Unwound, Leaves Turn Inside You (Kill Rock Stars): Unwound took a huge risk by making this behemoth. Their first album since 1998, Leaves incorporates the band's penchant for the atonal with a layering of guitars worthy of My Bloody Valentine.

Cannibal Ox, In Cold Vein (Def Jux): If Brian Eno decided to produce a hip-hop disc it would sound like this. Free-flowing in the truest sense of the word — no choruses, no hooks, just intricate wordplay and atmosphere.

White Stripes, White Blood Cells (Sympathy for the Record Industry): The infamous aside overheard in modern-art galleries ("My kid could do that") applies to the White Stripes' third long-player, which is part of its charm.

Low, Things We Lost in the Fire (Kranky): Melancholy and restrained, this album still has a feeling of optimism in each song, even if it's just that the depressing can be so beautiful.

Beachwood Sparks, Once We Were Trees (Sub Pop): California boys pretend they're Gram Parsons. Oscar worthy.

Calla, Scavengers (Young God Records): A great mix of pastoral guitar work (à la Ennio Morricone) and Terry Riley-inspired found sounds signals a collapse of rural and urban America, while Aurelio Valle's voice effortlessly glides over the top.

Spoon, Girls Can Tell (Merge): Britt Daniel wants to be Elvis Costello badly, but with Girls Can Tell he has moved past the My Aim Is True-esque anger that fueled 1998's overlooked masterpiece Series of Sneaks. Still, Daniel's pure pop songs can be extraordinary, especially "Me and the Bean" and "Chicago at Night."

Lift to Experience, Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (Bella Union): Could there be a more timely release than a concept album about the apocalypse? Melodies are reminiscent of Jeff Buckley, but the accompanying music is guitar-based noise.

The Rapture, Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks EP (Sub Pop): The best Gang of Four imitation in a long time. The hi-hat snaps open at the right moments, the guitars chink and chime, and Luke Jenner's screams accent each discordant note perfectly.

Various Artists, Troubleman Mix-Tape (Troubleman Unlimited): The selection on this double-disc contains a fantastic hodgepodge of noise rock, punk, avant-garde and two truly bizarre vocal clips from Barry White and Miles Davis.

And if these lists were longer than ten...

Brian Jonestown Massacre, Bravery, Repetition & Noise (Bomp)

Death Cab for Cutie, The Photo Album (Barsuk)

Dismemberment Plan, Change (De Soto)

Bob Dylan, Love and Theft (Columbia)

Fugazi, The Argument (Dischord)

Ted Leo & the Pharmacists, The Tyranny of Distance (Lookout)

Love as Laughter, Sea to Shining Sea (Sub Pop)

Shins, Oh Inverted World (Sub Pop)

Tortoise, Standards (Thrill Jockey)

Originally posted by Yancey
Actually Penny Lane, Wilco sells an average of about 150,000 copies of each album, which is pretty good considering their limited commercial appeal.

And Breakfast, here's my list of favorite albums from this past year, should you feel inclined:

Originally posted by Penny Lane

Comparitively, those are NOT high sales for an album. They may be high for a band with "limited commerical appeal," but they are NOT mainstream and there are many people who have not heard of them.

Originally posted by stevevt


Wilco's last album came out on Warner Bros, and their next one is on Nonesuch.

This makes them, in my mind, a major label recording act.

Indie music is music by independent artists. It is not (again, to me) music that has a limited appeal or even a certain kind of sound.

Originally posted by stevevt
Here are some of my faves. I tried my best not to include anyone currently on a major label, which I'm sure you'll all do your best to check.


3Ds [eh]
Acetone [yes]
Air [no]
Aislers Set [yes]
Apples in Stereo [eh]
Beachwood Sparks [yes]
Beat Happening [no]
Bedhead [yes]
Belle & Sebastian [no]
Bettie Serveert [eh]
Beulah [eh]
Bonnie Prince Billy [yes]
The Boxhead Ensemble [yes]
Franklin Bruno [?]
Buck [?]
Bunnygrunt [?]
Calexico [yes]
Calla [yes yes yes]
Cat Power [no]
The Cat's Miaow [?]
Chappaquiddick Skyline [eh]
Circulatory System [yes yes]
The Court and Spark [eh]
The Crabs [?]
Cub [?]
Damon & Naomi [yes]
Death Cab for Cutie [yes for the Photo Album]
The Delgados [eh]
The Dismemberment Plan [yes for Emergency & I]
Sarah Dougher [?]
Dressy Bessy [no]
Early Day Miners [?]
Elf Power [no]
Elysian Fields [?]
The Essex Green [eh]
Edith Frost [eh]
Future Bible Heroes [?]
The Gentle Waves [?]
The Go-Luckys [?]
Go Sailer [?]
Godspeed You Black Emporer [eh]
The Halo Benders [eh]
The Handsome Family [yes]
Heavenly [yes]
Helium [yes]
Holiday [?]
Ida [eh]
Idaho [eh]
K. [?]
Karate [yes]
Kings of Convenience [eh]
Kiss Offs [?]
Kleenex Girl Wonder [?]
Komeda [?]
The Lilys [yes]
Liquorice [?]
Lois [eh]
The Lookers [?]
Low [yes yes yes]
The Lucksmiths [?]
Magnetic Fields [eh]
Barbara Manning [eh]
Marbles [?]
Marine Research [eh]
Mascott [?]
Mates of State [?]
The Mendoza Line [?]
Microphones [yes yes yes]
The Minders [eh]
Mirah [eh]
Mojave 3 [yes]
The Mountain Goats [eh]
Movietone [?]
Neutral Milk Hotel [yes yes yes]
The New Pornographers [yes]
The New Year [yes]
Nothing Painted Blue [?]
Will Oldham [yes]
The Olivia Tremor Control [yes]
Palace [yes]
Papas Fritas [eh]
Parcels [?]
Pastels [?]
Pedro the Lion [no]
Pernice Brothers [yes]
Joe Pernice [yes]
Pharmacists/Ted Leo [yes]
Rainer Maria [no]
Red House Painters [eh]
The San Francisco Seals [?]
Sarge [eh]
The Scud Mountain Boys [yes]
The Secret Stars [eh]
Shins [yes]
Sigur Ros [eh]
Sloan [eh]
Smog [eh]
The Softies [?]
Songs: Ohia [eh]
The Spinanes [eh]
Starlight Mints [?]
Stars [?]
Swearing at Motorists [?]
Toomey, Jenny [eh]
Tsunami [yes]
Tullycraft [?]
Tuscadero [no]
The Verna Cannon [?]
Virginia Dare [?]
White Stripes [yes yes yes]
Wolfie [no]
Yo La Tengo [yes]

Originally posted by Yancey


I would definitely agree with this. Wilco are not an indie band.

As far as the album sales thing -- I wasn't trying to be a jerk Penny Lane, I just saw those numbers a few months ago and they surprised me, so I thought I'd mention them.

And I don't know how marginalized any band is that gets at least a dozen feature stories in the major magazines whenever a new album of theirs comes out, not to mention having two documentaries made about them.

Originally posted by Penny Lane
This goes for stevet (or whatever) as well: I never SAID THEY WERE AN INDIE BAND. I said I didn't know if they were considered an indie band.

Originally posted by Penny Lane
They ARE featured on indie websites, I know that for a fact.

Originally posted by Penny Lane
In addition to this, they ARE NOT mainstream, especially in the South. They may not be an "indie" band, but they are far from being well known. You can talk to maybe 15 people on the street here in Birmingham, and maybe one of them, if that, knows who they are.

Originally posted by Penny Lane
That's what I meant, and I simply assumed that Breakfast with Girls might not know who they are and was possibly missing out if he liked that kind of thing.

Originally posted by stevevt



If anything, I was trying to suggest that independent music is not a genre. There is independent country, rap, pop, rock, etc. That's all I was saying, and I did it because BwG specifically mentioned the phrase "indie bands."