Tugboat Records

Indie pop is a melodic, DIY-rooted branch of alternative music that blends the immediacy of pop songwriting with the independence and aesthetics of underground scenes. It typically features jangly, clean-toned guitars, tuneful bass lines, compact song structures, and intimate, literate lyrics that balance sweetness with subtle melancholy. The sound often leans toward bright chord progressions, earworm choruses, and understated production, favoring charm and personality over gloss. Culturally, indie pop is tied to small labels, fanzines, and community radio, with influential scenes and imprints such as Postcard, Sarah, and Creation laying the groundwork for its global diffusion.

Pop is a broad, hook-driven style of popular music designed for wide appeal. It emphasizes memorable melodies, concise song structures, polished vocals, and production intended for radio, charts, and mass media. While pop continually absorbs elements from other styles, its core remains singable choruses, accessible harmonies, and rhythmic clarity. Typical forms include verse–pre-chorus–chorus, frequent use of bridges and middle-eights, and ear-catching intros and outros. Pop is not defined by a single instrumentation. It flexibly incorporates acoustic and electric instruments, drum machines, synthesizers, and increasingly digital production techniques, always in service of the song and the hook.

Tontipop is a Spanish indie-pop movement characterized by sugary melodies, childlike hooks, and knowingly "silly" (tonti) lyrics delivered with irony and charm. It blends the naivety of 1960s yé-yé and sunshine pop with the immediacy of bubblegum pop and the DIY sparkle of indie and synth-pop. Arrangements favor bright, toy-like timbres (Casio keyboards, handclaps, tambourines), brisk 4/4 rhythms, and simple, singalong refrains full of sha-la-las and ba-ba-bas. While playful on the surface, the songs often hide clever wordplay, cultural references, and bittersweet undercurrents, turning "silliness" into a pop-aesthetic stance. The scene coalesced in late-1990s Spain around indie labels and fanzines, positioning itself as an alternative to rockist seriousness. It celebrates immediacy, brevity, and melodic craftsmanship, often with a retro-modern, pastel-colored visual identity.