Various Artists | The New Indie (Alive & Amplified For 2005)

Various Artists: The New Indie (Alive & Amplified For 2005)

Over the past twelve months, indie music has shot from the depths of dark and dirty underground clubs into the limelight of the mainstream. Acts such as Razorlight and Kasabian appear regularly on the likes of CD:UK alongside pop groups such as McFly and Lemar. Whilst there is no denying I have my reservations about this, due mainly to, some might say, an irrational and possessive nature over certain indie gems, it is surely good to see that this genre of music is once again getting the recognition it deserves, something which has not really been happening since the grand impact of Brit-pop back in the day.

The New Indie celebrates the most successful acts of the current indie scene with tracks from Bloc Party, The Killers, Kings of Leon, The Others and of course, our very own Kaiser Chiefs, whom are a prime example of indie music establishing a bone fide commercial genre of its own in recent months - gees, they're everywhere.

Kicking off like a Friday night at The Session, the likes of The Bravery, Babyshambles, The Ordinary Boys and The (mighty) Kills all make the cut, along with The Futureheads' fabulous cover of 'Hounds of Love'. (Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh: surely the best sing-a-long of the year, yes?) And for those of you who like your indie more wet, oops sorry, I mean 'chilled' surely, Keane and Thirteen Senses should sort you out a treat.

Indie kids beware though, like all compilations, there's gonna be something on here that you don't like (they've gone and stuck Morrissey on the end for God's sake...) and there is nothing new so chances are you're gonna have all the tracks you do like anyway. It sticks firmly to those bands that have already secured chart success and so will perhaps be a more suitable purchase for those either just getting into the indie scene or those who are already fans of chart compilations.

One saving grace for this though does come in the form of the bonus disk, which includes a selection of new bands like Kubb, The Duke Spirit, The Paddingtons and Nine Black Alps, thus giving an insight into the future stars of the indie scene before Radio One over-do the air-play and turn us all against them eh?

Overall, this compilation displays some cracking tunes and celebrates all things indie in today's otherwise frog-riddled disturbingly bad charts and should be rejoiced for that fact alone. Whether we like it or not, the new indie wave is sweeping the nation and this CD is bound to get even more kids applying their eyeliner, pulling on a pair of drainpipe jeans and heading for your favourite indie club. Damn that bar queue, triple vodka anyone?

Comments

Alexander King wrote...

See, how do you define "Indie" tho? It all seems a bit spurious and media-manufactured to me, and nowadays means "guitar bands who occasionally trouble singles chart".

Bearing in mind there are very few true "indie" labels any more, what does the term actually mean nowadays?

Profile | Posted 21st June 2005 at 08:36

tomas311 wrote...

To me, 'indie' ceased to mean 'independent' some time back. Now it more-or-less applies to any band with guitars, and even some without. It's just become a genre, like say rock, metal, r'n'b, that is little more than a blanket term which, in effect, means nothing.

Profile | Posted 21st June 2005 at 10:48

instantrick wrote...

Tough to define...the true term Indie from the full "Independent Record label" was coined in the late 80's and early 90's to refer tot he new wave of alternative bands that captured the vibe of Independent labels by not always doing the mainstream way. But if you go with the purist definition of just a band on an Independent label then one of the biggest selling Indie bands in recent years was "Steps" and that's frightening

Profile | Posted 21st June 2005 at 14:24

Alexander King wrote...

Frighteningly sexy!

Profile | Posted 21st June 2005 at 16:33

Sam Saunders wrote...

Have to go with Noah Brown here - despite the odd one off we are talking skinny white boys with guitars, aren't we? Not very rich in music, heavy on nightlife socialbility. More of a demographic than a style, more social decoration than listening pleasure ... (I'm not knocking this - just trying to make sense of it.)

Profile | Posted 21st June 2005 at 16:55

andyjames wrote...

I agree with a lot of what's been said above. It still amazes me how much the meaning of the term's changed since I started listening to guitar music about 13 years ago or so - back then "indie" was the Senseless Things, Nirvana, Carter USM, Mega City Four, the Pixies, Ride etc. - yeah, most of 'em were on major labels but they'd come up through the independent/transit van circuit. Maybe I'm just looking at it through rose-tinted glasses but I can't help but think that groups like the Killers, Athlete and especially Coldplay (who'd probably have been shoved in the same bracket as the likes of Simple Minds by the "indie kids" of that era) would'nt've been thought of as "indie" way back then.

Profile | Posted 22nd June 2005 at 00:41

Review of Various Artists's CD "The New Indie (Alive & Amplified For 2005)"