Catch these fantastic indie rock bands on the rise!

Tribe Friday – “Sixteen Minutes”
-It’s hard to explain how much feel good energy this song has, so I encourage you to just click play on it. Do you feel like dancing? Me too. I love the clever lyrics, the perfect crack in the vocal, and the way the gang vocal makes you want to sing along. This is the perfect good time head-into-the-weekend rock track. Have fun and enjoy this good time tune!

Graace – “Go have fun at your party”
-This one is a bit more indie pop than indie rock, but it still has a cool spirit to it. The break around 1 minute turns into a Billie Eilish style anthem that’s sure to win over a lot of fans. I love the snappy pop vibe of the track. The lyrics show some immaturity and poor choices, but that seems to be the theme of the song. So if you can relate to this, please be more careful but enjoy the song. 🙂

Black Match – “Nowhere”
-This track borders on folk and indie rock, so of course it’s perfect for our site. I’ll tell you what, though, the vocal would win this track a spot on any website. Holy wow! I like the driving beat that emerges in the middle of the song, but honestly the intimacy of the vocal pulls me in before that. Once the harmony vocal enters, I’m a sucker for it. It’s a painful blues song in the lyrical content, but the take-off chorus evokes a sense of being hurt but needing to move on. It’s fantastic, honestly.

Hazey Jane – “Lay Low”
-This song might not fit the typical description of an arena rock style band, but it’s a really engaging style of indie rock that wins my heart more with each listen. Something about the cool composition of the guitars and the understated lead vocal works perfectly for this mood. It’s really hard to find a song that is so balanced like this. The lyrical content – an assurance that a friend is there to be supportive – works with the mood of the instrumentation as well. This is the total package and you just might want to share it with someone you love.

Harmony Byrne – “Smoke Inside”
-Byrne can absolutely sing! This song has a blues rock core to it, but there’s such a gritty core to it that it really stands out even in that crowded genre. The lyrical concept of having someone “set my soul on fire” is pretty fantastic. Byrne has accomplished something really rare in music these days; it’s lyrically complex without feeling trite or over the top. It’s a fascinating and moving song.

Eauclaire – “Nothing is certain”
-There’s a powerful energy to this track from Eauclaire. It’s really intriguing how the song manages to have an atmospheric style while also feeling like it’s about to take off at any moment. The lyric “a silhouette of what could have been” is amazing to me. Honestly, I could walk away from the song with that lyric as a nugget for meditation and call it a day. But it’s so much more than that. There’s an experimental vibe to it that reminds me of some of the 70s psych bands and it totally works here in this form.

Vision Arcade – “Fire Away”
-This up tempo rock jam is pretty much what we think of when we say we like “indie rock.” The beat moves well, the vocalist is quality, and the overall style is easy to listen to. I love the lyrical style on the verse that’s almost got a Red Hot Chili Peppers vibe to it. This is a sound that we don’t get nearly enough, but we’re happy to support. The guitar break after the chorus shows that this isn’t just a party band; they’ve got some raw rock chops as well. It’s a good mix from start to finish.

Emma Elisabeth – “I’d be lying”
-One of the 2019 inductees for the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame is Stevie Nicks. It’s always great to hear artists like Emma Elisabeth carrying the torch for artists like Nicks who popularized the rock singer songwriter ethos. Rather than crooning in a mid century style, Elisabeth brings forth a powerhouse rock vocal about the complexity of an unhealthy relationship. It’s complicated, ya know? The lyrics are so relatable and the vocal makes it really easy to sing (and dance) along. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t dance to this one in my chair a little bit.

Leisure Club – “Shoreline”
-This is a groovy song. I don’t mean like your grandpa says that things are groovy to mean cool. I mean like it actually has a really cool groovy. It feels like the beach and summertime. I love the way the sweet harmonies fill this space that actually feels “above” the rest of the song. I can’t even identify every instrument in the song (is that a melodica I hear?), but the esoteric layering of the sounds makes for something you literally have never heard before in the best way possible.

Joel Levi – “Light in the neon sign”
-This song just keeps moving. It’s like a car rolling down the highway. It’s like a train that goes through sleepy towns at night just blaring the horn because it doesn’t want to hit anyone. The town wakes up and rolls over. The light in the neon sign flickers. Levi brings an intense, solid lead vocal to this track. It works really well. It’s a little bit about drinking and getting over things, but it’s also (arguably) about making the most of where you are in life.