The Wytches are a 4-piece rock band formed in Peterborough but now based in Brighton. Composed of members: Kristian Bell (vocals/guitar), Daniel Rumsey (bass), Mark Breed (keyboardist/guitarist) and Bhavin Thaker (drums).
Already 15 years since their debut release, the band have released 7 EP’s and have just released their 5th album, “Talking Machine” which their label say “...is a combination between huge pounding rockers fused with quieter moments of reflection”, and I think it’s great!
Photo: Steve Gullick
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Rise Carmine, real name Liam Colbert, is a Toronto based multi-instrumentalist and psych-rock artist. The Toronto Guardian has said “He takes pride in his eclectic song writing, delivering hard-rock riffiness and psychedelic synth-driven bliss on the same record”, I would agree.
The 12th of November sees the release of EP “Come In Closer” so let’s delve in…
Photo: Peyton Mott
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Pan Arcadia are a 5-piece New York based indie rock band whose sound is a nod to The Strokes and a little to The Ramones. The band consists of Eamon Rush on vocals, Dylan Kelly & Gabriel Gonzalez on guitars, Henry McGrath on bass and Brian Duke on drums.
The band self-released their latest album “Everything’s Fine” on October 10th, and shockingly the band play mostly happy tunes which had me tapping my foot for all 37 and-a-bit minutes of it…
Photo: Mia Isabella
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God Alone, a five-piece hailing from Cork, Ireland, describing their sound as dance infused math/noise rock although they’ve worked their way through several heavy genres during their time together.
Made up of Jake O’Driscoll (Guitar & Vocals), Cian Mullane (Bass & Vocals), Jack O’Hanlon (Drums), Dylan Kelly (Synthesizer) and Seán Thompson (Guitar), the band are signed to Prosthetic Records and have just released their 3rd album “The Beep Test” which is such a great album I wanted to find out more about it!
Photo: Shane J Horan
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Speed Week are a 4-piece garage punk band hailing from Melbourne, Australia consisting of Elliott Gee (vocals), Brad McDermott (bass), Andrew Robinson (drums) and Ryan Webb (guitar). Formed in 2019 they released their first album “Hey Hey It’s Speed Week” the following year but were hampered by the pandemic.
Their second album, “Weak Speed” was released on 16th October via Endless Recordings and was written organically using “stray bits of lyrics and bursts of guitar sent to one another over Whatsapp” over the last 4 years. As the band grow older and parenthood begins they are more acutely aware of current issues from politicians to technology.
Ragged, anthemic shoutalongs are their thing, much the same as myself, so I’m catching up with them for a chat about the new release…
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Zilch. are an alt’-rock trio from the west midlands, UK. With Tom Dewhurst on vox & guitar, Cal Neathway on bass and Zack Esposito on drums, they play loud, distorted, heavy, groove-laiden music with melodic pop sensibilities comparable with Mudhoney, Alice In Chains Queens of the Stone Age and (in my opinion most accurately) Nirvana.
On 20th June (so already a few months ago) they self-released their EP “Cognitive Distortions”. I have no idea how I found their music if I’m honest, but there was an instantly warm and recognisable tone to their sound so I had to catch up with them and find out more…
Photo: Leah Hunt
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The Birch are a psychedelic rock trio from Quedlinburg, Germany. Consisting of Lucas Habenreich on guitar and vocals, Santi Garcia on bass and Volker Blath on drums. They create vigorous, driving riffs which send their audiences on a spiritual journey.
Having formed five years ago, the band released their debut album “Dazed Dreams” in 2023 and are following it up on 21st November with Vicious Minds, released through Tonzonen Records.
Photo: n'Rico Kreim
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Emma Pollock is a Scottish singer/songwriter known for being one of the founding members of indie band The Delgados (who also founded indie label Chemikal Underground). The band were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2000 for their album The Great Eastern but split in 2005.
Since then Emma has released 4 studio albums, the latest of which, “Begging the Night to Take Hold”, was released at the end of September and has gained a great deal of attention and airplay.
I’ve been listening to the album almost daily since release and have managed to find some time when Emma could stop for a few minutes to chat about the album…
Photo: Stephanie Gibson
Give us a follow on you social media of choice. Join me in the quest to explore independent music around the world and send me your new material too, I'll always take a listen. 10000 Hours of Indie
The Armchair Captains are a 5-piece prog-funk band (I do love an interesting crossover, as regular listeners will know!), with Music Underground Magazine comparing them in part to The Mars Volta, Steely Dan and Pink Floyd.
Their output has been prolific and in their own words they “...enjoy riding the fine line between exploration and accessibility in our writing, recording and performing…”.
The release of their latest album “The Shrub Layer”, released at the end of July is our focus in this episode…
Photo: Em Gordon-Potts
Give us a follow on you social media of choice. Join me in the quest to explore independent music around the world and send me your new material too, I'll always take a listen. 10000 Hours of Indie
The Lunar Effect are a classic rock band with a psychedelic edge. Formed by brothers Jon and Dan Jefford in London in 2017, becoming a 5-piece and releasing their debut album “Calm Before the Calm” in 2019.
For their second album they signed to Finnish rock and metal label Svart Records, who will release their 3rd album “Fortune’s Always Hiding” on 24th October.
I’ve been listening to my promotional copy and wanted to delve into it and the bands’ music…
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In 2019 psychedelic rock and disco-infused collective ISTA (an acronym for In Sound To All) was born. The Brooklyn based 7-piece blend psychedelic rock, funk, punk and electronic music to create something danceable and modern while still giving a firm nod to what has come before.
Last month the band self-released their latest single “Low Fruit”, which I’ve been dancing around my living room to ever since. So what better time to find out more about them…
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Dutch indie label Tiny Room Records was created by Stefan Breuer in 2014. Founded on the theory that music should be fun, Stefan has overseen 75 releases (the latest of which is our focus today), organised one-off showcase events and several tours, run pop-up market stalls to promote and sell artist merchandise and all while being in two bands and releasing solo material. I’m exhausted just thinking about it. Oh and in the middle of all that Stefan had quite severe Covid on more than one occasion!
Stefan has appeared on the podcast before when I was running the Being Independent series (scroll back through episodes to find it). Today we’re focussing on the 10 year label anniversary release “Foundlings Vol. 1 & 2”, released on 5th September, a 27 track compilation of special, previously unreleased indie gems from artists he’s worked with during the labels’ existence.
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Formed in London back in 2007, Electric Litany are a London based 4-piece consisting of Alexandros Miaris (Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Synths), Richard Simic (Drums, Pads, Samples), Jason Tsontilis (Synths, percussion) & George Alevizakis (Bass). The band like to challenge themselves musically, mixing up musical genres with elements of post rock, synthpop, neoclassical, electronica and experimental soundscapes.
With 3 albums and 2 EP’s already under their belt, October 10th will see the release of 4th album “Desires”. I’ve been listening to it a fair amount and wanted to find out more about the album…
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Emily Popli is a Chicago based singer/songwriter who has been writing for over 2 decades. Starting out as a poet during her school years, she also took piano lessons and eventually grew into a singer/songwriter.
Having released two albums previously under her maiden name, Henderson, she views the release of her latest album, “Lilith Fair Kid”, released at the end of August, as her debut, due to a more professional recording process. I’m really enjoying the album, which is genuinely great soulful singer/songwriter pop so I reached out…
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The Easter Parade is Matt Steven. Based in Northamptonshire, England, he is a singer/songwriter who in his own words creates nostalgic and cinematic atmospheres with a reflective and contemplative mood.
His latest EP, ‘Raindrops on the Lens’ was released through Indigo Scala Records on the 22nd of August and I instantly fell in love with the layered simplicity and string arrangements so I tracked down Matt for a chat about it and other musical related stuff!
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Alpha Male Tea Party are a math rock trio from Liverpool, England consisting of Tom Peters (vocals, guitar), Ben Griffiths (bass, vocals), and Greg Chapman (drums). I first became aware of them when I heard their 3rd album Health in 2017 and my now 16 year old son still recognises the riffs it was played so often that year!
The band is due to release album number 5 “Reptilian Brain” on October 3rd, so I tracked them down to have a chat about it, their music and more…
Photo: Michelle Roberts
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Gregory Pepper first came to my attention in 2010 when he released “The Great Depression”, an album with Factor Chandelier under the name Common Grackle released on Fake Four Music. The album was on constant rotation in my house for over a year and is still an album I return to on a regular basis.
Based in one of the hottest musical cities in the world, Guelph, Canada, he is known as a genre crossing multi-instrumentalist, composing short songs which often don’t have solos and he’s even released an EP through an old boss of mines’ record label!
Today we’re talking about his latest album “No More Skulls” which he self-released on August 22nd.
Photo: Jaime Hogge
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Mappe Of is Tom Meikkle, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, and avant-folk artist based in Ontario, Canada. Signed to Paper Bag Records, a great indie label I’ve followed for several years. His third album “Afterglades” is due for release on September 19th.
After hearing just the first single I was intrigued and wanted to chat with Tom about his music, the upcoming album which I’ve been listening to a lot, and more…
Photo: Vanessa Heins
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Formed in the 1990’s, VIBRAVOID are a German psychedelic and acid rock band from Dusseldorf. Influential in the neo-psychedelic and neo-krautrock scenes, the band have released upwards of 20 studio albums, a handful of EP’s and many, many live albums.
September 26th sees the release of more new material, with the latest album, 8 track “Remove The Ties”, due for release. After hearing a promo of the album I quickly decided I had to delve deeper into the band and so I’m chatting with founding member Christian “Doktor” Koch, guitarist, vocalist and sometimes DJ…
Photo: Vibravoid
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Tamar Berk is a prolific indie rock musician now based in San Diego. Her 5th album in 5 years, “OCD” is due for release on 5th September and having had a good listen through it’s a great modern-retro album.
In her own words “Sonically, it’s a fuzzed-out, reverb-heavy swirl—somewhere between indie pop-rock and a fever dream.” I’d agree with that and that there’s so many layers to this album you’ll find something you hadn’t heard on probably the first 10 listens or so.
We chatted previously in the Being Independent series (still available if you scroll back through episodes), but now we talk almost exclusively about the new album…
Photo: Brandon Mosquera
Come and follow the 10000 Hours of Indie podcast. I'm speaking to some amazing independent artists over the coming weeks and months, so don't miss out!