So today I was thinking about something that people might agree with and might disagree with, but give it thought. Why is Indie becoming a genre? When did this trend start? When I started listening to Indie some 8 years ago it was not a genre but a holding place for original thought and sound before it got a name. Indie was a place for bands to go when they did not have a title, when they were something different from pop, rock or metal. It was something electric, something you could not put a name to until people were ready to follow that band and that sound, and give it a name.
Now I can understand giving something a name with Indie in it: Indie rock—sure; Indie Emo—great; but just labeling bands as Indie makes no sense to me. Indie is just an adjective, not a title. The music community defines it as a number of genres, scenes, styles, and cultures of music that differ away from the pop music mainstream. To me, this definition means anything that breaks away from the norm of music. Therefore, everything, in short, was at one time Indie. It strayed away from what everyone was doing at the time with bands like: the Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Black Flag, and (when new wave was king) the birth of Emo from Joy Division. These were all at one-point genres without a name until they were given one. Now, Indie has turned into a genre and why is this? Some of the best bands of today’s subjective standards were at first labeled as Indie: Brand New, Thursday, Appleseed Cast, Death Cab, TBS, (just to name a few) but these bands have moved out and have found a genre like Emo, hardcore, rock, and punk. If we keep labeling bands as Indie, what is the next place a band without a label can go to wait for their scene? I guess you just can’t place a band in a genre that was never a genre to begin with. A word like Indie is, literally, independent from any set genre of today; therefore, Indie can never be anything more than just a temporary holding cell for new sounds until society catches up with a more permanent label.
Rock-trio Year Long Disaster is led by guitarist and vocalist Daniel Davies who grew up with an insider’s perspective being the son of Kinks’ guitarist Dave Davies. Bassist, Rich Mullins, has toured the world in his past rock lives with Karma to Burn and Speedealer, and Brad Hargreaves is certainly no stranger to bright lights and big cities as his moonlighting gig is as the drummer of eight-times platinum Third Eye Blind. Together, they are indeed, Year Long Disaster. Beginning next week Year Long Disaster will be holing up in Tucson, Arizona with producer/engineer Jim Waters (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, RL Burnside) to record their debut release, which is slated for a September, 2007 release. Quickly becoming a must see live act, Year Long Disaster recently finished up a national tour with The Sword and will next be taking their blistering live show on the road supporting Clutch for nationwide tour dates in May and June, 2007
Brooklyn based indie rock band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah released their sophomore album “Some Loud Thunder” last week. Like their self-titled debut, a huge word of mouth hit popularized by MP3 blogger scene, the follow up is a great addition to their repertoire. The title track “Some loud thunder,” previewed here, is an upbeat, oddly enjoyable song. As for the rest of the album, it is filled with complicated yet catchy lyrics, and rhythms. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, are Alec Ounsworth, Lee Sargent, Robbie Guertin, Tyler Sargent, and Sean Greenhalgh. They have recently released tour dates for their US tour, which is set to start April 2007.
_Marc Graves
Here are the dates:
4/10/2007 Lupos Heartbreak, Hotel Providence, RI
4/11/2007 Pearl Street Night Club, Northampton, MA
4/12/2007 Higher Ground, Burlington, VT
4/13/2007 Metropolis, Montreal, QB
4/14/2007 Kool Haus, Toronto, ON
4/15/2007 The Town Ballroom, Buffalo, NY
4/17/2007 Cannery Ballroom, Nashville, TN
4/18/2007 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
4/19/2007 40 Watt, Athens, GA
4/20/2007 Freebird, Jacksonville, FL
4/21/2007 The Club at Firestone, Orlando, FL
4/22/2007 Revolution, Fort Lauderdale, FL
4/24/2007 Republic, New Orleans, LA
4/26/2007 Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
4/27/2007 Granada Theatre, Dallas, TX
4/28/2007 Stubb’s BBQ, Austin, TX
When most MC’s need a DJ and someone laying down dope beats behind them. This MC however, that goes by the name of Count Bass D, is his own producer, and DJ too. Count Bass does it all, everything you hear on his albums, from the raw beats to any piano playing or strumming you hear. Counts debut album Pre-Life Crisis has been the only rap album to date that was recorded live using all live instruments, all himself. You will never see this guy on MTV or on the radio, hes not even too big in the underground scene. Which doesnt make sense, this guy is sick, flows real good. Everyone who is down with hip hop should give Count Bass D a chance.
-Steve Olson
Also, heres a music video for the song “August 25, 2001″
Unicorns and Mustaches is one of the best new bands out there right now. You would think that with a name like Unicorns and Mustaches that the band is probably made up of a bunch of crazy dudes. Surprisingly it is only made up of one talented beautiful man hailing from the small town of Warren, PA. Eric Morelli is a singer/songwriter that draws from very personal experiences, from his friends, girls, and living in Mammoth for a few years to write his songs. This is the perfect music to mellow out to while driving at night, or listen to when you wake up for a guaranteed good day. Anyone with Nick Cave, Bright Eyes, Nick Drake, or Tom Waits on their ipod should delete it and replace it with Unicorns and Mustaches. You’ll be happy if you do. Theres a good chance you’ve seen him play live, that is, if you went to see Ming & Ping play in Vegas in late ‘06. There have also been rumors circulating that Unicorns and Mustaches isnt even Erics real band, and come this spring, he is going to release something so amazing that everyone will be blown away. It is called The Study…..keep your eyes peeled.
You can also hear his music at www.myspace.com/unicornsandmustaches so make sure you check that out and keep updated to hear his new stuff this spring. When he isnt tearing up his guitar, you can catch Eric tearing up handrails.
Outkast killed it with this classic song Rosa Parks. The song may not get you pumped up on adrenalin to hit a 100 foot kicker , but thats why its in the lifestyle music section.
So today I was thinking about something that people might agree with and might disagree with, but give it thought. Why is Indie becoming a genre? When did this trend start? When I started listening to Indie some 8 years ago it was not a genre but a holding place for original thought and sound before it got a name. Indie was a place for bands to go when they did not have a title, when they were something different from pop, rock or metal. It was something electric, something you could not put a name to until people were ready to follow that band and that sound, and give it a name.
