Good "indie" music

[BRI]

Before you jump at me, I detest most of the stuff (namely your Arctic Monkeys, Cribs, Kooks and Killers type bands) as much as the rest of you, but there are some really great indie / pop bands around that deserve to be listened to.

Guillemots are the best around, in my opinion. They write incredibly emotional, hugely epic, sweeping indie pop songs - they have a few more generic pop tracks on their new album "Red", but the debut "Through the Windowpane" is one of the most beautiful albums of the last decade. The frontman Fyfe also has one of the best voices in music. If you haven't heard them, or have heard one of the rather mediocre singles released this year, I suggest you check out their debut album, namely the tracks "Through the Windowpane", "We're Here" and the epic "Sao Paulo", though it's all excellent. Exhilarating stuff.

I've also become a fan of "indie folk", which I'm sure many of you will have probably heard before. Bands like Okkervil River, Bright Eyes, and The Shins are all excellent. Solo artists like Iron and Wine, M. Ward and Bon Iver are also worth checking out.

Then you have some more popular bands, who some people will class as indie and others won't (for different reasons for each band) - Elbow, Interpol and Death Cab for Cutie are all brilliant bands. Elbow especially are a superb band, and I know you probably wouldn't consider them indie, but I've heard plenty of people give them that label. Most "indie" bands that are popular are generally awful, but these aren't.

There are plenty more bands I could mention, but I don't want to ramble on.
Will anybody else here confess to liking indie?

 

[Fields Of Sorrow]

Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead are technically indie.

I like them both.

 

[FUBAR]

Dogs Die in Hot Cars

 

[Wander]

I still don't understand what "indie" as a music genre means. Seriously, no fucking idea. Once upon a time I thought that if it's on an independent label, it's an indie band, but apparently there is an "indie-sound".

 

[Lightbulb Sun]

I still don't understand what "indie" as a music genre means. Seriously, no fucking idea. Once upon a time I thought that if it's on an independent label, it's an indie band, but apparently there is an "indie-sound".

Same. I always used to tell people that I liked indie musicians thinking it meant independent.....

But Iron and Wine is one of my favorite artists and Death Cab for Cutie didn't suck that much when they opened for Neil Young (the voice killed it for me). I've been kind of exploring this realm of "indie" looking for new artists and opening up my musical views so it'll be interesting to see what artists come up.

 

[BlackLodge]

Kent.

 

[tchocky]

I used to quite heavily into this sort of thing, but got quite bored of it after a while. Still, I'll revisit some of the 'greats' like Dinosaur Jr (the first three albums are amazing, with 'You're Living All Over Me' being their crowning achievement), Sonic Youth (still have quite a soft spot for Sister and Daydream Nation) and the shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine (if they count). All in all though, this genre has been stagnant for quite a while. I have yet to see an 'hot new indie' artist arise these days that I haven't immediately wanted to punch.

 

[opeth_353]

Arcade Fire i guess. Indie is definitely a very meaningless term nowadays.. But meh, what you going to do?

 

[Carta's]

Genre name that doesn't refer to the music but to the distribution method = fail.
As much as I tried to get into some kind of so-called 'indie' acts, I still haven't found anything I like of it. Maybe it's the only genre, alongside grindcore.
Some of the artists that have been posted here I like, but I don't think they fall into the 'indie' label. But hey, if it is about the distribution then...

 

[i aint play this]

Shoegaze bands, Sonic Youth, Belle & Sebastian, The Delgados, Red House Painters and a lot more :lazy:

 

[Risquit]

Sonic Youth, Throwing Muses, Dinosaur Jr., Interpol

 

[Lothlorien]

im not too into indie music, but i did own and enjoyed the postal service's album. good stuff.

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

Heaps of good indie bands but it certainly has it's fair share of shit. It's definitely a genre that requires a bit of digging to find gold. I don't label anything indie in my library as it's an extremely broad term nowadays.

 

[Ozzloaf]

ummmmmmmm... you do know that "Indie" is any music that is self released, right? Indie=Individual

 

[MegaMoose]

No. Indie=independent. But it doesn't really mean anything these days.

 

[in_my_time_of_disease]

ummmmmmmm... you do know that "Indie" is any music that is self released, right? Indie=Individual

lol are you talking to me? I am very aware of what it means. However it is a very broad term which doesn't necessarily describe how the band sounds. Indie does have a sound, however when an independent jazz band releases an album it can be referred to as indie, which is wrong. How is whether the album is released independently or with the biggest label in the world very relevant? It's an odd genre name. It's like emo in that emo has a sound yet it is starting to be used way to broadly even if the band doesn't sound emo if they have emotional lyrics in the context of suicide, murder, darkness etc it's labled as emo, which is also wrong. Aside from being stupid as every single song ever written contains some sort of emotion.

 

[Frosties]

I really like Death Cab For Cutie's "Plans" album, and also I think that Biffy Clyro's "Puzzle" was one of the best releases last year.

Do Dredg count? I think that on some songs (especially Matroshka) they lean quite heavily on the indie genre. If they do count, then they are the kings.

 

[Indrid Cold]

DeVotchKa. Trust me.

 

[Bluegreen]

The music of Tiger Lou I think falls in to the 'indie' category. Their song 'Like you said' is seriously one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard. The National is another band I think can be called 'indie', they're great too, the singer has quite a special voice... And The Beta Band, they're good too.

 

[Risquit]

Actually, speaking of indie, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is one of the best movies I've seen in quite awhile. Very indie, very well-written, very enjoyable.