NEW INDIE MUSIC - WEEK 27

Happy July, you guys! Can you believe that we're over halfway through 2019 and there's still no sign of Norman Fucking Rockwell? Oh well, at least Thom Yorke has finally released a pretty decent solo album! I'd still rather listen to Radiohead, though! Anyways! Before you get distracted by the cookouts and fireworks to come this Thursday, it's time for yet another edition of We Are: The Guard's New Indie Music! Featuring Friendly Fires, MUNA, Clairo, 3TEETH, Bleached, and more, this playlist has something for everyone!

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GABRIEL BLACK (FEAT. PHEM) – DEAD YET

The odds feel increasingly stacked against millennials, but gabriel black and phem are refusing to give in to apathy or ennui on their latest single. With chugging guitars acting as support, listen as gabriel and phem deliver an anthemic call to arms to fatigued friends everywhere on “dead yet” – a declaration of power and reclamation of agency that hears the duo singing in the chorus: “Is this all we do? Smoke in your room at 2 a.m.?/It might be cool with you, but I'm not dead yet.”

FRIENDLY FIRES – SILHOUETTES

Nothing says “summer is here” quite like brand new music from Friendly Fires. Ahead of the release of Inflorescent, their first album in over eight years, in August, the British trio return today with “Silhouettes” – a bongo-laden indie-disco banger that'll have frontman Ed Macfarlane's hips shaking in next to no time.

MUNA – WHO

I've wasted more hours than I care to mention stalking my exes on Facebook, it's safe to say that this one hit way too close to home. Synth-poppers MUNA are capturing that obsessive feeling that tends to follow on from a breakup, when you're constantly checking to see if your former lover has changed their relationship status, on “Who” – a big ol' slow-burning 80s power ballad that aims straight for the chest.

CLAIRO – CLOSER TO YOU

Clairo continues to build up to the release of Immunity by sharing the Rostam-produced “Closer to You.” While “Bags” found the Carlisle singer trying her hand at shoegaze, “Closer to You” hears Clairo venturing into more electronic territory, with darkly whirring beats backing the 20-year-old as her declarations of desire come filtered through layers of Auto-Tune: “The things you do/Only make me want to get closer to you/And the things that you say/Only make me want to stay.”

3TEETH – PUMPED UP KICKS (FOSTER THE PEOPLE COVER)

“Pumped up Kicks” by Foster the People – the oddly catchy indie-pop song about a school shooting that dominated dance floors up and down the country nine years ago – is rendered almost unrecognizable on this cover by 3TEETH. Listen as the Los Angeles five-piece bring a whole new level of industrial intensity to the cut on this gripping version, which comes accompanied by a video that further turns the focus toward gun violence.

JP SAXE – SAME ROOM

Tissues at the ready, as JP Saxe is exploring heartbreak in its rawest form on his fragile latest single “Same Room.” The devastating ballad finds the Arista Records signee singing about the lengths that he found himself going to in order to avoid the person who we once loved, with JP's vocals and lyrics really capturing the vulnerability of the situation: “We can't even be in the same room/My friends are making sure I don't see you/I strategize a path to the bathroom/So I don't walk past you.” *Sniffs*

THOM YORKE – NOT THE NEWS

Thom Yorke dives deep into the perpetual anxieties of our time on “Not the News,” the lead single from his recent solo album ANIMA. “Who are these people?/I'm in black treacle,” begins the cut – a bleeping, blooping ode to 21st-century isolation and fear that hears the Radiohead frontman continuing to immerse himself in the nightmarish orchestrations first used in Suspiria.

MATING RITUAL – FUTURE NOW

Being broke sucks. Just ask Mating Ritual, the Los Angeles sibling duo who'll have you dancing through the poverty on their latest single “Future Now.” “I wanna live fast/I wanna live free/I wanna beach house next to the beach/But I need more money,” sing Mating Ritual with breathless, reckless abandon on the cut – a catchy synth-pop banger that features on Ryan and Taylor Lawhon's recent album Hot Content.

BLEACHED – REBOUND CITY

Following on from the release of “Kiss You Goodbye” last month, Los Angeles duo Bleached return this July with the romping “Rebound City.” The latest single to be unveiled from Don't You Think You've Had Enough? is described by Jennifer Clavin as “a brief history of the mistakes that I've made,” with the frontwoman's post-breakup mea culpa coming supported by a combination of exuberant power chords and thunderous drums.

IRIS – MERCY

Love hurts. Sometimes the pain can be addictive, however, and iris is looking for a fix on her raunchy latest single “mercy.” “It's something that I do for the fun of it/I enjoy being the fool/Mess me up, be cruel/Something that I do for the fun of it/Make me beg, make me beg/But don't ever show me no mercy,” sings iris over a bed of throbbing synths on the song – a steamy sadomasochistic anthem that's giving me some serious Fifty Shades vibes.

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Until next week, follow We Are: The Guard's Weekly Chart on Spotify for more! x

Photo by James Bloedel on Unsplash

Jess Grant is a frustrated writer hailing from London, England. When she isn't tasked with disentangling her thoughts from her brain and putting them on paper, Jess can generally be found listening to The Beatles, or cooking vegetarian food.