dream pop

6 alternative songs in 2023 to download today

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Check out 6 alternative songs in 2023 you need to be listening to

I’ve been missing for a few…but I’m motivated tonight to tell you about 6 alternative songs in 2023 you need to jump on ASAP! Some of these from spring and summer will make my year-end list of favorite alternative songs in 2023. A few are just in my head and deserve a broader audience.

How to listen to the best alternative songs in 2023

You can stream all of these tunes for free at Bandcamp. You can also buy them there or, even better, buy from the bands’ websites. Most have YouTube videos but I’m not into videos myself. Many also offer free streams at Soundcloud. Even a big dog like Teenage Fanclub is making its brand new album Nothing Lasts Forever available to stream at Soundcloud.

You can listen to ALL of the songs right from this page, and use the handy links to support the artists.

“Fantastic Tales of the Sea” – The Hannah Barberas (Fantastic Tales of the Sea)

Perhaps my favorite alternative song in 2023 is from The Hannah Barberas

“Fantastic Tales of the Sea” may be one the catchiest alternative songs in 2023.

But first, I have to say as a frequent band name critic, let’s give credit to The Hannah Barberas for possibly best band name ever. And double win, best album art of 2023?! (Credit to London designer Sally Kelly). These guys are killing it on the aesthetics.

None of this it to take away from the title track of 2023’s fantastic, Fantastic Tales of the Sea, or my story about hearing it the first time. Among the things I DON’T have to complain about is traveling some this summer. I was listening to Fantastic Tales at Hideaways Beach in Kauai. Yes, I get it, entitled white guy story here. But the moment was still powerful.

View of Hideaways Beach in Kauai as you descend the steep approach
Landing spot about 20 feet above the final descent to Hideaways

It was our last day on the island and I’m at Hideaways with my daughter. It is one of the most picturesque beaches I’ve ever seen. Surreal. Rose is recording an Insta Reel in the water and doing what teenagers do. I was taking in the ocean, listening to The Hannah Barberas’ new album. Near the end, “Fantastic Tales” positively leaped out of the headphones. The chorus was instantly sealed with those last, fading hours of our family vacation, the way some songs are forever connected to a moment in time.

You don’t have to be in Hawaii to enjoy the clear-eyed jangle brilliance of The Hannah Barberas.

Buy Fantastic Tale of the Sea from Darrin Lee’s Subjangle label at Bandcamp.

“This is Gonna Change Your Mind” – Martin Frawley (The Wannabe)

Martin Frawley's new album is the complex The Wannabe

Martin Frawley’s sprechgesang “This is Gonna Change Your Mind” from his second album, The Wannabe, endears itself with repeat listening. Hearing it again, I’m tempted to buy the full album by the former member of Melbourne’s Twerps. Baggy jam at one moment, enigmatic dolewave the next, Frawley’s desultory vocals tie the whole thing together. It’s a nuanced album that begs several listens to really get it.

That said, leadoff “This is Gonna Change Your Mind” is just straightforward infectious pop!

You can sample The Wannabe at Bandcamp — and buy it from Lost in Mind Records.

Oh, and interested in tasty Australian wines? Martin and his fiancé, Lauren, produce Syrah, Cabernet and Vermentino wines using Victorian grapes under the El’More Wines label.

“Vampire in Appalachia” – Phillip Bowen (Old Kanawha)

Will Philip Bowen join a growing list of West Virginia alt country breakthroughs?

Philip Bowen is an up-and-comer in West Virginia’s growing country scene. I’m quite biased, having proudly grown up among the same hills and streams as Bowen. He joins West Virginia’s Charles Wesley Godwin, Tyler Childers and Sierra Ferrell in much-discussed country and alt country circles.

In fact CWG guests on Bowen’s Old Kanawha (modern pronunciation: kuh-NAW), the county of West Virginia’s capital, Charleston, and the Native American word for “white rocks.” Bowen is a renowned fiddle and mandolin session musician but his vocals runs are so light they could fool you into thinking it is auto-tune.

“Vampire in Appalachia” also boasts a champion version of the “Woah oh oh oh oh” bridge mirrored in the past by The Ronettes, Baltimora and Howard Jones. Bowen owns them all with his earnest “Vampire in Appalachia,” one of the best alternative songs in 2023 in alt country.

Get your copy of Old Kanawha from West Virginia’s newest star, Philip Bowen!

“Analita” – Bobsled Team (single)

Bobsled Team's song about a ghost is a suitably haunting indie gem

Words really only detract from pure pop sugar like Bobsled Team’s “Analita.” The whimsical echo of the chorus begins what you think will be Icelandic dream pop, but it builds to a bit of a noisy indie jam. I’m not previously familiar with Belfast’s Bobsled Team but now greatly anticipate their second album!

“Analita,” a song about a ghost, is an instant classic.

Buy Bobsled Team’s “Analita” today from Bandcamp to hear one of my favorite alternative songs in 2023.

“Unchanged” – Dot Allison (Consciousology)

Longtime performer Dot Allison released "Unchanged" in May, one of my favorite indie songs of 2023

Let’s stay in this same ethereal space with Dot Allison’s “Unchanged.” Allison has been around basically forever, originally as part of One Dove. We’re virtually the same age, a discovery I usually find surprising in a contemporary indie artist.

One Dove had just one album, 1993’s Morning Dove White, but Allison has released six albums since then, culminating in 2021’s Heart-Shaped Scars and this year’s Consciousology. If she more closely identifies with the psych/trip hop space, the chorus of “Unchanged” floats weightlessly, very nearly like a country harmonic.

Is “Unchanged” a tender homage to her lover, or bitter realization?

You’re always the same
Always unchanged
So he should walk away
Yet his love remains...unchanged

Unchanged, like a sunrise
Unchanged, like your ghost
Unchanged, once a lifetime
Unchanged, a seed won’t sow
Unchanged, like the fractal
Unchanged, shaping the snow
Unchanged, if statues could move
Oh the stories they could tell

You can also hear the growing trippy beats under the Scottish singer’s single, which she originally released in May.

Buy Consiousology at Bandcamp.

“Beggin’ For You” – Hurry (Don’t Look Back)

Teeanage Fanclub and Big Star fans, check out "Beggin' For You" by Philadelphia's Hurry

At some point, I realize I could do these playlists all night. Let’s wrap back in the states, with Philadelphia’s Hurry.

“Beggin’ For You” sounds like a Teenage Fanclub lost classic with thrilling chamber pop flourishes. There is absolutely nothing to dislike about Matt Scottoline’s ode to 90’s power pop and its influences. He owns every Norman Blake vocal peak, Big Star guitar solo and jangly Byrds chorus.

Check out how it comes together on “Beggin’ For You.”

You can’t do much better than Hurry’s Don’t Look Back! Buy it at Lame-O Records.

The best alternative songs in 2023 are yet to come

Listen to 6 top shelf alternative songs from 2023 right here

Look, we’ve got 95+ days left in 2023. These 6 songs were basically some of the last 8 or 10 I put in my phone for a post just like this — an update. I have dozens of favorite alternative songs in 2023 that I’ll catalogue at the end of the year. Last year, I listed 22 of my favorites from 2022.

Subscribe for updates as we wind up another terrific year in alternative music!

9 records: Best indie albums 2023 to absolutely own by now!

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Best indie rock albums 2023 so far

It’s been a challenge to assemble the best indie albums 2023 has produced so far. But I’ve got nine exceptional records for you here.

I’ve dug deep, listened long and sampled wide. In the process, I’ve heard a lot of dull songs, some pretty weird stuff and found the very best indie rock albums 2023 has available for your rock dollar. In some ways, the standouts seem fewer this year. Maybe 2022 was so epic, it has been hard to compare; maybe I’m setting the bar too high.

Best indie albums 2023: A few ground rules

Some notes about the 9 bands listed here, the dozen or so honorable mentions and 128,000 bands with albums this year who aren’t listed.

  • First, I think you can goof a little with a mid-year list, but not a lot. These are nine bands I’m serious as a heart attack about. I don’t posture as cooler-than-thou.
  • Second, I’m notoriously 2-4 weeks behind in my listening. This list should be good to about the first of June; I have ten or twelve records on my phone I either haven’t listened to or bought yet.
  • Third, your favorite nine albums are probably just as good as mine. Individual mileage may vary.
  • Finally, I became attached to the number 9 somewhat arbitrarily. Fifteen might have been a better number.

So read a little about these 9 albums and listen to a song from each record. If you dig it, listen to a few moe songs. Link to the release and buy it.

All on one indispensable website, because I love you.

Best alternative albums 2023, to rank or not to rank?

This list of the best indie albums 2023 has produced isn’t listed in order of preference – it’s way too early for ranking! But each album is fantastic and should already be in your collection.

They all stand a fair chance of making many Top 10 lists at the end of the year.

Shana Cleveland (Manzanita)

Manzanita is near the top of my best indie rock albums 2023 so far

The lead singer for La Luz, Shana Cleveland‘s solo albums are distinctly removed from her Seattle band’s surfy good times. Manzanita is a bewitching concoction of dream pop, slithering psych folk and pedal steel. A few of the longer pieces are ornamented with more acoustic passages and discreet melodic side channels.

Of the fourteen songs on Manzanita, eleven are fuller compositions and two or three are a bit more like transition elements, including the 12-second “Bloom.” Haunting arrangments like “Quick Winter Sun,” “Bonanza Freeze” and “Gold Winter” feel like Syd Barrett’s 1960’s Pink Floyd.

But you can imagine Cleveland opening for Beach House on songs like “Mystic Mine.”

I highly encourage you to explore Manzanita, available with Shana merch at her website.

Fixtures (Hollywood Dog)

Hollywood Dog by Fixtures

Hollywood Dog was a spring favorite of mine. Fixtures layers a terrific horn section over power pop. They make you wonder what Bob Mould would have sounded like with these kind of expansive brass arrangements.

Hollywood Dog opens with the driving “21/1” and closes with the “21/1 Reprise.” And “21/1” is a great example of the way each song on Hollywood Dog takes on added drama from Riley Cooke’s done-but-not-overdone trumpet. The brass creates a mystic quality on songs like “Ghost Relays,” which if K. Liakos decided to push his vocals to a scream would sound not unlike a lost Pixies classic.

I’ve decided I will travel up to 400 miles to see Brooklyn’s Fixtures live. Here is the 2:26 blast of title track “Hollywood Dog,” which would rip in person!

Buy a digital copy or vinyl edition of Hollywood Dog at Fixtures’ Bandcamp page.

The WAEVE (The WAEVE)

The Wave by the Waeve

The WAEVE was the first album in 2023 to really knock me over.

I didn’t expect to love Graham Coxon and Rose Elinor Dougall’s album as much as I did. Obviously the Blur founder can turn almost anything to gold. But this is the year 2023 and my expectations were…modest. What a terrific surprise!

Everything about The WAEVE is emotive and stirring. The sequencing of the album from rocker “Kill Me Again” to the jazz-infused “Over and Over” is perfection. “Over and Over” also illustrates how exquisite Coxon and Dougall sound together. A bit of an April-September musical and literal romance, Coxon’s saxophone, guitar progressions and Dougall’s smoky vocal style just couldn’t be better suited together.

The WAEVE is an album of endless surprises, and is probably still my favorite this year.

THE SONGS ARE LONG — and really deserve the time to gradually reveal themselves. The motorik rhythm of “Drowning” is an example of an arrangement you just need to stay with. It turns into this mini-epic of strings and sax perfect for a chilled, rainy night.

At two minutes in, “Drowning” is just getting started. Give it the time it deserves.

Buy The WAEVE‘s debut and merch at the band’s website.

Shame (Food for Worms)

No list of the best indie rock albums 2023 would be complete without Shame

To hear Food for Worm is to be reminded of the seminal London Calling.

Shame swings for the fences again, turning post-punk into something fresh and important. Instead of The Clash’s experiments with ska and world beats, Shame alternately drops skronky guitars and spikey rhythms into Food for Worms.

I’m anxious for Shame to play America this year. However the planned tour dates so far venture no further west than Dallas. They have to announce some West Coast dates – there is still hope to hear one of the best indie albums 2023 has produced so far!

Not surprising, Food for Worms is best played at ear-crushing decibels. Bump that VU on the arena-worthy chorus of album highlight “Adderall.”

Buy your copy of Food for Worms at Shame’s website.

Lael Neale (Star Eaters Delight)

Lael Neale may sneak up on my Year End list of best music

Star Eaters Delight is an early dark horse for my favorite album of 2023.

Lael Neale retreated to her parents home in Virginia during the Corona, and the rural expanse is a felt co-producer on Star Eaters Delight. Neale’s propulsive melodies burst with a sense of clarity from those pastoral months, an extension and sort of reconnection to her previous life in LA.

As consuming as the songs are, they are spacious arrangements. I thought the comment of her producer, Guy Blakeslee, was amusing: “Lael is always telling me to play fewer notes.” Boy, can you hear it in the cavernous arrangements, which don’t seem spare but instead spotlight Neale’s perfect vibrato.

It’s hard not to see and hear a bit of Natalie Mering in Neale, though Neale is more baroque. SED is an album full of singles from one of the best indie albums 2023 has seen so far. But I can only choose one song.

Rather than the epic and enigmatic “In Verona,” here is “Faster Than the Medicine,” which I think is representative of the full recording.

No shows yet in Salt Lake City, but the year is young! Buy Star Eaters Delight as a digital download, CD, vinyl or cassette (whatevs) from Bandcamp.

Teini-Pää (Sata syytä aloittaa)

Would you believe a band from Finlad is among the best indie rock albums 2023?!

Teini-Pää (“Teenage Head”) record super-duper two-minute power pop gems in their native Finnish.

Songs on their second album Sata syytä aloittaa range from power punk to jangle pop and a couple of gazier numbers, most cuts just 2 minutes and change.  I’ve had as much fun with this album as any I’ve heard this year. It has as many hooks and as much depth as Alvvays’ 2022 Blue Rev.

Before your declare, “I don’t even speak Helsinki!”…listen to the universal language of garage rock on songs like “Kuka vaan käy.”

You can buy read more about Teini-Pää and Sata syytä aloittaa (“100 Hundred Reasons to Start”) at their Finnish label Soit Se Silti. As far as I can tell from a poor Google web translation, you need to buy Sata syytä aloittaa from their Bandcamp page.

Let’s get Teini-Pää to play ‘Merica!

Gaz Coombes (Turn the Car Around)

Gaz Coombes - Turn the Car Around

Gaz Coombes’ Turn the Car Around was the first album I bought this year. I’m listening to it now for the first time since January — it’s still superb!

Coombes’ band Supergrass was not part of my musical journey. You can’t listen to all the music. But Gaz is part of my story now. His voice sounds incredible, the compositions are rich, complex, just impeccable.

By point of comparison, many songs on Turn the Car Around are a perfect stylistic mashup of Elbow and Radiohead. “Long Live the Strange” could equally be a takeout from Leaders of the Free World or Kid A.

Check it out on Soundcloud.

Gaz Coombes (Turn the Car Around) – “Long Live the Strange”

Buy Turn the Car Around from Coombes website – I don’t know if I’ve heard a better release all year!

The Murlocs (Calm Ya Farm)

A boldly different alt country album for 2023

I believe I’ve sampled more alt country than any other genre in 2023 besides your broadly defined post punk. I mean…I’VE HEARD A LOT of alt country, and not much has hit hard. I’ve listed a few honorable mentions below, and I’ll find more for my year end list.

But The Murlocs – wow! A band doing something new under the sun!

Calm Ya Farm is a swampy, scuzzy proggy country thing that is an absolute joy. If Geddy Lee formed a bayou jam band and held drunken Friday night hootenannies for friends in low places, it would approximate half the creative energy wrapped up in the 7th album by Melbourne’s The Murlocs.

A sort of second-cousin to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, members of The Murlocs have labored a bit in King Gizzard’s shadow. The Murlocs’ singer Ambrose Kenny-Smith and bassist Cook Craig also play in King Gizzard. Also, the bands tour together and share a ton of DNA.

Here is The Murlocs’ smoking, roiling “Russian Roulette,” a cut from one of the best indie albums 2023 has seen so far — across any genre!

A song like this begs the question, does Calm Ya Farm devolve into camp? I hear an honest tribute to the genre, not goofing on alt country. And it’s new, different…it is NEEDED.

Buy Calm Ya Farm from The Murlocs website, pour yourself a finger of whiskey and decide for yourself!

Dignan Porch (Electric Threads)

You have to inclue Dignan Porch among the best indie rock albums 2023 so far

Dignan Porch is the retro DIY project of Joe Walsh, and it is amaze.

Melodies are slightly off kilter and psychedelic at times. The lofi songs are wonderfully poppy at their core but warped just enough to sound like lost cassette tracks from Marquee Moon. You can hear the late, revered Tom Verlaine in the mournful harmonized guitar of songs like “Ancestral Trail.”

Walsh moved from London to Manchester shortly before the pandemic. Other than a bit of help from his brother, Walsh wrote, performed and recorded most of Electric Threads on his own.

Order Electric Threads from Safe Suburban Homes Records in the UK and Hidden Bay Records in the EU. In North America, buy from Repeating Cloud Records. I’ve enjoyed Electric Threads so much, it has made me want to go back and explore their back catalogue. You can go through Dignan Porch albums going back to 2010 at their Bandcamp page.

Best indie albums 2023 so far: Honorable mentions

  • The Angles (The Angles) – You’ll fall in love with this soft 70’s jangle pop
  • Indigo De Souza (All of this Will End) – I regret missing De Souza at Kilby
  • BoyGenius (The Record) – Great album. Really good. Don’t @ me for not including them in my Top 9
  • Fran (Leaving) – Top shelf singer-songwriter acoustic songs
  • The Go! Team (Get Up Sequence) – Such a trip hearing The Go! Team in top form
  • Purling Hiss (Drag on Girard) – Wrote, then removed, Purling Hiss entry in my Top 9. Recency bias
  • National Honor Society (To All the Distance Between Us) – Jangle pop I will return to at year’s end!
  • M(h)aol (Attachment Styles) – Not a song on this album I didn’t love, prurient or not
  • JAWNY (It’s Never Fair, Always True) – Looking forward to the JAWNY show in SLC
  • Hifi Sean and David McAlmont (Happy Ending) – I’m working on a full post about this duo!
  • Manchester Orchestra (The Valley of Vision) – This release is amazing but I think it is EP length
  • The Bombshell Flowers (The Death of Me) – Utah indie pop with sugary Killers-style hooks

Best indie albums 2023 so far: Not super impressed

Wall tagged with fown face

  • The National (First Two Pages of Frankenstein) – I’m a big fan but Frankenstein was unremarkable
  • Sparks (The Girl is Crying in Her Latte) – I love Cate Blanchett as much as anyone, but come on
  • Murray Lightburn (Once Upon a Lifetime in Montreal) – So much for my Murray Lightburn mancrush
  • The Tallest Man on Earth (Henry St) – Seems like a lifetime since Shallow Grave. I guess it has been
  • Bondshell (Blondshell) – These songs are good; good not great
  • Yo La Tengo (This Stupid World) – Some day we’ll look back and wonder why we lost our collective mind over an average Yo La Tengo album

Kilby Block Party SATURDAY lineup. Find set times and listen to 14 bands right here

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Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup by stage

The Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup promises a blowout before Sunday night’s lineup featuring Pavement. I’ve scouted out every Saturday band from renowned to obscure. You can hear samples of most of every band below.

Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup: Topline takeaways!

Here are some quick expectations for the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup:

  • Saturday will have higher highs than Kilby’s Friday night lineup. If The Strokes’ Casablancas throws himself into it — and that’s an open question — the jog from Weyes Blood at 6:25p to RTJ at 7:35p and The Strokes at 8:45p could be a hoot.
  • Get to the venue early on Saturday! I’m excited to see Salt Lake City’s Kipper Snack for the first time. They play shortly after 12p noon. If you’re not there by noon, DO NOT miss Tamino at 1:20p and Grace Ives at 1:35p.
  • Couple of Saturday conflicts, starting with dual start times for Alex G and Wallice at 3:25p. Those two will probably split the audience by age. Also, Osees and Run the Jewels both play at 7:35. I’d really like to see both. However, Osees will play a late DJ set at the Urban Lounge Saturday night.

Here is my recommended Saturday plan. Listen for all these bands below. As always, IMMV.

Saturday

12:15 Kipper Snack
12:45 This looks like Break #1 for me
1:20 Tamino
1:55 Grace Ives
2:30 Tanukichan
3:25 Alex G (May cross over to see Wallice)
4:15 Break #2
5:15 Indigo De Souza
6:25 Weyes Blood
7:35 Run the Jewels
8:45 The Strokes

Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup: The headliners

The wild gamut from Alex G to Weyes Blood to Run the Jewels is going to blow some minds. Let’s have a look at (my) headliners in order of appearance. We’ll start with Alex G’s afternoon performance.

Alex G

Alex G brings his musical genius to Salt Lake City May 13

It’s actually not the easiest thing in the world to find an image of Alex Giannascoli.

I think part of that is the Elliot Smith mythos, a mystery partially burst with recent network TV appearances. Alex G has become an increasingly influential part of the indie folk/lo fi rock scene for the larger part of a decade, particularly since Beach House (2015) and Rocket (2017).

The Pennsylvania native once again charmed critics with 2022’s God Save the Animals. I didn’t immediately buy it after listening last year, but I think I am basically alone on planet Earth on that take. Here is “Miracles,” which includes the touching lyrics:

“‘I have fears that I have not addressed,’ she says
Some things from my past make me feel powerless, well
Baby, I pray for the children and the sinners and the animals too
And I, I pray for you

Weyes Blood

One of my most anticipated performances, Weyes Blood headlines the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup

Natalie Mering had been releasing music for nearly ten years before sinking the music industry on her iceberg with 2019’s Titanic Rising. She returned all the stronger in 2022 with And In the Darkness, Hearts Aglow. It’s a delicate throwback to pastoral soft 70’s – but punctuated with Weyes Bloods’ powerful emotion and earnestness. In her promotional material, she actually describes her heart as a glow stick.

A friend of mine in NYC, not easily impressed, was blown away by Weyes Bloods’ performance at Brooklyn Steel this spring. He noted particularly the lighting and set, with some in the audience “moved to tears” at the show’s end. I’m ready to have my cynical cold heart warmed in Mering’s ambience. And, joking aside, this is woman who knows how to write pure melody.

This is the opening track from her current album, “It’s Not Just Me, It’s Everybody.”

Run the Jewels

Run the Jewels likely to play RTJ classics and new material from Killer Mike at the Kilby Block Party

I previously speculated we could get RTJ5 just in time for the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup takes the stage. Bad news: That’s a No. Good news: Killer Mike is putting out his first solo release in a long time, Michael, on June 16. That’s pretty awesome!

Michael Render will be touring major metros with the Midnight Revival Choir starting in July. I have to believe we’ll be treated to Run the Jewel classics and previews of Michael when RTJ plays Saturday night.

Have you heard “Don’t Let the Devil?!” El-P guests along with thankugoodsir and it’s super good.

The Strokes

Why am I so skeptical of The Strokes? They will probably be great!

I feel it’s important to manage expectations with The Strokes.

Julian Casablancas and company have been touring for awhile now, to decidedly unenthusiastic and at best, mixed reviews of their commitment to entertainment. Which version of The Strokes will show up in Salt Lake City during the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup? Hard to know.

I’ll go back and experiment with 2020’s The New Abnormal. Most of us, though, will be hoping for competent performances of Is This It and Room On Fire.

Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup: Supporting Acts

Part of the joy of this year’s KBP is not just the big name acts but the introduction we get to dozens of strong independent performers, many of whom I am hearing for the first time. If you’re similarly looking for an introduction, then read on.

Tamino

If there is one artist you hear for the first time during the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup, make it Tamino

I am absolutely wrecked hearing Tamino tonight for the first time.

When someone is out there creating music like this and it doesn’t cross my radar, I simply feel inadequate. He hasn’t exactly labored in obscurity – Tamino played several shows at SXSW in 2019. Although in my defense, the Belgian-Egyptian music scene is not super strong.

Tamino’s hypnotic vocals are unearthly. Cairo’s Nile FM (this is an actual radio station, at the evenly numbered MHz 104.2 FM) identifies him as the grandson of Egypt’s “legendary Muharram Fouad.” Last year he released the album Sahar but I want you to hear the song I just sampled, 2017’s “Habibi.”

You cannot NOT hear Jeff Buckley singing. I am dead.

I will absolutely be at the Utah Fairgrounds at 1:20pm to hear Tamino early in the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup.

Osees

Osees, formerly Thee Oh Sees, play Kilby and then a DJ set later Saturday at the Urban Lounge

John Dwyer’s long time project Osees, aka Thee Oh Sees, have lived a dozen or more musical lives. From freakout to psych rock, I actually like his current thread which is closer to pure punk.

A Foul Form came out last August although I didn’t catch it then. This is pretty good! It’s on the tolerant side of the hardcore spectrum, which is about the sweet spot for a 50-something white guy like me.

Songs like the freaky surf of “Perm Act” and punk blasts of “Funeral Solution” and “Scum Show” could be a wild part of the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup.

Indigo De Souza

Indigo De Souza has just released All of This Will End

North Carolina’s Indigo De Souza is all rough edges and blunt, confessional lyrics. De Souza has a great sense of dreary melody, a bit like Dana Margolin of Porridge Radio. De Souza just released All of This Will End two weeks ago and I enjoyed the several tracks I’ve downloaded.

The artist profile on Bandcamp quotes De Souza saying, “I was finally able to trust myself fully.” I don’t really know what that means but it sounds good!

On “You Can Be Mean” she disses on a Luva like Taylor Swift would, but with 100x more venom.

Caroline Polachek

Caroline Polachek will do Caroline Polachek things at the Kilby Block Party

I actually kind of liked parts of the song and video for Caroline Polachek’s “Welcome to my Island,” at least the images of her running through a construction site. (Hey that’s what Weyes Blood serving her coffee!) But its hard for me to take the former Chairlift singer too seriously, and I’m definitely not the target demographic.

Here’s “Welcome to My Island,” which I realize while listening and not watching, loses some interest without the construction video and throwing up blood or coffee.

Dreamer Isioma

Dreamer Isioma will bring a mashup of R&B, rhythmic and Afrobeats to Kilby

Dreamer Isioma continues the suave Freak&B of 2021 debut Goodnight Dreamer on April’s Princess Forever.

Early single “Love & Rage” shows how Isioma deftly combines funk, Afrobeats and a rhythmic indie palette. Princess Forever is also a deep concept album – rarely a necessity – that envisions Isioma transcending an apocalyptic something-or-the-other in an alternate universe.

Best to focus on the Chicago native’s beats, as here on “Touch Your Soul.”

Wallice

Looking forward to Wallice during the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup!

Behold the sardonic, self-deprecating indie pop of Wallice!

Just a single EP under her belt, last year’s cutting 90’s American Superstar, Wallice grimly mocks her career trajectory on “Rich Wallice.” The LA artist absolutely shreds on “John Wayne” (actually I don’t know if that’s her on guitar!?) and on the imagined end of her career arc on the EP’s narrative closer “Funeral.”

After a couple of pandemic hits, Wallice Hana Watanabe spent part of the year opening for The 1975 and I can totally hear it. For Rolling Stone AU, Wallice describes hours of added music and dance rehearsals to prepare for her big break.

I dig the way she shifts from 2nd to 5th gear about 1 minute into the EP’s opening cut, “Little League.”

Grace Ives

Grace Ives impresses with ease on her two albums Janky Star and 2nd

Synth pop marvel Grace Ives is the author of last year’s Janky Star. Endlessly entertaining, Ives specializes in 2 minute pop gems that show off her breathy vibrato. Sometimes working in a dream pop space, other times breaking into a Cars twee power pop, Ives delivery always matches the material perfectly.

She soars on “Butterfly” from her 2019 debut 2nd.

Tanuchikan

Tanuchikan brings dream pop to Salt Lake City

You can hear the Cranberries influence on Tanukichan’s 2023 sophomore release GIZMO. I don’t know that the reference is good or bad, it’s just there. Particularly on songs like “Been Here Before” and “Take Care,” Hannah van Loon sounds like the late Dolores O’Riordan, minus the yodeling.

I appreciate Tanukichan’s crunchier dream pop to the poppier dream pop. Album opener “Escape” is more of a Lush soundscape.

Kipper Snack (Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup local feature)

Here's a Salt Lake City band I'm excited to get to know. Be at the Kilby Block Party to hear Kipper Snack

Loving everything I’ve heard from Salt Lake City’s Kipper Snack, whose Insta says the band is half finished with “a real rock and roll album.” Last year Kipper released Pretty as a Flower, whose seven tracks look like an EP or mini album. Tracks fall somewhere between indie folk and high desert alt country.

Check out this impressive number, “Stick It With Me.”

Other standouts include “No Surprise” and “Mama.” Kipper is getting some well-deserved attention this year. Besides their opening slot for the Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup, they’ve played Soundwell, The Depot and Kilby Court. Kipper is a band to watch.

I’m also going to include a video. Readers of this site know I focus on audio. But I was so struck by the tenderness of this video shot during the pandemic. I hope whatever rock and roll Kipper releases soon includes this purity of spirit.

Also include the pedal steel, I want this young man to show off more pedal steel.

Kipper Snack at Studebaker Studios in Provo

Anais Chantal (Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup local feature)

Salt Lake's Anais Chantal opens the Kilby Block Party on Saturday

Anais Chantal released Where Do I Go?? just a couple of months ago. Salt Lake’s Chantal drops between soul and torchlit piano ballads. This is difficult territory to stand out! Chantal has the voice to pull it off, although not all of the melodies here cut through for me.

The opener “CLASSIC” captures Chantal’s presence and range perfectly.

Hippo Campus

St. Paul's Hippo Campus sound more like The Killers than MN forebears The Replacements

Bright indie pop not wildly removed from The Killers, the Minneapolis veterans have been around since 2013. Hippo Campus last month released the Wasteland EP, from which the fan favorite seems to be “Yippie Ki Yay.”

Kilby Block Party Saturday lineup: Other bands playing

I could have and maybe should have broken out The Moss and Josh Doss separately. Links provided for all.

Breaking Semiwestern news! The band Semiwestern releasing full length

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The band Semiwestern is about to release a full length LP! Listen to single "Velvet Sea" here

Attention music lovers, the best possible news: The band Semiwestern is releasing a debut LP this year, with singles to come this spring!

Who is this band Semiwestern you speak of?

In November 2022, like a delicate shot across the bow, California’s redoubtable Spirit Goth Records released “Velvet Sea.” I naturally believed this was new music. It was, in fact, a remix of a song recorded by Semiwestern’s members ten years earlier as The Vliets.

Before we go any further, listen to the updated “Velvet Sea” to understand how I swooned over this atmospheric, Luna-inflected recording. It was my #1 or #2 favorite song of the entire year. Since, then, I have listened to “Velvet Sea” approximately one billion times.

I’ll be honest, there’s not a ton of information on the world wide interwebs about either The Vliets or Semiwestern. But here’s what I can tell you.

Semiwestern, formerly The Vliets, reappear a decade later

A brief history of the world. The band Semiwestern emerged from Austin’s The Vliets (pronounced VLEETS), who were active about ten years ago. The Vliets, lead by singer Ty Bohrnstedt, released The Vliets EP in 2011 and God’s Drug EP in 2012. God’s Drug included the original “Velvet Sea.”

These early EP’s by The Vliets are more traditionally alternative. Here is “Pale Solar Stream” from 2012’s God’s Drug EP. You can hear just an echo of what Ty would mix in 2022.

In 2018, The Vliets released the Semiwestern EP, seemingly leading to the band’s current moniker. You can buy all three EP’s from The Vliets/Semiwestern Bandcamp page.

The band Semiwestern plans full release

The band Semiwestern released their transcendent remix of "Velvet Sea" on Spirit Goth Records in November. Listen to it here!

I was so smitten by the band Semiwestern’s remix of “Velvet Sea” that I inquired with both Spirit Goth and Semiwestern about a new album. Was I a wee bit stalker-y? Possibly, but not completely psycho.

Ty says “a full length album (is) coming. It’s finished but we have to shoot a few music videos and tie up a few loose ends before we set release dates. My best guess is we’ll start putting the singles out around April or so.”

That means we could be six weeks out from new Semiwestern material and I couldn’t be more excited. Will it be consistent with The Vliets indie-centric back catalogue? Or more of the California dream pop like “Velvet Sea?” We will find out!

One more platform for the single, here is the video for the updated “Velvet Sea.”

Stop and listen to these 15 alternative songs new to January 2023

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Listen to these indie songs new in 2023

I made a deliberate decision to jump start 2023 by listening to the first great alternative songs new to January.

That’s what you’re going to hear below. While the first couple weeks of the year always seem to be catchup mode on Best Of lists for the year before, you will 100% fall in love with the new music already dropping in 2023.

Let’s have a listen!

Alternative songs new for your January playlist

Each of these songs shot out of the cannon in the first four weeks of the new year.

I haven’t finished listening to all the indie songs new to January, but these are the ones that caught my immediate attention. Each tune comes with a link to buy the song or album and support the artist. Make that a new year’s resolution in 2023! Support independent musicians by paying them for their art!

1. “Dark Moon” – GRMLN (Dark Moon)

You can hear GRMLN's new dream pop song, "Dark Moon" here. One of the best alternative songs new to January 2023!

We were just four days into the new year when Yoodoo Park of Kyoto, Japan, released Dark Moon and its tasty title track. Park’s GRMLN has been at this for a decade and doesn’t find these dream pop guitar lines by accident. I didn’t hear an entire album of these hooks on Dark Moon but the title track is one of the promising alternative songs new to January 2023.

Listen to more of Dark Moon and buy a copy from GRMLN at Bandcamp.

HEY! – Check out my very favorite songs of the Year 2022

2. “Mile Marker 29” – The Bad Ends (The Power and the Glory)

REM's Bill Berry returns with a new album with band, The Bad Ends

You know who you don’t hear a lot about in the year 2023? REM drummer Billy Berry.

Bill’s been taking it easy – the royalty checks probably still clear. After a health scare in the 90’s, Berry has been hay farming outside Athens the last 25 years. A chance meeting with Mike Mantione lead to new band The Bad Ends and Berry’s return to music. Have a listen to “Mile Marker 29.”

Order your copy of The Power and the Glory from Bandcamp.

3. “Falling Apart” – The Rills (After Taste EP)

The Rills upcoming EP includes several alternative songs new to January. For Franz Ferdinand fans!

The Rills have a super dancy Franz Ferdinand thing happening.

It was especially clear on “Landslide,” which The Rills released last fall. Two weeks ago, they dropped “Falling Apart.” The Rills’ second EP, depending on where you get your info, will be available in February.

Get your copy of the After Taste EP here.

4. fine. – “New Skin/Good Life” (Love, Death, Dreams and the Sleep Between)

Check out Boston's indie pop band called "fine." Clearly one of the best alternative songs new to January

What I really dig about Boston’s fine. is this grade school choir sound they’ve perfected.

Bubblegum pop songs by Alice Kat and Liam James Marsh will wake you from your winter doldrums and get you dancing again. Although I’m including fine. in my January list of tunes…Love, Death, Dreams came out three days before Christmas, so sue me. Hit play and fall in love!

Buy Love, Death, Dreams and the Sleep Between from Subjangle.

5. “Ethel” – The Murder Capital (Gigi’s Recovery)

The Murder Capital include a tribute to LCD Soundsystem in "Ethel"

The Murder Capital don’t care if search to find the melodies in Gigi’s Recovery. But the Dubliners are also so good at what they do, they can’t keep the hooks from bursting through the dissonance.

You’ll hear TMC winking at James Murphy’s masterpiece “All My Friends” in their drooping cacophony, “Ethel.” It’s a slow build, so don’t give up on this one.

They come to Kilby Court in April!

Get ready for The Murder Capital’s SLC show and buy Gigi’s Recovery.

6. “Past Tense” – The Spooky Boys (single)

Portland's The Spooky Boys aren't spooky, they rock!

Let me tell you what I know about The Spooky Boys, which is close to nothing. They’re billed as “Portland’s premier indie/surf rock group featuring jangly dripping wet guitars, relentless driving rhythm, and insatiable catchy melodies.” Admittedly I didn’t know “jangly wet guitars” was a thing, nor that The Spooky Boys were Portland’s exemplar.

I DO KNOW superior power pop when I hear it. So check out one of the best indie songs new to 2023, “Past Tense.”

Buy “Past Tense” at the Spooky Boys’ website.

7. “White Shirt” – Priestgate (One Shade Darker EP)

If you like The Cure and the pop appeal of The Alarm, you're going to love Priestgate

If Priestgate look miserable, their single “White Shirt” is a delirious balance of pop sugar and darker 80’s Cure vibes. I’m looking forward to hearing Priestgate’s second EP due on March 3. I have to say I love the rhythm and vocal desperation of “White Shirt.”

Pre-order One Shade Darker at Bandcamp.

8. “Huge New Her” – F*cked Up (One Day)

F'd Up, the hardcore band who redefined the genre, have a new album

I get it, a band with a name and sound like Toronto’s FU is not going to appeal to everyone reading this post, and that’s a shame.

The arrangements and (honestly) melodies underneath Damian Abraham’s vocals are second to none. It is remarkable hardcore guitar rock. Hang with it for two minutes and think about what songs like “Huge New Her” would sound like with actual singing.

My FU collection goes back, if not to their origin, to their remarkable David Comes to Life. Abraham sang a bit more on David than on One Day. So, for context, a bonus track: “The Other Shoe” from 2011’s landmark David Comes to Life.

Here’s how to get F*cked Up (heh).

This year’s One Day is at Merge Records while 2014’s Glass Boys is at Matador Records. You can sample and buy dozens of other FU releases, including David Comes to Life, from Bandcamp.

Okay, do you trust me now to hear my favorite albums of 2022? They’re right here!

9. “Cuchillos” – LISASINSON (Un Año De Cambios)

Spanish language indie songs new in January inclucde LISASINSON's "Chuchillos"

On no planet was I going to suggest a batch of my favorite alternative songs new to January without some of the best Spanish-language indie pop (*makes note to subscribe to Rosetta Stone). “Cuchillos” is the fourth single from LISASINSON’s pending full length. I’ve already started following Elefant Records to make sure I don’t miss the album by the Valencia, Spain art students.

Buy “Cuchillos” or the upcoming album Un Año De Cambios from Elefant Records.

10. “Skeleton Boy” – Strange Neighbors (Party of None EP)

Strange Neighbor's "Skeleton Boy" is an alternative party song waiting to happen

Let’s stick with the power pop sound. I bet Strange Neighbors are a fun show. Just look at them, having fun with a camera like good self-entertaining kids. The Party of None EP came out two weeks ago, and I recommend you download and inject one of the indie songs new to January that will get your party started.

Strange Neighbors’ Party of None awaits at Bandcamp.

11. “Palm Trees” – Fran (Leaving)

Chicago's Fran released the lovely album Leaving in January. Listen to "Palm Trees" here

This month Chicago singer-songwriter Maria Jacobson released her second album, Leaving. It’s sweeping acoustic folk with song titles like “Winter” and “God.” Those feel like difficult motifs to live up to. Much of this rests on Fran’s voice and lyrics, like Weyes Blood striped bare of the chamber orchestra.

Buy Leaving from Fran’s website.

If you like Fran (above) and alt country generally, check out my favorite albums last year!

12. “Still Life” – R. Ring (War Poems, We Rested)

Kelley Deal is back with a nbew album in January with R. Ring

Kelley Deal, Kim’s twin and most famous sister, delivers on R. Ring with partner Mike Montgomery.

Deal is involved in a ton of stuff in addition to R. Ring, including Breeders reboots and Protomartyr. I love Kelley’s comeback story, the Breeders’ icy cool baked into R. Ring and her indie rock confidence. Check out the payoff halfway through War Poems’ lead, “Still Life.”

Get War Poems, We Rested from Bandcamp. Buy some of Kelley’s scarves at her website.

13. “Hungry Mouth” – appleseeds! (single)

If you haven't heard "Hungry Mouth" then you haven't heard one of the best alternative songs new to January 2023!

I confess, another 2022 song but – come onnnn! — Denmark’s appleseeds! dropped this song on December 31. You were probably already asleep, so it’s officially one of the alternative songs new to January in my book. Too Good to be True Records indicates appleseeds! will release æblefrø on February 3.

Check out “Hungry Mouth” and get set for what promises to be an album of jangle pop perfection!.

“Hungry Mouth” is one of the top indie songs new to January and the album æblefrø will be full of them!.

14. “Joiner” – Blondshell (Blondshell)

Blondshell releases here S/T debut in April. Have a listen to "Sepsis." It is one of the top alternative songs new to January

Sabrina Teitelbaum is LA’s Blondshell, who writes about her toxic relationships with a candor that couldn’t care less. Dark indie rock echoing influences like PJ Harvey and Courtney Love. Some of it is sexualized, some of it is just dysfunctional emotion like “Sepsis.”

Blondshell comes out April 7. Pre-order your copy from Teitelbaum’s website.

15. “Anglepoise” – The Happy Somethings (A Gathering of Sorts)

The best 90 seconds of alternative rock I've heard so far this year...The Happy Somethings "Anglepoise."

Let’s finish this list with 90 seconds of fist-pumping guitar rock. England’s The Happy Somethings roll the rhythm from Bow Wow Wow’s “I Love Candy” under bubblegum guitar fuzz and twee Bangles vocals.

You’ll be singing “Anglepoise” all day, and you’re welcome.

Anglepoise was released January 1 and is still one of the catchiest alternative songs new to January and the New Year!