The 30 Best Indie Rock Songs of 2016 (10 - 1)

No fucking about, let’s get into it. 

10. Red Cabin - I Can't Wait 

Red Cabin is Jonathan Foster, an indie pop multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter/producer from Long Island, New York. His sound falls somewhere between The Shins and Weezer. I Can't Wait (Feb'16) is an ebullient rock song with a vocal delivery that exudes joy. Unique.

9. Yak - Harbour The Feeling 

Yak are a psych-rock band from London, England. They sound like Pretty Vicious and VANT. Harbour The Feeling (Jan'16) is an intense and furious punk song designed for whipping up an instant crowd frenzy.

8. Sundara Karma - She Said 

Sundara Karma are an indie pop rock band from Reading, England. They sound like Blossoms and Get Inuit. She Said (Aug'16) is a slick and instantly catchy synth-pop song with jangly guitars. The heroin of songs.

7. VANT - Fly-By Alien 

VANT are a punk band from London, England. They sound like Public Access TV and Spring King. Fly-By Alien (Feb'16) is a punk song that takes a swipe at the apathy of the millennial generation. 

6. Nai Harvest - Just Like You

Nai Harvest are a punk duo from Sheffield, England. They sound like Cloud Nothings and The Cribs. Just Like You (Feb'16) is sweet punk with a big scuzzy riff and a shout-it-out-loud chorus. Essential. 

5. PARTYBABY - Your Old Man 

PARTYBABY are an indie rock band with glam stylings from Los Angeles, California. They sound like FIDLAR and SWMRS. Your Old Man (Dec'15) is an anthemic garage rock song that is elevated by the glam rock guitar. A fresh, savage, approach to indie rock.

 4. The Crispies - Bad Blood 

The Crispies are a garage rock band from Vienna, Austria. They sound like The White Stripes and The Arctic Monkeys. Bad Blood (June'16) is a gritty stomper with booming drums, that fires off nasty licks faster than lightening. It reeks of piss and blood in a basement where the band are elevating the crowd to Valhalla.

3. The Amazons - In My Mind 

The Amazons are an indie rock band from Reading, England. They sound between Royal Blood and Oasis. In My Mind (Sept'16) is a powerful rock song propelled by a massive riff, pounding rhythms, dense musical textures and desperate vocals. An indie rock tour de force.  

2. Low Cut High Tops - Lonely And Cold

Low Cut High Tops is multi-instrumentalist and producer David Burns. He is from Seattle, Washington. Low Cut High Tops sounds between The White Stripes and The Pixies. Lonely And Cold (Jan'16) is a grunge song that exudes an off-kilter sexuality while taking off musically with the power of a jet fighter. Blows your fucking head off. 

1. The Courteeners - The 17th 

The Courteeners are an indie rock band from Manchester, England. They sound like The Smiths and Catfish and the Bottlemen. The 17th (Aug'16) has a melancholic synth-pop feel that builds, painfully slowly but inexorably, into a joyful crescendo with a scream-it-to-the-heavens chorus. And that's it. The ultimate cock tease of a song. It'll keep you coming back for more.

England's 3 Hottest Punk Bands in 2015 In 3 Songs

1.    Asylums – Missing Persons.

Asylums are from Southend-on-Sea, London, and started kicking arse and taking names in December of 2014.  Necessary Appliances  (March’15) is the new song you can hear on Soundcloud and it rips everyone a new one. Little Indie Blogs call it, “Adrenaline charged exuberance,” and We Close Tonight reckoned Necessary Appliances has, “top quality riffs and emotive lyrics on hand to get you up and smashing windows.”
 

Asylums describe their music as, “the pop hooks of mid-90’s indie via the fuzzy guitars of late 80’s American underground rock.” Singer and guitarist Luke Branch says the bands that influenced him most as a nipper were David Bowie, Dinosaur Jr. and Supergrass. The best banger from Asylums is Missing Persons (Oct'15).

“Let’s go missing”

 

 

 

 

2. Crows – Pray.

 

Crows are from North London and have been taking care of business since May, 2013. Unwelcome Light (March'16) is the new EP and has a bevy of top notch songs. Silent Forest comes off that short player with force and fury, a wailing tune from an EP that DIY said, “Whacks, a petrol-soaked rag in the neck and sets everything ablaze.”  Silent Forest is on Soundcloud.


Crows have been described by Beat Magazine as similar to Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and they have also been compared to Wolf Alice and Slaves. Crows debut single Pray (Feb’15) is their finest banger. Brace Yourself nailed Crows colors to the mast, Pray is “bloodthirsty and blunt like a fist wrapped in barbed wire.”

“His crooked mouth, his jagged teath,

And his bloodshot eyes,hypnotise”

 

 

 

 

3. Nai Harvest – Just Like You.

 

 

Nai Harvest are a punk duo from Sheffield who have been belting them out since 2011. Nai Harvest's most popular tune is the more introspective offering Ocean Of Madness (April'15). Ocean Of Madness sways off Nai Harvest's second album Hairball (2015) an album Edmdroid thought, “takes sharp turns into hazy garage punk and feedback-laden grunge.”

Nai Harvest have been compared to The Cribs, Wavves and Cloud Nothings. The band have mentioned love for bands like Blink-182, Good Charlotte and Sum 41. Just Like You (Feb'16) is Nai Harvest's finest banger, a double A side and a rollicking number with a big grinding riff that Upset Magazine called a “scuzzy pop gem.”

 

“Do you want all my love?”

 

 

 

Nai Harvest - Just Like You

1.    Who are these gods of rock’n’roll?

Nai Harvest are an indie punk band from Sheffield, England, with two long players on their roll of honor. Just Like You (Feb’16) is the lead single from double A side Just Like You/Jelly (April’16).
 

2. What kind of treasure if Just Like You?

Just Like You is a rolling rock number with a big grinding riff and a shout-along chorus. Addictive loveliness with gritty indie trimmings.


3. Who have these heroes been compared to?

Pitchfork compared Nai Harvest to Wavves and Cloud Nothings. Punk News were feeling The Cribs.

Surviving The Golden Age compared Just Like You to Cheap Trick and Free Energy.


4. What have the press said about Just Like You?

“A killer hook and a nostalgia soaked sound” – Wonderland.

“Scuzzy pop gem” – Upset Magazine.

“A first foot forward, thrashing reminder of the pair’s instant crush charm” – DIY.

5. Which bands have put the magic in Nai Harvest’s music?

Nai Harvest have mentioned some love for Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Sum 41 and The Get Up Kids.


6. Why should I give Just Like You a fair crack of the whip?

Just Like You fines the sweet spot between noisy indie punk and classic rock’n’roll. It is pure addictive and emblematic of the Nai Harvest's evolution from great music to essential music.


7. Do Nai Harvest have any more bangers?

Ocean Of Madness is killer.


8. Any more words?

Just Like You was recorded with the charming Bob Cooper who has worked for Empire Of The Sun, Fort Lean, Sky Ferreira, Citizen and  Self Defense Family.

Ben Thompson has said Just Like You is “about two or more people being literally glued together and forced to be the same person but they’re all just trying to rip each other apart. It sounds pretty fucking mental when said out loud.”

“Do you want all my love?”

 

The double dip is from Nai Harvest label mates Infinity Girl. Infinity Girl are a punk band from Brooklyn, New York, with two long players in the vault. Dirty Sun (2015) is a single from the second album Harm (2015) and Noisey Vice called it a “fun, sardonic punk

“I look at your arms,

They are crossed like they always are”