The Post-Brexit Invasion
Depending on who you ask, you might hear rumblings about how the British Invasion of American music never ended. Originally coined in the mid-60s for some of the best music made by a bunch of blokes such as: The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Kinks, and a bunch of other bands that didn’t start with ‘the’. We’ve been inundated with fantastic music from the isles ever since. The Second British Invasion included a whole bunch of fantastic 80s artists like David Bowie and Elton John, and a bunch of middling ones like Rod Stewart, Phil Collins, and Queen. Wikipedia tells me there was a Third British Invasion in the 2010s, but they only cite Adele and Taio Cruz, so I don’t really count that, but I would absolutely count Dua Lipa & Charli xcx. I will also count the upcoming full-frontal assault of all-world rock bands the greater-British region is gearing up to unleash on us. We’re in a post-Brexit world, lived through a decade of conservative rule, and the new bands are pushing out music as if there’s a culture war to win.
note: this is focusing on 2025 releases with the exception of Black Midi. You’ll see a few shoutouts to non-English-but-Great-British bands and 2024 releases at the end.
Already Here: Black Country, New Road, Black Midi/Geordie Greep, Squid
Enough ink as been spilled on Black Country, New Road already. I wrote about them in my top100 list, there’s been over a dozen think-pieces on X (the everything app btw) about feminine vocals, and they got nominated for many awards. Their entire discography is fantastic. All three records will have a new sound for you to engross yourself into, whether it’s post-punk, lush indie rock, or modern folk. It’s up for you to hitch your wagon to one of those albums and make it a cornerstone of your personality (Ants from Up There is mine). They’ve already played Coachella. Forever Howlong released a few weeks ago. People love it, myself included, and it includes gems like: “Can never trust a man who’s drinking whiskey at the bar alone“
Black Midi, formally fronted by Geordie Greep, is/are one of the most exciting young artists in the world. After putting out three ridiculous displays of talent with Black Midi, Mr. Greep went solo and put out The New Sound, which combines so many noises and genres of music it’s hard to pin down. Everyone that’s way too online in way too many places knows this project. It’s an album by an artist that forces you to push what you’re content to listen to, with lyrics that absurd for the sake of absurdity. Black Midi already put out one certified classic (Hellfire), and at the pace he’s going, Greep might end up having a legendary career. Black Midi toured almost every major American festival.
Squid‘s a peculiar case. They’ve never charted in America, but always get great fantastic reviews & sell in the UK. Each project seems to combine some type of jazz, punk, rock, and a splash of politics into an audio stew. I do not think they’ll ever break through to America with such an esoteric sound, but they are swinging through the states this spring and have already released 3 good-to-great projects. Cowards came out in February and is absolutely worth your time if you like layered instrumentation over your rock.
On the Way: Courting, Heartworms, Divorce
2025 has been a funny, funny year for music. My favorite aspect is all of these British groups of varying fame putting out some genuinely sensational indie-sounding rock. Courting‘s project last month, Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story’ has 8 songs on it, 5 of them are absolutely fantastic. Fiona Apple-ass title, but c’mon, give it a spin. If you like nose-to-the-ground indie rock that makes you dance, you gotta! It’s a super funny project, blast beats show up randomly and the climax of the record ends in the middle of a sentence. It also has my favorite indie rock song of the year so far, Pause at You, and tries to loop on itself but fails to. Love it. Their 2024 project, New Last Name, divided fans with their use of autotune. I think it’s a blast.
Heartworms have one album. I know limited things about the band. One thing I do know, is the lead singer, Jojo Orme is emphatic. Glutton for Punishment released earlier this year to near universal acclaim from the British brass. It’s a sensational listen. Few projects are bold enough to combine gothic ascetics under punk rhythms, nonetheless with lyrics delivered straight to your gut yet still make you want to dance. It’s a 9 song album, and on my first listen I clicked the ♡ on 6 of the songs. Mad Catch gets stuck in my head at least once a week. If you love choruses that change each time you hear them, dancey bass, and powerful women then you just found your new favorite band.
Great, I’m happy you had a chance to dance or vibe out. Now it’s time to cry. Divorce released their debut alt-country album Drive to Goldenhammer earlier this year. Get on the bandwagon now. I don’t like comparisons too much, but this is the British answer to the question: ‘What if Waxahatchee and MJ Lenderman were in a band together and sung to each other?’ The gang’s all here: tongue & cheek lyrics, over the top dramatized delivery, with a sprinkle of tearing your heart out. On my first listen, I laughed, I cried, I lived, I loved. Where Do You Go is just… fantastic:
You say nothing
I say soon
But you can’t plan a week in Brigadoon
But you can really pleasе me
I never had to fall too far
Don’t know where I start
Where do you go? I don’t know. It’s such a sensational penultimate conclusion of a record that requires numerous listens and intent-full listening.
Grime & Dirt: Ditz, Maruja, Chalk
I’m happy you read this little braindump and looked up all those bands! I hope you loved some super layered indie music or found your new favorite indie pop jawn. If none of that was your style, welcome to the good stuff: gritty, gross, and in your face English post-punk. Drop that guitar to drop D, turn the bass up, bastardize the lyrical content, and really push the boundary of genre definitions. The first of these bands that made it’s way stateside in modern times was probably Idles, who’s 2018 album Joy as an Act of Resistance is simply stellar. I don’t know. I do know this is where the true innovation and the truly great pieces of art are going to come from. Here’s your new crop of mid-2020s superstars.
Ditz hurts. The bass is the point, and it’s grueling. On the last day of January in the blessed year of 2025, they released Never Exhale. You won’t, it’s a suffocating listen. Even on a first listen, you’re holding each and every breath as long as possible. Some dorks hate this record. They’re dorks. Your reward for a 31 minute suffocation is britney, a 7:27 long opus of post-rock and breakdowns. The journey goes across every social issue we’re fighting with, and C.A. Francis’ lyrical delivery will haunt you for weeks. At some point, Ditz will expand their style to include grandiose ideas. When they do, they’ll make a classic. In the meantime, holy moly am I overjoyed with what we’ve gotten between this and their 2022 debut The Great Regression.
You already know about Maruja, the most exciting band in the world. But do you know about Chalk? The 3-EP-no-album wondergroup has made a little over an hour of the most interesting rock-ish music I’ve ever heard. Sound familiar? I don’t get how England’s just pumping out these bands. Conditions – III EP came out on February 21st and it might be my most listened-to work in 2025. It’s a blistering project. At times it’s techno, more often than not it’s punk, sometimes it’s hardcore, I don’t even know if they consider themselves a band. It’s staggering. All three of Chalk’s EPs are worth your time; there’s not many better things to do with 15 minutes.
If you don’t know Maruja, I can only say their impending debut album will probably be a defining piece of rock music. This level of talent comes once a generation.
It Matters. I Promise.
Last year I wrote: “I’d personally love it if the culturally impactful records came out of America, or there was some semblance of cult of sound rather than cult of artist but I’m doubtful we’ll get that.” I’m still extremely doubtful it’s going to happen stateside. At this point, I’m embracing and WELCOMING our new British culture-masters. I want to dance to live bands, mosh to grueling breakdowns, and have my heart torn out by vivid lyricism. No American record label will even consider it, but a bunch of underground labels are really pushing the forefront of emo & pop punk right now. Instead, half of the bands I wrote about here are from the same pub/bar/venue/windmill in London: The Brixton Windmill. Half of these albums have been produced by Dan Carney and The Speedy Underground label. When this scene was budding, BCNR, Black Midi, and Squid were seen as the pioneers (apparently Black Midi had a residency at this pub). It’s no longer a budding-sound, it’s here, in full force.
The only time I can remember something like this happening was in the late 2000s and early 2010s when every person on the internet was in a post-hardcore or indie pop band. EPs were flying left, right, and center with 4 genre-specific songs and one ballad. It clearly wasn’t sustainable as tons of those artists don’t make music anymore, or were funded through the love of the game and giving CDs to their friends on campus. We don’t have that model anymore – giving mixtapes out, people trolling youtube looking for the next hot thing, or content aggregators. Additionally, American media has pretty much given up trying to publicize any upcoming talent. Closest thing we’ve got nowadays is the massive house music boom where every “no he’s actually good” DJ is pumping out bad-to-mid singles once a month but does have a soundcloud with 10k followers. Somehow, through the sheer force of good music, the new British Invasion has begun.
There’s no label for this style of music yet. Tons of publications, including myself, kinda like the post-punk label? It’s clear so many of these artists are influenced by some of the great masterpieces of the 80s, but it feels limiting. We’re on the precipice of some of the greatest music we’ve ever heard pushing sonic boundaries and song-writing capabilities to the point we can’t even try to codify it into a genre. There are some characteristics that blend through: spoken word vocals, killer drums & bass, superb talent, larger-than-normal band size, multiple vocalists, broad instrumentation, non-traditional song structure, and dorks like me paying attention. I’m doubtful any of these bands become festival headliners. I’m pessimistic if any of them play arenas stateside. I am hopeful their sound will influence Americans to at least try.
Not one of these bands is an algorithm merchant. It’s also wild looking at the top5 songs for these bands on Spotify vs. Apple music, there’s close to no overlap between any of them. It almost feels as though the listener bases are quite literally living in different music words, much akin to Americans and any inhabitant of the British Isles.
Here’s some numbers about these bands if you care about that sort of thing as of April 2025 when I drafted this:
| Artist | Monthly Spotify Listeners | Most Listened Song |
| Black Country, New Road | 1,312,056 | The Place Where He Inserted the Blade – 22m |
| Geordie Greep | 295,459 | Holy, Holy – 7.9m |
| Squid | 198,015 | G.S.K – 4.4m |
| Courting | 79,946 | Popshop! – 1.5m |
| Heartworms | 68,241 | Consistent Dedication – 631k |
| Ditz | 57,804 | Ded Wurst – 730k |
| Maruja | 152,444 | The Tinker – 2.1m |
| Chalk | 104,367 | Static – 853k |
| Fontaines D.C. | 4,162,461 | Starburster – 63m |
Other bands from Ireland, Northern Ireland, the UK, and whatever misnomers they call the Islands that have put out super sick music recently:
- Enola Gay – another “EP-only-no-album” band, this time from Belfast. Equally as exciting.
- SPRINTS – Letter to Self (2024) – Ireland: women-led noise rock full of guitar solos and rage
- The Last Dinner Party’s Prelude to Ecstasy (2024) released last year, probably going to play MSG at some point. Glam rock is so back.
- Yard Act – Where’s My Utopia (2024) – This is the most English new-wave album released in 40 years.
- Wet Leg – Wet Leg (2022) – Isle of Wight: more women-led post-punk that’s ready for the dance floor or a fist-fight. They’re releasing their sophomore album in July.
- caroline – caroline 2 – England: Coming soon! A band that loves harmonies and also improvisation? Never heard anything like it.
- Goat Girl – Below the Waste (2024) – England: Sometimes gothic, sometimes folk, exceptionally broad all the way through.
M&Ms: Music + Movies + Etc. 
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