Rolling INDIE Thread 2009

From the Rolling Indie Thread 2008:
I'm betting not enough exciting things happen in indie this year to warrant starting individual threads.
― Johnny Fever, Monday, December 31, 2007 9:33 PM (1 year ago)

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I was right. As The Reverend said last year, keep it in here boys.

2009 indie albums i am really looking forward to: the school, northern portrait, asobi seksu

also i pray for a new outrageous cherry album this year

I'm hoping Golden Silvers will pull it together and debut a full LP this year (because their 2008 singles were AWESOME).

Also interested in The Joy Formidable, Asobi Seksu, Marina & The Diamonds and Honey Claws (<-- if you haven't heard "Pemporer" on their Myspace page yet, go immediately...total 1980-style Peter Gabriel jam).

other things to look forward to if they come out are-sound of arrows, broadcast, burning hearts/le futur pompiste, radio dept, john grant solo record, klima, arnaud fleurent-didier, the projects, montt mardie

sound of arrows
the radio dept.

^^^ Yes, Labrador's at the apex of their existence as a label right now.

pitchfork 100 best songs sucked ass. I've come full circle: growing up in the 90s I always thought indie was boring ass Pavement type shit / jangling quirky Pete and Pete shit. Then I started to like it and moved to Brooklyn. Now it sounds like it sucks ass again.

to put it, I think indie's peaked again

An Asobi Seksu track came on the Zeppelin the other day and it struck me that they exist exactly halfway between Cocteau Twins and Shed Seven.

Mary Timony has a new band called Pow Wow, which happen to be playing their third show ever this Saturday night while I'm visiting DC. Fun.

The Phantom Band are a bit disappointing

The Ballet seem OK. Their bassist is quite photogenic.

Yay, I bookmarked the indie thread last year. Some recent favorites:

Wavves
Mystery Jets (is Twenty One out in the U.S. soon?)
The Shoes
Blank Dogs

are people liking wavves? maybe i listened to it at the wrong time, but i remember getting through like three songs and being like "no, fuck this shit".

I listened to it again this morning after letting it cool for a couple months. Sounded better now.

Loving the Whitest Boy Alive album.

when does that come out?

March 3rd

Unfortunately I have the same problem with Whitest Boy as I did with Kings of Convenience. I love listening to it, but it's not particularly memorable.

the Blackout Beach album is PHENOMENAL. as i've said elsewhere, my favourite carey mercer (frog eyes/swan lake) ever.

Phosphorescent's Merle Haggard albums are a bit disappointing. Antony's LP isn't as good as the EP. Andrew Bird's nothing special. But yeah, Fever Ray's terrific and I like the new Bon Iver EP.

just an invite but stuff like waaaves and blank dogs are def the type of stuff that we discuss on the rolling punk non indie underground thread :)

blank dogs and pink reason and all that shit yes yes very good sir. too bad none of my totally square friends wants to see any of that shit

if i were better w/computers i would do a venn diagram of the punk and indie threads

yeah, the Blackout Beach record sounds great.
pretentious and serious as hell, but good:
at least it has guts, which most indie records lack, and the Scott Walker influence is awesome.
it's also better than (the somewhat similiar) Sunset Rubdown imo

it hugs back album out in april.. these guys are far and away my favourite thing on 4ad right now, far better than the likes of deerhunter or department of eagles. the vocals could be a little less indie-boy-apologetic but i love the tunes

Am I wrong, or does M. Ward have the greatest male voice in contemporary music PERIOD?

yes you are wrong, but it's a good voice

I'm exaggerating, obv, but only a little. I just love his voice so much, it almost makes up for the fact that I find all of his compositions totally boring.

The new M. Ward is streaming here.

I was a little put off by the Wavves album when I first heard it, but it's been growing on me the last few days.

You know who else has a crazy voice? William Elliot Whitmore. Too bad I think his song-writing is ridiculous and the music is totally silly and he throws in all kinds of awful shtick. But his voice. Like woah.

The Great Escape line-up so far:

Metronomy * Kissy Sell Out * Future of the Left * Ben Kweller * Johnny Foreigner * Esser * Passion Pit * Dananananaykroyd * The Big Pink * The Soft Pack * The Chapman Family * Micachu and the Shapes * Let's Wrestle * Bell X1 * VV Brown * Vivian Girls * The Golden Silvers * Official Secrets Act * The Handsome Family * Your Twenties * An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump * It Hugs Back * Pulled Apart by Horses * Middle Class Rut * To The Bones * KASMs * Televised Crimewave * The Joy Formidable * Cassie and the Cassettes * Tin Can Telephone * A Grave With No Name * Yves Klein Blue * The John Steel Singers

Picks of things to check out anyone?

dear god that's a shitty lineup

i love it hugs back, micachu i haven't heard but are on a label i dig so they might be ok.. not so enamoured with the rest though. yves klein blue are australian, that should tell you enough to want to avoid them

to be fair there's five or six of those bands i've not heard of, they could be incredible for all i know

Yeah, the one's I know aren't much cop, but thnaks for the pointers...

"one's" < ?

I like Future of The Left, Danananaykroyd, possibly The Big Pink, Vivian Girls, The Handsome Family and possibly It Hugs Back from that list; the rest I've either not heard or wouldn't go down the road to see them

I love Metronomy. One of my favourite records of 2008. What you hoped that that Hot Chip album would sound like.
I've got a weak spot for Micachu. Although her songs are often more 'kooky' than strictly necessary.
I quite liked Johnny Foreigner when I saw them last year. Made me think of Urusei Yatsura even though they don't sound particularly alike. But in the same shout-y nois-y indierock ball park.
Can't stand the Vivian Girls. Bored/boring sub-JAMC rubbish.

I totally heart Micachu and the Shapes. Quirky in a *good* way.

yes to micachu.

Golden Silvers are one of my favoritist new bands in a long time...total early '80s Madness/Costello/Tom Tom Club kind of thing going on. Actually, a lot of the bands in that Great Escape line-up are really good.

that Florence and the Machine song has grown on me. have they an album? is it good? what i've heard of blackout beach sounded interesting. shouldnt they be on the rolling art rock thread no?

Florence still only has a couple singles, no album.

Wavves - Wavvves - awesome stuff!
Burning Hearts - aboe sleping - good stuff.

Great tip on Golden Silvers, and I would recommend Let's Wrestle (from the Great Escape line-up)
Also, I see Bricolage finally put out an LP. They've released some great singles over the past few years, especially "Footsteps." Scottish and proud. Very Postcard.

i like bricolage a lot, the singles have been pretty cool

that asobi seksu album is great.

also have been getting into The New Year. I might be a little late on it but its good stuff.

yeah i like the asobi seksu as well. "me and mary" is gorgeous

also i pray for a new outrageous cherry album this year

― Lemonade In Hammocks (electricsound), Monday, 5 January 2009 02:44 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Outrageous Cherry
Universal Malcontents (PRE-ORDER: SALEABLE FEBRUARY 17TH)
PS, US This new set of pop songs once again showcases the band's distinctive mid-seventies sensibilities. The album is evocative of artists such as early Roxy Music, Mott the Hoople, Sparks, 10cc & Eno, & meanders at times into the improvisation realms charted by Amon Duul 2, Man, & early Soft Machine. They have reached well-deserved cult status by releasing amazing psych/pop albums on labels such as Bar None, Mind Expansion, & Alan McGee's Poptones.
Alive
CD
$13.50

I just found their self-titled CD in a 99c Store of all places.

thank you for that!
Outrageous news!

fucking awesome!!!

apparently they were still recording one earlier this year but i don't know what the status of it is.

the first Crayon Fields record - Animal Bells is a near masterpiece of minimalistic,airy and a little twisted zombies/beach boys pop songs.
the new one,sadly, isn't so special,just the regular indie twee pop record.

increased recording budgets have a tendency to do that

it still sounds pretty shabby but i think it's great. a considerable improvement on the first.

i wish the psych/VU influence and sophisticated backing vocals werent gone, but at least they kept the minimal plug-and-play guitar sound

i have been hearing this song quite a bit lately. looking around for a video and see they did Letterman recently:

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

new rose melberg album i see. anyone heard it? bitter experience with the maturing of twee songwriters has me very tentative

I'm glad that Edward Sharpe song is starting to take off a little. I love it (and the rest of the album too).

I'm not quite sure what point I was missing wrt the Phantom Band back in April, but they are way better than my dickishly dismissive comment there suggested. Really grown on me, that album. Seems to be a local favourite, too, but sadly unloved outside Glasgow ;_;

speaking of scotland, the school album has been pushed back to february :(

What's that got to do with Scotland?

but sadly unloved outside Glasgow ;_;

speaking of scotland

What's that got to do with Scotland?

Seems like an obvious connection to me.

oh shit sorry they're from wales

New Thao album out, Know Better Learn Faster. I'm going to download and listen to it tonight.

saint judes infirmary album is v v good. the go betweens fronted by nick cave & pj harvey with peter hook on bass. but less exaggerated than that sounds

i know you guys never really listen to me, but the new album by the hussy's kicks ass. they're getting more and more like a female fronted pulp every record

also surprised at the lack of discussion of the drums on ilm. i really like the summertime EP even if it does drip with whatever it is that hipsters love

Couple of tracks on the Drums ep are great, but the band needs work. I'm sure they'll get better, though. I have the faith!

I have vague memories of The Hussy's from a few years ago, but a female-fronted Pulp? Will have to re-investigate.

taxi taxi! have an upcoming album on fierce panda, in the meantime an earlier s/t ep is very very good in a less-intense-cat power kind of way

whoa electricsound - The Hussy's and Saint Jude's Infirmary? Didn't think I'd ever hear about those bands again after 2006... Bought both early Hussy's EPs and was really struck by their potential - way better than they looked like they should be. And St Judes' hearts were clearly in thge right place, though that early LP was kinda moribund.

Do either have labels etc I could write to for promos? Lemme hit google...

both bands self-released their latest records afaik so i'd be myspacin' em

this surfer blood single sounds to me like if the futureheads were asked to write a thin lizzy song

i really like the drums and that whole beachy sounding thing that went on in the summer like washed out and neon indian, does anyone know if the drums are releasing a full length? and im really digging girls' album is anyone else?

yeah moshi moshi are putting out an album for them in the new year

the drums that is. not girls (the band), who i have no interest in

o cool. i haven't listened to all of the girl's album i just really like "lust for life" and "hellhole ratrace"

omg I love this new song by Best Coast so much. Fuzzed-out vibe, girl-group catchiness.

^i dig, wish i hadn't used up all my downloads yesterday

It's free from the label: http://www.blackiris.tv/project/label/8

That's ace. As is Dancing by Standard Fare, which I'm getting really addicted to http://www.myspace.com/standardfare

i keep hearing their name & now i have no excuse to not check them out

just noticed this from the second post: 2009 indie albums i am really looking forward to: the school, northern portrait,

both are coming out next year ;_;

I like that "Dancing" track. Great chorus.

Can't wait for The School's album, their live set is sounding like a greatest hits already.

^^^^^^

the ep and single are perfect, i'm damn near bursting to hear the lp

the school album news from Liz: "album 15th feb, subject to change but it's currently on target. it's called Loveless Unbeliever"

woo

they have a song on the new cherryade christmas comp too

and another christmas comp too http://www.bubblewrapcollective.co.uk/music.htm

(I'm not just posting the link because we're on it too, oh no not at all)

neat!

Have Candy Claws any sort of status oputside of the Denver/Fort Collins area? They are local and swirly and repeptitive and lovely. They write songs about fish. You should try them Jim, if you haven't, I think you'd like them.

the brief clips on emusic sound fantastic, i'll be getting the album for sure

allmusic.com starting a best of '09 indie-pop link already

http://blog.allmusic.com/2009/10/28/my-early-picks-for-indie-pop-best-of-2009/#more-2022

couple of things there i haven't heard of..

there's a 5-track best coast EP up on emusic now if you guys dug the 45

just heard the song "blood bank" for the first time - I have to say, that first verse is a great & economical piece of writing

well I don't have to say exactly but I thought I would

quite like tht quadron record dunno if they are indie but they are swedish

I meant danish when I typed swedish :/

Ah someone else loves giorgio tuma! It is the breeziest summer record of the year like a new and improved version of the Crooner. It seems like it should have been on Siesta. I need to find his first album.

i absolutely cannot stand that bon iver record :(

Looking forward to the Ghost Society full-length coming in 2010 (this song's from it), but they've been on my radar all year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtFsSjxun20