Thread: Best indie group ????

As the title says what you think it the best indie group(s) ? And why of course.

I'll vote for The Smiths and The Field Mice / Trembling Blue Stars.

Well the reasoning for the Smiths is obvious i think. 5 awesome albums, great lyrics by a great performer and Johnny Marr writing some of the best riffs ever ! Even though many people would still want them to be together i'm grateful they split up, cause after 5-6 maximum 7 albums all "big" bands start to slowly decay and end up releasing one crap after the other. With the Smiths splitting while they were at their peak this will never happen. They will always be one of the best indie groups, who influenced (and keep influencing 22-23 years after they split up) LOADS of other bands.

As far as The Field Mice / Trembling Blue Stars are concerned, its the only group that has released so many albums that i still like them all. Many might claim that most of their albums (especially as Trembling Blue Stars) are very similar to each other therefore not so interesting, which is partially true, but what can i do? i just love them :p

i'm looking forward to read the replies of other indie fans out there :)

Do you mean indie as in the genre thats roughly like soft rock?

If so then I'd say Feeder, loved them since I was young and the latest stuff is sounding great. They've done a couple of dud albums, but the last album was a turning point and they're back on the way to Echo Park quality.

I don't think indie is allowed to be call a genre. I think that indie bands are the ones that are members of an independent label.
So, the new indie band - Radiohead(they've been on major label for a long time). Well, they are innovative and unique(that's my opinion).
But, for me the best indie band would be The National or Arctic Monkeys.

The National is great when it comes to arrangement and lyrics.
Arctic Monkeys have a great new sound in their latest album and I just can't stop listening to it.

I've only just recently discovered this genre, and I have to say I love The XX and Explosions in the Sky ( even though they are more post-rock than indie ).

Btw, aren't Feeder more alternative- than post-rock?

Originally Posted by sikokaop

I've only just recently discovered this genre, and I have to say I love The XX and Explosions in the Sky ( even though they are more post-rock than indie ).

Btw, aren't Feeder more alternative- than post-rock?

Can't really understand how I did forget about them. Their debut album is excellent. Nice combination of sampled drums and guitars.

I'll go with Mute Math. I'm not sure if that comes as indie, but great band nevertheless.

yes Feeder are considered Alternative

@ toorn : when the term indie was first used it was referring to bands that came from independent labels. A while later (mostly because of those bands that came to surface were in similar genre) it was kinda considered as a genre. So for Indie-rock, indie-pop especially (groups like field mice, trembling blue stars, smiths, stone roses, primal scream at their early years, organ, arctic monkeys, etc etc) most people just refer to it just by saying "indie". The past few years since there are way more independent labels than there were in the 80's and 90's, there is a "need" to be more precise with what kind of indie a group is.

This thread though doesn't only focus on the specific indie genres i listen to (that's why they are excluded from it). This thread is about any indie group someone thinks is worth mentioning :)

The Radiohead is one of the best bands in the world EVER but they were never indie :p Their first album was released by Parlophone (which IF i'm not mistaken was already a part of EMI back then).

@igorscaune : I never heard of Mute Math before, i just checked them on wiki and according to that they are under the alternative / post genre... They seem interesting, i'll check them for sure :) Thnx for reccomendation :)

Originally Posted by Ryuzaki

yes Feeder are considered Alternative

@ toorn : when the term indie was first used it was referring to bands that came from independent labels. A while later (mostly because of those bands that came to surface were in similar genre) it was kinda considered as a genre. So for Indie-rock, indie-pop especially (groups like field mice, trembling blue stars, smiths, stone roses, primal scream at their early years, organ, arctic monkeys, etc etc) most people just refer to it just by saying "indie". The past few years since there are way more independent labels than there were in the 80's and 90's, there is a "need" to be more precise with what kind of indie a group is.

This thread though doesn't only focus on the specific indie genres i listen to (that's why they are excluded from it). This thread is about any indie group someone thinks is worth mentioning :)

The Radiohead is one of the best bands in the world EVER but they were never indie :p Their first album was released by Parlophone (which IF i'm not mistaken was already a part of EMI back then).

@igorscaune : I never heard of Mute Math before, i just checked them on wiki and according to that they are under the alternative / post genre... They seem interesting, i'll check them for sure :) Thnx for reccomendation :)

I think you've touched base on one of the problems with music today: the unnecessary labeling into confusing genres.

Indie, by definition, refers to bands that exist independent of a label. This used to mean something in an era that didn't have easy distribution (we'll call this era pre-2002ish). It took a lot more for an artist to be popular yet produce their music (both the music itself, and then fund the pressing of CDs and such).

Going by the original interpretation of "Indie," Radiohead (as well as Nine Inch Nails) is in fact Indie now, as they are producing their music and distributing it themselves.

Somewhere along the line Indie stopped being a band's affiliation (or lack thereof) with a label, and turned into a type of sound. At it's roots, Indie wasn't a genre so much as a business stance. If I had to pick a band that is by no means truely Indie, but has that Indie sound, it would have to be Circa Survive. I liked Anthony Green more when he was in Saosin, but i'll take what I can get.

Originally Posted by LtGrunt

I think you've touched base on one of the problems with music today: the unnecessary labeling into confusing genres.

Indie, by definition, refers to bands that exist independent of a label. This used to mean something in an era that didn't have easy distribution (we'll call this era pre-2002ish). It took a lot more for an artist to be popular yet produce their music (both the music itself, and then fund the pressing of CDs and such).

Going by the original interpretation of "Indie," Radiohead (as well as Nine Inch Nails) is in fact Indie now, as they are producing their music and distributing it themselves.

Somewhere along the line Indie stopped being a band's affiliation (or lack thereof) with a label, and turned into a type of sound. At it's roots, Indie wasn't a genre so much as a business stance. If I had to pick a band that is by no means truely Indie, but has that Indie sound, it would have to be Circa Survive. I liked Anthony Green more when he was in Saosin, but i'll take what I can get.

yes labeling in music is a great problem i agree with you. Though it's needed as well so that you can categorize bands and find quite easily a band under the genres you like. Indie started at the 70's, much earlier than the pre-2002's you mention ;) I agree with the rest of the thing you say though. Music labeling is a HUGE conversation. Has both many pros and cons but this is not the place to discuss this :)