u/PopAppreciation

If you like your indie pop a little weirder and more unsettling

Standout indie pop artists with under 50k monthly listeners.

Recent additions include new releases from Icona Pop, Moyka, Willow, Au/Ra, Akeira Jade and Joya Mooi

pop songs that open up and take over the room

You know how people say there's still good pop music being made today but you need to dig around to find it? This playlist makes it a little easier to find that music. I hunt through all the new releases each week and filter out the handful of tracks that keep hitting after 5 listens.

This playlist will be useful to you to the extent it matches your taste, so here are the things I listen for:

First, I grew up on 80s music, so how I listen is shaped by that. That means that I'm paying attention to stuff like melodic phrasing, inventive arrangements, and syncopated rhythms. Music stuff more than lyric stuff, to be honest. I have some background in piano and music theory and so I tend to listen more like a musician.

Some of my favorite artists from years past are Steely Dan, The Jellyfish, The Smiths, Joni Mitchell, REM, Stevie Wonder, The Sundays, Todd Rundgren, Jamiroquai, The Bee Gees, & Marshall Crenshaw. While little of today's music sounds exactly like those bands, I like the new stuff that captures that same kind of musicality. Maybe it's a little more about the production and sound design today instead of wild chord progressions and multi-part harmonies, but there's the same intensity and musical inventiveness, just expressed a little bit differently.

This playlist is inclusive in all senses of the word. I don't limit myself to a particular genre and I draw on artists from around the world. While there are some big bands in here, I tend to prioritize the lesser known ones.

One last thing--this playlist is part of a larger library meant to introduce listeners to the interesting new music being put out today. Once songs leave this playlist (it's capped at 50), they move into one of the 30 other playlists, each focused on a specific sound in contemporary indie-pop. The best are then collected in the last playlist in the collection (Orenda).

A new music discovery playlist for people who pay close attention to the music itself. Genre inclusive but mostly pop and indie. Emphasis on underexposed artists and overlooked album tracks.

Updated regularly

A bittersweet sound that extends back from Real Estate in the 10s, to The Sundays in the 90s, and Carole King in the 70s. Here are the artists making this kind of music in the 2020s.

Indie pop songs that get you moving. Featuring: Remi Wolf, Sofy, Ally Salort, Courtney Barnett, Sandy Crow, Chiara Savasta, Laur Elle, Getdown Services, Willow, Low Girl, The Booyah! Kids, May-a, Makk Mikkael, and Alex Porat

I'm blown away by this EP. Curious what others think...

Recent releases with that sophisticated minor-7th chord sound that was all over the radio in the 80s & 90s.

For the fellow music nerds out there: there are two songs in this playlist co-written by the Rod Temperton and recorded posthumously.

Melodic indie pop with soaring harmonies. Focused on recent releases that evoke classic, southern California soft-rock like Fleetwood Mac.

Featuring: pale waves, unflirt, yndling, sungaze, james k, pearly drops, brockhoff, janelane, makk mikkael, alvvays, chitra, mila degray, babygirl, softcult and u.s. girls

Intricate melodies & rhyme schemes, syncopated phrasing, and subtle hooks in modern pop

This playlist is for listeners who appreciate intricate melodic phrasing, syncopated rhythms, and complex but catchy arrangements with unexpected chords, a rich mix of timbres and strong contrast. The playlist is limited to new releases, is genre inclusive, and is updated weekly.

New subgenre?

a special blend of spacious indie pop and alternative r&b

Recent indie pop with delicate textures & airy timbres, agile melodic lines, and fast, fluttery rhythms that seem to bounce on their tiptoes.

Updated weekly

Colossal pop songs that make you feel tiny