15 Italian Indie Artists You Need to Know Today

From rock tenors, psychedelic heroes to electronic poetry and industrial beats, Italian music has so much to offer than romantic pop.

There is a misconception that Italian music is dated, tacky and too corny. Even my Italian friends don’t understand how I listen to artists from their home country. But to be honest most of them don’t know the tracks when I play for them. But if you listen without prejudice, an entire universe can open up before your eyes (ears?).

Today’s Italian indie music scene is accessible, diverse and melodically perfect for the state of the world today. Its innocence is a breath of fresh air, its poetry can amuse and confuse. Younger artists such as Calcutta and Gazzelle travel intensely between lanes of joy and melancholy, disarming the listener before delivering a punch to the stomach. There is the dramatic play of Viito and the irreverence of Pinguini Tattici Nucleari. Popstars with a pedigree like Tommaso Paradiso, who left his band, Thegiornalisti, as soon as they climbed to the summit of success. There is the classic traditionalism of Diodato, the star of the last San Remo Festival, the most important cultural event in the country.

Another interesting trait of modern Italian indie, which began to be forged by groups like Il Cani, is that it’s impossible to label. Anyone who travels through Italy listening to the radio will understand how pop there is divided between exaggerated romanticism and dance hits influenced by reggaeton. Even more so in the summer, when the country stops and goes to its sunny seaside towns in search of fun and il tormentone dell’estate, as they call the “big hit of the summer”. The indie music there does not deny these roots though –some take sides with what many may consider tacky, but always subverting into something unexpected and even magical.

To ease your entry into the charming and fascinating world of Italian indie scene, I have prepared a list of 15 Italian artists that you should know NOW –and a playlist that I will update frequently. I hope you fall in love the same way I did with the new Italian music, and when normalcy returns to the world, we can have wine, eat cheese and say, “Dude, Italian music is really a lot…