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 Illuminati Hotties, Foxing, Nicole Miglis, and more.
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Magdalena Bay – Imaginal Disk
The grand return of the pop concept (dare I say popcept?) album has arrived in the form of Magdalena Bay’s second album, Imaginal Disk. Vocalist/producer Mica Tenenbaum and multi-instrumentalist/producer Matthew Lewin’s latest has a sci-fi plotline with a frankly absurd narrative that traces the adventures of True, whose forehead is inserted with a disc by aliens. Some concept albums get lost in, well, the concept. But Imaginal Disk, even when stripped of its bonkers plot, remains riveting, catchy, and brilliant.
Trace Mountains – “Friend”
Dave Benton has LVLed UP his sound. Since the former LVL UP vocalist embarked on a solo career as Trace Mountains, the Jersey-bred, NYC-based musician has leaned into the quieter, more introspective corners of his sound. For Into The Burning Blue, however, Benton has turned up the volume once again, albeit in a much different way. The fourth Trace Mountains album infuses Benton’s lo-fi folk with hi-fi ’80s sonics, thanks to his trusty Roland CR-68 and producer Craig Hendrix. Still, even amid the expensive-sounding embellishments, the lived-in, homespun qualities of Trace Mountains endure, most notably on “Friend.” Replete with gentle acoustic guitars and Benton’s soft vocal timbre, the latest single from Trace Mountains is a stunner.
GIFT – Illuminator
GIFT are a gift. The NYC five-piece’s sophomore record, Illuminator, is an immediate highlight of 2024. Like many other buzzy 2020s indie bands, they employ shoegaze signifiers, such as lush guitar effects that recall Slowdive’s 2017 comeback album, but there’s a distinct psych-rock influence here, as well, as if Lonerism dialed up the reverse reverb and digital delay. This is all to say that GIFT’s latest endeavor breaks through the noise.
Origami Angel – “Wretched Trajectory”
Every single the D.C. duo Origami Angel have shared from Feeling Not Found has been a total banger. The latest addition to the banger bin is “Wretched Trajectory,” and its tongue-in-cheek music video even features a brief cameo from my evil twin, Granite Sharples, in the beginning. Call me contrarian, but unlike Granite, I would much rather listen to Origami Angel than Pink Floyd. Ryland Heagy’s melodic shredding and Pat Doherty’s powerful drumming, as displayed on their newest tune, win out for me any day.
Tanukichan – “It Gets Easier”
Hannah van Loon was ahead of the curve. Before shoegaze became a Big Thing again, van Loon has been making excellent shoegaze as Tanukichan since her 2016 EP, Radiolove. After steadily honing her take on the subgenre on records like 2018’s Sundays and last year’s GIZMO, the Oakland musician arrives full-force on her new single, “It Gets Easier.” She doesn’t appeal to the zeitgeist; rather, she reminds us of how she helped set the stage for it. On a duet with the meteorically ascendant Wisp, that notion becomes tangible. As van Loon and Wisp’s voices intertwine over droning, fuzzy guitars, it’s more clear than ever that Tanukichan’s moment has come full circle.
Foxing – “Hell 99”
Talk about a song that makes you want to run into oncoming traffic! The intro for Foxing’s angst-ridden, straight-up screamo “Hell 99” concludes as such: “Carson MTV! Bizkit NYE! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” For the first time in the St. Louis emo staples’ history, guitarist and producer Eric Hudson takes over lead vocal duties, and he spits each word with such pugnacity and agitation that every second of “Hell 99” feels urgent. It’s a strong contender for the best Foxing song.
Illuminati Hotties – Power
Sarah Tudzin can’t be still, as evidenced by the bevy of records she has engineered for other artists and written under her own moniker, Illuminati Hotties. She keeps up that momentum with Power, the tender-punk progenitor’s third proper studio album. It’s rife with everything there is to love about Illuminati Hotties: gritty yet bright guitars, power-pop (ha, get it?) hooks, and lyrics that juggle tragedy and comedy in equal measure.
Nicole Miglis – Myopia
There hasn’t been a full-length Hundred Waters album since 2017’s Communicating, but that band’s vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Nicole Miglis, has just shared her debut solo LP. Like her work in Hundred Waters, Myopia synthesizes Miglis’ background in classical piano, harp, and flute with her knack for writing a great pop song. From the metronomic sway of “All I See Is You” to the tranquil blankets of tremolo and woodwinds draped over “One And Only,” Myopia is a wide-screen look into its creator’s sundry talents.
julie – “Very Little Effort”
Did you know shoegaze is big right now? It’s so big, in fact, that a brand-new shoegaze band without a full-length debut can land a major label record deal. Such is the case with Los Angeles trio julie, who will soon release their debut LP, my anti-aircraft friend, on Atlantic in just a matter of weeks. “Very Little Effort,” their latest single, rides the line between Goo-era Sonic Youth, the new DIIV album, and Dinosaur Jr. The end result sounds effortless.
Spirit Of The Beehive – You’ll Have To Lose Something
It feels appropriate that the opening track on Spirit Of The Beehive’s new record is called “The Disruption.” The Philly experimental indie rock trio very much disrupted the present-day framework of indie rock; on albums like 2018’s Hypnic Jerks and 2021’s Entertainment, Death, they cranked up the pitch shifters and toyed around with a treasure trove of oscillators without sacrificing the principles of good songwriting. You’ll Have To Lose Something feels like something of a victory lap, where Spirit Of The Beehive cash in on an oft-imitated, never-replicated sound they helped usher into the zeitgeist. It’s a triumph.