Hello again!

AIRHeads here! We are Yaniv, jphn, Kamotch, Bat Ramps, TheOreo, EdTanguy and BornGamerRob, and it’s time for the third and last part of our huge indie project! If you’ve missed the previous parts, here they are:

Part 1 (2000-2006)

Part 2 (2007-2016)

Today’s release will cover 2017 up until the present. So let’s jump right in, because we’ve got yet another mega pack for you today!

Kicking things off, British rockers Nothing But Thieves provide the second (much-heavier) “Amsterdam” in this release, and both St. Vincent and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever continue the trend of naming songs after locations with the synthpop banger “Los Ageless” and jangle pop jam “Julie’s Place” respectively. Mellowing things out, we have the brilliant indie pop hit “Yam Yam” by No Vacation and the even bigger hit “Motion Sickness” from iconic indie folk artist Phoebe Bridgers 1/3 of boygenius!

2018:

Another great year for music and for our pack. Rising indie star Mitski bring the catchy and super-popular “Washing Machine Heart”, while indie outfit Soccer Mommy release their first album, led by “Your Dog”, a catchy song about feeling like you belong to someone else and wanting to break free from that grip. For the punk kids, we have The Interrupters with the super catchy ska-punk of “She’s Kerosene”, while Frank Turner ponders what America and the world are coming to in his sharply-written anti-fascist banger “1933”. And meanwhile, Summer Salt are “chillaxin’ by the pool” and perform “Rockin’ My Paw”, a charming and wholesome tribute to their beloved dog.

2019:

Great year for punk fans! Modern punk mainstays IDLES release the non-album single “Mercedes Marxist,” and Canadian punkers PUP deliver the anthemic “Kids!” Marking a (successful) departure from his country roots, Sturgill Simpson releases the boogie rock banger “Sing Along,” and Vampire Weekend release the upbeat “This Life,” with an instrumental that contrasts heavily with its darker lyrical themes. Finally, singer-songwriter Faye Webster showcases her melancholic alt-country stylings on “Kingston.”

2020:

The year widely remembered for the breakout of COVID, have seen Fiona Apple release “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” – maybe the biggest indie-lockdown album of the year, and getting the first 10.0 grade from Pitchfork in 10 years. The album is represented here by the masterful “Cosmonauts”. Elsewhere, The Lemon Twigs bring some 60’s flavored rock with the catchy and fun “The One”, Waxahatchee – project of singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield – bring the touching “Lilacs”, the highly influential punk-rocker Jeff Rosenstock (of Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches) brings us “The Beauty of Breathing,” and Texan instrumental rock trio Khruangbin team up with soul singer Leon Bridges for the gorgeous “Texas Sun”, with some memorable lead guitar.

2021:

Moving onto 2021, post-punkers Parquet Courts and Kiwi Jr. deliver the absolutely danceable “Walking at a Downtown Pace” and the energetic “Cooler Returns” respectively, and American post-metal band Deafheaven lean a bit more into their shoegaze influences on the six-minute “Great Mass of Color”!.

2022:

2022:

We’re almost at the end, and this is the biggest year of the project – with no less than 12 songs from 2022 available! So let’s get to it.

2022 brings us some strong female-fronted rock: Wet Leg have taken England by storm, and we bring you their catchy “Ur Mum”, Beach Bunny continue their success with “Weeds” from their second full length album, while New Zealanders The Beths have wowed the indie world with their “Expert in a Dying Field” album and title track. Singer songwriter Lucy Dacus – another 1/3 of boygenius – brings her nostalgic “Kissing Lessons”, telling teenage stories of her first kiss, while newcomers to the math rock scene Pool Kids step up their game with the absolute banger that’s “Conscious Uncoupling”.

On the more punky corner, we have Irish post-punk outfit Fontaines D.C. release their brilliant “I Love You”, Viagra Boys who took festival stages by storm with their energy bring the catchy “Punk Rock Loser”, British band White Lies bring their epic “I Don’t Want To Go To Mars”, while legends Pixies are still doing their thing and sounding great with “There’s a Moon On”.

Elsewhere, former American Idol contender Briston Maroney released “Paradise”, with melodic bass-lines and jangly guitars, the classic live-monsters Foals, raise the roof with their catchy dancy indie-pop with “Wake Me Up”, while talented violinist/whistler/singer/songwriter Andrew Bird sings his brilliant and charming “Make a Picture”.

2023:

Ending strong with seven more songs, all released within the last 12 months! New Jersey-based garage-rockers Screaming Females bring the mathy opener to their (seemingly) last album “Brass Bell,” and emo duo Origami Angel tap into some surprising surf rock influences on the incredibly fun “Thank You, New Jersey” – a workout on all core instruments! All-girls outfit The Aquadolls continue the fun with “Spotlight,” and The Gaslight Anthem mark their reunion with the lead single “Positive Charge,” their first new song since 2014. Singer-songwriter glaive releases his debut album with the lead single “as if,” covering themes of identity and self-acceptance, while bedroom pop artist d4vd finds inspiration in the character Rue Bennett of Euphoria on “WORTHLESS.” Last, but not least, Chris Farren ends our pack with the noise pop “Bluish,” leaving us with the final words of “it’s been such a long night” – somewhat fitting, considering how long this entire pack has been in the works for.

Phew! By my count, those were 43 more songs, taking the overall song count of this project to a monstrous 131 songs! You can check them out in this Spotify playlist:

Go ahead and shuffle it, there’s a lot of surprises to discover!

And that’s it! It started as a much smaller project and grew into this huge project, which yielded not only a lot of customs, but also a new authoring groups called AIRHeads. I would like to thank my fellow authors in the group – jphn, Kamotch, Bat Ramps, TheOreo, EdTanguy and BornGamerRob – it’s been a lot of fun working on this together! AIRHeads will keep existing and we’re already discussing our next projects, so stay tuned.

If you love what you’ve been seeing throughout the event so far, please consider donating to the National Down Syndrome Society if you can! It isn’t required by any means, but it supports a phenomenal cause by empowering individuals with Down syndrome and their families!

Next up, the great Ungrateful Dead with yet another megapack – making today probably the most insane days I can remember for customs!