Indie is Done

Music is a big part of my life, it always was. I love music  probably more than anything; I love its simple complexity, its ability to touch lives and tap on emotions but most of all I love its diversity, how a single art form enables the coexistence of a track that will make a fantastic comfort partner in cold lonely winters and one that will bring me to all sorts of ecstasy while dancing in front of the big speaker at 5 AM under the same roof. Music is great and I love music. This can mind as well go on my tombstone.

As a true blue muso (that’s the Australian word for a person who likes and knows music, one I’m not too sure how I feel about just yet), I don’t discriminate music according to genres: I (can learn to) love it all and I have accumulated enough knowledge over the years to know how to tell a good pop song from a shitty one, even though I might not like said good pop song and even though I would never grant it access to my iTunes hall of fame. My music taste is also a pretty schizophrenic one in its own right, encompassing everything from my 16 year old obsession with Thom Yorke & the Radiohead band, to the deep and dark techno mixes I like to put on when I’m working, and stretches all the way over to my online homages to Britney Spears. And if you ever try to tell me that Beyonce is anything but amazing, I will have  nothing but a skeptically raised left eyebrow and a “Say WHAT?”  ready for you.

There is one genre I’m having a hard time as of late. And I was best mates with this particular one, not so long ago too. I drove and flew over countries and oceans in pursuit of my favorite bands and when I had the chance (and later some sort of a semblance of power) I promoted them in any way I could. The genre is indie, the bands I stalked across the globe were Metric, Broken Social Scene, Death Cab for Cutie and some others. I still think that their music of then is good, don’t get me wrong. I might not listen to it 24/7 anymore, but in my book “Transatlanticism” is still one of the most perfect albums ever written and I don’t thing that will ever be different. But what’s been coming out of these new bands lately, and even out of the bands that I used to love is not transatlanticism-esque but  more like a bunch of bearded people armed with plaid and ukuleles, belching out their best attempt at twee radio-friendly tunes, aimed undoubtedly at the same type of people who read Harry Potter or watch Twilight or maybe even both. So in short, at people who have no concept of what a movie should look like, what a real book should say or what makes a good song.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t everything post Mumford&Sons sound exactly like Mumford&Sons? And feel free to jump in, but wasn’t the Mumford&Sons type music from Mumford&Sons more than enough we all needed (or could take for that matter)?

Reviewing tracks and interviewing bands for money, you wouldn’t believe the amount of crap I have to put my ears through, which eventually even led me to wonder if it’s all that bad or am I just one of those cynical people who love to dump all over other people’s art. You know the whole those who can do, those who can’t become music critics ordeal. When I’m left questioning my very own motives I usually listen to the track that left my mind boggled just by being so utterly bad and then decide it’s not me. It’s SO not me. Everything indie I come across is a mildly twangy bore-fest, that sounds like an attempt to write a song that might get licensed for a Fiat TV commercial. Inane and disposable, soulless and so goddamn sweet I can feel my teeth decomposing in my mouth by the time I give the track a third spin.

Whatever quality there was in indie, when indie became mainstream, which is an oxymoron in itself, the bar became low, and now it seems that just about anything spilling abstract guts over a broken heart or lovers apart or whatever else makes teenagers cry, passes for music when it comes to indie. I almost feel like every next song I listen to is a more vapid example of just how little essence the indie sound carries these days than the previous one.

But hey, I have good news!  Just yesterday a friend shared an album with me which is full of indie tracks with heart and which reminded me why I once loved indie to begin with. It’s a mixtape put together by the boys of MGMT, and it’s just a bunch of tracks they’re into at the moment plus some of their own recordings. It’s called Late Night Tales and it’s seriously packing some awesome tunes, so I would recommend it to anybody who is hungry for  good indie. Actually, I also recommend it to anybody who still thinks indie is not a living fossil, which much like dubstep, should just do us all a favor and die already, so you’ll know what good indie music should sound like.  And after you decide I’m right, I also have some books and movies I can recommend to you. Just holla.