There is a subgenre of indiepop consisting of extremely intimate bedroom pop that almost makes you feel too embarrassed to listen to it and where a lo-fi recording adds to the intimacy. Think The Cat’s Miaow, The Autocollants or, as suggested by another blog, Glo-Worm. It’s in that box that I gladly place Ready Ave, a new band from Baltimore who just put out an album full of intimate indiepop. It’s music so fragile that I worry writing about it might break it. Just listen to it for yourself. Quietly and on your own. It is really, really good.

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I understand that seven albums into their career, Barcelona’s Mujeres are reasonably popular in their native Spain. I don’t know why they aren’t better known outside the country, at least in the international indiepop community. The community that at the beginning of the century embraced Spanish bands like Vacaciones and Juniper Moon and that is what songs like this Alucinante remind me of: uptempo happy indiepop with a bit of punk mixed in that is very hard to sit still to. And, despite me not speaking any Spanish, hard not to sing along to either.

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“She’s a ridiculous / pop phenomenon / I don’t know why people / put her records on”. The moment I read Dagger Zine’s throwback to Push Kings’ 1997 debut album, I had Pop Phenomenon stuck in my head. It is still incredibly catchy and I see why back then I put it on many mixtapes: simple perfect pop by four white dudes who on the album cover look perfectly groomed. If that sounds like the Beatles then that is because the music does too. And in this case, I get why people put their records on.

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I have written variations of “I had to double check this wasn’t recorded in 1989” several times on this blog, but in the case of The Catburgers the music really was recorded back in 1989, by some Edinburghers who got together after seeing The Television Personalities play. It is thanks to Slumberland (who else?) that a nine-song record of original recordings will soon be released. The band’s music does fit the 1980s Scottish indiepop mold quite well, though this I’ve Got a Friend, pre-released as a teaser, also reminds me of early Lucksmiths and yes, that means I love it.

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We’ve been dealing with heatwaves in this part of the world, but in Oakland they’re obsessed with summer’s nearing end. After Twin Bloom’s Summer’s Gone, fellow Oaklanders The Goods are slightly more hesitant by singing that Summer’s Almost Gone, on a new single preceding their second album Goodbye Summertime. Season jokes aside, I really dig the band around Rob Good, who also plays with personal favourites Joel Cusumano and Yea-Ming and the Rumours. Compared to earlier work, this is slightly less 60s pop and more standard American indiepop (Math And Physics Club, anyone?). Which I love in any season.

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If there was ever a better song recorded about social awkwardness than The Moldy Peaches’ Nothing Came Out I wouldn’t know. 25 years ago, the awkward and confused person that I was (“without 40 oz. of social skills”) would play their just released self-titled album non-stop because it felt so relatable, this song particularly so. It still does and I’m very happy Kimya and Adam are still playing the occasional gig. They’re hugely influential today and actually got reasonably big because of a soundtrack, but even without all that, the world is a better place thanks to The Moldy Peaches.

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There is a loud punk band from Cleveland, Ohio called Cruelster. Minus one member you get The Carp. More melodic, but still too loud for my taste. Except for this one song, I Crave The City, which is pure feelgood pop. It is so simple (and also very catchy) that I struggle to write close to 100 words about it. Think of the kind of song a punk band would write for a family gathering. And I crave that kind of music.

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Has anyone ever written better breakup songs than Lush with Ciao! and Hypocrite? Maybe not, but the same sarcastic energy I also hear in Amelia & The Housewives’ Shattered: “I took a leap of faith ‘cause you seemed sorted / You sold a myth to me and I just bought it”. Less shoegaze-y than Lush but equally British – the band is from Brighton – and a really good song. “It doesn’t matter / Everything’s been shattered” and that may be true but – and that’s easy to say when it’s not my own relationship – how lucky we all are that it led to this song.

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A compilation of songs recorded in Olympia, WA’s Yoyo Studios had a huge influence on me. I lost my physical copy many years ago, but I still get warm fuzzy feelings from reading the tracklist. Pat Maley owned Yoyo Studios and while I believe they have closed, she is still making music in various bands, including the duo Guidon Bear. They have released a few albums and Animal Child is my favourite song: simple pop with an Olympia garage-y feel to it, that to me serves as a great tribute to the many contributions Pat made to alternative pop music.

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I don’t think in musical absolutes, but if someone were to tell me that Freezepop’s Duct Tape My Heart is the best electropop song ever recorded, I am not going to argue with them. And yes, it does help that the song was released during my musical formative years more than 20 years ago and not part of the band’s latest record (which isn’t bad at all!), but still. How can I not be in love with “You’re so dreamy, you’re so sweet / swept completely off my feet”? I’m so lucky Freezepop was around when I was forming my taste.

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I am a big fan of Slumberland and Skep Wax, the two labels who released Foglights’s debut EP, and of The Cords, half of whom is also half of Foglights. So I had to look up Stone Anthem, the alter ego of Archie Ingram, who is the Foglights’ other half and whom I wasn’t familiar with. He makes psychedelic songs (soundscapes?), which mixed with the pure indiepop of The Cords gives us this very dreamy, introverted pop song. I absolutely love it and I can’t wait to hear the EP’s other songs. On August 21st, I will be able to.

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I’m really into Fakemink these days so I had started looking for other artists from the British underground rap scene. This is how I discovered Fimiguerrero, the alter-ego of British-Nigerian Fimihan Uthman Akinola. On his latest mini album he not only collaborates with Fakemink but also included a song recorded with laptop twee heroes Bassvictim. That makes sense. This Loser is a pure rap song, albeit with the sketchiness that I think is typical of UK underground rap, while the techno-y alarm bells that push the song forward also make it very pop. And that’s what I happen to like.

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“Let’s try more interesting things / You could be the person that sings”. The Simple Present are Cathrin and Sabine from Stuttgart, Germany. They just released a short album full of calm, unpretentious indiepop borrowing from four decades of the genre’s history. The whole album makes for some really pleasant listening, with this Let’s Write A New Hit my favourite, as it reminds me of The Bartlebees: the simple production and also, let’s be honest, the soft German accents. “If it helps I could get us some drinks / It’s easier than you think”.

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The musical influences of Sugar World – Katryn and Ryan from Los Angeles – go back all the way to Black Tambourine, who in the early 1990s hid their plain indiepop behind layers of fuzzy shoegaze. I love Black Tambourine – who doesn’t? – and I’m really in love with Sugar World’s latest single White Noise (a pre-release of their upcoming album Supercassettevision). Compared to Black Tambourine, the song is both more twee and noisier, a combination that works really well in practice. I look forward to that full album that Sunday Records will release later in the year.

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The other day, I was talking on Bluesky with Slumberland’s Mike Schulman about the Just A Taste compilation of early singles from Australia’s Summershine label he released back in 1995. All excellent jangly indiepop from down under despite no household name among them, not even for most indiepop fans, though I mentioned The Sugargliders here before. My favourite song on the compilation is 1,000 Years, a beautiful jangly love song by Perth’s The Rainyard. That version isn’t online, this version called 1,000 Days is and I am glad I can share it.

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In the early years of this century, I was pursuing a career in mathematics. At one of many seminars I attended, I may have run into Dan Snaith, who was doing the same, in a similar field (unlike me, he did finish his PhD). Now Dan is, according to Wikipedia, a “composer, musician, and recording artist”. He does so under various names, with Caribou probably the best known. I love Cabirou’s indietronica – indie in spirit, techno in body – and this Broke My Heart in particular; it was one of my favourite songs from 2024. 

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I saw earlier music by The Paranoyds (of Los Angeles) described as “synth punk”. That seems accurate, but on this song (from a just released EP) the synths are less prominent. Punk it still is, but more of the cute indiepop variant (there are ooo ooo backing vocals!), the one that I could imagine being released on K Records. If this kind of music is making a resurgence (this month only, I wrote about Josie, The TSG and Heather the Jerk, all of whom sound vaguely similar), then I’m all for it.

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I often forget what an incredibly unique band Young Marble Giants were. Active for just three years, they released only one album (1980’s Colossal Youth). On Bandcamp they self-identify as ‘post-punk’, a label that is fitting (the prominent bass line in particular), except that this is post-punk stripped down to its minimalist core, creating very intimate music. It makes you understand why generations of indiepop bands mention the Welsh band as an influence. Just like minimalist punk may be the best punk (Beat Happening, anyone?) minimalist post-punk is the best post-punk. And YMG were so good.

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I’m not necessarily proud of it, but these days I find myself regularly singing “Fighting makes you feel strong / Killing really turns you on”. From a song called Death Destruction Mayhem. Huh? My excuse: it is a really catchy song by hardcore punk band Ceremony, from just north of San Francisco. Like, really catchy, showing that hardcore punk is just pop, except sung with a bit more anger. The band has a history on Matador Records, so are no strangers to the indie world, but this song is from an upcoming album on Relapse, which feels a more natural home.

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I am – I may have mentioned this – very song-oriented and with a song comes someone singing. Or rapping, or mumbling even, but still: a human voice. John Girgus (he was in Sarah Records band Aberdeen) has a human voice, I know from some of the other things he released under the name Legendary House Cats. But under that name he also put out three albums with instrumental songs, of which Out Of Reach is my favourite. Field Mice-y synthpop where you expect someone to start singing any moment, except at the end you realise you never missed it.

(After writing this blog post, I discovered there is a non-instrumental version of the song too. Oh well.)

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