Right now I’ll say: the Notwist -Neon Golden. Such a great record!
Built to Spill
The Grassy Knoll, heretofore not getting his due.
Check his videos out here: http://www.myspace.com/theknollgrassy
And here: http://sixtyonesixtyeight.com/grassyknoll/index.html
His music is great too, but it’s his videos which are incredibly innovative.
los campesinos kick all these bands asses.
The Thievery Corporation
Checkout their label’s website: http://eslmusic.com/
Alive In Winter from the band Old Abram Brown. Check them out at http://www.myspace.com/oldabrambrown.
Klaxons. Pretty groovy stuff.
also @Jay -—→ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJyVueJI5gM check it out, this was the song that intrigued me…it took a few listens to get the feel for it. In the end though, this is still one of my favorite tracks by P.O.S
regarding the word indie…I just say independent now. That is, if it truly is independent. Most “indie” is really pseudo-indie, or indie five years ago. If you think about it, almost all bands were indie at one point.
not sure. if we’re talking about “independent label” its really a broad range, isn’t it? for me, i like alot of what i’ve heard on ipecac records…mike patton’s got good taste. my favorites are (the) Melvins, Fantomas, and dälek. there’s gobs more on that label, but those are the three i’ve listened to the most.
also a big fan of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. flippin’ Awesome live shows! Faun Fables is another good one…not as fun live, but she’s got a great voice.
i’m a huge fan of Boris—probably my favorite band of the last decade. Altar, the album they did with SunnO))) was stellar—gives me an eargasm.
um, yeah…is that what indie is? or is it all the crap Zack Braff and Juno like? because i’m not into most of that ;-)
Indie " independent record label "
it’s lost his meaning. Over half of the above bands listed are not “indie”
Sixteen Deluxe
The Long Blondes
The cool kids
Alice Smith
out of seattle, Black Whales.
check out their myspace/facebook pages. now, that’s “indie”.
A really good one is Two Gallants.
Recently I have fallen in love with the music of Sunset Rubdown, I’d have to describe them as similar to Neutral Milk Hotel with more keyboards then fuzz, really poetic lyrics as well.
Check out some of there MP3s
http://www.jagjaguwar.com/artist.php?name=sunsetrubdown
i’ll second that band, gino. i have all of “two gallants” releases. though, at the moment, they’re both working side projects. check them out, people! i usually don’t pay much attention to lyrics. i follow the emotion in the voice(s). have to say, however, that the two gallants’ lyrics are something else plus the lead singer’s incredible emotionalism. good call, gino!
actually….most of these bands ARE indie…not to split hairs…
The Van Pelt – Sultans of Sentiment… Best album ever :-)
Hail Mary and the Raygun Crucifixion
The Silent Years
Boris rules. Pink is such a good album. I don’t think the newer stuff tops it.
Also, the thing about your band being played in a commercial making them not “indie” is completely false. You really don’t get that much money for having your song used in a commercial or on on TV, either. A commercial is worth more than TV, but it’s not enough to, like, buy a van so you can tour. It might be enough to rent one for a few weeks, but that’s about it.
Shotzi, what are you crazy? “Completely False”? I’m sorry if you give your music to a big name co. in the name of money or fame thats called selling out, you are not an Indie band anymore you have gone corporate. You think Wilco didn’t get a big payday for the VW commercials, or The Flaming Lips for Kraft cheese. Come on don’t be silly.
Selling out is not about making money from a commercial, but about selling and using your image to market a corporate product. And pray tell, sir, what exactly is wrong with wanting to make money off your work?
Being a starving artist probably isn’t as romantic as it sounds, you know.
@Shotzi: i think “Smile” is a MUCH better album than “Pink”. don’t get me wrong—Pink is what got me into Boris in the first place, but Smile seems to go beyond what the band normally does. i’m not sure when alot of their albums were relesed, so its hard for me to tell what came when. i recently bought a CD called “Feedbacker”, but i’m not sure how old it is, or if its only recently distributed in the US or what the deal is. i know Amplifier Worship was their second album, and its my favorite. not sure where Pink fell into the mix, but i’m glad i heard it when i did. i needed something different, and there they were…the closest thing i’d heard to Drone like that up till then was some Melvins tracks, but they’re not quite the same. love Boris…haven’t seem them live yet, but looking forward to the chance.
if we’re talking about not “selling out” or being played in Commercials, does Tom Waits count as Indie (in your opinion—something tells me there’s not set standard for what is or is not indie), despite his years spent on Major labels like Island? after all, he’s gone so far as to sue a German company for using his likeness (not his actual song or voice, mind you) in a TV ad after he said “No” to their offer. talk amongst yourselves!
Wire- Pink Flag (1977)
Vampire Weekend (I don’t pay attention to what is indie or not as the record labels are dying anyway)
Stalingrad there’s nothing wrong with making money through a commercial, but I still think it makes any band more “commercial” and less “independent”. I’m not anti-commercial music, but there seems to be more heart in some of the indie music.
I listen to too much music to list all my likes and dislikes. But, as of late my newest favorite albums are:
Metric – Fantasies
The Horrors – Primary Colours
Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Brakes – Touchdown
Dangermouse & Sparklehorse – Dark Night Of The Soul
St. Vincent – Actor
And those are just the 2009 album, I’ve also come to discover the greatness that is Queens of The Stone Age (thank Rock Band 2 for that) and I’ve been enjoying Julian Casablancas’ voice as of late (vocals of The Strokes).
Bellweather: I know a band called The Kingdom Flying Club that were on a “label” that, at the time, was definitely more of a collective and technically couldn’t have been any more “independent”. The Kingdom Flying Club had one of their songs played on the unsigned channel on XM Radio and they got a phone call to have their song used on the TV show The O.C. They agreed and were paid. Shortly after, the television channel American Movie Classics called and asked if they could use their song in a commercial to promote their upcoming summer movies. They agreed, were compensated, and the commercial aired on AMC for a month or two. The band did not get signed to a big independent label because of this, they did not “sell-out” their integrity in any way, and they spent the money they made to buy a better computer to record their next album. That’s it. They were still broke as fuck, lucky to make 100 dollars at a show, working extra jobs to afford to rent a van to go on a two week tour that they lost money on.
Wilco and The Flaming Lips aren’t the only “indie” bands out there. Most bands struggle to get their music heard by anybody and if it is miraculously liked by people said people are just going to steal it from them, anyway, so they’re still going to be broke.
In conclusion, your song being on a TV commercial does not automatically revoke your indie cred.
Marq: I like Smile, but it never hit me as hard as Pink. I’ve listened to Pink a lot more, though. I should give Smile some more playing time.
i ordered the Vinyl version of Smile off of Southern Lord records (and got me a nifty t-shirt!) and its a longer set, with some extended songs—all around more awesome than the CD! i think i accidentally burnt myself out of Pink, however. for over a year it was all the Boris i had till i went back to Omaha and the local record shop was HUGE fans, so i ended up buying a copy of Amplifier Worship there. since then, i’ve been hooked like none other. i definately recomend their live 2-disc set with Merzbow. i think they did a studio with him too, but i couldn’t afford it at the time.
ooh, maybe thats what i’ll do tomorrow!!!
bellwhether
Has anyone ever heard The Ruby Suns? They’re music is great.