A few more suggestions for top indie songs of 2022, summer edition!
“Holiday Romance” – The Photocopies (Holiday Romance EP)
I don’t know how there could be more perfect jangle pop for the summer. Fuzzy guitars, a bubblegum hook and shimmering harmonies. The Photocopies’ “Holiday Romance” is Teenage Fanclub playing from your neighbor’s garage in a fever dream. Download “A Holiday Romance“ from exiled London artist Sean Turner and play at top volume.
“One Easy Thing” – TV Priest (My Other People)
Next, TV Priest has moved into more melodic territory with their second release, My Other People. Charlie Drinkwater’s bellicose Johnny Cash baritone grows into the opener “One Easy Thing” as he bellows the terrific refrain, “I am waaaaiting.”
TV Priest available to purchase now.
“Blood in the Wine” – Aurora (The Gods We Can Touch)
At a certain age, you start to care a lot (okay, a little?) less about what people think about you. I am clearly not the target for Aurora; I honestly don’t care if she appears on the Frozen 2 soundtrack. Any woman in 2022 who is the President and CEO of her music and personal brand deserves the world’s respect.
Aurora’s hooks are undeniable. Kate Bush would be proud.
Learn more about Aurora and The Gods We Can Touch at her website.
“Silver Spring” – PEEL (PEEL EP)
Counting both Vol 1 and Vol 2 of my top indie songs of 2022, we’re at least ten songs in without a real shoegaze tune. Obviously that has to be remedied: I downloaded PEEL by happy accident last year, so I direct you to their criminally ignored EP from 2021.
The PEEL EP is a filthy marriage of Ride and The Stone Roses. Maybe you chanced upon “Memory Loop” in the last year or two? It is all top shelf. You can’t listen to “Silver Spring” or “DYNA” too often or too loudly.
“Best Life” – Alex Cameron (Oxy Music)
I don’t know a ton about Alex Cameron, something of an iconoclast and provocateur. But “Best Life” is about as summery as summer gets, from Cameron’s fourth album Oxy Music, which you can find here. His ironically titled, Oxy Music marries a bit of the 80’s with some of the social conflict of the 2020’s.
“Gary Borthwick Says” – Neutrals (Bus Stop Nights EP)
Hey it’s getting too serious in here. How about some post-punk with brainy lyrics from Oakland’s Neutrals. The very best part of “Gary Borthwick Says” is the picture it draws of someone we’ve all known from our past, and a part of ourselves we may not want to admit to. Garage band entry for one of the top indie songs of 2022.
Buy Neutrals’ smart post-punk from Bandcamp.
“Wild Eyed & Loathsome” – Crows (Beware Believers)
Let’s take a trip back in the hot tub time machine to the fall of 1991, shall we, when little-known grunge rocker Kurt Cobain said he wanted to write a Pixies knockoff. I can still remember taking the yellow vinyl promotional 12″ of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and cranking it in our college radio station’s production room.
THAT is what I hear in multiple spaces when I listen to Crows engrossing Beware Believers. Something very atmospheric and Interpol-y is happening, along with the knockdown of early 1990’s grunge. “Wild Eyed and Loathsome” also ends with a tasty little walkaway during the last ten seconds.
Get your copy of Beware Believers at Bandcamp.
“Goodbye Mr. Blue” – Father John Misty (Chloe and the Next 20th Century)
Finally, let’s wrap with a delightful song for a summer evening. I have no real prior history with FJM, though he keeps good company with Fleet Foxes and Damien Jurado. Chloe and the Next 20th Century is charming from start to finish but “Mr. Blue” has particularly delicate vocal touches to highlight the sweetest lyrics.
End your summer evenings with Choe and the Next 20th Century.