Tag Archives: Simple Minds

Weekly Gems 102

Posted on March 10, 2020 by Indietronica Staff

Dancing on Tables – Not to Need You

Dancing on Tables

Scottish band, Dancing on Tables, explores a more melancholic side in ‘Not To Need You’.

Written in Nashville alongside legendary songwriter Liz Rose (Taylor Swift, Little Big Town, Carrie Underwood), the hopeful song encapsulates the uphill battles everyone goes through in life but reminds us that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.

Sounds like: Sea Girls, Biffy Clyro, Circa Waves, The 1975, Rat Boy, Circa Waves, The Amazons, Blossoms, Wild Nothing, Cassia, Catfish and the Bottlemen

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Stellie – How Do We Look So Good?

Stellie by Jackson Thornbury

Like an early Billie Eilish, Australian artist Stellie is transforming our take on pop.

Inspired by strong female voices, her tender and personal tales are indie-pop slow-burners that cut straight to the heart. Listen to her hazy new single, ‘How Do We Look So Good?’ below.

Sounds like: Billie Eilish

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Lila Drew – Locket

Lila Drew

We continue to eagerly turn the pages in Lila Drew‘s magical scrapbook full of uncertainty and confessions, both positive and negative.

The next chapter from the rising 19-year-old London born and LA based independent singer/songwriter is the souful and dreamy, ‘Locket’.

Sounds like: Ariana Grande, Caswell, Billie Eilish

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Cat Ryan – Mannerism

Cat Ryan

Newcastle-based trio Cat Ryan is no ordinary modern shoegaze band. Oh no. These guys are paving way for a new era of British dreamy indie-pop.

Their new single ‘Mannerism’ is a self-conscious spin on mesmerising music and is out now via Pillar Artists.

Sounds like: Wolf Alice, Sundara Karma, Alvvays, Bombay Bicycle Club, Youth Sector, Tranqua Lite

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GusGus – Out Of Place

GusGus - Out of Place

It’s great to see GusGus back with another stellar release.

The electronic innovators have released ‘Out Of Place’, highlighting the duo’s affinity for rolling synth-lines and sharp, pop-driven vocals. Listen below.

Sounds like: Simian Mobile Disco, Tears For Fears, Simple Minds, Röyksopp, Goldfrapp, Orbital, Roisin Murphy

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Llovers – Feeling Sound

Llovers

Another Newcastle band for us this week – Llovers.

Releasing the infectious new cut, ‘Feeling Sound’, it’s clear that anyone listening to the track will be enamoured by their immense potential, thanks to their irresistible anthemic tendencies with sparkling riffs, sing-along choruses and playful songwriting.

Sounds like: Alt-J, Foals, Blossoms, Larkins

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Weird Milk – Is That Love?

Weird Milk

London baroque pop band Weird Milk shares ‘Is That Love?’.

Having already supported indie risers Alfie Templeman and Pip Blom, and about to support APRE on their UK tour, their latest offering doesn’t disappoint.

Songwriter and drummer Charlie Glover-Wright explains, “The song itself is about a relationship turning sour as a lemon and the main character realising that they don’t need it anymore and they’ll be better off on their own.”

Sounds like: FEET, Sports Team, The Magic Gang, Genghar, The Last Shadow Puppets

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Kelli-Leigh – Cotton Clouds

Kelli-Leigh - Cotton Clouds

You may recognise Kelli-Leigh’s vocals from such hits as ‘More Than Friends’ by Jame Hype, ‘I Got U’ by Duke Dumont and Second City‘s ‘I Wanna Feel’, but it’s time for the British singer/songwriter to step out into the light and reveal her first solo music of the decade.

The uptempo pop song, ‘Cotton Clouds’ describes a blissed out relationship. Lovely.

Sounds like: Jessie Ware, Karen Harding, Harlee

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The Day – Tenderfoot

The Day

Dutch DIY duo The Day are Laura Loeters from from Antwerp/Belgium and Hamburg based Gregor Sonnenberg.

Sharing the fancy-free video for their cover of ‘Tenderfoot’ by The Lemonheads / Smudge, the latest release is inspired by their youth, as the dream-pop band continue their tasteful take on original classics.

Sounds like: Eliza Shaddard, Ilgen-Nur

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Talii – Good To Be Bad

Talii - Good To Be Bad

Orlando-based 25 year old Talii has a wicked streak, as can be witnessed in her sultry and dark pop song, ‘Good To Be Bad’.

Born into a musically gifted and diversely talented family of musicians and performers, she began singing at age 3 and was playing the piano and writing songs by age 7. There is no denying her talent.

Sounds like: Banks

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Playlist: Hudson Scott

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Indietronica Staff

Hudson Scott

We wrote about London based, multi-instrumentalist, Hudson Scott, a few months back.

Since then, Hudson’s been in the studio with Rodaidh McDonald (Låpsley, King Krule, The xx).

Lucky for us, Hudson has taken a little bit of time out of his busy schedule to put together one hell of a playlist for Indietronica.

Talking Heads – Born Under Punches

This is one of my favourite opening tracks of any record for sure- the perfect blend of groove, adventure and hooks.

Unknown Mortal Orchestra – First World Problem

I’m an album listener, I like a body of work to sink my teeth into, but its sometimes nice when a band you love throws you a loose bone as good as this.

Chris Cohen – In A Fable

This song is so good. I love how warm and meandering it is and how the form has hardly any repetition but every melody is beautiful.

Shuggie Otis – Special

Shuggie has been a proper hero of mine for a while now but this one is pretty new to me. Its real bouncy.

Arthur Russell – You And Me Both

Another of my hero’s. This song is another meanderer, loads of breathing room. Arthur Russel has this amazing ability to balance romance and groove without it ever being cheesy and I think I’ll listen to him for my whole life.

Orange Juice – Rip It Up

Two things I wanted to get on this list was some 80’s tunes and some synth nerdery so I ticked both boxes with this song. Amazing song and inspired use of what I’m pretty sure is a Roland TB-303 (the synth that birthed acid house) for the bass- you hardly hear that synth in this pop context and it works so well.

Blood Orange – Desiree

Definitely his best record so far- I love it right now and this track is a standout.

Little Cub – Intent

These guys are my best pals an they’re gonna do big things in the next few years. Huge beat at the end.

David Bowie – Ashes To Ashes

Needs no introduction.

Gwen Guthrie – Padlock (Larry Levan Mix)

I’m telling you to never doubt the triangle as an instrument- you’ve got to be pretty confident to have it pretty much on its own for almost 30 seconds though! This song’s chorus kills it.

UK Tour Dates

September 4 | We Are Your Friends, The Bullingdon, Oxford
September 15 | The Victoria, London
October 14 | What Became Of Us Festival, The Cookie, Leicester
October 15 | What Became Of Us Festival, The Bullingdon, Oxford
October 28 | Beacons Metro Festival, Headrow House, Leeds

Sounds like: The Maccabees, Foals, Morrissey, Prince, Simply Red, Simple Minds, Miles Davis, Chet Baker

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FRAME – Love Wasted

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Indietronica Staff

FRAME

Using music as her drive and passion, drummer-turned-producer, FRAME (aka Caitlin Frame) shares ‘Love Wasted’; the first single from her nine-track album.

FRAME explains, “When I wrote this song I felt secure and balanced with the love I had, but being in an open relationship created space to feel an obsessive and all-encompassing lust at the same time. When those feelings became entangled and borderless it was easy to act out of impulse.”

The album was engineered and produced entirely by Caitlin, while the instrumentation was collaboratively recorded by members of her live band. Mixer Andy Baldwin (Hearts, St. Lucia) added the finishing touches.

Sounds like: The Pretenders, Low Hum, Few Bits, Simple Minds, Heart, Girl Friend

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Hudson Scott – Gone

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Indietronica Staff

Hudson Scott

South London via Oxford, carpenter-turned-musician, Hudson Scott has aired ‘Gone’, the third and final euphoric funk/pop track taken from his debut EP ‘Clay’.

He’s been long time practising for his solo career, performing brass with the likes of Foals, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, and Petite Noir.

Written in his bedroom, produced by friend and fellow musician Duncan Tootill – with additional production and mixing from Blossoms‘ collaborator Rich Turvey – the ‘Clay’ EP is, at its core, a collection of perfumed love songs and woozy disco-ready jams.

Listen to ‘Gone’ below.

UK Tour Dates

Sounds like: The Maccabees, Foals, Morrissey, Prince, Simply Red, Simple Minds, Miles Davis, Chet Baker

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Premiere: Nicky Venus – Bodily Love

Posted on September 9, 2015 by Indietronica Staff

Nicky Venus by Shane Wilson

We recently received a press release asking us “Who is Nicky Venus?”

It’s a good question and one that Indietronica felt required answering.

Upon listening, we discovered that Nicky Venus is a sophisticated San Diego-based synth pop act, who has won the Best Pop award at the San Diego Music Awards 2014.

He sought musical inspiration during his travels in Asia, with nothing than a laptop, backpack and un-mailed letter to hand. The result is his new album ‘Little Runner’; a highly danceable album about suffering for love.

Indietronica is proud to be premiering the second track from the album called ‘Bodily Love’. It is full of lush minimal arrangements with a deeply sinister and haunting undertone.

Nicky will be releasing singles monthly until the album is released in November.

Sounds like: Depeche Mode, Tom Vek, LCD Soundsystem, David Bowie, Simple Minds, Thompson Twins, We are Scientists, The Album Leaf, White Arrows, College, Shiny Toy Guns, Zella Day

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Little Comets – Ex Catherdra

Posted on October 28, 2014 by Indietronica Staff

Little Comets

Time for some music on home grown soil.

Little Comets is an English indie folk trio from Jarrow and Washington, Tyne and Wear.

‘Ex-Cathedra’ is one of the tracks on the band’s ‘The Sanguine EP’ and is latin for ‘from the seat’. The track was written with the idea that we shouldn’t accept certain moral codes or reasoning simply because of their religious source.

Pre-order new album, ‘Hope Is Just A State of Mind’ here. The pre-order is accompanied by lots of personalised EP/LP options and gig experiences and it is also the only way you can own a limited edition personalised copy of Little Comet’s new release, ‘The Sanguine EP’.

Sounds like: The 1975, Bastille, Jack Peñate, Yeasayer, Mike & The Mechanics, Simple Minds, Peter Gabriel

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Tesla Boy – Strong

Posted on July 22, 2014 by Indietronica Staff

Tesla Boy by Jurij Treskow

Tesla Boy is a Russian four-piece who divide their time between New York and Moscow.

Latest track ‘Strong’ is a soaring 80’s inspired anthem with guitar riffs Prince would be proud of and an infectious bass line Cut Copy would love.

“It’s really important to me to be a person who can make a connection between the cultures – western and eastern,” muses frontman and principal songwriter, Sevidov, about why Tesla Boy’s music has the ability to resonate with listeners. “I’m from Russia, and I travel all over the world, and I sing for different people from different countries. My mission is to unite our cultures. It’s very important for me.”

Tesla Boy remind us of Chromeo back in 2007 stirred up with a bit of Depeche Mode. The band is so quirky, it’s cool!

Sounds like: Chromeo, Cut Copy, Depeche Mode, Prince, The Editors, White Lies, Interpol, Simple Minds, The Eurythmics, Bronski Beat, The Naked and Famous, Delphic

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