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.