Let's talk about indie music?

All I want to do is share my love for alternative/ whatever genre music I love. I want to hear about other artists and just chill and talk to someone about their favorites too. If anyone wants to just talk about music with me, PM me and we can definitely do that sometime. I know this isn't really worth an entire thread posting haha but I'm bored and want to talk to someone. Just to give you an idea some of my favorites are:
Interpol, Beirut, Julian Plenti, Sufjan Stevens, Frou Frou, Joanna Newsom, Jimi Hendrix, Kid Cudi, Imogen Heap, Sigur Rós, The Used, Iron & Wine, and some classical music too.

 

I like indie music but there's too damn much of it.

The only bands that I get excited about anymore are Animal Collective and The Flaming Lips... but I guess they're not really indie.

 

I love Animal Collective, and you're right. There really is too much of it, and most of it is not worth it.

 

I think the big issue I have is that soooo much of it is easy to reproduce, so every time you get one person doing something, there's another and then another who sound exactly the same.

There's sooooo much crap out there too... I sort it into levels:

Level One (the worst)
'drone' and 'noise' people who know zilch about music and chose this genre because it's the kind of thing where anything goes so they don't have to practice or study or do anything except stay into their own lonely little worlds by themselves, shitty metal bands who think that people are put off by their aggressiveness instead of their aggressive shittiness, ukulele kids, kids on youtube, creepy weirdos who do too many drugs and think that they don't have to try because everything they do is awesome. See: the majority.

Level Two
folkies with acoustic, stripped down songs and dumb lyrics about meaningless things; ukulele kids who put a few synths into their songs to make them 'different', or who bother to write halfway decent lyrics; boring indie bands with boring songs that don't do anything new and are only a few steps away from technically incompetent. See: the mildly talented acts who the majority inarticulately lauds in the only way they know how.

Level Three
folkies with acoustic, stripped down sounds and lyrics that are literate, vaguely Christian/anti-Christian, and sound kinda cool but are ultimately meaningless; bands who embrace things like accordions and banjos because it used to be lame but is now cool; and technically accomplished but uncreative bands with a really clean, polished sound that sounds so clear and so perfectly hi-fi that it's actually creepy; people who sing about their personal problems and are accomplished musicians because they have no social life and therefore plenty of time to practice. See: the 'real' musicians who sound like they have training and self-discipline but ultimately have such crappy taste in music and an aversion to weirdness (they think Animal Collective's last album is 'too out there for me'.) that they can't help but suck ass, soulless hipsters, faux guitar gods who don't care if what they're doing is shrill, unmusical and annoying so long as it's technically difficult.

Level Four
Retro bands who try to recapture a certain sound perfectly without bringing anything new to it. They pick whatever decade they think is coolest (usually the 60s or the 80s) and try to do things in exactly the same way. They have amazing taste in music and love things that no one else has heard of even with the Internet and everything, but they're too busy being cool and urban and edgy to really care about how good their songs are or how they're going to move forward and get better. They have some good songs, but those songs are only good because they're derivative. Some pitchfork-approved bands fit this profile, like Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Vivian Girls, Best Coast, all those eighties rip-off bands, etc....

Level Five
Bands who are actually onto something and trying to do something new, but haven't quite got there yet and can't figure out why. They may or may not know what's hip, but the big thing is that they genuinely don't care, and that means that they're actually even cooler than the level 4 bands. They have more than two great songs, but they often sabotage them with their own weirdness because it's what they do, or maybe because they're secretly afraid of fame. They're more worthwhile, but they don't get a lot of attention.... but every now and then, someone takes a chance, lets them into his/her heart, and becomes a dedicated number one fan for life. EG: aPAtt, Micachu and The Shapes.

Level Six

Bands who genuinely don't care about anything except making really good music. They work damn hard and aren't afraid of being too weird, don't get hung up on their image, genuinely love music as music, etc., and have their own thing that no one else can claim as theirs (even though they definitely try to). They are moderately popular, and for good reasons, mostly because they're great. ie: Deerhoof, Fiery Furnaces, Animal Collective, Flaming Lips, Sufjan Stevens, etc...

That is how I prioritize my indie music listening habits.

 

Wow, that's pretty comprehensive And this thread has introduced me to the animal collective, much thanks

 

Have you heard of Ratatat?

 

Should check out The Morning Benders. Oh, and Miniature Tigers. I've been on a binge for the past week =)

 

Indie is what's needed in this Madonna-J-Lo-Lady gaga infested world