The Big Indie Playlist: This week's best new music

Welcome back to The Big Indie Playlist, where all of the best new music gets compiled into one convenient playlist. This week, we’ve decided to expand the boundaries of what “indie” could mean. As you’ll see, artists like Miley Cyrus, Blur and The Killers hardly fit the traditional mould of indie rock, but their newest songs fit in nicely with the rest of what the indie world has to offer this week.

Besides, we’ve got the indie world covered over on the album front. Willie J Healy ran away with ‘Album of the Week’ with his newest LP, Bunny. There were plenty of other great albums from the likes of Be Your Own Pet, Drab Majesty, and Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek. Even Alice Cooper put out a solid LP with his newest record, Road.

If you want to check out the best of the new albums, you can check out our Alternative Album Chart, which is stocked full of goodies just waiting to be discovered. Otherwise, if you’re looking for a quick fix, we’ve got you covered with the best new singles of the week.

From Slow Pulp to Fat Dog to Black Pumas and Soft Play, there is once more a smorgasbord of surprises from the music world and a few emerging talents to boot. Here are all the best singles from the week of August 25th. You can check them all out in a playlist at the foot of the piece, too.

Slow Pulp – ‘Broadview’: Some songs just continue to be on rotation from the moment you hear them. I haven’t stopped listening to Slow Pulp’s incredible new song ‘Broadview’ since it first came out earlier this week. A perfect mix of country, indie, and singer-songwriter bliss, ‘Broadview’ is heartbreaking and beautiful in equal measure. (5/5)

Mitski – ‘Heaven’: With each new track, Mitski’s plan for her latest album, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, comes into greater focus. ‘Heaven’ shows off the Nashville country influence that the singer-songwriter has gotten through recording in the city, with sweeping strings and angelic slide guitar lines sounding… well, heavenly. (4/5)

Miley Cyrus – ‘Used To Be Young’: There might be a slight objection to this being included in the folk songs section, but in its DNA, ‘Used To Be Young’ is as close to a folk song that Miley Cyrus has put out since… ever? A burning ballad, ‘Used To Be Young’ is just waiting for a more stripped-back and emotional version to come out soon. (3/5)

Fat Dog – ‘King of the Slugs’: Combining pulsing industrial beats with synth-funk and post-punk, Fat Dog have somehow crafted a completely unique debut single in ‘King of the Slugs’. Part rave, part demonic punk, part slow-burning haunted house, and part ridiculous fun, ‘King of the Slugs’ pushes Fat Dog into being one of the most interesting upstart acts of the modern day. (4.5/5)

A. Savage – ‘Elvis in the Army’: Never one to just sit around and wait for the next Parquet Courts project, singer/guitarist A. Savage is back on his solo run with the new track ‘Elvis in the Army’. Keeping the ragged punk energy of his day job intact, ‘Elvis in the Army’ is as tightly wound as Savage has ever been on record, which means it’s one of his best songs. (4/5)

The Snuts – ‘Dreams’: Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but I’m always happy to see a new song by The Snuts because I’ve never heard a bad Snuts song. The Scottish indie rock project are starting down a decade of existence, but they’re still very much in their prime with songs like ‘Dreams’. (4/5)

Wet Man – ‘Swimming with Sharks’: Sheffield aggro-pop agitator Jack Clayton has released his first single under the moniker Wet Man, ‘Swimming with Sharks’. A rough mix between disco, post-punk, pop, and industrial, ‘Swimming with Sharks’ is a staggering blend of spoken word, demonic synths, pummelling drum machines, and dance-floor rhythms. Clayton’s voice bubbles under the track, only coming to the surface for the song’s title phrase. (3.5/5)

Bombay Bicycle Club – ‘I Want To Be Your Only Pet’: The reunion run for Bombay Bicycle Club continues. Sure, the British rockers were only on a “hiatus” for three years, but their post-Covid work still feels like a new era for the band. With fuzzy riffs and spacey electronics, ‘I Want To Be Your Only Pet’ keeps the hot streak going. (3.5/5)

Soft Play – ‘Punk’s Dead’: After a name change and a whole new perspective on their partnership, Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent are coming back swinging as Soft Play. For anyone who thought that the pair were desecrating the name of punk, ‘Punk’s Dead’ is there to show that it never mattered in the first place. With a pile-driving riff at its core, ‘Punk’s Dead’ is here to show Soft Play gives zero fucks. (4.5/5)

Blur – ‘Sticks and Stones’: The lineage of Blur songs with Graham Coxon as the lead vocalist is damn near impeccable. Granted, it’s a pretty short list: ‘Coffee and TV’ is the only full-length track, with parts of ‘Tender’, ‘Lonesome Street’, ‘Thought I Was a Spaceman’, and ‘Y’all Doomed’. ‘Sticks and Stones’ is just as good, if not better, than all of those songs. (4/5)

The Killers – ‘Your Side of Town’: The timeline of synthpop has been populated with some of the best artists of all time. But nobody is carrying the torch for the genre quite as brightly as The Killers are. ‘Your Side of Town’ is another great pop track from the masters of the form. Two decades gone since Hot Fuss has done nothing to dampen The Killers’ synth-heavy energy. (4/5)

The Chemical Brothers – ‘Skipping Like a Stone‘ (feat. Beck): Even when they’re keeping their heads down and just pumping out songs, The Chemical Brothers still bring something to the table that no one else in music has. This time, they’ve brought in Beck to help flesh out the itchy energy of ‘Skipping Like a Stone’. (3.5/5)

Black Pumas – ‘More Than a Love Song’: Genre-hopping duo Black Pumas brought their mix of rock, soul, and just about everything else to the masses with their 2019 self-titled debut LP. Now, they’re back with their follow-up album, Chronicles of a Diamond. The lead single ‘More Than a Love Song’ is right in the band’s wheelhouse, which means that it’s still some wonderfully psychedelic music. (3/5)