By: Annika Getz

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.

For more information, please visit:

• https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.spotify.com/us/__;!!LSatmg!q0UE12NtS6qQHCUqq0E3lqcPTsp94A_OErxmwxDTNR_QQ4qU9BC5GZf9vYq9-glDHQ7cb_4SEME$

Season 18 of ‘The Bachelorette’, which has Michelle Young, premiered on ABC on October 19, 2021. Helping her along her journey to find love are returning host, and former Bachelorette’s, Tayshia Adams and Kaitlyn Bristowe. The two hosts hosted Katie Thurston from last season, who got engaged in the finale to Blake Moynes. Both Katie and Michelle were from Matt James’ season of ‘The Bachelor’, with Michelle finishing as the runner-up.

Michelle is a 28-year-old teacher, and former Division I basketball player, from Edina, Minnesota. In ‘After the Final Rose’ both her and Katie were announced as The Bachelorette, with Katie going first, so that Michelle could film during the summer when she was not teaching.

On night one she was introduced to 30 men who would be competing for her heart: Alec Thompson, Garett Aida, JoMarri Gable, Nayte Olukoya, Olumide Onajide, Pardeep Singh, Clayton Echard, Mollique Johnson, Chris Sutton, Casey Woods, Ryan Fox, PJ Henderson, Bryan Witzmann, Brandon J., Brandon Kieffer, Christopher Gallant, Daniel Tully, Edward Naranjo, Jamie Skaar, Joe Coleman, Jack Russell, Leroy Arthur, LT Murray IV, Martin Gelbspan, Peter Izzo, Rick Leach, Rodney Mathews, Romeo Alexander, Spencer Williams, and Will Urena.

In an effort to impress her, one of her constants showed up in a school bus, another dressed in an apple, and one gave her Mardi Gras beads, plus one guy showed up with his head on a literal platter for her. But she could only give out one first impression rose which went to Nayte Olukoya from Austin, Texas, who won her heart over by talking to her about wanting to create a loving household with his future wife.

And of course, this wouldn’t be a reality TV show without drama. One of the contestants, Ryan Fox, who showed up in an ice cream truck, brought a playbook of how to get more screen time on the show and how not be a villain. Michelle sat him down to talk about it, but he made a lot of excuses and Michelle sent him home right away before the Rose Ceremony even started.

After that drama, it was time for the Rose Ceremony; she sent six guys home leaving 23 remaining. These men were Brandon Kieffer, JoMarri Gable, Edward Naranjo, Garrett Aida, Bryan Witzmann, and Jack Russel.

Another twist of the night, was that Michelle knew one of the contestants, Joe Coleman, they had been messaging each other for a while until he ghosted her but Michelle decided to give him another chance and gave her final Rose to him.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.tomsguide.com/news/the-bachelorette-2021-season-18-michelle-young?scrlybrkr=641b1223
• https://parade.com/1281164/korinmiller/who-went-home-on-the-bachelorette-tonight-night-one-2021/

By: Eva Olson

‘The Platform’ is a Spanish horror/thriller movie released in early November of 2019. This movie follows the main character, Goreng, and his journey in this vertical prison that has a moving platform that stops at each level to give people food. Because there is only one platform carrying food, not every level gets food. Every level has two people on it and every month you get sent to a random level. Throughout the movie, Goreng has to fight for survival and learn who he can and can’t trust, and he has to make some tough decisions that make him question his morals.

I thought the movie was very suspenseful and had me on the edge of my seat almost the entire time. I thought the pacing was perfect and helped create suspense. The plot was very interesting and I thought it was very original and not like a typical horror movie. I thought there were a lot of good plot twists that weren’t predictable and surprised me a lot. I liked how the movie didn’t rely on jump scares for suspense.

This movie was pretty gory and had some pretty gross scenes. There was a decent amount of blood and other kinds of gross things (think about how character may have to get food). There were multiple scenes where I felt the need to look away because it was too gross. Although it was kind of gory, it wasn’t constant and in every scene which I liked.

I thought all the characters were very interesting and I liked how everyone wasn’t specifically good or bad and they were conflicted at times. I also liked how the relationships between the characters would change constantly. I thought the acting was good and they did a great job casting each character.

I thought this movie was very good overall. I think I would’ve liked it better if the movie was originally in English so the dialogue would match up (it was dubbed in English) but the movie was still good. If you’re looking for a suspenseful thriller/horror movie then this is a good option.

I give it a 7.5/10 rating.