Best Ever Albums

Re: "Indie"

Noise Pollution — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:58:23 GMT

Author: Noise Pollution

Posted: 09/10/2012 22:58

Jhereko wrote:

"indie" is the new "alternative" which went out of fashion.

Hahahaha

Re: "Indie"

paladisiac — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:45:44 GMT

Author: paladisiac

Posted: 09/10/2012 14:45

thejoj96 wrote:

Indie just means on an independent record label. It shouldn't refer to a genre of music and I don't know why it became a music genre.

Yes, it's supposed to denote music released by independent record labels. I'm a little more liberal in my definition to allow for artists who were once on an independent label, like modest mouse and death cab. However, the term has morphed into a music genre which includes major labels as well. (On facebook, there's this thing called "SongPop" and most songs/artists that play in the "Indie Rock" category are major label artists.)

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 23:24:44 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/10/2012 03:24

"indie" is the new "alternative" which went out of fashion.

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 21:32:37 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/10/2012 01:32

Identifying what's indie is far easier when you're talking about the 80's and 90's than the 00's. And yeah, it's easier to identify indie when it comes to labels than bands, as "indie" bands tend to move to majors when possible. Also, I think indie is also an aesthetic, like Lo-fi or lyrics that are unconventional. Also, charting an album or becoming popular (like Arcade Fire) doesn't make a bad "not indie". But really, I think indie comes down to a matter of opinion.

So here's a list of my essential indie groups (counting ones who went majors):
Pavement (The best, imo), The Replacements, The Smiths, Belle & Sebastian, Fugazi, Rites of Spring, Yo La Tengo, Sonic Youth, Jawbox, LCD Soundsystem, Joanna Newsom, Liars, Modest Mouse, New Order, Pixies, R.E.M. (granted, after their 80's albums, the quality varies, but hey, they're indie to me), Spoon, Sunny Day Real Estate, Tom Waits, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Weezer, The Walkmen, Archers of Loaf, Pulp

I love indie, but what really is indie is just impossible to define. I guess that's why I love it

Re: "Indie"

Patman360 — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 20:49:02 GMT

Author: Patman360

Posted: 09/10/2012 00:49

Has anyone else started to think that all 'Indie' music sounds the same nowadays? Because to me every new album I put on is beginning to sound just like a different one I've heard just the previous week and I'm sick of it (Some exceptions of course, but not many...) In the past few weeks I've given up on new music and reverted to all my old stuff... Do other people think this or am I just one crazy person on my own? 🧱

Re: "Indie"

HigherThanTheSun — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 19:30:45 GMT

Author: HigherThanTheSun

Posted: 09/09/2012 23:30

I agree with the above really. Maybe technically there's no such sound as indie but if someone says they like indie music we all know what they mean.

Re: "Indie"

lightmyway — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 18:44:44 GMT

Author: lightmyway

Posted: 09/09/2012 22:44

I don't see anything wrong with 'indie' being used as a musical genre. Definitions of words can evolve as needed. People still used the term 'alternative' as a genre long after that type of music became mainstream and stopped being an alternative to anything. 'Pop' has been used to describe music that isn't popular for a long time now. Being on an independent label is no longer a prerequisite to being 'indie', IMO.

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 16:09:36 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/09/2012 20:09

There is no indie sound.

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 16:08:09 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/09/2012 20:08

When I hear the term indie rock, I think of some pop/rock that's stripped down to the core of the actual song. There's no "glam" to be found in it - no long instrumental breaks, no significant arrangements, no slick production, no experimentation, nothing unexpected, songs with traditional pop structure and lenghts and not really trying to achieve anything big. It's like it takes all the "cheating" or redundant stuff out in order to make the listener focus on the actual song and melody. Because that's what the music is about. You shouldn't try to create epic, big sounding music if you don't understand the very basic concept of writing a great, simple and catchy song. I think an album like R.E.M.'s Murmur fits this description. There isn't much variation throughout the album, the songs follow a simple verse-chorus structure and it has a very simple, almost primitive sound. But it works, because the actual songs are good enough. And it's a great listen because it never tries too hard.

Though when bands like Arcade Fire are named as being indie rock, I understand that this description isn't true. I don't know how to define the indie sound.

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 15:32:14 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/09/2012 19:32

purple wrote:

yeah, I call all the music included on Pitchfork decade and year charts indie... and people know exactly what I'm talking about. Can I get a witness?!

I... your not going to chastise me again If I ask something? But your saying "indie" is a sound. That must mean you imagine something when you hear "indie" like a group or artist. Even if they are not real, can you describe what they look like and what they do? Throw in cliches or whatever, just give me a real good image please 😄

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 15:26:18 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/09/2012 19:26

an_outlaw wrote:

Okay, something silly is going on here. Everyone is giving the right answer yet hundreds and hundreds of times the phase "indie" is being used to describe a sound. Who describes it as a sound? Can I have at least one person?

It's like most people here have leant over another's shoulder to get the right answer. I bet I could find at least one person on this thread who has described an album as "indie" which was released on major label and from an artist who has always been on a major label. :-k

yeah, I call all the music included on Pitchfork decade and year charts indie... and people know exactly what I'm talking about. Can I get a witness?!

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Sun, 9 Sep 2012 15:13:04 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/09/2012 19:13

Noise Pollution wrote:

For what I understand, people who think indie is a genre don't understand the record industry. As a couple of others already said, it's just music that is produced by independent labels. Back in the 50's most "popular music"/ mainstream music from the time was produced from independent labels (such as Elvis with Sun Records - if i am remembering correctly) since the major labels were still producing tin pan alley type bullshit. So it isn't even a separation between mainstream and underground, although in today's world it has kind of adapted that structure.

Groups from many genres are with indie labels and therefor it isn't a genre or a sound. It's just who you're signed with. Again, today's industry is highly controlled by major labels (unlike the 50's) who are only producing "mainstream music" and that is why it seems that indie has a more underground feel. Any band with any sound can be indie if they sign with the indie labels really.

Re: "Indie"

Noise Pollution — Fri, 7 Sep 2012 21:45:13 GMT

Author: Noise Pollution

Posted: 09/08/2012 01:45

an_outlaw wrote:

So is there a sound of being on a independent label? Or is there a big umbrella encompassing many? Are "indie" and "pop" things which should never be uttered in the same sentance? Although you did say it was a "classification" so I guess it isn't really a sound at all.

What "Indie" albums are the most popular ones? Which are the ones I should be looking out for? 😜

What makes "indie" ? :D

Re: "Indie"

Mirek — Thu, 6 Sep 2012 05:25:18 GMT

Author: Mirek

Posted: 09/06/2012 09:25

At the beginning of this meant that the artist decided on this: when? how? where? It was acceptable only for small labels. With time, gained popularity when they were seen by the major players and going under their wing took the rules that govern this business. However, people like to help in when everything is arranged and usually if something is slightly different from the mainstream put it on the shelf "indie"

Re: "Indie"

Romanelli — Thu, 6 Sep 2012 00:04:15 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 09/06/2012 04:04

thejoj96 wrote:

Indie just means on an independent record label. It shouldn't refer to a genre of music and I don't know why it became a music genre.

It didn't used to be even that. It used to be anyone who was independant of a label. By choice or not. By being independant, you get to play by your own rules, and you get to make your music your way. You get to say what you want to and record what you want to. Of course, this also means that almost no one will hear you, and you will make very little money doing what you do.

Back in 1999-2002, MP3.com was the home of the independant musician. I was there...and it was pretty great for awhile. You could go there and hear hours and hours of nothing but unsigned artists trying to make their way. You could buy their albums. You could interract with them. The indie that crept in as time went by was more of the current definition. And the site ended up being just another place to buy mainstream music before it died.

Indie shouldn't be a genre. But then, I could say that about prabably at least a thousand other genres, too....

Re: "Indie"

Mr. Shankly — Wed, 5 Sep 2012 20:59:03 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 09/06/2012 00:59

What about Green Day?...

"No way, dude... Those guys are like the most lame mainstream pop band ever."

Actually, are you ready for a mindblower?

For their first ep's and album, Green Day was on Lookout Records, a really small Berkeley label. It doesn't get any more indie than Lookout Records!.. Just saying...

My point: A lot of bands that build a big audience or have the potential to do so, almost always make the jump to a major. It happened in the late 80's, the mid-late 90's and it's still happening now.

Death Cab for Cutie (formerly Barsuk) and Modest Mouse (formerly Up Records) are two more indie bands that made the leap in the early 2000's. Both had built sizeable audiences by touring and consistently putting out decent records.

Just some food for thought. 😄

Re: "Indie"

Mr. Shankly — Wed, 5 Sep 2012 20:12:14 GMT

Author: Mr. Shankly

Posted: 09/06/2012 00:12

It's hard to say anymore. Yes, it literally means bands on an independent label. But what about indie labels that have distribution deals with major labels now? That's getting to be commonplace. For instance, Sub Pop and Matador both fall into that category. An interesting phenomenon happened in the late 90's, early 2000's: Indie rock started to become mainstream. That is, more and more of the mainstream public became interested in it. Why? Either because indie rock has gotten very safe and accessible, meaning too close to adult alternative or because there are more choices available for people with the advent of the internet, or is typical pop radio mainstream just so terrible, people are looking for alternatives? I don't know. It could be combination of all of those.

Hayden had a great list, but he left out the 1980's, and that's really when indie rock, as a genre, began. Basically it grew out of hard core punk and post punk. Indie rock, at its core, was a more melodic, slightly more accessible form of mostly guitar dominated music that was still outside the mainstream. The important indie bands of the 80's included:

Sonic Youth (up through Daydream Nation. Goo was released on Geffen), The Pixies, Dinosaur Jr, The Replacements (up through Let it Be or Tim), Husker Du (up through Flip Your Wig), Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, and believe it or not, R.E.M. for five albums (although I.R.S. might have been distributed by a major--They had The English Beat and The Go-Go's, as well). In England, there was The Smiths, The Fall, The Stone Roses, Joy Division?...(Manc Soul Sister could probably add a lot to this list)

Two books you should read about the rise of indie rock in America:

1) Our Band Could be Your Life- Michael Azzerad
2) Route 666: On the Road to Nirvana (Gina Arnold's hypothesis is that the success of Nirvana and the alternative music explosion of the early was the culmination of everything that had happened before in the 80's)

Re: "Indie"

pearljammer13 — Wed, 5 Sep 2012 19:41:35 GMT

Author: pearljammer13

Posted: 09/05/2012 23:41

Hipsters!!! I've always hated the people that love indie and only indie simply for the sake of being different and avoiding the mainstream. But that isn't what this thread is about.

My favorite indie bands: The Shins, Manchester Orchestra, Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine, Metric, Neutral Milk Hotel.

Like a couple have already said, it's technically only the label that classifies it, although it somehow got turned into a genre of music. Usually it tends to be more on the low-fi side, but depending on the band or album it's often interchangeable with alternative/rock. It really doesn't have a specific "sound" that I can come up with. I often wonder why it's considered a type of music now.

Re: "Indie"

Hayden — Wed, 5 Sep 2012 17:57:38 GMT

Author: Hayden

Posted: 09/05/2012 21:57

an_outlaw wrote:

Built To Spill, Neutral Milk Hotel, Pixies, Guided By Voices, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Pavement & Belle & Sebastion would be ideal for 80's - 90's (plenty more though)

Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Antlers, Microphones, LCD Soundsystem, Modest Mouse, Vampire Weekend, Phoenix, Bon Iver, & Broken Social Scene would be ideal for 00's - 10's

Radiohead is NOT indie btw.

Re: "Indie"

Anonymous — Wed, 5 Sep 2012 17:56:46 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 09/05/2012 21:56

Indie is not a style. You can make pop music under an independent label. The music affecting thing of being under an independent label may be the level of artistic freedom given to the artists, although they are more likely given less world-wide exposure.