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 highly-anticipated new albums from Lucy Dacus and Modest Mouse, as well as awesome new singles from Foxing and Petey. Check out the rest of the best new indie music below.
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Lucy Dacus – Home Video
On her third full-length album, Lucy Dacus dials up the precision and the intensity to deliver a staggering work that builds up on the foundation set on her first two albums, and build a skyscraper atop it. “This is the sort of songwriting that people like Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, Lucinda Williams, and Jason Isbell specialize in. Lucy Dacus is the latest to master it,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx.
Modest Mouse – The Golden Casket
It’s been six years since we last heard from Modest Mouse. The Golden Casket is what Isaac Brock called in a recent interview “a sound effects record,” comprised of an assembly of exotic sounds into a sonic collage. But the consistent Modest Mouse themes are still there, with the album revolving around “deep skepticism about how modern technology has turned against its human masters,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx.
Squirrel Flower – Planet (i)
Almost exactly 18 months after releasing her excellent debut album I Was Born Swimming, Squirrel Flower is back with another LP. Planet (i) is another invitation into Squirrel Flower’s world revolving around the next disaster, with press materials describing the album as “a love letter to disaster in every form imaginable.”
Faye Webster – I Know I’m Funny Haha
Faye Webster is truly a jack-of-all-trades, with talents ranging from photography and yo-yoing to extreme musical versatility. Her latest album I Know I’m Funny Haha “has everything from a twangy number about not getting her security deposit back from her landlord to a bedroom R&B jam about being in love with a baseball player,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.
Beabadoobee – Our Extended Play
To follow up her nostalgia-inducing 2020 LP Fake It Flowers, Beabadoobee teamed up with The 1975’s Matty Healy and George Daniel for Our Extended Play. The four-track EP is chock full of shimmering guitars evocative of ’90s brit-pop and anchored by Bea’s infectious vocal melodies.
Ellis – Nothing Is Sacred Anymore EP
Ellis’ undeniable debut album Born Again was a rumination on the intersection of music and spirituality, as she explained in an interview with Uproxx. Now, she’s back with a new EP that further cements her place as one of the most promising new artists in indie rock.
Lightning Bug – A Color Of The Sky
Lightning Bug couldn’t have picked a better release date for their third album A Color Of The Sky. The band’s “blend of blissed-out shoegaze guitar tones and singer-songwriter Audrey Kang’s wistful indie-folk melodies sounds even better in late June,” writes Steven Hyden for Uproxx. If you’re looking for a perfect soundtrack to drive around with the windows rolled down, look no further.
Maple Glider – To Enjoy Is The Only Thing
A few months after releasing her debut single for Partisan Records, Australian songwriter Maple Glider (real name Tori Zietsch) has released a full-length album with the esteemed label. To Enjoy Is The Only Thing is an album built upon a feeling, which Zietsch describes as “walking past tinsel covered trees in mid-September, swimming along the Calanques in the south of France, car-bonnet frost, darkness at 4 pm, lightness until 10 pm, a muted feeling, the perpetual grey fog that swallows the Silver Coast, the colour red, this ugly green dress, red wine, red blood, red lips, red is the colour of the cardinal’s robe, Switzerland, my mother’s diaries, a coroner’s report, the sun on my face, the end of love…”
Hurry – Fake Ideas
What’s more to say about Philadelphia power pop outfit Hurry? They just make beautiful, entrancing music that’s perfect for a carefree summer day. Their latest LP Fake Ideas is no exception, delivering what is perhaps the band’s strongest collection to date.
Foxing – “If I Believed In Love”
Expanding of horizons is the Foxing way, and the St. Louis band’s widened scope is on full display in the latest preview of their forthcoming album Draw Down The Moon. “If I Believed In Love” is “carried by synth hits and a drum machine beat, which start the song out calmly before it explodes into a more exuberant second half,” writes Derrick Rossignol for Uproxx.
Petey – “Lean Into Life”
Petey is nothing short of a gem, whether you’re familiar with him from his wonderful music or his delightful, offbeat TikTok presence. After a string of short-form releases over the last few years, Petey is now ready to unleash his debut full-length, previewed by the title track “Lean Into Life.” The track is what Derrick Rossignol calls for Uproxx “a propulsive synth-driven number that comes across like LCD Soundsystem viewed through Petey’s idiosyncratic lens.”
Ekkstacy – “F*ck Everything” (ft. The Drums)
Several months after we showcased Ekkstacy’s single “I Want To Be By Your Side” in this exact column (you heard it here first), Spotify has also begun to champion the upstart artist. The streaming platform has slotted Ekkstacy’s latest track “F*ck Everything,” featuring contributions from The Drums, at the top of their Fresh Finds playlist, which is dedicated to highlighting independent artists. Things are starting to happen for Ekkstacy. Jump on the rocketship and hang on for the ride.
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.