Mix No. 68 // Indie Sleaze
I must admit I cannot stand and almost resent the term ‘Indie Sleaze.’ Maybe it’s because I’m an aging geriatric millennial and I refuse to admit the formative young adult years of my life are now a micro trend for the youth in the same way we thought the 80’s was probably a totally rad time to grow up in. That said, getting to revisit this timeframe and many of the songs that defined it or at the very least defined my experiences during the time was actually pretty fun.
If you’ve been online nearly anywhere from TikTok to Instagram, you probably have heard of the great ressurection of Indie Sleaze. It’s a term that has been tossed around and conjures the nostalgia for a messy, glittered-soaked era of indie music, DIY aesthetics, hedonistic house parties, and whatever the Tumblr era was.
What is Indie Sleaze?
Indie Sleaze isn’t a musical genre - despite what the youth probably want you to believe - it’s a vibe, a lifestyle and an aesthetic. It’s the chaotic love child of the late 2000s and early 2010s, when Myspace was the king of the social media castle, American Apparel was the uniform, and everyone’s Friday night was spent finding a warehouse party or hitting up the best dive bar in town. It was a cultural midpoint between hipster irony and unfiltered decadence. Indie Sleaze captures the deliberately unpolished moments of smudged eyeliner, sweaty dance floors, and Polaroid flash photography. It is also marked by the unapologetic embrace of indie rock and all of the subgenres like electroclash and dance-punk that defined an era where iPod playlists were a prized possession (and songs were immediately ruined by use in an iPod commercial).
The Sound of Indie Sleaze
When setting out to make a playlist themed around Indie Sleaze, I had to do some real digging to find out where things sat. Weird I know, but it felt truly insulting to call so many bands and songs I love “sleaze.” But the best thing about making this playlist was getting to finally be eclectic without making sense. Indie Sleaze is the place where dancable electronic mixes with indie rock anthems. It’s bands where The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Arctic Monkeys coexist with Crystal Castles, LCD Soundsystem and Justice. The sound that expertly captures the essence of being young, restless, and slightly reckless.
The resurgence is part of a broader cultural cycle of nostalgia. The longing for a more carefree escape from hyper-curated, algorithm-driven digital lives. Musically it’s about the hunger for authenticity and energy. Indie Sleaze is the antithesis of overproduced pop - it’s messy, bold, and alive. This mix captures my favorite parts of Indie Sleaze, and I’ll admit it was hard to choose even these ones. I could have made a playlist days long. This playlist has some gritty indie rock and synth-heavy electro tunes. It feels like starting the night with a cigarette on the fire escape and ends with boots sticking to a beer-soaked floor.
Embrace the chaos, the glamour, and the grit. Indie Sleaze isn’t about perfection - it’s about passion, energy, and living in the moment. So enjoy, hit play, turn it up, and let the music take you back to an era of utterly unfiltered cool.
