Alternative//electronica/indie/

The Strokes

• The Strokes are an American alternative rock band formed in

1998 in New York City. They rose to fame in the early 2000s as
leaders in the garage rock revival. The band's members are
Julian Casablancas (lead vocals), Nick Valensi (guitar), Albert
Hammond, Jr. (guitar), Nikolai Fraiture (bass guitar) and
Fabrizio Moretti (drums and percussion).
• Upon the release of their debut album Is This It in 2001, the group was
met with much critical acclaim. NME made Is This It their Album of the
Decade. Since then, the band has maintained a large fan base, mostly in
the UK, US, Canada and Australia. They have been on an unofficial hiatus
since First Impressions of Earth in 2006. A number of members have
embarked on a variety of side projects, although a fourth album is in
preparation for release in early 2011.
 Other popular bands in this genre/scene

• Arctic monkeys
• Franz Ferdinand
• The hold steady
• Ash
• The national
• Spoon
• Kings of Leon
• The kills
• Yeah yeah yeah’s
• Elbow
• Doves
• Foals
• Metric
• The cribs
• The kooks
• LCD Soundsystem
• Arcade fire
• The killers
 Stereotyping
• http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2010/sep/01/gender-stereotypes-indie-music

• it originally stood for independent music labels but nowadays it is defined by a type of music somewhere between
rock and pop. Indie singers and bands have certain ethics like sticking to their roots and not embracing the celebrity
money-grabbing culture. An Indie band is said to 'sell out' if they let their music be used corporately e.g on an advert
or to be motivated by money rather than making music. Indie bands always write their own songs.
 Continued…

• “Indie, short for independent, applies to independent media, usually film or

documentary and is also, more commonly, applied to a sub-culture (not a label)
which involves generally music, behaviour (and in a few cases, style of dress).
These people are also refers to as Indie Kids or Indie Rockers, of which most
dislike these terms as it labels them in a certain group, which the opposite object
of independent! Most dislike the mainstream and the 'in-trend' and wear, listen
to and do what they feel like without following fasions and rules (and im not
talking about the law, Indies are just as likely to break the law as anyone else)
and will always be themselves and not put on an act for popularities sake.
Obviously Indie is also a type of music which is generally soft-style rock without
screaming or moshing sometime mixed with synthesised music and electronic,
and is also generally on a independent record label and not well known.
Although indie is not a label it does have all sorts of connections to other groups
and indie is commonly associated as a type of rocker, Indies, along with most
other rockers, are at a long lasting 'social war' with chavs”.
 An example…

• “Obviously Indie is also a type of music which is generally soft-style rock

without screaming or moshing sometime mixed with synthesised music and
electronic”.
• This is from the previous slide of info and this band is an example of the
“mixture”
 LCD Soundsystem

• LCD Soundsystem gained attention with its first single, "Losing My Edge". Described
as "an eight-minute, laugh-out-loud funny dissection of cool over a dirty electronic
beat" the single became an underground dance favourite. This was followed by other
well received singles "Give It Up" and "Yeah".
• LCD Soundsystem released a double disc set simply titled LCD Soundsystem in February
2005 to critical acclaim. The first disc contains the album and the second contains re-
releases of previous singles. The opening track "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House"
quickly gained popularity and entered the UK Top 40 in March 2005 and was later
featured on several video game soundtracks like SSX on Tour, Forza Motorsport 2,
Burnout Revenge, and FIFA 06 The band toured with M.I.A..
 Continued..
• In June 2005, the band covered a Siouxsie and the Banshees song, "Slowdive"
for the B-side of "Disco Infiltrator"
• On December 8, 2005 the group received nominations for two Grammy
awards in the Electronic category for their self-titled album and in the Dance
category for "Daft Punk Is Playing at My House. This album was also chosen as
one of Amazon.coms Top 100 Editor's Picks of 2005.