Indie Basement: Best Songs and Albums of February 2023

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 February’s best music, highlighting my favorite songs and albums, plus links to relevant features and news, a monthly playlist, and more.

February may be the shortest month of the year but it was not lacking in lots of good music (especially when one week there were 13 album reviewed). I narrowed it down to five albums, and then added one more but that left a lot of runner-ups, including new records by Yo La Tengo, Anna B Savage, Model/Actriz, Gruff Rhys, Lowly, Dougie Pool, Quasi, Unloved, The WAEVE (Graham Coxon & Rose Elinor Dougall), and shame.

On the song front, I picked 12 to write about — spoiler alert, there’s a lot of disco this month — and then included another 59 songs for the February playlist which you can stream below.

A few other Basement-releated February highlights:  20 Great Burt Bacharach Covers by Indie/Alternative Artists, my interview with The Sisters of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch, and we picked 15 artists to look out for in 2023.

In the Indie Basement corner of the BV online shop, you can pick up vinyl, books and merch featuring Stereolab, Love & Rockets, The Raincoats, King Gizzard, Cocteau Twins, Grant Lee Buffalo, Sleaford Mods, Belle & Sebastian, New Pornographers, Naima Bock, Protomartyr, Mogwai, The Flaming Lips, and lots more.

Head below for all of February’s best stuff.

INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF FEBRUARY 2023

FACS – “When You Say”

Forged around a towering bass riff that skyrockets in bursts, propelling it out of Earth’s atmosphere, the first single from Chicago trio FACS’ fifth album is their most immediate song to date. “When You Say” is also a great showcase for their unique chemistry: frontman Brian Case’s skeletal, atmospheric guitarwork and paranoid vocals, drummer Noah Leger’s precise, crushing style, and bassist Alianna Kaliba (who left the group after recording this album, and has been replaced by original FACS member Jonathan van Herik). This is still miles from “pop,” but “When You Say” has a monster hook and makes for a great entry into FACS’ dark, compelling world.

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Alison Goldfrapp & Paul Woolford – “Fever”

Goldfrapp, the UK duo, are no strangers to dance music, but their style doesn’t stray too far from the “electro-glam” of “Ooh La La” or “Strict Machine.” But Alison Goldfrapp, the solo artist, is stretching her wings on a series of collaborative singles that pair her with different producers. Here she’s working with Paul Woolford (aka Bobby Peru aka Special Request), whose 2019 single “Looking for Me” with Diplo and Karen Lomas was a Top 5 UK hit. “Fever” delivers a simmering blend of house and synthy disco, a perfect bed for Allison’s signature breathy vocals. It’s very 1990 but in all the right ways.

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audiobooks – “Burnt Pictures” ft OneDa

Makers of Indie Basement’s #1 album of 2021 and #3 album of 2018, UK duo audiobooks don’t sound like anyone thanks almost entirely to Evangeline Ling who always delivers 110% with her vocals that slide between sprechgesang, “proper” singing, and character-work. That continues to be true on “Burnt Pictures,” the slinky, mega-catchy opening track on their upcoming Gulliver EP, an electro jam that features a lot of enthusiastic shouting from Ling, who ad libbed lyrics into the mic while watching 1966 Czechoslovakian cult film Daisies. They may not make a lot of sense, but Ling sells the hell out of them, especially the shouted “Burnt Pictures!” part in the chorus where she uncannily sounds like the late Mark E Smith of The Fall.

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Django Django ft Self Esteem – “Complete Me”

Scottish group Django Django are now in their second decade of existence and are doing something a little different for their fifth album, which is full of collaborations and is being released, a la Beach House’s Once Twice Melody, as a series of EPs. “Complete Me,” a collab with Self Esteem (Rebecca Taylor), is unlike anything Django Django have ever released before, a banger inspired by breakbeat house and hip-house records of the late-’80s and early-’90s, with clear nods to Rob Base, Inner City and Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814.

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Feist – “In Lightning”

Give it up for Leslie Feist who continues to make vital music 20 years into her career, aways branching out, trying new things while still only sounding like herself. “In Lightning” is glossy, rhythm-heavy modern pop that is above all else a showcase for Feist’s elastic, unmistakable voice.

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Girl Ray – “Everybody’s Saying That”

Apparently I was just in a dancing mood in February as most this Best Songs list are boogie-forward and lean toward full-on disco, like the latest from London trio Girl Ray. The group’s transformation from winsome indie into dancefloor-friendly pop between their first and second album felt like a natural progression, and that continues with the charming first single from their upcoming third album. “Everybody’s Saying That” skates on a lightly funky groove and breezy melody that is perfect for Poppy Harrington’s voice. The roller disco video is fun too.

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Jake Shears – “Too Much Music”

As a huge fan of Scissor Sisters’ debut album, which is coming up on its 20th anniversary, I’m happy to report that former frontman Jake Shears still has some of the magic sparkle dust in his possession. “Too Much Music” is pure disco dancefloor filler in the mode of Vickie Sue Robinson’s “Turn the Beat Around” and finds Shears’ ability to conjure Barry Gibb still in full force. It’s also hard to resist a really good song about the power of music.

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Naima Bock – “Lines”

Former Goat Girl member Naima Bock made my favorite album of last year, and is already back with a great new single. “‘Lines’ is about what we do to each other, some call the dance of intimacy, exchanges. What we are given, carry with us, then subsequently pass on to others — good and bad,” says Naima. That intimacy is felt in “Lines,” which is swaying and wistful, with more of a live feel than anything on Giant Palm. Naima’s greatest strength is still her expressive voice that can shatter you with a single phrase.

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Noble Rot – “Casting No Light” ft Colin Newman & Malka Spigel

METZ frontman Alex Edkins has a few tricks up his sleeve. Last year we got to hear his pop side with Weird Nightmare, and now he’s gone komische with Holy Fuck’s Graham Walsh as Noble Rot. Add in Wire’s Colin Newman and Minimal Compact’s Malka Spigel and you’ve got their debut single “Casting No Light” which burrows in a dark and addictive Can-like groove. Look out, Beak>, someone’s coming for your throne.

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Orbital ft Penelope Isles – “Are You Alive”

One of the many highlights from Orbital’s fantastic new album Optical Delusion that found inspiration through collaboration. “Are You Alive” pairs Paul and Phil Hartnoll with their Brighton, UK neighbors Penelope Isles who bring their way with melody and airy harmonies for an ethereal banger of a pop song. It’s so good you want a whole album of it.

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Sondre Lerche – “Avatars of Love (Lindstrom Remix)”

A match made in Norway. Lindstrom finds new magic in the epic, swoony title track from last year’s wonderful Sondre Lerche album Avatars of Love, keeping the tony elegance but switching the vibe from grand ballroom to light-up disco floor, injecting vocoder harmonies and a pulsing electronic beat. It’s an inspired remix that reinvents the song without ever losing what made you love it in the first place.

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Y La Bamba – “Collapse”

I like Y La Bamba because everytime you think you have them figured out, Mendoza Ramos throws a wonderful curveball. The hypnotic “Collapse” rides on a minimal groove and a snakey guitar line that leaves lots of room for Ramos’ layered harmonies. Right when we’re getting sick of winter, “Collapse” offers a touch of spring. Rad video, too.

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INDIE BASEMENT: BEST ALBUMS OF FEBRUARY 2023

U.S. Girls – Bless This Mess (4AD)

This may be the funkiest U.S. Girls record to date, and is absolutely packed with bangers, from the electro-fueled tale of urban flight, “So Typically Now,” to the loping, cockeyed strut of “Just Space for Light,” the ’80s lite Greek mythos groove of “Daedelus,” the pure disco of “Tux (Your Body Fills Me, Boo),” and album closer, “Pump,” that uses a sample of Remy’s breast pump for its bassline. While Meg remains a razor-sharp lyricist, motherhood and the pandemic has shaped her outlook here, with a strong undercurrent of fatalism. “Nothing is wrong, everything is fine,” Remy sings on the album’s Springsteen-eque centerpiece “Future’s Bet,” before adding, “This is just life.” {Read the Indie Basement review]

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En Attendant Ana – Principia (Trouble in Mind)

With a fondness for jazzy melodies, shimmering guitars, and cheery trumpet, not to mention Margaux Bouchaudon’s sunshine glow vocals, Parisian band En Attendant Ana are decidedly winsome. But they’re not wimpy. Those jazzy chords are played with confidence, the rhythm section lays down a serious groove, and Margaux is no wallflower and can really belt it out when needed. The band are all serious players, capable of dramatic tone and tempo shifts that are unexpected but never jarring. Principia is En Attendant Ana’s third and best album, their most assured and appealing statement yet. {Read the Indie Basement review]

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Orbital – Optical Delusion (Epic)

Inspired by the remixes and reworks on last year’s Orbital 30 retrospective compilation, Orbital conceived their 10th album with guests on nearly every track. They’ve had vocalists on previous records — good (Goldfrapp) and less good (David Gray) — but Optical Delusion is their collab-iest record yet. Albums like this often sound good on paper but come off lackluster in the finished product, but Paul and Phil Hartnoll sound genuinely inspired here and, despite the remote nature of the album’s creation, neither they or their collaborators could be accused of ever phoning it in. Optical Delusion is easily their best record since 1999’s The Middle of Nowhere. [Read the Indie Basement review]

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Gina Birch – I Play My Bass Loud (Third Man)

“The album distills my years of musical, political, and artistic life with these genre-breaking songs,” says The Raincoats’ Gina Birch of her first-ever solo album. “It’s a personal diary using sounds and lyrics, full of fun, rage, and storytelling.” That about sums it up. Producer Youth has a way of coaxing the best out of artists, creating a comfortable atmosphere that allows them to be themselves, and it’s clear that he and Birch hit it off. I Play My Bass Loud is terrific, funny, whipsmart, angry and never less than entertaining — a protest album that doesn’t forget to dance. That’s all exemplified on “I Will Never Wear Stilettos,” that has her singing, “My feet are ecstatic in Doc Martens / They love Blue Suede Shoes / They love white Polish waitressing shoes / Never wear Jimmy Choos” over dubby electronic backing. Songs play like signboards, but feel more inclusive and defiant than didactic, even on a JAMC-ish, hissing force-of-nature song like “I Am Rage.” [Read the Indie Basement review]

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Robert Forster – The Candle and the Flame (Tapete)

Robert Forster has never shied away from using his own life as the basis for songs, be it with The Go-Betweens or his solo career. But The Candle and the Flame is the most deeply personal record of his 40+ year career. It was recorded after his wife, Karin Bäumler, was diagnosed with stage four ovarian cancer and features his whole family, including son Louis (formerly of The Good Sax) and daughter Loretta. The Candle and The Flame became a way for the family to bond and for Karin to fight. No song is overly adorned but the care given to them is apparent. The circumstances around it could not be more difficult and personal, but the result is effortless and universal. [Read the Indie Basement review]

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Ibex Clone – All Channels Clear (Goner)

Ibex Clone are born out of Memphis’ garage punk scene, and the trio includes members of Ex-Cult and NOTS. Their debut album is out via Goner, home to lots of garage rock, but Ibex Clone don’t sound like what you might expect given all that. All three members were in angsty post-punk group Hash Redactor, but with guitar wiz George Williford leading things here, Ibex Clone make soaring, anthemic rock that feels inspired by a whole swath of mid-’80s underground/alternative groups. There is the nervy jangle of early R.E.M., The Feelies and The dB’s, the shimmer of The Sound and The Chameleons, and they would’ve fit right in on Bruce Lischer’s Independent Projects label (For Against, Savage Republic, etc).  There is growl and tension, but there is also real beauty, and some seriously impressive guitarwork. [Read the Indie Basement review]

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Here’s the Indie Basement Best of February 2023 Playlist in both Spotify and TIDAL form:

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