Fuzz Rock Dominance

Breaking news, indie rock is not dead!

By Bash Cruz

For the past 5 or so years, it has felt like the indie genre has been spinning its wheels. This is perplexing when just 10 years ago, indie rock was an increasingly growing musical style. Bands like Neon Trees, fun., and Foster the People proved the fusion of indie rock DIYism and pop structures was a viable combination—a popular viable combination. 

But what of the indie rock left behind? What of rock musicians making waves in their own, independent styles? What’s fascinating about the current makeup of the genre is the ways artists in the scene share each other’s styles. I crudely label them “fuzz rock”, a sound palette that encompasses shoegaze-y psychedelia and indie rock lethargy, typically expressed by way of whispered, ethereal vocals and unconstrained songwriting structures. It’s a very broad description, and each band/artist pulls different ideas out of their experiments across the genre. 

This is a very brief examination of these bands’ signature sounds, as well as how they manifest in their latest works, which are all from this year. Honorable mentions include They Are Gutting a Body of Water and Ovlov, neither of which released projects in 2023, but still encompass this stylistic crop. 

Hotline TNT - Cartwheel 

I wanted to begin with a more recent release, as I think that Hotline TNT is the perfect encapsulation of this developing sound. With prior projects already critically adored, Cartwheel is a further continuation of indie rock as a vehicle to explore pop-centric songwriting. Will Anderson, Hotline TNT’s mastermind, is not doing anything particularly standout from his contemporaries. But in doing so many things well, he has crafted a perfectly succinct starter kit for anyone interested in the modern sound. His vocals are a lovesick whine. Behind the guitar squall is a knack for dynamic, anthemic riffs that wouldn’t be out of place in a mid-2000s emo compilation. 

Wednesday - Rat Saw God

I feel a little biased towards this one, since I’ve reviewed it at length in campus publication The Grape, but god damn it if this album doesn’t deserve another spin. Rat Saw God, and Wednesday as a whole, is a product of a classic stylistic fusion of indie rock and country rock. Wednesday’s latest has the atmosphere of a perpetually muggy night in the North Carolinan backroads. The lyrical content should not be overlooked, since much of the focus details the people that flit through Karly Hartzman’s life, the places she goes or merely observes. The album is as much a window to an actual living landscape as it is a window to an emotionally (and musically) turbulent landscape too. 

Jane Remover - Census Designated

Census Designated’s mix of styles represents a logical endpoint to what has made Jane Remover so unique. She borrows many of the glitchy aesthetics employed on her previous full-length Frailty, and gives them a grungier rock body. This album is just constantly loping with downtrodden guitars and a buzzing ambiance, but many songs follow a very linear, constantly-building pathway. Songs like “Holding A Leech”, “Lips” and the title track eventually crumble into a digital storm. These finishes are appropriately violent when listened to alongside the lyrics—images of blood, teeth, chewing, and other assorted visceral sensations. A red-hearted digital landscape that, when you squint, feels painfully, and I do mean painfully, real.

Parannoul - After the Magic

After the Magic may be the oddest album in this collection, and that’s simply because of its clarity. All 10 songs have their elements fill the space, especially the vocals. On past Parannoul projects, vocals were typically enveloped in the walls of guitar. On After the Magic, the anonymous vocalist instead treats his singing like just another layer in the music’s mix; another sonic tool to manipulate or focus on. Although the album is classified as shoegaze, its additional elements span chamber pop, breakbeat, and crystalline dream pop. But at its core, you know what this album is? Alt-rock. Radio-friendly alt-rock with enough effect-drenched sonics to blast the music into outer space. A far cry from the emo influences present on Parannoul’s previous works, After the Magic is, above all else, confident

feeble little horse - Girl with Fish 

This album is such a rush, man. feeble little horse are wholly dedicated to cutting to the chase. Every release of theirs, including this one, doesn’t even tilt over 30 minutes. Thus, every song continues the pathos of brevity. Inside these songs, though, are the runoff of songs. The campechanos, to the taco connoisseurs. All the little bits of songs deliciously pasted and attached together. Oftentimes, songs will jump from low to high volumes very suddenly, or vice versa. In the case of the late-album highlight “Pocket”, you get a delay-heavy first half, a disjointed breakdown, 30 seconds of noise-caked screams and then you’re right back where you started by the very end. This album really does spin your senses, but to guide you along your way is Lydia Slocum, bassist and vocal chameleon. 

forest spirit, sun on your back - forest spirit, sun on your back

I honestly don’t remember how I even came across this one. Doesn’t really matter though because this album completely rips. This is easily the most emo-adjacent album in this little collection, and it’s kind of surprising, considering how many acts (Parannoul, Jane Remover, Hotline TNT) pledged themselves towards the genre’s stylings. In particular, many of them retained the somewhat whiny, heart-on-their-sleeve vocals so emblematic of the genre itself. forest spirit, sun on your back is like noise-emo ear candy. Sometimes, the vocals just give out entirely and open space for the guitars to fizz out in all directions. At 45 minutes, it’s an intense trek, but one worth traveling once.