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an introduction to LiS
new band just dropped, born in a parking lot Giving a warm indiewave welcome to LiS, a freshly minted indie/alt band from Austin, TX blending R&B vocals with shoegaze and dream pop influences. Their debut single “Reach” just dropped at midnight, but I chatted with founder and guitarist Jeremy Rogers earlier this week to figure…
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a weekend covering the XPoNential Music Festival
Over the weekend I got a chance to cover WXPN’s XPoNential Music Festival for indiewave. It was a cool opportunity because the radio station is a pillar of the indie music community, especially in Philly. Or, as Julia Steiner of Ratboys declared from the stage, “XPN is a beacon of independent media in this AI…
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top indie songs of q2 2026
I’m not trying to cosplay as an angry drunk 1900’s author clacking away at the typewriter, but I’m writing with a drink in front of me for the first time and feel like Ernest Hemingway. I’m not an acclaimed novelist, or angry, just peeved that I didn’t love the new Steve Lacy. Here’s an indiewave…
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summer heat refreshed
We’re getting hit with a string of 100 degree days heading into the holiday weekend. I’m not talking some “with heat index it feels like…” shit. Pure 100+ It inspired me to rework the indiewave summer heat playlist a bit. The feeling is still in tact; just removed a few songs and added a few…
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a conversation with JW Francis
the most interesting man in indie rock I had the chance to sit down with the gregarious JW Francis a few days before his new album Magic River dropped. Mostly for copyright purposes, I don’t want to strip the Dos Equis guy of his ‘most interesting man in the world’ title, but I feel good…
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worst songs of 2026 (so far)
Read time: 1 min 18 secs If you are an indiewave reader, or if you’ve spent 30 seconds surfing headlines, then you’ll know that I spend a lot of time ranking top songs and heaping praise. On the “music things that surprised me” blog there were some cheeky observations, but if I want to take…
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top indie songs of q1 2026
Read time: 3 min 33 secs A round-up of the best music released during the first quarter (Jan 1-Mar 31): Meltt – “Up All Night” The rollout to their June album Pathways has been fruitful, but this is the best of the bunch. Most of their catalogue could be described as Tame Impala melancholia, which…
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a conversation with Jaco Jaco
going solo, moving to philly, momentum and serendipity Jacob Theriot doesn’t really take the obvious route. Whether it’s moving from Oklahoma to Philadelphia, hopping on a Zoom with me on the first nice day of the year, or leaving the successful band he co-founded to focus on his solo project; Jaco Jaco. I started seeing…
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music things that surprised me in 2025
Read time: 58 secs Surprises from all angles, you’ve gotta keep your head on a swivel out here. What surprised you? Mosh pit at a Beach Fossils concert Tame Impala making Wet Seal background music Enjoying some Hardcore songs (Turnstile) Finding out Clairos nepo Finding out having a dad who worked at Coca Cola makes…
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music recs & reviews
