Indie rock is a genre of rock music that originated in the United States and United Kingdom in the 1970s. 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 a 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.
Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990s as a solo artist. His companion albums, Tomorrow Forever and Tomorrow's Daughter, were followed by 2018's Wicked System of Things and 2021's Catspaw, his 15th studio effort.
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, CMJ New Music Monthly and CMJ New Music Report. The company folded around 2017, but was bought by Amazing Radio in 2019 who will bring back the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, along with other new live and live-streamed offerings.
The High Llamas are an Anglo-Irish avant-pop band formed in London circa 1991. They were founded by singer-songwriter Sean O'Hagan, formerly of Microdisney, with drummer Rob Allum and ex-Microdisney bassist Jon Fell. O'Hagan has led the group since its formation. Their music is often compared to the Beach Boys, a band he acknowledges as an influence, although more prominent influences were drawn from bossa nova and European film soundtracks.
Re-Constriction Records was a division of Cargo Music based in California. The label was founded in 1992 and headed by Chase, who was previously the Music Director at KCR, a student radio station on the campus of San Diego State University. They specialized in releasing bands belonging to the industrial, grindcore, electroclash, aggrotech and EBM genres.
Apartment Life is the second studio album by American band Ivy, released by Atlantic Records on October 6, 1997. After being dropped from Seed Records following the release of Realistic in 1995, the group signed to Atlantic due to connections that Adam Schlesinger had with the record label. In addition to band members Andy Chase and Schlesinger, the album was produced by Lloyd Cole and Peter Nashel. In contrast to their previous releases, such as Lately (1994) and Realistic, Apartment Life is a pop album with varying forms of production consisting of keyboards, brass, and string instruments. Some of the compositions featured on the record were compared to the works of My Bloody Valentine, Pixies, and the Smiths. To promote the album, Ivy embarked on a series of promotional tours across the United States.
Lil' Chief Records is a New Zealand based indie pop record label formed in 2002. Operating from the Auckland suburb of Mt. Eden, it was founded on releases by The Tokey Tones and The Brunettes. The label's roster now includes a collective of pop artists such as Jonathan Bree, Princess Chelsea, The Ruby Suns, and Edmund Cake.
Let's Get Out of This Country is the third studio record by the Scottish indie pop band Camera Obscura, released by Elefant Records on 6 June 2006. It was recorded in Sweden with the producer Jari Haapalainen, and arranged by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John.
5:30 Saturday Morning is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Lennon. It was released on September 11, 2001, by Arista Records. Lennon, who signed to Arista at eighteen and was nineteen at the time of its release, wrote or co-wrote all twelve songs on the record, in addition to performing piano for some of the tracks. The album's compositions and production were generally classified as rock or metal, although they were also noted for incorporating elements of pop-rock and trip-hop, while its lyrics were noted for their anger and defiance. The album's musical style also inspired comparisons to Alanis Morissette, Korn, Kid Rock, and others.
Gaze were an indie pop trio based in Vancouver, British Columbia. They released two albums on K Records during the late 1990s.
The Mechanical Forces of Love is the fourth album by American rock band Medicine, released on July 15, 2003 by Wall of Sound.
Scared to Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980–1989 is a five-disc compilation album that features 134 songs from indie pop artists from the 1980s. It was released in June 2013 by Cherry Red Records.
"Swingin Party" is a song written by Paul Westerberg and recorded by his band The Replacements for their fourth studio album Tim (1985). The song is an indie rock and rock and roll ballad with influences from jazz, country and new wave. Lyrically, it portrays the protagonist's "feigned nonchalance". It was well received by music critics, who praised Westerberg's songwriting talent. The song has been covered by other artists, notably Kindness in 2009 and Lorde in 2013.
Psychopomp is the debut studio album by Japanese Breakfast, the solo musical project of Michelle Zauner of Little Big League. The album was released in the U.S. through Yellow K Records on April 1, 2016, and internationally through Dead Oceans on September 19, 2016.
Law of the Jungle is a compilation album of various early jungle music tracks by various artists, released in 1994 in the United States on Moonshine Music. Jungle had started to emerge in the United Kingdom a couple of years earlier but despite its growth, albeit slow, in the United States, no jungle albums were available on the American market. Moonshine conceived the album as a primer for jungle music for American shores, using music from British jungle label SOUR Records, and as a spin-off to their fast tempo techno compilation series Speed Limit 140 BPM+. Law of the Jungle was the first jungle album released in the United States.
Cold and Bouncy is the fourth studio album by Anglo-Irish avant-pop band the High Llamas, released on 27 January 1998 on V2 Records. According to bandleader Sean O'Hagan, the title refers to electronica's "paradoxical" combination of "cold" or digital sounds and "bouncy" rhythms. Before the album was released, O'Hagan played early versions of its tracks to the Beach Boys' Bruce Johnston and Al Jardine, who suggested that the band record his songs, but this never happened.
Hero Pattern was an American rock band from New Jersey.
Beat Noir is fourth studio album by Spahn Ranch, released on October 19, 1998 by Out of Line and Sub/Mission Records. It was reissued on November 24 of that year by Cleopatra Records. The final track "An Exit" was licensed to Cleopatra Records to be released on the various artists compilation The Black Bible in 1998.
COP Compilation is a various artists compilation album released on January 20, 1997 by COP International.
Diva X Machina 2 is a various artists compilation album released on July 14, 1998 by COP International. The compilation peaked at #2 on the CMJ RPM charts.
