13 Can’t Miss Bands at SXSW 2020

This lineup might as well have been curated directly by Indie Pong, very exciting. Now note, this preview is just off of my initial first glance without doing any deep diving (there are like 300 bands, give me a break), I’m sure there are a lot of great young bands that I haven’t heard of yet and I encourage you to check them out for yourself here:

https://schedule.sxsw.com/2020/artists

Let’s get into it:

Algiers

Band from Hotlanta Georgia laying deep soul vocals over modern post-punk with an album coming out on January 17th:

P.S. if you dig this sound check Built On Ashes out by Zeal & Ardor- Indie Pong’s #50 track of 2018!

Ali Barter

Fiyah song and album as a whole, can be abrasive at times but as explained in the disclaimer in the below video (NSFW) it’s her way own cathartic way of dealing with the issues that drive her art:

Beabadoobee

This next song is legitimately one of my favorite songs of the year, absolute lock for best tracks of the year list coming next month. The essential emotion of the vocals mixed with the totally relatable content and accessible pop culture reference to Stephen Malkmus allow us to empathize with this song instantly and use it to bury our own sorrows in and purge:

Black Country, New Road

This song is so awesome, totally original and an exciting new voice from the Speedy Wunderground label (Black Midi). I don’t know when the next release is coming but I can’t wait. Must see.

Cadence Weapon

Sound the alarm: Cadence Weapon was just featured on Indie Pong’s Tracks of the Week LAST WEEK for his and Alice Ivy’s stellar track Sunrise, to read the full article CLICK HERE. Here’s the song:

And here’s another with another former Indie Pong Best New Tracks alum Jacques Greene:

Common Holly

Great album. Me and UndercoverSadGirl both enjoyed. This was my fave, thoroughly enjoyed the tempo change which perfectly mirrored the simple yet both comical and saccharine lyrics:

And this was UndercoverSadGirl’s favorite:

Harunemuri (春ねむり)

She is one of my absolute FAVES from last year. Her music seems impossible to box into one two or even three genres and thus was probably my favorite album of 2018. Sekaiwotorikaeshiteokure was featured in my top 50 best tracks of 2018 (which I keep referencing, here is the playlist since it was pre-Indie Pong era and there is no post). She’s like an entire country’s worth of electricity compressed into one Japanese person and I love it.

I’ve heard from friends that this show is NUTS and I’m so excited she is finally coming to America. Here are two more of my favorites from the album, eagerly awaiting more:

Nasty Cherry

Netflix stars and Charli XCX formed super band Nasty Cherry are on the brink of absolutely exploding and becoming the next big thing. Don’t miss out on the early show you can brag about for years to come when these gals are YUGE.

Otha

This place is packed with pricks – declares the Norwegian introvert as she laments the club she ended up in like I do every time I go to any club ever. I’ll bet this will be one of the best crowds at the fest, mark my words. This song is due for a high profile remix, can’t wait to see this one climb and can’t wait for more tunes.

Pom Pom Squad

Ahh yeah Pom Pom Squad’s album Ow had me ready to run straight through a brick wall like

Seriously though this is a top album of the year for me, can’t miss show for sure. This is one of those situations where the debut album is so good that you must attend and not wait to see this Brooklyn band perfectly collide soul-shattering rock riffs with emotionally draining while also being invigorating lyrics.

Squirrel Flower

We already gave Squirrel Flower some love when we heard this song and instantly threw it on repeat. If you like Mitski, Lucy Dacus, etc. you should definitely check this one out. Album comes out on January 31st and we can’t wait.

Sui Zhen

Australia strikes again making the coolest most innovative pop music out there right now. Vibes!

Weeping Icon

An UndercoverSadGirl favorite here. If someone asked you to describe your ideal SXSW in verbs and one of the words you picked was ‘thrash’ then this is the show for you.

Don’t forget to follow our Spotify playlist for weekly updates:

See y’all there!

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Best Tracks of the Week 11/13/19

This is our weekly best new tracks article. We cover mostly brand new songs but also some gems from the last few weeks. Follow our playlist if you want to follow on Spotify or if you hate my writing and just want the music:

‘Burning Accidents’ – Kate Davis

This snuck up behind me in public and put its dirty hands over my eyes and asked me to guess who it was, and I, a little pissed off, guessed it was an old work acquaintance or person I had one class with in high school who had no business touching my face. I was wrong, it ended up being an AWESOME and totally original album that I instantly fell in love with. It’s sad girl music (something UndercoverSadGirl would listen to) but with almost a bit of a pop punk flavor to it, like if you sprinkled some Wavves onto a sad girl music cake. Anyways this instantly became one of my favorite albums of the year and I highly recommend.

‘スイート Sweet’ – SebastiAn, Loota

Allow me to translate that Japanese for you since I happen to speak Japanese, it says… Sweet. Sui-to to be exact. You’re welcome. This whole album from the veteran French producer was awesome, some serious grooves and paint peeling synths.

SebastiAn

Loota

‘Sunrise’ – Alice Ivy, Cadence Weapon

It’s the kind of song you could put on loop and you’d never realize you;d been listening for an hour straight, a dreamy jam from Australian Alive Ivy and Canadian Cadence Weapon.

‘Sad Day’ – FKA Twigs

I already wrote a whole post about the album here: https://indiepong.wordpress.com/2019/11/13/fka-twigs-album-so-good-might-literally-be-an-alien/

But TLDR it’s one of the best albums of the decade and a true accomplishment in every way, so if you can’t tell I liked it a lot. It somehow meets in the middle of harsh and beautifully raw/emotional, and we are here for it.

My two other favorites on the album are Home With You and Cellophane, which are both also tracks that sound like they couldn’t have possibly come from this planet. I love.

‘I Used To’ – imbi the girl, SUPEREGO

Alrighty roo well this one actually came out a few months ago, but I heard it and fell in love with it immediately and had to include. Yeah, like I’m going to listen to a song on repeat all week and not include it because of a fEw MoNtHs. Get over yourself. Plus, the album is coming out very soon and the people of Indie Pong nEeD 2 kNoW!

I am beside myself excited for this album —–ALERT! LIVE EDIT——– This album actually literally just came out 5 hours ago in Australia, but I can’t listen yet because it’s not out until tomorrow in America. Here is the link, let’s check it out together! Teamwork!

‘DICTATOR’ – REI AMI

This is badass. Rei Ami is badass. Not here to mess around. And then all of the sudden it’s warm and comforting. Really like this one from the Korean-American new force on the scene.

‘Fox’ – Dogleg

Dude this song goes so hard. Michigan band, I’m guessing extremely underrated because I can’t find much on them online. Can’t wait for more.

Also, I had never heard this but I guess a dogleg is something bends like a dogleg, not necessarily the literal leg of a dog. Does it matter? Well the next time you’re at autozone and one of your friends asks you to ‘hand them the dogleg’ do you want to look like a dumbass? That’s what I thought.

‘Another Day’ – #1 Dads

How’d you like that Dogleg->#1 Dads transition, you like? Nice, thanks. This song is mad chill, like when you just had a crazy time camping with your friends (marshmallows, speakers, dance marathon, lots of coffee to stay awake for the dance marathon, pillow fight, etc.) and you need a chill song to put on repeat a few times on your drive back to reflect on the crazy night you just had. P.S. I don’t really go camping.

‘Back To Love’ – Vanessa Amorosi

Oh yeah, power ballad time. This is like the opposite of the above camping scenario, in this scenario you just quit your job and used credit cards to piece together the funds to buy a red Corvette convertible and you stand up while your best friend who also just did that (but it’s a little different, because she had been planning on leaving her job for a while and had been saving money for the occasion so didn’t have to get any credit cards) and you stand up and let your hair blow in the wind and scream as loud as you can because sometimes you have to just do something crazy.

Re-enactment of above scenario in blue car

Banger.

‘Honeybird’ – Andras

Banger from Australian producer Andras. P.S. All of the last three artists are Australian. I guess all I listen to is Australian music. So be it, the Australians are making the best music! Album comes out in January 2020.

“(Wilson has previously released LPs under solo and shared aliases including Art Wilson, Wilson Tanner and Andras & Oscar.)” – https://www.factmag.com/2019/11/13/andras-joyful-beats-in-space/

Thus concludes another week of Australia Pong I mean Indie Pong, don’t forget to follow our playlist for automatic updates each week my friends!

Mariah Carey just Dropped the Best 30 Second Video of the Year, is Still the Queen of Christmas

Mariah Carey OWNS Christmas. Mariah Carey makes more money off of Christmas than Hallmark and is Santa Claus’ best friend, and she reminded us in fantastic fashion with this People’s Elbow of an Instagram post:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mariah Carey (@mariahcarey)

Mariah deserves all of the presents, literally all of them, but all she wants for Christmas is me which is pretty tight. She’s like the Thanos of Christmas pop stars, she could snap her fingers and turn every pop star to ever wear a Santa hat into straight fairy dust if she wanted to.

While we’re on the subject of Queen Mimi let’s take a stroll back in time to this legendary performance which I will leave you with as we eagerly await the greatest time of the year… Best of the Year List Season. And also Christmas.

4 More Songs To Hear This Week

In addition to the best of the week, we will also be highlighting some other favorites. This is technically from last week since the big drop (wooo Friday), meh sue me.

Red Shoulder – Squirrel Flower

This is just a great song, plain and simple. It’s a familiar sound, but the Boston native absolutely nails this and got us all shit our pants excited for her album in January.

Always – Rex Orange County

This album is great, enjoyed the whole thing. Rex sounds like the awkward pubescent middle school boy in my heart who just graduated from emo and sings original rock songs in his room in a muffled voice (because he hasn’t found my way yet and doesn’t want an awkward compliment from his parents/my parents), but then got really hot and mastered his voice and now rules the world.

Use This Gospel – Kanye West, Clipse, Kenny G

This is by a guy named Kanye West, I had never heard of him but he’s pretty good. I like how he sing-raps, looking forward to checking out the rest of the discography. I hope it’s as wholesome as this. By the way I hate swearing. I almost skipped this whole album by this no name, but then I saw that the OG Kenny G was on the track so I decided to give it a shot. The production is pretty good.

This is what Kanye West looks like in case you’d never heard of him like me, he’s the one on the right:

Cult – Mad Gatsby

Damn man, I’m down. If I can be honest it was so lit that I hurt my ankle stomping on the floor too aggressively at the concert because when EVERYONE is stomping on the floor you follow suit. This show was crazy, loved every minute of it.

Best New Tracks 10/30/19

This is our weekly best new tracks article. We cover mostly brand new songs but also some gems from the last few weeks. Follow our playlist if you want to follow on Spotify or if you hate my writing and just want the music:

Dead Battery – L’Orange and Jeremiah Jae

Oh man, this song is piping hot like when you eat that first bite of mom’s beef stew right off the stove son. I’m cheating a little bit because this came out as a single a month ago (haha or 2 months ago tomato potato) but it was too hot not to lead. And a banger is a banger whether or not I caught it when I came out am I right guys? Anyway, damn this is a heater.

Summer Camp – L’Orange and Jeremiah Jae

What can I say, this team from North Carolina and Chicago respectively is something special. Check out our review of the album (it’s a brief review, who has time to read a full review right guys, am I right) but this song is also amazing and is a center piece of one of my favorite albums of the year.

Devil In Her Eye – Mad Gatsby

HOLY SHIT, did these guys come out of nowhere. Singer/Songwriter Brandon Burtis and Producer Alec Berkley burst through the gates on some hot ass on fire ass horses like in Hercules (?). Amazing EP in general, Cult also SLAPS. Love these guys, can’t wait to hear more. Also can’t wait to see the next album art, because this one is SICK.

My Love – Anna of the North

Anna coming in HOT with the album! ‘Playing Games’ was an early entry on the Indie Pong playlist, one of the first entries when the single came out. We’ve been highly anticipating this album and it did NOT disappoint! Bangers throughout and very well constructed. Check it out and make sure not to miss this banger and also Lonely Life (also slaps).

Things I Do – Andy Shauf

I’d like to joke about Andy Shauf being pregame music because it’s low key but in all honesty I would easily pregame to Andy Shauf and probably have an awesome night because this shit is just awesome music as per usual. This is some strutting down the street in khakis music, definitely with some Ray Bans, kind of mood where you would make thumb guns at someone to let them know how hard you were vibing but you would never do that because you have such refined music taste which basically makes you a God.

Reflection – Hana Vu

Is this going to piss my musical theater sister off? I don’t know, she hasn’t answered my text yet. Are you down though? Because I’m fucking down.

P.S. Mulan is the coolest

Pixel Affection – yeule

I-D/Vice said that yeule is a Singapore producer crafting a darkpost-pop dream world. Can I phrase that better? Definitely not. Here’s the article if you’re interested in reading more: https://i-d.vice.com/en_us/article/qvmmkd/yeule-is-the-singapore-producer-crafting-a-dark-post-pop-dream-world

In my opinion anyone can make the right synth and anyone can find the right vocal modulation, but what’s really hard is finding that perfect combination of not only those two things but also lyrics that match. I’m down for some pixel affection get at me.

Sunset by Plane – Anamanaguchi, Caroline Lufkin

Who’s trying to go hard like it’s the end of an anime in a club (?) like a super lit anime where they club at the end to some Nintendocore Bitpop- you down? Because I’m fucking down, spike my hair and call me by my middle name (Akira) because I’m down af.

Worth Noting: We’ve already featured King Princess and Great Grandma and they’re still on the list, both great albums that you should check out! Follow our playlist for weekly updates without having to read!

The beginning of an era: The Indie Pong Era

It was late, about 2:30am, on a Thursday. I had just sent my thirteenth consecutive text to my friend Austin about my top 20 Outkast songs list I had made, equally spaced out so he would get the alerts in even intervals all night. There is nothing better than waking up to texts from your friends. Austin had asked me to not text him so late because he works early, but I knew he was just being considerate of my time and that it was a fake excuse. It was no bother, I love sharing music with my friends. Austin blocked my number because he’s such a good friend, but he DIDN’T block my roommate’s number, or any of my neighbors’ numbers, so I was set. Austin is so funny, he would make jokes like “Do you have any other friends” and “Your texts make me want to kill myself” – hilarious. I guess that’s what you get when you selflessly devote your free time to your friends.

In all honesty starting a music blog has always been a dream of mine. Last year I quit my film industry job of three years, a career I had been working towards since high school, and this is the direction my life has taken me. I can’t wait to share music with you all. Check out our playlist ‘Indie Pong Best New Tracks’ for new music every week.