Here’s Some Indie Musicians You Should Be Listening To Like, Right Now

Need some new jams for your Spotify playlist? Look no further. (NOTE: this is for the Editorial Fellowship.)

Discovering new music is easier than ever thanks to streaming services. No more driving to the record store, picking up CDs at Walmart, or begging your mom to justify spending $1.29 on that new single from the band your middle school friends convinced you you had to listen to. Spotify, Apple Music, and any number of other services make discovering independent musicians as easy as opening an app, and it can open up doors for hot new artists to be discovered by the public.

If you need a break from folklore and Fine Line, or are just looking for something new to spice up your playlists, here’s five artists that we think you should totally be listening to.

1.) EUCA

EUCA / Via instagram.com

She’s only just dropped her first single, but after going viral on TikTok and hitting fifty-thousand Spotify streams in under a month, EUCA is certainly one to watch. A twenty-three year old singer from the Gold Coast of Australia, the artist’s debut single “Not Champagne” is powerful and moving, conjuring an image of a proud, independent woman embracing what makes her beautiful in the face of heartbreak. It brings to mind the emotional turmoil of Lorde’s Melodrama or King Princess’s “1950”, and it’s perfect for a girl’s night, a jam session or anything in between.

You can stream “Not Champagne” wherever you get your music fix, and make sure to follow EUCA on TikTok and Instagram to keep an eye for more new releases.

Listen if you like: Taylor Swift, Lorde

2.) Lola Kirke

Arguably the biggest musician on this list, Lola Kirke comes from a family of artists - her father is Bad Company drummer Simon Kirke - and started her career as an actress in television and film. (A profession she is still very much invested in - her latest single, a cover of the parlor song “Beautiful Dreamer”, is featured in the Netflix film Lost Girls, which she also stars in.) A vocal feminist and activist, Kirke’s music explores themes of family, loss, love, and self-identify, and she’s quickly making a space for herself alongside other female folk artists like Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Joan Baez.

She’s opened for artists like Alex Cameron, as well as touring her work on her own, and she’s a perfect choice for when you need a good moment of soul-searching. Her music videos are a bizarre exploration of the self (in the best kind of way), and her latest EP, Friends and Foes and Friends Again, gathers together a variety of artists from across genres to create songs that double both as in-your-feels bedroom songs and great party tracks.

Listen if you like: The Lumineers, Vance Joy

3.) Kid Jupiter

Kid Jupiter

This five-piece, UK-based indie band describes themselves as “a vivid London indie band wrapped up in luscious harmonies and intoxicating grooves, writing the songs they need to write and the messages you need to hear to get through each day”. Their songs cover every kind of mood, from anxiety to courage to plain old rock’n’roll defiance, and their infectious musical energy makes a perfect addition to any summer jams playlist. (Bonus fun fact: their guitarist Luke Deacon is the son of Queen bassist John Deacon!)

They just premiered their latest single, “Superglue”, and it’s chock full of the funky, feel-good summer vibes everybody’s been dying for. It reminds us in these times that strength comes in numbers, and that sometimes, you just need to cut loose and dance.

Listen if you like: Harry Styles, Dua Lipa

4.) KIN

Another band out of England, KIN is the kind of group you put on when you want to roll down the windows in your car and cruise, thinking about nothing but the music and the road and the joy of the ride. The trio - formed by Adam Collier, Grace Strickland de Souza, and Umbrella Academy breakout star Ritu Arya - produced their latest video without a budget and without a label, and without even being all in the same place, and yet its creativity brings about the nostalgia of summer, and making the best out of the life that’s given to you. (According to Refinery29, the band’s dance moves were choreographed by none other than Arya’s Umbrella Academy co-star, David Castañeda. And what adorable dance moves they are.)

They’ve only got two singles out, but they both smack of perfect “coming of age movie soundtrack” material, and both romantic, high energy jams speak of a promising, hit-filled future for the band.

Listen if you like: Charli XCX, HAIM

5.) Honey Butter

Big-band style groups are rare these days, when any one person can get together and compose an entire track, backing instruments and all, on their own with software like GarageBand. Honey Butter, however, is here to challenge that. As a six-piece band based out of Chicago, they’re soul for the Internet age, producing hip, funky beats by way of artists like Nile Rodgers and Stevie Wonder. Alexa Moster provides powerhouse vocals, and the band arranges all of their tunes themselves, giving each new tune the feel of improv jazz or of a spontaneous jam session in a friend’s basement - only with lush trumpets and snazzy keyboard intros.

Despite their limited social media presence, their latest single, “Just Begun”, is the optimistic, big band jam everyone could use right now, and there’s certain to be more on the way.

Listen if you like: Sam Smith, Alessia Cara