The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - GHOSTS

“We’re a garage band, we come from garageland,” asserted Joe Strummer in one of the Clash's early signature tunes and it's that white-hot intensity, honesty and grittiness, that forms the middle ground of punk and garage and it burns brightly in Love/Hate (Nov’15) by GHOSTS. This is a tune to get arses bouncing and fists punching the air. More contemporarily Love/Hate minds of raging songs like The Orwells Let It Burn,Titus Andronicus’s Dimed Out or even Cloud Nothings. At the same time it bubbles and bounces on a beat, or maybe it was just the phrasing of the chorus, that sent me searching for English New Wave band The Vapors and their 1980 classic hit, Turning Japanese. Love/Hate was featured by Jonathan Hunt in the October Indie Rock Playlist (2015) and Don't Need No Melody has called GHOSTS music “shambolic surfy power pop,” while Whurk magazine said “...you’ll be in danger of dancing in no time.”
 

Caleb Hoehner is GHOSTS, and that’s all in caps, in a futile attempt to remain googleable, not because it’s fashionable. He is a multi-instrumentalist who has been fashioning fine garage rock tunes since 2012. The man sallies forth from Richmond, Virginia by way of Kansas, Michigan, South Carolina and Georgia. GHOSTS want to write songs you wanna die to and the bands that really resonate in GHOSTS music are the greats like Weezer, Nirvana and the Pixies. GHOSTS's previous short player Ugly Boy was called   “...a small pack of anthems for the young and disillusioned,” by Whurk magazine and Sounds Of RVA thought GHOSTS tunes “...loose punk vocal harmonies and pumped up, dirty guitar vibes make this some fun ass grunge rock." A song about a girl, or the paradoxical duality of human nature, Love/Hate roars along like the slap of the tyres on the blacktop from a V8 hurtling down an empty country road to a rendezvous with friends at the lake on a blue-sky sunshine summer's day. Love/Hate is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

“I wish I had a medicine to help me never sleep again
so I could think about you all the time.”

Shit you need to know:
 

Love/Hate is the third song from GHOSTS seven song short-player Superstar (Nov’15).

GHOSTS have two long players and four short players in the bank that are all for freesies on bandcamp.

GHOSTS are unsigned and the music is recorded on a laptop and self-released on Spooky Town Records.

Caleb Hoehner is a journalist major who finds inspiration from the ladies, surfing, pop stars and dark shit like death and anxiety.

On the topic of Caleb’s broader musical influences he said he “...really love(s) the whole garage scene thats out there right now like The Orwells, The Black Lips, Wavves, Ty Segal, Bass Drum of Death and Twin Peaks.”

GHOSTS have been compared to maverick Tennessee wild man of garage rock Jay Reatard.

Caleb's brother made a great video of the family partying back in the day for the song Make A Name 4 Yourself, a song with a classic dirty glam rock vibe.

Caleb sprinkles his communication with good manners and friendly vibes, ending Facebook postings with good words like "I love you all and thanks for the support" and offering his fans to “...have an intoxicated evening on my behalf.”

More glorious GHOSTS tunes to listen to while manning the barricades against the barbarian hordes are I Wanna Die Happy, Lil Soldier and Superstar (My Girl).

 

Slippery seconds is courtesy of Chicago garage rock band Twin Peaks and another storming track with a great garage/punk blend, Flavor (2014).

“Flavor your heart and your soul.”

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Declan McKenna

Declan McKenna is a 16 year old indie-pop solo artist from London, England. He has blues and folk influences and has numbered Jeff Buckley, The Black Keys, Django Django, The Leisure Society, The Beatles and Jack White, among others, as influences. His music has been described as “fun and lively, a refreshing and light-hearted.” Many commentators are expecting him to blow up big.

Little Pieces (Nov’14) is an acoustic song with minimal accompaniment provided by body percussion and glockenspiel. It’s a foot tapper, thigh slapper and has hauntingly beautiful vocals that worm their way into your consciousness. A song about inequality it has a rhythm that pops and has been called “swirly indie pop”. Don’t listen to people predicting a bright future for this musician. This is perfect. Right here, right now, Little Pieces is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

Note: This is a cover version for a reason. The original version is not available unless you down load it here.

 

Shit you need to know:

Declan McKenna plays guitar and mandolin and says he likes to mix-up genres.

Declan McKenna has described his music as “psychedelic-blues riffs and folk lyrics.”

His influences include Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Flynn, Django Django, Bach and T-Bone Walker.

He self-released his biggest song so far, Brazil (Dec'14), on vinyl. The song condemns Sepp Blatter and the corruption endemic in FIFA.

Declan McKenna's music was compared to Portishead and Radiohead by this reviewer while his unique vocals minded another of The Libertines.

Declan McKenna was the winner of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition 2015.

The young man toured with rising hot indie band Blossoms on their UK tour this year.
 

Declan is being pursued by a number of labels & publishers according to A&R Daily in the UK.

Other great Declan McKenna tracks are Brazil and All That.
 

 

Declan McKenna’s percussion reminded me of Ben Harper’s Steal My Kisses (1999) which had the beatboxer Rahzel supplying the beats. So here is the roots rock musician with one of his biggest hits.


 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Tiny Little Rocks

One of the best indie songs of 2015 is Tiny Little Rock’s Again (Aug ’14). Yes, it’s outside the box, but that don’t mean it don’t fucking belong there. This tune reminds me of Flying Nun songs for putting the best parts at the end, but others will be thinking of Radiohead. Either way it’s infuriating. But this is better than either of those examples.

 

Again is cool, sparse and haunting in the first three minutes but then it heats up like the rock in your pipe and makes it well worth the wait. This will be going on your repeat playlist. A car driving, house cleaning song. Or one you put on in the background of a conversation, unnoticed until people start foot-tapping and ask “Who’s this?” You only need told once. This is magic, this is Tiny Little Rocks.

 

 

 

Tiny Little Rocks is solo artist Pierre Guillaume.

He comes soulfully sauntering out of Brussels, Belgium. Again is the first release from four singles, all released in 2014.

Shit you didn't need to know:

Tiny Little Rocks have been compared with Thom Yorke/Radiohead and Muse.

Pierre Guillaume has a new Fender Stratocaster. It’s a nice guitar.

Next on is David Bowie's Tin Machine and the hard rocking wild thing that is Crack City (1989).

Your man had a big swinging pair back in the day, don’t you know?