So being that all music doesn't have to focus on the hard core element here is a little tribute to some indie pop favorites you may have never heard of. This list will feature 5 groups and songs old and new for your music exploration pleasure and a little side info for your music education! Now what do I consider indie? Any song that isn't played on your normal radio station, but are awesome and basically the antithesis of everything that you hear on the radio. Pop on the radio is mostly manufactured and gone over about a million times till the sparkly zest has been stripped out by digital manipulation and glossily sleeked over by drum machines and fake guitars. Every now and then you come across some real gems, that showcase some genuinely real talent.
1. The Waifs- London Still and The Haircut this is a very talented trio of Australian "folk pop" singers whose eclectic and smart lyrics deserve some recognition. There are several songs of The Waifs I could have picked but here we will discuss my two favorites the first being
The Haircut off of their 1998 (yeah its 10 years old!) album Sink or Swim. This song is stripped bare and emotionally charged proving often that you don't need more than a guitar and a voice to provide a real powerful song.
The second Waifs tune that I find really appealing is
London Still from their 2003 album Up all night. While not garnering alot of play or air time in the states these musicians provide ridiculously smart songs with intelligent lyrics and upbeat tempo with a slightly dark and emotionally charged underbelly.
2. Spoon- Everyone h
eard the
Underdog and the Ipod song (
I turn my camera on) but a little deeper exploration will provide you with some real pop gems. One of my favorites is
Black like Me from the Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga album. First lets just discuss their use of a full sound... I'm always a fan of any group who incorporates instruments you don't often hear in songs, Spoon likes horns and I think that is cool. Their Songs definitely have a full orchestrated tight sound and that makes them awesomely fun to listen to. On a side note I also really enjoy
That's the Way Get By, that uses a jangly piano and a tamborine and and an opening line of 'We get high in the backseats of cars' totally pulls you in.
3. Regina Spektor-
On The Radio... dude I don't even know how exactly to describe this song. It is at once hopeful and yet tainted, at the same time it has this unbelievably uplifting and yet haunting beat. It really seems as though thru the course of the song while she is singing this song is building to a crescendo. It's at once taut and calculated and ridiculously applicable to every single human being. I appreciate great lyrics, I especially appreciate them when the music and the lyrics meld together to give you a picture, this song is so visual it paints a story that you want to follow. This is a skill not many have mastered... I think Regina Spektor is one of the best story tellers. Also check out my favorite piano rap songs
Consequence of Sound and the lovely yet creepy
Pavlov's Daughter, that one is like a Voyeur's delight!
4. Postal Service- Ok so when your song makes it on to an M&M commercial (
Such Great Heights) are you still indie enough? The answer is yes when you use a fusion of some of the best talent and beats that compliment the semi sweet straightforwardness of Ben Gibbards Voice not to mention Jenny Lewis in lots of the harmonies. I will be discussing a few songs that you may never have heard of but deserve mentioning.
Firstly the much regaled Phil Collins Cover
Against All Odds, which was a very emotionally bare type of song but in this Postal Service Cover the song becomes so much more poignant with its very stripped beat, and Ben Gibbard's slightly confrontational tone.
This Place is a Prison is my next favorite with its almost plodding beat and the most effective use of an organ to drive a whole song. It is hauntingly beautiful.
Brand New Colony has the sweetest harmonies and the best lyrics I've heard in recent memory and the best use of 80s video game sounds. It's seriously worth a listen or four.
Then of course there is the only song with a 4 minute intro that I didn't turn off.
Natural Anthem really has the music as its showcase in this tune... But just when you are so into it then they have the last minute with basically a completely smart and disarmingly sweet lyric. Postal Service has mastered soft Techno and the bonus part is the smart lyrics delivered and perfectly matched to the music.
5. If I could recommend one band to all, it would be Rilo Kiley and Jenny Lewis. Best known as the Red Headed Girl from oodles of eighties movies (including the Wizard with Fred Savage and most recently Foxfire with a very young Angelina Jolie), Jenny Lewis has been quite the busy girl in the last 5 years providing us with some of the greatest pop gems. My Rilo Kiley Crush started with
Portions for Foxes, There is something ridiculously sexy about that song, you know when you are with somebody you know you shouldn't be and everyone's telling you no? This is the song for you. The lyrics are so smart and so true but this is confessional pop at its greatest.
Glendora is another favorite of mine and it is so in your face and blatant, and Jenny Lewis carries it off with such a sweet voice that it becomes addictive and you find yourself singing it to toddlers. But lets not forget about Blake Sennett who sings on some stunners like
Ripchord where the emotion is so blatantly on display and so in your face and raw. One of my all time favorites is
A Better Son/Daughter, it is completely the anthem of angst and parent pleasing with a simple message, fight it out, fake it till you make it.
But I have combined Jenny Lewis and Rilo Kiley here because the two go together... but I must say that Jenny Lewis's solo efforts as well of those of Rilo Kiley have started to cross over to mainstream radio and garnering more critical acclaim. Jenny Lewis's new album is definitely worth a listen to, Acid Tongue is a truly great album with appearances by Elvis Costello, Chris Robinson and She & Him (I highly recommend ALL of these folks as well). This is a turn for Lewis using lots of guitars and having a slick kind of dark underbelly we haven't seen from her solo stuff and this is a strong contrast to the country gospel inspired Rabbit Fur Coat. I highly recommend
The Next Messiah and
See Fernando and from Her first solo release Rabbit Fur Coat I recommend
Rise up with Fists.
Enjoy! I hope you found something here worth listening to or at least exploring! These Groups will lead you to a ton of other music that rides below mainstream but definitely stays true to the Indie spirit of songwriting and great musicality!
