It’s roundup time and it’s mostly rock this week. If you have a phobia of guitars, do not proceed. Artists featured this week include Vampire Weekend, Fcukers, Keegan Powell, Dave Guy, Sober Sundays, Young Fatigue, Cardinals and Sexyy Red.
THE
BEST:
‘Classical’
– Vampire Weekend
Vampire
Weekend are a musical blindspot for me. Despite listening to a ton of indie as
a teen in the 00s, I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and listened to a Vampire Weekend
song until now. I’m digging the weird guitar and the skronky sax and piano
section towards the end. Fans are saying that this sounds like VW’s older
material. If so, it sounds like it’s right up my alley.
‘Mothers’
– Fcukers
Moments
like this are why I love the ‘track - artist’ title format. The NYC three-piece
actually released this single nine months ago, but Indie Shuffle only just
featured it, so I figured I’m allowed feature it too (half the songs I feature
are months old anyway). ‘Mothers’ features breathy vocals reminiscent of Alice
Phoebe Lou over a bubbly house beat complete with bouncy pianos. It’s a banger.
‘In
My Cave’ – Keegan Powell
This
thrillingly noisy track is the work of Toronto musician Keegan Powell,
self-described as his ‘own rocked out deranged version of The Beach Boys ‘In
My Room’’. It features some passionate fed up vocals half-buried under a blown-out
kickass guitar riff and stomping snare. The song threatens to completely derail
at 2:40, accelerating into a complete cacophony, before returning back to its
original groove as if nothing just happened. It’s the type of chaos I live for.
The track comes off Keegan’s third album, Alien Radio.
‘Footwork’
– Dave Guy
I’ve
been listening to a lot of trumpet-heavy jazz recently, so this track couldn’t
have landed in my inbox at a better time. It’s the work of Brooklyn-born
trumpet player Dave Guy who, as well as being a member of The Roots and The Dap
Kings, has worked with everyone from the likes of Amy Winehouse to Lizzo. The instrumental
consists of some catchy trumpet melodies dancing over a lively backdrop of
Latin percussion and groovy bass. I wish it was longer (it’s not even two
minutes! Is this the Tiktok-ifcation of jazz?), but at the same time I like a
track that keeps you wanting more.
‘More
Than Yourself’ – Sober Sundays
This
song from Bath-Spa-University-bred band Sober Sundays is quite an adventure. The
first half reminded me of a jazzier ‘Paranoid Android’ with its twisting and turning
guitar passages, albeit with softer more intimate singing. I was not expecting
the slam poetry section, or the loud BCNR-flavoured climax that follows. Combined
with the introspective lyrics, there’s a lot to unpack. This could be the start
of something very exciting!
‘Sold
Out’ – Young Fatigue
This
might be the cleverest (and most fun) music video I’ve seen all year. Had the
whole video been deepfaked footage of them playing the Graham Norton show, that
would have been witty enough, but the whole hilarious montage made up of Glasto
and Beatles footage that follows is a stroke of genius. And the best part is
that this London pop punk band sound good too, delivering some playful riffs
and a catchy-as-hell chorus. They’ve got a lot of potential, and perhaps some
day in the future this video can be closer to reality.
‘Unreal’
– Cardinals
Ireland’s
Cardinals wrote this song in the back of Ford Transit van – apparently inspired
by a chord from a Beach Boys song (that’s the second artist this week to be
inspired by The Beach Boys!). The guitars have a semi-moody-semi-upbeat 90s-indie-band
flavour to them that I’m digging, and the cracked delivery of ‘we-e-ell’
during the chorus is addictive.
THE WORST:
‘Get It
Sexyy’ – Sexyy Red
Fantano
recently sparked outrage across the internet by giving the latest Sexyy Red album an 8. If the rest of the album sounds like this single, then I’m not
surprised by the reaction, because this is dogshit.