Dear Indie lovers,

I hope you're doing well. I really do.

Sometimes, I wish we could simply meet somewhere, sit down over a good beer, a half-and-halves, or a Spritz, and just talk. About music, about life, about absolutely nothing. Under this exceptionally beautiful October sun, with nowhere else we need to be.

But why am I dreaming out loud?

Am I the only one imagining this, or do you sometimes feel the same?

What has changed between today and 108 weeks ago, when this little adventure began?

Something has. I'm sure of it.

I feel a connection. A growing sense that, despite the distance, the different languages, the different lives we lead, something keeps bringing us together.

I hope you feel it too.

That wonderfully stubborn indie spirit. The belief that, no matter what, we are ONE.

And that little word has been playing tricks on my mind.

There's ONE in lONEly.
There's ONE in hONEsty.
There's ONE in someONE.
There's ONE in mONEy.
And there's even ONE in prisONEr.

Funny, isn't it? How three little letters can hide inside words that mean such different things. Freedom and confinement. Togetherness and solitude. Things we value, things we fear, things we chase.

Perhaps being ONE isn't about being the same.

Perhaps it's about remaining ourselves while finding something that connects us.

But that's just my interpretation.

What does being ONE mean to you?

Seriously. I'd love to know.

Next Friday, October 23, will mark 70 years since the beginning of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

Seventy years.

There are dates that become history-book dates.
And then there are dates that somehow keep breathing.

October 23 is one of those.

In 1956, thousands of Hungarians, including my late father, his brother and sisters, went into the streets demanding freedom, political change and the right to decide what their country could become.

What followed was much bigger, darker and more tragic than the first demonstrations could have imagined.

But the spark remains.

The simple idea that things do not necessarily have to stay the way they are.

And perhaps that's one definition of independence I keep returning to here.

Not independence as isolation.

Independence as the possibility to create another path.

A few days ago, I asked indie artists to send me music for the upcoming Halloween edition of Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda.

I thought I'd receive a few tracks.

Maybe ten.

I have now received more than 50 submissions.

And around twenty tracks were submitted specifically for Halloween.

Twenty.

Apparently, somewhere out there, an alarming number of independent musicians were simply waiting for someone to say:

And you did.

Oh, you absolutely did.

🩸 Murder.
👻 Nightmares.
🤖 Machines taking over human beings.
😈 Satanic rituals.
🕯️ Strange atmospheres.
💀 And quite a few things I probably shouldn't listen to alone at 2am.

I love it.

But more than the number itself, what makes me happy is the enthusiasm behind it.

Messages. Stories. Explanations. New artists discovering the Salon. Artists already following the project coming back with something new.

It makes me want to continue.

Very much.

Well…

Almost.

There will still be music.

But for this week, and probably next week too, I'm deliberately slowing down.

The next editions of the Salon will be built around music without my voice.

Because I cannot listen to fifty new songs properly, prepare Halloween, answer everybody, run the radio show, create things, work, live…

…and somehow pretend I have discovered the secret 37-hour day.

I haven't.

So I'm taking some oxygen.

And perhaps you should too.

We have created a strange culture where stopping for a moment feels like falling behind.

It isn't.

Sometimes slowing down is simply how you make sure you still want to move forward afterwards.

Halloween can wait two weeks.

The monsters will still be there.

And while the ghosts remain locked downstairs for a little longer, here are some of the tracks that recently entered my orbit.

🇫🇷 Melancholic Thoughts — Éclaircie

A piano-driven song that begins in introspection and gradually opens its windows. Strings, organ and rock textures turn melancholy into something much brighter, exactly as its title promises.

🇧🇪 Vincent Claus — Spirit

Vincent's approach begins with sound itself: hear something, follow it, let the mood decide where the composition goes. There's something refreshingly instinctive about that idea, music before strategy.

🇬🇧 jay steppa — Prototype

A track built around a wonderfully uncomfortable question: when does technology stop being a tool and start becoming the one making the decisions?

Human versus machine.

Or perhaps human becoming machine.

🇺🇸 Cloud Blood — American Gestapo

Heavy music with an explicitly political purpose. Cloud Blood dedicate the track to people they say were killed by ICE agents, anger translated directly into sound.

Not background music.

And very much intended not to be.

🇩🇪🇺🇸 Nadine de Macedo feat. DJ Clark — Cryptonite

A melodic hardcore attack on crypto speculation, NFT culture and the enormous amounts of energy consumed in pursuit of artificial scarcity, prestige and hype.

Subtle?

Absolutely not.

And that's precisely the point.

🇳🇱 The Giant Low — Outside the Glass

Interpol, Editors and White Lies are useful reference points here: melodic synths, driving guitars, heavy bass and that familiar post-punk sensation of standing outside the world and watching everybody else move.

A very good title for that feeling, too.

I already know that the Halloween Salon is going to be ridiculous.

In the best possible way.

Among the things currently hiding inside the submission pile are tracks called:

Humanimal.
The Nightmare.
Doused In Blood.

You get the idea.

I'm keeping most of them away from you for now.

Halloween deserves its own room.

Its own lighting.

And possibly a lock on the door.

🎃 Special Halloween Salon — in two weeks.

More soon.

More than fifty submissions could very easily become a problem.

Instead, it feels like proof of life.

Proof that independent artists are still creating strange things, taking risks, sending songs into the unknown and hoping somebody on the other side will actually listen.

I am listening.

Maybe a little more slowly this week.

But I'm listening.

And seventy years after people went into the streets believing another future was possible, that idea feels particularly worth holding onto:

things can change because someone decides they should.

Sometimes with thousands of people in the streets.

Sometimes with three chords.

Sometimes with one weird song sitting in somebody's inbox.

See you in the Salon.

Mitxoda

Every Friday at 4:00 PM (Brussels time) a new episode of Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda will take place on salon.mitxoda.be, don’t miss it.

One word. A few clues. Your indie brain against the clock.

SOME THOUGHTS NEED A LITTLE MORE SPACE.

I've written a little more about freedom, fifty unexpected musical gifts and why I'm deliberately slowing down before Halloween.

And I'd love to hear what you think.

Continue the conversation on the Mitxoda blog →

One question is waiting for you there. Actually, two.

Play Soundcheck → One word. A few clues. Your indie brain against the clock.

Vote in the Weekly 100 → Help independent songs climb the community ranking.

Listen to Le Salon Indie → Two hours inside the independent music world.

Submit a Song → Making music yourself? Send it to Mitxoda.

END 😆