indie-rock
These are the best indie-rock artists featured on Release Wave.

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Rocket
Rocket is an indie rock band formed in Los Angeles in 2021, known for their 90s-inspired sound with influences from shoegaze and alt-rock. The band consists of Alithea Tuttle (bass, vocals), Baron Rinzler (guitar), Cooper Ladomade (drums), and Desi Scaglione (guitar). They draw inspiration from bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, The Pixies, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Dinosaur Jr., The Flaming Lips, Yo La Tengo, and Radiohead.

Have Mercy
Have Mercy is a Baltimore-based indie / alt-rock band heavily influenced by post-hardcore and emo music, with heart on your sleeve vocals and driving guitar melodies. They have released multiple albums, with their latest being "Numb" in 2023 and their recently announced 6th LP, "the loneliest place i've ever been," is set to release in August 2025 via Rude Records. Fans of bands like The Dangerous Summer and Jimmy Eat World will enjoy their emotionally charged anthemic alt-rock.
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Suzzallo
Rocky Votolato has formed a new band called Suzzallo, revealing their debut album "The Quiet Year" with a release date of May 2nd, 2025. Departing from Votolato's acoustic roots, Suzzallo offers a cathartic blend of fuzzed out alternative rock, exploring themes of grief and healing following a personal tragedy.

Pet Symmetry
Pet Symmetry is an American emo band from Chicago, Illinois formed in 2012 by Erik Czaja and Marcus Nuccio (both members of Chicago-based emo band Dowsing) and Evan Thomas Weiss (who performs solo material under the name Into It. Over It.). They are currently signed to Storm Chaser Records and have released a handful of EPs and LPs. The band is gearing up to release their new LP "Big Symmetry" in May 2025.
RIYL: Jimmy Eat World, The Get Up Kids, Motion City Soundtrack, Into it. Over it.

Alien Boy
Formed by multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Sonia Weber in 2015, Alien Boy has steadily evolved from a plucky punk band in the Portland, Oregon, DIY scene into one of the most reliably satisfying rock bands in modern guitar music. The group, whose lineup is rounded out by drummer Derek McNeil along with guitarists Caleb Misclevitz and A.P. Fiedler, solidified their sound on 2021’s acclaimed Don’t Know What I Am, and now on their upcoming third LP "You Wanna Fade?" do May 2025 takes all of the best parts of that pop-rock-by-way-of-shoegaze concoction and amplifies them to their most widescreen version. “I wanted to go as big as possible and I really didn’t want to rush,” Weber says of the album’s sound and four-year gestation. “When I first started the band I was trying to keep the songs as short as possible, but I sort of realized that that’s not actually what I like. I was looking at the records that I turn to the most–Third Eye Blind’s self-titled and Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream–and I really wanted to capture that kind of grandness, the kind of thing that has a lot of dimension and isn’t actually that concise.”
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Heaven
Heaven is a New York City-based band formed in 2010 by Mikey Jones (drums), who played with the Big Sleep and Swervedriver, and Matt Sumrow (vocals/guitars) of Dean & Britta and the Comas. After a stint playing in Adam Franklin's backing band, Bolts of Love, the pair came together, along with Fan-Tan's Ryan Lee Dunlap (keyboards), to create a drifting and dense sound that falls somewhere between the worlds of melodic dream pop and shoegaze. Heaven debuted their psychedelic blend in 2013 with their first full-length, Telepathic Love, released on Goodnight Records followed by "All Love is Blue" in 2018. The band will return with their 3rd LP and 1st in over 7 years in April of 2024. RIYL: Swervedriver, The Lemondheads, Teenage Fanclub

Spoils System
Spoils System is a New York-based band formed in 2021 by Dan Coutant (vocals, guitar, keys), Sean Hansen (guitar, background vocals), David Fateman (bass), and Mark Frankel (drums). They are known for their melodic and often discordant indie rock, drawing on influences from their past work in the emo band Joshua (Doghouse Records). The band is gearing up to release their sophomore LP on Sweet Cheatah Records in summer 2025.
Worlds Worst
Worlds Worst are a Salt Lake City alternative/indie/slacker rock band who play guitar heavy 90s inspired fuzzed out noise pop. The band is gearing up to release their sophomore LP, American Muscle, which showcases the band continuing to perfect their unique approach to the indie, noisy, slacker rock sound with loud punchy guitars and big hooks.

Dead History
Dead History is a Minneapolis-based emo/post-hardcore quintet, whose members include stalwarts of the formative emo/hardcore years in various scenes across the Upper Midwest. Their sound unapologetically pays homage to the likes of Quicksand, Texas is the Reason, Hum, Far, Jawbox, Swervedriver and Sparkmarker among others. They released their self titled LP in 2020 and will release their sophomore LP "Departures" in June 2025.

Bantom Woods
Bantom Woods are an Alternative Indie Rock band from Austin, Texas who released their debut EP "With All Due Respect" in summer 2023. The band will return with their latest single "Lotteries & Lightning Strikes" taken from their forthcoming album to be released later this year via Shifting Sounds. Although the band is rather new, all of the members are Indie rock royalty in Austin - all playing in multiple bands spanning over 2 decades, including bands like Silver Scooter. They combine Alt Rock, Dream Pop, Post Punk, and early 90's underground College Rock to create their own signature sound that is very unique and ultra catchy. RIYL The Replacements, Sonic Youth, Ride, The Hold Steady

Bob Mould
Bob Mould (born October 16, 1960, in Malone, New York) is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for influential punk rock band Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and alternative rockers Sugar in the 1990s. He also has released a number of records under his solo project as Bob Mould.

By A Thread
Forged in Vancouver’s late-’90s post-hardcore crucible, By A Thread first left their mark with Last of the Daydreams, a Revelation Records cult classic that paired soaring melody with raw emotional weight. After lineup twists and quiet years, core songwriters Sean Lande and John Franco joined forces with drummer Gabe Mantle (Gob) to shape Mirrored Life, a brooding, reverb-drenched record that channels grief, growth, and hard-won perspective into their heaviest, most expansive music yet. Bassist Carl McBeath now anchors the low end, completing a lineup ready to carry these songs forward. It’s not a comeback so much as a reaffirmation, proof that By A Thread’s knack for cathartic, atmospheric anthems remains more vital and uncompromising as ever.

Nihilistic Easyrider
Nihilistic Easyrider is the brainchild of Narrow Head frontman Jacob Duarte. His debut LP "DELUXE EDITION" is a mixtape of sorts, a collection of songs written at various intervals throughout Duarte’s career. These songs traverse a wide-range of stylistic references, from saccharine Y2K emo and young-dumb-and-full-of pop punk to Soviet fuzz fueled alt and pure Evan Dando-core verse-chorus-verse-chorus-done pop rock. Brought to life by a cast of characters including Narrow Head drummer Carson Wilcox, producer (and former tour-mate) Graham Hunt and features from Momma’s Allegra Weingarten and Ella Friedman, this debut album still provides with masterfully crafted and hook-drenched renditions of Duarte’s signature songwriting aesthetics.

Ponyboy

Somerset Thrower
Hailing from Long Island, NY, Somerset Thrower was founded by four friends who share a love of all things rock and roll. Built on punk and hardcore roots, the four-piece blends raw energy with melody-soaked textures to create something both urgent and timeless. Fans of bands like Seaweed, Jawbreaker, Samiam, Jimmy Eat World and more recent bands like Drug Church, Taking Meds, Praise and the like will enjoy their sound. The band has signed to Smart Punk Records and will release their third album, Take Only What You Need to Survive in July 2025.

Touch The Clouds
Touch the Clouds are an alternative rock band from Michigan featuring members from emo veterans Few and Far Between. The band write emotionally charged anthemic rock songs that hearken back to the post-hardcore and emo of the late 90s and early 2000s, which big layered guitars and melodies, and explosive hooks. The are gearing up to release their debut self titled LP on Elkion Records/The Orchard.

Dead Bars
Dead Bars began in Seattle when punk drummer John Maiello ditched the sticks, picked up a guitar and started writing short blasts of no-bs-power-punk-rock in 2013. Soon after, NJ punk drummer C.J. Frederick joined to play drums and guitar. They quickly recorded and released five 7-inches, toured all over & made festival appearances, and eventually recorded their debut album, Dream Gig in C.J. 's home kitchen which saw a release in 2017. At the time, DIY punk zine Razorcake wrote of the album, "Dead Bars make something impossible to duplicate look so simple and attainable." The next phase of the band introduced Jon Oddo from Kansas City on bass guitar. The three started making their next album Regulars which was released in 2019. Shortly after, Elliot Thordarson and Paul Davis came in to fill out the lineup on guitar and drums respectively. 2023 marks the 10-year anniversary of the group and starts the next phase of the Dead Bars story. The future is unwritten. The family is growing, and the universe is vast. The band is now gearing up to release their third LP "All Dead Bars Go To Heaven" via Iodine Recordings in March 2025. Dead Bars offers a raw, melodic and energetic sound drawing inspiration from anthemic punk and power-pop influences with singalong hooks. RIYL: Joyce Manor, The Mengzingers, The Replacements,The Lawrence Arms, Japandroids