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 new music from Kelly Lee Owens, Adrianne Lenker, Oso Oso, and more.
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Spoon – They Want My Soul: Deluxe More Soul Edition
Spoon’s beloved eighth album, They Want My Soul, recently turned 10. To commemorate that milestone, the Austin indie rockers have shared a deluxe version of it, which features 11 bonus tracks. Who knew the indie-pop banger “Inside Out” started as a sub-two-minute piano dirge? Or that “Do You” was once called “The Way Love Comes” and had a swung rhythm pattern? Mostly consisting of early demos recorded by Britt Daniel solo or the whole band, it’s a fun peek behind the proverbial curtain to hear the beginning stages of these now-classic songs.
Ben Katzman – “Buckwild Blindsides”
The reality television star-to-musician pipeline has its fair share of participants. But usually they aren’t indie rockers who collaborate with Illuminati Hotties and once played guitar in Guerilla Toss. That is, most reality television stars aren’t Ben Katzman, a finalist on the 46th season of Survivor whose forthcoming new solo album, Tears On The Beach, documents his time competing in Fiji over distorted guitar riffs, aggressive punk drumming, and thrash metal-inspired vocal delivery. Such is the case with “Buckwild Blindsides,” in which, alongside Illuminati Hotties’ Sarah Tudzin and Mannequin Pussy’s Kaleen Reading, Katzman showcases his musical eccentricities and aptitude for writing indelible hooks. It blazes by with playful ferocity in under a minute and a half. The new music proves that Katzman isn’t your typical reality TV star, and, with his genuinely wild ideas, neither is he your typical indie rocker.
Oso Oso – Life Till Bones
Jade Lilitri might just be incapable of making a bad record. His four-album run as Oso Oso, encompassing his 2015 debut to 2022’s Sore Thumb, contains some of the best emo music of the 21st century. The Long Beach, New York songwriter still hasn’t run out of gas, if he ever will. Life Till Bones is another triumph, rife with summery vocal harmonies, early Death Cab-esque guitar tones, and winsome songwriting. Oso Oso remains oh so great.
Half Waif – “Figurine”
At the end of May, Nandi Rose shared Ephemeral Being, a stunning EP from Half Waif that expanded on the sounds she laid out on 2021’s Mythopoetics. This October, she’ll return with a full-length follow-up in the form of See You At The Maypole. The single that comes with the announcement, “Figurine,” documents the pain and grief that resulted from Rose’s miscarriage: “I felt it growing in me / And now everything is gone,” she sings. With Rose’s radiant voice, there’s a sliver of hope carrying her forward, hinting at something brighter soon to come. “All the world is turning around / Like a figurine,” she sings at the end of the chorus, finding solace in the future.
Adrianne Lenker – “Once A Bunch”
Earlier this year, the Big Thief frontwoman Adrianne Lenker released a new solo album, the beautiful, occasionally twangy Bright Future. The Japanese version of its CD came included with a bonus track, “Once A Bunch,” a song that has been in the live-set rotation for both Big Thief and Lenker’s solo shows. Now, it’s finally available on streaming services. Even Lenker’s bonus tracks feel essential. With her conversational delivery and an instrumental bedrock of acoustic guitar and fiddle, “Once A Bunch” glows with luminescent warmth.
Nala Sinephro – “Continuum 1”
Nala Sinephro plays her harp like a sorcerer casts spells, conjuring elements out of thin air. Her forthcoming album, Endlessness, the follow-up to her ambient jazz opus, 2021’s Space 1.8, once again spotlights her virtuosity and artistry. Composed of 10 tracks, or, in the parlance of the album itself, continuums, Sinephro’s latest work traces the cycles that define our lives, how we age and watch others grow alongside us. On its opener, “Continuum 1,” Sinephro evokes an everlasting quality, hinting at a new beginning that she allows us to see.
Spring Silver – “The Utility Models”
D.C. is known for its wide-ranging punk scene, which is home to newer artists and vets, post-hardcore and emo. From staples like Fugazi and Jawbox to modern names like Bacchae and Origami Angel, the city has fostered a scene that never stopped thriving. Spring Silver, who draws from its storied history and sundry bands, often encompasses these variegated stylings within the span of a single song, like on their latest single, “The Utility Models.” The project of K Nkanza is an exercise in excavating history while shaping D.C. punk in its current form. With their new tune’s stark dynamics and power-pop melodicism, Spring Silver unites the past and present of D.C. punk in their own singular image.
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn – “Traditions”
A former girl group member and an experimental composer may seem like a strange match on paper, but Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn make such a proposition sound completely natural. “Traditions,” the new single from their forthcoming joint album, Quiet In A World Full Of Noise, is another lush, stirring preview of what’s to come from the unlikely yet complementary pair. Built on a suite of acoustic bass, sumptuous piano, and Richard’s hypnotic voice, “Traditions” is further proof that Zahn and Richard are masters of their craft.
Toro Y Moi – “Hollywood”
Chaz Bear and Ben Gibbard have never worked together before, but they sound great together on “Hollywood,” one of the new Toro Y Moi singles released ahead of Hole Erth. As Bear puts it himself in a press release, the Death Cab For Cutie and Postal Service frontman was a fitting choice for a feature “[w]ith the album having themes of angst and nostalgia,” and he was absolutely right. Enter: Ben Bear.
Kelly Lee Owens – “Sunshine”
Kelly Lee Owens is one of the best electronic musicians around right now, and her forthcoming album, Dreamstate, unearths a new side of the producer: her vocals. Whereas previous single “Love You Got” showcased her voice front and center in the mix, “Sunshine” casts it in a new light. Rather than taking center stage this time, she treats it like an auxiliary instrument. She repeats the song title like a mantra as everything around her – a thumping house beat, glitzy side-chained synth leads – rises and falls in volume.