Best Ever Albums

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

maxperenchio — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:21:26 GMT

Author: maxperenchio

Posted: 10/10/2009 10:21

Oooh, really liked that Pitchfork article, thanks for sharing Shankly. As far as my opinion of the current state of indie, I think this decade has been a weird one. I see tons of indie shows here in Chicago, and theres just a lot of stuff going on, different camps- very hard to sort out. I live on the west side and everyone seems to love garage rock. A buddy of mine let me borrow his ipod on a car trip the other day, and its was just loaded with millions of 2000 era garage bands. It could have literally been one band for all i knew.

I hear "Dude you gotta see this band tonight" just about... every night. And its usually the same scene; a bunch of really out there dudes playing some noisy, easy music that people just eat the fuck up. And I cant help but get disappointed with what a lot of the "extreme hipster" crowd likes, because it is usually extremely derivative, as temporarily cool as it is. A lot of the indie scene seems to be a competition in the study and application of past indie music.

I adore the fathers of the camp of "pleasant indie" that was mentioned- Belle and Sebastian, Elliott Smith, etc. But I generally can't listen to the National without wanting to die of boredom. And I think the "experimental" camp is generally usually louder but just as boring ideologically- never really improving much on the models set by early noise bands.

For me its not about the camps as much as it is just about individual bands. I remember seeing Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, and Battles before their general acceptance and thinking wowwwww, this is gonna be huge and awesome. It was fresh, important, and even innovative. But there aren't many bands like that, to me at least.

And for the record, I hate Vampire Weekend. Not because "there shouldnt be a band like that"... but because I genuinely hate their music. Almost to a point where I at least can give them credit for evoking such a strong reaction in my soul. Not many bands can mix everything I hate about indie-pop music into one odious romp of bullshit. Its not charming.

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

telefunker — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 18:23:15 GMT

Author: telefunker

Posted: 10/07/2009 22:23

well yeah, r.e.m were pioneers, or torch bearers for the whole indie movement.. but nothing since them has really inspired me.. much the same with nirvana and the deluge of grunge/post grunge bands.. or michael jackson and the legions of ushers and neyos..

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

CellarDoor — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 17:48:32 GMT

Author: CellarDoor

Posted: 10/07/2009 21:48

And my APOLOGIES for my horrific frenglish : "my excuses" ???!!

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

Mr. Shankly — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 15:22:43 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 10/07/2009 19:22

telefunker wrote:

if this thread is strictly indie, i have no business with it

apart from 80s rem, i'm not a fan

So, let me get this straight: You like the band that was one of the pioneers of indie rock, but you don't care for any of the bands that R.E.M. influenced or that came in their wake? Interesting.

No, this isn't necessarily a strictly indie only thread. Your post above was interesting and thought provoking.

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

telefunker — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:57:41 GMT

Author: telefunker

Posted: 10/07/2009 16:57

if this thread is strictly indie, i have no business with it

apart from 80s rem, i'm not a fan

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

CellarDoor — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:17:12 GMT

Author: CellarDoor

Posted: 10/07/2009 16:17

Oh ! My excuses for forgetting Sufjan Stevens. Great great artist !!!!

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

CellarDoor — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 12:08:03 GMT

Author: CellarDoor

Posted: 10/07/2009 16:08

I'm a great indie fan (check my chart if you doubt my word).

But I must confess, at the moment I'm getting overwhelmed by exciting OLD stuff (I'm plugged into Can's "Ege Bamyasi" while writing this).

Not that new releases aern't good (I thourouly enjoy MPP), but let's face it, they're not in the same league as the 90s/early 00s indie community (Mr Shankly points out Belle & Sebastian, The Shins, Liz Phair, all in my chart).

In the last decade, I haven't really one stand out indie album with a concept, a creative new sound and interesting lyrics. I guess only "Funeral" by Arcade Fire could fit that description.

I'm 24 and slightly disillusioned by the recent indie groups, getting more and more folky (in a bad way - if they were all Van Morrisons it would be different) and sticking to conventional productions. Could it be because the failing music industry is pushing artists to more bankable sounds (MPP's electro-pop is NOT surprising) ? (this probably is a rhetorical question anyhow).

Let's cut financially correct music, and hope there are still artists out there working on innovetive new sounds.

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

badfaith — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 08:19:21 GMT

Author: badfaith

Posted: 10/07/2009 12:19

We don't get old, we just get free of the oppressions of peer group and social tastes, and develop our own tastes. Personally I think this makes for a richer, more diverse musical experience... Perhaps the Indie question should be put to younger music fans, it's more relevant to them, It is after all, supposed to speak to their generation where as we can like whatever the hell we want, and blame it on the oldness!!!

I'm done with pitching my tent in this camp or the next.

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

telefunker — Wed, 7 Oct 2009 04:42:18 GMT

Author: telefunker

Posted: 10/07/2009 08:42

credit to anyone who continues to learn throughout life

it is an absolute phallacy that the brain loses it's neuro-plasticity.. it seems to me that so much of life is new when you're under 30 (or whatever number is relevant to you) that you are naturally learning new things all the time due to the evolving nature of your environment and understanding of it

however, it also seems to me that most people then become stuck in a routine which is inherently self-limiting and seldom seek out any of the alternate stimuli, knowledge and opinions that the world has to offer

and i think the reason older people find 'new' music so indifferent is probably because it isn't that new anyway. when you've heard the same scales, riffs, licks, tunes, motifs, lyrics recycled for 40 odd years, what's new? kings of leon, fleet foxes, ladyhawke etc.. all 'new' artists that i like.. but none of them doing anything 'new' at all

the other problem is that by this point the mind has probably been conditioned by repetition and social factors into a staunch pattern of musical preferences.. so upon its exposure to something genuinely new, it has a tendency to recoil and reject it.. for example, if i'd heard trout mask replica for the first few years of my life or as an impressionable teenager vying for social acceptance, it might've topped my list today

anyway, i think the key to learning is emotional involvement.. babies/children learn quickly because their survival depends on it.. and by survival i also mean social acceptance/ego validation

the mind is incredibly powerful throughout life though, just check out a few NLP videos on youtube.. when you can speak directly to the mind, without all the emotional blockages, you can - in an instant - memorize entire books just by flipping through them, learn to see red as green, pretty much anything

Re: Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

RFNAPLES — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 23:50:55 GMT

Author: RFNAPLES

Posted: 10/07/2009 03:50

I find my tastes in music evolving but not forgetting the past either. I try to stay current with the music of the day. When I was younger I liked some music more than others, the same is true today. Sometimes it is a bit harder to appreciate the new until you have heard it a few times (then it is no longer new!) I hope to ever increase my musical palate.

Reflections on Indie Rock and Getting Older

Mr. Shankly — Tue, 6 Oct 2009 23:34:12 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 10/07/2009 03:34

So I was originally going to post this as a response in the Merriweather Post Pavilion thread, but I realized I my thoughts were leading in the direction of its own topic. I had a stark realization today that might relate to my lack of enjoyment of the record so far. To put this in context, I just read an essay on Pitchfork about the current state of indie rock. Here it is, if you want to check it out:

http://pitchfork.com/features/articles/7704-the-decade-in-indie/

Anyway, if that writer is right and there's two distinct indie camps, I am probably in the "nice" and relatively "safe" camp mostly in terms of my taste nowadays. In other words, at the end of a long day with teenagers I'm much more likely to relax with The National (an interesting, but mostly pleasant and mellow band) than something like Animal Collective's MPP. And in that sense, I'm starting to wonder if what I once thought was cutting edge (stuff like Guided by Voices, Liz Phair, Belle and Sebastian or even The Shins) has become passe and if I am in danger of getting old in that sense. My personal feeling is indie rock as a genre has gotten stale, but I say that knowing I'm probably not as hip to the newest thing as I once was. I mean I got The Fleet Foxes record and enjoyed it, but let's face it, it's mostly a throwback to an earlier time. And this it part of the problem with indie rock (and other genres as well). It keeps recycling the past. Anyways, I am starting to listen to my indie rock in smaller doses while appreciating older rock and soul and a variety of genres like jazz and world music. Indie just doesn't hold as much sway for me anymore. Furthermore, I fear that stuff like Yo La Tengo or Wilco could become (or already be) the Eagles of my generation.

So, I guess I'm raising a couple of questions for discussion. If you are/were a fan of indie rock, what do you think about the current state of the genre? How does musical taste change for you as you get older or enter different stages of your life? Or does it? In case you're wondering, I'm 37 and I realize my musical preferences are starting to change or maybe they're stuck in a safe comfortable rut while the teens and 20-somethings are enraptured by the next cutting edge band-- a wonderful new thing that they "get, "but I don't. 🙁