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.
Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name.
The Stills were a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2000 and disbanded in 2011.
Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They began as a trio made up of Sheff and friends he had met in his native state of New Hampshire but, over time, have gone through many lineups.
The Thermals were an American indie rock band based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The group was formed in 2002. With influences heavily rooted in both lofi, as well as standard rock, the band's songs were also known for their political and religious imagery.
Black Mountain is a Canadian psychedelic rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia. The band is composed of Stephen McBean, Jeremy Schmidt, Adam Bulgasem, Rachel Fannan, Arjan Miranda. Since forming in 2004, Black Mountain has released five LPs, Black Mountain (2005), In the Future (2008), Wilderness Heart (2010), IV (2016) and Destroyer (2019); two EPs and a number of singles, mostly on the Jagjaguwar label.
Stefon Leron Alexander, better known by his stage name P.O.S, is an American hip hop artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has been a member of groups such as Doomtree, Building Better Bombs, Gayngs, Marijuana Deathsquads, Cenospecies, Four Fists, and Shredders.
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah is the musical project of American indie rock musician Alec Ounsworth. It was founded in 2004 and is based in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Until 2014, the project operated as a band, with drummer Sean Greenhalgh being a member for its entirety. Keyboardist/guitarist Robbie Guertin and brothers Lee (guitar/vocals) and Tyler (bass) Sargent were also a part of the band from its inception until their collective departure in 2012.
Jagjaguwar is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Jagjaguwar is a label included in Secretly Group, which also includes Secretly Canadian and Dead Oceans. Secretly Group includes the three record labels as well as a music publisher known as Secretly Publishing, representing artists, writers, filmmakers, producers, and comedians.
Gossip is an American indie rock band that was originally active from 1999 until 2016, formed in Searcy, Arkansas. For most of their career, the band consisted of singer Beth Ditto, multi-instrumentalist Brace Paine, and drummer Hannah Blilie. After releasing several recordings, the band broke through with their 2006 studio album, Standing in the Way of Control. A follow-up, Music for Men, was released in 2009. The band play a mix of post-punk revival, indie rock, and dance-rock. Their last album, A Joyful Noise, was released in May 2012.
Sunset Rubdown was a Canadian art rock music group from Montreal. The band began as a solo project for Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, who released his debut, Snake's Got a Leg, in early 2005. By the next year the project expanded to become a full band which included Camilla Wynne Ingr, Jordan Robson-Cramer, and Michael Doerksen.
Spencer Krug is a Canadian musician. He is the singer, songwriter and keyboardist for the indie rock band Wolf Parade and also records under the name Moonface. He has also performed with other Canadian bands including Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake, Frog Eyes, Fifths of Seven, and ska band the Two Tonne Bowlers, playing various instruments. His involvement in many musical acts has garnered him a noticeably high output of work, being credited on several releases a year. He is known for his distinctive voice and songwriting abilities.
Swan Lake was a Canadian indie supergroup comprising Carey Mercer of Frog Eyes and Blackout Beach, Dan Bejar of Destroyer, Hello, Blue Roses and The New Pornographers, and Spencer Krug of Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown and Frog Eyes.
Bon Iver is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon.
"A-Punk" is a single by indie rock band Vampire Weekend, released on February 28, 2008 as the second single from their 2008 self-titled debut album. The band made their network television debut by performing "A-Punk" on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Women was a Canadian art rock band formed in Calgary in 2008. The group consisted of Patrick Flegel, Christopher Reimer, Matt Flegel and Mike Wallace. Their debut album Women was released on Chad VanGaalen's label Flemish Eye on July 8, 2008 in Canada and on Jagjaguwar in the United States on October 7, 2008. It was rumoured that the band broke up on October 29, 2010, after a fight on stage at a show at the Lucky Bar in Victoria although their management stated that they had merely cancelled the rest of their tour.
Foxygen is an American indie rock duo from Westlake Village, California, formed in 2005. The band consists of multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Rado and vocalist Sam France. They have released six albums and a number of self-released EPs.
Angel Olsen is an American singer-songwriter and musician from St. Louis, Missouri who lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Preoccupations is a Canadian post-punk band from Calgary, Alberta, formed in 2012 under the name Viet Cong. The band consists of Matt Flegel, Scott Munro, Daniel Christiansen (guitar) and Mike Wallace (drums). The group's musical style has been described as "labyrinthine post-punk".
Emo rap is a fusion genre of hip hop and emo. Originating in the SoundCloud rap scene in the mid-2010s, the genre fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as beats and rapping, with the lyrical themes, instrumentals, and vocals commonly found in emo music.
