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Indie Music
Indie Music
Amplifiers - Fender Twin, Vox AC30, Orange, Marshall
Guitars
Depending on the sub-genre guitarists may use a clean jangly tone or a variety of effects to alter the sound. The guitar is the main harmony - picked arpeggios are important to the genre. Sustain and delay feature heavily in a indie guitarists arsenal... solos do not.
Richenbacker 330 / Gibson ES-355 / Fender Strat or Tele
Evolution of Indie
Vocal Styles
Early Indie has understated introspective lyrics with social or political messages of melancholy sung in regional dialects.
Modern indie takes most of these aspects - songs about being.
Focal point is on the singer - not normally any prominent backing vocals.
Noel Gallagher / Tony Wilson / Graham Coxon / Justine Frischmann / Fatboy Slim / Alex Turner /
Ian Brown / Jarvis Cocker / Shaun Rider /
Thom Yorke / Bernard Sumner / Roddy Woomble / Johnny Marr / Steve Albini / Rob Smith /
Paul Heaton / Brett Anderson / Geoff Travis / Bonehead / Jonny Greenwood / Ian Curtis
Punk Rock, Funk and House
Key Themes & Features
Indie Music
Independent Labels
The Indie Chart started in 1980 to promote non-mainstream acts such as The Buzzcocks.
What makes a band 'indie'? Instruments, appearance, band name?
UK Indie Labels
4AD - Throwing Muses, Pixies, M.A.R.R.S.
Food (London) - Blur, Idlewild
Creation (Alan McGee) - Oasis, Primal Scream
Factory (Tony Wilson, Manchester) - Joy Division
Domino - Arctic Monkeys
XL Recordings - Jack White, Prodigy, Radiohead
Rough Trade (Geoff Travis, London) - The Smiths, Jarvis Cocker
Where the genre got its name!
Rough Trade record store started an in-house label, as did Factory.
Indie labels typically sign distribution deals with major labels.
Can indicate genre.
The Sixties
Joy Division (1978)
70s
What Technology Helped?
Sony Walkman - everyone could listen to music more so there was more need for new music. Cassette tapes became cheap enough to manufacture and post/swap or copy between friends creating a 'scene'.
Arctic Monkeys
The Birth of Indie
The Cure 1979
Like The Cure and Blur Arctic Monkeys vary their style each album. Regional accent as well as lyrics about the common man a la The Smiths and a love of The Beatles.
Madchester
London and Manchester were main hubs for UK indie scene - still are!
'Madchester' scene created thanks to The Hacienda & clubbing which also developed further styles of indie - the 'man on the street' is the audience.
New Order (1983)
2000s
Indie music started in the early 80s - other genres had become 'self-absorbed'
Indie music is so called as releases were by independent labels
Indie music and labels started in UK and USA as the cost of producing and making music diminished
Factory Records
The Smiths 1982
Indie Rock
The Happy Mondays 1987
The Housemartins 1983
The Stone Roses 1989
The Wombats
Idlewild
80s
The Baddies
Identify the key themes and features of indie music.
Consider the role of indepedent labels and distribution.
Appreciate the cultural and social-political impact.
Lesson Objectives
Blur
DIY Production - Home Studios
Blur - Song 2
TEAC Tascam 144
Indie Timeline
Instead of having to go to studios using reel to reel machines artists could record demos at home for the first time.
...even established acts used them!
Blur re-invent themselves again using the American Alt-Rock style that they campaigned against.
Simple structure and regional dialect remain intact.
American Alt Rock
Suede
its now 1991 and other bands start to encorporate the madchester sound. This is the single off of Blurs first album.
Pulp
Creation Records
Simple live recordings and production are key to indie
Oasis
Simple live recordings and production are key to producing indie bands.
Sparce sound with limited doubling or additional harmonies and instruments... what you see is what you get!
Long and loose structures based mainly on one groove or riff can break away from typical song structures
Britpop
Mid 90s
Elastica
90s
Radiohead
Nirvana - Lithium
Cool Britannia
Some indie bands rely on more than four chords to create sound. Radiohead, Muse and Royal Blood all use guitar effects in a variety of ways as well as experimenting with other instruments.