Eye on Indie is a weekly column in which Emerald writer Alex Ruby provides his picks for the best indie albums to watch for in the coming week. This week’s selections include releases from Wolf People, GUM, The Japanese House, and David Bazan.
Wolf People: Ruins (Jagjaguwar)
Wolf People’s music isn’t for the faint of heart. It is thick, dense, psychedelic blues-rock. Imagine crawling through a foggy cave — Wolf People’s songs are what reverberates off the cave walls. The band’s third album, Ruins, is a study on nature reclaiming the land it once ruled over, a theme fitting for a band with this sound. In a world of confusion, frustration and anger, Ruins might be the perfect album to get those feelings out.
“I suppose like many people — especially now — we’re constantly veering toward complete frustration with the human race one moment and celebrating all the positive things about humanity the next,” says singer and guitarist Jack Sharp on Wolf People’s bandcamp page. Wolf People are heavily influenced by early blues/psych rock bands like Jethro Tull, Cream, and Traffic, so if you feel like there hasn’t been enough of that sound in modern music, Ruins is the album for you.
Listen if you like: Tame Impala, Deerhoof, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Thee Oh Sees

GUM: Flash in the Pan (Spinning Top)
Tame Impala’s multi-instrumentalist Jay Watson is back with a third album as GUM this week, Flash in the Pan. Watson mixes synth-pop, psych and funk into an album that’ll trip you out as well as move your feet. It’s rhythmic and sweeping and manages to hook you into its looping vocals and bumping synths.
On the lead single, “Gemini,” Watson said in an interview with NME, “It’s kind of a song about people pinning stuff happening in their lives on things like star signs and religion.” Flash in the Pan is also a great example of those times when the album cover art perfectly matches the mood and music that’s contained within the album itself, with its ‘80s-esque vibes and smooth cursive lettering. Even the album’s track titles fit the mood, such as “Deep Razz,” “Heatwave” and “Distorted Star.” Pick up Flash in the Pan if you need something to groove to and let your mind wander.
Listen if you like: Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Foxygen, Com Truise, Pond

The Japanese House: Swim Against the Tide (Dirty Hit Records)
Amber Bain of The Japanese House has never been to Japan, nor does she make house music. What she does make is dreamy, sparkling indie-pop that transforms your environment and twists into itself. Her voice is entrancing and lustful, making each line a treat to listen to and repeat over and over again. Anonymity is a big part of Bain’s image as well because she feels like the music should come first, not the person who’s making it.
“At first, I thought it was important to make it just about music. It wasn’t obvious if I was a girl or a boy because I had an androgynous voice. I really enjoy that sometimes people think I’m a boy. It’s funny. If Victoria Legrand from Beach House can handle it, I can handle it. And not using my own name — having a band name — that was on purpose,” Bain said in an interview with DIY Magazine. “But I didn’t want the mystery to become bigger than the music.”
The Japanese House makes cool, atmospheric music you want to listen to when you’re walking on a beach, and even though we’re in the middle of fall right now, Swim Against the Tide should be on everyone’s radar.
Listen if you like: James Blake, Låpsley, Oh Wonder, Sampha

David Bazan: Dark Sacred Night (Suicide Squeeze Records)
If you like your Christmas songs with a sense of dourness and nonconformity, then pick up David Bazan’s collection of Christmas song covers, Dark Sacred Night. The former Pedro the Lion frontman recently had a falling out with his Christian faith, but that doesn’t mean he can’t create personal, affective Christmas music that’ll tug at the heartstrings as you sing along to the classic songs.
“Cheery conformity is the enemy of ‘peace on earth, goodwill’ to all. Admit your despair to safe people in your life this Christmas. Be a safe person for others. Feel better. Jesus Christ, you guys,” Bazan says on the album.
If his own music isn’t slow enough, Bazan also includes a great cover of the great slow-core band Low’s “Long Way Around The Sea” as well as a cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” All of the covers are super lo-fi, deeply emotional and unlike most Christmas songs you’ve heard before in a while. As Bazan himself puts it, Dark Sacred Night is for “depressive weirdos who want to sit and process their feelings about Christmas and reflect on the good and the bad and the past and all the stuff that’s mixed together in the crazy cocktail that is the holiday season.”
Listen if you like: Sea Wolf, Damien Jurado, Matt Pond PA, Conor Oberst