‘’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.

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.