Dear Indie Lovers,

It is Friday the 13th.

So apparently, I am supposed to scare you.

Black cats. Broken mirrors. Ladders you absolutely should not walk under. Strange noises coming from the basement.

And, considering the state of the world, I suppose we could easily find scarier material than that.

But I have a problem. Today, I don't really feel like talking about fear. I feel like talking about love. That stupid kind of love that makes you spend hours listening to music nobody asked you to listen to.

The love that makes an artist send a song across an ocean hoping that somewhere, somehow, someone will actually listen.

The love that makes musicians start again after disappointment.

The love that makes people organise concerts, share links, carry instruments, write lyrics, produce records, build radio shows, support each other and stubbornly continue creating while an algorithm politely suggests that perhaps nobody cares.

I care.

And after 111 editions of this strange little Weekly, I know many of you do too.

Maybe that's our Friday-the-13th superpower.

Love leads us almost everywhere. And sometimes, wonderfully, it prevents us from being afraid.

Even in music.

Especially in music.

Happy to have you!
Love - M

There are weeks when I wonder what exactly this whole Mitxoda thing has become.

A radio show? A newsletter? A website?

A collection of people scattered around the planet sending me pieces of themselves disguised as MP3 files?

Probably all of it.

But underneath all those things, there is something much simpler. I do love the indie movement.

There. I said it.

Independent music is not automatically better and every independent artist is not always a misunderstood genius.

But because there is something profoundly human in creating something without knowing whether the world will ever notice.

Making music without certainty. Releasing it without guarantees. Sending it to strangers.

…and starting again.

Finding another musician, another listener or one person who says:

I heard it.

Sometimes one person is enough. I truly mean it.

And her name is Olive.

I discovered Olive in France this autumn. And some discoveries don't need much explanation.

You hear a voice. You stop. That's it.

I first encountered her in a wonderfully simple setting: acoustic, intimate, together with her companion and tireless promoter Fabrice Merny.

No enormous production. No wall of screens. No artificial urgency telling you that THIS IS THE NEXT BIG THING.

Just an artist. Cover songs.

Presence.

And that little sensation I am always looking for: something true is happening here.

Today, Friday 13 November, Olive releases her new album OLIVE, in Liège in a happening night I won’t be able to attend, unfortunately.

Ten songs.

Or, as she puts it beautifully: “10 chansons, 10 fenêtres à ouvrir.”

Ten windows. I love that image.

Because this album sounds very much like the result of someone opening windows inside herself.

Olive describes it as an artistic rebirth, one she could not have undertaken alone.

French artist and producer Daran accompanied her through weeks of work, arrangements, creation, exhaustion and apparently quite a lot of laughter too.

Writers Emma Cosso, Pierre-Yves Lebert and Erwan Le Berre entrusted her with words that became doors into something more personal.

And around all of it stands a small ecosystem of people helping an artist become more herself rather than turning her into something easier to sell.

Including Fabrice, her wonderfully named “marinager”, carrying the project with her. I like that too.

Because independent music is rarely independent in the literal sense. Behind every supposedly “independent” artist is usually a strange little constellation of believers.

Friends. Musicians. Partners. Producers. People designing artwork at midnight. Someone carrying an amplifier. Someone sharing a post.

Someone saying: keep going.

Tonight Olive presents the album in an intimate release evening at Le Sauvage in Liège.

And today those ten windows are officially ours to open.

👉 Discover OLIVE: https://absil.one/olive-album.OFP

Olive on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oliveartiste

Fabrice Merny: https://www.facebook.com/fabrice.merny

I have absolutely no idea which of the ten songs will become yours.

That's the wonderful part.

Open the windows. And I thank them for the music.

A quick detour for those of you who prefer your Friday the 13th with considerably heavier guitars.

David Synn has a new progressive metal album out now. No complicated explanation required. Turn down the lights. Turn up the volume.

Enter at your own risk.

🎧 https://open.spotify.com/intl-fr/album/30KMyrZJRjnAFdcDvkqh6f

🎙️ Le Salon Indie #81 - Friday, November 13

Join me on OTAT247 Radio for another journey through independent sounds, familiar friends and unexpected discoveries.

Discover Le Salon Indie

Maybe we should be. There is plenty to fear.

Failure. Rejection. Silence. Getting older.

Starting over.

Sending the song. Playing the first concert. Releasing the album.

Saying I love this. Saying I love you. Saying this is who I am.

Artists do those things constantly. And perhaps that is one reason I love independent music so much.

It is full of people doing things before they know whether those things will work.

That's courage.

Pressing send. Publish.

Walking onto the stage. Opening another window.

So on this Friday the 13th, I won't tell you not to be afraid.

Fear exists. Let it.

Just don't give it the final decision. Because love leads to ridiculous places.

Songs. Friendships. Albums. Radio shows.

Newsletters that somehow reach issue 111.

And strange communities of people scattered around the planet who would probably never have met otherwise.

I love this indie movement. Quite simply.

And I love that you're part of it.

We'll continue all of this later today in Le Salon Indie de Mitxoda.

More music. More discoveries.

Probably a little darkness. Definitely some guitars.

And, if everything goes according to plan, considerably more love than fear.

See you in the Salon. And remember:

It's Friday the 13th.

Be afraid. But come anyway.

Mitxoda ❤️

Stay curious. Stay independent. And please, keep sharing.

P.S. If you know somebody who might enjoy this little weekly musical journey, forward them this email. No algorithm required.

P.P.S. Are you an independent musician with something new to share? You can always send your music through submit.mitxoda.be. The door is open.

Friday the 13th needs darkness, obviously. But this week's songs keep finding little cracks where the light gets in.

🇩🇪 🇬🇧 🇺🇸 Nadine de Macedo feat. Nick Lang UK — Within the Fallacy

Now THIS is a Friday-the-13th release.

Independent artists enter the online wilderness full of hope, and discover scammers, promises, predators and people ready to monetise their dreams.

Nadine and Nick turn that frustration into metal.

The frightening part?

The monsters in this song are real.

🇨🇦 Evil Creek — The Underneath

Some monsters don't live under the bed.

They live underneath us. Inside us.

Evil Creek strip things back to acoustic guitars and a bruised voice for a song about inner conflict, confession and everything we carefully avoid saying aloud.

Dark, raw and deeply human.

Perfect weather for Friday the 13th.

🇬🇧 The Stellar Anderson Project — Broken

What happens when two people keep talking but somehow never manage to say what they actually need?

They circle. They try again. They misunderstand.

They hurt. They return.

Broken lives in that uncomfortable space where communication exists but connection doesn't necessarily follow.

And sometimes reaching another human being is the bravest thing we do.

🇺🇸 🇳🇬 Ataraxia Music — Body Defined

This one nearly didn't become what it is. The first beat wasn't right. Adding a synth wasn't going to magically fix it.

So instead of settling, Ataraxia went back. Waited. Rebuilt.

Then Carlex Don wrote and recorded the vocals in Nigeria.

That is another form of love I recognise very well: refusing to release something simply because it is finished.

Sometimes a song needs you to argue with it first.

🇺🇸 Ben Trexel & Amanda Willis-Brice — One Step

Sometimes subtlety can wait outside. Big riff. Driving drums.

Amanda's voice climbing over the whole thing. And a chorus built for that irresistible moment when you suddenly discover you've turned the volume considerably higher than planned.

One step? You'll probably take several.

🇺🇸 一天的空间 (Space of a Day) — 哈星族 / Ha Xing Clan

There is another kind of fear we don't talk about enough: the moment when everything becomes too loud.

People. Expectations. Noise. Life.

And you simply need to step away.

This female-fronted indie-rock track understands that exhaustion can sometimes scream louder than anger.

🇫🇷 Retriever feat. Blondino — Bonifacio

And suddenly... Corsica. Salt air. Light.

A meeting with Blondino led Retriever to their first song in French, and the result has that hazy dream-pop quality where a place slowly becomes a memory while you're still standing inside it.

Not everything on Friday the 13th needs to happen in a haunted basement.

Some ghosts live in summer.

🇦🇷 Claudio Fondo — Más vale disfrutarla

The title says almost everything: might as well enjoy it.

Argentine cuarteto meets candombe in a song built around an extremely reasonable philosophy. Things hurt.

Life gets messy. You don't control everything.

So while we're here? Dance. Love.

Enjoy the bloody thing.

🇬🇧 Black Hats — Not With Another

Love again. Except this time, love has gone spectacularly wrong.

Black Hats begin where the romantic fantasy ends: if you're with the wrong person, perhaps the revolutionary act isn't staying.

It's leaving.

A bass-led swagger, frantic piano and enough post-punk DNA to make heartbreak surprisingly danceable.

Sometimes loving yourself means walking away.

🇺🇸 WHALEN — Super Sweet

And finally, perhaps because Friday the 13th has already had enough darkness: something warm.

WHALEN brings us Nashville-recorded Americana with melody, affection and absolutely no need to apologise for being sincere.

Sometimes love songs can simply be... love songs.

What a terrifying thought.

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

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 😆