The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Regions

Regions are an unsigned indie rock four piece from London. They are way hard to google and not to be confused for The North Carolina heavy metal band of the same name, so you might need to re-think that one men. But pressing ahead, Divided (Oct’15) is awesome so lets soldier on. The song is the band’s second release since forming in 2014 and is featured by the priestess of great indie taste, Fancy Melodic, in another of her fantastic indie rock compilations, October 2015. It also got cherry-picked by YouTube channel Bandit Tunes. The song was recorded at Westpoint Studios in Shepherds Bush, West London, where legends like The Killers, The Kooks, Primal Scream and Kanye West have all put their nose to the grind. In fact Regions took a photo, as you do, with Kanye West while he was there.

 

 

The song Divided starts out with a big indie tribal drum beat and dark atmospheric lyrics about a failed relationship, “I’m still divided by the time we spent” and “cut me up again we’re in pieces”, but is juxtoposed with some slinky ska on the synths that sent me searching for the English ska band The Specials and their 1979 UK chart-topper A Message To You, Rudy. Good times that tune. Divided ends with a satisfyingly noisy all in with more scintillating noodling guitar that illuminates the whole song. The chorus is so contagious it should come with free condoms but it's the diverse musical textures that makes Divided stand out. Divided comes surging out of the traps to announce itself as one of the best indie songs of 2015.

“If this is love then I don’t know what it is”

 

Shit you need to know:

Divided is the title track off their single release. The B-side is called Do You Need Me?

The new tunes took ten months in the studio to record.

The band's debut release was a five track self-titled short player Regions (Aug'14).

The drummer Alejo Sonnenberg directed their debut music video Go Down (Mar’15), the first track on their debut E.P.

The band have played in support of great Newcastle indie-rock band Street Party In Soho.

Regions have also been on fluffer duties for London indie-rock band House of Lions.

 

The band has a really good acoustic version of their song Go Down (Nov’14).

If you want to hear more from Regions check out the B-side to the single, Do You Need Me?


 

 

 

Slippery seconds is from American indie folk-rocker Katie Herzig and her 2011 spectacular Free My Mind.

 “My mind is like a havy hand

Always making more of what really happened"

 

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - King No-One

King No-One Constellations (Sept’15) has been called "upbeat and intoxicating" by Bitter Sweet Symphonies and "swimming in encapsulating bluesy bass, the track dives the ears into sweet indie-pop contagion..." Personally I like it a lot. King No-One are teenagers from York, England, who started playing in 2012 and It's All Indie said they are "suited to a stadium" and have "a belter of a tune."

 

 

King No-One are already have two short-players under their belt and Constellations is the title track of their second EP. They have been compared to Suede and Radiohead by Listen With Monger who went on to say Constellations has a "...sexy, snaking, slinky guitar riff and some indie-disco swagger."  The band are influenced by the likes of Swim Deep, The Killers and Vampire Weekend. Constellations is indie rock at it's best, mixing the finest traditions of both indie-pop and driving guitar rock. It's the kind of song that saunters into the bar wearing snake-skin boots and a shit-eating grin, and smelling of last night’s girl. I'd bet dimes to dollars that Constellations is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

“The abstract observaton

I never want to let it go”

 

 

Shit you need to know:

In 2013 King No-One won a Leed’s battle of the bands and went on to play the Leeds and Reading Festivals.

They have been described as "...Catfish & The Bottlemen meets Earth, Wind & Fire... as energetic guitar vitality meets a dancing groove." They have been compared to Radio Head who they are fans of.

Other influences are The Arctic Monkeys, Ian Brown, Shed Seven, The Strokes and Franz Ferdianand.

The BBC reviewer Alan Raw said King No-One are "...incredibly tight, really professional and a brilliant band."
King No-One toured supporting popular English indie rock band Embrace.

The band are well known for busking around their hometown York.

The band are tipped for big things but they will play house parties! For real.

If you need more scintillating indie rock from King No-One check out the live version of "Constellations" or this barn burner, "Millenium" (Mar'14).

Todays follow up is from “epic purveyors of melodically charged alternative pop” London indie pop rockers Longfellow. Influenced by Jeff Lyne, Tom Petty and Toto, they are one of the greatest, unheralded, bands I have ever heard.  This beautiful and emotive song, Siamese Lover, was released in January 2014 and was one of their earliest singles.

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Nathaniel Rateliff

Nathaniel Rateliff is a soul singer from Denver who has been making music for more than 20 years but his career switched to nitro when he pressed into service a seven piece band called the Night Sweats and released Son Of A Bitch (July’15).  The LA Times said it’s a “...flawless, once-in-a-blue-moon melding of supercharged summer rave-up (and) audience singalong” and What The Ruckus was sure it's “soul perfection.” The band's music is described by Gig Wise as “...a tour de force of electric energy that fuses the most accessible facets of modern American soul, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll.”

 

 

 

Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats are inspired by music like The Platters, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. Nathaniel Rateliff is often compared to Van Morrison and the band’s sound to Booker T and The MG’s.  Son Of A Bitch or S.O.B. as it’s officially known as, is about a piss artist with a broken heart. But women come and women go but the piss is always there. It’s all handclaps and singalong phrasing and is as fun as fuck. Rousing gospel meets rhythm and blues with rock trimmings. Get yer jive on because S.O.B. is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

 

“Son of a bitch, give me a drink
One more night escaping me”

 

 Shit you need to know:
 

The song S.O.B is the first single off Nathaniel Rateliff’s fourth album Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (Aug’15), but the debut for his collaboration with the Night Sweats.

Son Of A Bitch has been called “anthemic” and “...the catchiest song he’s ever recorded” by Hey Reverb.

N.P.R said the new album was “an upbeat old-time dance record” and “vintage soul.”

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats was produced by indie pop rocker Richard Swift  who has done graft for The Shins and Foxygen.

Nathaniel Rateliff is influenced by The Platters, The Moonglows, The Soul Stirrers, Sam and Dave, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, The Allman Brothers, Booker T & The MG's.

Nathaniel Rateliff has mad love for The Band, Damien Jurado and Bob Dylan.

The band are signed to Stax Records and have been called a “modern take on the Motown sound.”

For more good tunes from Nathaniel Rateliff and The Night Sweats try I Need Never Get Old or Howling At Nothing.

 

 

Slippery seconds is random. Canadian indie rock band The Meligrove Band went park with this brilliant song Tortaruga that sweats glam swagger. God bless these young gents.

“And no one's making it out alive,
Still we're walking, and we're running,
And we're telling all our lovers "goodbye"

 

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - John Newman

John Newman is a middle of the road English soul singer and "Come And Get It" (July'15) a funky pop number. So fuck all to do with indie. John Newman is from Settle, North Yorkshire and the tune has a Northern Soul feeling and minded me of Paulo Nutini's 2014 single Scream (Funk My Life Up). You might remember John Newman from Rudimental's massive 2012 hits Feel The Love  or Not Giving In. Or maybe his huge hit Love Me Again (2013). Come And Get It is the lead single from his second album Revolve (Oct'15) and isn't quite as hideously 'white bread' as his prior efforts. Pop Matters has hailed his "anthemic and infectious music" and thought Come And Get It has a "...chorus (that) is positively huge and catchy."

 

  The youngblood started music at 14 and is influenced by Stax Records, Motown and Northern Soul. Come And Get It is a song he wrote for driving in the car and was inspired by the sun. John Newman said the new album Revolve is "...a bit slicker, a bit tighter, a bit more American influenced...". Because it's funky as a hobbos knob cheese Come And Get It is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

“Every man has been broken”

 

 

 

 

Shit you need to know:

Come And Get It  has been called "...a bouncy soul throw back," ...a real anthem" and comes with "...an air-punching , euphoric chorus."

The new album Revolve was called “chest thumping soul with an inner emptiness” in a Guardian review.

The man himself said the album is “...inspired by the sun and disco and good grooves.”

The groover’s influences range from Elvis Presley, The Four Seasons to Jay-Z and the Kings of Leon. He’s also into all that soul stuff like James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Sly Stone. 

John Newman is often compared with, and confused for, Sam Smith which doesn't best please the young fellah.

Your man released an short player of remixes of Come And Get It that are reviewed here.

 

If you need more of this type of thing try "Love Me Again" or "Lights Down".

 

 

Stirring the custard is Scottish soul bard Paulo Nutini's "Scream (Funk Your Life Up)" (2014). Because it's good enough to bear repeating.

“Never heard it coming, thought it’s just another woman
With a shotgun in her hand”

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Pretty Vicious

On the rare occasions I’m tempted to muse on the disappointing nature of a world that allows genocide in Burma or a six year civil war in Syria with 200 000 dead and a million refugees, my friend will punch me in the arm, with a knuckle extended, in an often successful attempt to give me a dead arm and this sage advice, “harden the fuck up.” National Plastics (Sept’15) is the musical equivalent of that dead arm. The tune only has one gear, fast and furious. This song took me back to the day in 1991 I put the needle down on The Manic Street Preacher’s first release “Motown Junk” and was blown away by the blistering assault that announced the arrival of one of the greatest rock and roll bands in the world at that minute. Both bands are from the Welsh valleys. Just saying. National Plastics is a song about grabbing life by the scruff of the neck and has been called a “...tour de force of incendiary, visceral and youthful guitar rock.”

 

 

Pretty Vicious are an indie punk rock band from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and have played some big festivals like Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds. Pretty Vicious started in 2014 and are all 16 and 18 years old. National Plastics is their second single, the band have been signed up by Virgin EMI and are hot shit with people who matter everywhere. The band have been compared to The Clash (early doors), The Libertines and NME said Pretty Vicious sounded like Jake Bugg fronting the Arctic Monkeys with Sex Pistol's anarchic spirit. Pretty Vicious' influences are The Sex Pistols, Iggy and The Stooges and The Bananas. The band called National Plastics "a ball breaker" while others commonly throw around adjectives like "incendiary" and "visceral". National Plastics rocks harder than prison rape and is one of the best indie songs of 2015.
 

“Moping around
The time will come when you will see
That hangin' about don't bring no opportunities!”

 

 

Shit you need to know:

Pretty Vicious's music has been called by Clash magazine "...a series of indie punk anthems."

Amazing Radio felt the band are "...one of the hottest prospects in music at the moment."

The band say their influences are, "everything."

The band supported the Manic Street Preachers this year.

When the band signed to EMI they were given the original contracts the Sex Pistols signed and signed copies of Never Mind The Bollocks.
 

Pretty Vicious will take to the stage next week at The Brixton Academy in London with The Vaccines and Palma Violets. Good company to keep.

 Other Pretty Vicious songs that burn with righteous indignation are Cave Song , It's Always There and Are You Entertained.

 

 

 

Slippery seconds is from Welsh alternative rockers, and one of the greatest bands to walk the earth back in the day, The Manic Street Preachers. This is their finest Repeat (UK) (1992) from their never equalled first testament Generation Terrorists (1992).

“Repeat after me
Fuck queen and country”

 

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Mates of State

Mates of State's Staring Contest (Apr’15) is one of the best pop records of 2015 and never mind the ‘indie’. The track starts with singer Kori Gardner saying,“Hey! I like it like this,”as a big atmospheric beat is laid down. No wonder she liked it. Synths and drums lead a nostalgyic tour de force of carefree youth in love, sample lyrics “...we once were wild," and complimented by spectacular alternating female and male vocals and a crashing staccato rhythm. Movement magazine called Staring Contest "a fist-pumping opener" and regardless of what you're pumping, Staring Contest is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

Mates of State are a husband and wife indie pop duo from Connecticut, by way of San Franciso, with seven long players in the vault. Pop Matters calls them, "...valid and essential pop."  Mates of State's influences are Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Metallica, Neil Diamond, Neil Finn and Fugazi.  Mates of State have been compared to Feist, Los Camposinos! and St. Vincent but prefer not to be shoe-horned into a genre.

“Climb higher on the chain link fence
It's all about you, I'm wild about you”

 

Shit you need to know:

"Staring Contest" is the debut single from a five song short player "You're Going To Make It” (June'15).

NPR said Staring Contest, "...bursts with giddy excitement."

Movement Magazine said the new EP is, "...nothing but choice cuts; five anthemic and emotionally-rich songs..."

Of the band in general Pop Matters felt, "...musically they are like no one else around."

Not everyone is feeling the love. Pitchfork said "You're Gonna Make It" is "...out of time at best, irrelevant at worst."

Mates of State have toured intensively internationally and have performed fluffer duties for bands like The Postal Service, Spoon, Jimmy Eat World and Death Cab For Cutie.

Mates of State released an album of covers called "Crushes (The Covers Mixtape) (2010) with a Belle and Sebastian cover, Sleep The Clock Around, and others by Death Cab For Cutie and Nick Cave.

If you need more Mates of State check out Gonna Get It.

 

Todays tag team effort is from Mates Of State's 2005 tour mates, the Ariziona rock band Jimmy Eat World.

This is Jimmy Eat World's biggest hit, a raucous punk pop banger, The Middle (2001).
 

"Hey! Don't write yourself off yet

It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on"

 

The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Benjamin Booker

Benjamin Booker's Wicked Waters (Mar’15) is a winner in the name game for both the singer and the song. And the video features cops shooting at the singer before he walks into a bar and picks up a guitar from the band playing and joins in. Choice. Hailing from New Orleans and blending modern rock with a liberal dosing of blues, his self-titled debut album Benjamin Booker (Aug’14) minded Clash magazine of The White Stripes, The Strokes and Kings of Leon. London In Stereo called Wicked Waters, "rambunctuous and seething."

 

Benjamin Booker is a blues/garage/punk rock musician and his heroes are Los Angeles cowboy punk band The Gun Club and his main influences T. Rex and Blind Willie Johnson. Benjamin Booker's music is best described as, "...a well mixed cocktail of punk, folk and New Orlean's blues". Wicked Waters carries a tale from despair to revelation like the sheriff's galloping horse in a black and white western. I don’t know if the blues can be jiggy but Wicked Waters sure as shit is. Jiggy as fuck. With organs like a Doors wigout, ‘can I get an amen’ gospel vocals from the preachers favorite hell-fire sermon and a garage band rock out at the end, the Manchester Evening News called Benjamin Booker, "...powerful and soulful...a voice in a million" and Wicked Waters, “...bouncy and infectious.” It is. As infectious as a frat boys communal wank mitt. Wicked Waters is one of the best indie songs of 2015.
 

“Well my heart is feeling empty
Well my legs are feeling weak
Well my heads sore from yesterday
Well I stumble when I speak.”

 

Shit you need to know:

His music has been compared to Jack White, The Black Keys, The Strokes, Led Zeppellin and Chuck Berry.

Spin magazine thought the long player Benjamin Booker was "...a contender for rock record of the year."

Clash magazine called Benjamin Booker, “...an electrifying introduction to the future of the blues” and Wicked Waters “riotous,” while DIY magazine said Wicked Waters is "ferocious" and "blistering. "

Benjamin Booker is label mates with Alabama Shakes and has toured with Alabama Shakes and his album was produced by Andrija Tokic who did the same for Alabama Shakes.  

Benjamin Booker was on fluffer duties for Jack White's 2014 national tour.

Other cracking Benjamin Booker tracks are Have You Seen My Son? and Violent Shiver - (all minute and a half of it!)

 

 

Slippery seconds should, must and will, go to Alabama rock band Alabama Shakes today and their massive 2012 hit Hold On.

“Bless my heart, bless my soul,
Didn't think I'd make it to 22 years old”