Nine Excellent Recent US Indie Albums In Honour Of Independence Day

3 July 2015 | 1:10 pm | Mitch Knox

Or the best albums of 2015 that you (probably) haven't heard

This Saturday, 4 July, marks the annual celebration of Independence Day for our friends over in the United States, the day our American comrades thank God, in whom they so vocally trust, that they're not a part of the Commonwealth by spending their rent money on booze and fireworks, as is our understanding.

Of course, we're always down for any reason to party, so to help give us Aussies a slightly more legitimate back door to having an excuse to just listen to tunes and get drunk tomorrow (pfft, like we need one), we thought we'd pay tribute to some of the best albums released so far this year by some of the finest, hardest-working independent bands from across the country.

Prepare your ears, folks; it's about to get tasty in here… alphabetically.

Adventures — Supersonic Home

Pittsburgh-bred Code Orange spin-off Adventures couldn't have much less in common with the band from whom they drew three of their members — those familiar with the metalcore strains of Code Orange will, in fact, probably be somewhat taken aback by the warmth and earnestness found throughout Adventures' debut full-length Supersonic Home.

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

Lifted by the three-way vocal interplay of bassist Joe Goldman, keyboardist Kimi Hanauer and guitarist Reba Meyers, the band's new songs capitalise on the lessons learnt through two EPs and a pair of splits (one with Run, Forever, the other with Pity Sex), infusing the whole affair with a degree of '90s throwback nostalgia and a healthy dose of melancholia; all up, an engaging, emotive listen, well worth your time.

annabel — having it all

Having It All, the third full-length from Ohio-bred emo/"giving-a-shit indie-rock" mainstays Annabel marks a band truly hitting their stride, a fact that becomes immediately obvious less than 20 seconds into opener Another Day, Another Vitamin, as delicate guitar strums give way to explosive power-riffage and soaring, stretched-out vocals and a staccato, cymbal-drenched drum build that belie the technically proficient sidelines and interludes for which the band clearly have an affinity and talent.

The band dropped their debut full-length, Each And Everyone, back in 2009, and it's clear that they've made the most of the past six years of touring and recording, not just in terms of their own standalone titles but on several splits, meaning that although Having It All is technically only their third album, it comes with far greater experience and knowledge informing it than it appears, and it's all the better a listen for it. 

Dilute — Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive Grape

Chicago is a city renowned for its impact on the math-rock scene, what with being home to the Kinsella brothers (Mike and Tim), between whom we can count membership in such respected acts as Cap'n Jazz, Owls, Joan Of Arc, Make Believe, Owen and Their/They're/There, so it's somewhat unsurprising that the place should have also given birth to the truly excellent Dilute and the experimental, noodly sounds of Grape Blueprints Pour Spinach Olive Grape.

Taking cues from a solid chunk of the Kinsellas' sonic framework, Dilute also carry heavy comparability to Ireland's The Redneck Manifesto as well as the now-defunct Sharks Keep Moving (members of whom would go on to form Minus The Bear following that group's split), in terms of their swaying, busy, tapped guitar lines, long, hanging pauses, free-time passages and general disregard for 4/4 time signatures — all of which have been built on and repurposed for Dilute's own distinct purposes here. Super-fun spaz-out times. 

elvis depressedly — new alhambra

All right, so this one might have made our wider list of the top 25 albums of the year so far, but it fits the bill for this rundown too, so in case you missed it, Elvis Depressedly's seventh full-length, New Alhambra, is a masterpiece of lo-fi indie-pop introspection, admittedly a little more ebullient than what we've grown accustomed to over the past six records — but not too much.

Indeed, "optimistic" is a pretty loose term with which to describe New Alhambra, but there's an undeniable… hopefulness, maybe, that permeates the album's nine tracks, most of which clock in at less than three minutes long (the only song to pass that point is the title track, incidentally). Despite their short run time, the band manage to cram an impressive amount of emotion and musicality anyway, never dragging out a composition for the sake of "just one more" chorus or extended bridge. This is no-frills, to-the-point, downcast-but-still-pop-infused indie goodness on a platter. Hook in.

makeshift shelters — something so personal

Even if they weren't blessed with the alternatively delicate/devastating vocal power of frontwoman Ella Boissonnault, Washington, D.C.'s Makeshift Shelters wouldn't have a hard time standing out as one of the more exciting prospects doing the rounds on fringe scenes at the moment — but, since they are blessed so, there's even more reason for you to check out this truly excellent band.

They released their debut full-length, Something So Personal, in February of this year, and it's a record of relentlessly A-class, pop-infused angst-rock of the highest order, Boissonnault's performance often standing out as the highlight element in a uniformly strong set (check out that range in New Coast, for example) that puts the lyrical perspective squarely on a lesser-seen side of the fence, especially in the historical landscape of the genre. It's refreshing, imaginative, and a total blast. 

naturally the foundation will bear your expenses — year of glad

Don't let the cumbersome band name put you off prematurely — the fact is that, in a post-Cursive, post-Criteria, post-Bright-Eyes-when-Bright-Eyes-was-actually-good world, Naturally The Foundation Will Bear Your Expenses have ensured the next chapter of the Omaha indie music — originally typified by the entire Saddle Creek Records cabal and the 'Omaha sound' — are in excellent hands with their rough-hewn, heart-on-sleeve-heavy full-length Year Of Glad.

Pretty much everything about this album is imperfect, which in truth is a solid chunk of its charm, as the flaws - the adenoidal vocals, the occasionally out-of-tune instrumentation, the harried, fuzz-lined mix - never overpower the earnestness of the band's compositions, the dynamic swells and crashes carrying more weight than any missed note, while highlighting the band's indelible punk-rock leanings.

Pet Symmetry — Pets Hounds 

With members drawn from scene mainstays Dowsing, Kittyhawk and Into It. Over It., Pet Symmetry boasts a pedigree that is hard to match among their contemporaries, and the polished songs that populate their studio full-length debut, Pets Hounds, capitalise greatly on their cumulative talents and experience.

Evident fans of kitschy wordplay, the band have ditched wordy titles such as A Detailed And Poetic Physical Threat To The Person Who Intentionally Vandalized My 1994 Dodge Intrepid Behind Kate's Apartment (as found on their teaser two-track EP, Two Songs About Cars. Two Songs With Long Titles., in favour of a touch of parenthesis lust — from My Exhausted Month (Of May) to Go Outside (Stare At The Sun)Aisle (Or Window) and Salad Daze (Seein' Cred), the album is a non-stop attack of poppy emo hooks, jangly power rock, and dorky puns that should have you smiling in seconds.

pocket — full bloom

Hailing from the sonically rich surrounds of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the English teachers-cum-musicians of Pocket have a lock on intelligent, thoughtful and driven emotional rock, the 10 tracks of Full Bloom a non-stop ride of frantic, techy percussion, meaty distortion and sparkly cleanliness, and introspective lyricism — somewhat unsurprising, given the members' day jobs.

Occasionally veering into post-hardcore territory, Full Bloom is a well-rounded, diverse listen of eclectic yet complementary sonic influences, inwardly focused enough to be evocative without ever being inaccessible. 

soda bomb — wanna jam?

Soda Bomb, from Long Island, New York, are a powder keg of high-octane, lo-fidelity, punked-up fuzz rock that frequently feels like it's barely holding itself together - yet, throughout the 10 tracks on second full-length Wanna Jam? (following 2013's The Future Is Gonna Suck), and somewhat remarkably, the whole thing pulls through by the skin of its teeth to never truly lose its focus on actually being good as well as super-rough.

That constant sense of danger - that this could be the song to go over the crevasse and pull the whole team with it - probably heightens the excitement a little for first-time listeners of the record, as it obviously diminishes with repeat listens, but in its place arises a sense of warmth, familiarity and comfort that equally protects the tracks from being overshadowed by their own sharp edges.