Breakthrough Irish band, Inhaler share new single, ‘These Are The Days’, a widescreen indie-rock anthem led by foot tapping drums, with a bubbling bassline, and full of spirited synths as well as lifting vocal harmonies.
It’s the first new music since the release of their debut album ‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ in July 2021, a record that went to the top of the charts in both the UK and Ireland.
UK Tour dates
June
11th – Summer Sessions, Dundee, Scotland (Noel Gallagher Support)
13th – Arena, Birmingham (Kings Of Leon Support)
22nd – Cambridge Junction, England
24th – Glastonbury Festival, England
26th – The SSE Arena, Belfast (Kings Of Leon Support)
July
5th – AO Arena, Manchester (Kings Of Leon Support)
23rd – Tramlines Festival, Sheffield, England
24th – Truck Festival, Oxfordshire, England
August
27th – Victorious Festival, Portsmouth, England
Sounds like: Sam Fender, Sports Team, U2, Sea Girls, Blossoms, Joy Division, The Strokes, The Cure, Interpol, Depeche Mode
Dublin quartet Inhaler shares their psychedelic visuals for ‘Falling In’.
A song written about the ego, the band worked with renowned filmmaker and former Jesus & Mary Chain bassist Douglas Hart (Paul Weller, TheHorrors, My Bloody Valentine) and Antony Genn on the vibrant clip, which was shot entirely over Zoom with each member in isolation during the worldwide lockdown.
Expect a forthcoming album soon.
Sounds like: Sam Fender, Sports Team, U2, Sea Girls, Blossoms, Joy Division, The Strokes, The Cure, Interpol, Depeche Mode
Glass Peaks is a proper band. You know what we mean when we say that, a proper exciting live act.
Comprised of Alfie Jefferies (Bass and vocals), Jake Cox (Guitar) and Grant Tugwell (Drums), these guys are relentlessly tearing their way through the scene.
Post-grunge/new-wave at their core, energetic, sometimes political, sometimes electronic, often sarcastic, these guys have a lot to say.
Listen to ‘Never Really Left’ below, taken from their upcoming EP, that continues the theme of social media toxicity.
Live
12th March – The Finsbury, London *supporting Johnny Kills*
4th April – Trinity, Harrow
1st May – The Old Blue Last, London *EP RELEASE SHOW*
Sounds like: Saves The Day, Thursday, Depeche Mode, White Lies, Another Sky, Blaenavon, The Clash, Manic Street Preachers
London based electronic duo Solomon Grey returns with the breathtaking new single called ‘Interstate 695’, showcasing the first in a selection of new works culminating in the forthcoming EP ‘Music For Picture: Vol. I (Parallels)’ released on 27 March.
Soundtrack ready, the new single is dynamic, an ethereal track with bold analogue synths, pulsing drums, wide strings and other orchestral score elements. Inspiration for the song came from Solomon Grey’s soundtrack work, in their words “we played with the idea of watching films of our childhood. Inspired by our youth and looking at it from where we are now. What did that innocence mean to us now, and how would we score it.”
Sounds like: Aquilo, Heaven 17, Depeche Mode, Ásgeir, Chet Faker, James Vincent McMorrow, Hozier, Lane 8, The National, Son Lux, M83, James Blake, Bon Iver
SCHWARZ is the project of Meyer de Voltaire, who is also lead singer of indie band VOLTAIRE. The name means ‘black’ in English, and so it’s no surprise that his music fits nicely into a dark electronica realm.
Cinematic, provocative, complete with orchestral spheres with electronic beats, united by rare courage to great emotions, to feel self-indulgent.
The video for ‘Outside looking in’ outlines four characters, each at that fragile point in their lives: driven by love and the pressure to perform and searching for acceptance on the edge between breaking and breaking out. Watch below.
Sounds like: Thomas Azier, Depeche Mode, Moderat, Woodkid
10 O’Clock Chemical share anthemic new single, ‘Crucify’, a call to arms to those survivors and perpetrators of abuse.
10 O’Clock Chemical is the creative vision of songwriter, vocalist and multi instrumentalist Rhys Oakes, who started writing songs in his bedroom as a teenager in his native Stoke on Trent. He later teamed up with local musicians guitarist Jack Ellis, and electronic whizzkid Mark Crawford. A fourth member, a mysterious cyber entity called Zed, remains all but invisible, and carries out administrative duties for the band and makes the odd cameo appearance.
Carving their own “gritpop” sound, the band create hook-laden pop songs with a dark and gritty electronic rock edge.
Sounds like: Kasabian, Muse, Depeche Mode, Prodigy, APRE
NYC-based Dady is comprised of singer/songwriter Rachel Dady and songwriter/producer Jesse O’Connor.
Born from enemies, these two have somehow put their differences apart and now create delicate dream pop for the masses. ‘Failing’ effortlessly switches between tender moments and an anthemic hook.
Sounds like: Carly Rae Jepsen, Paperwhite, Taylor Swift, Haim
With it’s deceiving upbeat melody, Born Stranger‘s new single ‘Last Night on Earth’ is surprisingly about the sad topic of suicide.
An ode to those who have left our planet too soon, this track urges you to celebrate, live in the moment and be compassionate with each other.
Listen below.
Sounds like: Prinze George, Sia, The Wombats, Bastille, Major Lazer, Years & Years, M83, Foals, KAPTAN, The Brocks, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode, Myzica
Dublin disco-noir trio Sleep Thieves shares new single ‘Sea of Shadows’.
With the song’s minimal lyrical attitude and looping darkly ethereal synths full of nostalgia that completely immerse your mind, it’s hard to believe the threesome met on Twitter.
Big news. Ben Khan returns with the announcement of his debut album (hurrah!) and a self-directed dystopian video for spine-tingling new single ‘2000 Angels’.
The album – set for release in the summer – was produced alongside Flood (PJHarvey, DepecheMode, Nine Inch Nails) and mixed by Spike Stent (Björk, Frank Ocean), with Ben playing every instrument on the record.
Always with a creative hands-on approach, Ben also plans to launch his new interactive website, The Foundation, which offers an insight into the richness and depth of the album’s story.
Sounds like: Leo Kalyan, Twin Shadow, Jai Paul, JUNGLE, Disclosure, Prince, Blood Orange, Harts, Oyinda, Shy Girls
OTR manages to get the chilled but tense vibe just right with his latest single, ‘Close’, which includes the soulful vocals by Kai Straw.
The 25-year old aerospace engineer-turned-producer uses his mathematical mind as a key component when it comes to his music, producing off-kilter melodies and electronic sounds.
Sounds like: Hotel Garuda, Gryffin, ODESZA, Petit Biscuit, Porter Robinson
NAVA is the highly energetic project of Persian songwriter Nava Golchini and three other Italian musicians. Visually, NAVA is a mix of horror and fashion inspired by the works of visionary designer Gareth Pugh.
The debut single ‘Ritual’ gives us a glimpse into the NAVA world – full of electro arrangements, tribal instruments and dark metropolitan landscapes.
It could be 2014 again, and boy it feels good! During your visit, expect luscious vocals, addictive synth drops and and nu-disco undertone. All this, courtesy of Betablock3r and the new single ‘Make You Happy’.
It is the first single off their debut EP Monolith, out now.
It wouldn’t be a decent weekly gems feature without some pop in there. This week Tanners is the chosen one.
Tanners is the moniker of New York City-based songwriter and producer Tanner Peterson. Leading the way for women in creative music tech, Tanners has also spoken at TEDxTeen.
Inspired by her childhood love for the beach, ‘Holy Water’ celebrates the beauty and electricity born from allowing yourself to be completely vulnerable and enveloped by the ocean. “It’s a thank you song to the ocean for teaching me to embrace vulnerability,” Tanners says of the track.
Meet emerging alt-pop trio Young Sierra, who were born from a school friendship, and bonded “over a shared love of low bit-rate Drake mp3s, eighties pop and hot-sauce”.
They have the kind of frantic energy of ArcadeFire and the cheeky nature of The1975. Naughty.
Sounds like: Arcade Fire, Electric Youth, The 1975, Night Panther, Bad Sounds
Electronic duo Solomon Grey are gearing up to release their sophomore album ‘Human Music’, out on 16 February via Mercury KX Records. The record was mixed by Dave Fridmann (MGMT, Flaming Lips, Tame Impala) and features a full orchestra recorded in Budapest.
We caught up with Tom and Joe…
1. Describe your sound in three words.
Emotive, cinematic, classic (we held to hold back from writing average or something similar).
2. Where did the name Solomon Grey come from?
There was a day of flinging names around, Tom said Solomon Grey (the inspiration for that is another story) and we thought it sounded right. At the time we wanted people to think it was one person. We always enjoyed reviews wrongly thinking Floyd or Gnarls Barkley were one artist.
3. Your music is hugely emotive, and your visuals and live shows, hugely atmospheric. Which comes first when creating music?
We normally talk about the visual aspect of a track once the first few ideas are down. It’s always present in the idea from an early point. Also, atmosphere is vital to how we work with a tune. Always trying to find where a track sits and how to achieve that. We are always discussing and sharing ideas, it’s part of the joys of working as a duo.
4. You toured with Above & Beyond in 2016. What was that like?
Amazing. Performing live on the tour ended up inspiring a lot of how we wrote this latest album. Those venues, the acoustics, the seated audiences. The whole Above and Beyond family were so great to us, we owe them everything. Still can’t quite believe that we played the Hollywood bowl. What a privilege.
5. Your upcoming sophomore album, ‘Human Music’, is out next month, and follows Joe’s extremely difficult journey with his mother. Was this album particularly hard to make?
Joe, “in places. This is hard to explain but it was a very lovely time spending that last summer with Sandy. We were together for the end and it was special. I think the whole point of the album is that from the offset I thought something like this would be as you described it ‘an extremely difficult journey’ but it turned out to be a beautiful celebration of our lives together and an honour and pleasure to be there at the end. There were difficult moments of course but mostly it was a time I will cherish. We were best friends and it was good being there together at the end”. Tom, “Making the album was challenging because of the amount of musical ideas Joe brought but we got through it.”
6. We love new music at Indietronica. What new music are you listening to?
Arctic Lake recorded all their latest tracks next door and we think they are amazing. Msafiri Zawose has an album out called Uhamiaji which we keep playing on the way into work. Also, @iamofficer is recording his second album next door at the moment and we keep humming the melodies on our way home. It sounds beautiful, but he is still working on it so keep a look out for its release.
Sounds like: Aquilo, Heaven 17, Depeche Mode, Ásgeir, Chet Faker, James Vincent McMorrow, Hozier, Lane 8, The National, Son Lux, M83, James Blake, Bon Iver
Our hearts go out to those in Mexico at the moment. This one is for them.
‘Mexico’ is a debut song by Seattle-born Rae Isla, who has a family interest in South America. It features guitarist Lito de la Isla and was produced by Gianluca Buccellati (Tei Shi, Yellerkin).
Rae is donating all of her profits from the sale of the song to Cruz Roja Mexicana (Mexican Red Cross).
Denver duo, Motion Trap (aka Kyle Williams and Nathan Rogers) release spirited new single, ‘The Movement’, and the synth-rock-pop number does just that. Make you move.
Expect their sophomore album ‘Heavenly Bodies’ out soon.
Sounds like: Depeche Mode, OMD, Future Islands, Roosevelt, Cut Copy
Wow, Nocturnal Tapes have arrived and aren’t we happy they have!
Their new single ‘All I Need’ takes you on a spacial journey of floaty dreamscapes and psychedelia attitudes. It is about that moment when you realise you have everything you need and suddenly the pressure you’ve been putting on yourself can lift.
Sounds like: Kasabian, Tame Impala, Du Tonc, Cut Copy
If Lorde decided to dabble in hip hop, this might be the result – ‘Undertow’ by Kendall Morgan.
Kendall grew up in Nashville, and started writing songs as early as she can remember. Her experience in songwriting has led her to working on tracks with Kendrick Lamar and Yo Gotti.
