Summer Indie Music Playlist 2015

In the past few years it's taken me longer to put the summer mix together, because finding upbeat indie music has grown increasingly difficult. I sift through literally thousands of songs using BIRP, Rolling Stone, Spin, CMJ, online searches and YouTube playlists. After exhaustive research I'm starting to conclude that the majority of young indie musicians (and their listeners) can only express themselves through sad navel-gazing and wallowing in romantic depression. Admittedly, the technology that was supposed to bring us closer together has often only created vast chasms of distance between us; we're addicted to our phones and computers, scared to go to parties, afraid to reveal our true selves, terrified of ridicule and the dynamics of socialization. The fast music I find is usually neo-Punk Rock or Metal, and it's angry, not happy. Even Billboard's low-brow darlings of Pop, Rap, EDM and Country have slowed their beats down in some sort of corporate hypnosis. And yet there's so much to celebrate at this instant in time- an increasing awareness of equality for women, for oppressed races, for the LBGT community. If you focus on the positive it's a huge damn joyous party for progressive people in America right now, a dawning of a new era. But only if you stay focused on what's amazing about being alive. Don't let the conservatives of Elmore City (that's a "Footloose" reference) kill your buzz, my friends.

Here are ten questions I want you to ask yourself:
1. Was the last song I listened to slow or fast?
2. What was the tempo of the last song I heard on the radio?
3. Was the lyrical content of the last song I listened to happy or sad?
4. When I post songs or listen to songs posted on social media are they usually upbeat?
5. Am I sad or happy?
6. When invited to a social gathering do I usually reply "maybe"?
7. If I reply "yes", do I actually attend?
8. When was the last time I laughed?
9. When was the last time I danced?
10. What are my blessings, my joys, my reasons to celebrate?

This playlist is for you (and it's typed-out below):

SUMMER INDIE MUSIC PLAYLIST 2015
1. Braves Shores - Never Come Down
2. Mumford & Sons - The Wolf
3. Yumi Zouma - Catastrophe
4. Bop English - It Was Beyond Our Control
5. Twenty One Pilots - Tear In My Heart
6. Ader - Landshapes
7. Ash - Machinery (if watching on YouTube, change speed to 1.25 in settings)
8. eLLe beLLe - Knock On The Light (n/a on YouTube...yet)
9. The Derevolutions - Now You Know My Name
10. Leon Bridges - Better Man
11. Cheers Elephant - Airliner
12. Lady Lamb - Billions Of Eyes
13. Late Cambrian - Golden Time
14. Toro Y Moi - Run Baby Run
15. Lower Dens - Societe Anonyme
16. Ratatat - Cream On Chrome
17. LA Priest - Oino
18. Happy Hollows - Astrid
19. Painted Palms - Tracers
20. The Sonics - Sugaree (these guys are in their 70s, btw)
21. Von Sell - Ivan
22. Mew - Satellites

PUNK PLANK: Two-Minute Punk Songs Of The 1970s For Planking

Want amazing abs for summer? Ask yourself if you can do this one activity for a mere TWO MINUTES a day. Get into push-up position (or with your elbows resting on the floor for more balance), and play one of these motivating punk songs each morning for a month. It's okay if you shake all over. It's okay if you can only make it thirty seconds at a time before taking a five-second rest. Keep at it and your core will tighten and you'll start to see real definition. To make things easier I even started with songs that clock-in under two minutes. Toward the end they get a little longer, the longest being 2:10, but by then you'll be loving it.

Plus it's a free music history lesson. Here's the YouTube playlist and, below, you'll find the written version if you want to download the songs yourself. Happy planking!


1. Ramones - Let's Dance
2. Wire - Mr. Suit
3. The Adverts - Bored Teenagers
4. The Undertones - Male Model
5. Stiff Little Fingers - White Noise
6. Weirdos - Pagan
7. X-Ray Spex - I Am A Cliche
8. The Dils - You're Not Blank
9. The Damned - Fish
10. The Clash - Career Opportunities
11. Dead Kennedys - Stealing People's Mail
12. Richard Hell - New Pleasure
13. The Slits - Shoplifting
14. The Vibrators - Bad Time
15. The Germs - Lexicon Devil
16. The Buzzcocks - Orgasm Addict
17. The Dickies - Shake & Bake
18. Generation X - Kleenex
19. The Damned - I Fall
20. The Ramones - California Sun
21. The Rezillos - Glad All Over
22. Sham 69 - It's Never Too Late
23. The Clash - Janie Jones
24. The Skids - Six Times
25. The Avengers - American In Me
26. Richard Hell - Love Comes In Spurts
27. Generation X - Day By Day
28. Dead Boys - What Love Is
29. Wire - Straight Line/Field Day For The Sundays
30. The Undertones - Here Comes The Summer
31. The Damned - Melody Lee