The Realbads – the indie pop you haven’t heard, but should
It’s no secret that I love finding new music. The age of the internet has opened a lot of doors for music discovery, and it’s an exciting, albeit semi-daunting time for the indie artist. Easy enough to be found, not so easy to stand out amongst all the other bedroom crooners of the world. It’s also no secret that I’m an absolute sucker for DIY lady (and nonbinary) pop from kids singing about how love has done them wrong. When I can find that in upstate New York? All the better. This brings us to The Realbads.
The homegrown Ithaca outfit boasts but one album, Here Come the Realbads, yet that doesn’t make them any less impactful. Produced by Binghamton native Hunter Davidsohn, the album takes you on a languid journey through life’s trivialities and makes them feel necessary and relatable. My favorite track off the record? Cutie Boys.
Through a steady stream of guitar-driven haze, subtle distortion, and stylishly lethargic vocals, The Realbads stake their claim on the DIY scene among the likes of Angel Olsen, QUARTERBACKS, and Waxahatchee. The band has a comforting, familiar feel with enough individualistic style to make their sound distinguishable. Not quite folky, not quite punk, not overly rock-oriented but not really pop, the group lands somewhere in the Venn Diagram of genres between identifiable and ambiguously enjoyable.
In an unfortunate progression of events, The Realbads are no longer functioning as an active band. Their latest activity can be tracked back to 2015, and their album was released in October 2014. But don’t worry! Not only is the internet forever, but you can continue to jam to the moody conceptions of a portion of The Realbads via their current venture, Izzy True. Gone but not forgotten, you can also still find their single release delve into tracks like the animated dream state that is Prom Night.
Tune into Dailey Discoveries 11 a.m. on Tuesdays for more indie findings and local highlights.