‘’Indie is the New Mainstream’’ – Rolling Indie Thread, 2011

Mainstream is the new indie.

Indie is the new mainstream.

― ecuador_with_a_c, Thursday, February 4, 2010

on the other hand

pro tip:

in general, all indie rock that sucks is indie rock now and all indie rock that's actually good or rocks is non indie rock

― El GarBage (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, February 11, 2010

in either event

Keep it in here, boys.

― The Reverend, Monday, December 31, 2007 9:16 PM (2 years ago)

__________________________________

― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, January 5, 2010 6:46 AM (11 months ago)

i’m actually very optimistic about 2011. one reason is the dirty beaches’ debut disc, badlands, to be released in late march on the zoo music label

http://music.is-amazing.com/sites/music.is-amazing.com/files/imagecache/Covers/covers/badlands.jpg

one of the songs is a dark rockabilly number, sweet 17

one of the newer songs, lord knows best, was performed on a recent daytrotter session

in fact, the whole daytrotter session is worth your time

Wasn't Zoo an old A&M imprint in the early 90s?

was that zoo music or zoo entertainment?

zoo music's website (linked above) isn't very informative about the label's history, but given when i can find, i doubt it had any connection whatsoever to a major label, or even a remotely above-ground label.

Yeah, definitely different entities with the same name.

I'm going to start a bedroom label of my own called Werner Bros.

lol. zoo music's myspace page sarcastically lists itself as a "major label," but lists its featured genres as "Chinese pop / Death Metal / Showtunes."

apparently goth-girl zola jesus has a full-length disc out this year, too.

more: the cosmetics' self-titled debut comes out on 01.01.11, on the captured tracks label.

<3 on the last two

the 2 cosmetics 45 are great and i looove the last ZJ ep (haven't heard the critically acclaimed 'stridulum' as yet)

the album i'm hanging most for right now is the holy ghost! one but i will probably take that to the DFA thread

bit narky at this 'widowspeak' mob for stealing the name of my solo proj

Continuing to hope the Wrens will realease another record.

the 2 cosmetics 45 are great and i looove the last ZJ ep

cosmetics' singles have been fantastic. they're an odd fit for the captured-tracks label. cosmetics sound more like the house band for the italians-do-it-better label (nothing whatsoever wrong with that btw).

the last zola jesus ep is the one with the poor animals single on it, right? i prefer that one to the stridulum ep, too.

anticipating lots of grebo nostalgia this year

I'm going to start a bedroom label of my own called Werner Bros.

heh yes that was what I thought of too when I saw JF's post

checked out the conspiracy of owls disc mentioned on the '10 thread, kind of like they listened to heaps of elephant 6 then went into a decent studio. i like it but i don't know if it would stand up to lots of listens

yeah, i kind of liked it for a moment. there's better sources of retro 70s am-gold sound, i think (e.g., john grant).

The mainstream doesn't look very indie to me:
US #1s of 2010
UK No 1s of 2010

In the UK market, however, this was true for a little less than a year in 1995-96. More precicely, from "Country House" to "Wannabe".

hey, awful thread title!

looking forward to dirtbombs 3X12" later this month or whenever.

i'll refrain, in response, from posting a picture of Hannah Murray, Paz de la Huerta, a robot or a phallic picture of furniture.

one love

lol. peace, brother.

so . . . that new dirtbombs album has them covering ''classic techno tracks from detroit'', includng cybotron's alleys of your mind?

i've never been a dirtbombs fan, but this may be an interesting genre cross pollination.

http://yourhealthupdate.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/stress.jpg

haha. take that to the "ws" thread(s), where it belongs

and yeah, new dirtbombs is apparently all techno covers, including what's said to be a 20 minute collab w carl craig on innerzone orchestra's "bass bin". haven't heard that, but there are a couple preview tracks ("sharevari" and "cosmic cars", both excellent) in the dirtbombs thread.

apparently goth-girl zola jesus has a full-length disc out this year, too.

this is def. one to watch

more: the cosmetics' self-titled debut comes out on 01.01.11, on the captured tracks label.

Don't tease me into thinking this is already out. It actually comes out March 1st. Can't wait to hear it.

This probably isn't as guitar-ry or indie-pop as much of what's usually in the indie threads, but there's really no place else for it around here. Found this today and I'm really digging it: http://youngmagic.bandcamp.com/

the pop montreal slogan this year was "weird is the new indie" & it was otm imo

Can't wait to hear it.

yeah. it's a little mysterious. no advance press; no advance tunes, beyond the already-released singles. i hope this isn't just a rehash of the four songs we've already heard. i dig this dark-disco vibe.

i hope weird is the new indie, frankly.

i like the best new song on pitchfork today. don't connect w\ much indie rock anymore but it feels like now the only stuff i end up liking is either on the very poppy & tightly wound end of the spectrum (vampire weekend) or really extremely pretentious emotional gaping hole stuff (sunset rubdown) & this is solidly in the latter

it's weird that he is sixteen!

there really is a lot of great, leftfield rock still being made.

you're talking about this zoo kid song, yes?

yuh

& not sure what youre talking abt but i wouldn't call it left field rock. i mean like, indie rock w/ strong xiu xiu influence, sort of. although i'm not a big fan of xiu xiu

apparently goth-girl zola jesus has a full-length disc out this year, too.
this is def. one to watch

― slouching, unshaven, thick-necked, unstylish, pig-eyed (ilxor), Monday, January 3, 2011 8:40 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Have tried *hard* to like her, but ultimately it comes across as moaning.

Have tried *hard* to like her, but ultimately it comes across as moaning.

yeah, it does, can't deny. like her in spite of this, enough to have tracked down 8 of her releases so far (of 10, i think?). stridulum, valusia and the LA vampires split were among my favorite records of 2010, so yeah, i'm psyched for her next full-length.

& not sure what youre talking abt but i wouldn't call it left field rock. i mean like, indie rock w/ strong xiu xiu influence, sort of. although i'm not a big fan of xiu xiu

i didn't mean the track you mentioned. and i can't stand xiu xiu. i'm shocked when i hear people comparing that band to the smiths (i don't think i'm imagining the comparison being drawn, at least with respect to the lyrics).

new secret shine is not good. moving his voice up in the mix was not a good decision.

i thought 'all of the stars' was a bit of a return to form, so it's not at that level?

I haven't given straight-up indie a chance in a couple years but my new year's resolution is to actually listen to every album I download. Tapes 'n Tapes is indie rock download #1 of the year and it's a solid listen though a bit anonymous. There are a lot worse things to sound like than indie everymen.

lol maybe indie is the new mainstream:

POP MUSIC. J. Edward Keyes, Editor-in-Chief for eMusic: "In 2011, expect the line between independent music and big-name, arena-filling acts to become increasingly blurred. As the Internet continues to be the chief means of music distribution, the label an artist records for–for better or worse–will not be nearly as important as it had been in past decades. Celebrated major label bands will continue to scale down and indie bands will continue to scale up as the industry overall starts to even out. Also, artists both major and indie will spend the bulk of the year trying and failing to make a record better than PJ Harvey's 'Let England Shake.'"

the label an artist records for–for better or worse–will not be nearly as important as it had been in past decades

if they use this as an excuse to remove searching by labels i will burn their offices down

If it's not on the radio, it's not mainstream. People have been trying to kill the medium since Napster days but truth is it is the single best representation of what is at the top of Billboard charts at that very moment.

if they use this as an excuse to remove searching by labels i will burn their offices down

lol, hell yeah

caught up with some older new stuff on emusic yesterday, took advantage of the quiet release period to use up some credits on things i'd been dithering over..

the 2nd shrag album is great, belongs beside the betty & the werewolves record but it's a bit tuffer. wayyy better than the first one

allo darlin' album is ok but the mimsiness gets wearying and if they were a local band i wouldn't piss on em

it wasn't wholly intentional—i think i was relying on some critics who were themselves paying a lot of attention to particular labels (and being serviced by them) that happened to have really good years—but this past year i liked a lot of records from relatively few labels.

seems like they're still doing something.

allo darlin' album is ok but the mimsiness gets wearying and if they were a local band i wouldn't piss on em

i don't get this band.

i really liked 'the polaroid song' single and one or two of the other tracks on the album is ok but some of it is painful, particularly lyrically

i think that album is vv good

Anyone else looking forward to the Esben and the Witch record?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP0Nv_ivTaw

i've enjoyed the singles so far

I'm ambivalent about them so far, but we'll see how deep the album goes.

My new favorite thing that I just found last night. Album and single are actually from last year, but there aren't any rules on the internet and I'm going to post it in 2011!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LhZOl3cBZA

Peach Kelli Pop - "Do the Eggroll"

dunno about "do the eggroll" (yet), but peach kelli pop is an awesome redd kross tune

what's this band "Yuck" i've heard about?

i assume it's indie.

i hope to never know

oh but you will . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_8dBZkuH64

Posting a remix as an example probably not the most honest introduction.

prolly right.

brb.

okay, i watched "do the eggroll", despite strong reservations about the placeholder screencap. it's kinda great for what it is, but i'm kinda burnt on hozac/nobunny-style lofi beach pop. does make me wonder whether there's any substantial difference between pomplamoose-style indiepop twee and this kind of garagepunk twee. still, i'm fundamentally a sucker for this kind of thing, and have liked the white wires for a while, so it's hard to write off.

gonna play it again, tbh.

sounds a ridiculous lot like nobunny, though. intro could go right into "i am a girlfriend" and no one would know the difference.

half for comparison, and half just cuz i like it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xk8vO_jTXE

Ashamed to say this is the first time I've ever listened to Nobunny, but I'm digging it pretty hard.

new Decemberists is like the new R.E.M. album we almost certainly aren't going to get.

that first single (a) features peter buck and (b) is boring.

I'm kind of digging the '90s alt acoustic cheese.

FACT's 10 artists to watch in 2011, starting with the minks.

want in retrospect to thank dr. johnny for that peach kelli pop song, which i have gone around singing to myself for three days now. it's too cute for words, too cute to bear, but i love it anyway. feh on me for acting all jaded-like about how i was "over" the lofi beach pop. lies, obv.

funny thing about the nobunny connection i imagined i heard is that there's a youtube promo for a nobunny + white wires (pkp/allie's other band) show in ottowa that has the same gang of girls, including allie, hanging out on a beach and talking about how excited they are about the upcoming nobunny show. so there you go.

I'll look for that (and for some White Wires stuff too).

here, btw, for convenience' sake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8fqYY1B-DY&feature=related

white wires are great too

re captured tracks, the new beets album is nice too. all of their songs sound exactly the same but they've got some good songwriting chops and it's a short album

I need to hear the Beets full-length (ordering it from CT, along with the Minks record), but the new 7" is pretty fantastic too.

dug the first beets LP, haven't picked up the new one. austerity measures.

I was pretty meh on the Beets LP...an entire album with that vocal delivery got old real fast and the songwriting seemed iffy. Maybe it's worth another listen.

said i dug the first album, but i wouldn't call it great. just good with a few great tracks. especially if yr into the jonathan richman version of garage punk/pop.

Minks record isn't bad

i like it! kind of cure-ish, to be overly general.

i think minks and weekend albums got their labels accidentally swopped

minks is on captured-tracks, right? they sound right for that label's aesthetic, i think.

it has a very slumberland feel to me but yeah it's certainly in appropriate company. the catwalk 45 is almost sarah-ish

XXpost yeah that sounds about right, although considering how cotton-sensitive Captured Tracks bands are these days Weekend would be an ill fit too IMO

The Catwalk singles are so great, really looking forward to that full-length. Craft Spells, eh, the new one sounds a bit too Matt and Kim-y for me

Single I mean, for Craft Spells-- haven't heard the LP yet

New Six Organs Of Admittance album 'Asleep On The Flood Plain' is magnificent. Some really great Jim O'Rourke 'The Visitor' style deep acoustic guitar work going on.

While other bits of it sound like Akron/Family as well.

if i don't care for either of those but love early solo-guitar SOA, will i like it?

plus hey: listen to the soft moon (said it elsewhere, might as well say it here)

I might have to pick the new Jeans Wilder up soon he's sounding pretty good: http://jeanswilder.bandcamp.com/album/nice-trash anyone heard it/recomend it?

I didn't like it but then again I found it to be pretty LOLwave which I hate so grain of salt

Yeah thats why I'm on the fence about grabbing it. I dunno if its one that'll grow on me or not yet, I'll prob just keep streaming it and see how it goes. This album seems more full on than the sketchy mostly acoustic hushed creepy stuff I'd heard from him before as well. I might have dug more of that tbh.

They were probably discussed in last year's thread but I started listening to Standard Fare today. They kinda grew on me. I will likely pick up this album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3VpX44rCtU&feature=related

Absolutely Kosher Records t-shirt!

yeah i thrashed the standard fare album pretty hard last year. still enjoying it, but i'm worn out on the singles

Just put in a Captured Tracks order last night to get the Soft Moon and Minks full-lengths, as well as the new Beets.

can't get what people see in the beets, at least so far.

i've been put off by the sleeves but i listened to the new beets last night and was kinda getting into it

the Ensemble 'excerpts' record is pretty. also like the motion sickness of time travel.

Anybody but me listening to Sat. Nite Duets and the Fatty Acids? Two great Milwaukee indie pop acts of the moment. Sat. Nite Duets sound at first like they're just ripping Pavement but I think they're actually going for something different (but with the same guitar sounds.) Fatty Acids -- peppy/sloppy keyboard + distorted bass combo, just plain good sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IacqH-se3c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iw8yeSa4aC4

cross-posted from a thread i just started cuz it really belongs here:

have loved fergus and geronimo's singles for a year or so, three of them so far that i know of, and they've just got a long-playing record out on hardly art, sub-pop's kid brother imprint.

i guess you could lazily compare unlearn to smith westerns' recent sophomore LP, in that it's arguably more an act of fond pastiche than of wholly organic creation. it's rawer than than that record and casts a considerably wider net, touching on a sometimes bewildering variety of vintage 60s sounds where SW generally stick to smoothed-out FM jams in a mott/oasis vein, but both bands share a similar reverence for well-trodden stretches of pop precedent, indie and otherwise. if that sounds like damnation with faint damn, i'd say that F&G's imagination and songwriting chops easily transcend the often familiar trappings. good songs = good songs.

new album:
http://cdn.pitchfork.com/media/fandgdebutalbumcoverart452.jpg

"powerful lovin" (single version from early/mid 2010, playing up the retro soul angles):
http://www.youtube.com/v/iHCx0zciZrE&fs=1&hl=en

Is this a good place to talk about the Tennis album? I'm currently in the process of getting sucked in by this band's charms no matter how hard I've tried to resist them. The whole "cute couple on a sailboat" thing drives me up a wall and I've read about their insufferable live presence (what with boat shoes and shorts and stuff), so I was already all about hating this duo. But then I heard "Marathon" out of context (had no idea who it was at the time) and I really liked it. So now the full-length. Her vocals are a little too weak for me and the lyrics are beyond awful (how many times can you rhyme "sand" with "land"?) but I'll be damned if this isn't worming into my head. The production, which I've read a lot of complaints about, is actually working well for me, there is a very subdued, echoey Walkmen vibe to a lot of the tracks, more than once I expected Hamilton Leithauser to start crooning. I don't know, there's just something about this record that is making me like it, despite ticking off so many "I should totally hate this" boxes.

i heard them live this morning on satellite radio. songs were somewhat catchy (in a shy indie way, i guess), and a little sparse. i was kind of underwhelmed. on the other hand, the band said that these songs were originally just for them, and they became popular after a friend of theirs, without the band's knowledge/consent, sent copies of the songs to a popular blog. there is a charming notion about that kind of intimate artifact.

it's kind of a twisted boardwalk doo-wop album -- sags a bit even at only 29 minutes but the first few tracks are super solid. "Long Boat Pass" makes me happy.

interesting interview with minks, especially this:

“To be honest, I don’t really like goth music at all. I think people started to say that about MINKS after i used a photo of that girl on the cover for ‘Funeral Song’. I had been holding onto that photo for years, and always wanted to use it for something. I do like a lot of 80s British indie: a lot of records that were released on Factory and Creation especially. Lately, I’ve been listening to the song ‘Hope’ by The House of Love a lot. It’s not really my nature to obsess over bands or music, and I think this is mostly because I usually like music to be in the background of my life. Sometimes I don’t even want to listen to the lyrics because I don’t want to know what they are. I like music to be there in the distance.”

___________________________________

“Lately I’ve started to think it’s a Catholic thing to always look to the past but never forward. I’ve never been comfortable with time. Maybe it’s the idea that as we get older we’re becoming closer to death, so it’s very safe to keep our minds wrapped up in memory. I’m nostalgic for optimism and life. The older I become, the more cynical I become, and it’s hard for me to shift out of this cycle. It’s hard for me to watch my friends grow up and to see my parents look older than they used to. When I was young I loved the street i grew up on and now when I go back it depresses me, and I don’t know why. Maybe I’m nostalgic for a place in time when everything was warm and safe.”

i totally empathize with what he's saying in the final paragraph, except it's not a "catholic thing" for me.

Andrew Broder (of The Fog/Hymie's Basement) has a new band with Dosh...oddly it sounds kinda like Silkworm!

http://www.radiok.org/instudios/i/cloakox/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j81pid5lQs

Montreal's Braids just put out Native Speaker after a loooooong delay due to mastering and label fuckery, but I've been caning it since mid-December and it has yet to lose its charms. Glass Deers is probably my favourite track, but Raph's vocal turn on the title track is really something. Anyway, it's an early favourite of 2011.

Hopefully I'll be getting a package soon with that Minks disc. I need to check out Braids.

Yeah. (And if you dig Braids, Raphaelle has a side-project called Blue Hawaii which is A++ good and produced one of my favourite songs/EPs of 2010).

braids has been sitting on my hard drive for a while now - haven't heard a bad word about it.

First side = stronger than the second, or at least more song-oriented. The last half gets a little jammier, but still quite good.

They recorded/produced/mastered the entire thing themselves, which wouldn't be notable but it sounds totally immaculate. The mixing is maybe one of my favourite things about the album. You can just sink into the sonics and swim around in them.

joy formidable lp leaked, just started listening but so far it sounds consistent in quality from the ep (or whatever "balloon called moaning" was)

i found this interesting: dirty beaches, in their own words (pop montreal feature)

I don't know if anyone's a fan of Gowns or Amps For Christ but Erika Anderson is preparing to release solo stuff and what I've heard is fucking awesome, like somewhere between Cat Power, Neil Young and Lift To Experience. She's got a single out on Souterrain in March called Grey Ships (it's on soundcloud) and the B-side, a 17-minute cover of Robert Johnson's 'Kind Heart' which just slays is up on the Quietus at the moment.

joy formidable lp leaked, just started listening but so far it sounds consistent in quality from the ep

Was just about to post roughly the same thing. The songs on here I hadn't heard before are all really great. Hearing "Austere" re-recorded, though, is kinda weird. I've listened to the original version about a jillion times.

stupidly listened again to the dirty-beaches interview. he's got a great f--k you attitude. love these songs.

Indie is a right mission at the moment, nothing sicks. Even the best stuff is so wishy washy and pointless it hardly gets past the vaulgy pleasing stage. The exceptions being Deerhunter who keep on making solid albums and umm.... Thats about the biggest best most consistent indie band and they're hardly on the radar outside of the geeks. Whats going on indie land got anything good for me?

try the dirty beaches. dark, edgy, catchy. maybe i'm misreading what you'd like, but they're hardly wishy-washy or pointless or lacking in a definite vision.

i'll post some youtube links later (i've posted some before, way upthread and on last year's rolling indie thread).

Deerhunter

if this represents the best of indie for you i don't know what to say

oh, i like deerhunter a lot. seems to me they're still on the ascent, writing even stronger melodies and the arrangements, vibe and instrumentation is all getting better over time. idk, seems like there's a tendency to "move on" to some new thing very fast these days, where acts are old-hat long before they're really old at all. btw, not suggesting this applies to you; some people just don't like deerhunter much.

there are tons of interesting things being done in indie, tho. in all areas of music, actually. the amount of good-to-great stuff i'm exposed to these days is staggering. it's easier to get a headache trying to sample all of it than get a headache from being exposed to lousy, irritating music.

haha indeed

It says indies fucked. In 2011 anyway, I mean Deerhunter are the best new band around by miles. I love them to bits, they're always solid live and making good albums. Cryptograms is still my fave but the rest are still well worth a listen.

Plus I'm trying to get a rise to see who'll step up with a good suggestion, you failed a bit... still got hope mind haha

Dirty Beaches are kinda interesting I'll keep them on rotation and see how they settle. They're a bit in debet to the past but I guess its something I've got to try and get on board with if I'm going to find anything I really enjoy in indie this year.

It says indies fucked

haha, i like this phrase. immediately brought to mind "it puts the lotion in the basket," and "return my precious to gollum."

see the p4k post praising the dirty beaches song sweet 17 for a new twist on the "debt to the past" notion. i mean, obv. the dirty-beaches do look to the past -- the 50s really. but the p4k post makes the nice point that the 50s is an underutilized era in all the retro-fetishism of the past decade. it has a romantic cool vibe that's worth more current consideration.

lol

'indies fucked'

is also the answer I gave a mate when he said...

'why is that dude getting in a fridge?', while watching Indian Jones 4 at Christmass.

Yeah 50s isn't used to much as a touch stone. Its just the fact that indie has been so blatantly in debet to the past for so ling that even a smidgen of nostalgia by a band gets a little cheesey. Its all on such a fine line now, you have to really let go and go with it. Its a bit like letting go and beleaving Rick Flair can still beat people up even though he's 452. Its fun if you can do it cos he's a good laugh but its a mission.

ric flair, no. jerry lawler can still superpunch someone, tho.

true

haha

Enjoying this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOKStMWx0LU

the narcoleptic dancers 'not evident' ep is pretty charming.

is this indie? is this hip-hop? probably more the latter, idk. i do know that i love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36XP6cUdXN4&feature=related

Star Slinger has gone from unknown to omnipresent in about 3 weeks.

really? i could only find one article about them online, after i breezed thru about five youtube clips from their new album.

i mean, they're on a fairly high-profile indie label (mexican summer), so maybe they're getting a push?

I think Star Slinger is just one guy, but I first read about him on the Guardian site a little while ago and since then I've seen about 50 remixes/mash-ups with his name on 'em. Maybe it's just the ring of sites I visit frequently, though.

what's this notion of "teams v. star slinger"? that's who this ep is credited to.

Oh wow, I just found a youtube of him fucking around with my favorite Life Without Buildings song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhF8tgVE7tI

it's a little like chopped n' screwed stuff i've heard recently, except it's more like chopped n' revved-up.

This seemed kind of slight the first time I listened to it, but I realized it's the kind of song that does exactly what it should...like it's following a map you want it to follow. Now I rather love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DvFlJGoJqg

First Love, Last Rites — "I'm Gone"

just picked up the minks, do not like it.

i know i already said this but the Joy Formidable album is really good. the production is really muscular and dramatic in a way that isn't very popular in indie rock circles these days but it works really well

wow who is this band?!? love this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp9_RAnAjSg

huh apparently the Joy Formidable album is on Atlantic in the U.S. so may not be appropriate for this thread after all, if we're being strict about indie=indie label as opposed to indie as a "sound"

light asylum is shannon funchess, lately from !!!. quite like what i've heard so far.

xp Are we really going to be that strict about indie's definition in here?

light asylum is shannon funchess, lately from !!!. quite like what i've heard so far.

― like a musical album. made by a band. (fucking in the streets), Wednesday, January 26, 2011 1:21 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

also of 'Dancing In Slow Motion' the absolute highlight of last year's awesome Teengirl Fantasy LP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT2_G6Dov0U

The tour EP (In Tension) is v. good stuff. Curious to see where she goes next.

digging the Cloud Nothings album. pitchfork compared it to Descendents, which I don't hear exactly but it is definitely reminiscent of the 90s pop-punk I listened to in high school, v. catchy uptempo songs

You can stream the new Esben & The Witch album here: http://thequietus.com/articles/05607-esben-the-witch-violet-cries-track-by-track not got around to it yet but I'm excited, I'll wack my headphones on later sweeeeet.

Bloody love the Tennis album, bloody love it.

Here's a Tennis mixtape--also see the others in right margin, incl Braids and Mogwai (who choose Goblin, Tuxedomoon, and many other deep crate spirits)
http://www.internationaltapes.com/mixtapes/tennis/

Esben & the Witch are basically a more doomy Warpaint?

I guess? I'm definitely not in love.

Joy Formidables' The Last Drop is by far one of my favorite discoveries from the shoegazer poll. That sons is fantastic.

new Devotchka is really terrific. i could just be a homer.

Despite how much I really, really love Captured Tracks over the years, their mail order is certainly not helping keep me a fan. Placed an order back on the 16th and still haven't gotten my discs or any sort of response. I really like to support labels like that by buying direct, but tbh, this is ridiculously slow service.

Joy Formidables' The Last Drop is by far one of my favorite discoveries from the shoegazer poll. That sons is fantastic.
--last night a Drugs A. Money saved my life (Drugs A. Money)

I think i nommed that one. I love that the vocals in the chorus are in 3/4 but the music is in a different time.

I need to hear this Joy Formidables record you guys are all loving.

It's actually The Joy Formidable and the title is The Big Roar, but they released a mini-album in 2009 titled A Balloon Called Moaning.

but the best tracks from A Balloon Called Moaning are on The Big Roar anyways

not sure if i like their pink floyd-y vibe, but the holydrug couple is a genuinely funny band name.

on the sacred bones label, one of my favorites, so . . .

I think i nommed that one. I love that the vocals in the chorus are in 3/4 but the music is in a different time.

*pushes up glasses*

actually the whole phrase is 14 beats long, and the rhythm section divides it into an 8 + 6 phrase (or three bars of 4/4 + one bar of 2/4, however you want to think about it). then the vocals divide those 14 beats in half and outline a 7/4 phrase. i like it.

/I think i nommed that one. I love that the vocals in the chorus are in 3/4 but the music is in a different time./

*pushes up glasses*

actually the whole phrase is 14 beats long, and the rhythm section divides it into an 8 + 6 phrase (or three bars of 4/4 + one bar of 2/4, however you want to think about it). then the vocals divide those 14 beats in half and outline a 7/4 phrase. i like it.
--bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan)

Awesome. Thx for explaining that. I knew I didn't have it right.

i bought the tjf record today :) look at me being all indie

anyone familiar with Young Prisms? They are opening for Radio Dept tonight. Worth getting there early for?

holydrug couple myspace tracks sounding pretty fucking awesome atm

Yes. The sample I heard on Sacred Bones was pretty great. I had to pre-order their 12"

lots of releases upcoming from the sacred bones and captured tracks labels.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW_dPiqULrc

woah, i like that track much more than the other "yuck" songs i've heard. not that it's necessary to strain for a comparison, but it does sound quite dinosaur-jr.-y, in guitar tone and style, and in the singer's delivery.

been getting into the megaphonic thrift EP recently, i think they might be putting out something on club ac30 later this year. reminds me of the very first idlewild stuff (when they were awesome) shot through a mid 90s US lofi lens..

also after being put off by her weird musicbox covers of blue monday et al i approached the hannah peel album on static caravan with some trepidation but it is actually really lovely.

can't remember if i mentioned it on last year's thread but the jo bartlett (of jo & danny / yellow moon band) album is gorgeous folky loveliness and is rapidly becoming one of my most played lps of recent times

Mainstream is the new indie.

Indie is the new mainstream.

― ecuador_with_a_c, Thursday, February 4, 2010

In defence of this rather trite quote, it was from a thread called "Ten Words or Less: The Decade in Music 2000-09", so I was going for haiku-like brevity.

Brown Recluse album has appeared. The tossed off instrumentals make it more of an ep I suppose. Pretty good.

Our (former) own MTS sings backup on one of the tracks on that.

really enjoying the new dum dum girls track: http://www.gorillavsbear.net/2011/02/03/mp3-dum-dum-girls-he-gets-me-high/

hopefully their new album is more loud & fast now that they seem to have a grip on the kind of sound they're looking for.

Am kind of living with the Tennis and Minks albums at the moment...Tennis has the better moments fo' sure. Can only really find love for 'Funeral Song' on the Minks record but am into their schtick enough that I'd like to see them live to see if that makes them click for me.

Tennis has some wonderful moments but also almost falls over into the slight overjauntiness.. is close to being something that would boil my piss but just about rides it. I had similar issues with the Neverever record last year. Tennis-wise,'Marathon' is my standout at the moment.

Really liking memoryhouse atm. Canadian dreampop indie pop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UsPZqNXYew

Memoryhouse are A++. I have only heard their EP from last year (The Years). Lately (Deuxieme) is particularly lovely and samples Jon Brion's Eternal Sunshine soundtrack.

"Heirloom" is their best song, reminds me of MBV without the noise

Esben and the Witch is a right slow burner, really enjoying sinking into it.

Big up for the Dirty Beaches recomendation a while back, I'm really getting into him now. Gonna pick up a few bits soon.

very happy to hear it (re: dirty beaches)!

is this dirty beaches available on the itunes?

Ive been listening to Beat!Beat!Beat! lately, not bad. Reminds me of Tokyo Police Club

is this dirty beaches available on the itunes?

it will be, in late march (release date). in the meantime, most of the songs on the disc are already available as singles (e.g., true blue; sweet 17) or via this late 2010 daytrotter session.

i've also been loving the freelance whales, daniel not sure if you've heard them...iron and winey.

catching up on the thread. the standout minks track for me is 'kusmi', hits all the right notes. loooooove memoryhouse, they stand above most of their contemporaries.

dirty beaches touring aus soon apparently, thought about going for a support slot but have a gnats chance in hell, will be the usual hipster dross

Not to bring up the "indie" indie argument again, but we should probably utilize this thread's power next year to form some kind of voting bloc for the eoy polls. The other genre threads all do it, though not explicity. In other words, if you're reading this, just keep checking in on a regular basis and get to know what other people are liking and feel free to introduce us to things we might not have heard.

that would be more useful if any of us here really agreed on the best records

i think the closest thing to a consensus pick on this thread is the soft moon lp

lol I'm already kind of bored with the Soft Moon album.

sux to be you :P

j/k

I'm not really into Soft Moon, the vocals are a bit off-putting. Music's alright - sounds a bit like that last Horrors album, imo - but isn't anything to shout about.

My past few days have been dominated by this one:

http://vimeo.com/19162184

That's "Medication" by Karaocake - foolishly thought that would work the same as it does with youtube.

Yeah, Karaocake is great. I want to say the first song I ever heard from them was a cover, but now I can't remember what cover it was.

Really loving beatbeatbeat

Karaocake is a horrible name

Thoughts? http://xpldr.tumblr.com/post/3132021598/watch-listen-on-cruise-mellow-birds-isle-of

yeah wtf there is no way i'm giving that the time of day with that sort of name xpost

lol good thought, how about this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tRDGVnP2EE

Stand by "Karaocake" - my world would be a far poorer place if I ignored bands with silly names.

yeah tbf i am a big crispy ambulance fan so i am fronting

i've also been loving the freelance whales, daniel not sure if you've heard them...iron and winey.

haven't heard of them, but will check them out.

pains of being pure at heart are going cutting edge by having flood produce their album.

heard TPOBPAT's new single this week. i haven't formed an opinion of it yet, but i was struck at how different it sounded from the debut disc.

It's really guitar heavy, like MTV-1996 style.

but his voice seems more precious, like comically so

I'm hoping it's a stylistic outlier.

'side ponytail' is all the tpobpah i'll ever need

Just found out Jesper from Junior Senior has another new band called Make Out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1PDJsgVvM

"I Don't Want Anybody That Wants Me"

(Another track up at Popmatters: http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/136634-make-out-what-u-doing-later-mp3-popmatters-premiere)

new ringo deathstarr single is rather beguiling. sounds like a very happy early creation EPs-era MBV

pains of being pure at heart are going cutting edge by having flood produce their album.

― keythhtyek, Monday, 7 February 2011 03:48 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

heard TPOBPAT's new single this week. i haven't formed an opinion of it yet, but i was struck at how different it sounded from the debut disc.

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 7 February 2011 03:49 (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

It's really guitar heavy, like MTV-1996 style.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, 7 February 2011 03:54 (3 hours ago) Bookmark

As I've spent all week just listening to Mellon Collie colour me EXCITED MOTEHRFUCKERS

Nevermind my assesment of Freelance Whales, after more listening its kind of shit. The opener is good.

Anyone wanna steer this metalhead who likes his indie rock loud towards some good albums to check out?

You might like The Joy Formidable record, some relatively loud moments on that.

I really like the EMA song "The Grey Ship." Its kind of Bat for Lashes-y.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2kgf-q6AMo

Oh, I see this was already mentioned upthread.

donovan quinn & the 13th month - your wicked man is a really cool record

it's on soft abuse records and it's kinda in the vein of go-betweens

http://www.softabuse.com/artists/donovan_quinn.html

NYCNative - try the band Disappears. I've been digging their album lux from last year; they also have a newer one from a few weeks ago. Not close to metal but it is loud.

if metal means you're into (loud, but maybe melodic) noise, that opens up a lot of doors, e.g., a place to bury strangers; dirty beaches (i realize i'm a broken record on this band); raveonettes; others.

a place to bury strangers

I'd recommend this band to anyone, no matter what tastes they have. SO GOOD.

i haven't picked up their sophomore disc (from two years ago, maybe). is it as good as the debut?

i think it is stronger overall

the 2nd one that is

Yeah, the 2nd one is LIKE WOAH better than the debut.

hm. okay, i'm sold.

that first one fits nicely with other nu-industrial/goth-y groups, e.g., soft moon.

hmm Yuck isn't bad.

Has anyone here listened to Sweet Bulbs yet? They seem to be doing well with the fuzzy poppy indie thing.

im also really liking this Unwinding Hours album. pretty rad, especially "knut"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeY0u80CbaQ

Swedish gaze band Youngteam. Early Ride-y, early Slowdive-y, Charlatans-y a bit. The album isn't very strong at all, but this track is ok.

Loving that track DavidM!

Kind of into this song "There's Nothing for Me Here" by Range Rover. They seems to only exist on bandcamp at the moment, and I can't say I like the other two tracks there as much. But this song is great.

http://rangerover.bandcamp.com/track/theres-nothing-for-me-here

Digging the new Dum Dum Girls EP. Not sure if anyone can press my buttons more than lo-fi garage motown girl groups covering The Smiths.

Echoing upthread about the new Joy Formidable album: it is really good, plus it rocks. I like what they did with the end of 'Whirring.'

wait is this the balloon called moaning album? ive had it for almost a year and never checked it out.

no, it's a new one called "the big roar" but it has a few songs from the old album (i feel like i've made this post a few times now)

i can't find it anywhere. not out yet?

was released in Jan in the UK, not sure about the U.S.

US pre-order today, released 15th march. http://thejoyformidable.com/bigroar/

Plus they're doing a longish U.S. tour this Spring with (yes!) a stop in Portland.

I'm happy Gang Gang Dance are coming back with an album this year. I'm I right in thinking Ponytail are now alive too? I've always meant to dig into there stuff so it would be cool to see them back.

I want to hear new Dum Dum Girls LP if that exists.

Guardian headline re NME tour: 'Sick of dull white boy indie rock? The Vaccines have the cure'.

Even I can see what's wrong with that.

ps DD Girls - ep, OK, still want to hear that.

Dum Dum Girls EP is a bit cleaner in tone, little bit less fuzzy, more harmonies, but the song writing is just as strong as on the LP, if not more so. 'Take Care of My Baby' is a slow-burning torch song, the title track is also quite nice.

Elvin Estela (aka DJ Nobody) and Niki Randa are Blank Blue

the album is Western Water Music Vol II

It's trippy in a mellow way. Sort of thievery corporation + dj shadow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txOXHRGTpic

Okay, I'm officially in love with the Yuck album. There is absolutely nothing new about them, but this is almost exactly the sound of stuff I fell in love with back in the early to mid 90s.

i like that new young prisms album. i'm not sure what the deal is with <a href="http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15063-friends-for-now/";>the pitchfork review</a> - it seems like he hated everything that's good about it (murk, confusion, anonymity). it's a lovely racket.

Yeah, I just listened to that a couple days ago. Wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did.

Blank Blue are good.

What are thoughts on Ringo Deathstarr? My buddy had his iTunes on shuffle the other day and every time I asked who was playing, it turned out to be them. Really love what I've heard so far.

mentioned them a couple of times on the new shoegaze thread, i like em a lot

so after giving a few of their songs a proper listen, my thoughts are:

A) I can't fucking believe this is being released in 2011
B) This is really good!

Anyone heard the new Acid House Kings?

Ringo Deathstarr (too late for a namechange?) make me feel eighteen. But the whole album is a little too upbeat/twee/happy for me to really get into.

Saying that I really like the new Gruff Rhys - and I was never a big SFA fan. That's a very sunny album.

i dig this recent mini-trend of band names modeled after other artists, e.g., ringo deathstarr v. joy orbison.

death v. joy.

new acid house kings is good, same as always, nice little pop songs. a bit like the bats in that you know what you are going to get and they usually don't let you down. maybe it seems like the girl sings more.

I posted this in the dilettante thread too, but I stumbled across Pope Joan last year with one song. Never really followed up on them, despite liking that song a great deal. Found out today they're releasing a new single next month and this is it. (They have more things here.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SyxJM4XsEc

Could become one of my favorite bands soon if they continue on this trajectory.

Hah, right after the drums started I half-expected to hear David Byrne say "wait a minute"

FIRST IMPRESSION: Yes, indeedy.

A++

Have heard of Pope Joan, I think they may be from round here (Brighton, UK), if not they seem to play an awful lot. Will check out that YT when I'm out of this streaming media prohibitive hellhole that I call my workplace.

Listening to Pope Joan's recorded tracks, they are more like B+ tbh. Pretty good though, in a if Bloc Party had progressed without going off the rails kinda way.
"I Can't Stand You At All" and "A Drowning" are their two best tracks, imo.

emusic has a single available from pope joan. it's interesting.

"I Can't Stand You At All" and "A Drowning" are their two best tracks, imo.

Those are the ones that come out as a single next month. The ones that have been commercially released prior to now are alright, but there's one that I don't know the name of on youtube that I think is fantastic (it's one of the tracks where they're playing while some guy is painting/drawing).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01xl2gPNjaY

i have decided that the megaphonic thrift are fantastic. 'talks like a weed king' going to be in my top singles for the year.

& there's a new slow down tallahassee album that i didn't even know was coming - thought they'd split up! digesting that one later today..

slow down tallahassee have split. their first one reminded me of the chipmunks.

so this is a posthumous release?

first album is great and does not remind me of the chipmunks at all.

This has preoccupied me for the past hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jIyHeNeZEk

the cave singers are a band on jagjaguwar and i'm listening to their album here:

http://www.spinner.com/new-releases#/16

it's pretty

I have their first two albums, but I'm not sure that I need another one. The reviews of this one seem fairly mixed. I dig their formula, but not so sure I need to hear it again.

yeah i totally dug the first two cave singers...hen of the woods being my favorite...but then they got boring to me.

u should all check out the Low Anthem...new one out today.

The new Cave Singers album has a little more oomph to it which, as it turns out, is not something that band needed at all. Love the first two though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRHr3oznzHM

Martial Canterel, sounding very like early OMD. Listening to the new album I like it more that the 5.5 pf gave it. In fact the more I listen the more I like, though I still get the impression I'll get bored of it quickly once the novelty has worn off.

megaphonic thrift album is really really good. riyl daydream nation (lp) and the first archers of loaf thingy

mirrors (on skint records) are some insane OMD ripoff and the album is wall to wall tunes

Yeah, just listened to Mirrors last night and thought the exact same thing.

New Help Stamp Out Loneliness song is wonderful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvNNW3X7Z2Q

record shop was on their 'torvill & dean' single, is it a new version? their album is out soonish, will be all over it. do love that band.

these dudes "Caspian" are fucking killing it for me these days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUhOis8sxD0

^ stuff that sounds like this is a big part of the reason I hated the second half of the 90s.

Liking this song by a band with a terrible name:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C3_b5QUVNA

post-rock not for everyone.

joy formidable is playing in chicago :)

on a tuesday night :(

Never heard of Wye Oak before, but their new single caught my ear recently.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2VNG8yMI8w

they are really good. i have only heard part of the new album, and it seems good, but i think i prefer their older, slightly quieter stuff. "the knot" is the album i was really into, esp this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZhPffhMCSI

Wye oak, the knot is great

new beach fossils EP no step forward whatsoever from the album. could be album outtakes for all i know. pretty disappointing really

widowspeak 45 on cap tracks is not bad, not unlike rowland howard playing with mazzy star

agreed on beach fossils...

Hmm maybe I'll pass on ordering that Beach Fossils then.

Feel like the Pitchfork review of Joy Formidable misses the mark. While I do hear the Pumpkins influence at times, I don't think its as much of a liability as the reviewer does.

was just thinking the same thing. the album is a little "alternative rock," which is not very hip right now, but i think it works for them. the guitars sound great.

So true, I love the way it sounds. I was kind of thinking some weird hybrid of peak-era Pumpkins and Lush, particularly on something like "Whirring".

And not to turn this into the Pitchfork thread suddenly, but the disconnect between that Eleventh Dream Day review and the actual score is o_O

Love that two of the reviews (EDD and Wye Oak) today cite Neil Young as influences. I'm such a sucker for those comparisons too.

xpost -- I can see how songs like "Magnifying Glass" could have been played on alternative radio stations in the mid to late 90's (probably would be played even today!) but it's still a good song.

Listening to 'The Big Roar' again recently I was thinking that some people might think it a little overwrought and dramatic, definitely qualities I don't think are hip right now, but I like to hear that in music sometimes. It's a pretty great album.

every time i play the cloud nothings album i have to keep playing it on repeat.

i don't know if it's accurate or not—sounds kind of right—but i like the phrase in this bbc review -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/864z

'free of attitudinizing'

stuff i have been listening to

craft spells album is pretty but ultimately fairly bland. i will probably end up playing it quite a bit as i won't really be able to remember what it sounded like after it ends

blouse captured tracks 45 is nice enough but maybe the label is starting to tread water a bit?

feel a bit similarly about the brown recluse album. nicely crafted and well recorded and almost completely unmemorable. slumberland put out stuff that is like this a lot lately.

puro instinct record is a fluffy shiny synthy wash that seems to have taken out most of what made me dig the pearl harbour ep so much

lowtide 45 on departed sounds is v good if you like bands that like slowdive a lot

new standard fare single is pretty good though i find the lyrics a bit uncomfortable

Really? It's at least partially the lyrics that swung me to this one - not been particularly into them before, but I thought the treatment of the subject quite intelligent.

the lyrics are good, just not the sort of thing i expected to hear from them, & it's taking me time to get into it

brown recluse reminds me of early of montreal, 'cherry peel'/'the bedsit drama' so i figured they wouldn't be up your alley. listened to a few of those other things you mentioned, nothing makes me smile. but then i don't get all of the captured tracks love. it is a failing on my part.

i have no issues with the brown recluse 'sound' and i found their previous EP quite enjoyable.. the songs just don't stick with me is all

new epic45 seems very nice on first listen. a bit bark psychosis-ish at points or is it just Hood-ish, on the long songs, with some bleed in from my autumn empire.

dodos no color...good.

new epic45 seems very nice on first listen. a bit bark psychosis-ish at points or is it just Hood-ish, on the long songs, with some bleed in from my autumn empire.

That sounds like a great recommendation to me, I'll go check it out!

i like the new metronomy & the new tahati 80 quite a lot

i guess these are indie or at the least indie pop~

*tahiti* 80

Still coming to terms with Metronomy's directional shift...leaning towards liking it, though.

Interesting Baby Bird sings one of tracks on the Epic45.

maria minerva is really great, is she old news? only just discovered today.

I don't think so, really. I only found her about 3 weeks ago. Tallinn at Dawn is already one of my favorite 2011 albums, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN38DIdOyD4

Anybody know anything about The Savings and Loan - apart from the fact that they have a bloody awful name? Heard this on 6 Music this morning and immediately fell in like.

That's pretty nice. The guy's voice sounds like a cross between Nick Cave and Chris Martin of all things.

"pretty nice" is what i think alot of the bands in this thread aspire to :(

how bout some EMA?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BacPDrDeY8U

^ That is a pretty great track. I would love a full album's worth of that sound.

Really digging J. Mascis's solo record. I thought I would miss his electric guitar licks, but the songs are really strong.

bit unsure of that savings & loan thing, i dig it in a tindersticks/saint judes infirmary kind of way but there's something missing.

is anyone a fan of that sarah kirkland snider record that was released last year called 'penelope'. it reminds me of spoonfed hybrid, strangely, well strange because it has a female singer and it is essentially a classical record. but she has the same languid tone as ian masters. singer also has a new record out with other classical people called 'ziyalan' and it is very nice too, although i am not sure about the spoken word bits.

bit unsure of that savings & loan thing, i dig it in a tindersticks/saint judes infirmary kind of way but there's something missing.

I was reminded of a sobered-up Tindersticks as well. I like that track but I listened to the album last night and it draaaags.

Anyone hear the new Mr. Dream LP?

Video for "California Scheming"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c-cxOQ13m8

http://youtu.be/WI2Snax4dNo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI2Snax4dNo

like this mazes album on fat cat quite a bit

p standard dirty noise pop with decent tunes but i dig the way it all holds together

the new Orwell record is very nice. is it a one man concern now? much of it sounds like it was recorded in his bedroom. some distance away from the posh past.

^ 2nd on that Mazes album. Really liking that Jeans Wilder album that came out a few months ago.

jerusalem & the starbaskets new album out next week! samples sound FANTASTIC

girls name album is great. reminds me of the robert forster songs on early go betweens records but sung by ed kuepper

girls names

Mazes are v.good live too - saw them ages ago supporting Wavves and thought they were okay then again more recently and they'd hugely improved. A fair amount of tunes too.

that Maria Minerva track is fantastic! can't wait to hear the rest of Tallinn At Dawn

Her second album's already due out this summer as well. imo she could use an editor, but her better songs are REALLY good.

just listened to "Other Side" and "Hip Hop Gone in Spring" from Tallinn at Dawn....also very nice! Is she quoting Nas's "Hate Me Now"?!

wow wow wow <3 this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXOcOUQIRrk

Yeah, that's nice.

that reminds of something, i can't place it.

i've liked all the burning hearts stuff so far, nice to see they're keeping up the quality

interesting to me how they pull a lot of the tricks that radio dept do, but never piss me off like the radio dept do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_HLJE3Y0eU

Johnny Fever put this Polish band's new album cover in the album cover thread a couple of weeks ago, and I'm still playing this nearly every day. It deserves to be in this thread imho.

^ good call

the sleeps in oysters album is fun. i think the eps were better. sorta similar to candy claws, sometimes it is more sound than song. same hippy sentiments. the guy sings more than he did on the eps.

wonder whether I oughta put this on a Rodin/Louisville/Silkworm-lovers thread or something but attn indie fuxx. Do you like the sound of a rock band recorded at Electrical Audio? Do you have some 90s joints on 1/4 Stick and think "I fucking like this record"? Then you maybe oughta listen to this band The Gary's new album. It is not the most original shit in the world but it is carrying a very bright torch for that sound & pulling it off pretty persuasively imo

help stamp out loneliness album is wonderful. also sounds like it should have been on fortuna pop

played with HSOL in Nottingham last week, we were all very drunk but they managed to be drunk AND great.

gold-bears record is fantastic. but then i always thought plastic mastery should have given more love than they were.

only listened to it the once so far but nothing really grabbed me yet

it's like a boyracer album that isn't terrible, or like that one boyracer album that was actually really terrific.

loosen yr grip

ok. but the new Giorgio Tuma album is gorgeous.

no that's the boyracer album i thought you were referring to

mm this is really good maybe im just in the right mood

youth lagoon - montana

all everyone united is a great blog such a big crazy mess

Most Boyracer albums are terrific.

if you truly believe that then you'd probably enjoy the gold-bears record. jim had the right answer though i thought he was making a pun. the giorgio tuma is so pretty, like if the high llamas were good. cue someone saying the high llamas are good. i thought the guy from the free design had produced part of it but it turns out that he produced an album by one of the guest singers which is somehow relevant.

Never came around to High Llamas, but know people who love them so much. I do love Boyracer, so thanks I'll check out Gold-bears! Reminds me I need to get some more Boyracer too... I've got 3 of theirs on vinyl, but not much else.

help stamp out loneliness album is wonderful.

loving this more with every listen

i love this lush sounding song, might have to hear more from this band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGO-R0i0gQ0

Nice song, shame about the band name.

They did a really cool cover of Technotronic's "Move This" a while back.

Ah, here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b37A8oLonHo

Just listened to their "We've Been Foolish" single from last year. It's not a patch on "Can't Make Up My Mind", but the synth-pop with chiming indie guitars sorta thing will always catch my ear, so I'm gonna be all over the album.

Yeah, "Can't Make Up My Mind" is the first thing by them that makes me think they might be going somewhere with all of this.

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/wp-content/media/2011/05/delusions.jpg

At their best, like on the track "Time", they're like a female-fronted New Order.

Found the album via usual means. Listening to it now and...WOW. Gonna spend time with this over the summer for sure.

new Bachelorette album is lovely. more subdued than the last one. less technicolour. but still excellent.

Probably not indie proper, but the pop thread would hate this and the dilettante thread is dunzo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBxC5bRbruQ

Like Zola Jesus with some polish.

i don't hate that

Reminds me of...T'Pau?

Yeah, T'Pau and the similarly named single by Shakespeares Sister as well.

i dug those things as a youngun

How do Let's Wrestle get so many support slots? They're bloody awful. Still, gives me time to get drinks and take my time if I want to go outside for a ciggie.

i just got turned on to this song by Young Dreams, they are from Bergen, Norway. great summertime music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSffEgoIz0o

new thomas tantrum album. they appear to have turned into asobi seksu, sort of

At least they don't sound like Life Without Buildings anymore.

I downloaded the TT a couple weeks ago, but haven't listened yet. I did like the first single from it though.

yeah i quite like it so far

i have totally fallen for the art museums. liked their album from last year but the two new singles (shopping / dancing) are just fucking great

Whoa, the first 30 seconds of that Young Dreams sound so much like Galaxie 500 it's giving me the creeps

I've heard Art Museums snippets while clicking around on juno.co.uk -- sounded nice. Should investigate further.

young dreams heavily remind me of the brother kite

The Nature Set single on Elefant is worth checking and I'm not just saying that coz I go out with one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yurBQC31P8

noticed that nature set thing, will check it out for sure. been down on elefant recently due to a rash of terrible, terrible releases. though the TBS and just handshakes EPs were really good.

^reminds me of slow down tallahassee

Claire (on the bottom right) was in Slow Down Tallahassee.

^_^

Listening to the Pure X album right now. Kind of somewhere between Low and Bedhead (which, admittedly, is a pretty tight space). Quite good tho.

new Bachelorette album is lovely. more subdued than the last one. less technicolour. but still excellent.
seconded! not sure why more people aren't raving about her.

after spending quite a bit of time with the tuomas tantrum album i've decided it's very good indeed

speaking of new elefant stuff, the other new singles are fairly rub but the milknaut EP is cool, like a marginally more electronic acid house kings

the younghusband single on too pure is awesome

this is really good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afXmXWlMhIs&feature=player_embedded

milk maid album v enjoyable

fatcat are really at the front of the good ol guitar indie revival atm

it's from October 2010 but I didn't get hip to it til now and as far as I know it flew pretty under the radar but I consider the Holy Sons' Survivalist Tales some of the best indie stuff I've heard in a while - some clever lyrics (and also a "deploy a dumb rhyme and make it work" thing at one point that just kills me) - slow smokey late-night stuff from one of the members of Om, really really good, in a mood pocket that not much else hits to my ear - I can't quite nail it down but I keep listening to it, it's the thing I see in the iTunes library that makes me go "yeah that's what I want to hear right now" for several weeks now

yeah dude, one of the better things going. travelled w/hs in march and the sets night to night were so, so good

Loving the new Handsome Furs album after a few spins. I always preferred this duo's output more than Wolf Parade's. Great packaging for the CD, too. It's nice to spend money on music and feel appreciated for doing so. Some of the indie-packaging is embarrassing.

picked up the 'by the sea' ep on great pop supplement, awesome if you like the folkier side of shack

new brilliant colors album features interesting things like almost-in-tune singing and the occasional tune. not bad.

guess they won't be included in this thread from here on out then

oh ho ho

ive really warmed up to the antlers - burst apart

I really liked their last album but haven't had the drive to check out the new one. I'll put it on my list.

I was listening to it on Spotify earlier today, not really impressed on initial listen, at least not compared to the first one. I feel like the cleaning up of their sound really reveals some limitations.

turrks album (on beko dsl) ain't half bad, like beachbuggy but with more reverb

Is it bad form to post music your friends made in this thread?

No response, so I will just post this here and back away slowly:

http://soundcloud.com/icometoshanghai/eternal-life-volume-1

For fans of stuff that sounds like Super Furry Animals, Pink Floyd, analog synths, etc.

the new Heart Strings record is charming indiepop. A bit Fonda 500 meets something more twee. Rumors that there may be a new Prefab Sprout record 'trapdoor melancholy' in the autumn, woo hoo.

Pope Joan, which I mentioned upthread somewhere, has decided to change their name (on a whim, apparently) to Black Black Hills.

Okay, just putting aside the fact that there are already 88 gazillion bands now with "black" in the name, what the hell does Black Black Hills even convey? Sounds boring as fuck to me and like a band I would ignore based solely on the name. Pope Joan popped out at me because it was such a peculiar name and I checked them out just to see what a band named Pope Joan would sound like (as it turned out, they sounded great).

This really shouldn't bother me, but it does. An injustice has occurred, and they did it to themselves!

the Pure X album is MIGHTY good. very slight & unassuming but it just keeps digging its hooks in deeper. at one point during the second side it got so awesome that it started distracting me from my work.

i like it a lot, though the songs do kinda blend into one another

i like the legendary creatures ep 'bonfires', like a country his name is alive, warn d is involved so it isn't that surprising but singer is very nice.

agree on pure x, loving it

don't think i've mentioned them before on this thread but i am loving the hell out of the New Lines.. the tracks they've got out at the moment are lovely in an early Broadcast sort of way

also on the great pop supplement tip By The Sea are a lovely poppy thing that remind me a lot of Shack's sweeter moments

and i am becoming obsessed with Big Troubles - every new track i hear from their upcoming album is better than the last and they've all been wonderful

julia holter album is gorgeous. the new summer camp single is a lot of fun. never heard of most of the things mentioned in this thread, but will try some even with comparisons to Shack!?

tbh it's mostly the guy's voice, it has a similar rasp to mick head, rather than the music

I haven't heard his music, but NARC Records(???) artist Danny Apple seems to be causing a bit of a stink on DrownedinSound at the moment, much to my amusement. According to here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/new-releases/dmusic/118633031/ref=zg_bsnr_nav_dmusic_2_digital-music-track

he seems to have made the Top 10 of Amazon UK's 'Hot New Releases in Indie & Alternative' with both sides of his double 'A' side single. Here is the usual typically juvenile Drowned in Sound reaction:

http://drownedinsound.com/community/boards/music/4304057

And yes, who is he? Any prior releases to this? I'm only asking, because it just seems like the guy has come out of nowhere and I can't find anything on here.

Street Teaming! in 2011! who'd have thought it? it's like a bloody coelacanth!

You're mistaken, I'm definitely not street teaming - I've never even heard this guys music. It's just something that I've noticed on the boards today, and like I do whenever I see something musical being discussed I head here to see if anyone is talking about it - it's just this time I happened to come up dry! I think anyone with half a braincell knows that street teaming is a big no-no on forums like this.

Unless you're referring to the people street teaming on that DrownedinSound link I sent above, in which case I would agree!

Any love here for Army Navy? Their new album is really good and ringed with sadness around all of the power pop. I'm not sure if the story surrounding it is true or not, but if not then it's a very good writing exercise.

i like them a lot - no idea what the 'story' is but it's definitely a stronger record than their first

the zero score is a mistake, right? lol:

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/15668-the-last-place/

Ha. Yeah I think the score was actually in the mid 7's.

The story, somewhat talked about in the linked review, is basically a song cycle about the last days of an affair the singer was carrying on with a married celebrity in LA.

Veronica Falls album has leaked, and it's very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_SlRqk48LQ

Hey I listened to that on We7 today. I second emil.y

Not crazy about that video, but I like what I've heard from them so far. I think it will make a good Fall album.

2nd track on the album titled 'right side of my brain'. Not a Dream cover somewhat disappointingly.

yeah the album is a huge step up from the first couple of their singles, which didn't impress me all that much

wow that sounds really good.

cavemans - coco beware....killing it.

Thanks for posting that video, emil.y. I really like the song: nice blend of 'Paint It Black' and, I dunno 'California Dreaming.' Picked up the album this morning based on the song and I can't stop listening to it.

i love this veronica falls band.

did they name their record after shit 80s wrestler koko b. ware? if so i may give it a listen.

Yup

big troubles new album out next week, gonna be special

Don't understand veronica falls love. Reminds me of when everyone fell for je suis animal. The spectrals album = not good.

I still love Je Suis Animal. More than Veronica Falls, to be honest.

new lanterns on the lake is very pretty, atmospheric folky stuff. nice voice. something like klima.

not really feelin the Sleep ∞ Over album...

still corners album is really terrific.

not really feelin the Sleep ∞ Over album...

Yeah, there are a couple of fantastic tracks on it, but the rest isn't really as good as I'd hoped it would be.

liking a lot of the newer releases on night people records, a cassette-label. a lot of their material is available on the bandcamp site.

"cavemans - coco beware....killing it."

great little record

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9tsP_sZqR8&feature=related

New single from the Bats:) pretty--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkmalHRcVEw

holy Christ that Veronica Falls track is amazing.

Received this puffy press release below for Luke Temple(from Here We Go Magic). I wonder if I should spend my time listening to this guy and if he is really "one of this generation's best singer-songwriters"

Luke Temple is back this time sans Here We Go Magic to play songs from his solo record Don't Act Like You Don't Care out now on Western Vinyl.
One of my favorite albums this year, Luke mixes his heart breaking vocals with well thought out and crafty songwriting -- he is one of this generation's best singer-songwriters and a chance to catch him solo is always something to be treasured.
He will be playing with CANT (Chris Taylor from Grizzly Bear) at Rock & Roll Hotel on October 28th.
Luke is available for interviews.

he isn't, and i probably wouldn't bother. they're ok but don't do much for me

Love the new Tunabunny single.. fell for it on headphones rather than off the YouTube so I won't post that up now though.

The Pushy Parents EP is very good too. Roger Gunnarsson (Free Loan Investments, Nixon, The Garlands) and Amanda Aldervall (Free Loan Investments, The Andersen Tapes) + others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSAL-PZPnEg

yeah i've been digging the pushy parents single, was unaware of the FLI connection

Pushy Parents are like an exact cross between The Radio Dept. and Cloetta Paris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjOkQZEAtX0

The guy who I replaced in my new job is the bassist in this band Lyonnais. I only got to know him for a couple weeks before he moved to Los Angeles, but motherfuck...his band is amazing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmJ79LN0kt0

new spc eco compilation is a pretty good curve album.

i like that band a lot. though the EP that came out prior to this comp was the least enduring of their stuff for me..

this spectrals album ain't bad, but really really reminds me of the second allen clapp album

except not quite as good

the new lines are fucking amazing

their LP delivering on all the promise that the earlier singles had, unlike still corners who pissed it up a wall instead

(overstating but i think the SC album is a bit disappointing)

the singer lets still corners down, it is unfair to compare her to broadcast but then they are the ones who sound so much like broadcast. you can also tell that their record collection is not as cool.

the album seems like it was rushed, the earlier EP and GPS single were both gorgeous but the LP feels a bit exhausted

i was only just made aware that the songwriter is an american. interesting because clearly all of his favorite bands are english. the voice is just all surface, i think the album is beautiful it just seems to float by.

what are the new lines?

they mine similar territories to still corners but are a bit more upbeat/krauty and have male vocals http://thenewlines.bandcamp.com/

the gauntlet hair album is really growing on me.. surprised it's being entirely ignored round here

I haven't listened to the album (heard a couple songs some months ago). I realize it's totally superficial, but it's hard to get past their terrible name.

don't know where to post this except here. nothing really original, but have been on repeat on my laptop. check it if you like new soul/rnb.

forgot to paste the link:

http://soundcloud.com/alekesam/its-not-you-its-here

the gauntlet hair album is really growing on me.. surprised it's being entirely ignored round here

I guess I was put off initially by the Animal Collective similarity. Merriweather Post Pavilion sounded intriguing to me at first, but didn't wear well, so that's made me a bit wary. But on re-listen, I think these guys maybe take it in a more interesting direction, so I'm willing to give it another chance.

i think it's largely the guitar sound that sells me on it

Yeah, it's a nice sound. That and the vocals sort of put me in mind of The Pop Group's "She is Beyond Good and Evil".

new cats on fire 'my sense of pride' track is beautiful. the best indiepop band on the planet. i suppose that isn't much of an accomplishment these days.

in another fairly typical jim/keyth disagreement, i can't stand cats on fire.. mostly because of the vocals

in a fairly tenuous shelflife connection angle, i adore the two Sulk (ex Ruling Class) singles, even if they are 95% stone roses/verve/oasis ripoffs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zEc3keqX1E

Amazing how much less music I bought since ilx was down. I usually buy a lot because of this thread.

New Cloud Nothings seems good after one listen, a little more aggro than their last one but still catchy.

Yeah I love all three SULK songs I've heard so far, but then that stuff is like right up my alley. Still, nice to see a hyped Britpop-sounding band thats actually worth a shit. Anxious to hear how well it holds up over the course of a full-length.

i loved all the (totally in hock to the stone roses, natch) ruling class songs they put out so i reckon they can pull it off

I'm liking this Sulk track, but the video's Stone Roses aping is infuriating.

Maybe there's some nostalgia involved (?), but I'm really liking the Household album (well, "album", it's 19 minutes long with 9 tracks) – good things done quite straightforwardly and drily. Rather sweet cover too I think:

http://images.emusic.com/music/images/album/129/115/12911588/600x600.jpg

btw there's a 2012 thread WHAT. IS. INDIE. Rolling 2012 Indie Thread

don't mind that household thing, kinda doing the grass widow thing (who i never really warmed to) a bit more interestingly

Yeah I know about the 2012 thread, I guess it's the Strict Year Rules for poll eligibility etc on other threads right now that made me put this in the 2011 one. :)

ahh

The new Grass Widow single is awesome, a bit less busy than their previous stuff. Still love 'em.