4 For the Week’s End

This week we’ve been revisiting great tracks from 2020. It’s been another busy week, so I’m finishing it off with a group post featuring four great indie tracks. All of these songs are added to the 2021-a-Day Playlist today.

We’ve been adding steadily to the playlist – a track for every day since January 1st. It now sits at at over 5 hours and 100+ songs. Add it to your weekend listening and discover some great new and new-to-you bands.

No-Wave From Toronto with New Fries

Toronto’s New Fries returned with a release in 2020, their first in 4 years and with a change in line-up following the departure of one long time member. Is The Idea of Us was released in August on Telephone Explosion (the same label as previous 2021-a-Day band Teenanger. Interesting, angular and spare, with talk/sung lyrics, this is punk for those who want a little more experimentation.

Genreblending Indie Rock from Belfast

Junk Drawer‘s name describes their sound: its a big messy mix of everything where you more than occasionally find just the thing you needed that you thought was long lost. I came across this band through their track on A Litany of Failures Vol. iii complication (which also brought us previous 2021-a-Day inclusion Grave Goods). Junk Drawer call themselves “Kitchen sink psych post-punk krautrock-worshipping indie rock,” and that feels about right. There’s a touch of the slacker rock in this track Mumble Days.

Energetic Punk Rock from New York that acknowledges A Long Year.

If Junk Drawer brings you the more laid back end of indie rock, then The Big Easy stands in a nice contrast to them: all noisy energy, and leaning more toward punk than straight-ahead indie rock. Their album A Long Year was released in October. The 3-piece hails from New York and have previous releases going back to 2016, although this is their first full-length. If you like this track, they’ve also released a brand new single called All Saint’s Day this year.

Surfy, Garage Grooves for Dancing from Pet Crow

Derby, UK band Pet Crow‘s bandcamp bio says “Playing whatever comes out”: honestly, I love that. The band has been around since 2016 and last year released the full-length Take the Edge Off an album title that seems pretty suited to what we needed in 2020. Upbeat, garage rock with short, fast, tracks for shaking it all off. More of this in 2021 please.

Buddie | Seeker

Really good indie rock from Philadelphia: it’s that simple!

Buddie‘s band bio states “Dan, Danielle, David & Brian playing rock n’ roll out of Philadelphia” and that seems to kind of sum it up. Buddie is an indie rock band. Some might say alternative rock. Some might say power pop. They have fuzzy guitars and catchy melodies. Songwriter and main singer Dan Forrest writes thoughtful lyrics and sings with a warm intensity. There’s no gimmick, no artificial story: they are an indie rock band, a really good indie rock band.

Which, admittedly makes them a little difficult to write about, but you don’t need to read about them: you should just give them a listen. Their first full-length album Diving was released in August last year on Crafted Sounds. They are a really good indie rock from Philadelphia, a city that seems to have a lot of really good indie bands these days. Put it on a plan for post-COVID travel and dream about the shows you’ll see there hopefully soon.

Buddie are added to the 2021-a-Day playlist today. For fans of previous 2021-a-Day bands Asta Rangu or Dog Day – you know, other really good indie rock bands.

Slum of Legs | Sasha Fierce

Queer feminist noise-pop DIY band from Brighton, UK

Slum of Legs have been called punk, noise, outsider, experimental and, a personal fave from a review of a 2014 7-inch release, “the post-everything band you didn’t even know you’d been waiting to hear”. (Impose magazine). From their first demo release in 2013, the 6-piece have been releasing interesting, urgent songs on the issues of our times. They released a self-titled full length last March, and that’s the album this track comes from.

Slum of Legs are a queer, feminist noise-pop DIY band. We are Alex, Emily, Kate, Maria, Mich and Tamsin. We write songs about ghosts, architecture, gender, loneliness and hair envy. You can dance to all of them. Sometimes we sound like The Shaggs, Slant 6 and La Dusseldorf playing at an impromptu party in space.

Bandcamp Bio

Slum of Legs are added to the 2021-a-Day playlist (and the off-shoot 2021-a-Day punk playlist), today.

Zoon | Was & Always Will Be

Zoon is the band moniker of Daniel Monkman – who released his first full-length Bleached Wavves in June of last year.

In the Ojibway language, the word Zoongide’ewin means “bravery, courage, the Bear Spirit.” It’s no wonder Daniel Monkman adopted Zoon as his musical moniker. The Hamilton-based musician has spent the better part of his 28 years finding and channelling his strength to overcome such adversities as racism, poverty and addiction.

Bleached Wavves is the first true document of what has been dubbed “moccasin-gaze,” a tongue-in-cheek nickname for the amalgamation of Monkman’s shoegaze influences with traditional First Nations music.

Spotify bio

Although previous tracks on the playlist have been identified as shoegaze, Zoon’s approach is a little more experimental and noise-focus and a little less pop/rock than some of those. Fan of previous 2021-a-Day tracks from bands who were labelled as psychedelic including ĠENN and Sister Wives should find something additional to love here.

A study in Mellow: 3 Indie Tracks for Your Weekend

After another long week, I’m ready to sit back and try to recharge with some cool indie tunes. Here’s hoping you find yourself with some down time this weekend and if you do, here are three tracks to listen to all added to the 2021-a-Day Spotify playlist today.

Quiet Noise-Rock from Chicago’s Horsegirl

This trio of high school pals has been gaining steady attention in the indie media in the last 6 months or so. Formed in 2019, Horsegirl have a few tracks available through streaming and have apparently just signed to Matador Records. A post on this track Ballroom Dance Scene in Pitchfork this past January means maybe you’ve already added it to your personal playlists, but it’s been a real ear worm of late for me, so I’m adding to the 2021-a-Day playlist this week.

Toronto NoWave With Luge

Luge is a band from Toronto. That’s what their bandcamp bio says. And now you know about as much about this band as I do. There are releases on their bandcamp page going back to 2015 and the self-titled album that this track up & up (& up) comes from was released in April 2020. Classified as No Wave, Art Punk or experimental rock, there are lots of exciting sounds throughout this record – no track is totally representative, so after checking out this one on the 2021-a-Day Playlist pop over to their bandcamp page and give a listen to the range of cool tracks they’ve come up with.

Mysterious indie from Colouring Outside

And while Luge is a bit mysterious to me, Halifax/Montreal’s Colouring Outside seems to want to be a little mysterious to all of us. Their bio says:

Little is known about this Miquelon power-pop band. They played a handful of shows at the all-ages venue the Moon Snail (?) to moderate acclaim and released the cassette ep “the lines” on their own coquille label in 1984. A dispute between recordist Johnni “JJ” DesRogiers and bassist Mikie led to the destruction of the adat masters. A rough cassette dub from the abortive lp sessions survives.

Bandcamp

but a quick perusal of their bandcamp bio tells you they have a few more familiar names than the mystery suggests.