BEST INDIE SONGS - WEEK 8

by Jess Grant
2/17/20

Hi, guys! How are you? How was your Valentine's Day weekend? Did you spend it with anyone special? As for me, I spent the last couple of days falling in love with Tame Impala all over again. Genuine question: Is it too early to call The Slow Rush the album of the year? Okay, so maybe I'm getting a *little* ahead of myself (I still need to hear what The Strokes and Rick Rubin have up their sleeves, after all), but it's no doubt another masterpiece from Kevin Parker. Anyways, before I turn into a complete fangirl, it's time for the latest edition of We Are: The Guard's Best Indie Songs. Featuring Grimes, The Strokes, Tame Impala (duh), and more, this playlist has something for everyone!

 

GRIMES – DELETE FOREVER

The world is ending, but Grimes is seeing it out in beautifully blue style on “Delete Forever.” Opening to a “Wonderwall”-like chord progression, listen as “Delete Forever” eventually transmogrifies into a piece of cosmic country that feels at once hopeful and entirely hopeless, with Claire Boucher revealing the cut was written the night Lil Peep died.

 

THE STROKES – AT THE DOOR

Coinciding with the announcement of the Rick Rubin-produced The New Abnormal, The Strokes have shared the celestial “At the Door.” The song hears the legendary quintet backing up from their signature garage-rock sound to instead offer a throbbing synth lope, with Julian Casablancas delivering a vocal performance worthy of Disney film. Pure magic.

 

TAME IMPALA – BREATHE DEEPLY

The Australian band might just have another hit on their hands with “Breathe Deeply.” The Slow Rush highlight is a slow-rolling piece of cosmic-funk that pulls you into its orbit from the very first note, with coruscating pianos sweeping across rhythmic grooves as Kevin Parker sings about breathing through the negative situations in life. PS That outro, though!

 

KING PRINCESS – OHIO

King Princess is a total f*cking rock star. No, really – the queer icon reminds us she's one of the greats on the sexy “Ohio.” Featured on the deluxe version of Cheap Queen, “Ohio” hears the New York musician longing for a lover over a monstrous leviathan of a guitar riff, with Mikaela Straus whipping fans into an absolute frenzy by way of this erotic live favorite.

 

BILLIE EILISH – NO TIME TO DIE

Well, well, well. I never thought I'd see the day when an 18-year-old hypebeast would be doing the James Bond theme song, but, here we are! And while Billie Eilish may have opted to stay in the safe lane with the swing-swept “No Time to Die,” it's still an affecting effort, with the goth zoomer capturing the tortured, afflicted soul of the Brit agent with ease.

 

SWMRS (FEAT. FIDLAR) – PEOPLE (THE 1975 COVER)

SWMRS and FIDLAR covering “People” by The 1975? We love to see it! Listen as the California punk outfits don't so much reinvent as they do inject a dose of energetic fun into the Notes on a Conditional Form single, with the frenetic vocals and distorted, battering-ram guitar riffs allowing SWMRS and FIDLAR to throw one hell of a post-apocalyptic party.

 

I BREAK HORSES – I'LL BE THE DEATH OF YOU

Ahead of the release of Warnings – their first album in over six years – Swedish dream-pop duo I Break Horses have shared the expansive odyssey “I'll Be the Death of You.” Clocking in at just under five minutes, it's a cinematic epic of a song, with Maria Lindén's vocals coming entirely swept up by an ocean of glimmering, shimmering synths and horns.

 

JADU HEART – DEAD, AGAIN

Jadu Heart are striving to feel alive on the electric “Dead, Again.” “I wanna fight and then make up/I wanna breathe and play too rough/Is that alright with you, my friend/Am I alive or dead again?” sing the British act against a cascade of guitar riff pyrotechny on the song, which plunges into grunge's quiet-loud dynamics in order to deliver its ascendant narrative.

 

BOYS NOIZE & RICO NASTY – GIRL CRUSH

There are not many artists out there who could stand up against the tectonic-plate-shifting power of Germany's Alexander Ridha, AKA Boys Noize. Rico Nasty proves she's not “many artists,” however, on “Girl Crush” – a four-on-the-floor electronic-industrial banger that hears Rico sensuously purring over her female paramour atop club-quaking basslines.

 

SAM FENDER – HOLD OUT

Following a bout of illness that caused him to cancel a string of tour dates late last year, Sam Fender is making his triumphant return today with “Hold Out.” It's a victorious listen that serves as quite the accompaniment to his recent album Hypersonic Missiles, with Sam singing about wildly unforgettable nights out with friends over a skronking saxophone.

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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.