SoundCloud indie

SoundCloud indie (also known as BandLab rock) is a style of indie rock that emerged in the early 2020s. The genre is defined as a form of indie and alternative rock emerging from the SoundCloud rap underground scene while primarily distributed on the online streaming service SoundCloud. The style draws primary influences from artists such as Alex G, Wifiskeleton and Jaydes.

In 2025, the style grew in popularity on TikTok, with artists making use of beatmaker techniques, Alex G samples, drum machines, looped guitar beats, and sound effect ad-libs. Notable acts include Aeter, Ayowitty, Crayon, Yiru, Bunii, and Overtonight.

In August 2025, music critic Kieran Press-Reynolds, writing for Pitchfork , coined the term "BandLab rock", referring to the free online digital audio workstation, to describe "a new wave of SoundCloud indie rock" made by artists emerging from the underground SoundCloud rap scene who began to take an interest in alternative rock music while using beatmaker techniques.^[2] Press-Reynolds referred to the movement as an "online 'indie music' boom".^[2]

According to music critic Kieran Press-Reynolds, SoundCloud indie artists tend to be members of SoundCloud collectives and use beatmaker techniques like opening and ending songs with slowed versions of the instrumental, or "spamming sound effects like ad-libs."^{[2] [3]} Press-Reynolds noted that bedroom producers in the scene posted video tutorials on YouTube for "indie rock beats (without a real guitar)".^[2] They also noted that the genre "is closer to emo—often aggressively dramatic, either in the volatile sounds or the woe-stricken lyrics", and that the genre was made up of underground rappers who decided to make alternative rock.^[2]

Writing for the Fader , music journalist Vivian Medithi stated that the scene was influenced by the work of Paramore and Alex G while defined by the prominence of bedroom artists who made use of modern beatmaker recording techniques such as "punched-in vocals", adlibs and drum machines, adding that the scene puts a "digital touch" on alt-rock music.^[3] Medithi described the genre as existing between "traditional indie rock" and "the hyper-collaborative, Discord-based structures of underground rap".^[4]

The scene is primarily inspired by artists Jaydes and Wifiskeleton.^[2] Artist Ayowitty stated that in 2025 a new wave of musicians began producing "wifiskeleton type songs" and replicating his sound to the point of cliche, with fellow artist Bunii adding that artists imitating wifiskeleton's sound were popular across TikTok.^[2]

In August 2025, music critic Kieran Press-Reynolds, writing for Pitchfork , credited musicians Jaydes and Wifiskeleton with inspiring a "new wave of SoundCloud indie rock".^[2] They compared them to American rapper XXXTentacion, who had similarly emerged from SoundCloud rap and later made rock music.^[2] They noted that "a particular strain of depressive droning over looped guitar beats [had] really taken off in the last year."^[2] Notable artists in the scene are Aeter, Ayowitty, Crayon, Yiru, Bunii, and Overtonight.^{[2] [1] [5]}

• Zoomergaze — a Gen Z revival of shoegaze
• Incelcore — an Internet music microgenre inspired by incel culture
• Internet rock — style of rock music inspired by Internet culture, which SoundCloud indie is a derivative of

• Microgenres
• 21st-century music genres
• 2020s in music
• Musical subcultures
• Internet music genres
• Indie rock

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata