The Big Indie Playlist: The best new music of the week
While everyone who was at Glastonbury has spent the last week attempting to sleep off a seven-day-long comedown, the music industry itself never rests. Even amid the busiest months for live music, as festival season is well and truly underway, there are still hundreds of thousands of new songs being released each way. Boiling down the best of the best, welcome to the Big Indie Playlist.
But don��t let the title fool you. All songs are considered here, regardless of genre, the size of the artist, their streaming stats or their notoriety. Digging through the huge pile of new releases each week, this playlist helps make sure that the top tracks never slip through the cracks or fall under the radar of the noise each week. Across indie, rock, folk and even into the worlds of Cuban bolero or ambient electro, there’s not a stone unturned.
This week saw new releases from some big names like Beabadoobee, Lana Del Rey and Jake Bugg. It also saw the strange moment that Childish Gambino suddenly went pop-punk as the angst got the better of him. In the world of new music too, plenty of up and coming artists delivered great new tracks, with ones to note coming from the likes of Deadletter, Sophie May, Annie-Dog and Camille Jansen.
If you’re looking for your favourite new album, head to our weekly Alternative Album Chart to hear about the best long-plays of the week. But right here, we’re delivering a quick fix of new hits with a long list of great new singles. All put in one easy playlist; all you have to do is hit play.
The best new releases of the week:
Track of the week
Dog Race – ‘The Leader’: Dog Race are still in their relative infancy, but they’re getting better and better with each track. Their 2024 singles, especially ‘It’s The Squeeze’ and now ‘The Leader’, scream of promise as the band secures their one-to-watch status.
This latest track is a grippy one, layered to perfection with loads going on but never becoming too much. Instead, it dips and soars between high-octane, all-out choruses into tension-building verses where rolling guitars meet cinematic synths. It’s a tough one to describe as it exists within that genre-less space with strains of post-punk, art rock, dark 80s gothic synthy sounds and a million other mix-ins. But as it defies any clear label, ‘The Leader’ becomes a fascinating beast of its own. [4.5/5]
Instant classics – The biggest tracks of the week:
Childish Gambino – ‘Lithonia’: In the most surprising genre twist of it all, Childish Gambino unleashed this almost pop-punk-esque rager complete with huge guitars and pure angst. It’s an unexpected move but a great one. [3.5/5]
Beabadoobee – ‘Ever Seen’: Beabadoobee’s angelic voice is utterly built for little ditties like this. She’s always sounded best on her sweetest love songs, and ‘Ever Seen’ is the most tender and beautiful of them all. [4/5]
Quavo + Lana Del Rey – ‘Tough’: As she preps to launch into her country era for her forthcoming album Lasso, Lana Del Rey dips her toes here as she merges yee-haw energy with the hip-hop heart she routinely showed on her first albums. Joined by Quavo, this is another stellar collaboration between Del Rey’s cinematic, old-timey vocals and a rapper. [4/5]
Jake Bugg – ‘All Kinds Of People’: Jake Bugg is back. He’s been trying to come back for a while, but ‘All Kinds Of People’ is the closest he’s got in a while to returning to the glory that launched his name way back in 2012. Sure to sound huge at his live shows this summer, perhaps he’s coming to collect the indie crowd he used to own. [3/5]
On the rise – New releases to note this week:
Annie-Dog – ‘The Car’: Since her debut single at the start of this year, Annie-Dog has delivered a golden run of tracks. Now, with the release of her debut EP, ‘The Car’ is another stunner, swelling from contemplative verses into big, textural choruses. [3.5/5]
Liang Lawrence – ‘If Only’: Lawrence has one of those voices that could sing literally anything, and it would be beautiful, but luckily, her songwriting skills match up in quality. ‘If Only’ is tender, intimate, and beautifully specific, making it feel like a whole movie in a song. [3.5/5]
Tilly Louise – ‘Evacuation’: Fresh indie greatness is coming out of Liverpool thanks to Tilly Louise. Her 2023 single ‘Join The Club’ screamed of potential, but now her new track ‘Evacuation’ proves that she’s still evolving with this matured and more polished offering. [3.5/5]
Camille Jansen – ‘Rocky Revolution’: With the energy of a meandering Bob Dylan folk monologue, Camille Jansen’s whole new album is a beautiful slice of raw talent. But ‘Rocky Revolution’ stands out as her own favourite track from the record, and a perfect display of her storytelling skills and 1960s nostalgic sound. [4/5]
Ideal Living – ‘O.F.D’: We’ve said it for a while, but there’s surely something in the water over in Brighton. The city seems to deliver no end of new talent, and Ideal Living is a prime example. ‘O.F.D’ is the band at their most theatrical with Tom Waits’ gritty energy but with a gobby British edge. [3.5/5]
Welly – ‘Deere John’: While talking about gobby British edge, Welly return with another new indie belter, turning dull provincial tales of lawn mowing into a high-octane outing. Developing a cultish following for their silliness and fun live sets, ‘Deere John’ is the closest they’ve got to capturing that excitement on tape. [3.5/5]
Honeyglaze – ‘Coldcaller’: You only have to hear the opening riff of this track to be instantly hooked. That alone is beautiful enough to be on repeat as a stunning bit of guitar work. But as the song rolls on and their singer’s beautiful vocals join in with a tender tale to tell, it only gets better. [4/5]
Dora Jar – ‘Timelapse’: “Who am I?” Dora Jar wails on this track’s introduction. Launching into a wistful and wondering track, ‘Timelapse’ is produced to perfection, but all her tracks are. [4/5]
Sophie May – ‘Just Want You’: Across all her songs, Sophie May has this incredible way of articulating anything and everything with such a unique and beautiful lens. On this new one, she tackles devotion and longing as if she’s originating the feeling, writing a love song so stunning that it feels like it should have been sung for centuries. [4.5/5]
Chubby and the Gang – ‘To Be Young’: Each week, we have to offer you one rager to blow the cobwebs of the working week away. Here you go. Hit play, turn the volume up and enjoy this punky brain reset. [4/5]
Billiam – ‘My Metronome’: Keeping the great tradition of Aussie DIY garage bands alive, Billiam deliver a rough and ready punk track with exactly the time of pub rock vibes expected from down under. [3.5/5]
Deadletter – ‘Relieved’: Deadletter spark up their punk with a clarinet? A saxophone? It’s some kind of woodwind instrument, at the very least. Adding a funk little edge to their continued greatness, ‘Relieved’ could be their best offering yet. [4/5]
First Spin – Debut single of the week:
Chloe Qisha – ‘VCR Home Video’: Qisha launches herself into the music world with this moving piano ballad. Her voice is faultless, with angelic air floating above real power that occasionally cuts through all gritty and glorious. Musically, this is a totally polished debut, complete with perfect production and lovely string additions, but it somehow feels too pristine. Qisha certainly has the vocal chords to push it all further, so hopefully on future tracks, she will. [3/5]
Off the beaten track – Left-field sounds:
Kiasmos – ‘Sailed’: The collaborative album between Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds and Faroese musician Janus Rasmussen delivers greatness from start to finish, but this is a real stand-out. Some woodblock percussion introduces another propulsive yet curiously relaxing and cathartic beat, while the echo effects give the illusion of distance or perhaps even a subaquatic scene. [4.5/5]
La Triunfadora – ‘Delirio / Contingo En La Distancia’: What do you get when you mix romantic Cuban bolero with a palpable soul and reggae influence? This slice of utterly infectious groove. [4/5]