Indie pop
Royal & the Serpent Shares Origins of New Video “Death of Me”: Exclusive
Royal & the Serpent has returned with the music video for “Death of Me,” the second chapter of a five-part series, premiering exclusively via Consequence today (September 30th). The latest installment from the Los Angeles artist (born Ryan Santiago) is a somber electropop train of thought, and the accompanying visual sees the singer-songwriter thrown into her own version of A Clockwork Orange. Santiago has been releasing a track and video each week as a part of a project dubbed happiness is an inside job, an effort that will allow listeners to join her in pursuit of happiness. “Death of Me” marks the followup to last week’s chapter, “IM FINE.” “It’s kind of like a journey through my thoughts on figuring out how the fuck to be happy (which you would think would be simpler, but they real...
My15: Adam Melchor Shares the Playlist of Songs He’s Had on Repeat Since 2007
It’s Consequence‘s 15th anniversary, and all September long we’ll be sharing artist-curated playlists that reflect the evolution of their music taste throughout the last 15 years. For today’s My15 playlist, Adam Melchor shares his selections. What do Father John Misty and Rosalía have in common? In addition to being two talented and beloved entertainers, they also both appear on this reflective playlist from indie-pop singer-songwriter Adam Melchor. Over the last fifteen years, to say there’s been an array of music worth digging into feels like a severe understatement. What Melchor’s list reflects is an affinity for introspection, with artists like Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens, and Phoebe Bridgers all making appearances on the playlist. For someone with a sound that often skews into tender, re...
Jamie xx Drops Caribbean-Inspired Banger “KILL DEM”: Stream
Jamie xx has returned with the disco-infused “KILL DEM,” his second new song of the year. Take a listen to the track below. Backed by a shuffling, dance floor-ready beat, “KILL DEM” was inspired by the Notting Hill Carnival, a long-running annual Caribbean festival that Jamie began attending as a teenager growing up in London. The event is known for its vibrant parade, booming sound systems, and lively parties, all of which you can sense in the energy of the track. “I started making [“KILL DEM”] at a time when we weren’t sure when we were going to be able to do stuff,” Jamie said in a press release. “I was looking forward to the day when I could get back to what I love. It was one of those ones that happens quite instantly and that’s kind of rare for me these days. It happened within almos...
Arlo Parks Cancels US Tour Dates Due to “Debilitating” Mental Health
Arlo Parks has canceled a series of US tour dates in order to return home to London and focus on her “debilitating” mental health. “I’ve been on the road on and off for the last 18 months, filling every spare second in between and working myself to the bone,” Parks wrote in a statement. “It was exciting and I was eager to grind and show everyone what I was capable of, how grateful I was to be where I am today. The people around me started to get worried but I was anxious to deliver and afraid to disappoint my fans and myself.” Parks continued: “I pushed myself unhealthily, further and harder than I should’ve. I find myself now in a very dark place, exhausted and dangerously low — it’s painful to admit that my mental health has deteriorated to a debilitating place, that I’m not okay, that I...
Cate Le Bon Shares Slinky New Song “Typical Love”: Stream
Cate Le Bon has released her standalone single “Typical Love,” a leftover from the sessions for her 2022 album, Pompeii. It arrives ahead of her headlining North American tour, which kicks off on September 27th (grab tickets here). Built atop a grooving bassline and the drumming of Stella Mozgawa, “Typical Love” is anything but typical. It comes with flourishes of electric guitar and synths alongside a distorted sax that adds to the disconcerting feel of the song’s production. Le Bon’s vocals cascade up and down the track, as she compares her love to “a shattering of glass and how I imagine Japan” and “an invite to the art of demolition.” “‘Typical Love’ was a product of a rare jam session with dearest genius friend, Stella Mozgawa,” Le Bon explained in a statement. “The outline, written o...
Song of the Week: Phoenix and Ezra Koenig Hearken Back to the Golden Age of Indie-Pop with “Tonight”
Song of the Week breaks down and talks about the song we just can’t get out of our head each week. Find these songs and more on our Spotify Top Songs playlist. For our favorite new songs from emerging artists, check out our Spotify New Sounds playlist. This week, Phoenix and Ezra Koenig unleash a delightful collab. Phoenix hearken back to the golden age of indie pop — an era they helped define in 2009 with their groundbreaking fourth album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix — on their new song, “Tonight,” the second single from their upcoming album Alpha Zulu (out November 4th). “Tonight” not only features fellow indie icon Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, but some signature Phoenix moves; the rousing hi-hat and tom drum line from “Lasso” returns, the escalating synths of “1901” ...
Adam Melchor Shares the Origins of New Single “I’m Ready”: Exclusive
Origins is our recurring feature series that provides artists a platform to dive into everything that inspired their latest release. Today, Adam Melchor takes us through “I’m Ready.” Adam Melchor has returned with “I’m Ready,” the latest single from his upcoming debut album Here Goes Nothing!, on Friday, September 9th. The dreamy indie-folk tune doubles down on Melchor’s knack for warm harmonies and frames him as wholeheartedly in love. As soon as the inviting, ocean-like ambiance introduces the tune, the tone of the song is immediately obvious. Before Melchor even utters the first line, you know it’s a love song. The instrumentation, with its finger-picked acoustic guitar and chime embellishments, simply feels like love incarnate. So, it comes as no surprise when Melchor proceed...
Natural Brown Prom Queen Is Sudan Archives’ Brilliant Homecoming
Brittney Parks might be the only artist who can use the phrases “step inside my cottage” and “only bad bitches” in the same verse. The multi-hyphenate alt-R&B musician — better known as Sudan Archives, our September Artist of the Month — uses both of them effortlessly in “Home Maker,” the opening track to her multifarious new album Natural Brown Prom Queen. At once, she paints herself as both the modern hot girl and a timeless Aphrodite. “Home Maker” is a fitting mission statement to Natural Brown Prom Queen, a record that luxuriates in introversion, creature comforts, and the freedom allotted by the places you feel most safe. “Don’t you feel at home when you’re with me?” she repeats in the bridge. There’s a bit of a come-hither wink to it, but also an edge. Rather than playing into th...
Cheekface Surprise Release New Album Too Much to Ask: Stream
Los Angeles rock trio Cheekface have surprise released a new album called Too Much to Ask. Check it out below. Singer-guitarist Greg Katz, bassist Amanda Tannen, and drummer Mark “Echo” Edwards wanted to capture the contradictions in being human. “I think the last year or so has drawn a big circle around a lot of things we all already knew, but maybe didn’t know we knew,” Katz said in a statement. “The shock of isolation and the shock of togetherness, the call to activism and the pull of resignation, wanting the best for your friends but expecting the worst of yourself. The sneaking feeling that your life is mostly funny but a little sad a lot of the time – except for the times when it’s mostly sad but still kinda funny.” Too Much to Ask spans 11 tracks and features the previously rel...
Frankie Cosmos Announce New Album Inner World Peace, Share “One Year Stand”: Stream
Frankie Cosmos have graced us with news of their new album, Inner World Peace, arriving on October 21st via Sub Pop Records. The announcement comes along with the set’s first single, “One Year Stand.” The album’s development followed a “pandemic hiatus” that lasted nearly 500 days for the quartet. In the interim, bandleader Greta Kline wrote 100 songs, which upon reuniting, the group retooled and infused with their own influences that ranged from “70s folk and pop” to “ambient” and “psych.” Inner World Peace was co-produced by Frankie Cosmos with Nate Mendelsohn and Katie Von Schleicher, who also handled mixing. Check out the tracklist and album artwork, featuring illustrations from the band’s keyboardist Lauren Martin, below. “To me, the album is about perception,” Kline shared in a ...
Lollapalooza 2022 Day Two Recap and Photos: Dua Lipa, Wet Leg, MUNA & More
Lollapalooza 2022 day two went down on Friday, July 29th, and we’ve got the photos to prove it. The Chicago festival brought a ton of top tier talent to Grant Park, from headliner Dua Lipa to rising stars like Genesis Owusu and The Regrettes. The day also brought strong sets from indie pop favorites like King Princess and MUNA, hip-hop both classic (Don Toliver) and alternative (Genesis Owusu), and even former Artists of the Month like Wet Leg. Advertisement It was another glorious day fill with live music, and you can check out our complete photo gallery from Lollapalooza day two below. Revisit our day one recap, and stay tuned for our full coverage of the remainder of the festival. <img data-lazy-fallback="1" data-attachment-id="1229690" data-orig-file="https:...
Purity Ring Release shrines X for 10th Anniversary: Stream
Purity Ring are celebrating 10 years of their debut album with a new reissue dubbed, shrines X. In addition to the full 2012 LP, the expanded edition features three previously unreleased tracks. shrines X adds on new songs “iovein” and “firmament,” as well as a demo version of album opener “crawlersout” called “crawlersout (prototype).” Of the three additions, “iovein” is a particularly transfixing standout, as Megan James sings, “Build your little fort out in the garden/ Kill your little men and bake their bones/ Build our little guns out of their counterparts/ Peel their skin for paper on the walls,” over bandmate Corin Roddick’s glitchy electronic production. Advertisement Related Video Earlier this month, the Edmonton, Alberta natives sat down with Consequence to look back on their deb...
