My musical artist recommendations

By: Annika Getz

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One of my biggest struggles as a music-lover is finding new music after over-listening to my favorite albums. Every few months I find myself searching for a new album or musician who fits the genre and general type of music which I like. Said genre being mainly indie, folk, or alternative music. If you too are looking for new music in this genre, read on to find my personal favorites, all of which helped me out of music-block.

Starting with a pretty well known singer-songwriter: Phoebe Bridgers. Bridgers is an indie-alternative artist, with two solo albums, ‘Stranger In The Alps‘ being her debut solo album, released in 2017. And ‘Punisher’, which was released in 2020. Bridgers also had a collaborative group titled ‘Boygenius’ with indie artists Julian Baker and Lucy Dacus. The group released an EP in 2018. Bridgers also formed a group with Conor Oberst in 2019, they released an indie rock album in the same year. Two songs which I think well demonstrate Bridgers’ style as an artist would be “Motion Sickness” from ‘Stranger In The Alps’, and “I Know The End” from ‘Punisher’.

This next artist, Penelope Scott, has three albums and one EP, all of which were self-produced. It’s a bit difficult to pin down a genre, as it varies amongst her albums, but for the most part, it can be labeled as alternative. Two of her albums, ‘Junkyard‘ (2020) and ‘The Junkyard 2‘ (2020), are compilation albums, both of which are more indie-acoustic. Her debut album, ‘Public Void’ (2020) contained all new music, and her most popular song, “Rät“. “Rät” went viral on TikTok, and at the time this article was written, had around 107 million streams on Spotify, where she has 3.3 million monthly views, which helped land her a spot on Billboard’s “Hot Rock and Alternative Songs Chart”. ‘Public Void‘ falls into a more Glitzy, electronic genre. Scott also performed for Rolling Stone several months ago. Scott’s most recent release is an EP titled ‘Hazards’ (2021) which is, like ‘Public Void’, more glitzy, and electronic. The two songs which showcase her music best in my opinion, are “Rät“, coming from ‘Public Void’, for a more electronic vibe, and “Sweet Hibiscus Tea”, from ‘The Junkyard 2‘, for a more acoustic one.

Sticking with alternative-indie artists, we have Peter McPoland, who has yet to release any albums or EPs, but has nine singles on Apple Music, and 16 million streams on Spotify. He also has several unreleased songs on his YouTube and TikTok pages. The song which I think best showcases his type of music, is “(Here’s to the) Prom Queen”.

This band doesn’t have a strict genre, possibly being classified as indie-folk, indie-rock, alternative, or folk-punk. The Mountain Goats were formed in 1991, and remain active to this day, with 20 studio albums, 4 compilation albums, and 25 EPs. All of their music released before 2002 has a very lo-fi recording style. Throughout the years, their musician line up has changed, with only John Danielle, (lead singer), Peter Hughes (bass guitarist), and Jon Wurster (drums player), as constants. Two songs of theirs which I think best demonstrate their music are “No Children”, from the 2002 album ‘Tallahassee’ (this is also arguably their most popular song), and “This Year“, from the 2005 album ‘The Sunset Tree‘.

One artist which I consider to be a staple of indie music (specifically indie-pop/bedroom pop) would be Cavetown, an English singer-songwriter with ten albums, and two EPs. His music career began on YouTube in 2013. His first studio album, ‘Everything Is Made of Clouds‘, was released in 2013, and was soon followed by the debut single titled “This Is Home” in 2015. His most popular song, with around 156 million streams on Spotify (where he has over 7 million monthly listeners), is titled “Devil Town“. More recently, he released his major label debut album, ‘Sleepyhead’. The two songs which I think represent his type of music well would be “Lemon Boy”, from the album ‘Lemon Boy‘, and “Banana Bread”, from the EP ‘Dear’.

chloe moriondo, is another indie/bedroom-pop/alternative artist, they have two albums and one EP released. Their first album, ‘Rabbit Hearted’, was self produced in 2018, and is more indie/bedroom pop. It was followed by the major label EP ‘Spirit Orb’ (also more pop styled) in 2020. Their second album ‘Blood Bunny’, was released in 2021, and produced by a major label, it has a more alternative-pop vibe to it. My two song picks for this artist are “GIRL ON TV” and “What If It Doesn’t End Well”, both of which are from ‘Blood Bunny’.

Yet another alternative/indie-pop artist is girl in red, a Norwegian singer-songwriter labeled by many as a queer icon, with a multitude of songs about WLW relationships. She has 3 albums, and 2 EPs, as well as a multitude of singles. Her first EP available on Apple Music was released in 2018, and is titled ‘Chapter 1’. It was followed in 2019 by the EP ‘Chapter 2’. Her debut studio album, ‘If I could Make It Go Quiet’, was released through AWAL in April of this year. Her songs “We Fell in Love in October”, and “I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in January 2021. The two songs I’d say demonstrate her as an artist are “Serotonin”, from ‘If I Could Make It Go Quiet’, and “We Fell In Love In October”, from ‘Chapter 1’.

This final artist could be described as either indie or folk. Joshua Bond, has one album and one EP, with another album (to be titled ‘Drink From The Creek’) which came out on October 30th. His EP ‘The Honeybees Need Swimming Lessons’ was released in 2020, and was followed shortly by the album ‘There’s Nothing in the Bushes’ in 2021. This album featured the song “The Absolute Best Feeling” which blew up on his TikTok account where it was originally released. With 16 thousand monthly listeners on Spotify, I think Bond to be pretty underrated, and would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a folk artist with amazing acoustic guitar skills. The two songs I’d choose for Joshua Bond are “Oh, To Be a Kid Again!” and “The Absolute Best Feeling”, both of which are from ‘There’s Nothing in the Bushes’.

There are obviously plenty of other bands or artists with this style of music, but these are eight of my personal favorites, all of which are still active. There really aren’t any songs released by these artists that I haven’t liked upon listening to. As someone who listens to new music almost daily, these are all artists which I find myself returning to time upon time again.

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