will definitely be up your alley.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Taylor Castro – Breathe

Ignore for a moment the picture above. If you just listened to Miami-based singer/songwriter Taylor Castro‘s voice, you would find it hard to believe that she’s only 21. She really got a strong voice that will prevent her from sounding like your typical female pop artist. Knowing how to write a hook does help her too. She’s been active in the music business for 3 or 4 years already but was particularly successful last year, with nearly all of her singles from 2020 reaching over 1 million views on Youtube. She’s dropping a 10-track album, Girl, Afraid later this year featuring those songs along with new tunes.

Breathe is one of Taylor‘s new tunes for 2021. Written during quarantine (shocking, I know) in the midst of a rage, it gave Taylor a way to deal with the frustration and calm herself down. It got a catchy melody and a crisp production, as it’s usually the case with any good alt-pop song, but makes this tune particularly interesting is Taylor‘s powerful voice. I think the future is extremely bright for this young talented artist.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Pop

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Allison Lorenzen feat. Midwife – Vale

Denver-based artist Allison Lorenzen is one half of the synth / percussion duo School Dance, which allowed her to learn the tropes of composing beautiful vocal melodies across minimalistic backgrounds. In January, Allison put all those skills on display with her first release as a solo artist, Vale, for which she got the help of slowcore multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston, aka Midwife.

I really like the deceiving simplicity of the track but I also find the main melody quite catchy. Vale is another word for valley, which is often used metaphorically to describe feeling low or depressed, which is the meaning the word has on this ethereal song. Luckily, that’s far from the feeling you get when listening to Vale: the elation of having found a great tune. Check it out below.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Folk/Indie

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BILYK & Endless Melancholy – Far Away

BILYK & Endless Melancholy - Far Away

Far Away is a really captivating track. Musically, it is reminiscing of the works of acts like Morcheeba, Massive Attack, and even Mazzy Star; which makes sense because Canada-based singer/songwriter BILYK grew up listening to all of them in Western Ukraine. She has been collaborating with Ukrainian ambient/downtempo project Endless Melancholy, resulting in several stunning songs. One Day You Will Be Free, one of their previous collaborations, got featured in one of the renowned Buddha Bar compilation albums. I honestly think that Far Away is even better.

The combination of Endless Melancholy‘s chill ambient electronic background and BILYK‘s gorgeous and soothing vocals result in a truly spellbinding tune. I should also mention the equally outstanding music video, filmed on the shore of the Baltic Sea on Rugen Island by Roman Hense, which you can find below. Watching the beautiful cinematography with Far Away playing in the background is indeed a fascinating experience.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie
  • Chill Out

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Misao McGregor – She Was Worlds Above Me

At a minimum, what you should know about Misao McGregor is that she’s a singer/songwriter who composes charming music that has roots in indie, pop and soul. You don’t need to know that she’s based in Los Angeles, California or that she was classically trained as singer and pianist, but it adds a little bit of context to her story and it is always nice to have context. Similarly, we absolutely don’t need to know that she’s openly gay, mixed-race American-Japanese and non-binary femme in order to appreciate her music, but it is nice that she generously shares that info because it helps us put everything in perspective. It gives us another lens through which interpret her lyrics and plays and connect with what she’s trying to say.

Misao recently self-released her debut album, Kid In The Corner, which is an autobiographical look into her first 24 years of life and the experiences that made her who she is today, good and bad. The whole album is worth your attention but I particularly liked She Was Worlds Above Me. Not only does it have stunning hooks and great vocals but also a deep meaning. I’ll let Misao explain it herself in the video below. All I can add to that is that I hope you give this talented artist a chance.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie
  • Pop

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Collective Soul – Needs

As I shared yesterday on Facebook, this great album, Dosage, was released 22 years ago on February 9, 1999. If you only know a few songs from Collective Soul (if you know them at all), chances are those songs are all from the band’s first two albums, as those were their biggest hits: Shine, December and The World I Know. All great songs, hands down. However, this band from Georgia is much more than those 3 tracks, as they consistently released good albums all the way through 2009. The pace slowed down after that year (two albums since then) as they focused on some side projects but they will probably release another album soon as they just dropped a small EP a couple of months ago. I will always have a soft spot for Collective because they were the first band I ever saw live and it was a heck of a live show. Seriously, if have never seen them live, you should prioritize that once rock concerts are a thing again. Ed Roland is one of the best performers I have ever seen.

Anyway, I’m digressing. Dosage was a great album and even though it had a couple of big hits in Heavy and Run, and contains several little gems, the record itself is not as famous as its predecessors. One of those gems in Needs, which, in my opinion, is just as good as any of the band’s bigger hits. Ed Roland’s vocals are great as usual but each component of this song (the strings, in particular) is just stunning. Please enjoy this #musicalcrush of mine as this week’s #ThrowbackThursday entry.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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teepee – closer

Every year, tens of artists from over 15 countries from  the Central and Eastern European region travel to Hungary for the Budapest Showcase Hub, aka BUSH Festival. Usually, the bands play live shows across multiple venues and prizes are awarded to some of them. In 2020, however, for obvious reasons, the festival had to be changed at the last minute to a virtual edition through a video extravaganza series in which some light is shed about each band, including fun facts and what make them unique. The musical genres covered on this festival are broad and you are sure to find bands that will catch your attention, whatever kind of alternative music you’re into. You can watch the whole series on the festival’s Youtube channel here.

Out of the 31 artists who participated in last year’s edition of the BUSH Festival, the one that really caught my attention was teepee, a Czech dream-pop duo consisting of Miroslav Patočka and singer-electric guitarist ​Tereza Lavičková. They got two studio albums already, with the most recent one released in 2020, Where The Ocean Breaks, which includes the song being featured here today. Closer is a stunning song that blends indie folk and dream pop. Its soulful vocals elevate it to the next level. If that wasn’t enough, they made a really nice music video as well.

I probably wouldn’t have discovered this talented band if the BUSH Festival organizers hadn’t reached out to me. For that, they got my gratitude.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Folk/Indie
  • Pop

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TROUBLESHOOT – Worst Bad Habit

Songs like Worst Bad Habit are not that popular nowadays, even within alternative rock circles, but they used to be very popular about 15 to 20 years ago, around the time I was a student, which is why I got a soft spot for them. I’m referring to tunes from bands like American Hi-Fi and Sugarcult. Maybe it is time these songs make a comeback.

With regards to TROUBLESHOOT, that is the stage name chosen by York-based artist Ben Jones, who dreams about becoming the “upbeat Lewis Capaldi“. Time will tell about that but as you can see in Worst Bad Habit, Ben is influenced by alt-rock and even pop-punk music, which consist mostly of guitar-driven songs and catchy riffs, with some synth melodies here and there. He’s released two EPs already as TROUBLESHOOT, with some of the tracks even getting featured on some editorial playlists from Spotify. Definitely check him out if you re or used to be a fan of early 2000s alternative rock bands.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative

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The Jobs – The Sunrise Over The Hill

The Sunrise Over The Hill is my favourite track from The Jobs‘ new EP: Sailing Upon The Thames, which is on itself a really good album. In case you are wondering who they are, we are talking about an alternative rock band from Cleveland, Ohio that should definitely be on your radar. They started when its two primary songwriters, Trevor Meyer and Thomas Heun, who played on competing bands in high school, decided to join efforts after college. Drawing inspiration from all around the world and adding tones of punk, emo and surf rock to their alt-rock base, they deliver outstanding music with their own distinctive style.

What I love about The Sunrise Over The Hill in particular is, quite simply, its magnetic melody. However, the band added enough rhythmic changes to keep it interesting from beginning to end. The hook-ridden song got the whole package including quality lyrics. See it by yourself below.

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative
  • Folk/Indie

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Republica – Ready To Go

While doing some research for yesterday’s post, I got reminded of this classic from the 90s. Ready To Go was an international hit in 1997 (even though it was originally released in 1996) and it is by far the most well-known song from the English band Republica. I can’t say I know much about them, but according to Wikipedia (which of course is always right), they were formed in 1994 and are still active despite releasing their only two albums before the new millennium (they’ve released some compilations afterwards). As an interesting piece of trivia, Saffron, their lead singer, was born in Nigeria.

Anyway, enjoy this week’s #ThrowbackThursday entry!

Featured on the following mixtapes:

  • Everything
  • Alternative