[image=http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/MistahFuji/castile.jpg]
Hi, I'm Christopher Castile, star of the hit movie Beethoven and best-selling author of Being You Is Most Definitely Cool. Given that you've clicked on this thread, I'm going to go ahead and guess that you have a few questions about independent music. If you're anything like I was when I first dipped my toes into these often disorienting waters, you're probably a little confused about all the weird terms and crazy band names, and you may be thinking about posting a new thread to ask for guidance and recommendations. Well, here's a free tip: don't do it. Believe me, I've tried! Unless you want list after list of forgettable bands and a steaming fistful of hurtful sarcasm, you're better off "sticking" with me. In the past, you've almost certainly relied on my best-selling autobiography for an honest take on girls, homework, alcohol, drugs, and what it's really like to be famous. Today, it's time to put that Christopher Castile Candor to the complicated subject of indie rock.
Are you ready?
Great!
So what, exactly, is indie music?
Good question! In the most general terms, independent music is anything released by record labels that are not owned by the Big Four music groups (i.e., EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner). However, when most people talk about indie, they're specifically referring to the sort of music that developed out of the punk and college music scenes of the 70s and 80s. This music was generally (though not always) characterized by sonic experimentation, an aversion to commercialism, and a do-it-yourself approach to recording. Today, while indie has come to encompass a wider variety of styles and musical subcultures, it is still embraced as an alternative to the often limited and overly derivative music that dominates commercial radio.
So what does it sound like?
An astute query! The answer? Almost anything! Here, however, are some informative Wikipedia articles on some of the most influential genres associated with independent music:
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-country]Alt-Country[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_pop]Baroque Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britpop]Britpop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance-punk]Dance-Punk[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_pop]Dream Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jangle_pop]Jangle Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krautrock]Krautrock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_fi]Lo-Fi[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_rock]Math Rock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-psychedelia]Neo-Psychedelia[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Weird_America]New Weird America[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_(music)]Noise[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_pop]Noise Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_rock]Noise Rock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-hardcore]Post-Hardcore[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-punk_revival]Post-Punk (Contemporary)[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_rock]Post-Rock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazing]Shoegaze[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twee_pop]Twee[/link]
What are some good indie labels?
I'm glad you asked! Like subatomic particles, indie labels pop in and out existence all the time! Wow! In many cases, young bands will self-release their records or rely on small, local operations that consist of little more than a guy working out of his parents' basement. However, a few independent labels have prospered enough to become widely respected and influential institutions. Below, I've listed some of the more prominent labels. If you want to familiarize yourself with some of the better known bands in independent music, just browse through their rosters, download their sample tracks, and see what you like.
[link=http://www.4ad.com/]4AD[/link]
[link=http://www.absolutelykosher.com/]Absolutely Kosher[/link]
[link=http://www.anti.com/]ANTI-[/link]
[link=http://www.arts-crafts.ca/]Arts & Crafts[/link]
[link=http://www.beggars.com/]Beggars Banquet[/link]
[link=http://dominorecordco.us/]Domino[/link]
[link=http://www.dragcity.com/]Drag City[/link]
[link=http://www.fat-cat.co.uk/]Fat Cat[/link]
[link=http://www.jagjaguwar.com/]Jagjaguwar[/link]
[link=http://www.krecs.com/]K[/link]
[link=http://www.killrockstars.com/]Kill Rock Stars[/link]
[link=http://www.kranky.net/]Kranky[/link]
[link=http://www.matadorrecords.com/]Matador[/link]
[link=http://www.mergerecords.com/]Merge[/link]
[link=http://www.roughtrade.com/]Rough Trade[/link]
[link=http://www.thesocialregistry.com/]The Social Registry[/link]
[link=http://www.subpop.com/]Sub Pop[/link]
[link=http://www.thrilljockey.com]Thrill Jockey[/link]
[link=http://www.warprecords.com/]Warp[/link]
Gosh Chris, that?s a lot of bands! Do you have any personal favorites to recommend?
Frankly, I only listen to Finnish folk and Boyd Rice records these days, but the losers from this board have recommended a few albums suitable for someone in your position.
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg300/g351/g35173fpurw.jpg][image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drj000/j027/j02716bysvf.jpg]
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (2004) and Strawberry Jam (2007)
On Sung Tongs, their first record distributed by FatCat, the two-man Animal Collective come on like sun-scorched acid eaters gathered around the campfire, strumming and grinning while they weave their material out of cyclical singalongs and tight harmonies. Surprisingly, both for fans as well as new additions, that marks a much more accessible sound for a group that had previously probed the outer limits of prog and psychedelia.[/i] - AllMusic
Whimsy is a trait best served in small doses, and no question Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam is steeped in it. But what tops the group's kaleidoscopic swirl of surreal strangeness is its sense of sonic wonder, relishing the unlimited potential of colliding sounds in the sampler age. Strawberry Jam shapes runaway ideas into something greater than the sum of their mysterious parts. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Caribou, The Fiery Furnaces, Man Man
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg400/g435/g43512a339a.jpg]
Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
?Funeral's music is as emotionally unfettered as it is carefully constructed. It reaches back to '80s bands like the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Violent Femmes, and Jane's Addiction, who strummed their way through catharsis after catharsis, a sound that has become in recent years a new classicism. The Arcade Fire stretch that sound until it is both older and newer, shading it with the gloom of folk songs and the yowling urgency of indie rock. Arcade Fire songs are often called operatic, possibly because they are full of old-world touches like violin, viola, accordion, and xylophone, and possibly because they can be oddly decentered, swelling and shifting with an oceanic pulse, spreading out as far as the eye can see, then leaping into furious rock codas at will. - The Village Voice
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Menomena, The Sunset Rubdown, The Walkmen
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre400/e403/e40345fir15.jpg]
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)
Whimsy and preciousness are an integral part of If You're Feeling Sinister, along with clever wit and gentle, intricate arrangements -- a wonderful blend of the Smiths and Simon & Garfunkel, to be reductive. Even if it's firmly within the college, bed-sit tradition, and is unabashedly retrogressive, that gives Sinister a special, timeless character that's enhanced by Stuart Murdoch's wonderful, lively songwriting. Blessed with an impish sense of humor, a sly turn of phrase, and an alluringly fey voice, he gives this record a real sense of backbone, in that its humor is far more biting than the music appears and the music is far more substantial that it initially seems. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Elliott Smith, The Magnetic Fields, Sufjan Stevens
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d314/d31475242jc.jpg]
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (1998)
Upon first listen, Music Has the Right to Children can sound deceptively effortless and simple: 60 minutes or so of layers of analogue melodies, a bit of scratching, and a parade of downtempo beats and fragmented vocal samples. Yet this pioneering collection of pastoral electronica is one of the most engaging and emotionally captivating electronic records of the decade. Here, the Scottish duo Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin sculpted a fluid, gorgeous and signature sound that comes across like a score to memories of childhood. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Aphex Twin, Fennesz, Four Tet
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f615/f61565a8kv3.jpg]
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002)
With its powerful melodies, breathy indie-dude vocals, expert playing, and sharp musical contrasts (as incandescent, shoegazing guitar figures sear crisp glyphs onto billowy, diaphanous backgrounds), You Forgot It in People rejuvenates worn-out indie rock by injecting it with an enthusiasm, vitality, and technical facility it seldom enjoys. It's a furiously thrumming, spangled machine that never holds still, seesawing between instrumental and vocal tracks with a seamless continuity. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Sigur Ros, Stars, TV on the Radio
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd500/d518/d51843edji5.jpg]
Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong with Love (1994)
As far as There's Nothing Wrong With Love is concerned, two fantastic things happen because of the interplay between Dug and his little buddy, his mighty electric axe: 1) Pushed back in the mix, lacking much of a lower register, Martsch?s vocals step back from the weaving guitar lines while still holding a formidable melody that never quite agrees with the instruments, but never argues with them either; 2) The jarring time signatures and unpredictable song structures stir up unnerving twitters in a listener paying attention. The result is an album with a deceptively simple facade, promising sunny, engaging Pavementish indie standards and then tipping our stomachs upside down so that all the blood from our groins runs up and euphorically out our noses. - CMG
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Grandaddy, The Shins, The Wrens
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd600/d603/d6034989532.jpg]
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me (1987)
A blitzkrieg fusion of hardcore punk, Sonic Youth-style noise freak-outs, heavy metal, and melodic hard rock in the vein of Neil Young, You're Living All Over Me was a turning point in American underground rock & roll. With its thin, unbalanced mix, the album sounds positively menacing and edgy -- Lou Barlow's bass barrels forward over Murph's clanking drums, with J Mascis' guitar twisting pummeling riffs and careening, occasionally atonal solos. It established guitar heroics as a part of indie rock, bringing the noise of Sonic Youth into more conventional song structures. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Black Mountain, Comets on Fire, Lightning Bolt
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre300/e344/e344957pe98.jpg]
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
Godspeed is the post-rock platonic ideal, and this double album is the fullest realization of their art we're likely to hear. Antennas is as engulfing and boundless as open, uncharted waters, churning with bombastic string sections, oversized melodic phrasing, vast tidal rhythms, sweepingly lyrical guitar passages, apocalyptic vocal samples, and yeah, many a spine-tingling upsurge. Everything about this record is big; it spills out of windows, overflows basins, and threatens to sunder ceilings. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Do Make Say Think, Mogwai, Tortoise
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd500/d516/d5165982c51.jpg]
Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)
Forget lo-fi. Though often cited as the defining album of the misleading faux-genre, there's a lot more to Bee Thousand than tape hiss. At its core, this record is one of the most unique and inventive pop records ever made; the best and brightest hooks from rock's golden age filtered through a fractured and kaleidoscopic vision of hardcore UFOs, hot freaks, and robot boys. As an album, Bee Thousand can barely contain itself. The numbers are striking enough -- Robert Pollard and his Dayton cronies plow through 20 songs in a mere 36 minutes. But what's really amazing is just how many good ideas Pollard manages to cram into the album's slender frame. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: The Apples in Stereo, No Age, Superchunk
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf400/f434/f43474eq0c9.jpg]
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
Interpol's debut album turned both heads and album covers, as greying hipsters queued up to be the first to play spot that riff with some of the band's early songs. The rest of us paused, scraping our jaws from the floor at the realization that a band from New York could make an album that managed to reference everything good about British guitar music of the 80s (not limited to, but including, The Smiths, Joy Division, Echo and The Bunnymen, and The Psychedelic Furs). As potent as it was the day of its release, Turn On The Bright Lights is a thrilling extraction of the strongest elements of a number of genres, and the band is as tight of a musical unit as you?'re liable to come across these days. - Stylus Magazine
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Blonde Redhead, The National, The Rapture
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre900/e960/e96069wt49y.jpg]
The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 (2001)
Working in private, with analog tape, Phil Elvrum remade the twee-pop of Olympia, Washington's K Records into something broader in scope, proving that intimacy and opulence were not mutually exclusive by forging sweet tunes, childlike vocals, solar noise, and enigmatic tape collages into one molten mass. With The Glow Pt. 2, he strived to document the esoteric flights of his imagination, and produced appropriately intuitive music: Vocal harmonies blur, disappear, return as ragged organs. Creaky percussion sounds like it might give way at any moment, and sometimes does. Staticky thumps that could level forests give way to calm acoustic expanses. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Beat Happening, The Dodos, Grizzly Bear
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd200/d235/d2352767is2.jpg]
Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
Below the surface of every lisped word, every biffed guitar line, every late drum hit, shines the intelligence of Modest Mouse, becoming increasingly more noticeable, and counteracting the initial impression of them as simply trailer trash indie rockers. The lyrics on Lonesome Crowded West coincide with the name of the album. They display a wide variety of anger, shame, playfulness, subservience, isolation, alcoholism, religious confusion, commercialism, corruption, and self-destruction, all thrown onto one paper plate, stirred around with a plastic fork, and molded into one man?s abstract history lesson about the downfall of Western Civilization. - TinyMixTapes
If You Like This, You May Also Like: The Dismemberment Plan, Frog Eyes, Wolf Parade
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d316/d316825o9rm.jpg]
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Though My Bloody Valentine rejected rock & roll conventions, they didn't subscribe to the precious tendencies of anti-rock art-pop bands. Instead, they rode crashing waves of white noise to unpredictable conclusions, particularly since their noise wasn't paralyzing like the typical avant-garde noise rock band: it was translucent, glimmering, and beautiful. If Isn't Anything was the Valentines' sonic blueprint, then Loveless saw those plans fleshed out, in the most literal sense: ?Loomer,? ?What You Want,? and ?To Here Knows When??s arrangements are so lush, they're practically tangible. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Galaxie 500, m83, Slowdive
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d302/d302665u6rv.jpg]
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
There are very few albums that resist categorization quite so effortlessly as In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. For forty staggering minutes, Jeff Mangum short-circuits all conventional modes of expression, forging a private language that is endlessly intriguing and haunting in the truest sense of the word. Mangum sings as if possessed, painfully conveying fractured and moving tales with the imagistic skill of a brilliant novelist. He gnashes his teeth at the fabric of time, then wraps himself in it like a blanket, channeling the violence of his personal past through a claustrophobic frustration with his dejected present. His band, whose contributions to Aeroplane remain criminally underappreciated, elevate Mangum's songs from chilling sketches into vibrant opuses, fully realizing the antique otherworldliness of Mangum's storytelling. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Beirut, Okkervil River, The Olivia Tremor Control
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f555/f55523pvo5g.jpg][image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre500/e597/e59736ulktv.jpg]
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted (1992) and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
At first, the primitive sound of the record is the most gripping thing about Slanted, but soon the true innovations of the record appear through the songs themselves. Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs subvert conventional pop structures, turning melodies inside out, reinterpreting and reworking older songs, and bending genres together. It's a complex, enthralling record, filled with fractured riffs, strong melodies, and cryptic lyrics. - AllMusic
Pavement may still be messy, but it's a meaningful, musical messiness from the performance to the production: listen to how ?Silence Kit? begins by falling into place with its layers of fuzz guitars, wah wahs, cowbells, thumping bass, and drum fills, how what initially seems random gives way into a lush Californian pop song. That's Crooked Rain in a nutshell: what initially seems chaotic has purpose, leading listeners into the bittersweet heart and impish humor at the core of the album. Many bands attempted to replicate the sound or the vibe of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but they never came close to the quicksilver shifts in music and emotion that give this album such lasting appeal. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Sebadoh, The Silver Jews, Spoon
[image=http://www.demarconia.com/SurferRosa.jpg][image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf900/f904/f90431h03d1.jpg]
Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988) and Doolittle (1989)
Combining jagged, roaring guitars and stop-start dynamics with melodic pop hooks, intertwining male-female harmonies and evocative, cryptic lyrics, the Pixies were one of the most influential American alternative rock bands of the late '80s. Their full-length debut, Surfer Rosa fulfilled the promise of their earlier EP and, thanks to Steve Albini's production, added a muscular edge that made their harshest moments seem even more menacing and perverse. - AllMusic
Doolittle, reins in the noise in favor of pop songcraft and accessibility. Producer Gil Norton's sonic sheen adds some polish, but Black Francis' tighter songwriting focuses the group's attack. Their most accessible album, Doolittle's wide-ranging moods and sounds make it one of their most eclectic and ambitious. A fun, freaky alternative to most other late-'80s college rock, it's easy to see why the album made the Pixies into underground rock stars. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: The Breeders, Deerhoof, Les Savy Fav
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f602/f60232kb541.jpg]
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
Play Daydream Nation twice and you?ll have a memory of every song, which isn?t something you could say about every Sonic Youth record, or every double LP by any band. Further enhancing their accessibility, their trademarked exotic guitar tunings were prettier than on prior records, and the noisy bits were contained, even composed; listen to the washes of sound that wind down ?The Sprawl,? so inevitable that they sound orchestrated. But the band did all this without sacrificing their ability to hit it hard; ?Eric?s Trip,? ?Silver Rocket,? and ?Eliminator Jr.? are all slamming and succinct, and ?Cross The Breeze? manages to combine the intricacy of prog with runaway train velocity. - Dusted Magazine
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Boredoms, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Liars
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg200/g275/g27512xbvry.jpg]
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (2003)
?The Unicorns have so many hooks to spare, they rarely play them twice. Every time you get comfortable, they skip from programmed beats to solo acoustic guitar, detour into a keyboard riff, and finally end with call and response vocals on any subject ranging from washed-up child stars to mythical beasts to United States foreign policy to nonsense about driving a ?bone Camaro.? Instruments abruptly shift in and out of the mix behind endearingly off-kilter melodies that poke fun at timeless themes of loss and death and the contraction of a condition called Jellybones. Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? redefines indie pop with a joyous, whimsical album utterly devoid of pretension. - No Ripcord
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The New Pornographers, Of Montreal
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf100/f110/f11051ob6df.jpg]
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Where Summerteeth played off of grandiose overdubs, YHF was more concerned with subtraction, as on the breathtaking verse of ?Ashes of American Flags,? when the wheels leave the ground, and nothing but ashtray vocals and feedback remain. The album's thesis is clear: take standard folk material, rip it to shreds, and tape it back together, slightly askew. The success with which Wilco pull it off is exhilarating. Call it dad-rock if you must, but if the day comes when Dads are mowing lawns to the death rattle of ?Radio Cure,? I won't complain. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Songs: Ohia
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc700/c781/c78109c6688.jpg]
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (1997)
Functioning as a virtual catalog of mid-'90s indie rock trends, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is an astonishing tour de force from Yo La Tengo, establishing their deep talents as songwriters and musicians. Although the album may run a little long for some tastes, there are very few throwaways on the record ? even the shoegazer cover of the Beach Boys'? ?Little Honda? is a revelatory gem. But what truly impresses is the way the songs, ranging from hypnotically droning instrumentals to tightly written and catchy pop songs, hold together to form what is arguably Yo La Tengo's finest and most coherent album. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Broadcast, The Clientele, Low
Anywhere else I can look for recommendations?
Absolutely! These sites are general resources helpful for discovering older albums and bands similar to those you already like:
[link=http://www.allmusic.com]All Music[/link]
[link=http://www.last.fm]Last.fm[/link]
[link=http://www.metacritic.com]Metacritic[/link]
[link=http://www.pandora.com/]Pandora[/link]
[link=http://www.rateyourmusic.com]Rate Your Music[/link]
These online zines will help you keep up with what's new:
[link=http://www.avclub.com]AV Club[/link]
[link=http://www.cokemachineglow.com]Coke Machine Glow[/link]
[link=http://daytrotter.com/]Daytrotter[/link]
[link=http://www.adequacy.net]Delusions of Adequacy[/link]
[link=http://www.dustedmagazine.com]Dusted Magazine[/link]
[link=http://www.junkmedia.org/]Junk Media[/link]
[link=http://www.musicomh.com/]Music OMH[/link]
[link=http://www.noripcord.com/]No Ripcord[/link]
[link=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com]Pitchfork[/link]
[link=http://www.popmatters]Pop Matters[/link]
[link=http://www.prefixmag.com]Prefix Magazine[/link]
[link=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/]Tiny Mix Tapes[/link]
And hey, since this is the 21st century, here are some blogs:
[link=http://www.brooklynvegan.com/]Brooklyn Vegan[/link]
[link=http://www.chromewaves.net/]Chromewaves[/link]
[link=http://gorillavsbear.blogspot.com/]Gorilla Vs. Bear[/link]
[link=http://blog.largeheartedboy.com/]Largehearted Boy[/link]
[link=http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com]Last Plane To Jakarta[/link]
[link=http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/]My Old Kentucky Blog[/link]
[link=http://stereogum.com/]Stereogum[/link]
[link=http://www.youaintnopicasso.com/]You Ain?t No Picasso[/link]
Thanks so much, Chris! This is amazing! How do you do it?
You know, despite my impeccable taste in music, I haven't always had it easy. I've endured bullies, been called everything from "four eyes" to "nerd," and even taken heat over my personal faith and attitudes. But you know why I consistently come out on top? By just being myself. Even when you think you?'ve finally got this whole indie thing all figured out, that?'s really what it all comes down to. That's the Christopher Castile Way, and that, my friend, is indie.
I hope this guide has proven helpful, and I hope you enjoyed our time together. I certainly did!
Much love and God bless,
Chris
Hi, I'm Christopher Castile, star of the hit movie Beethoven and best-selling author of Being You Is Most Definitely Cool. Given that you've clicked on this thread, I'm going to go ahead and guess that you have a few questions about independent music. If you're anything like I was when I first dipped my toes into these often disorienting waters, you're probably a little confused about all the weird terms and crazy band names, and you may be thinking about posting a new thread to ask for guidance and recommendations. Well, here's a free tip: don't do it. Believe me, I've tried! Unless you want list after list of forgettable bands and a steaming fistful of hurtful sarcasm, you're better off "sticking" with me. In the past, you've almost certainly relied on my best-selling autobiography for an honest take on girls, homework, alcohol, drugs, and what it's really like to be famous. Today, it's time to put that Christopher Castile Candor to the complicated subject of indie rock.
Are you ready?
Great!
So what, exactly, is indie music?
Good question! In the most general terms, independent music is anything released by record labels that are not owned by the Big Four music groups (i.e., EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner). However, when most people talk about indie, they're specifically referring to the sort of music that developed out of the punk and college music scenes of the 70s and 80s. This music was generally (though not always) characterized by sonic experimentation, an aversion to commercialism, and a do-it-yourself approach to recording. Today, while indie has come to encompass a wider variety of styles and musical subcultures, it is still embraced as an alternative to the often limited and overly derivative music that dominates commercial radio.
So what does it sound like?
An astute query! The answer? Almost anything! Here, however, are some informative Wikipedia articles on some of the most influential genres associated with independent music:
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alt-country]Alt-Country[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque_pop]Baroque Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britpop]Britpop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance-punk]Dance-Punk[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_pop]Dream Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jangle_pop]Jangle Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krautrock]Krautrock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lo_fi]Lo-Fi[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Math_rock]Math Rock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-psychedelia]Neo-Psychedelia[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Weird_America]New Weird America[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_(music)]Noise[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_pop]Noise Pop[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noise_rock]Noise Rock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-hardcore]Post-Hardcore[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-punk_revival]Post-Punk (Contemporary)[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_rock]Post-Rock[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegazing]Shoegaze[/link]
[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twee_pop]Twee[/link]
What are some good indie labels?
I'm glad you asked! Like subatomic particles, indie labels pop in and out existence all the time! Wow! In many cases, young bands will self-release their records or rely on small, local operations that consist of little more than a guy working out of his parents' basement. However, a few independent labels have prospered enough to become widely respected and influential institutions. Below, I've listed some of the more prominent labels. If you want to familiarize yourself with some of the better known bands in independent music, just browse through their rosters, download their sample tracks, and see what you like.
[link=http://www.4ad.com/]4AD[/link]
[link=http://www.absolutelykosher.com/]Absolutely Kosher[/link]
[link=http://www.anti.com/]ANTI-[/link]
[link=http://www.arts-crafts.ca/]Arts & Crafts[/link]
[link=http://www.beggars.com/]Beggars Banquet[/link]
[link=http://dominorecordco.us/]Domino[/link]
[link=http://www.dragcity.com/]Drag City[/link]
[link=http://www.fat-cat.co.uk/]Fat Cat[/link]
[link=http://www.jagjaguwar.com/]Jagjaguwar[/link]
[link=http://www.krecs.com/]K[/link]
[link=http://www.killrockstars.com/]Kill Rock Stars[/link]
[link=http://www.kranky.net/]Kranky[/link]
[link=http://www.matadorrecords.com/]Matador[/link]
[link=http://www.mergerecords.com/]Merge[/link]
[link=http://www.roughtrade.com/]Rough Trade[/link]
[link=http://www.thesocialregistry.com/]The Social Registry[/link]
[link=http://www.subpop.com/]Sub Pop[/link]
[link=http://www.thrilljockey.com]Thrill Jockey[/link]
[link=http://www.warprecords.com/]Warp[/link]
Gosh Chris, that?s a lot of bands! Do you have any personal favorites to recommend?
Frankly, I only listen to Finnish folk and Boyd Rice records these days, but the losers from this board have recommended a few albums suitable for someone in your position.
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg300/g351/g35173fpurw.jpg][image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drj000/j027/j02716bysvf.jpg]
Animal Collective - Sung Tongs (2004) and Strawberry Jam (2007)
On Sung Tongs, their first record distributed by FatCat, the two-man Animal Collective come on like sun-scorched acid eaters gathered around the campfire, strumming and grinning while they weave their material out of cyclical singalongs and tight harmonies. Surprisingly, both for fans as well as new additions, that marks a much more accessible sound for a group that had previously probed the outer limits of prog and psychedelia.[/i] - AllMusic
Whimsy is a trait best served in small doses, and no question Animal Collective's Strawberry Jam is steeped in it. But what tops the group's kaleidoscopic swirl of surreal strangeness is its sense of sonic wonder, relishing the unlimited potential of colliding sounds in the sampler age. Strawberry Jam shapes runaway ideas into something greater than the sum of their mysterious parts. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Caribou, The Fiery Furnaces, Man Man
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg400/g435/g43512a339a.jpg]
Arcade Fire - Funeral (2004)
?Funeral's music is as emotionally unfettered as it is carefully constructed. It reaches back to '80s bands like the Cure, Echo & the Bunnymen, the Violent Femmes, and Jane's Addiction, who strummed their way through catharsis after catharsis, a sound that has become in recent years a new classicism. The Arcade Fire stretch that sound until it is both older and newer, shading it with the gloom of folk songs and the yowling urgency of indie rock. Arcade Fire songs are often called operatic, possibly because they are full of old-world touches like violin, viola, accordion, and xylophone, and possibly because they can be oddly decentered, swelling and shifting with an oceanic pulse, spreading out as far as the eye can see, then leaping into furious rock codas at will. - The Village Voice
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Menomena, The Sunset Rubdown, The Walkmen
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre400/e403/e40345fir15.jpg]
Belle & Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister (1996)
Whimsy and preciousness are an integral part of If You're Feeling Sinister, along with clever wit and gentle, intricate arrangements -- a wonderful blend of the Smiths and Simon & Garfunkel, to be reductive. Even if it's firmly within the college, bed-sit tradition, and is unabashedly retrogressive, that gives Sinister a special, timeless character that's enhanced by Stuart Murdoch's wonderful, lively songwriting. Blessed with an impish sense of humor, a sly turn of phrase, and an alluringly fey voice, he gives this record a real sense of backbone, in that its humor is far more biting than the music appears and the music is far more substantial that it initially seems. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Elliott Smith, The Magnetic Fields, Sufjan Stevens
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d314/d31475242jc.jpg]
Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children (1998)
Upon first listen, Music Has the Right to Children can sound deceptively effortless and simple: 60 minutes or so of layers of analogue melodies, a bit of scratching, and a parade of downtempo beats and fragmented vocal samples. Yet this pioneering collection of pastoral electronica is one of the most engaging and emotionally captivating electronic records of the decade. Here, the Scottish duo Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin sculpted a fluid, gorgeous and signature sound that comes across like a score to memories of childhood. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Aphex Twin, Fennesz, Four Tet
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f615/f61565a8kv3.jpg]
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It In People (2002)
With its powerful melodies, breathy indie-dude vocals, expert playing, and sharp musical contrasts (as incandescent, shoegazing guitar figures sear crisp glyphs onto billowy, diaphanous backgrounds), You Forgot It in People rejuvenates worn-out indie rock by injecting it with an enthusiasm, vitality, and technical facility it seldom enjoys. It's a furiously thrumming, spangled machine that never holds still, seesawing between instrumental and vocal tracks with a seamless continuity. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Sigur Ros, Stars, TV on the Radio
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd500/d518/d51843edji5.jpg]
Built to Spill - There's Nothing Wrong with Love (1994)
As far as There's Nothing Wrong With Love is concerned, two fantastic things happen because of the interplay between Dug and his little buddy, his mighty electric axe: 1) Pushed back in the mix, lacking much of a lower register, Martsch?s vocals step back from the weaving guitar lines while still holding a formidable melody that never quite agrees with the instruments, but never argues with them either; 2) The jarring time signatures and unpredictable song structures stir up unnerving twitters in a listener paying attention. The result is an album with a deceptively simple facade, promising sunny, engaging Pavementish indie standards and then tipping our stomachs upside down so that all the blood from our groins runs up and euphorically out our noses. - CMG
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Grandaddy, The Shins, The Wrens
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd600/d603/d6034989532.jpg]
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me (1987)
A blitzkrieg fusion of hardcore punk, Sonic Youth-style noise freak-outs, heavy metal, and melodic hard rock in the vein of Neil Young, You're Living All Over Me was a turning point in American underground rock & roll. With its thin, unbalanced mix, the album sounds positively menacing and edgy -- Lou Barlow's bass barrels forward over Murph's clanking drums, with J Mascis' guitar twisting pummeling riffs and careening, occasionally atonal solos. It established guitar heroics as a part of indie rock, bringing the noise of Sonic Youth into more conventional song structures. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Black Mountain, Comets on Fire, Lightning Bolt
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre300/e344/e344957pe98.jpg]
Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
Godspeed is the post-rock platonic ideal, and this double album is the fullest realization of their art we're likely to hear. Antennas is as engulfing and boundless as open, uncharted waters, churning with bombastic string sections, oversized melodic phrasing, vast tidal rhythms, sweepingly lyrical guitar passages, apocalyptic vocal samples, and yeah, many a spine-tingling upsurge. Everything about this record is big; it spills out of windows, overflows basins, and threatens to sunder ceilings. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Do Make Say Think, Mogwai, Tortoise
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd500/d516/d5165982c51.jpg]
Guided by Voices - Bee Thousand (1994)
Forget lo-fi. Though often cited as the defining album of the misleading faux-genre, there's a lot more to Bee Thousand than tape hiss. At its core, this record is one of the most unique and inventive pop records ever made; the best and brightest hooks from rock's golden age filtered through a fractured and kaleidoscopic vision of hardcore UFOs, hot freaks, and robot boys. As an album, Bee Thousand can barely contain itself. The numbers are striking enough -- Robert Pollard and his Dayton cronies plow through 20 songs in a mere 36 minutes. But what's really amazing is just how many good ideas Pollard manages to cram into the album's slender frame. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: The Apples in Stereo, No Age, Superchunk
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf400/f434/f43474eq0c9.jpg]
Interpol - Turn on the Bright Lights (2002)
Interpol's debut album turned both heads and album covers, as greying hipsters queued up to be the first to play spot that riff with some of the band's early songs. The rest of us paused, scraping our jaws from the floor at the realization that a band from New York could make an album that managed to reference everything good about British guitar music of the 80s (not limited to, but including, The Smiths, Joy Division, Echo and The Bunnymen, and The Psychedelic Furs). As potent as it was the day of its release, Turn On The Bright Lights is a thrilling extraction of the strongest elements of a number of genres, and the band is as tight of a musical unit as you?'re liable to come across these days. - Stylus Magazine
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Blonde Redhead, The National, The Rapture
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre900/e960/e96069wt49y.jpg]
The Microphones - The Glow, Pt. 2 (2001)
Working in private, with analog tape, Phil Elvrum remade the twee-pop of Olympia, Washington's K Records into something broader in scope, proving that intimacy and opulence were not mutually exclusive by forging sweet tunes, childlike vocals, solar noise, and enigmatic tape collages into one molten mass. With The Glow Pt. 2, he strived to document the esoteric flights of his imagination, and produced appropriately intuitive music: Vocal harmonies blur, disappear, return as ragged organs. Creaky percussion sounds like it might give way at any moment, and sometimes does. Staticky thumps that could level forests give way to calm acoustic expanses. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Beat Happening, The Dodos, Grizzly Bear
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd200/d235/d2352767is2.jpg]
Modest Mouse - The Lonesome Crowded West (1997)
Below the surface of every lisped word, every biffed guitar line, every late drum hit, shines the intelligence of Modest Mouse, becoming increasingly more noticeable, and counteracting the initial impression of them as simply trailer trash indie rockers. The lyrics on Lonesome Crowded West coincide with the name of the album. They display a wide variety of anger, shame, playfulness, subservience, isolation, alcoholism, religious confusion, commercialism, corruption, and self-destruction, all thrown onto one paper plate, stirred around with a plastic fork, and molded into one man?s abstract history lesson about the downfall of Western Civilization. - TinyMixTapes
If You Like This, You May Also Like: The Dismemberment Plan, Frog Eyes, Wolf Parade
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d316/d316825o9rm.jpg]
My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (1991)
Though My Bloody Valentine rejected rock & roll conventions, they didn't subscribe to the precious tendencies of anti-rock art-pop bands. Instead, they rode crashing waves of white noise to unpredictable conclusions, particularly since their noise wasn't paralyzing like the typical avant-garde noise rock band: it was translucent, glimmering, and beautiful. If Isn't Anything was the Valentines' sonic blueprint, then Loveless saw those plans fleshed out, in the most literal sense: ?Loomer,? ?What You Want,? and ?To Here Knows When??s arrangements are so lush, they're practically tangible. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Galaxie 500, m83, Slowdive
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd300/d302/d302665u6rv.jpg]
Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
There are very few albums that resist categorization quite so effortlessly as In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. For forty staggering minutes, Jeff Mangum short-circuits all conventional modes of expression, forging a private language that is endlessly intriguing and haunting in the truest sense of the word. Mangum sings as if possessed, painfully conveying fractured and moving tales with the imagistic skill of a brilliant novelist. He gnashes his teeth at the fabric of time, then wraps himself in it like a blanket, channeling the violence of his personal past through a claustrophobic frustration with his dejected present. His band, whose contributions to Aeroplane remain criminally underappreciated, elevate Mangum's songs from chilling sketches into vibrant opuses, fully realizing the antique otherworldliness of Mangum's storytelling. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Beirut, Okkervil River, The Olivia Tremor Control
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf500/f555/f55523pvo5g.jpg][image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre500/e597/e59736ulktv.jpg]
Pavement - Slanted & Enchanted (1992) and Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (1994)
At first, the primitive sound of the record is the most gripping thing about Slanted, but soon the true innovations of the record appear through the songs themselves. Stephen Malkmus and Spiral Stairs subvert conventional pop structures, turning melodies inside out, reinterpreting and reworking older songs, and bending genres together. It's a complex, enthralling record, filled with fractured riffs, strong melodies, and cryptic lyrics. - AllMusic
Pavement may still be messy, but it's a meaningful, musical messiness from the performance to the production: listen to how ?Silence Kit? begins by falling into place with its layers of fuzz guitars, wah wahs, cowbells, thumping bass, and drum fills, how what initially seems random gives way into a lush Californian pop song. That's Crooked Rain in a nutshell: what initially seems chaotic has purpose, leading listeners into the bittersweet heart and impish humor at the core of the album. Many bands attempted to replicate the sound or the vibe of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, but they never came close to the quicksilver shifts in music and emotion that give this album such lasting appeal. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Sebadoh, The Silver Jews, Spoon
[image=http://www.demarconia.com/SurferRosa.jpg][image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf900/f904/f90431h03d1.jpg]
Pixies - Surfer Rosa (1988) and Doolittle (1989)
Combining jagged, roaring guitars and stop-start dynamics with melodic pop hooks, intertwining male-female harmonies and evocative, cryptic lyrics, the Pixies were one of the most influential American alternative rock bands of the late '80s. Their full-length debut, Surfer Rosa fulfilled the promise of their earlier EP and, thanks to Steve Albini's production, added a muscular edge that made their harshest moments seem even more menacing and perverse. - AllMusic
Doolittle, reins in the noise in favor of pop songcraft and accessibility. Producer Gil Norton's sonic sheen adds some polish, but Black Francis' tighter songwriting focuses the group's attack. Their most accessible album, Doolittle's wide-ranging moods and sounds make it one of their most eclectic and ambitious. A fun, freaky alternative to most other late-'80s college rock, it's easy to see why the album made the Pixies into underground rock stars. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: The Breeders, Deerhoof, Les Savy Fav
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf600/f602/f60232kb541.jpg]
Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation (1988)
Play Daydream Nation twice and you?ll have a memory of every song, which isn?t something you could say about every Sonic Youth record, or every double LP by any band. Further enhancing their accessibility, their trademarked exotic guitar tunings were prettier than on prior records, and the noisy bits were contained, even composed; listen to the washes of sound that wind down ?The Sprawl,? so inevitable that they sound orchestrated. But the band did all this without sacrificing their ability to hit it hard; ?Eric?s Trip,? ?Silver Rocket,? and ?Eliminator Jr.? are all slamming and succinct, and ?Cross The Breeze? manages to combine the intricacy of prog with runaway train velocity. - Dusted Magazine
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Boredoms, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Liars
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drg200/g275/g27512xbvry.jpg]
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? (2003)
?The Unicorns have so many hooks to spare, they rarely play them twice. Every time you get comfortable, they skip from programmed beats to solo acoustic guitar, detour into a keyboard riff, and finally end with call and response vocals on any subject ranging from washed-up child stars to mythical beasts to United States foreign policy to nonsense about driving a ?bone Camaro.? Instruments abruptly shift in and out of the mix behind endearingly off-kilter melodies that poke fun at timeless themes of loss and death and the contraction of a condition called Jellybones. Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? redefines indie pop with a joyous, whimsical album utterly devoid of pretension. - No Ripcord
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The New Pornographers, Of Montreal
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf100/f110/f11051ob6df.jpg]
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Where Summerteeth played off of grandiose overdubs, YHF was more concerned with subtraction, as on the breathtaking verse of ?Ashes of American Flags,? when the wheels leave the ground, and nothing but ashtray vocals and feedback remain. The album's thesis is clear: take standard folk material, rip it to shreds, and tape it back together, slightly askew. The success with which Wilco pull it off is exhilarating. Call it dad-rock if you must, but if the day comes when Dads are mowing lawns to the death rattle of ?Radio Cure,? I won't complain. - Pitchfork
If You Like This, You May Also Like: My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Songs: Ohia
[image=http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc700/c781/c78109c6688.jpg]
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One (1997)
Functioning as a virtual catalog of mid-'90s indie rock trends, I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One is an astonishing tour de force from Yo La Tengo, establishing their deep talents as songwriters and musicians. Although the album may run a little long for some tastes, there are very few throwaways on the record ? even the shoegazer cover of the Beach Boys'? ?Little Honda? is a revelatory gem. But what truly impresses is the way the songs, ranging from hypnotically droning instrumentals to tightly written and catchy pop songs, hold together to form what is arguably Yo La Tengo's finest and most coherent album. - AllMusic
If You Like This, You May Also Like: Broadcast, The Clientele, Low
Anywhere else I can look for recommendations?
Absolutely! These sites are general resources helpful for discovering older albums and bands similar to those you already like:
[link=http://www.allmusic.com]All Music[/link]
[link=http://www.last.fm]Last.fm[/link]
[link=http://www.metacritic.com]Metacritic[/link]
[link=http://www.pandora.com/]Pandora[/link]
[link=http://www.rateyourmusic.com]Rate Your Music[/link]
These online zines will help you keep up with what's new:
[link=http://www.avclub.com]AV Club[/link]
[link=http://www.cokemachineglow.com]Coke Machine Glow[/link]
[link=http://daytrotter.com/]Daytrotter[/link]
[link=http://www.adequacy.net]Delusions of Adequacy[/link]
[link=http://www.dustedmagazine.com]Dusted Magazine[/link]
[link=http://www.junkmedia.org/]Junk Media[/link]
[link=http://www.musicomh.com/]Music OMH[/link]
[link=http://www.noripcord.com/]No Ripcord[/link]
[link=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com]Pitchfork[/link]
[link=http://www.popmatters]Pop Matters[/link]
[link=http://www.prefixmag.com]Prefix Magazine[/link]
[link=http://www.tinymixtapes.com/]Tiny Mix Tapes[/link]
And hey, since this is the 21st century, here are some blogs:
[link=http://www.brooklynvegan.com/]Brooklyn Vegan[/link]
[link=http://www.chromewaves.net/]Chromewaves[/link]
[link=http://gorillavsbear.blogspot.com/]Gorilla Vs. Bear[/link]
[link=http://blog.largeheartedboy.com/]Largehearted Boy[/link]
[link=http://www.lastplanetojakarta.com]Last Plane To Jakarta[/link]
[link=http://myoldkyhome.blogspot.com/]My Old Kentucky Blog[/link]
[link=http://stereogum.com/]Stereogum[/link]
[link=http://www.youaintnopicasso.com/]You Ain?t No Picasso[/link]
Thanks so much, Chris! This is amazing! How do you do it?
You know, despite my impeccable taste in music, I haven't always had it easy. I've endured bullies, been called everything from "four eyes" to "nerd," and even taken heat over my personal faith and attitudes. But you know why I consistently come out on top? By just being myself. Even when you think you?'ve finally got this whole indie thing all figured out, that?'s really what it all comes down to. That's the Christopher Castile Way, and that, my friend, is indie.
I hope this guide has proven helpful, and I hope you enjoyed our time together. I certainly did!
Much love and God bless,
Chris
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