• “Friend Crush” - Friends

    Fast Facts:  -Friends blew up after being named a Stereogum “Band To Watch”
    -Lead singer, Samantha Urbani, was a model for an XBOX 360 advertisement
    -I recently saw them in Brooklyn and most of the crowd seemed to already know this song by heart
    -Friends may or may not have been named after a little known show from the 90s starring Matt LeBlanc

  • “Lofticries” - Purity Ring

    Fast Facts:  -“Lofticries” was originally released as a B-side but seems to be getting much more attention than their official singles
    -The unofficial video above features footage from a 1974 Swedish film entitled Thriller: A Cruel Picture which was somewhat of an inspiration for Uma Thurman’s character in Kill Bill
    -The Jonas Brothers are really into Purity Ring, probably

  • “Lose It” - Austra

    Fast Facts:  -“Austra” is Katie Stelmanis’ middle name
    -They’re from Toronto
    -“Austra” is the beginning of the word “Australia” which is a continent

  • “An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum” - Shabazz Palaces

    Fast Facts:  -First hip-hop act signed to Sub-Pop
    -GorillaVsBear named Shabaz’s album the best of 2011 so far
    -Shabazz Palaces is a name you wish you thought of

  • “Real Is A Feeling” - Pictureplane

    Fast Facts:  -Pictureplane aka Travis Egedy founded the musical genre known as “witch house” which I can best describe as…”it’s like you’re trapped in a witch’s house and you know you’re going to die so you dance anyway”
    -Travis is from Denver, Colorado
    -The king of witch house lives in a “witch castle” which is just a nicer version of a witch house

  • “Ice Cream” - Battles

    Fast Facts: -Everyone loves ice cream, especially in the summer and therefore this song is a great song to play in the summer and that is just science
    -Battles got their name from a term approximately meaning “small fights in a larger war”

  • “Harsh Realm” - Widowspeak

    Fast Facts: -The lead guitarist has a mustache. He is on the right. I guess the drummer has one too.
    -Widowspeak always thinks about you

  • “New Bridgade” - Iceage

    Fast Facts: -Apparently they saved punk
    -They’re from Copenhagen
    -The NYTimes and the New Yorker have written about them

  • “Dream Analysis” - Jesse Ruins

    Fast Facts: -Japanese
    -Could be a boy or a girl, nobody is really sure
    -Jesse Ruins could have gotten his/her/their name from the lead singer’s name

  • “How Can You Love Me” - Unknown Mortal Orchestra

    Fast Facts: -Unknown Mortal Orchestra is actually a somewhat known band from Portland
    -They have a song called “Ffunny Ffriends” which misspells both the words “funny” and “friends”

  • “I Don’t Believe In Love” - We Are Trees

    Fast Facts: -They’re from Virginia Beach
    -The band is actually not made up of trees despite the name

  • Notes

    -I purposefully left out Cults, Washed Out, and Foster The People despite them being on many similar “indie song of the summer” lists because I felt as if they’re all too popular to count as “alt” -Really feel free to add your own choices in the comments as this is in no way definitive of anything but my own opinions