The 30 Best Indie Rock Songs of 2016 (30 - 21)

No fucking about, here are the 30 best indie rock songs of 2016.

30. PUP - DVP 

PUP are a punk band from Toronto, Canada. They sound like The Bronx and Weezer. DVP (Feb'16) is the song you get seriously fucked up to pre-loading before a dangerous night on the town. A headbanging rush.

29. The Frights - Kids 

The Frights are a surf/garage band from San Diego, California. They sound like SWMRS and Wavves. Kids (Jan'16) is a scathing garage rocker with a poppy beat. Snarky fun.

28. CANVAS - Gold 

CANVAS are an electronic indie rock band from Toronto, Canada. They sound like E.L.O. and Cheap Trick. Gold (Jan'16) saunters along on one fat riff smelling of last nights whiskey and then turns soft and psychedelic. 

27. Beach Slang - Punks At A Disco Bar

Beach Slang are a punk band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They sound like Gaslight Anthem and Japandroids. Punks At A Disco Bar (July'16) is a punk anthem that enters on a guitar-only riff and then rolls along mid-tempo, all impassioned vocals but no fat or flourishes. 

26. Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life 

Japandroids are an indie rock band from Vancouver, Canada. They sound like Death From Above 1979 or Titus Andronicus. Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Nov'16) is a passionate rock song that will get you fired up to pursue your dreams. 

25. Pretty Vicious - National Plastics 

Pretty Vicious are a punk band from Merthyr, Wales. They sound like early Manic Street Preachers and Oasis. National Plastics (Oct'15) is an incendiary ball breaker that rocks harder than a jailhouse rapist's erection. 

24. FIDLAR - Why Generation 

FIDLAR are a surf/garage punk band from Los Angeles, California. They sound like SWMRS and The Orwells. Why Generation (Feb'16) is a garage rocker and a mosh pit bone breaker with something to say. 

23. The Bay Rays - New House 

The Bay Rays are an indie rock'n'roll band from Tunbridge Wells, England. They sound like The Fratellis and The Vaccines. New House (June'16) is a barn burning rock'n'roller as infectious as a Thai hooker's taint at three in the morning. 

22. The Rifles - Wall Around Your Heart 

The Rifles are an indie rock band from London, England. They sound like The Vaccines and The Jam. Wall Around Your Heart (July'16) meshes elements of punk with modern refined songwriting and production to create passionate pop rock.

 
21. Beware Of Darkness - Dope 

Beware Of Darkness are an indie rock band from Santa Barbara, California. They sound like The Family Rain and The Arctic Monkeys. Dope (July'16) is a classic rock/bluesy stomper that sports riffs as sticky as two hobos fucking in a puddle of piss.

PUP - Sleep In The Heat

1.    Who are these lords of rock'n'roll? 

PUP are a popular punk rock band from Toronto, Canada. They have been tearing shit up since 2013 and Sleep In The Heat is from their second critically acclaimed album The Dream Is Over (Aug'16). 

2. What's the tune like?

Sleep In The Heat is a mid-tempo, abrasive punk song with gang vocals and a warm gooey centre. It doesn't over stay it's welcome.

3. Who do PUP sound like?

Weezer (early), Cloud Nothings and The Bronx. 

4. What have the prats in the press said about the album The Dream Is Over?

“Nothing but glorious redlining guitars and pile-on group chants” – Pitchfork. 

“One of the best records you’ll hear this year” – Punk News.

“PUP have levels of on-record energy that I’m just not used to hearing in 2016” – Stereogum.

5. Which bands have inspired PUP's brand of mayhem? 

Their main influences are Built To Spill, The Bronx,Queens Of The Stone Age, Dillinger and Mastodon.

6. Why should I give Sleep In The Heat a spin?

Because it's no fat on the bone, raw, punk rock with a singalong. PUP are for real. 


7. Do PUP have any more of these beauties? 

Go no further than the party rock anthem DVP, the best song PUP have made. 


8. Any more words? 

PUP do a stonking cover of The Buzzcocks' Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've) 

“And I’ve said so many goodbyes,

In the 25 years that I’ve been alive”

Schmutzki are a punk pop band from Germany. They started kicking arse and taking names in 2011. Schmutzki sound similar to Blink-182, Brings and Offspring. Their major influences are The Clash, The Misfits and Die Toten Hosen. Sauflied is a track off their second album Spackos Forever (Aug'16) and is the finest fucking punk song this cunt heard all year.

“German shit”

PUP - DVP

1.   Who are these legends?

PUP are a punk band from Toronto, Canada. These heroes have been burning up the music scene since 2013 and have one long player the self titled PUP (2014). DVP comes rocking of the short player The Dream Is Over (Jan'16).

2. What kind of tune have PUP served up?

Don't read too much into the ‘punk’ description.  It starts out all fire and brimstone and shouted verse but the chorus is all melody and ‘ohhh ohhhs.’
A story telling song about getting drunk and the emotional fall out, you can hear the lyrics despite the speeding down the highway chased by the police speed of the drums and guitars.

3. Who do these PUP punks sound like?

Cloud Nothings, Metz, Not Scientists and Dirty Nil.

4. What have the press got to say about DVP?

“Mile-a-minute ramshackle punk stumbles into a killer harmony, all bolstered by emotionally bare lyrics” – Stereogum.

“Throttles forward at a breakneck pace, at least three choruses crashing together in a glorious pile-up” – Pitchfork.

“PUP list off their messy failings over a rip-roaring melody” – Consequence Of Sound.

5. Who put the gas in PUP’s drive?

Built To Spill, The Bronx and Queens Of The Stone Age are the bands main influences.

6. So why should I give this banger a listen?

DVP is a screamer of a punk tune but it luxuriates in melody while laying bare the feelings of late night drunk heroics and morning after blues.

PUP have been big-upped by Noisey Vice, their debut album “is a perfect ten,” and sounds like, “If Weezer made a punk album somewhere between the Blue Album and Pinkerton.”

7. Do these Canadian heroes have any more bangers?

Oh yes, they do. Guilt Trip is the most popular and has the Weezer vibe.

8. Have you got any more pearls of wisedom to drop about PUP?

All four members went to elementary school together and have been friends ever since.

PUP have been on fluffer duties for The Hives, The Smith Street Band and Modern Baseball.

PUP do a cover of the Jay Reatard song My Shadow and a stonking version of The Buzzcocks Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't Have).

“Your sister thinks that I'm a freak,
She's been ignoring my calls, we haven't spoken in a week,
I get so drunk that I can't speak”

Slippery seconds is served courtesy of The Smith Street Band. Hailing from Melbourne, Australia and with three long players under their belt this punk band have been rocking socks off since 2010. Don't Fuck With Our Dreams is a jumping little folk punk number in great story telling tradition. It's pure fucking genius.

“Walked the flat city streets looking for a sign of a past you
And knee deep in alcohol and borrowed souls”