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 produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock or "guitar pop rock". In the 1980s, the use of the term "indie" started to shift from its reference to recording companies to describe the style of music produced on punk and post-punk labels. During the 1990s, grunge and punk revival bands in the US and Britpop bands in the UK broke into the mainstream, and the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. By the end of the 1990s, indie rock developed several subgenres and related styles, including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock, and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the music industry and the growing importance of the internet enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success, leading to questions about its meaningfulness as a term.
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 saw artists merging indie music with elements of acid house, psychedelia and 1960s pop. The term Madchester was coined by Factory Records' Tony Wilson, with the label popularised by the British music press in the early 1990s, and its most famous groups include the Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, the Charlatans, James and 808 State. It is widely seen as being heavily influenced by drugs, especially MDMA. At that time, the Haçienda nightclub, co-owned by members of New Order, was a major catalyst for the distinctive musical ethos in the city that was called the Second Summer of Love.
Three Days Grace is a Canadian rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1997. The band's original iteration was called "Groundswell" and played in various local Norwood back-yard parties and area establishments from 1993 to 1996.
Death Cab for Cutie is an American rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. The band is currently composed of Ben Gibbard, Nick Harmer (bass), Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr (drums).
Cursive is an American indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska. Stylistically described as emo and post-hardcore, Cursive came to prominence with 2000's Domestica and found commercial and critical success with 2003's The Ugly Organ. The band has released eight studio albums, a compilations album, and a mix of singles and EPs since 1997. They have released recordings on several labels, including 15 Passenger Records, Saddle Creek Records, and Big Scary Monsters (UK).
TV on the Radio (TVOTR) is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2001. The band consists of Tunde Adebimpe, David Andrew Sitek, Kyp Malone, and Jaleel Bunton. Gerard Smith was a member of the band from 2005 until his death in 2011.
The National is an American rock band of Cincinnati, Ohio natives, formed in Brooklyn, New York City in 1999. The band consists of Matt Berninger (vocals), twin brothers Aaron Dessner and Bryce Dessner, as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass) and Bryan Devendorf (drums). Carin Besser is not a band member, but has written lyrics for the band alongside her husband, Berninger, since its 2007 album Boxer.
Malajube is a Canadian francophone indie rock band formed in Montreal, Quebec.
Cancer Bats are a Canadian hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario. To date, they have released seven studio albums and six extended plays; with their most recent LP, Psychic Jailbreak, having been released on 15 April 2022. The band is currently composed of lead vocalist Liam Cormier, drummer Mike Peters and bassist/guitarist Jaye R. Schwarzer. The band are also currently joined by touring guitarists Stephen Harrison and Nick Sherman, following the departure of founding guitarist Scott Middleton in 2021. Cancer Bats take a wide variety of influences from heavy metal sub-genres and fuse them into hardcore and punk rock, and also include elements of Southern rock. Their sound has been likened to sludge metal, as well as to that of metalcore bands such as Converge and Hatebreed. The members of Cancer Bats have also toured and recorded as a Black Sabbath tribute band under the name Bat Sabbath.
Allalom Music was an American independent record label founded in 2001. It mainly released indie pop and alternative music. Founded in Redmond, Oregon, it had its headquarters in South Texas before moving back to Portland, Oregon in the fall of 2005. On January 15, 2010 the label announced their closure.
Bon Iver is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
Lights Poxleitner-Bokan, known mononymously as Lights, is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. She is known for singles "Drive My Soul", "February Air", "Ice", "Second Go", "Toes", "My Boots" and "Up We Go", which have charted within the top ninety on the Canadian Hot 100. Her work has earned multiple Juno Awards and Canadian Independent Music Awards.
Gary Pig Gold is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, author and journalist. His fanzine The Pig Paper was Canada's second independently published music magazine, and among the recording artists he has worked with are Pat Boone, Dave Rave, Endless Summer, Simply Saucer and Shane Faubert. Gold has written many books on popular music and has contributed to dozens of magazines as well as seven books in the multi-genre MusicHound album guide series. AllMusic describes him as "rock music's all-time hardest-working man ... with all apologies to James Brown".
AbsolutePunk was a website, online community, and alternative music news source founded by Jason Tate. The website mainly focused on artists who are relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, but it was known to feature artists who have eventually achieved crossover success, including Blink-182, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance, New Found Glory, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, The Gaslight Anthem, Anberlin, Thrice, All Time Low, Jack's Mannequin, Yellowcard, Paramore, Relient K, and A Day to Remember. The primary musical genres of focus were emo and pop punk, but other genres were included.
The scene subculture is a youth subculture that emerged during the early 2000s in the United States from the pre-existing emo subculture. The subculture became popular with adolescents from the mid-2000s to early 2010s. Members of the scene subculture are referred to as scene kids, trendies, or scenesters. Scene fashion consists of skinny jeans, bright colored clothing, a signature hairstyle consisting of straight, flat hair with long fringes covering their forehead, and bright colored hair dye. Music genres associated with the scene subculture include metalcore, crunkcore, deathcore, electronic music, and pop punk.
Speaking in Code is a character-based documentary directed by Amy Grill about people who are lost in the electronic music lifestyle.
The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim, Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx, and formerly Baria Qureshi. They are known for their distinct and minimalist sound that blends indie rock, indie electronic, indie pop, dream pop and electro-rock and the dual vocalist setup of both Croft and Sim. Their music employs soft, echoed guitar, prominent bass, light electronic beats and ambient soundscape backgrounds.
Fast Romantics is a Canadian indie rock band based in Toronto, Ontario and originally formed in Calgary, Alberta.
The Night the Sun Came Up is the debut studio album by American recording artist Dev, released on September 2, 2011 by Universal Republic Records. Dev worked exclusively with American Electropop production duo The Cataracs and Alan De la Rosa, who helmed the production of the entire album along with co-writing songs with Dev. Production on the album took place mainly in January 2011 and continued into 2012 as the North American release date for the album was delayed from September 20, 2011 to January 10, 2012 as per Dev's request to add more songs to the album, with Amazon.com announcing that the North American release would be pushed back further to March 26, 2012.
Electronicore is a fusion genre of metalcore with elements of various electronic music genres, often including trance, electronica, and dubstep.
