The latest fresh indie rock songs and releases that we are digging right now including standout tracks from the rising Los Angeles trio Teleskopes, plus one of Boston’s hot new indie rock bands, The Penthouse, and more amazing DIY and indie tracks from the west coast, east coast, the Heartland and overseas.
Teleskopes – Los Angeles, California
The Penthouse – Boston, Massachusetts
Gabriel Lynch Band – Melbourne, Australia
Pete Lord – Chicago, Illinois
Lovelast – San Francisco, California
Blisss – London, England
Teleskopes – “Lazers”
The Los Angeles based alt. rock/shoegaze trio Teleskopes have just dropped the hard-hitting, blazing new ‘space rock’ single, “Lazers,” which, besides being an ass-kicker from start to finish, is at the same time a meticulously arranged, rehearsed and recorded composition that puts Teleskopes into the category of new DIY bands to watch in LA.
The beginnings of the band’s two premiere singles dates back to 2014 when members Fox Fagan (bass, vocals), Pelle Hillstrom (guitar) and Jesper Kristensen (drums) cut the tracks at Dave Grohl’s (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) Northridge Studio 606.
“Because we had played that song so many times live in LA clubs,” says Fagan, “when it came time to record at Studio 606, we did it in three takes…[and] used a lot of the guitars and atmospherics from my bedroom demo sessions.”
Fox and his band fellow band members next handed over their tapes for “Lazers” to famed music producer Joe Chiccarelli (White Stripes, Spoon, Jeff The Brotherhood, Morrissey) who put his final magical touches on the tracks to give the band the sound that they were gunning for.
Mix master Maxime Le Guil, who worked with Nigel Godrich on Radiohead’s “A Moon Shaped Pool,” and Ken Sluiter, assisted with mixing.
The band’s newest single was proceeded by the psych alt. rock, grandiose sound of the searing debut single, “Criminal,” dropped officially on Oct. 26th.
The members of Teleskopes have some serious mojo going on with an upcoming show (Dec. 9th) at the famous Viper Room in Hollywood and a couple of hot alt. rock singles under their belts. If you’re in the wood, check them out.
Via Soundcloud: Listen to the brand new Radio Edit for “Lazers”
The Penthouse – “Another Day”
The world-renowned Berklee College of Music has spawned many artists and bands over the years – way more than probably anyone has ever been able to count.
They include Grammy-winning artists like John Mayer, Donald Fagen (Steely Dan), Ben McKee (Imagine Dragons), among many others. And there are countless other artists and bands who have graduated from Berkelee.
The relatively newly spawned indie rock band, The Penthouse, are current Berkelee students. The band has recently been playing gigs in notable venues like Pianos in New York City (Dec. 9th) and receiving more attention from live music goers and the press.
The band’s funky, tropical indie pop track, “Another Day,” with its intricate instrumentation at points, reminded us a lot at first of Ra Ra Riot mixed with The 1975. We really love when the song goes into the instrumentation and just wish that the jhammin’ part of the track lasted longer.
Frontman Patrick Minogue says the band’s overall sound combines “skinny jean, iconoclastic, gritty, white-boy funk influenced by bands like Two Door Cinema Club, Arctic Monkeys, The 1975, and Cage the Elephant.”
Minogue says the songs are “a visceral fashion of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Basically we want to make you dance and feel some type of way.”
In addition to Minogue, the band members include Eric Derwallis, Kyle Raney, Jacob Arias, and Jesse Mason with musical backgrounds that include blues, classical, rock, pop, indie rock and funk.
Gabriel Lynch Band – “Language of the Affair”
The Melbourne recording artist, Gabriel Lynch, who has built a following of loyal fans over the years, is back with a new emotive single, “Language of the Affair,” featuring fellow Australian vocalist Jennifer Lackgren.
The song highlights Lackgren’s emotive, soft vocal style, along with Lynch’s heartfelt and honest songwriting style. The B-side of the new single, “Drink Your Love Away,” is a nice little bonus.
Lynch’s biggest musical influences include Radiohead, Elbow, Muse, Snowy Belfast, Saskwatch, Svavar Knutur, Megan Washington, Fleet Foxes, and Rage Against the Machine. Lynch is currently living and performing in Kuala Lumpur.
Via Soundcloud: Listen to more tracks from Gabriel Lynch Band
Pete Lord – “I’ll Be There”
Pete Lord is a Chicago songwriter, keyboardist, and vocalist with a voice that recalls the styles of traditional pop rock singers he emulates, including Marvin Gaye, Steve Perry, and Michael Bolton.
As evident on his chart-making new single, “I’ll Be There,” the golden days – when pop rock singers were superstars and didn’t use auto tune – seem to somehow be channeling Lord, who compliments the genre additionally by writing, singing and performing for more than a decade. The track is from Lord’s new sophomore album, Keep The Faith.
“The album means a lot to me,” he says. “I wrote many of these songs about relationships and about life and just how short it is. This album really came from my heart.”
Over the years, Lord concentrated on perfecting his vocal style and performing in venues throughout the Chicago metro area, building a local following before the surge of social media where ‘followers’ are what exactly? No one is really sure. Lord enjoys human interaction in person, seeing and singing to the audience and talking to them before and after sets.
Growing up in the Windy City suburb of Elmwood Park, Illinois, Lord began taking vocal lessons at a young age as his passion for singing and rock music grew. In fact, Lord was chosen by the popular Chicago band Paradise to be the band’s leader singer.
His debut solo album, The Only One, was a favorite among the adult contemporary radio market. In addition to the vocalists who influenced him the most, some of Lord’s favorite bands include Earth, Wind & Fire, Chicago, Foreigner and Little River Band.
Lovelast – “Run”
Last year, we featured the music of San Francisco inspiring recording artist Chase Jenkins, aka, Lovelast. His ethereal, emotional compositions, soaring synths, dance beats and remarkable vocals on songs like “Promises” and “San Francisco” captured the praise of IRC listeners worldwide. That post itself received over 600 Likes, with a good chunk going to Lovelast’s tracks.
Lovelast’s latest standout single, the driving, uplifting, “Run,” from the new EP, The Beauty and The Fire, swirls and soars with more synth pop elements than his debut EP.
“I knew I wanted a more keys-driven sound while re-introducing some of the edge that the first EP had,” Jenkins said.
We also featured another single from Lovelast not long after the first big post called “Halfway To You,” which turned out to garner nearly 10,000 streams on Soundcloud alone.
Jenkins musical influences include Magic Man, The Naked and Famous, Parade of Lights, and Broods.
Blisss – “Chalk Air”
Emerging earlier this year from a self-imposed retreat in a cabin in Kentish Forest to record some songs he had been working on, London multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and vocalist Tom Greenwood, aka, Blisss, just dropped his self-titled EP in September.
The EP includes the catchy lo-fi track, “Chalk Air,” which he says is the culmination of his love for Britpop, gospel music, and alt., classic and psych rock, with influences ranging from Primal Scream, Jungle, Tame Impala, Mac Demacro, and Lou Reed.
