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This summer saw the release of an enormous amount of new music. From Charli XCX’s instantly iconic brat to Billie Eilish’s long-awaited HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, this summer’s biggest tracks were everywhere from the Top 40 to TikTok. However as all of us know, when our algorithms, feeds, and playlists are all personally curated we often hear the same songs repeated over, and over, and over again. With infinity at your fingertips, it can feel overwhelming to branch out and find something new, so at WVUM we are here to guide the way.
In this edition of PAST PRESENT FUTURE, I’ve selected some of my top picks of recent indie and alternative releases you may not have heard from this spring and summer, as well as a few projects to look out for in the upcoming months. Who knows, maybe your new favorite artist is just waiting for you one rabbit hole away.
PAST — SPRING 2024
BEGGIN’, WILLIE PEARL – SINGLE
Beggin’ is the first of a series of singles released by the Nashville outfit Willie Pearl leading up to their new album. Though we have all heard how often hearts don’t break even, Beggin’ is a refreshing take on a much loved theme. With rich production, moving three-part harmonies, and an artful blend of the band’s southern heritage and alt-rock inspirations, this track won’t need to beg its way onto your playlists and into your heart.
How We Found Them:
Through a deep dive of music by Jack Price! After exhausting Price’s discography, Spotify’s generated recommendations filtered new releases my way; Beggin’ was the first track that I found myself wanting to listen to again and again. And I did, until it was my top song for the month of May!
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @williepearlband
DO NOT RESUSCITATE, THE HAUNT – EP
Based right in WVUM’s backyard in South Florida, the Haunt have outdone themselves with their latest EP Do Not Resuscitate. The band, helmed by siblings Anastasia and Maxamillion Haunt, have already dug their boots in the industrial and pop rock scenes, touring with tenured rock acts like Palaye Royale, Missio, and the Struts. The six songs on the EP are heavy hitting and feature Anastasia’s show-stopping vocal range, and just as the Haunt circle through toxic relationships they can’t help but go back to, this EP is made to be left on repeat.
Standout Track: Damage
Walking to this song will instantly transform you into Anastasia Haunt strutting across the studio in her platform Demonias. An officially nicknamed “villain theme song,” Damage is the sonic embodiment of the Haunt aesthetic - moody and dramatic, just as much a subtle knife as a blunt object.
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @wearethehaunt
UNTIL I’M GONE, ESMERALDA ROAD – SINGLE
The newest release from the Northern Irish group Esmeralda Road hits the ground with a bang and doesn’t stop running. The self-professed indie fusion band incorporates their vast catalogue of musical influences into this track, highlighting their funk and jazz roots in the track’s groovy guitars and snappy percussion. While the lyrics plead “Don’t forget me until I’m gone,” this song will surely be stuck in your head long after the final beat.
How We Found Them:
An interview from Genuine Irish with the band Telebox mentioned Esmeralda Road as one of their favorite artists of the modern Irish music scene. I followed up and instantly fell in love with their music, even waking up one morning already humming the lyrics to their song Feel, a collab with Belfast-based rapper Leo Miyagee. This music is so good it was literally in my dreams <3
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @esmeraldaroad
PRESENT — SUMMER 2024
FOREVER, CHARLY BLISS – ALBUM
Charly Bliss has made an explosive reintroduction with their new album Forever. This album is a summer thunderstorm – ferocious, dramatic, all-encompassing music that will leave you soaked to the bone, complete with a rainbow shining overhead. Witty and bold, occasionally self-deprecating but always earnest, each of the 12 songs on Forever packs a punch. Charly Bliss may be back older and wiser, but they want you to know that growing up doesn’t equal running out of time.
Standout Track - Nineteen
Nineteen is the kind of song that demands to be belted in your car. The melodramatic piano introduction complements Hendricks’ reverberating lyrics, and with the production beneath developing in waves, the track ascends until it’s only logical to follow the bridge with an epic saxophone solo. And maybe an occasional beep from the car in your rearview reminding you that the stoplight changed to green again.
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @charlybliss
SUGAR WATER, MAUDE LATOUR – ALBUM
Latour’s first album has been a long time coming. Following a series of EPs written during her time at Columbia University, ML1 did not disappoint the fans who came to admire her vibrant production and coming-of-age imagery. Sugar Water is Latour’s love letter to growing up in New York City; the album is bright, fun, and sonically gorgeous, carrying the listener through her investigation into the circular nature of passion and grief, and continuing to embrace the world with open arms.
Standout Track - Infinite Roses
The essence of Sugar Water as a whole. Latour’s exploration of first loss and first love, growing up and learning how to live comes to a peak in Infinite Roses. My love for this song and Latour’s love for her friends can both be described the same way – pure adoration.
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @maudelstatus
ROMANTICISM, HANA VU – ALBUM
On the cover of Romanticism, Hana Vu pantomimes as Holofernes, neck bared to the blade above her. This album is truly Vu at her most vulnerable; pairing production as clear as her voice with almost unbearably open lyrics, Vu always says exactly what she means. In Romanticism, Vu is constantly running – away from her troubles and grief, towards the answers she craves and someone, anyone who cares. Despite the uncertainty of the world around her, Vu is never half hearted – every line carves just as deeply as Judith's sword.
Standout Track(s): Hammer, Care
The first two singles off of Romanticism were too good to pick just one. Care feels golden and introspective, with Vu wondering if everyone else dwells as deeply on the world as she does. Hammer, by contrast, pulls from the jewel tones of the album's cover, its undertones moody, rich, and desperate as Vu cries out for someone to listen, to answer a question even she can’t fully verbalize.
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @hanavuuu
FUTURE — FALL 2024
FLOOD, HIPPO CAMPUS – ALBUM
Hippo Campus’ fourth album is slated to release in mid-September, and I prepared by listening to their entire discography this summer. Hippo Campus decided to take a hiatus after their last album LP3, and taking a step back, transitioning to a new independent label, and going to group therapy allowed the childhood friends to rediscover who they were with and without each other. Judging by the four singles currently released, we can expect a mature, stripped back album, and a confident return for Hippo Campus.
Standout Track - Everything At Once
The definition of a brain worm, the opening riff in this track is absolutely gorgeous. The cascading guitar parts alone more than qualify this song for each one of the million streams it has accumulated so far.
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @thehalocline
ALL THIS AND SO MUCH MORE, TASHA – ALBUM
Even the busy schedule demanded of an actress in the Tony-nominated musical Illinoise has not stopped Tasha from expanding her creative horizons. While her previous album, 2021’s Tell Me What You Miss the Most, was an introspective rumination on the dissolution of relationships, All This and So Much More is looking decidedly forward. The album is Tasha’s path to exploring the whirlwind of changes that life has brought her way, and deciding who she wants to become through it.
Standout Track – Michigan
This track is the musical equivalent of a home movie, illustrating the details of a solo trip Tasha took in 2022. Michigan is cinematic and golden, capturing the feeling of afternoon light fading over the trees, of novel landscapes rolling outside the dashboard, and of realizing that future joy was still waiting for her, just beyond the back porch.
Where To Find Them:
Instagram: @wowtashawow
Thank you for reading this edition of PAST PRESENT FUTURE and supporting college radio!
If you are interested in further broadening your indie and alternative horizons, tune in to my radio show STARBURST! on WVUM 90.5 FM, airing this Fall on alternate Tuesdays from 5 to 6 PM. Any University of Miami students interested in getting involved with the blog (and maybe writing their own edition of PAST PRESENT FUTURE) or anyone passionate about up-and-coming artists to look out for can DM me on Instagram @starburst.905 or email us at blog@wvum.org.
Sending lots of love, keep it real and keep it locked to the voice <3