Here’s our indie rock playlist for August 2021, featuring the best in independent rock and punk music:
As always, I have a few songs which I want to draw some extra attention to in this indie rock playlist for August 2021:
Annina, We Will Miss You (Captain We’re Sinking) – This is an intense track from Captain We’re Sinking. With heavy themes dealing with suicide attempts delivered through an excellent and impassioned raspy vocals, you’ll want to sing this one at the top of your lungs before you actually sit down and dissect those lyrics.
Bummer Summer (Charmer) – Bummer Summer is all about midwest emo vibes mixed with a touch of mathy guitar and a dynamic quiet and loud, up and down composition, and it does it all beautifully.
Land Without Age (King Washington) – The loner vocal and (many) guitars of Land Without Age conjure images of wandering an endless dustbowl. Love the atmosphere of this one.
Room to Talk (All Get Out) – I’m a sucker for an unconventional song structure when it’s done well. Room to Talk is a great example where uptempo, high energy verses come to a halt for a palm muted introspective chorus. It gives the track an interesting and unique feel, and allows the most important lyrics to naturally exist in that chorus.
Kill My Compass (Daytrader) – Kill My Compass is much more straightforward and flourishes off of its powerful vocal hook on the chorus, but sometimes that’s all you need.
Better Heavens (The Superweaks) – Just good lower fidelity punk rock which proves you don’t need glistening production values to make a great track. Great intro to pull you right in, as well.
Find a Home (Alberta Cross) – I’ve been a fan of Alberta Cross for awhile, in particular their 2012’s “Songs of Patience”. Their most recent at the time of this playlist marks the return of their excellent fusion of southern rock and indie songwriting aesthetics, plus one of my favorite unique vocalists in Petter Ericson Stakee.
Ice Cream and Sunscreen (Martha) – Another great track featuring a HUGE uptick in energy midway through. As much as I like the song, I think I’m a bigger fan of the cover art/photo for the album it’s taken from. Whether it’s just encapsulating the awkwardness of an age or if there’s a deeper story there, it’s definitely one of my favorites.
The D in Detroit (The Anniversary) – I don’t feature a lot of seriously older songs on these playlists and admittedly a lot of people have likely heard this song, but it’s too good to not feature. If you added a bit of moog to The Get Up Kids’ debut “Four Minute Mile” and some female vocals, you’d have this song. Heavy and pure midwest emo with some extra bells and whistles, this is a great track.
Down and Out (Starbenders) – This is the second song I’ve featured from Starbenders, and this again has a really trippy throwback feel to it. I’m really impressed at the sound which they’ve consistently carved out for themselves.
Once Good (Kississippi) – Kississippi have since gone a bit more pop in their sound after this record, but to me this is them at their peak (so far). I love the constant movement on the versus, but when they smooth it out and hit that minor chord on the chorus, that hook taps into a wonderfully nostalgic feeling for me.
My Bedrooms is for Like Artists (Latterman) – I featured Tender Defender on this indie rock playlist recently; before TD there was Latterman. The connection is pretty easy to hear as both bands feature raucous, shout along rock with huge screaming hooks. It’s a good note to go out on to keep you pumped up.