Indie Basement: Best Songs & Albums of July 2026 (reviews, playlist)

Indie Basement is a weekly column on BrooklynVegan focusing on classic indie and alternative artists, “college rock,” and new and current acts who follow a similar path. There are reviews of new albums, reissues, box sets, books and sometimes movies and television shows. I’ve rounded up June’s best music, highlighting my favorite songs and albums, plus links to relevant features and news, a monthly playlist, and more.

How was your July? Between the World Cup, The Odyssey and all the great new music, that all, for the most part, made up for the insane heatwave that started the month along with other less welcome developments. It really was a great month for new music and I review a bunch of my favorite songs released in July, which were made by a few Indie Basement All-Stars and some rookies, below.

Over in the albums department I couldn’t bring myself to just pick five, so I whittled it down to seven, but could have also included new ones by The Durutti Column, Helado Tropical, Twisted Teens, Luke Haines, and SML, and if the Nirosta Steel had actually come out on Friday, July 3 instead of Tuesday, June 30 it would’ve been here too.

As always, I have made a best of the month playlist including all the songs I reviewed, a song from all my album picks (except for one which is not on streaming services), plus 30 other great songs from July. You can listen on Apple Music, TIDAL, and Spotify, and those are below.

On the BV Interviews podcast in July I talked to L’Rain, Tricky, Swervedriver, and Panda Bear & Sonic Boom.

Head below for the Indie Basement Best Songs & Albums of July reviews and we’ll see you in August.

INDIE BASEMENT: BEST SONGS OF JULY 2026

Protomartyr – “Sounds We Cannot Hear”

It’s been three years since Protomartyr’s Formal Growth in the Desert, but it feels longer because, boy, we sure could’ve used them over the last two years of nonstop madness. They’ve been busy reshaping their sound with producer David Fridmann, as you can hear on this first single from their upcoming album Hotel Usona. On “Sounds We Cannot Hear,” Protomartyr’s sound is augmented with horns, tubular bells, xylophone, and more, with Joe Casey setting an immediate dark lyrical tone: “Another 81 dead since dawn / Spiders crawling ‘cross the ceiling.” It’s big, it’s new for the group, but still 100% Protomartyr.

Cornelius – “Twisting & Glistening”

It’s been a long time since Cornelius made something this upbeat and fun, and it’s great to hear him exploring his playful side again. The ping-ponging guitar work recalls Drop, and the way it’s layered with the bouncing synth lines is extremely satisfying. “It’s a track where I revisited sounds I loved as a teenager, but from where I am now,” Cornelius’ Keigo Oyamada says. “I hadn’t really tried this kind of approach before, and once I started working with it, it felt unexpectedly fresh.” Agreed, “Twisting & Glistening” is a banger and his best single in 25 years.

The Avalanches ft Karen O – “Blue Shadows”

Aussie plunderphonic duo The Avalanches are always at their best working with a laid-back groove. Case in point: this new single, based around a sample of Italo disco artist Blue Gas’ early-’80s single “Shadows from Nowhere.” It’s a beguiling track, and Karen O’s vocals perfectly match the haunting vibe. She’s best known for pushing her voice to extremes, but this understated approach is just as arresting. One complaint: at 2:30, “Blue Shadows” ends right when you’re really getting into it.

Boy Harsher – “Hard Beat”

The first single from Boy Harsher’s upcoming Get Mean, “Blue Jeans,” found the duo working on the sunnier side of the 1980s, but “Hard Beat” is in darker, more familiar territory. Singer Jae Matthews barely gets above a whisper, but that doesn’t mean lines like “Broken glass makes my heart full” aren’t packed with sultry intent. It’s all set against a sleek, sexy minimal wave backing, making for a killer, quintessential Boy Harsher jam that, as usual, comes with a great video.

Blonde Redhead – “Blood Spilled”

The long-running Blonde Redhead have perfected a musical style I call concentrated melancholy, one that favors minor chords and baroque touches in a rock setting. “Blood Spilled” is a particularly beautiful example of their magic, and sealing the deal, as always, is singer Kazu Makino, who delivers a devastating vocal performance, much of it just “OHHHs,” as Simone and Amedeo Pace wrap that sadness in a gorgeous tapestry of sound.

Penelope Isles – “I Loved You, Robert Pattinson”

If Robert Pattinson wasn’t getting enough publicity this year for starring in The Odyssey, The Invite, and three other movies still to be released, here’s a charming song by Penelope Isles that is kinda sorta about him. “Oh I can see you knew it all, when I had your posters on my wall,” Lily Wolter sings in the chorus against a “Crimson and Clover”-style power chord progression.

The Klittens – “Taxi”

If you have a soft spot for moody, lo-fi indie rock — Galaxie 500, Electrelane, Kirsten Ketsjer — I bet you’ll like Dutch quartet The Klittens, who I learned about when member Yaël Dekker teamed up with Lewsberg’s Arie van Vliet to form The Hobknobs. “Taxi,” from their upcoming album Have a Heart, is the kind of song where melodic bass is front and center, and delicate guitar lines dance around it. Before everything goes all fuzzy, that is.

Arab Strap – “Glamour Magick”

“Glamour Magick is about the pressure to look youthful, and how far we might go to hide our natural selves,” says Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat about this latest preview from the band’s upcoming album Half Told Tales. “It started with a few things I use regularly in middle age — caffeine shampoo, whitening toothpaste, eye cream, etc. — and then I wondered how much further I’d be willing to go.” He takes things to extremes, the kind you might see in a body horror movie like The Substance, which is also where the video goes.

Getdown Services – “Cha Cha Slide”

“I don’t know what good is, but I’m not looking for it.” Getdown Services’ Ben Sadler calls “Cha Cha Slide” the saddest song he’s ever written. A detailed litany of social anxiety, the song is nonetheless a party jam; maybe not a “banger,” but an irresistible bit of low-key, low-self-esteem funk that is, like most of their songs, endlessly quotable.

INDIE BASEMENT BEST ALBUMS OF JULY 2026

Panda Bear & Sonic Boom – A ? of When (Domino)

“I think it’s really important to try to stay positive and steer things in a good way rather than just sort of being despondent,” Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, told us about the title track of his second collaborative album with Sonic Boom (Pete Kember). “I get it, it’s real bad, but I think trying to focus on the things that are common is important. And the song certainly, I feel like, carries that spirit pretty heavily in a way that I like.” It certainly does. Like most of the album, “A ? of When” puts the realities of the world in the spotlight — “It’s not a question of ‘if,’ it’s a question of when” — hoping to inspire action, even if things seem insurmountable. “Keep trying!” Noah sings in the refrain in a near-yodel that approaches Slim Whitman territory. It’s a joyous banger that really splits the difference between Panda Bear’s Brian Wilson-isms and Sonic Boom’s droning keyboards and psychedelic dub studio experimentation. The whole album shares that same spirit and is a welcome follow-up to 2022’s Reset. That album was built on obscure ’50s pop samples, but this time Sonic Boom created loops using “misfit instruments” like steel drum, harp (they recorded Mary Lattimore improvising during a soundcheck), and the aforementioned yodeling. They even use the same loop twice, first on “Pray to You” (steel drum and yodeling) and then, two songs later, on the Everly Brothers-esque “Like Moth to a Flame.” The arrangements are so different you might not even notice.

A ? of When also hopes to inspire fans to head to their local record store, as they aren’t putting the album on streaming services. The album art, designed by Stereolab and Broadcast visual collaborator Julian House, is awesome (the vinyl sleeve is embossed) and deserves to be seen big and in your possession. (You can also buy it as a digital download.) It’s a brave experiment that I hope pays off, and to them I say: keep trying!

Pick up A ? of When in the BV Shop.

Listen to our interview with Panda Bear & Sonic Boom.

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mary in the junkyard – Role Model Hermit (AMF Records)

At first blush, Role Model Hermit seems like more fuzzy, shambolic indie — not that there’s anything wrong with that — but it soon becomes clear that it was made by very skilled musicians. Freeman-Taylor and bassist Saya Barbaglia studied classical music together in school and contribute violin, viola, and cello; David Addison, meanwhile, is a skilled, inventive drummer and percussionist from the same school as Jim White. Produced by Oli Bayston (Kelly Lee Owens, Alexis Taylor), the album features thorny arrangements that also come with the roses, whether it’s the thicket of arpeggiated guitars on “Blood,” the mix of dark folk and gossamer harmonies on “Thou Shall Sprout,” or the clattering groove of “New Muscles.” Basslines in current indie rock are often a neglected element, but Barbaglia is a superstar here, laying down memorable, melodic grooves on every song. Across it all is Freeman-Taylor, whose coquettish vocal style mixes wonder and melancholy, delivering sharply observed, deeply felt lyrics from a unique point of view and in a pronounced accent. Take the devastating, cinematic “Crash Landing,” which details a doomed, gunpowder-hot relationship that goes from “You opened up like a coconut” to “You came in like it was all my fault / Crash landing / I never want to see you again.” Her expressive voice has all the nuance of a gifted actor, drawing you even further into these well-written, hook-filled songs. Role Model Hermit is one of the most distinctive, impressive debuts in recent memory, and even more so when you consider that mary in the junkyard are just getting started.

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Yard Act – You’re Gonna Need A Little Music (Island)

Yard Act have been on a nonstop album-tour-album-tour cycle since releasing their 2022 post-punky debut, The Overload, which was followed by 2024’s ambitious, cynical-but-party-forward Where’s My Utopia? With You’re Gonna Need a Little Music, Yard Act have made a bit of a hangover record — in the tradition of Pulp’s This Is Hardcore — that has Smith looking in the bathroom mirror under harsh ultraviolet light and asking, despite their success, “What have I done?” If the album title seems hopeful, one look at the cover art paints a different picture. You’re Gonna Need a Little Music is also a musical reset. Gone are the angular guitars of the first album and the disco-charged anthems of the second; in their place is muscular rock that lands somewhere between peak ’90s Britpop and AM-era Arctic Monkeys. This was also the first time the whole band, who formed during the early days of the pandemic, wrote together in a room, whittling down 40-some new songs to these 11 with producer Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Nine Inch Nails, Wolf Alice). Smith is singing more and sprechgesang-ing less, and the darker, harder-edged sound suits them surprisingly well. Some bands with an identifiable sound get stuck in a rut, but like Fontaines D.C., Yard Act know how and when to pivot.

Pick up You’re Gonna Need a Little Music in the BV shop.

Listen to our interview with Yard Act.

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Tricky – Different When It’s Silent (False Idols)

“I think this is my first ‘indie’ album,” Tricky says of Different When It’s Silent. You can tell what he means almost instantly, as its primary spotlight instrument is bass. Now, of course, the low end has always been integral to his music, but we’re talking bass guitar, played melodically and high up on the neck. Think The Cure’s Simon Gallup or New Order’s Peter Hook. The bass is front and center on nearly every song, including “I Still See Me Here,” the album’s ghostly opening track, which has new collaborator Mitch Sanders mournfully singing the title as Tricky, as usual, haunts the edges with the whisper he’s prone to. It’s still Tricky’s world, but he’s never taken us here before. While he has been very busy this decade, Different When It’s Silent is the first album credited solely to Tricky in six years, and his main collaborator this time is Mitch Sanders, a singer-songwriter from Tricky’s hometown of Bristol, who seems to have brought this rock side to the fore, along with those memorable basslines. He is also the primary voice on the album and has a versatile, powerful set of pipes that helps bring a new flavor to songs like the very rock “I’m Yours” and “I Tried.” Different When It’s Silent is loaded with memorable, moody, single-worthy songs, including a couple absolute bangers. If there is one criticism to be lobbed here, it’s that Different When It’s Silent doesn’t have enough of Tricky. There was a time when he would’ve done the Run Red Rambo bars himself, and he sounds so good on “Out of Place” that you wish he’d done more of that. Was much of this meant to be a Mitch Sanders solo album? (He does have his own record coming out on False Idols at some point.) And while more of Marta would be nice, she did put out a fantastic Tricky-produced solo album in 2025. Regardless of how much Adrian Thaws (his real name) can be gleaned from these tracks, there’s no denying this is a standout in Tricky’s mercurial discography.

Listen to our interview with Tricky.

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Trashcan Sinatras – Ever the Optimist (TCS Recordings)

Slow and steady wins the race. Scotland’s Trashcan Sinatras have been making sparkling, literate guitar pop with the same five-piece lineup for four decades. While there’s often a gap between releases, they’ve maintained an equally remarkable level of quality, which continues with Ever the Optimist, their seventh album and first in 10 years. “We’re all gambling, trying to hold it together,” Frank Reader sings on Ever the Optimist‘s sprightly title track and opening song. “Always, forever, through stormy weather.” The guitars chime, Reader’s voice sounds just like it did on the band’s debut album, Cake, and when the rest of the band join in on harmonies, the song really takes off. They just keep flying from there. Not unlike fellow Glaswegians Teenage Fanclub and Aztec Camera, Trashcan Sinatras have an effortless way with melody, a knack for earworm choruses, and an even better way with middle eights, not to mention a disposition for marrying warm tunes with melancholic lyrics that is just so satisfying. The album, which features guest appearances form Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell and Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside, ends on a sublime note, and really earns its title, with “Learning to Love Your Ghost,” a song about grief and acceptance that’s as good as any they’ve ever written. “When there’s no more normal to barricade my mind / When you’re deep in the trenches, what you gonna do but survive?” Reader sings against swelling strings and horns. Survive they do, the Trashcan Sinatras. Gracefully.

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Shearwater – The New World (Polyborus)

Jonathan Meiburg calls the many talented musicians who contributed to Shearwater’s new album “the wildest ensemble we’ve ever assembled.” He’s not really overstating things, either. In addition to regular bandmates Emily Lee and Dan Duszynski, The New World features Shahzad Ismaily, Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart, Thor Harris, woodwinds player Doug Wieselman, qanunist Farouz Zreik, ngonist Mamadou Kouyate, and percussionists Mahamadou Tounkara and Moctar Kouyate (of Malian group Ngoni Ba). Oh, and spoken word by one Laurie Anderson. If you don’t know what some of those instruments are (or some of the musicians who play them), you are not alone, but just know that Shearwater puts them all to good use. About three minutes into the album, on the beautiful, slowly pulsing “Even Song,” a slow build-up leads to a minor chord being unleashed on an acoustic guitar. It has the kind of widescreen ’80s grandeur that brings to mind Trevor Rabin-era Yes, early Peter Gabriel, and Love and Rockets, a tiny moment that awakens your senses, letting you know something special lies ahead. The New World is a Shearwater album of the highest order: lush, proggy, and orchestral; dramatic, just a little gothy, mysterious, and full of wonder and towering melodies. Produced by the band and recorded and mixed by Duszynski, it sounds amazing. (Headphone Album alert!) In addition to all the skilled players and exotic instruments, Meiburg layered the songs with field recordings made on expeditions around the world — he is a geographer and ornithologist when not playing in bands. “I used to worry about keeping those worlds separate,” Meiburg says. “But now it all feels like one big project.” Shearwater’s universe is expanding, and it is a thing of beauty worth getting lost in.

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Robyn Hitchcock – The Confuser (Tiny Ghost)

“I owe a lot to a dead man’s cock!” Now that’s how you start an album. Robyn Hitchcock has been making psychedelic guitar pop for 50 years, and he’s still throwing heaters. He calls his 25th album a “celebration of collapse, or if you wanna put it more positively, change.” Celebration is the key word, as The Confuser is a party record about the end of the world. It’s about a lot of things, actually: aging and the inevitability of death, accountability, accepting fate but not giving in, and why a lot of this is OK. “Are we seeing the last gasp of the old guard in a world that’s moved too fast? Or is the dead hand grabbing us around the ankle and pulling us back into the pit of hell? Don’t you think you’ve got away, because you haven’t. Here comes the judgment,” Robyn told us in BV Interviews. “In terms of vibe, just me largely having a good time on the crest of the annihilating wave.” Made in Robyn’s current hometown of Nashville with a band of ace session musicians, including his old Soft Boys bandmate Kimberly Rew and Dr. Dog’s Eric Slick, The Confuser doesn’t sound like an album made by a 72-year-old. It’s spry, thoughtful, funny, and endlessly melodic, with wonderful production throughout. There are the kind of zippy, lyrically dazzling jangle-pop gems that decorated his peak college radio period (“I Am This Thing,” “Yesterday’s Rain”), funky jams (“Building from the Ruins,” “How to Feel Alright”), and the kind of trippy, affecting ballads few do better, like “Ghost in Sunlight,” which features backing vocals by Gillian Welch. The biggest difference between 32-year-old Robyn and 72-year-old Robyn is that he’s no longer being odd for odd’s sake. Instead, he’s bringing his unique perspective and lyrical bent to relatable subjects. “It’s fixin’ to rain / A tornado’s on the line,” he sings on “Ghost in Sunlight,” which looks at grief and society’s short memory. “They tore up the tracks this morning / The tracks they laid the day that you were born / Look at them, they’re gone.” The apocalypse may be coming, but I hope Robyn gets to make a few more albums like The Confuser before it does.

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Here’s the Indie Basement Best of July 2026 playlist in TIDAL (best sounding, least morally dicey), Apple Music, and for those who haven’t left it yet, Spotify:

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.