Here are 5 artists that are worth your time.
As always, I’ll include this month’s Spotify and Apple Music playlists at the bottom.
Sham Family
Toronto
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Don’t know how their debut EP escaped my attention when it was released a couple years ago, but better late than never. They got a rare profile in the Toronto Star when it came out. From the article, it sounds like they kill it live, but the only live performance on their YouTube channel is a little too DIY.
They just put out a new single and video, and the production on the music has taken a major step forward from the EP. Check it out:
Jagged Baptist Club
Los Angeles
Instagram | Website | Bandcamp | YouTube
Whoever picked the other acts for the current SPRINTS tour should just take over my music posts. Every band seems to be right up my alley. Jagged Baptist Club is a high-energy rock band from LA. They have two full lengths out but a lot of other material – singles, a couple of live recordings and a remix record (featuring a remix by blog fave Teenage Sequence). They apparently have some new stuff on the way in 2024.
Their live recordings seem like they are a band purpose-built for the live show. I put this on as background while doing something else and the other thing never got done:
Bryony Williams
Midlands, UK
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Bryony Williams is the indie-est of indie, making bright and warm pop music. She’s been releasing music since 2017, but she’s got her first full-length ready for release, and crowdfunding through Patreon and Crowdfunder.
If the first single is any indicator, it could be a great record:
Her Bandcamp has a lot more. She’s promising to release more from the new record in the lead up to the formal launch this fall.
KÅRP
Gothenburg, Sweden
Instagram | Bandcamp | YouTube
Zero Heartbeat found me last week and at first I thought I was listening to something from Sofia Kourtesis‘ record. Nope. Their latest EP is called “Radical You” and the four tracks are all worth a listen. KÅRP calls it ‘death disco’. It’s moody and engaging, the lyrics are vague but kind of foreboding. This is the third of a trilogy of EPs they call ‘the trilogy of the apocalypse’.
They’ve been putting out music since 2018 and you can hear their sound evolve through the releases on their bandcamp page. It’s become richer and deeper and has developed more character.
Here’s Ghost Rockets, the opener from their 2019 record ‘Album 1’:
Via.
Lowertown
Atlanta, GA
Instagram | Website | Bandcamp | YouTube
I’ve had these guys in rotation for a while, since I first heard their song My Friends:
That album’s called I Love to Lie, and it was a slow-grower for me. They don’t always conform to expected song structure. Often a song sets up a kind of traditional structure, then quickly deconstructs it, either with verses that veer into stream of consciousness, breaking time signatures or other experiments. It’s weird and compelling stuff.
Here’s the lead track from their latest EP. They are pretty stylistically diverse, in a more modern but similar way that Pavement was — doing kind of slacker versions of different musical styles, but with enough skill that you know they’re legit.
Olivia O. has a bunch of solo music out too. It’s even more boundary-pushing than the Lowertown stuff. If you like the stuff above, you’ll probably dig her solo stuff too.