What is *not* "indie" ?

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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by Kolstad » Fri Jan 18, 2013 1:30 pm

Indie is not a huge boutique sounding Strat through a Marshall Plexi with tons of delay and reverb.. it's more a cheap dry detuned Gretsch with a Fuzz in a 5w Fender Champ..
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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by andygabrys » Fri Jan 18, 2013 4:18 pm

thesongcabinet wrote:Indie is not a huge boutique sounding Strat through a Marshall Plexi with tons of delay and reverb.. it's more a cheap dry detuned Gretsch with a Fuzz in a 5w Fender Champ..
true, but I think Phoenix is still Indie-rock or indie-electro rock and their stuff is pretty produced. Even if they say they use Squier strats (lol) - I imagine they are still tuned and intonated.

thinking also of the Strokes - they are probably indie-rock still.

just blowing steam here.

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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by Kolstad » Sat Jan 19, 2013 1:36 am

Yeah, Andy, I guess it comes down to the double use of the word. It can be a characteristic of the business side, like in "independent", and/or a characteristic of a musical quality, like in "raw", "unpolished" ect. (still, it can take a lot of mixing and producing to get it to actually sound that way). Sometimes only one apply, sometimes both.
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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by mojobone » Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:23 am

This comes up a lot, and the problem with defining "Indie" is that the term has become a catchall in the same way people, even industry people who should have known better, once used the term "alternative", way, way back in the nineteen nineties. ("Alternative to what?", we'd ask; a dear friend once opined, "An alternative to good music."-he was a fan of classic rock, like Metallica, before they sold out with the Black Album)

The problem is that "indie" describes an aesthetic, not a genre; they're not the same thing. There's indie pop, indie folk, indie rock, indie blues (Black Keys) and probably even indie metal, all of which are marked by a particular lack of slickness and a DIY sound and attitude, along with a certain disrespect for genre rules, which makes pinning down the meaning all that much harder. Just like with "alternative" it's much easier to define it by what it's not; it's NOT on a major label, and it's NOT trying to be popular, because too much success would mean the fans wouldn't be 'only just the cool kids' anymore. :lol:
Last edited by mojobone on Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by mojobone » Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:28 am

thesongcabinet wrote:Indie is not a huge boutique sounding Strat through a Marshall Plexi with tons of delay and reverb.. it's more a cheap dry detuned Gretsch with a Fuzz in a 5w Fender Champ..

No, it's a map reso-glass National with a broken pickup played through a pawn shop Big Muff and a borrowed Supro, preferably recorded with a crystal harmonica mic with all the paint worn off. :D
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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by cardell » Thu Apr 04, 2013 1:10 am

mladendomic wrote:I don't quite understand what belongs to "indie" genre.
Just think sloppy & Beatles influenced. Hey, Beatles Punk :idea: :lol:

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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by CabDriver » Thu Jun 06, 2013 2:28 pm

Traditional any artist that was not signed to a major label was considered an indie artist. A few years ago it was very rare that an indie artist received the proper promotion on the radio and was able to get the funds to go on a major tour.

Nowadays it is a lot easier to have success without being signed to major label and the definition of indie has changed to describe the music genre which encompasses any music that is not considered mainstream.

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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by Kolstad » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:21 am

mojobone wrote:
thesongcabinet wrote:Indie is not a huge boutique sounding Strat through a Marshall Plexi with tons of delay and reverb.. it's more a cheap dry detuned Gretsch with a Fuzz in a 5w Fender Champ..

No, it's a map reso-glass National with a broken pickup played through a pawn shop Big Muff and a borrowed Supro, preferably recorded with a crystal harmonica mic with all the paint worn off. :D
Haha, or the sound from tripping over a guitar cable, spilling yer beer into the amp and inhaling the smoke from the tubes that went on fire. All of course recorded with two Chinese 57 clones in x/y position, 15ft away..
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Re: What is *not* "indie" ?

Post by andygabrys » Wed Jun 12, 2013 6:45 am

thesongcabinet wrote:
mojobone wrote:
thesongcabinet wrote:Indie is not a huge boutique sounding Strat through a Marshall Plexi with tons of delay and reverb.. it's more a cheap dry detuned Gretsch with a Fuzz in a 5w Fender Champ..

No, it's a map reso-glass National with a broken pickup played through a pawn shop Big Muff and a borrowed Supro, preferably recorded with a crystal harmonica mic with all the paint worn off. :D
Haha, or the sound from tripping over a guitar cable, spilling yer beer into the amp and inhaling the smoke from the tubes that went on fire. All of course recorded with two Chinese 57 clones in x/y position, 15ft away..

Haha! No even a 57 clone is too mainstream. No a 50's Russian broadcast mic that looks like an AK-47 but plugged in to an old solid state radio shack preamp is more like it. Recording an acoustic guitar roughly approximating the solo sound from sympathy for the devil.

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