An independent music scene is a localized
independent music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...
-oriented (or, more specifically,
indie rock
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...
/
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
-oriented)
community
A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, t ...
of bands and their audiences. Local scenes can play a key role in musical history and lead to the development of influential genres; for example,
no wave from New York City,
Madchester
Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music ...
from Manchester, and
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of ...
from Seattle.
Indie scenes are often created as a response to mainstream or popular music. These scenes are created in opposition of mainstream culture and music and often contribute to the formation of oppositional identities among individuals involved in the scene.
Notable scenes
Asia
Japan
The Japanese indie music scene began gaining mainstream success in the late 1990s with the so-called "indie boom". Musicians involved with this scene, referred to as "individual producer-composers", included
Haruomi Hosono
, sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop f ...
, Komoya Tesuya, Oyamada Keigo (also known as
Cornelius), and
Oda Tetsuro. Cornelius pioneered an indie music movement called
Shibuya-kei and released songs that gained international success such as the
Pizzicato Five
Pizzicato Five (formerly typeset as Pizzicato V and sometimes abbreviated to P5)Yang Jeff, Dina Can, Terry Hong, (1997) ''Eastern Standard Time'' pg 277 New York: Mariner Books was a Japanese pop band formed in Tokyo in 1979 by multi-instrume ...
.
Supercar
A supercar – also called exotic car – is a loosely defined description of street-legal, high-performance sports cars. Since the 2010s, the term hypercar has come into use for the highest performing supercars. Supercars commonly serve as t ...
's debut album ''
Three Out Change
''Three Out Change'' is the debut studio album by Supercar. Released on April 1, 1998, it peaked at number 20 on the Oricon Albums Chart. The album helped establish Supercar as an important and influential Japanese rock band. Music critic Ian Mart ...
'' from 1998
has been described as having "almost foundational importance to 21st century Japanese indie rock".
A Japanese protectionist licensing policy prevents indie music from being sold via major media distribution networks. Indie records are only sold in small retail stores that import foreign records, which are not part of the industrial channels. This relegates the Japanese indie music into the context of a global scene.
Current Japanese indie bands include
the pillows,
Asian Kung–Fu Generation
(stylized as ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION) is a Japanese alternative rock band formed in Yokohama in 1996. For its entire career, the band has consisted of vocalist Masafumi Gotoh, guitarist Kensuke Kita, bassist Takahiro Yamada, and drummer Kiyos ...
,
ogre you asshole,
Straightener,
Sakanaction
, stylised as sakanaction, are a Japanese rock band from Sapporo, Hokkaido. Their music is a fusion of alternative rock, electronic, pop, and new wave styles. The band consists of five members: Ichiro Yamaguchi, Motoharu Iwadera, Ami Kusakari, E ...
,
Acidman,
fujifabric
is a Japanese rock band formed in 2000. While their music can be mostly categorized as alternative rock or power pop, their music usually consists of an eclectic mix of genres, including jazz, disco and progressive rock.
Name origin
Before the ...
, and
Beat Crusaders
were a Japanese rock band active from 1997 to 2010. During all promotional appearances, their faces are masked by drawings resembling themselves as printed by a dot-matrix printer.
History
Beat Crusaders, commonly abbreviated BECR, was founde ...
.
South Korea
The indie scene in South Korea is sometimes referred to as "K-Indie", a neologism derived from
K-pop
K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, go ...
. The centre of the Korean indie scene is the
Hongdae area. Korean indie has gained some international exposure via
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. Bands/artists include
The RockTigers
The RockTigers (, also written as The Rock Tigers, The Rocktigers) were a South Korean rock and roll band from 2001 to 2013. The RockTigers had a style that was rooted in the 1940s and 1950s jump blues, boogie-woogie, and rockabilly that sets the ...
,
10cm,
Yozo,
Jang Jae-in
Jang Jae-in (Hangul: 장재인, born June 6, 1991), also known as Jang Jane, is a South Korean singer-songwriter known for her unique voice. Jang became well known after she finished third in the South Korean reality television series ''Superstar ...
,
Jang Jae-in
Jang Jae-in (Hangul: 장재인, born June 6, 1991), also known as Jang Jane, is a South Korean singer-songwriter known for her unique voice. Jang became well known after she finished third in the South Korean reality television series ''Superstar ...
,
Hyukoh
Hyukoh ( ko, 혁오) is a South Korean indie band signed to DooRooDooRoo Artist Company. The band was formed in May 2014 and consists of leader, singer, and guitarist Oh Hyuk, bassist Im Dong-geon, guitarist Lim Hyun-jae, and drummer Lee In-woo.
...
, and
Jannabi.
Australasia
Australia
*
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
, Australia:
**The
Little Band scene was an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne's inner suburbs from 1978 to 1981, characterised by a proliferation of short-lived bands. It involved members of
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...
,
Primitive Calculators
The Primitive Calculators are an Australian post-punk band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria in 1978. Described by British critic Everett True as sounding like "a very aggressive Suicide", True, Everett (8 January 2009)"True Tales: Melbourne's music ...
and
Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld were an Australian post-punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy. They played in Melbourne and Sydney and were supporters of the Melbourne ...
.
**In the early 2010s, the term
dolewave was coined the describe an indie scene involving Melbourne groups such as
Twerps
''TWERPS'' (''The World's Easiest Role-Playing System'') is a minimalist role-playing game (RPG) originally created by Reindeer Games (whose sole product was the ''TWERPS'' line) and distributed by Gamescience. Presented as a parody of the com ...
,
Dick Diver and
Scott & Charlene's Wedding, which shared a jangly lo-fi sound and similar lyrical themes.
Courtney Barnett
Courtney Melba Barnett (born 3 November 1987) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP ''I've Got a Friend Calle ...
was later included in scene.
New Zealand
*
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...
, New Zealand: The Zwines scene was based around a nightclub/warehouse called Zwines and was known for punk bands like The Scavengers, The Stimulators and Suburban Reptiles (featuring
Midnight Oil's Bones Hillman). Like the British 1980s indie music scene documented on the
NME's ''
C86'' tape, this punk scene was documented on the ''AK79'' album.
*
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
, New Zealand: The
Dunedin sound was a style of
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
music created in the southern New Zealand university city of
Dunedin
Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...
in the early 1980s, characterized by
jangly guitars, minimalist
bassline
Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
s and loose
drum
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
ming.
Keyboards are also often prevalent. New Zealand-based
Flying Nun Records championed the scene; artists include
The Clean
The Clean was a New Zealand indie rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1978. They have been described as the most influential band to come from the Flying Nun label, which recorded many artists associated with the "Dunedin sound".Schmidt, And ...
(who gave the scene the name Dunedin sound), and
The Chills
The Chills are a New Zealand rock band that formed in Dunedin in 1980. The band is essentially the continuing project of singer/songwriter Martin Phillipps, who is the group's sole constant member. For a time in the 1990s, the act was billed ...
.
North America
Canada
*Toronto,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
: In the mid-2000s an influx of independent bands infiltrated the music scene, such as
Broken Social Scene
Broken Social Scene is a Canadian indie rock band, a musical collective including as few as six and as many as nineteen members, formed by Kevin Drew (vocals, guitar) and Brendan Canning (vocals, bass) in 1999. Alongside Drew and Canning, the oth ...
,
Death from Above 1979,
Tokyo Police Club,
Metric
Metric or metrical may refer to:
* Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement
* An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement
Mathematics
In mathe ...
,
Crystal Castles
Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, formed by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass, who later left and was replaced by Edith Frances. Crystal Castles were know ...
and
The Carps
The Carps were a Canadian rock music duo consisting of bassist Neil White and drummer Jahmal Tonge. They were signed to Toronto-based URBNET Records.
Bio
(All Music Guide)
Rarely photographed without multi-colored leather hi tops, turquoise or p ...
gaining notoriety at home and abroad.
*
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
: The
Montreal music scene has given rise to such musicians and groups as
Sean Nicholas Savage,
Grimes,
Mac DeMarco
MacBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco (born Vernor Winfield MacBriare Smith IV; April 30, 1990) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. DeMarco has released six full-length studio albums, his debut '' Rock and Roll Night ...
,
BRAIDS,
Tegan and Sara,
Arcade Fire
Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury and Jeremy Gara. The band's current touring line-up also includes former core mem ...
,
Stars
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
,
Cœur de Pirate,
Islands
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
,
Plants and Animals
Plants and Animals are a Canadian indie-rock band from Montreal (featuring two members originally from Nova Scotia) which comprises guitarist-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nic Basque and drummer-vocalist Matthew Woody Woodley. The trio began playin ...
,
Wolf Parade
Wolf Parade is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003 in Montreal. The band released three full-length albums before taking a five-year hiatus in 2011. They announced their return in 2016, releasing a self-titled EP in May of that year, and ...
,
Sunset Rubdown
Sunset Rubdown is a Canadian art rock music group from Montreal. The band began as a solo project for Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, who released his debut, '' Snake's Got a Leg'', in early 2005. By the next year the project expanded to become a f ...
,
AIDS Wolf,
Bell Orchestre
Bell Orchestre is a six-piece instrumental band from Montreal. It was formed in 1999 by multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry and violinist Sarah Neufeld. Both also joined Arcade Fire. They were joined in Bell Orchestre by Michael Feuerstack (ste ...
,
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also loca ...
and
Patrick Watson. It is centered on the
Mile End neighborhood, in the Borough of
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal
Le Plateau-Mont-Royal () is a borough (''arrondissement'') of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The Plateau-Mont-Royal takes its name from its location on a plateau, on the eastern side of Mont-Royal and overlooking downtown Montreal, across ...
.
*
Halifax,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
: In the 1990s, Halifax was home to the "
Halifax Pop Explosion" scene, including bands such as
Sloan,
Jale,
Thrush Hermit, Rebecca West,
The Super Friendz and
The Hardship Post
The Hardship Post was a Canadian alternative rock band, that formed in St. John’s, Newfoundland in 1992 and moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, during the Halifax Pop Explosion of the early 1990s.
The band originally consisted of vocalist and guita ...
. After the early scene splintered somewhat in the late 1990s, artists including
Joel Plaskett,
Wintersleep
Wintersleep is a Canadian indie rock band formed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 2001.Heidi Ulrichsen"Wintersleep offers 'sneak peeks' of new album at Boreal" ''Sudbury Star'', June 30, 2014. The band's original lineup consisted of vocalist and g ...
,
In-Flight Safety
In-Flight Safety is a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2003. In-Flight Safety was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award for Video of the Year for "Coast Is Clear". They are currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The group consists of vocalist ...
, and
Rich Aucoin
Rich Aucoin is a Canadian musician, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.[ ...](_blank)
formed a second wave in the 2000s.
United States
*
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
, Georgia: During the early 1980s, Athens became home to influential post-punk bands such as
R.E.M., the
B-52s
B5, B05, B-5 may refer to:
Biology
* ATC code B05 (''Blood substitutes and perfusion solutions''), a therapeutic subgroup of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System
* Cytochrome ''b''5, ubiquitous electron transport hemoprotein ...
and
Pylon. Successful indie rock bands in the 1990s were formed in Athens, and were often associated with
The Elephant 6 Recording Company
The Elephant 6 Recording Company is a loosely defined musical collective from the United States. Notable bands associated with the collective include the Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Circulatory System, Elf Power, the Minders, Neutral Milk Hotel ...
. Other bands include
The Apples in Stereo,
The Olivia Tremor Control,
Neutral Milk Hotel
Neutral Milk Hotel was an American band formed in Ruston, Louisiana, by musician Jeff Mangum. They were active from 1989 to 1998, and again from 2013 to 2015. The band's music featured a deliberately low-quality sound, influenced by indie rock ...
, and
Of Montreal.
*
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia
*Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane
*Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area
Canada
*Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbou ...
, North Carolina: The Chapel Hill music scene (which also often includes bands from nearby Research Triangle cities
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
and
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
) was home to an indie music scene starting in the mid-1980s with bands like
The Connells,
Flat Duo Jets and
Southern Culture On The Skids
Southern Culture on the Skids, also sometimes known as SCOTS, is an American rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Originally a straightforward roots rock band, they became known as a tongue-in-cheek "party band" with an exaggerated " wh ...
. The 1990s saw the rise of indie rock bands such as
Polvo,
Archers of Loaf and
Superchunk
Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of ...
which started
Merge an indie record label of the 1990s. The 2000s saw the arrival of bands like
Ben Folds Five
Ben Folds Five is an American alternative rock trio formed in 1993 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The group comprises Ben Folds (lead vocals, piano), Robert Sledge ( bass guitar, backing vocals) and Darren Jessee (drums, backing vocals). The gr ...
and
Squirrel Nut Zippers. The indie club Cat's Cradle (which originated as a folk cafe in the 1960s) has played a major part in the Chapel Hill music scene hosting several alternative acts that went on to find major success in the mid-1990s.
*
Washington, D.C.: The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the birth of a
punk rock-inspired independent music scene in Washington which became influential around the United States, with bands such as
Bad Brains
Bad Brains are an American rock band formed in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Originally a jazz fusion band under the name Mind Power, they are widely regarded as pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members have objected to the use of this t ...
,
Embrace,
Rites of Spring,
Henry Rollins
Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1980, Rol ...
and
Black Flag, and hardcore punk bands
Teen Idles
The Teen Idles were an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C. in September 1979. Consisting of teenagers Nathan Strejcek, Geordie Grindle, Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, they recorded two demo sessions and the 1980 '' Minor Distur ...
and
Minor Threat
Minor Threat was an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Washington, D.C. by vocalist Ian MacKaye and drummer Jeff Nelson (musician), Jeff Nelson. MacKaye and Nelson had played in several other bands together, and recruited bassist Br ...
, members of which founded independent label
Dischord Records
Dischord Records is a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label specializing in punk rock. The label is co-owned by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson, who founded Dischord in 1980 to release '' Minor Disturbance'' by their band The Teen Idles ...
. The first wave of D.C. independent musicians gradually moved on to developing
post-hardcore
Post-hardcore is a punk rock music genre that maintains the aggression and intensity of hardcore punk but emphasizes a greater degree of creative expression. It was initially inspired by post-punk and noise rock. Like post-punk, the term has be ...
styles. Members of different Dischord bands formed
Fugazi
Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their sty ...
, a prototypical independent band. By the 1990s, Dischord bands such as
Shudder to Think began to receive mainstream attention and some signed with major labels
*Los Angeles, California:
**The Los Angeles indie scene is centered on neighborhoods like Koreatown, Los Feliz, Silverlake, and Echo Park, which have given rise to such bands and artists as
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...
,
Local Natives
Local Natives is an American indie rock band based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The band consists of Taylor Rice (vocals, guitar), Kelcey Ayer (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ryan Hahn (guitar, backing vocals), Matt Frazier (drums) and Nik Ewing ( ...
,
Dawes,
Moving Units
Moving Units is an American dance-punk band from Los Angeles, California.
History
The band was formed in 2001 by Blake Miller (formerly of Spectacle) Johan Boegli and Chris Hathwell after Miller invited Boegli and Hathwell to jam songs from ...
,
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley ( ) was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock.
The group released their debut album ''Take-Offs and Landings' ...
,
Earlimart,
Autolux
Autolux is an American alternative rock band consisting of Eugene Goreshter (vocals, bass), Greg Edwards (vocals, guitar, piano) and Carla Azar (drums, vocals). The trio formed in 2001 and have released three full-length albums, ''Future Perfect' ...
,
Scarling.
Scarling. was an American noise pop band formed in Los Angeles in 2001. The band consisted of lead vocalist Jessicka Addams and guitarist Christian Hejnal.
Name
The band's name comes from a fictional word created by singer/fine artist Jessicka ...
and
Giant Drag.
**
The Smell scene came up in the 2000s, with bands such as
HEALTH
Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...
,
Abe Vigoda,
Local Natives
Local Natives is an American indie rock band based in Silver Lake, Los Angeles. The band consists of Taylor Rice (vocals, guitar), Kelcey Ayer (vocals, keyboards, guitar), Ryan Hahn (guitar, backing vocals), Matt Frazier (drums) and Nik Ewing ( ...
,
Best Coast
Best Coast is an American rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009. The band consists of songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. Cosentino, a former child actress, began ...
,
Foster the People
Foster the People is an American indie pop band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2009. Its members are singer Mark Foster, guitarist Sean Cimino, and keyboardist Isom Innis.
Foster founded the band in 2009 after spending several years in ...
,
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named ...
,
Cold War Kids and
No Age.
*Chicago,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
: Chicago is home to a number of independent record labels such as
Touch and Go Records
Touch and Go Records is an American independent record label based in Chicago, Illinois. After its genesis as a handmade fanzine in 1979, it grew into one of the key record labels in the American 1980s underground and alternative rock scenes. ...
,
Thrill Jockey Records
Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago.
History
Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, whil ...
and
Drag City Records. City funding has made Chicago an important music festival city, hosting music festivals such as
Pitchfork Music Festival,
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
(since 2005),
Chicago Blues Festival
The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June,
that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and ...
, and
Alehorn of Power; and a weekly Monday music series called "Downtown Sound", at
Millennium Park
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...
's
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Jay Pritzker Pavilion, also known as Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion, is a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the south side of Randolph S ...
, featuring independent acts performing in a theater normally used for
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" al ...
. Local radio stations supporting independent music include
WXRT-FM and
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic universities in the United States. Its namesake is Saint Ignat ...
's
WLUW
WLUW (88.7 FM) is a college radio station owned and operated by Loyola University Chicago, serving Chicago, Illinois and its northern suburbs.
History
WLUW was founded in the 1970s, although it originally was not associated with Loyola Unive ...
. Chicago is home to music media business
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
and community radio station CHIRP (Chicago Independent Radio Project).
*New York. In the late 1970s New York
No Wave arose with bands such as
DNA,
Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and
James Chance and the Contortions
James Chance and the Contortions (initially known simply as Contortions, a spin-off group is called James White and the Blacks) was a musical group led by saxophonist and vocalist James Chance, formed in 1977. They were a central act of New York ...
. A second wave of noise rock brought
Swans
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...
and
Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of t ...
. After 2000 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and the
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets.
Traditionally an im ...
of Manhattan, a new scene developed with bands
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American rock band from New York City. Formed in 1998, the band is composed of lead singer and songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikolai Fraiture, and drummer Fabrizio Mor ...
,
Interpol
The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cr ...
,
LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002 by James Murphy, co-founder of DFA Records. The band comprises Murphy (vocals, various instruments), Nancy Whang (synthesizer, keyboards, vocals), Pat Mahoney ( ...
,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are compl ...
,
Dirty Projectors
Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The ...
,
Grizzly Bear
The grizzly bear (''Ursus arctos horribilis''), also known as the North American brown bear or simply grizzly, is a population or subspecies of the brown bear inhabiting North America.
In addition to the mainland grizzly (''Ursus arctos horri ...
,
Yeasayer,
TV on the Radio and
Vampire Weekend
Vampire Weekend is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 2006 and currently signed to Columbia Records. The band was formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Ezra Koenig, multi-instrumentalist Rostam Batmanglij, drummer Chris Tomson ...
. Indie bands have also relocated to the active
indie music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...
scene such as
Animal Collective
Animal Collective is an American experimental pop band formed in Baltimore, Maryland. Its members consist of Avey Tare (David Portner), Panda Bear (musician), Panda Bear (Noah Lennox), Geologist (musician), Geologist (Brian Weitz), and Deakin ( ...
and
MGMT
MGMT () is an American indie rock band formed in 2002 in Middletown, Connecticut. It was founded by multi-instrumentalists Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser. Alongside VanWyngarden and Goldwasser, MGMT's live lineup currently consists o ...
. Booker
Todd P Todd Patrick (aka Todd P) is an organizer of independently produced concerts, based in New York City. Patrick was born in 1975 in Indiana, and grew up in Richardson, Texas.
Patrick is known within the independent music community for selecting and ...
plays a key role, placing bands in unusual places.
*
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
, Maryland: In the early to mid-2000s several Baltimore indie bands found a wide audience, including
Beach House,
Lower Dens
Lower Dens was an American alternative indie pop band from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The band was formed in 2010 by Jana Hunter, Geoff Graham, Abram Sanders and Will Adams. Lower Dens has released four albums: their debut on Gnomons ...
,
Dan Deacon,
Celebration,
Future Islands,
Wye Oak
The Wye Oak was the largest white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the town of Wye Mi ...
, and
Ponytail.
*
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
: The Seattle-based record label
Sub Pop
Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are oft ...
was home to
Nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lamp Richard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colomb ...
,
The Postal Service and
The Shins
The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's cu ...
. A number of indie rock groups have their roots in Seattle, including
Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influence ...
,
Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard (vocals, guitar, piano), Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals), Zac Rae (ke ...
,
Harvey Danger,
Fleet Foxes,
Band of Horses
Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also inclu ...
,
Minus the Bear
Minus the Bear was an American indie rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2001, and comprising members of Botch, Kill Sadie, and Sharks Keep Moving. Their sound was described as " Pele-esque guitar-taps and electronics with sophisticate ...
,
Citizens
Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection".
Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...
, and
Pedro the Lion
Pedro the Lion is an American indie rock band from Seattle, Washington, United States. David Bazan formed the band in 1995 and represented its main creative force, backed by a varying rotation of collaborating musicians. In 2006 Pedro the Lion ...
.
*
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origin ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...
: Minneapolis has had several successful indie acts including
Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü () was an American punk rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist/vocalist Bob Mould, bassist/vocalist Greg Norton, and drummer/vocalist Grant Hart. They first gained notabili ...
,
The Replacements,
Atmosphere
An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A ...
,
Tapes 'n Tapes
Tapes 'n Tapes is an indie rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
History
Formed in the winter of 2003 at Carleton College, the band has released four albums. First came the self-released ''Tapes 'n Tapes EP'' in 2004, followed by the full-lengt ...
,
Cloud Cult,
Mason Jennings
Mason Jennings is an American folk-pop singer-songwriter.
Biography
Born in Hawaii, Jennings moved with his family to Pittsburgh at an early age. Jennings learned to play guitar at the age of 13, when he began writing songs. Jennings later dro ...
,
Brother Ali
Ali Douglas Newman (born Jason Douglas Newman, July 30, 1977), better known by his stage name Brother Ali, is an American rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective. He has released seven albums ...
, and
Hippocampus
The hippocampus (via Latin from Greek , 'seahorse') is a major component of the brain of humans and other vertebrates. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain. The hippocampus is part of the limbic syste ...
.
*
Portland,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
: Portland has had an active indie music since the mid-1990s. In 2007, ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' declared Portland as "America's indie rock mecca". Local indie artists include
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...
,
The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
,
The Shins
The Shins is an American indie rock band formed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1996. The band is the project of singer-songwriter James Mercer, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's cu ...
,
Stephen Malkmus,
M. Ward,
The Helio Sequence
The Helio Sequence is an American indie rock duo from Beaverton, Oregon, signed to Sub Pop. The band consists of Brandon Summers on vocals and guitars and Benjamin Weikel on drums and keyboards.
History
Summers and Weikel formed The Helio Sequen ...
,
Menomena,
The Thermals
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
,
Portugal. The Man,
Blitzen Trapper
Blitzen Trapper is a Portland, Oregon-based experimental country/ folk/rock band associated with Sub Pop Records, Vagrant Records and Lojinx. Formed in 2000, the band currently operates as a quintet, with Eric Earley (guitar/harmonica/vocals/ ...
,
YACHT
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
,
Blind Pilot,
Sleater-Kinney
Sleater-Kinney ( ) is an American rock band that formed in Olympia, Washington, in 1994. The band's current lineup features Corin Tucker (vocals and guitar) and Carrie Brownstein (guitar and vocals), following the departure of longtime member ...
, and
Viva Voce.
*
Olympia,
Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
: Olympia has also been a founding city of the indie scene, starting with the establishment of
Calvin Johnson
Calvin Johnson Jr., (born September 29, 1985) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for nine seasons with the Detroit Lions. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he twice ...
's
K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music ...
in 1982. Other labels in Olympia such as
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but was originally kn ...
, followed suit, and bands such as Calvin's
Dub Narcotic Sound System
Dub Narcotic Sound System (D.N.S.S.) is an Olympia, Washington based indie-funk musical group founded by Calvin Johnson, signed to K Records.
Origins
The band was named after Calvin Johnson's basement recording studio, Dub Narcotic.
The band and ...
and
Beat Happening
Beat Happening is an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi mo ...
,
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group consisted of singer and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band pioneered the r ...
,
Bratmobile,
Lois
Lois is a common English name from the New Testament. Paul the Apostle mentions Lois, the pious grandmother of Saint Timothy in the Second Epistle to Timothy (commending her for her faith in 2 Timothy 1:5). The name was first used by English Chri ...
,
Lync, and
Some Velvet Sidewalk.
*
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
: Austin's indie scene has developed over the years into "the live music capital of the world", with music-related festivals
SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...
,
Austin City Limits
''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...
, and
Fun Fun Fun Fest. Local bands include
Ghostland Observatory
Ghostland Observatory is an American music duo based in Austin, Texas, United States. Their music has been described as a combination of electro, rock and funk by Allmusic, and "electro-dance soul rock" by Gothamist.
Front man Aaron Behrens pro ...
,
Spoon
A spoon is a utensil consisting of a shallow bowl (also known as a head), oval or round, at the end of a handle. A type of cutlery (sometimes called flatware in the United States), especially as part of a place setting, it is used primarily f ...
,
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead,
Okkervil River,
The Wooden Birds
The Wooden Birds was a band from Austin, Texas (with members also in Brooklyn, NY), led by American Analog Set frontman, Andrew Kenny, formed in 2008. The band's final lineup, which Andrew Kenny introduced on stage as the "Hometown Fantasy Band", ...
,
The Black Angels,
White Denim,
Explosions in the Sky, and older acts such as
Daniel Johnston
Daniel Dale Johnston (January 22, 1961 – September 11, 2019) was an American singer, musician and artist regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded a ...
,
Bill Callahan and
Jad Fair
Jad Fair (born June 9, 1954) is an American singer, guitarist, graphic artist, and founding member of lo-fi alternative rock group Half Japanese.
Biography
Fair was born in Coldwater, Michigan. In 1974, he and his brother David formed the lo-f ...
.
*
Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest c ...
, Nebraska: Omaha has had an indie scene for the past 15 years, with many bands connected to the indie label
Saddle Creek Records
Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over hi ...
owned by
Conor Oberst of
Bright Eyes. Other bands include
Cursive
Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionali ...
,
Neva Dinova
The Neva (russian: Нева́, ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it i ...
,
Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley ( ) was an American indie rock band based in Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1998, the band consisted of Jenny Lewis, Blake Sennett, Pierre de Reeder, and Dave Rock.
The group released their debut album ''Take-Offs and Landings' ...
, and
The Faint.
*
Akron
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...
, Ohio: Akron tends to lean more towards a garage rock scene, primarily influenced by the
Black Keys, a blues rock band from the city. Garage rock/blues rock indie bands have been signed to various independent labels in the Highland Square area.
Europe
*
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
, France: The
Soy Festival Soy Festival is a yearly music festival happening in the autumn in Nantes, France. The festival focuses on avant-garde rock, experimental rock, noise rock, and other experimental music genres. The concerts take place in different locations in Nante ...
takes place annually in Nantes in October, with a line-up of mainly
avant-rock,
noise rock
Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extre ...
and
experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...
. The biggest music venue in Nantes is
Le Lieu Unique.
*Berlin, Germany became a cultural musical centre where artists moved to after 2000, including
Peaches,
Liars,
Devastations
Devastations were an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia, they were active from 2002 to 2010. The band's solemn lamentations often earned comparisons to artists such as Nick Cave and Tindersticks.
Band history
The band was founded in 200 ...
, and
IAMX
IAMX is the solo musical project of Chris Corner of the band Sneaker Pimps. Founded in 2004 in London, it is an independent music project which also focuses on and experiments with visual art. Musically, IAMX spans multiple genres from electro ...
. Labels include
City Slang Records
City Slang is an independent record label based in Berlin, Germany.
History
The label was founded in 1990 by former tour agent Christof Ellinghaus, exclusively to release The Flaming Lips' '' In A Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine ...
, and
Giant Rooks
Giant Rooks is a German indie band from Hamm, which was founded in 2014. In 2019 they won the 1Live Krone Award and the Preis für Popkultur. Their debut album ''Rookery'' was released on 28 August 2020.
Members
* Frederik Rabe
* Finn Schwiet ...
.
*
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...
, Germany was the center of German indie rock in the 1990s, the so-called
Hamburger Schule
The ''Hamburger Schule'' (German language, German for 'Hamburg School') is a music movement current in Germany during the 1980s and early 1990s. With some active bands and artists it is still present. It took up traditions of Neue Deutsche Welle an ...
. Around 2000, a second wave of notable acts emerged from Hamburg, such as
Tocotronic,
Die Sterne
Die Sterne is a two/three/four-piece indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It origina ...
,
Die Goldenen Zitronen
Die Goldenen Zitronen ("The Golden Lemons") are a German punk rock band from Hamburg, formed in 1984. They are considered a forerunner to the " Hamburger Schule" and are noted for their anti-establishment stance. Formed by Schorsch Kamerun ( ...
(who had been around since the 1980s),
Blumfeld
Blumfeld () was an indie pop band from Hamburg, Germany, formed by singer and songwriter Jochen Distelmeyer. The name of the band was taken from the main character of the short story "Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle" by Franz Kafka. Blumfeld a ...
,
Tomte
A (, ), tomte (), , or () is a mythological creature from Nordic folklore today typically associated with the winter solstice and the Christmas season. They are generally described as being short, having a long white beard, and wearing a co ...
, and
Kettcar
Kettcar is an indie rock music band based in Hamburg, Germany. The band has released five studio albums so far. The band released their fourth album, ''Zwischen den Runden'', in 2012. Their fifth album, ''Ich vs. Wir'', was released in October ...
. Labels include
Grand Hotel van Cleef
Grand Hotel van Cleef is an independent record label headquartered in Hamburg, Germany.
Label history
Grand Hotel van Cleef was founded in September 2002 by the musicians Thees Uhlmann, Marcus Wiebusch and Reimer Bustorff. The newly formed b ...
and
Tapete Records
Tapete Records is an independent record label based in Hamburg, Germany.
It was founded in 2002 by Gunther Buskies and Dirk Darmstaedter and primarily focused on Deutschpop Bands such as Erdmöbel, Niels Frevert, Tele and Anajo. Since 2005 Ta ...
.
*
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
, Spain is known for its yearly
Primavera Sound Festival, partly curated by
ATP and
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
. Some of the city's indie artists include Family,
Los Planetas
Los Planetas (''The Planets'') is a Spanish indie rock group from the city of Granada which started out in the second half of the 1990s and continue now through the 2000s. The group's first hit was "Qué puedo hacer" (''What can I do?'') from th ...
,
Love of Lesbian
Love of Lesbian is a Spanish indie pop band. They were nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Spanish Act at the 2012 MTV Europe Music Awards. Their album ''La noche eterna. Los días no vividos.'' reached number 1 in 2012.
On Marc ...
,
Antònia Font
Antònia Font () is a Majorcan band, formed in 1997. They are characterized by their festive music and their humorous and fantastic lyrics. The group's creative universe includes elements such as outer space and astronautics, combined with themes ...
, and
El Guincho
Pablo Díaz-Reixa (born November 17, 1983), professionally known as el Guincho, is a Spanish musician, singer, and record producer.
Díaz-Reixa rose to prominence with his 2008 album, '' Alegranza''. His musical style relies heavily on the use ...
.
Hungary
The Hungarian indie scene is mainly active in the capital city,
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...
. In the early 2000s, Hungary's indie revival included
Ligeti-led
The Puzzle from
Kaposvár
Kaposvár (; also known by other alternative names) is a city with county rights in the southwestern part of Hungary, south of Lake Balaton. It is one of the leading cities of Transdanubia, the capital of Somogy County, and the seat of the Kapo ...
. In 2006
Amber Smith's album ''
RePRINT
A reprint is a re- publication of material that has already been previously published. The term ''reprint'' is used with slightly different meanings in several fields.
Academic publishing
In academic publishing, offprints, sometimes also known ...
'' was released by the German label Kalinkaland Records. In 2007
The Moog
The Moog were a Hungarian indie rock band based in Budapest, Hungary formed in 2004. The group is noted for being the first in the region to be signed to an American record label. The band consists of members Tamás Szabó (vocals, keyboard), ...
's ''
Sold for Tomorrow
''Sold for Tomorrow'' is the debut album of the band The Moog. A "Digital Only Bonus Version" song, "Hit Song" was included on the EMusic
eMusic is an online music and audiobook store that operates by subscription. In exchange for a monthly s ...
'' was released by the US label MuSick Records. Other indie bands include
EZ Basic
EZ Basic is a guitar-pop, indie-rock project based in Budapest, Hungary formed in 2004. It started out as an experimental bedroom project in the early 00s and is noted for being one of the most eclectic bands of the Budapest indie music scene.
Hi ...
,
The KOLIN
The KOLIN are a Hungarian indie-pop band best known for their hit song ''San Francisco''. The band was formed in 2007 in Budapest. Their music style is synthpop influenced with indie rock and new rave sounds. The band consists of Márkó Linczény ...
,
Supersonic
Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound ( Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
,
The Poster Boy
The Poster Boy is a Hungarian indie rock band from Budapest, Hungary. The band's line-up consists of Imre Poniklo from the Budapest-based indie-rock band Amber Smith, Noel R. Mayer from the alternative rock band, The Walrus, and Michael Zwecker fr ...
and
Dawnstar
Dawnstar is a superheroine appearing in comic books published by DC Comics, primarily as a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes in the 30th and 31st centuries. She was created by Paul Levitz and Mike Grell, and first appeared in ''Superboy and ...
. Two of the most important and prolific musicians are
Imre Poniklo
Imre Poniklo (born 16 October 1974) is a musician, best known as the lead singer, songwriter, lyricist and guitarist of Amber Smith. He is also a solo artist under the name Poniklo. As a singer, Poniklo's voice lies in the baritone range.
Early ...
and
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...
.
Sweden
A number of Swedish indie musicians have become famous internationally, mostly singing in English.
The Cardigans
The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows sin ...
gained early success in the mid-1990s. Some notable acts include:
The Sounds,
Lykke Li,
Robyn,
The Tallest Man on Earth
Kristian Matsson (born 30 April 1983) is a Swedish singer-songwriter who performs under the stage name The Tallest Man on Earth. Matsson grew up in Leksand, and began his solo career in 2006, having previously been the lead singer of the indie b ...
,
The Hives,
Eskobar
Eskobar is the name of a Swedish Northie(Northern Indie)/indie/pop band that was founded in 1996 some 30 kilometres north of Stockholm, in the small town of Åkersberga. The band features Daniel Bellqvist as its lead singer, Frederik Zäll on ...
,
The Soundtrack of Our Lives
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, often abbreviated T.S.O.O.L., was a Swedish rock band that formed in Gothenburg in 1995 and disbanded in 2012. The band's style draws heavily from sixties and seventies rock and punk, such as Rolling Stones and Igg ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
,
First Aid Kit
A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents of first aid ...
,
Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
,
Jens Lekman,
The Knife,
Shout Out Louds
Shout Out Louds is a Swedish indie pop band from Stockholm.
History
Formed in Stockholm by childhood friends Adam Olenius (vocals), Ted Malmros (bass), and Carl von Arbin (guitars), Shout Out Louds found an international audience during the e ...
,
The Radio Dept.
The Radio Dept. is a Swedish dream pop band from Lund.
History
In 1995, schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson started a band which they named after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" ( Swedish for The Radio D ...
,
Fever Ray,
The Tough Alliance
The Tough Alliance, or ''TTA'', was an electronic pop music duo from Gothenburg, Sweden. The duo first came together in 2003 and consisted of childhood friends Henning Fürst and Eric Berglund. Previously on Swedish record label Service, in 2006, ...
, and
Life on Earth.
United Kingdom
* One of the first scenes recognised as being associated with the term 'indie music' rather than post-punk, new wave or new music was C86, named after the release of the ''
C86'' cassette, a 1986 ''
NME'' compilation featuring
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums). ...
and other bands. The significance of ''C86'' is recognized in the subtitle of its 2006 extended reissue: ''
CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop''. ''C86'' was a document of the UK indie scene at the start of 1986, and it gave its name to the
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...
scene that followed, which was a major influence on the development of
indie music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...
as a whole. Significant record labels included
Creation
Creation may refer to:
Religion
*''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing
*Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it
*Creationism, the belief that ...
,
Subway
Subway, Subways, The Subway, or The Subways may refer to:
Transportation
* Subway, a term for underground rapid transit rail systems
* Subway (underpass), a type of walkway that passes underneath an obstacle
* Subway (George Bush Intercontin ...
and
Glass
Glass is a non- crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling (quenchin ...
.
* The
shoegazing
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with " dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming v ...
scene of the late 1980s was named for band members' tendency to stare at their feet and guitar
effects pedal
An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.
Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...
s onstage rather than interact with the audience.
My Bloody Valentine and others created a loud "wash of sound" that obscured vocals and melodies with long, droning riffs, distortion, and feedback.
Within the same decade, labels such as
Cheree Records
"Cheree" is a song by the synth punk band Suicide, written by its members Martin Rev and Alan Vega. It was released as a single in 1978 by Bronze Records. Since its initial release, it has been covered by a number of artists, most notably by ? ...
and
Ché Trading amalgamated into an entity that the industry now refers to as
Rocket Girl
Rocket Girl is a London-based independent record label. It has released records by Robin Guthrie, Pieter Nooten, God Is an Astronaut, Ulrich Schnauss, A Place to Bury Strangers, Bell Gardens among others, including many artists associated w ...
, which has since contributed significantly.
* The end of the 1980s saw the
Madchester
Madchester was a musical and cultural scene that developed in the English city of Manchester in the late 1980s, closely associated with the indie dance scene. Indie-dance (sometimes referred to as indie-rave) saw artists merging indie music ...
scene. Based around
The Haçienda
The Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, North West England, which became famous during the Manchester years of the 1980s and early 1990s. It was run by the record label Factory Records.
The club opened in 1982, eventually ...
, a nightclub in Manchester owned by
New Order and
Factory Records
Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus.
The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Duru ...
, Madchester bands such as
Happy Mondays
Happy Mondays are an English rock band formed in Salford in 1980. The original line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), his brother Paul Ryder (bass), Gary Whelan (drums), Paul Davis (keyboard), and Mark Day (guitar). Mark "Bez" Berry later joine ...
and
the Stone Roses
The Stone Roses were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1983. One of the pioneering groups of the Madchester movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the band's classic and most prominent lineup consisted of vocalist Ian Brown, ...
mixed
acid house
Acid house (also simply known as just "acid") is a subgenre of house music developed around the mid-1980s by DJs from Chicago. The style is defined primarily by the squelching sounds and basslines of the Roland TB-303 electronic bass synthes ...
dance rhythms,
Northern soul and
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...
with melodic guitar pop.
* The
Britpop scene developed in the early 1990s as part of a larger British cultural movement called
Cool Britannia
Cool Britannia was a name for the period of increased pride in the culture of the United Kingdom throughout the mid and second half of the 1990s, inspired by Swinging London from 1960s pop culture. This loosely coincided with John Major's conserva ...
. In the wake of the musical invasion into the UK of American
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of ...
bands, British bands positioned themselves as an opposing musical force. Influenced by the key British band of the 1980s,
the Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...
, and adopting the unashamed commercial approach to which the ''
C86'' bands had seemed sometimes ideologically opposed, Britpop acts such as
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
,
Blur,
Suede
Suede (pronounced ) is a type of leather with a fuzzy, napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, fabrics, purses, furniture, and other items. The term comes from the French , which literally means "gloves from Sweden". The term was firs ...
and
Pulp referenced British guitar music of the past and aimed at writing about British topics and concerns. Commentary on Britpop noted a north/south divide, with The Good Mixer pub in
Camden Town
Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as ...
strongly identified with the Britpop scene in the south, though Oasis were signed to
Creation Records
Creation Records Ltd. was a British independent record label founded in 1983 by Alan McGee, Dick Green, and Joe Foster. Its name came from the 1960s band The Creation, whom McGee greatly admired. The label ceased operations in 1999, although ...
in nearby
Primrose Hill.
*
Trip hop
Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...
is a genre of electronic music that originated in the early 1990s in Bristol. The most notable artists are
Massive Attack,
Tricky and
Portishead.
* Thamesbeat
was an early 2000s scene based around
Eel Pie Island in London featuring acts like
Jamie T
Jamie Alexander Treays (born 8 January 1986), better known by his stage name Jamie T, is an English singer, songwriter, rapper, guitarist and record producer from Wimbledon, South London.
Jamie T released his debut album, ''Panic Prevention' ...
,
Larrikin Love
Larrikin Love were an English four piece indie rock band from London.
Consisting of singer-songwriter Edward Leeson, guitarist Micko Larkin, bassist Alfie Ambrose and drummer Coz Kerrigan, and also occasionally including violinist Rob Skippe ...
and
Mystery Jets
Mystery Jets are an English indie rock band, formerly based on Eel Pie Island in Twickenham, London. The band consists of Blaine Harrison (vocals, guitar and keyboards), Jack Flanagan (bass and vocals), Kapil Trivedi (drums) and Henry Harr ...
.
* In Liverpool, a 'cosmic Scouse' scene (sometimes referred to as 'Scallydelica') developed in the 2000s with
neo-psychedelia
Neo-psychedelia is a diverse genre of psychedelic music that draws inspiration from the sounds of 1960s psychedelia, either updating or copying the approaches from that era. Originating in the 1970s, it has occasionally seen mainstream pop suc ...
acts like
the Coral, record labels like
Deltasonic
Deltasonic is a British record label based in Liverpool, England. Previously joint ventured with Sony Music, it is now totally independent. It was formed by Alan Wills, the former drummer with Liverpool bands Shack and Top, and associated with ...
and Skeleton Key and events like the annual Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia (also known as PZYK).
Sometimes the scene would be expanded to include acts such as
the Bees and
the Earlies
The Earlies are a band formed by Christian Madden and Giles Hatton from Lancashire, England, and Brandon Carr and John Mark Lapham from the United States. They are notable for blending elements from a wide range of musical genres and have been ...
under the 'Shroomadelica' definition
References
{{independent production
Scene
Musical subcultures
Music scenes