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 Waxahatchee, Wild Pink, Geordie Greep, and more.
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Drug Church – Prude
It’s time to go back to Drug Church. Prude, the fifth album from the Albany, New York-bred hardcore heroes, confronts quotidian mundanities and theatrical landmarks in equal measure. It’s populated by a cast of characters who experience everything from becoming a finance bro to getting shot while attempting robbery. Nothing is too boring or too ridiculous for frontman Patrick Kindlon to use as lyrical fodder; everything is up for grabs, and it gives Drug Church’s boisterous, bold punk songs a humanistic bent.
Half Waif – See You At The Maypole
Grief permeates every corner of See You At The Maypole. Nandi Rose, as Half Waif, has often used her music as a conduit for healing, whether that be for herself or for others. Her latest album dives into the grieving process – for her miscarriage, for her mother-in-law’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis – so that Rose can rise from all of it, renewed with a deeper understanding of how to move forward. She’s said that this record is a “story of finding a way back again.” From the sound of it, such as the steady rhythms guiding “Collect Color” and her gossamer, rich vocal harmonies on “Dust,” she has.
Aphex Twin – “Rhubarb Orc. 19.53 Rev”
Richard D. James, otherwise known as Aphex Twin, is perhaps best-known for his pair of Selected Ambient Works albums. Because of their influence, Warp Records has reissued the second installment, 1994’s Selected Ambient Works Volume II. It partly consists of previously unreleased and newly reimagined material, such as “Rhubarb Orc. 19.53 Rev,” a novel take on “#3” from the original LP. Just like that album defied genre norms 30 years ago, James’ reworking of “#3” likewise flouts established conventions, playing with the listener’s pre-existing knowledge of the track and upending expectations with swooning, swelling, and sweeping synths.
Wild Pink – Dulling The Horns
Wild Pink’s fifth album, Dulling The Horns, sounds anything but dull. Ringleader John Ross’ songwriting has never been sharper, as the New York musician has refined his strain of heartland rock to its most affecting apogee. The baritone guitars are dense and gritty, the choruses are anthemic and riveting, and Ross’ pen is plain-spoken yet profound. Prolonging a streak of heaters dating back to 2017’s self-titled LP, Dulling The Horns is Wild Pink’s wild peak.
Waxahatchee – “Much Ado About Nothing”
One of the main contenders for album of the year goes to Katie Crutchfield’s sterling alt-country opus Tigers Blood, the sixth album from Waxahatchee. The Kansas City resident is already back with a new single, “Much Ado About Nothing,” and it’s a stunner. She’s been performing it live on her most recent tour, and, fortunately, it has now received an official release. Surrounded by her regular coterie of collaborators – MJ Lenderman, Brad Cook, Phil Cook – Crutchfield sounds radiant.
Florist – “This Was A Gift”
“Only the dead survive,” Emily Sprague sings in the chorus of “This Was A Gift,” the latest single from Florist. The indie-folk four-piece has always espoused the tenets of chosen family and the importance of close community, as evinced on their self-titled 2022 double album. That idea finds a more succinct vessel on their new song, which Sprague says in a press release is about “enduring difficult seasons of life with the people that we keep close.” Hardship comes for us all at some point or another, but with loved ones beside us, maybe we can weather the storm. Even the dead will survive.
The Weather Station – “Neon Signs”
On 2021’s Ignorance, Tamara Lindeman reckoned with the destruction that climate change has brought upon our lives. As the Weather Station, Lindeman explored how it affects our interior and exterior worlds, how the demolition of these places we call home begets a burdensome grief. Humanhood, the seventh Weather Station album, arriving early next year, dives deeper into the pain of manmade disasters, and how capitalism, incessant advertising, and corporate greed thrives in times of strife. “I went walking in a punishing heat / Nobody meets my eyes except with witty signs / And luxury designs,” Lindeman sings on lead single “Neon Signs,” her featherlight voice belying her weighty observations. Even when things feel heavy, the Weather Station arrives as a balm, shining like a lighthouse in a devastating seastorm.
Yasmin Williams – Acadia
Yasmin Williams plays guitar like no one else. Having realized she was much better at Guitar Hero II while holding the controller in her lap, she then learned to play the real thing that way, too. Shredding has never sounded so beautiful, melodic, or even peaceful; it’s one of the reasons that Williams is one of the best performers I’ve ever had the fortune to witness live. On her third record, Acadia, she expands her sound to include a wider range of collaborators – even vocalists! – and stylistic flourishes that elevate her work to new heights. There’s faint, distorted guitar on “Dream Lake” that slowly blossoms into a solo; the metronomic groove of “Nectar” adds a solid, rhythmic cadence to Williams’ filigreed finger-picking; and “Hummingbird” flits like its titular animal with Allison de Groot’s buzzy banjo and Tatiana Hargreaves’ frenetic fiddle. Acadia, sonically, is a bigger and bolder record than its forerunners, and its ambitions unequivocally pay off.
Dawn Richard & Spencer Zahn – Quiet In A World Full Of Noise
One of the best albums of 2022 was Pigments, the surprising collaboration between pop vocalist Dawn Richard and classical composer Spencer Zahn. Thankfully, Pigments was not a one-off occurrence. Richard and Zahn’s new joint album, Quiet In A World Full Of Noise, is as gorgeous, hypnotic, and stirring as its predecessor. It’s a record that lives up to its striking title; amid a world full of noise, Richard and Zahn offer a soothing salve. Built largely on ambient piano, strings, brass, and Richard’s spellbinding voice, the duo’s second album is a true marvel.
Geordie Greep – The New Sound
This is, quite literally, Geordie Greep’s new sound. Just over a week after saying his band Black Midi was “indefinitely over,” Greep announced his solo debut album. Aptly titled The New Sound, Greep takes Black Midi’s proggy, math-rock milieu to its logical endpoint: jazzy, abrasive Broadway numbers about down-on-their-luck incels. From the salsa-inflected lead single “Holy, Holy” to the Steely Dan-indebted instrumental title track, Greep’s first record sans Midi is a heady, bewildering, and intoxicating endeavor.