Featured image: Mexican Pets, Nobody’s Working Title – Blunt Records

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Pinning down a genre as sprawling as indie-rock is as futile as painting your living room with gravy instead of emulsion. However, we can at least set some boundaries. We can drill down through layers of subgenres and microgenres, but ultimately, a broad definition of indie-rock would be an unsatisfying ‘not too indie, not too rock’. 

So malleable are its walls that what qualifies as indie-rock is in the ear of the beholder. Do Oasis or The Smiths, PJ Harvey or Dinosaur Jr, Public Service Broadcasting or Pale Waves qualify? There are no hard rules. Each of the above occupy the centre ground of different Venn diagrams, all of which intersect with dear old indie-rock.

This non-exhaustive list will introduce you to 21 artists and songs that you’ve almost certainly never heard before. If you already know any of the tracks, then reward yourself with ten scene points. 

If not, then buckle up for a ride through a series of unheralded classics.

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21. Sibille Attar, ‘I Don’t Have To’ (2018)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 5,791

The noughties had ‘Crazy in Love’, the 20s has ‘As it Was’, and the 2010s didn’t realise that it had ‘I Don’t Have To’ right under its nose. Yes, it’s a bold statement, but it’s the truth. Attar’s piercing opening note sets the dramatic tone for what is effectively an update on the sound of ‘60s girl bands.

A ‘Knees Up Mother Brown’ piano clangs away throughout, while Sibille, whose voice graced Speedmarket Avenue‘s songs before going solo, gargles herself hoarse with a cocktail of clarity and defiance.

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20. The Robocop Kraus, ‘Poor Soul, Relax’ (2000)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 1,931

In a world where Scouting for Girls have not one, but two greatest hits albums, it’s galling that the Robocop Kraus still fly deep beneath the radar. Perhaps that’s fitting for a band who wrote a song about Mathias Rust, the German teenager who landed a plane on a bridge leading to Moscow’s Red Square in 1987.

The Robos could easily fill three flawless greatest misses albums, with the chaotic ‘Poor Soul, Relax’ taking pride of place. Until popping up on a rarities collection in 2022, the song was only available on an obscure German compilation, but such is its status among their select group of devotees that it’s still a regular encore at shows.

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19. The Most Serene Republic, ‘(Oh) God’ (2005)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 1,910

If Michaelangelo were to immortalise indie-rock in Carrara marble, it would be a visual representation of this song. The Most Serene Republic are perhaps the most well-known group on this list, but ‘Oh God’ is the absolute epitome of the genre, an indelible phenotype that anyone can point to and say with confidence, “Yes, this is exactly what indie-rock sounds like in its purest form.”

That the Canadians were the first band signed to Broken Social Scene’s Arts & Crafts label is no coincidence. They whirled their tunes inside a centrifuge, until they separated out into cousins of BSS’s ‘Almost Crimes’ and ‘7/4 Shoreline’.

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18. Lightfoils, ‘Sympathy Lies’ (2012)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 1,409

The bassline on ‘Sympathy Lies’ is ridiculous. The rest of the song is final-boss-standard shoegaze, but Cory Osborne’s dextrous four string dancing is the fuel that sends it into the stratosphere. He cocks a snook at traditional key changes and instead drops an octave – travel sickness in musical form – while everyone else carries on as normal. 

After a few years away, in which they rotated half the line-up, Lightfoils returned in 2024 with Osborne stepping up to the mic.

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17. Pisces, ‘Voodoo’ (2011)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 1,231

The solo project of Happy Hollows singer Sarah Negahdari, Pisces gives her the opportunity to explore the lesser-travelled parts of her oeuvre.

‘Voodoo’ is the perfect Halloween tune; slinky and creepy in equal measure, with Negahdari’s athletic vocals sounding exactly how you’d expect a tarantula to sing.

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16. Des Ark, ‘FTW, Y’all!!!’ (2011)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 1,222

A gentle intro lures you in before ‘FTW, Y’all!!!’ grows into a behemoth of a cautionary, autobiographical tale about an intense relationship between “a queer and a junkie with a thirst”. It’s juicy, it’s salacious, it’s romantic and it’s utterly disastrous.

Des Ark was Aimee Argote and a revolving cast of characters from her native North Caroline. Now retired from music, her Don’t Rock the Boat, Sink the Fucker album that ‘FTW, Y’all!!!’ comes from is absolutely essential.

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15. Dirty Ghosts, ‘Battle Slang’ (2012)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 653

Injecting some hip-swivelling pizzazz into proceedings, San Francisco’s Dirty Ghosts’ standout tune grooves along on a choppy Latin-influenced beat, while a stark riff stays the right side of nagging.

The trio, led by Allyson Baker, didn’t come this close to perfection again before the project petered out at the turn of the decade.

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14. Mercury Girls, ‘All That Heaven Allows’ (2016)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 649

A b-side. How on earth could this be a b-side? Philadelphia’s Mercury Girls didn’t quite come out of nowhere – their various members had played in Literature, Pet Milk and alongside Michelle Zauner (of Japanese Breakfast) in Little Big League – but this was a distillation of everything they’d done before.

‘All That Heaven Allows’ revels in a chorus for the ages and Sarah Schimeneck pushing her vocals to hitherto unknown limits. And that was that. The band split after one single (‘Ariana’ is the a-side) and a couple more tunes on a compilation.

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13. Fonda 500, ‘Music Should Always be Played by the Hands of Animals’ (2007)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 271

With stop-motion cut-outs of lovely beasties, this is by far the cutest video you’ll see all day. It also fits its song to perfection, as weird and wonderful voices repeat the title with their own idiosyncratic deliveries. Listen to the track first before watching the video and guess which critter the animator has paired the ‘vocals’ with.

This was the lead song on the Hull band’s sixth album, Je m’apelle Stereo. They called it a day in 2023 after almost two decades of oddities.

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12. A Lull, ‘Skinny Fingers’ (2009)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 191

“If someone sang this to me, I would marry them. No lie,” says the top comment on the YouTube video for ‘Skinny Fingers’, an early highlight from these Chicagoans. They lasted for one album and two EPs. All were outstanding.

It’s a song to fall in love to, which seems odd considering the percussion alternates between Monty Python’s coconut shell hooves and morris dancers clacking their sticks together. 

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11. Light Pollution, ‘Fever Dreams’ (2010)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 120

Every element of ‘Fever Dreams’ coalesces to create an anthem – albeit an anthem that nobody knows about. There’s the exploratory bassline, the intricate guitar, Matt Evert’s propulsive drums, and a chorus sent down on the wings of a heavenly dove. 

Their sole album, Apparitions, was alright. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet this song and opening track ‘Good Feelings’ are totemic offerings that hinted at a future greatness that never arrived. 

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10. Cloud Castle Lake, ‘Sync’ (2014)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 113

Named after a Nabokov story, this Dublin quartet’s first offering was so ambitious, so epic and so special that they never came close to replicating it. Occupying the artsier end of the indie-rock spectrum, ‘Sync’ constructs scaffolding around a quiet groove and Daniel McAuley’s otherworldly falsetto, before it all comes together in a cataclysm of brass and wails.

Their 2018 Malingerer debut album is worth a whirl, but ‘Sync’ remains Cloud Castle Lake’s defining statement.

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9. Mexican Pets, ‘Magnet Force’ (1994)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 74

Mexican Pets were the support band to the stars in the mid-90s. The Dublin quartet warmed crowds up for Nirvana, Pavement, Fugazi, Ash and their Blunt Records label bosses Therapy? at, or close to, their respective peaks. Warner Bros vice-president Seymour Stein commissioned two demos from the band, but despite having heavyweight friends, they never made the jump into the mainstream.

‘Magnet Force’ is the Pets at their turbulent, melodic best, fixed into position by the late Derrick Dalton’s heroic bassline and a sneaky Tony Hancock sample that they received retrospective planning permission for.

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8. Mr Bear, ‘Rubber Duckies’ (2009)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 61

Now, here’s a strange one. Mr Bear was Arkansas native, Jack Bishop, who moved to Chicago for college, recorded an album and vanished back into the ether.

‘Rubber Duckies’ is a sweet tale about a town being destroyed by a tornado and the subsequent bath toy fallout. That album, These Machines, features a dozen tall tales, including a yarn about cannibals feeling guilty after tucking into human flesh. 

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7. Daisy-Chain, ‘Wine’ (2020)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 46

95 seconds of jangly perfection. Surrounded by theme parks and swamps, Orlando isn’t the most obvious city for a C86-inspired band to emerge from, but it’s impossible to resist their knockabout lo-fi racket.

“One of these days I’ll cut my finger and wine will flow,” is an inspired line to hang a chorus on, and will have you humming until your lips vibrate off your face. Their subsequent Tragic Magic and Blue Dreams EPs are every bit as impeccable.

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6. Svankropp, ‘Lifecries’ (2016)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 31

The debut single from this pan-Scandinavian quartet turned out to be their zenith. It’s rife with hypnotic guitar overdubs, reverb by the gallon and you can practically feel the band revelling in their magnificence as the song reaches its scything, simple chorus two-thirds of the way through.

Their subsequent two genre-mashing albums provided diminishing returns, but they’ll always have this tune serving as their legacy.

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5. Ninja Tree House, ‘Wool Gathering’ (2016)
Monthly Spotify listeners: 3

Ninja Tree House was the project of New York-based songwriter/producer, Peter J Scoma.

The whole of his Phoenician Sheep Go to Sleep album has a dreamy, multi-layered quality, while ‘Wool Gathering’ has drums galloping to a crescendo as the song kicks into top gear two-thirds of the way through. A poster child for the well-worn path of critical acclaim and commercial disappointment.

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4. Realms, ‘Edge of a Dream’ (2016)
Monthly Spotify listeners: N/A

This Brighton duo recorded their sole three-track Thirsts EP on an iPhone propped up in the corner of their rehearsal room. Reverb ricochets, Kristian Bell’s drums tumble, and Alice Go’s vocals expand to fill every audio crevice, especially during its howled “I’ll let you down in the end” coda.

Splitting up soon after the EPs release, the live video below is almost the only evidence the band existed at all. 

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3. Rude Club, ‘The Return of the White Paws’
Monthly Spotify listeners: N/A

Manchester’s entry onto the list is from another ‘what if?’ band. A trio of singles released in 1997 suggested they were onto a winner, but despite Jane Parker’s distinctive rasp, Chris Bridgett’s innate melodious ear and the sheer atmosphere the band conjured up, they split before releasing an album.

‘The Return of the White Paws’ never had an official release, only being available on a Kerrang! covermount CD. Parker now makes a living as a jazz singer – a perfect fit for her voice – while Bridgett has just released his debut solo album, ‘Speedboat on Chapel Street’, named after a scrapyard landmark in his native Levenshulme.

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2. The Vermicious Knid, ‘These Werewolves’ (2005)
Monthly Spotify listeners: N/A

The four members of the Vermicious Knid came from Brantford, Ontario – an unsung town 55 miles from Toronto that you could only end up in by accident. This distance was just far enough from the big city for the group to foment their own scene. Centred on their own non-profit venue The Ford Plant, they enticed the Arcade Fire, Wintersleep, Born Ruffians and Tokyo Police Club among hundreds of others to come to the middle of nowhere.

‘These Werewolves’ could be three songs mushed together, each of them catchier than the last, before it reaches critical mass. Shaking off the handcuffs of their emo roots, the Vermicious Knid‘s Smalltown Devotion/Hometown Compulsion album is an ode to messy adventures in Brantford and is a bona fide classic.

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1. We’re Marching On, ‘1800s’ (2006)
Monthly Spotify listeners: N/A

Such is the rich musical heritage of their two cities, bands from Chicago or Toronto always have a head start in indie-rock circles. The latter can lean on Alvvays, Death from Above and the entire extended Broken Social Scene family tree for proof of its pre-eminence.

One Toronto band that didn’t last beyond their debut EP, however, was We’re Marching On. They made an appearance at the end of an NME covermount CD with ‘1800s’, a song with a hook of such magnitude that it could reel in a colossal squid. And then they vanished, potential unfulfilled.

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