The Alternative/Indie Rock Thread

[Zazie]

Anyone like The Replacements?

From what little I have heard from them I dig them quite a bit.

Got some new albums at a used record store "Copper Blue" by Sugar, "It's Great When You're Straight... Yeah" by Black Grape and "Liquidizer" and "Perverse" by Jesus Jones. My favorite of the albums is definitely Copper Blue. Sugar is a pretty good band featuring Bob Mould of Husker Du. Sounds quite a bit more melodic and polished than Husker Du, a little bit like Weezer with much less emphasis on power chords. The other bands are little more on the dancey end of the alternative/indie spectrum and sound a little cheesey and dated (early 90's), but are still worth a listen if you're into that sort of thing, (like myself).

 

[SUCKERPUNCH]

im mainly a huge indie fan

i'm into stuff like modest mouse, pixies, arctic monkeys, death cab for cutie, kasabian, the fray and a bit of weezer

 

[Manchee]

My favorite band is actually Vampire Weekend. They're really the only indie band I listen to if you don't count Discovery (which is just Rostam Batmanglij from Vampire Weekend and Wes Miles from Ra Ra Riot, though the song I particularly like is Carby, which Ezra Koenig sings). I got into Vampire Weekend near the end of last year, and after Contra was released I always have them playing at some point during my day.

I do like Passion Pit too... the only song I ended up getting of theirs was Sleepyhead though.

 

[Hammerheart]

I got the Cure's Disintegration today. Its essentially the first time of listening to this band. My only other track by the is To Wish Impossible Things of the Wish album.
But so far, Disintegration is incredible.

I don't suppose anyone could particularly recommend either of the two Joy Division albums?

 

[Bob Thelman]

I am a pretty hardcore Weezer fan and everything up until Raditude was good (see: Red Deluxe Tracks). Also about them going to a smaller label there is a new cd coming out September 13, but i wouldnt count on it being good at all. Much more Rock influence and has been guarenteed better then Raditude. Still don't get your hopes up. Also check out the lead singers solo work Alone and Alone 2 are fantastic

-Bob Thelman

 

[??????]

Coldplay? I consider them alternative.

Modest Mouse is the only name I recognize...smh at me.

 

[S.Suikun]

I saw The New Pornographers w/ The Dodos in concert last week. Fun show (didn't end until nearly 1 AM) and while talking to a few of the folks there, somebody recommended that I listen to Wavves. Anyone heard them? They've become quite acclaimed apparently, but the noise pop genre was never my thing.

Isn't this like 3 Weezer albums in 2 years? I pretty much gave up after Make Believe, but it seems a bit ridiculous to me.

New Arcade Fire album out soon. I don't condone leaks or anything, but...

 

[31st Funk]

What? No mention of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Temple of the Dog? That's bad, really bad.

I love Grunge/Alternative, the whole vibe it has and the music and style. Most of the post 90's stuff I heard is terrible compared to the 90s stuff, of course, there are exceptions like Gorillaz, Beck, and others.

 

[Trainmaster718]

What? No mention of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Temple of the Dog? That's bad, really bad.

Grunge ≠ Alternative. Though both are equally amazing. I had a Grunge thread running a while back, but it died, sadly.

Weezer makes my soul complete. Heheh. They have definetly changed in the last few years, there's no denying that. But after collecting all seven of their studio albums, I find that I can enjoy any of thier music from any era.

 

[Zazie]

Grunge ≠ Alternative. Though both are equally amazing. I had a Grunge thread running a while back, but it died, sadly.

For the purposes of this thread it does. And whether of not a grunge band is alternative or not depends on the band, I would argue the more hardcore punk influenced bands like Mudhoney and Nirvana fall under alternative.

 

[Trainmaster718]

For the purposes of this thread it does. And whether of not a grunge band is alternative or not depends on the band, I would argue the more hardcore punk influenced bands like Mudhoney and Nirvana fall under alternative.

Very good point. Nirvana definetly had some punk influences, which you can really hear in songs like Territorial Pissings and On a Plain. And they did have a bit of an alternative sound in some songs.

 

[31st Funk]

Grunge ≠ Alternative. Though both are equally amazing.

For the purposes of this thread it does. And whether of not a grunge band is alternative or not depends on the band.

A lot of Alternative band are also Grunge bands. Take Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun is an Alternative song all the way but stuff like Ty Cobb is Grunge. Besides Grunge is a subgenre of Alternative, and both are very close in terms of sounds. Honestly, at this point of my life, I really can't decipher the difference between both, not anymore.

Regardless of Alternative or Grunge, I love Pearl Jam and Soundgarden. No offense, but I usually always hear about Nirvana and how they ARE Alternative/Grunge and I get the feeling to educate some.

 

[Mariya Shidou]

I've long been a fan of the Cure, Midnight Oil, most U.S. grunge bands, and others.

To me, Document is the apex of US alternative pre-1991. However, my overall favorite pre-grunge-boom alternative record is basically a tie between... well, every Midnight Oil album pre-1987. (If you want, you can call them otherwise, but I consider them alternative because they're "like punk but minus the mindset," if you get what I mean.) If you don't have them yet, get said band's Head Injuries and 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Also Oingo Boingo, especially Only a Lad, though you may be more inclined to call them new wave. (Perfectly understandable. Many of the progenitors of alternative rock were basically the new wave bands who were too screwed-up to be big hits. (Note, as an example, Sparks' work is held in high regard by many alternative artists, e.g. Morrissey, and whether they're alternative or not, they definitely had the "new wave but too ****ed-up to be big" bit to them.)

I also picked up the Smiths' albums lately. Haven't listened to them well, but they're pretty cool, far as I've listened. Is Morrissey's solo work worth a listen?

Also, does Tori Amos count as alternative (as I've heard from some of my friends who told me to listen to her)? Just curious.

 

[hobby]

I am liking people trying to distinguish grunge from alternative when the actual flaw is in the use of alternative. Alternative is a blanket covering, a metagenre if you will, and one which grunge fits under quite well (as well as the Indie Rock which is also mentioned in the title) punk and pop rock also fit into this.
The main reason I never brought up grunge bands here is that the main topic has always been the Indie Rock bands mentioned in the title. But anyway, to be on topic, I do listen to a couple of Indie Rock bands, these days the focus is mostly on Weezer and Metric.

Isn't this like 3 Weezer albums in 2 years?

3 albums in 3 years, but that has nothing to do with anything. In the 44 years since his first album Frank Zappa has 56 studio releases (some are posthumous but that is also not the point) and more relevant to the thread, in their first years of activity the Cure were releasing one album a year and there are few people who would point out flaws in these artists because of the time between the releases.

 

[Bob Thelman]

For the people who really like weezer ya'll should come too allthingsweezer.com please no trolls

 

[tibrado]

...So pretty much this, exactly.

Plus Circa Survive, Modest Mouse, Interpol, Bloc Party, Silversun Pickups, Manchester Orchestra, Tegan and Sara, TV on the Radio, Of Montreal, We Are Scientists, and a **** ton more.

This is my preferred/favorite genre of music, so I could go on listing bands forever...

Love those too!
I also like:
Damien Rice, Snow Patrol, the Kooks, Postal Service, Iron & Wine, Metric, Mumford and Sons, Imogen Heap, Vampire Weekend, Wilco, Islands, Radical Face.

List can go on and on!

 

[poix_the_yak]

Does Florence and the Machine count? I LOVE her/them. And also Weezer.