Recommend me some good INDIE rock, please?
 

There are a good handful of indie bands that I've enjoyed for some time, but I'm seriously looking to expand my collection. I enjoy most everything, but prefer stuff that's not over-the-top lo-fi, or too poppy. Make sense? I hope so, and I also hope that some of you will have some good suggestions for me.

Thus far, I'm really enjoying TV On the Radio, Slint, and other staples such as Sleater-Kinney, Quasi, Yeah Yeah Yeahs (they were indie first, right?), Magnetic Fields, and I've always enjoyed the old BTS, and MM stuff.

I'm looking into picking up albums by Olivia Tremor Control, Glass Candy, Camera Obscura...

so, any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Listen to the live feed on here for a while and start jotting down the names of the bands/songs you like :

http://indie1031.fm/main.html

Superchunk - "No Pocky for Kitty" and "On the Mouth"
Both of these albums are great IMO.

Burden Brothers - "Buried in Your Black Heart"
If your a fan of the Toadies you might want to check this out.

Clumsy - "Center of Attention Deficit Disorder"
These guys might not really be indie but I can't recommend this album enough.

Anything by
Pavement
Mojave 3
Mogwai
Bright Eyes
Explosions in the Sky
Lift to Experience
Doves - Lost Souls
Death Cab for Cutie
Iron and Wine
My Bloody Valentine
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Raveonettes
Stephen Malkmus of Pavement
Super Furry Animals
Built to Spill


to name a few...

A good list from deadlax mostly there I also recommend..

My Morning Jacket (saw them live, a hell of a show) - all of their CD's.
The Postal Service - Give Up (Poppy perhaps, not what I usually go for but it is too catchy and enjoyable)
Songs Ohia - all of their CD's.
Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

A few things there.

Try "Dilate" by Ani DiFranco.

Yes

Deathcab for Cutie and the postal service are both awesome. Check them out.

The Wrens- Meadowlands. My favorite album from last year.

Check out Pitchfork for reviews of mostly independent music.

Some suggestions I'll definitely be checking out...

I should have been more thorough in my listing, as I am a listener of Death Cab, Postal Service, Wilco (indie?), Ani, MMJ, Doves, some Pavement, etc.

I do also check out Pitchfork frequently, but I find their subjectivity to be a little off-putting sometimes. I usually compare their reviews to that of All Music when looking for something good... they tend to balance one another out.

Any suggestions for indie labels to check out?

(fallow? anyone? anyone?)

Matador consistently puts out good stuff, but I'm sure you know that already. I also enjoy Young God records, who re-issued most (if not all?) of the Swans back catalogue, brought us Devendra Banhart, and releases M Gira's Angels of Light work. (I should add that AoL's Everything Is Good Here/Please Come Home has entered my 5-star, 10.0, seal of approval favorite-ist evah albums. I don't expect everyone to agree, though.)

Since you like Slint, you might check out Helms. I think that they appeal to fans of Slint, Sonic Youth, and Unwound (whose buyers probably crossover anyway). McCarthy is a good place to start.

The Hidden Cameras will probably sit well beside the Magnetic Fields. Really, though, Stephin Merritt has such a huge collection of projects, you might parse through some of those albums (Gothic Archies, 6ths, and Future Bible Heroes).

Definitely pick up Olivia Tremor Control's Black Foliage, and if the Camera Obscura album (I assume that yr talking about the jangly band and not the math rock one?) hits the spot, get The Concretes' self-titled album due on July 29th. Not the same deal, but I think that they'll hit the spot where Belle and Sebastian settled (because you must love B&S if you like Camera Obscura, right?).

All kinds of Pavement type bands-- Silver Jews, 764-Hero, Sebadoh.

And finally-- I don't personally like this band but you might-- it just struck me the other day how much Rilo Kiley resembles Death Cab for Cutie. A very earnest vocal style, impressionistic lyrics, clean-picked electric guitars with occasional static-y bursts, and sometimes they even rawk out. The Execution of All Things would probably be the best place to start.

(I get the feeling that you've heard of most of this stuff. Sorry if I'm redundant.)

Death Cab For Cutie
The Postal Service
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Modest Mouse

Pedro the Lion (Especially Control)
Interpol
The Killers
Supergrass
Sparklehorse
Mars Volta
Kings of Leon
Grandaddy
Dandy Warhols
And You Will Know Them by the Trail of Dead

If you ever feel in the mood to go retro-indie, try a band from the late 70's/early 80's out of Wichita, Kansas - The Embarrassment.

I really like the Embarrassment's cover of "Don't Stop 'Til Ya Get Enough."

POLVO - CorCrane Secret; Today's Active Lifestyles; Celebrate the New Dark Age (EP); This Eclipse (EP)

ARCHERS OF LOAF - Icky Mettle; VeeVee

SEAM - The Problem With Me; The Pace Is Glacial

JAWBOX - For Your Own Special Sweetheart

DINOSAUR JR. - Green Mind and everything that came before it.

Another vote for Rilo Kiley (whose new album comes out next month), the Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie.

Also, the New Pornographers.

Built to Spill -- Keep it Like a Secret -- (major label)
Flaming Lips -- The Soft Bulletin -- (major label)
Wilco -- Summerteeth
Centro-Matic -- All the Falsest Hearts Can Try -- in fact any centro-matic album is worth picking up.
Pleasant Grove -- Auscultation of the Heart
Tripping Daisy -- Jesus Hits Like the Atom Bomb
the Shins -- (the album before the latest -- I cant remember the name)
Air -- the Virgin Suicides
Beta Band -- Hot Shots
At the Drive In -- Relationship of Command

Actually alot of those are on major labels, but they are somewhat under the radar.

Jersey's indie posterboys, The Wrens

The Wrens "Meadowlands" is a nice album.

You cannot go wrong with Death Cab 4 Cutie

Postal Service got outstanding reviews for months before I finally broke down and listened to it.

I don't care for electronica sounding stuff usually, but like someone above said......it's simply too enjoyable a listen.

I also love the male/female back-and-forth vocals of new rock band YOUNG HEART ATTACK. A kickass rock album there.

also, The Shins 2 albums are extremely enjoyable, poppy on the latest, but done really really well.

Loveless- My Bloody Valentine is an essential purchase that should be a part of ANY music collection regardless of....well, anything.

Some that haven't been mentioned:

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
The Decemberists - Her Majesty or Castaway and Cutouts
Pavement - all releases (ok it was mentioned but worth mentioning again)
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot It in People
Yo La Tengo - I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One

I just bought the New Year's The End is Near. Stevevt told me about them a couple months ago when I mentioned Bedhead. Matt and Bubba Kadane, former leaders of Bedhead and now the New Year, make tangly triple-guitar beauties with straight-up diary lyrics. I think that Ben Gibbard must've listened to Bedhead, because I don't see how Death Cab could exist without the Kadanes. The End is Near doesn't depart from their previous work, and they are one of the few bands who can keep one foot in the gentle and the other in the commanding without losing sight of the line.

Daniel Johnston (kind of abrasive for a guy and a piano or acoustic, I guess, but amazing songs. Get "Songs Of Pain")
Superchunk
Archers Of Loaf "Ikky Metal"

Spoon- All albums but my favorite is A Series of Sneaks
Yo La Tengo- Electr-O-Pura
Built To Spill- There's Nothing Wrong With Love
Sleater-Kinney- Dig Me Out
Earlimart- Everyone Down Here