10000 Hours of Indie

Keoma are a Helsinki based Finnish hybrid metal 6-piece formed in 2008 whom I’ve known for many, many years. Blending heavy riffs, soaring vocals, catchy melodies and synths they create dark yet hopeful anthems. They have released 4 EP’s and 3 albums to date, with the latest - the “Mind Coaster” EP - released last month. Photo: Mikko Keski-Vähälä Come and give 10000 Hours of Indie a follow via you...

2025 has been an excellent first year for the 10000 Hours of Indie podcast, so I thought I'd give a little rundown on my favourite albums of the year, the passing of 2 highly influential musicians and my 3 favourite shows of the year. Also a few details of what to expect in 2026, a BIG new project and more... Come and give 10000 Hours of Indie a follow via your ⁠social media of choice⁠ , 2026...

Destrends are a 4-piece Australian post punk/garage rock band consisting of Matt Savage (vocals) and Angus Ingram (bass), Liam Burgan (drums), and Billy Watts (guitar). I’ve been following the band since their EP “Wasteland” back in 2020 which got loads of airplay on my radio show! The band released their second single of the year, the anthemic “Hearts in the Smokers” at the end of last month, so...

Wooden Tape is Tim Maycox, a UK artist who creates haunting, ambient folk music. The second album “Wool” has just been released and is “...a sonic photo album of childhood memories of Liverpool in the 1970's”. Despite being a little outside of my usual musical ballpark I really like this album and reached out to Tim to find out more. Follow on you social media of choice. Join me in the quest t...

Son Iris are a Finnish indie rock duo consisting of Sam Weckman on vocals and guitar and Mikko Kaakkuriniemi on drums. In October the duo released their first album, “I”, which crosses genres and musical boundaries with ease, so I wanted to find out a little more about them. Photo - Lauri Koivusalo Follow on you social media of choice. Join me in the quest to explore independent music around the w...

Ed Harcourt is a Mercury Music Prize nominated singer/songwriter/pianist who has just released his 12th solo album. He has written and/or produced for numerous artists including Sophie Ellis-Bexter, Paloma Faith and previous 10000 Hours podcast guest Hannah Rose-Platt to name just a few. He is also a member of Loup GarouX, a side project trio who are currently mixing their 2nd album. In this episo...

Youth Killed It are a Norwich based garage rock 4-piece who you really should have heard of by now if you haven’t! Having played a host of festivals including Isle of Wight and shared the stage with The Kooks, The Lottery Winners and The Pigeon Detectives to name just a few, their quirky upbeat sound has earned them close to 1.5 million streams of their song Popstar on Spotify and airplay on BBC r...

Tiger Balme are 4-piece Toronto based Yang Chen, Estyr, Danielle Sum, and Anda Zeng. They all take vocal duties and write together and are influenced by disco, indie, math rock, and ’90s acoustic pop (at least that’s what their website claims!), playing chamber pop. They featured in the Being Independent series when the podcast was just starting and Danielle also released a single a couple of mont...

HUM are a Frankfurt based 3 piece formed in 2019. Defined as Heavy Psychedelic/Stoner Rock in their biography, it continues regarding the upcoming album saying “...three is the album for the apocalypse or for an evening in space. But there's no shortage of fun: the darkness is presented on fat, slow grooves.” The bands’ new album “3” is due for release on December 12th through Tonzonen Records...

Temporary Blessings are a Melbourne based collective formed by trumpeter Liam McGorry. Assembled to realise Liam’s compositions drawing on 1960s Italian & French soundtrack music, the ensemble brings together trusted instrumentalists and fellow travelers from Melbourne’s rich enclave of cinematic soul. The debut album “Sumbisori” is due on 4th December and it’s amazing. For anyone my age and f...

Monitors are a 4-piece formed in Paris in 2017. A collective of English, Bosnian, and French nationals, they sound like something between punk and electro with a hint of new wave and a topping of a few other genres too. Described by Rolling Stone Magazine as “producing an outstanding musical fusion”, the band have just released their debut album “The Madelaine Affair” on AnalogueTrash and it’s rea...

Boy Grapes is the musical alias of Sean Grapin, a singer/songwriter & multi-instrumentalist from Washington D.C. in the US. Having released 3 albums and 2 EP’s in 5 years, the musical evolution of Boy Grapes from phone recordings via an apple earbud mic to the latest effort in just 7 years is nothing short of magnificent. The latest album “When I Close My Eyes” was self-released via Boy Boys o...

PREYRS are an alternative rock and metal group hailing from Belfast, Northern Ireland. The band consists of Amy Montgomery (vocals), Micheal Mormecha (drums), Nolan Donelly (Guitars) and Ciarán McGreevy (Bass). This is not a metal band, this is a band who have the metal aesthetic with a rock sensibility and accessibility that will take them far. Supporting New Model Army on their upcoming European...

The Wytches are a 4-piece rock band formed in Peterborough but now based in Brighton. Composed of members: Kristian Bell (vocals/guitar), Daniel Rumsey (bass), Mark Breed (keyboardist/guitarist) and Bhavin Thaker (drums). Already 15 years since their debut release, the band have released 7 EP’s and have just released their 5th album, “Talking Machine” which their label say “...is a combination bet...

Rise Carmine, real name Liam Colbert, is a Toronto based multi-instrumentalist and psych-rock artist. The Toronto Guardian has said “He takes pride in his eclectic song writing, delivering hard-rock riffiness and psychedelic synth-driven bliss on the same record”, I would agree. The 12th of November sees the release of EP “Come In Closer” so let’s delve in… Photo: Peyton Mott Give us a follow on y...

Pan Arcadia are a 5-piece New York based indie rock band whose sound is a nod to The Strokes and a little to The Ramones. The band consists of Eamon Rush on vocals, Dylan Kelly & Gabriel Gonzalez on guitars, Henry McGrath on bass and Brian Duke on drums. The band self-released their latest album “Everything’s Fine” on October 10th, and shockingly the band play mostly happy tunes which had me t...

God Alone , a five-piece hailing from Cork, Ireland, describing their sound as dance infused math/noise rock although they’ve worked their way through several heavy genres during their time together. Made up of Jake O’Driscoll (Guitar & Vocals), Cian Mullane (Bass & Vocals), Jack O’Hanlon (Drums), Dylan Kelly (Synthesizer) and Seán Thompson (Guitar), the band are signed to Prosthetic Recor...

Speed Week are a 4-piece garage punk band hailing from Melbourne, Australia consisting of Elliott Gee (vocals), Brad McDermott (bass), Andrew Robinson (drums) and Ryan Webb (guitar). Formed in 2019 they released their first album “Hey Hey It’s Speed Week” the following year but were hampered by the pandemic. Their second album, “Weak Speed” was released on 16th October via Endless Recordings and w...

Zilch. are an alt’-rock trio from the west midlands, UK. With Tom Dewhurst on vox & guitar, Cal Neathway on bass and Zack Esposito on drums, they play loud, distorted, heavy, groove-laiden music with melodic pop sensibilities comparable with Mudhoney, Alice In Chains Queens of the Stone Age and (in my opinion most accurately) Nirvana. On 20th June (so already a few months ago) they self-releas...

The Birch are a psychedelic rock trio from Quedlinburg, Germany. Consisting of Lucas Habenreich on guitar and vocals, Santi Garcia on bass and Volker Blath on drums. They create vigorous, driving riffs which send their audiences on a spiritual journey. Having formed five years ago, the band released their debut album “Dazed Dreams” in 2023 and are following it up on 21st November with Vicious Mind...

Emma Pollock is a Scottish singer/songwriter known for being one of the founding members of indie band The Delgados (who also founded indie label Chemikal Underground). The band were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2000 for their album The Great Eastern but split in 2005. Since then Emma has released 4 studio albums, the latest of which, “Begging the Night to Take Hold”, was released at t...

The Armchair Captains are a 5-piece prog-funk band (I do love an interesting crossover, as regular listeners will know!), with Music Underground Magazine comparing them in part to The Mars Volta, Steely Dan and Pink Floyd. Their output has been prolific and in their own words they “...enjoy riding the fine line between exploration and accessibility in our writing, recording and performing…”. The r...

The Lunar Effect are a classic rock band with a psychedelic edge. Formed by brothers Jon and Dan Jefford in London in 2017, becoming a 5-piece and releasing their debut album “Calm Before the Calm” in 2019. For their second album they signed to Finnish rock and metal label Svart Records, who will release their 3rd album “Fortune’s Always Hiding” on 24th October. I’ve been listening to my promotion...

In 2019 psychedelic rock and disco-infused collective ISTA (an acronym for In Sound To All) was born. The Brooklyn based 7-piece blend psychedelic rock, funk, punk and electronic music to create something danceable and modern while still giving a firm nod to what has come before. Last month the band self-released their latest single “Low Fruit”, which I’ve been dancing around my living room to eve...

Dutch indie label Tiny Room Records was created by Stefan Breuer in 2014. Founded on the theory that music should be fun, Stefan has overseen 75 releases (the latest of which is our focus today), organised one-off showcase events and several tours, run pop-up market stalls to promote and sell artist merchandise and all while being in two bands and releasing solo material. I’m exhausted just thinki...