Indie
Noah’s Barks pages relating to the indie music genre. Combine with other tags for subgenres, e.g. “indie+rock,” “indie+pop,” or “indie+electronic.”
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10,000 Maniacs – “In My Tribe”
‘In My Tribe’ is 10,000 Maniacs’ most popular album, and it’s far more than its reputation as "mom pop" would suggest. (read more)
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The Smiths – “The Queen Is Dead” (1986)
Catchy jangling guitars, fantastic lyrics and delivery, and the very understated yet very fantastic additional string sections make The Queen Is Dead as pleasant to listen to as it is touching. People who defend “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” being the closing track are off their rockers. “There Is a Light That Never Goes… (read more)
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Sonic Youth – “Daydream Nation” (1988)
The youthful energy pervading much of Sonic Youth’s music spoke a lot to me in my early adulthood. Detached, rebellious, and a yearning to express some kind of stronger emotion that you’re not yet quite sure of. The noise sections have a reckless abandonment to them, but also seem calculated, fitting in with the songs… (read more)
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Florence + The Machine – “Ceremonials” (2011)
Another promising artist falls after a fantastic debut. Whereas Florence + the Machine‘s debut album, Lungs, was an eclectic blend of styles, Ceremonials sticks to one producer and thus only one kind of sound: Loud. Ceremonials is monotonous in its constant bombast and is simply a less engaging listen than Lungs. Imagine taking “Cosmic Love”… (read more)
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Blur – “Blur”
“Beetlebum” and “Song 2” are really great songs, so what the hell happened to everything else on Blur? Sounds like they weren’t even trying with the rest and the album is just a vehicle for those singles. What if it is? What if all of it is bad, and I’m just fooling myself? What if… (read more)
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Swirlies – “Damon Andy Rob Ron: The Yes Girls” (2000)
Damon Andy Rob Ron: The Yes Girls is legitimately one of the worst albums I have ever heard. Swirlies in their prime released two of the greatest indie rock albums of the ’90s, but this is utter nonsense. I’m not even sure how you’d classify it. It certainly isn’t shoegaze or dream pop. Most of… (read more)
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Land of Talk – “L’aventure acoustique” (2008)
L’Aventure Acoustique was released the same year as their “official” second album, Some Are Lakes, and isn’t a traditional album. It is essentially an acoustic reimagining of Land of Talk’s debut EP, Applause Cheer Boo Hiss, right down to having the same track listing, other than the included two tracks from Some Are Lakes and… (read more)
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Various Artists – “Rough Trade Shops: Indiepop 1”
Rough Trade are two independent record stores (Shops!) located in the UK. For a little over a decade now, these stores have compiled several albums of varying genres with song selected by the staff. Eventually, the record chain opened a label to their name, Rough Trade Records. Though typically a minor label, it was home… (read more)
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Florence + The Machine – “MTV Unplugged”
Florence + The Machine seems like a perfect act for the MTV Unplugged series, considering the band often utilizes a variety of string instruments in their songs. But somehow, every song on this album ends up being less interesting than the lusher studio versions. The act is essentially selling only the voice here; the backing… (read more)
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Lilys – “A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns” (1994)
Excellent ’90s alternative rock that retains a fair amount of the noise from the first album, which was heavily inspired by the early ’90s shoegazing scene. On the A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns EP, Lilys breaks away from that a little with a more aggressive sound that still sounds very melodic. Lilys went from… (read more)