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 Japanese Breakfast, YHWH Nailgun, Alan Sparhawk, and more.
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YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds
Everything is happening at once on 45 Pounds, the arresting debut album from New York noise-rock crew YHWH Nailgun. Sam Pickard’s frenzied drumming is constantly tripping over itself, yet it always sticks the landing. Frontman Zack Borzone spends more time yelling his cryptic lyrics than singing them. Keyboardist Jack Tobias and guitarist Saguiv Rosenstock conjure unearthly tones from their respective instruments, which resemble eerie scrapes and ghastly shrieks to complement the surrounding cacophony. It all blazes by in a 21-minute aural bombardment. Nothing else sounds like it, and that’s what makes it so instantly memorable, a probable touchstone in the years to come. A lean and muscular listen, 45 Pounds doesn’t buckle under its own weight.
Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)
On 2021’s Jubilee, Michelle Zauner penned some of the poppiest songs of her career as Japanese Breakfast. Songs like “Be Sweet” and “Slide Tackle” employed ’80s sheen to capture an ebullient bounciness that rendered her melodies more prominent than ever. For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women), its follow-up, leans into its titular, lugubrious promise. If her last album was a sparkling art deco house with floor-to-ceiling windows, then For Melancholy is a rustic Victorian bathed in candlelight. Still, For Melancholy retains its predecessor’s immediacy, but it presents it differently. From acoustic guitar-led tracks like centerpiece “Little Girl” and closer “Magic Mountain,” to producer Blake Mills’ filigreed touch, JBrekkie’s fourth album is her most understated work to date.
Alan Sparhawk – “Stranger”
For last year’s White Roses, My God, Alan Sparhawk took a sharp left turn into glitchy programming and heavily processed vocals. Known for his work as one-half of slowcore greats Low, Sparhawk’s voice was unrecognizable. On Low’s final trilogy of records, released just before his wife and bandmate Mimi Parker’s death in 2022, the Minnesota band leaned into noisy, blown-out instrumentals. But Sparhawk and Parker were still clearly there, their voices invariably rising above the din; White Roses marked a completely new shift. Less than a year later, he’s back with another seismic switch-up. The forthcoming With Trampled By Turtles sees Sparhawk discard the alien FX and embrace an organic style rife with orchestral strings, acoustic guitars, and plucky banjo. Assisted by fellow Duluth musicians Trampled By Turtles, Sparhawk breathes new life into his songwriting, as the opening track and lead single “Stranger” makes clear. “Stranger” may sound like a reinvention to some, but even that would be a facile reading: It’s a complete rebirth.
Debby Friday – “1/17”
We haven’t heard from Debby Friday in a minute. Her 2023 debut album Good Luck was among that year’s best, fusing electroclash, indie-pop, and hip-hop in an infectious concoction. “1/17,” her new single, carves a new path. The elements that made her debut so intoxicating are still present, from her sumptuous vocals to the throttling low-end that takes over the song’s final minute. But it’s the way the track builds to that breaking point that makes it so enthralling. Debby moves from singing to rapping and back as synth arpeggios, constantly shifting in tone and volume, swirl about her. Whatever lies next on the horizon for Debby Friday, it’s certainly something to look out for.
Wishy – “Over And Over”
Wishy’s Triple Seven was easily among the best debut albums of 2024 (and best albums of 2024 in general). The Indianapolis outfit recorded plenty of material for that LP, and some of it had to be left on the cutting room floor. But some of those tunes have found a new life on the forthcoming Planet Popstar EP, out next month. “Over And Over,” the latest preview, is classic Wishy in all the best ways: sunny vocal harmonies; syncopated breakbeats; mellifluous guitars. It’s the perfect song for the first official week of spring.
Bnny & Wild Pink – “Good Stuff”
Last year, Bnny (AKA Jessica Viscius) released One Million Love Songs, and she’s poised to share its deluxe edition, the wonderfully titled One Million And Three Love Songs, in just a matter of weeks. That includes a new reworking of one of its best cuts, “Good Stuff,” which now features a duet with John Ross, otherwise known as Wild Pink. Together, Viscius and Ross complement each other’s voices, quiet but powerful, calm but captivating. It’s all right there in the name of the song: “Good Stuff” is good stuff.
Pictoria Vark – Nothing Sticks
Pictoria Vark (AKA Victoria Park) is a bassist first and foremost, but she’s also a great singer-songwriter. The Iowa City-bred, Chicago-based musician brings her dual-wielding abilities to the limelight on her sophomore album, Nothing Sticks. There’s the melodic low-end of early highlight “No One Left,” the symphonic undercurrent of “I Pushed It Down,” and the crunchy guitars and subtle chiptune synths of “Make Me A Sword.” Belying its name, Nothing Sticks sticks the landing.
Big Girl – “I Can’t Tell”
Kaitlin Pelkey, who records histrionic punk as the primary songwriter of Big Girl, is back with a new single. To put it simply, “I Can’t Tell” rips. It channels showy Chappell Roan vocal delivery and wiry Sonic Youth guitars, each blending seamlessly with the other to establish Pelkey as one of the most exciting new voices in the underground. Big Girl is a group that any stripe of indie-rock fan should keep an eye on.
The Null Club – “Frameshift”
Alan Duggan Borges, the guitarist and producer of the Irish noise-rock quartet Gilla Band, has a project of his own called The Null Club. His forthcoming self-titled debut EP is out in just a couple of weeks, and each track features someone different behind the mic. Opening track “Frameshift,” for instance, features the iconoclastic rapper ELUCID. Both as one-half of Armand Hammer and in his solo work, ELUCID never shies away from the unorthodox. That’s what makes him and Borges such an auspicious pairing. The New York hip-hop visionary weaves his way throughout Borges’ outré instrumentals like he’s a pro boxer dodging blows. Amid all the noise, and despite his blunt, enunciated delivery, ELUCID sounds graceful.
Takaat – “Admidinin”
Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar is creating some of the most compelling indie rock of the decade, as shown by records like 2021’s Afrique Victime and last year’s Funeral For Justice. While the band is presumably on a break between records, his remaining bandmates — bassist Mikey Coltun, guitarist Ahmahdou Madassane, and drummer Souleymane Ibrahim — have formed a new group called Takaat. Their debut EP, Is Noise, Vol. 1, will be out in mid-April, and lead single “Admidinin” retains the fiery desert blues of their core project. Ibrahim’s 3/4 drums are in full swing, Coltun’s ambling bass lines hold down the fort, and Madassane’s virtuosic shredding is as impressive as ever.
