Welcome to “Underrated Artists,” an entertainment column from the St. Louis Park Echo covering unpopular and unknown artists. Every week, a different Echo staffer takes on the role of a writer, reviewing single releases and albums from four underrated artists.
I only found MarQ recently when my friend sent me a link to one of his songs and told me he was “Malcolm Todd-esque.” I listened to it and my friend was very right. MarQ sounds exactly like Malcolm Todd. He is similar in every way, and my favorite song of his is “On & Off.” It’s pretty fast-paced and has a steady tempo throughout the song. The electric guitar in the intro and throughout the song is one of my favorite parts. It has a very similar vibe to “Roommates” by Malcolm Todd. MarQ is an amazing artist if you like summer vibes, and he brings a twist to typical indie music by giving it a more upbeat, fast-paced vibe. I am very excited to listen to MarQ more in the future, and, from what I have already heard, I can assure you that he is a great artist.
Lowertown is a band made up of a boy and a girl from Atlanta. They met each other during their sophomore year of high school and decided to start making music together the summer before junior year. Since then, they have recorded and produced three full albums and plenty of other singles. A big reason I like them so much is that they clearly make music that resonates with them. They don’t change a song because they think it would make it more popular, they make the music for themselves. This gives their music a very unique feel and is likely part of the reason they are so underrated. They fall under the alternative/indie genre, which is pretty broad considering that “alternative” really just means that it’s unique. I can’t find a good artist to compare them to, but, if I had to guess, people who enjoy Alex G, Surf Curse or Backseat Lovers would like them. I was introduced to them by my girlfriend who heard them in concert a few years ago when they opened for Beabadoobee. They have an eerie feel in a lot of their songs. They include lo-fi elements but tend to be very clear with their voice and lyrics. There are instrumentals are present but soft and usually acoustic. Although they are unique, Lowetown is still an amazing band and they deserve to be heard.
“Lookaround” was a song that came up on my Spotify daylist. It was different from the type of music I used to listen to. It was a rock song with very emotional elements and raw vocals. It had longer breaks for instrumentals before coming back to the lead singer’s sad voice. It was new, but I was open to hearing more. Edgehill is the band who created “Lookaround,” because of much this song interested me, I decided to listen to the rest of their music, and enjoyed it just as much. They were more versatile than I expected, and the vibes of their songs ranged from heavy rock to even some pop music. There were sad, happy and loving songs. Eventually, I saw that they were coming to perform a concert here in St. Paul. My dad took me and my brother to watch, and we were pleasantly surprised by how young every member was— they were barely out of high school and already touring the country. The songs they write do a beautiful job of evoking emotion in the listener through the lyrics and the sound.
“Edgehill” was an amazing band live, but they were only opening for another group. Once I bought the tickets to Edgehill, I decided to check out the headline artist Dexter and The Moonrocks. This band leaned into intense rock a lot more than I expected. The music was loud, the vocals were pure and they put on an amazing show. I do not listen to many artists similar to them but I enjoy their music every time I listen. The first song I really liked from them was called “She Likes Girls.” It’s a song with great drums and electric guitar which take over the beat at times, but it still has the lyrics at the focal point. After I saw them live I immediately started to listen to more of their songs. Listening to their music at a high volume gives a heaven-like experience, and all of their songs are great. If you like classic rock artists then for sure check them out.
