Overview
Objectives
- Explain the roles that women play in different kinds of rock bands in the 21st century
- Consider the broad definition and stylistic characteristics of “indie rock”
- Define “lo-fi” in the context of specific bands and music
- Describe how folk rock revival bands relate to music of the past
Indie Rock
The term "indie rock" has been used since the 1980s, but by the 2000s, the term has come to refer to a specific group of rock subgenres and styles. During the 1980s and 1990s, "indie rock" referred to artists who recorded on independent record labels. Until the mid-1990s, the terms "indie rock" and “alternative rock” were used synonymously. Following the mainstream commercial success of bands such as Nirvana, the concepts of "indie" and "alternative" rock began to separate. As used in the 21st century, indie rock generally refers to music that is independent of several commercial aspects –most indie rock groups are not signed to major labels, have relatively low production values, and have eccentric sounds or unusual lyric topics.
The band Modest Mouse is one example of this new kind of indie rock band. The group was founded in the early 1990s by singer and guitarist Isaac Brock and drummer Jeremiah Green. The band’s name comes from a line in a short story by the English author Virginia Woolf. Their lyrics range from quirky to metaphysical to macabre, and the instrumental sounds vary widely between tracks, from the bluesy acoustic guitar and fiddle sound in "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child ♫" to the bent, surreal-sounding guitar chords in "Gravity Rides Everything ♫." Like many indie bands, Modest Mouse faced accusations of selling out once they began to achieve mainstream success—they licensed "Gravity Rides Everything ♫" for a commercial for a Nissan minivan, for example.
Death Cab for Cutie is another indie rock band notable for its eccentricity. In 2003, they released their fourth studio album Transatlanticism. The album was successful both critically and commercially, and singles from the album such as "Title and Registration ♫" were featured in several hit television shows and films. Following the success of Transatlanticism, Death Cab for Cutie left the independent label Barsuk and signed with Atlantic Records. The band expressed skepticism about the corporate aspects of a signing to a major label, going so far as to encourage their fans to continue downloading their music for free through back channels of the internet.
Regardless, Plans (2005) sold over a million copies, Narrow Stairs (2008) reached number 1 on the Billboard charts. Their seventh album, Codes and Keys (2011), included "You Are a Tourist ♫," which topped the US Billboard Alternative Songs, Adult Alternative Songs, and Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles charts, and reached number three on the US Billboard Rock Songs chart.
The members of the Canadian band Arcade Fire play dozens of different instruments, a flexibility that allows them to have many different sounds. Just a few of these instruments include the string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, double bass, and harp; percussion instruments—glockenspiel and xylophone—and instruments often associated with folk music, such as the accordion and the hurdy-gurdy. Although no one song can be considered "typical" of Arcade Fire's song, the 2007 single "Black Mirror ♫" features many aspects common to their music, including distorted (almost muffled) vocals, many different instruments (including the hurdy-gurdy), and a sweeping sense of drama or grandeur.
The eclectic mix of instruments and sounds are due in part to Arcade Fire’s large multinational and multiethnic membership. The band's founders are the American brothers Win and Will Butler, and Quebecois-Haitian Régine Chassagne. Members Owen Pallett, Sarah Neufeld, and Richard Reed Parry have classical music backgrounds. Arcade Fire has had a remarkable amount of commercial and critical success given how far removed the band and its music are from many trends in rock music. They won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year for The Suburbs (2010), and they won an Academy Award for their score to the 2013 Spike Jonze film Her.
"Our music may sound big emotionally, but that's more to do with the playing, the level of musicianship and the full-on energy. Often, the lyrics are often quite small and focused."
"We never sit down before we start making a record and talk about this new sonic palette that we are going to try to explore. We always let the record kind of reveal itself to us over time."
"Death Cab for Cutie's song "Cath..." was inspired by Emily Bronte's famous novel Wuthering Heights. The song is about the character Catherine Earnshaw and her torment over marrying Edgar Linton. The phrase "well-intentioned man" in the song refers to Linton."
