Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels, but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got the new solo album from Paul McCartney, outtakes and b-sides from Hayley Williams, and a special Christmas collaboration from Charly Bliss and Pup. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.
Paul McCartney – McCartney III
Fifty years after releasing his first solo album, McCartney I, the former Beatle is back with his latest effort that was self-recorded and self-produced from the throes of quarantine. The result is a stripped-back — yet fully fleshed-out — effort that is far from lacking in its dynamic composition and lyrical prowess, showing that it’ll take a bit more than a pandemic to slow Paul McCartney down.
Hayley Williams – Petals For Armor: Self Serenades EP
After pivoting from Paramore singer to solo artist earlier this year with the release of Petals For Armor, Hayley Williams made the best of the time she wasn’t able to tour behind the effort to work on stripped-down versions of the new tracks. Petals For Armor: Self Serenades is a short collection of acoustic cuts, including a brand new song called “Find Me Here.” You can tell the true strength of a pop song when it exists in its barest form, which is what makes Self Serenades so impressive.
Charly Bliss + PUP – “It’s Christmas And I F*cking Miss You”
Charly Bliss’s management has been trying to convince the band to write a Christmas song for years. But instead of putting a pop punk take on a classic Christmas carol, the New York band decided to enlist their friends Pup for a brand new track, an upbeat number that Carolyn Droke calls for Uproxx “a holiday tune that actually reflects the anxiety, sadness, and exhaustion many are feeling.”
Darkside – “Liberty Bell”
Darkside’s debut album Psychic was barely out in the world in 2013 when the duo of Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington announced that they would be calling it quits “for now” at the conclusion of the supporting tour. Seven years later, the duo is back with a new song and a new album. The driving, ethereal indie of “Liberty Bell” is a reminder of why we loved Darkside and missed them so much during their hibernation.
Little Dragon + Moses Sumney – “The Other Lover”
This auspicious collaboration started as a shot in the dark, when Little Dragon sent a track to Moses Sumney asking if he would be interested in providing vocals for the song. “What we received was very stripped down, with his beautiful voice,” Little Dragon wrote in a statement. “We jammed along and sent it back. It bounced back from his end with added horns and sounded beautiful to our ears.” The resulting final product is groovy and soulful, bringing to the table the best of both artists.
Kevin Drew – “Depressed Unicorn Christmas Song”
You might know Kevin Drew from his work in Broken Social Scene. Now, Drew has given us a new solo track that is perfectly fitting for 2020. With minimal, dramatic instrumentation, and modulated vocals, the video for the track shows Drew embodying a singing unicorn puppet to reflect on the insanity of the last twelve months. “The goal was to make people smile and embrace the crazy year we’ve all had,” says Drew in a press release.
Meat Wave – “Yell At The Moon”
I was a big fan of Meat Wave’s last full-length effort The Incessant, and the new track “Yell At The Moon” picks up right where they left off in 2017. Although Meat Wave hasn’t officially announced their next album, the propulsive drumming and Chris Sutter’s growling vocal over spastic guitars on “Yell At The Moon” are a very promising taste of what’s to come.
Orson Wilds – “Fix You” (Coldplay cover)
Fresh off the release of their debut singles earlier this month, Orson Wilds is back with a revved up cover of Coldplay’s 2005 mega hit “Fix You.” Performing the song at 1.5x speed, Orson Wilds give the meditative track a punk rock edge, showing the newcomer’s unique ability to completely transform a song, even one as ubiquitous as a Coldplay hit.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.