"Indie" music

[Mark Perry]

Bands like the killers, kills, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Bloc party... etc. get a lot of airplay on the radio currently.
To me they all sound the same - although there are some good basslines there.
Can anyone recomend any bands worth checking out? I have yet to hear a song or album by any indie band, that has made me want to buy the album.
Cheers

[DaBassman]

Check out Relix Magazine (or www.relix.com)

[Against Will]

May I first reccommend you look up indie music on wikipedia, because it's a really huge genre. Much larger than bands that sound like the people you just mentioned. (And of them, Bloc Party are the only ones you could consider indie in the US, Franz Ferdinand is in the UK).

Indie is short for independent, refering to the bands record label and mode of distribution. Though it eventually it came to connotate a certain sound, the indie world is still pretty massive. Incorporating punky things, metally things, poppy things etc.

What kind of music do you like? Judging from your profile it seems you tend more towards techy kinds of metal and jazz.

[Mark Perry]

That looks like a pretty cool magazine / site. i was talking about the genre called indie, it's very popular here, probably not as much in the states i supose. A lot of the sounds are pretty retro, sounding a bit eighties, but it's mostly guitar driven.

[Mark Perry]

I'm into most types of music, Jazz, funk, pop, rock, metal, latin, theres very little i can't listen to. I've heard a lot of the bands i mentioned above, from what i can see, Franz Ferdinand became popular and suddenly all these other bands (with a very similar sound) stared getting radio play. Are there other, less known / more important bands i should check out?

[Mark Perry]

Just wikied "indie music" (looks like the bands i'm thinking of are part of the "post punk revival" - even the american bands sound like British 70's punk bands) :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-punk_revival

[Amenra]

the Arctic Monkeys made a great first cd
Minus the Bear is also worth checking out but not really the same genre as all the "indie" bands you mentioned.

[Bruce Lindfield]

The epitome of an Indie label was Factory, which had Joy Division/New Order and more obscure bands like A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column etc.

My favourite Factory album was "Closer" by JD, a truly great record!

[msquared]

Originally Posted by Mark Perry

Bands like the killers, kills, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Bloc party... etc. get a lot of airplay on the radio currently.

Note: If they're getting a lot of play on the radio, they probably aren't actually indie.

Indie isn't a genre of music, even when it's called "indie rock".

[Mark Perry]

Originally Posted by msquared

Note: If they're getting a lot of play on the radio, they probably aren't actually indie.

Indie isn't a genre of music, even when it's called "indie rock".

Exactly what i've always thought. I guess some of the bands i mentioned may have been indie at some point. I think a few of the bands just got popular and all the other bands who followed were labeled with the name indie, by journalists / dj's etc. Thats why the word indie is in inverted commas in the forum title. I was just wondering if any of the bands are worth checking out (having some kind sound of their own).
All of the many bands i've heard in this style sound exactly the same

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Mark Perry

All of the many bands i've heard in this style sound exactly the same

Err tautology - so if they sounded different would they be "in the same style"?

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

The epitome of an Indie label was Factory, which had Joy Division/New Order and more obscure bands like A Certain Ratio, Durutti Column etc.

My favourite Factory album was "Closer" by JD, a truly great record!

you forgot Crispy Ambulance!!

[Mark Perry]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Err tautology - so if they sounded different would they be "in the same style"?

Exactly the same as in i can't hear any way of distinguising between two different bands, as i said Franz Ferdinand became popular and then dozens (literally) of bands sounding exactly the same followed. I remember liking the first hardfi cd, might give that a try sometime when i have a spare £10. Just wondering if any other of those bands are worth checking out (after all most'll probably disapear once another style becomes the big thing). I'm after the kind of bands people will be talking about 10 or 20 years later.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Well people are still talking about Joy Division 10 years later - the quintessential Indie band!

And nothing I've ever heard since, has sounded remotely like "Closer" !!

[Mark Perry]

Cool, i'll check them out sometime. Maybe i should trust my initial reaction to hearing all of these bands, and not try - spend more time / money on listening to good bands

[Vandelay]

Originally Posted by Mark Perry

I'm after the kind of bands people will be talking about 10 or 20 years later.

Pretty difficult to predict which indie label bands/artists will meet that criterion. You might do some browsing at AV Club's "Best of 2006" list. Most of it is indie, and I'm usually impressed with their choices.

http://www.avclub.com/content/node/56476

As for me, I'm still WAAY into one of 2005's best indie releases -- "Illiinois" by Sufjan Stevens.

[bryanjnkns]

+1 for Minus the Bear

Yep, Indie is a very wide spectrum of music. It covers many many genres. But here are some that i enjoy very much:

Minus the bear
Tv on the radio
What made Milwaukee famous
Iron and Wine
RxBandits
Electric Six
Bright Eyes
The Shins
Kings of Leon
The postal service
Death Cab for cutie
Head Automatica

umm......thats about all i can think of at the moment



edit: " "Illiinois" by Sufjan Stevens."

I knew i would forget one!

[Mitchell Royce]

I recommend the following:

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Don Caballero - American Don
Brainiac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Liars - They Threw us in a Trench and stuck a Monument on Top
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Shellac - All of their Albums
The Black Heart Procession - Also all of the Albums
Godspeed you Black Emporer - Lift Yr Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven
McLusky - Just get the recent Mcluskyism, it has all the great stuff on there

All stuff from the last 10-15 Years(most from this decade) that already is or should become influential. IMO, of course.

[Amenra]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Royce

I recommend the following:

Drive Like Jehu - Yank Crime
Don Caballero - American Don
Brainiac - Hissing Prigs in Static Couture
Liars - They Threw us in a Trench and stuck a Monument on Top
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
Shellac - All of their Albums
The Black Heart Procession - Also all of the Albums
Godspeed you Black Emporer - Lift Yr Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven
McLusky - Just get the recent Mcluskyism, it has all the great stuff on there

All stuff from the last 10-15 Years(most from this decade) that already is or should become influential. IMO, of course.

+1 for godspeed you and don caballero! Great stuff. At the drive in and Mars Volta is also highly recommendable or how about Isis, Mouth of the Architect, Irreversible, Explosions in the Sky, Maserati, Tides... Pretty much all Post Rock sludge metal things though, not really in the same leaugue as the "indie" bands mentioned before but still very very good music!

[scuba steve]

the killers are pop.