A few indie albums by up-and-coming artists to add to your playlist

Editor’s note: This article has been updated with the name of Dalton Wayne and the Warmadillos’ newest album.

“There’s something about the swamp air here that makes a really different kind of songwriting,” says Mookie Darden of local band Baby in the ‘90s. Perhaps that’s why Baton Rouge’s music community is as eclectic as both its clientele and contributors. Here’s a handful of records to check out this fall.

Self Portraits: The Most Self of Portraits by Crumble

Under the stage name Crumble, Duncan Barkley combines electronic, hardcore, math rock and jazz into fast-paced, upbeat dance music. During the pandemic, Barkley traveled the country in a van. From May 7, 2020, to March 7, 2022, the adventure coalesced into 100 songs across a series of four albums, collected as Self Portraits. “It was very helpful, inspiration-wise, to be in different places,” Barkley says.

Null by Nocturnal Broadcast

Combining roots, math, progressive rock and jazz on a March album, Null, and at shows at spots like Yes We Cannibal, Mid City Ballroom and Chelsea’s Live. “I think it’s crucial to go out and experience other people’s work to feel inspired and motivated or energized to do my own,” Connor LaCour says. 

To a Dark Boy by Wakai 

Raised on soul, motown, psychedelic funk and hip-hop, Wakai—real name Austin Johnson—struggles to identify his style. “My sound is gumbo,” he says. Forming a studio at 15 and the musical group Cul De Sac Collective, he branded himself Wakai, an acronym for “When America Kills All Informed.” His latest, To a Dark Boy, pays homage to Gwendolyn Bennett’s poem “To a Dark Girl.” Watch for an EP entitled Flashbacks next. 

No Problem by Shipwrecked

Shipwrecked’s sound is inspired by guitarist and singer-songwriter David Bankston’s youth during the 2000s. Alongside guitarist Garrett Howell, bassist Jade Marais and drummer Hannah Hyman, the band debuted in 2017. “We grew up in the pop-punk, emo boom and we wear that on our sleeves,” Bankston says. These influences are clear on No Problem.

Rebuilt from Memory by Baby in the ‘90s

The indie-rock band owes its name to a childhood on the cusp of the millennium, says guitarist and song-writer Mookie Darden. “People my age were babies in the ’90s,” Darden says. “It gives a certain aesthetic I like to put in my music, of Nintendo 64 and hanging with friends in the summer.” It’s resulted in two EPs, a studio album, Rebuilt from Memory, and a second album underway.

We’ll do it live (Live at Chelsea’s) by Dalton Wayne and the Warmadillos

Dalton Wayne and the Warmadillos blend metal, punk-rock and country. In 2018, Wayne was joined by drummer Mark DuPont, guitarist James McCann, guitarist Joey Holoway and pianist Josie Menard. “We don’t sound like anything in Baton Rouge,” Tillman says. That shows on a studio album, a live EP recorded at Chelsea’s Live, and a new album due in the fall.

This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of 225 magazine.