indie rock

  

Michigan Becomes A Popular Indie Rock Festival Destination

Indie rockers Widespread Panic are one of dozens of bands at Rothbury

This year marks the beginning of more major music festivals than any year in recent memory - All Points West in New Jersey, Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco and the Rothbury Music Festival in the woods of Michigan, to name a few.

The Rothbury Festival kicked-off on Thursday and is wrapping up today in the woods of western Michigan. Highlights from the festival include performances from the Dave Matthews Band, 311, Widespread Panic, John Mayer, Modest Mouse, Of Montreal, Thievery Corporation, Sam Beam, Primus, STS9, Govt Mule and many others.

311 performing The Cure's "Love Song" at Rothbury

Chicagoians and folks in and around Michigan are festival-spoiled. In addition to Rothbury Festival, there is the Pitchfork Music Festival less than two weeks away and Lollapalooza the weekend of August 1-3.

The lineup for the Pitchfork Festival is impressive, featuring artists and groups like Animal Collective, Public Enemy, Sebadoh, Mission of Burma, The Hold Steady, M. Ward, Spoon, The Ruby Suns, Fleet Foxes, Elf Power, Spiritualized, Les Savy Fav, Apples in Stereo, Cut Copy, The Dodos and dozens more.

On Friday, the theme of the show is centered around performing highly acclaimed, entire albums performed by some of alternative and indie music's most cherished bands.

First up, Public Enemy will play It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back followed by Sebadoh performing Bubble and Scrape, and last but not at all the least, Mission of Burma will treat the festival crowds to the entire anthology from Vs.
The scheduled line-up for Saturday, July 16:

Animal Collective
Jarvis Cocker
The Hold Steady
!!!
Vampire Weekend
Dizzee Rascal
Fleet Foxes
Caribou
Elf Power - "Paralyzed" (MP3)
Jay Reatard
Titus Andronicus
No Age
Atlas Sound - "
My Car" (MP3)
Extra Golden
The Ruby Suns
Icy Demons
A Hawk and a Hacksaw
Occidental Brothers Dance Band International
Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar

This is an awesome line-up for only $30. While I have to admit I don't know all of the performers, $30 to see Animal Collective, The Hold Steady, !!!, No Age, Atlas Sound, Elf Power, The Ruby Suns and Caribou is a hell of a bargain.

Sunday, July 20 lineup is as follows:

Spoon
Dinosaur Jr.
Spiritualized
M. Ward
Ghostface and Raekwon
Les Savy Fav
The Apples in Stereo
Boris
Dirty Projectors
Times New Viking
Cut Copy
Bon Iver
The Dodos
King Khan & His Shrines
El Guincho
Fuck Buttons
HEALTH
High Places
Mahjongg


Sunday is another amazing line-up, including Spoon, Dinosaur Jr., Spiritualized, M. Ward, The Apples in Stereo, Cut Copy, The Dodos and many others.

Interestingly enough, despite a sagging economy, high fuel prices and saturation of big, outdoor music festivals spanning two to five days in duration, the fact is that ticket sales for both the veteran fests like Coachella and Bonnaroo, and the 'newbies', have been overall successful so far for 2008.

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by IRC @ July 5, 2008

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EW's Top 25 Indie Albums; Does Radiohead Really Deserve No.1 Spot?


Entertainment Weekly’s editors feature the 'Indie Rock 25', profiling albums from 1984 (apparently the ‘beginning of indie’) to present, including classics from The Hold Steady, The Replacements, Yo La Tengo, The Pixies, Spoon, Pavement, Built to Spill, and The White Stripes to name a few.

Some of the choices are questionable, not for being selected, but for their position in the ranking. For example, why is Radiohead's In Rainbows given the No.1 spot on the list? (Modest Mouse's stunning Lonesome Crowded West release is buried in the list at No. 12, just to name one aberration).

Afterall, Radiohead's In Rainbows has been out less than six months, the band pissed off a lot of fans back in October for what was considered a dubious 'first release' and there are many other albums on this list that are well-oiled classics - truly landmark albums that have etched themselves in to the history of 'indie rock' - and beyond - to a greater degree than In Rainbows has or ever can.


Lastly, Radiohead has become so commercialized as an entity in the past year that I would argue they no longer fit into the 'indie rock' genre to begin with.


Nevertheless, there are still some good choices on this list, just their position on the list is highly question, even head-scratching.


1 - Radiohead – In Rainbows (2007) Stream: Radiohead's MySpace page


2 – Spoon – Ga Ga Ga (2007) – MP3: Eddie’s Ragga


3 – The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America (2006) MP3: Stuck Between Stations (Live)


4 – Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (2005) MP3: Lua


5 – Arcade Fire – Funeral (2004) MP3: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)


6 – The White Stripes – Elephant (2003) Stream White Stripes


7 – Interpol – Turn On The Bright Lights (2003) MP3: Obstacle 1


8 – The Shins – Oh, Inverted World (2001) MySpace: Turn Me On

9 – Yo La Tengo - And then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out (2000) MP3: None from this album, but there are eight free MP3s from Yo La Tengo


10 – Sleater-Kinney – The Hot Rock (1990) MP3: Get Up


Here's the entire 'Top 25 indie albums' list from EW's website.

Check back to the site later today or tomorrow (3/31) for a zip file of the MP3s above, including some bonus tracks.

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by IRC @ March 30, 2008

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Modest Mouse, Spoon and Jimmy Eat World Headline "Not So Silent Night" Concert in San Francisco Friday Night


SAN FRANCISCO - Indie rockers in the Christmas and holiday spirit will get a special treat tomorrow night (Fri. Dec 7/07) as the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium presents the "Not So Silent Night" music festival.


The all-night festive concert is exclusively designed for fans of indie and alternative rock with headliners Modest Mouse and Spoon, followed by Jimmy Eat World and stocking stuffers Angels & Airwaves and Paramore, a popular SF Bay Area indie band.

The festival is almost guaranteed to be a great time. Tickets are still available and you can also check out Craigslist, eBay or whatever ticketing service you may use to see if you can grab some stubs for this once-in-a-lifetime special Christmas festival.

But don't worry, if miss it, stayed tuned to IRC for full post-festival coverage with MP3s, official websites, YouTube videos from the fest, fan photos, blog reviews and more.

The event was coordinated by San Francisco radio station Live 105.
See you there.

Bloggers: Send IRC your vids, show reviews, blog posts and photos of the NSSN Festival and see them published here on IRC!

Readers: Check back on this page regularly for posted MP3s, updated news and videos throughout the next few days and weeks.

Starting Saturday December 8: A Very Indie Christmas playlist series all this month on IRC. Subscribe now to get the playlists as they are published throughout the month.

Many hours of work have gone in to putting together this special indie and alternative Christmas music series, so it's definitely something you don't want to miss.



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by IRC @ December 6, 2007

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Lollapalooza 2007 Special Edition: Music Video Performances


Missed out on Lollapalooza? Well, don't sweat it.

IRC has put together a hot compilation of videos from festival goers and mainstream media highlighting the indie rock and pop artists that helped make Lollapalooza 2007 a great success.

Even threats of thunderstorms were not going to allow the feast of music to be interrupted, although there were a few, brief showers, which you can imagine was a nice relief from the searing heat and icky humidity that has made it an unusually warm summer in the midwestern United States.

Don't miss reviews and postings for festivals still yet to take place, such as Austin City Limits Festival, Monolith, Download Festivals, Vegoose and many more.

Check out YouTube videos from Lollapalooza (videos have been approved for quality) and other Lolla links.

LCD Soundsystem at Lollapalooza 2007 (from AT&T Blue Room)
-
Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
- North American Scum
- Time to Get Away

Pete Yorn (from AT&T Blue Room) at Lollapalooza 2007
-
Closet
- Young Folks
- Policies

Son Volt from Lollapalooza 2007 (from AT&T Blue Room video)
-
Afterglow 61
- Underground Dream
- The Search

Various videos from Lolla 07:

Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Awesome Light Show
Muse - Apocalypse Please
Muse - Starlight
Spoon -
Turn My Camera On
Motion City Soundtrack -
short clip 30 seconds
Interpol -
Heinrich Maneuver - partial clip
Kings of Leon with Eddy Vedder
Silversun Pickups (
35 second bite)
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists -
Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?
Dax Riggs -
How Long The Night Was
Back Door Slam - Lonely For You




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by IRC @ August 30, 2007

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Best Indie CD of Year Contest Ends Jan. 30, 2007

What are the Top 10 indie albums of 2006?

IRC comprised a top 10 list based on our own choices as well as nominee lists from indie rock critics, bloggers and others found on the Internet during the past month. Only one can win.

Send your name and your choice of the best from the Top 10 listed below. The winner will be picked at random as long as your email address is valid.


The reward is a $15 gift card or transfer to a PayPal account.

Email IRC to submit your choice now!!! Put 'Best Indie Album 2006' in subject line please! :-)

Deadline is Jan 30, 2007.


What is the Best Indie Album of 2006?*
*this list is in random order, but we think it's the best top 10 for 2006


The Life Pursuit - Belle and Sebastian

The Avalanche - Sufjan Stevens

Gulag Orkestar - Beirut

Show Your Bones - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Return To Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio

Silent Shout - The Knife

The Greatest - Cat Power

Dog Problems - The Format

You in Reverse - Built to Spill


Telephono/Soft Effects - Spoon



Again, don't forget to vote for your favorite album.





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by IRC @ December 15, 2006

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Spoon Highlights Stranger Than Fiction Soundtrack


Spoon has just risen to a new level of recognition - for better or worse - supplying multiple tracks for the soundtrack of the new movie starring Will Farrel, Stranger Than Fiction.

Other notables appearing on the soundtrack include Wreckless Eric, Delta 5 and Califone.

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by IRC @ November 19, 2006

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