Our seven favourite indie albums released in October 2024 - featuring The Smile, Courteeners, Amyl & the Sniffers and more.
Welcome to the latest edition of our monthly indie review blog. In this edition, we review the best new indie music released from the month that’s just been.
October itself was an absolute bumper month for new music giving us plenty to mull over! With contributions from Matthew McLister and Neil Renton, here's a review of the best albums from October 2024.
Albums
Japandroids – Fate & Alcohol
Canadian punk duo Japandroids released their fourth and, sadly, last album in October to bow out the alternative rock scene. Not that this is the sound of a band on the wane: Fate & Alcohol is another pulsating effort of energetic power punk chords with heartland rock sensibilities.
Over their previous three records, in a career spanning 15 years, drummer David Prowse and guitarist Brian King have mastered the knack for feel-good, arm-in-arm rock anthems with explosiveness and heart in equal measure. The Vancouver band’s latest succeeds in maintaining this charm one final time.
Preview singles ‘D&T’ and ‘Chicago’ expressed a familiar sense of euphoria and desire to life to the fullest, King’s fuzzy guitars on ‘Alice’ build against Prowse’s frenetic drumming to achieve a proper hair-raising anthem, while a twinge of country on ‘Positively 34th Street’ adds a new found dynamism not heard elsewhere in their discography.
What a way to depart the music world. Japandroids, we’re missing you already… (Words by Matthew McLister)
Courteeners - Pink Cactus Cafe
I’ve always had a lot of love for Liam Fray and the gang. When all is said and done there’s not many live bands who can reach the heights they perform at. Be it in tiny warm up shows of the massive headline gigs that follow them. The band feed off their frenzied followers and vice versa.
It’ll be interesting how the fans take to the new album. It jogs at a gentler pace than its predecessors. Theres times it owns a debt to fellow northerners Elbow, in particular ‘Sweet Surrender’ and ‘Weekend Shy Of A Feeling.’ There’s mellow theme continues throughout the album. To be honest they’ve always had a tender side but rarely has it been exposed as it is now.
‘The Beginning Of The End’ sees them team up with DMA’S and lament a break-up while ‘Solitude Of The Night Bus’ whizzes along like the N16. We’re left with the sense that this is a new direction for the band. One in which they could do with that ONE MASSIVE TUNE they’re famous for. (Words by Neil Renton)
Amyl and the Sniffers - Cartoon Darkness
Emerging from the late-2010’s Melbourne’s punk scene, Amyl and the Sniffers were never going to be a band to reinvent the wheel. But what they lacked in originality was more than made up for in energy and charisma. The fourpiece’s first two albums – 2019’s self-titled debut and 2021’s follow-up Comfort To Me – laid bare a three-chord flashback to ‘70s pub rock. Despite the limitations, the music was exciting and in your face: hyper Aussie redneck vibes furthered by Amy Taylor’s classic yet unique rock ‘n’ roll frontwoman persona.
They’ve carried this unpretentious punk appeal into third album Cartoon Darkness. A record that allows for sonic evolution, melodic progression and self-reflection without compromising the band’s customary raucousness. Produced at Foo Fighters 606 Studio in Los Angeles with famed English producer Nick Launay (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Talking Heads), a subtle dash of polish compliments their gritty aesthetic.
Of course, a large part of Cartoon Darkness deals with the paranoia and insecurity that has followed Amyl and the Sniffers growing fame and fortune. The band themselves are still aware of their musical limitations yet progress comes through lyrical depth and a widening of sonic influences. So, without losing their distinct punk identity, Cartoon Darkness is the Melbourne outfit’s most rounded and accessible record yet. (Words by Matthew McLister)
Confidence Man - 3AM (LA LA LA)
Confidence Man have recently graduated from a guilty pleasure to key players in the UK dance scene. In 2022, the Australian electro-pop outfit’s stock rose considerably thanks to their second album TILT and after following it up with a viral Glastonbury performance and a 2023 summer hit in ‘Now U Do (with DJ Seinfeld)’ their appeal has only grown.
3AM (LA LA LA) is more extravagant still, offering a pulsating, purposeful mix of trance, acid house and ‘90s throwback sounds that soundtrack the band’s move to London and subsequent nightlife shenanigans.
Confidence Man would treat the writing process for 3AM (LA LA LA) as a party in itself, finding peak productiveness around the hour stated in the album’s title. In fairness, they sound like they had a good time making it. That feeling definitely rubs off on the listener. (Words by Matthew McLister)
Coldplay - Moon Music
Does anyone really need to have an opinion on Coldplay? Does it really matter? When Moon Music came out it outsold everything else in the Top 40 so does anyone care what anyone thinks of them. Here’s what I think.
I don’t think they deserve a lot of the hate they get to be honest. They do what they do very well. Big ballads and anthems that transcend all languages and races. ‘WE PRAY’ has the likes of Little Simz and Burna Boy keep Chris Martin on check from becoming too much of an embarrassing uncle on the family karaoke sessions. ‘iAAM’ not just tricky to type but is full of so much sugary content it should come with a warning for diabetics and dentists alike.
But then they hit you with ‘ALL MY LOVE’ one of the finest love ballads in ages and you’re cursing them. They’ve got you hooked line and sinker. Everything falls into place and makes sense. By the time you’ve read this they’ve probably sold another billion copies of the album. And you can see why. (Words by Neil Renton)
Orla Gartland - Everybody Needs A Hero
You know the hype is incoming with the heads up that Twickets are going to be the official reseller of tickets for an artist that many people haven’t have heard of.
With Orla Gartland, that’s about to change. Her second album is a thing of beauty, hitting us with razor sharp lyrics and air tight production. St Vincent will be the last comparison that many make but there’s so much more to her than being a tribute act.
The twelve-song collection plays tag with just about every genre it can reach. ‘The Hit’ strips things back with lo fi indie. ‘Backseat Driver’ finds itself sleazing on the disco dancefloor while ‘Three Worlds Away’ gets funky and rocks at the same time.
It’s been a brilliant few years for female artists. They’re now getting the credit they deserve and the spotlight they should be shining in. And this is one of the finest examples around.
If you were lucky enough to grab a brief for her tour next year it could be very special. We’re witnessing the introduction of a new hero. (Words by Neil Renton)
The Smile - Cutouts
After facing a wave of critical acclaim for second album Wall Of Eyes in January, you might have forgiven Thom Yorke, Johnny Greenwood and Tom Skinner for bookmarking the Smile side project and sailing off into the sunset for a few years. Perhaps Yorke and Greenwood could’ve accelerated the demands of the long-suffering Radiohead fanbase and got the old band back together (it’s been over eight years since the Oxfordshire band’s last album, after all). Instead, they’ve struck while the iron is hot again with Cutouts for the outfit’s third record in only two years, one which further justifies the band’s continued existence.
Their third record arrived effortlessly from the same sessions as Wall of Eyes and, dare we say, it’s their most enjoyable album to date. Cutouts forces an easier connection with the listener – meticulously crafted songs, possessing a heap more groove and warmth without sacrificing their knack for tense atmospherics.
Cutouts is a record matching ambition with immediacy, beauty and positivity. So, with music this intriguing, maybe the Radiohead reunion calls can wait just a little longer, or at least until we get album number four from The Smile. (Words by Matthew McLister)
For the best tunes of each month, listen to our Best indie songs of the month 2024 playlist below.
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