INDISPENSABLE LISTS
Best Of New Music Monday 2022
by Kristine England
This is the first year Indispensable Music has partnered with playMYmusic.FM to showcase new indie releases each week. Our picks from New Music Monday spotlight an array of artists and genres and have allowed us to discover new personal favorites. On this list, I've chosen alternate tracks from those featured on the original post. It's time to revisit some of 2022's glorious new indie music. So, in no particular order...
Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio
Cold As Weiss
The Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio (DLO3) has a sound that harkens back to the glory days of early 70s jazz-funk (think Jimmys Smith and McGriff with a dash of Ronnie Foster) and strong Meters overtones. The cover looks like classic Reid Miles Blue Note art too.
FEATURED TRACK: "Pull Your Pants Up"
Banditos
Right On
How do you get a garage/country/folk band? You take a popular live sextet from Birmingham, AL, move them to Nashville, and let them hone a sound melded from whatever styles suit their purposes, and presto!
FEATURED TRACK: "Waves"
King Buffalo
Regenerator
King Buffalo is a heavy psych band that plays dynamic, guitar-laden jams in the best acid rock tradition. Hypnotic and soaring, the guitars are layered and loud. This album has been on heavy rotation since its release.
FEATURED TRACK: "Firmament"
Travie McCoy
Never Slept Better
Releasing his first solo album in 12 years, Travie McCoy looks back at 10 years of addiction and sobriety, reflections on his childhood and struggles as an adult, lessons learned, and a determination to keep making music his way.
FEATURED TRACK: "Full Monarch"
The Heavy Heavy
Life and Life Only
The Heavy Heavy makes “a reverb-drenched collision of psychedelia and blues, acid rock and sunshine pop” (in the band’s own words). These influences coalesce to create a sound both authentically retro yet fresh.
FEATURED TRACK: "Go Down River"
Elephant Stone
Le voyage de M. Lonely dans la lune
Elephant Stone’s new mini-concept EP is full of groovy, sonic delights, and sweetly sad pandemic-inspired ballads; the story is about “a hermit who is very content in his solitary world, until a world event happens that causes everyone else to stay home as well..." according to frontman Rishi Dhir.
FEATURED TRACK: "La fusée du chagrin"
Fontaines D.C.
Skinty Fia
The band's third album finds the boys asserting their Irishness, even dropping in native Irish language phrases. The title is essentially a curse, translated as “the damnation of the deer.” The group’s discomfort living as ex-pat Irishmen in the UK ripples throughout the album.
FEATURED TRACK: "A Hero's Death"
Fantastic Negrito
White Jesus Black Problems
The force of nature known as Fantastic Negrito has developed a signature style of energetic, guitar-laden music that’s a mix of blues, roots, and R&B. He also has a visual style all his own, and a compelling backstory that makes him impossible to for IM and pMmFM to resist.
FEATURED TRACK: "Man with No Name"
Making Movies
Xopa
First impressions can be deceiving, such as "This is some smoking hot rock band from Cuba reimagining the son. Or maybe they’re Colombian, serving up tasty Cumbrian rhythms. They’re singing in Spanish, so they must be from Cuba or Latin America." No. They're from Kansas City.
FEATURED TRACK: "Calor"
Party Dozen
The Real Work
Australian noise-rock duo Party Dozen creates an almost inconceivable sound from only two people. Kirsty Tickle (sax) and Jonathan Boulet (guitar, bass, keys, drums) sample their instruments to great effect, making visceral and rhythmic music ranging from noise-rock, doom metal, or something a bit jazzy and moody.
FEATURED TRACK: "Fruits Of Labour"
