Is "Indie Sleaze" Really Back?

This piece originally appeared on June 2, 2023 in Sound Signal, our biweekly newsletter that identifies emerging artists, scenes, and trending tracks, crafted by the world's best writers and curators. Sign up here to never miss our take on what's next in music.

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Since late 2021, culture publications and meme accounts alike have been chattering about the return of “Indie Sleaze.” Spin declared 2022 “The Year of Indie Sleaze,” a mid-’00s maximalist aesthetic characterized by post-9/11, peak Myspace ethos. Soundtracked by bloghouse and electroclash, and inhabited by the likes of Sky Ferreira, Beth Ditto, The Strokes, M.I.A., Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Girl Talk, et al. The term didn’t exist until early 2021, when an Instagram account, @indiesleaze, popped up, and subsequently went viral.

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Within the past year, a small group of New York-based musicians have seized the appellation and claimed its associated vibe as their own. It began with The Dare, aka Harrison Patrick Smith, who snagged a Republic Records signing with only two singles: “Girls” and “Good Time,” both songs about sex and partying, both reminiscent of The Rapture and The Virgins’ NYC-centric dance-rock (themes that have inspired a mild moral panic from conservative onlookers around the world). Through sharp social media branding, The Dare quickly became a local sensation, making appearances at seemingly every hot party and show in the city.

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Alongside Smith is Blaketheman1000, whose Dimes Square-referencing lo-fi rap-meets-hyperpop track “Dean Kissick” became a quiet phenomenon (14K YouTube views and 168K Spotify streams, still steadily climbing) after its release last August. Similarly to The Dare, Blaketheman1000 hasn’t released much music — and it is likewise imbued with a celebratory feeling, and focused on sex, parties, and hanging out in New York City, baby.

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Self-promoted or not, the so-dubbed “Indie Sleaze” revival is definitely a thing. Three years into COVID and people seem to be craving party scenes again — the messy, hedonistic kind of the mid-’00s. Evidenced equally by word-of-mouth, mounds of press (including a recent GQ profile of The Dare and an NME explainer), and Spotify’s “Indie Sleaze” playlist, which features these artists alongside MGMT, Ladytron, STRFKR, and Sleigh Bells.

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