[IT’S OVER! Please check out the first three installments (1,2,3) if you want that indie rock goodness to invade your world!]
NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL
For those of you that have always wondered how to make Anne Frank kickass
These young rapscallions make their way to your ears straight out of the late nineties, low-fi era; a simpler time, before Britney Spears, Eminem and Justin Timberlake all got together and decided to defile Kurt Cobain’s still relatively warm grave. Utilizing the indie rock method of taking three random things to create your band’s name, (see: Olivia Tremor Control, Synthetic Flying Machine, and Tokyo Police Club) Neutral Milk Hotel had its genesis when front man Jeff Mangum was wondering across the Northwest, literally sleeping in the closets of his friends. Since then they’ve forgone all kind of popular or commercial success to live the life of a true indie band: get a few measly reviews from a handful of popular magazines, disappear, then half a decade later show up on a college kid’s dorm wall and be heralded as genius. It’s the musical equivalent of an old sage that exiles himself off to a mountain in order to find Indie Rock peace… you might not be recognized in your time, but you will be able to understand what the hell is going on with all those random indie ablum covers!
…ah, now I get it…
Download These:
- Aeroplane Over The Sea
- Ghost
- Holland 1945
THE TIGER LILLIES
For those of you that seriously… seriously hate popular music… and your parents
Where do I even begin? The Tiger Lillies bill themselves as “The world’s foremost Death Oompah band,” so take from that what you will. To say that they are unlike most other bands is as effective as saying bestiality is unlike most other fetishes… just by mentioning it you’re in a whole other plane of operation. Their featured instrument is the accordion, but they use it in a way that polka nerds living with their Ukrainian immigrant parents could never dream of; campy is a word some might use, satanic, would be another. And don’t get the wrong idea, there’s no heavy metal Satanism involved here, oh no, just the regular kind of Satanism. Technically they sound far more like Tom Waits than any kind of actual rock band. They paint their faces a deathly white, and accentuate their most horrific features of their faces; they role on stage like a three-piece gypsy band, which I suppose, in essence, they really are. Cabaret Comedy to some is Blaspheming Bullshit to others, but I like to think they have a nice sound, kind of fun, but sometimes beautifully lamenting. Now, granted, your ears might prick up at lyrics like “I’m crucifying Jesus, in my piss he bathes / I think I am a pervert, I think I am depraved” but it’s all in good spirits, and that comes across in the atmosphere of their songs. You’ll want to sing it to children, and then you realize they’re singing about giraffe vaginas and you’ll tend to think twice.
“Go ahead, just try not to think of my vagina now”
Download These:
- Russains
- Bully Boys
- Banging in the Nails
Well we’ve reached our end; ten bands that you’re totally gonna go off and download now, because I’ve made you understand how awesome they all are, right?! At the very least some of you will stop calling yourselves indie because of that one time you listened to the Ok Go at the mall, and maybe you’ll even branch out and investigate some bands that you aren’t familiar with seeing on television. If you enjoyed the list, much obliged, and I’m sure it won’t be too long until I decide the world needs more rambling and tell you about all the other great indie bands you should know (i.e.: The Decemberists, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Arcade Fire, Slow Club, Powderfinger, Morphine, Grizzly Bear, Band of Horses, Placebo, Bright Eyes, Cake, Anathallo, Heartless Bastards, Tiger Army, Yeasayer, Motion City Soundtrack…etc)
