algorithmic indie

[forclosure]

BJ Burton is a genuis though, he's squarely in that us indie world and doing great and new things

you say this and yet looking at his production credits i see he had a hand in writing a song on Eminem's last album

not only that but Lizzo,westside gunn, whoever "Banks" is and...Soccer Mommy

what a strange list of credits

 

[forclosure]

which highlights the issue that indie is a "genre" with no past, no antecedents

it is a genre built around a type of distribution network that it itself generally doesn't employ

and further, has been basically a meaningless distinction - indie vs major - for its entire existence

in fact "indie" doesn't - can't - codify into a specific genre-sound until that distinction becomes meaningless, so as to lose the term's original meaning

it's like a committee of hip elevator music DJs got together to create the most defanged and benign version of rock music possible

hence I guess the uncanny factor you feel when hearing it - music by no one in particular for no one in particular

yep all very true and its why that Steve Albini "problem with music" piece was such a fall back to reality for some people at the time because it was like "when the fuck did we think we were gonna have full fledged careers out of this?"

 

[shakahislop]

you say this and yet looking at his production credits i see he had a hand in writing a song on Eminem's last album

not only that but Lizzo,westside gunn, whoever "Banks" is and...Soccer Mommy

what a strange list of credits

i love this kind of thing that he does, putting indie songs through a production grinder

 

[forclosure]

I do not remember that but I do remember how much metal dudes universally hated Liturgy

for the unfamiliar, that's the guy who got out of college and devoted a black metal band to Ralph Waldo Emerson et al

the vibe is very, what if a bunch of indie dorks had a black metal band instead of yr typical Radiohead/Paul Simon clone

like a sketch lampooning absurdities of Brooklyn Cultural Mafia only all too real

careful the lead singer came out as trans, i remember the furvor over Liturgy but at that time i couldn't really get invested like that not only but that was around the time Blake Judd of Nachmystium fame was at the peak of his popularity before sqaundering it all lol

 

[forclosure]

i love this kind of thing that he does, putting indie songs through a production grinder

i quite like this but it sounds very bon iver and you'll never get me into that guy or that band

 

[shakahislop]

i quite like this but it sounds very bon iver and you'll never get me into that guy or that band

well the other good(ish) thing that he produced was indeed a bon iver album

 

[forclosure]

also the reason i paused at Soccer Mommy is because its such a bad band name, the 2000s had its share of awful ones but good grief have i been exposed to some renk ones and the people in them are the sort of people who would be in a band with that terrible a name

 

[forclosure]

well the other good(ish) thing that he produced was indeed a bon iver album

its not gonna happen i don't care how warbly that guys voice gets, i don't like any of the songs he did with Kanye and yes that includes Hold my Liquor just get him outta here

 

[Benny Bunter]

this just popped up on my spotify:
All the best Indie hits for your travels!

100 songs. @suspended will report back when ive listened to the whole playlist.

never say I am not open to new experiences.

Track 32 🔥

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

careful the lead singer came out as trans

I did not know that, thanks for the correction

I wish her every happiness with her transition. unfortunately her music will still be terrible.

tbf black metal has a long, grand tradition of stupid, highly detailed worldbuilding, and it's not like hers is any more stupid than the others

 

[forclosure]

I did not know that, thanks for the correction

I wish her every happiness with her transition. unfortunately her music will still be terrible.

tbf black metal has a long, grand tradition of stupid, highly detailed worldbuilding, and it's not like hers is any more stupid than the others

yeah her's is just more "theoretical" rather than some bullshit "paying tribute to my pre christian ancestors" line of garbage, swear down "hoteps" get all the jokes layed at them when that stuff is just as if not more dumb

 

[Murphy]

The only indie found outside of a few Woops 100 picks that’s stuck was a Bright Black Morning Light tune, where indie is ascribed a non pejorative gamut of sounds

Turned up courtesy of a friend (human recommendations usually more on the nose) during an east coast swamp mission, so there’s a tiny slither of sentimentality attached

 

[thirdform]

i.e. "do you want us to assign someone to butter your muffin?"

that kind of inspired, nonsensical badness is beyond the remit of American indie

Isle of White also famously where Luke's favourite house producer of all time Joey Negro (I mean, Dave Lee) is from.

 

[forclosure]

American indie is more consistent but somehow, even less interesting than British indie

so it rarely plumbs the truly naff depths of Shitbrit but equally it is never, ever, as a rule, interesting, in any capacity

just an endless soundtrack of relatively competent chamber pop and/or uninspired nu-garage rock to soundtrack car commercials

British indie I'm sure also produces a tidal wave of that kind of forgettable dross but it is occasionally bad in a memorable way

i.e. "do you want us to assign someone to butter your muffin?"

that kind of inspired, nonsensical badness is beyond the remit of American indie

there's quite a few examples for me where this dynamic happens because one has a better average on a whole that makes it "better" even if the highs on the other thing might be better.

but with that consistency comes deminishing returns of course, if 90s indie was at the forefront of guitar innovation like shaka says then i'd be interested to know where Post-rock fits in the mix something that was big in the 2000s and now feels utterly non-existant and when it gets brought up now feels really jarring, it has this weird thing where when people bring it up it's either the really obvious names from when it was huge or these also ran bands who weren't cared about at the time but through places like RYM , 4chan via /mu and the desire to have their own kind of rock canon so to speak have kind of become cult bands now (Duster,Disco Inferno,Fishmans(people especially go nuts for them if they're Japanese) Sweet Trip,Lilys,Swirlies

easy to forget that once upon a time Explosions in the Sky were considered a really big deal who i personally found dull

 

[forclosure]

His name is alive had to really think to remember that one

@shakahislop @padraig (u.s.) some of em are the kind of groups where like you know that they're basically just anaemic versions of the bands everybody knows and if somebody were to ask you where to start with them you'd have to give them a preface that they're really derivative

 

[thirdform]

Track 32 🔥

don't make me disclose your slsk username on here, my main man.

 

[sufi]

American indie is more consistent but somehow, even less interesting than British indie

so it rarely plumbs the truly naff depths of Shitbrit but equally it is never, ever, as a rule, interesting, in any capacity

just an endless soundtrack of relatively competent chamber pop and/or uninspired nu-garage rock to soundtrack car commercials

British indie I'm sure also produces a tidal wave of that kind of forgettable dross but it is occasionally bad in a memorable way

i.e. "do you want us to assign someone to butter your muffin?"

that kind of inspired, nonsensical badness is beyond the remit of American indie

does UK indie have a better sense of humour than US indie?

 

[sufi]

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

does UK indie have a better sense of humour than US indie?

Oh boy tough question

US indie is traditionally too self-serious to have a sense of humor, or if it does is usually the sardonic self-referencing/depreciating hipster humor of a Pavement ("who the fuck is Stephen Malkmus") or etc.

But the "humor" of UK indie is usually the deeply unfunny twee and/or laddish (yet still self-serious) kind that not even English people seem to enjoy - yall kill it at satire and dry affectation but yr standup comedy and sketch shows are a dreary wasteland - so if idk it's really "better".

Really that's a competition we all lose

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

Mark E. Smith had a great sense of humor but idk if u want to call The Fall indie (indie-adjacent perhaps) and he was sui generis