Is "Indie" a genre?

[RVCA]

I'm confused. I thought bands were labeled "indie" if they shied away from major/commercial record labels. It seems to have become commonplace to append the labels "indie", "indie rock", "indie folk", etcetcetc, in describing the genre of artists or albums.

Does indie now refer to a specific sound? Is it legitimate to claim indie is a genre?

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by RVCA

Does indie now refer to a specific sound?

I would say that it has referred to general sort of sound for a long time.

[Alfred]

In my experience, indie usually sounds like a really barebones (basic production and not a whole lot of distorted guitars), artsy version of whatever genre it is based upon whether it be rock, pop or folk. That's just how I look at it though.

[sleepy jack]

Indie is a community and that's it. I wouldn't even say it refers to label status because the music business is more complicated then to divide labels up into "major" and "independent" due to some being affiliated with the big four, or whose doing the distribution, etc. There is no specific "indie" sound. I mean, how can you say The Tallest Man on Earth, Anamanaguchi, Shellac and Sigur Ros are similar?

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by sleepy jack

I mean, how can you say The Tallest Man on Earth, Anamanaguchi, Shellac and Sigur Ros are similar?

I guess I couldn't, but then I wouldn't call any of them indie either.

[James]

No, it's not. It really bugs me when people say "I hate that Indie Folk sound" when it doesn't even have a sound and basically only refers to label status.

[sleepy jack]

What would you call indie then?

Originally Posted by James

No, it's not. It really bugs me when people say "I hate that Indie Folk sound" when it doesn't even have a sound and basically only refers to label status.

Elliott Smith is considered indie-folk and released two major label releases. The Decemberists are still described as indie-folk and they're on Capitol, whom also have released records by Kevin Devine. Bright Eyes is considered indie-folk but Saddle Creek's distribution is handled through Alternative Distribution Alliance, which is controlled by Warner Bros. The ADA also handles Cavity Search, Merge, Equal Vision, Polyvinyl, Secretly Canadian, Sub Pop, Barsuk, Domino, and many other supposedly "independent" labels. How many labels are actually indie? How many artists commonly thrown under the "indie-folk" umbrella are actually on those labels?

[Janszoon]

Originally Posted by sleepy jack

What would you call indie then?

I think Alfred's description was pretty good.

[EveryDayNormalGuy]

Id say Indies a sound. You can can definitely say, "Oh that band sounds indie" or whatever. It just a different, more basic (like Albert said) form of a type of music, folk, pop whatever.

[James]

Originally Posted by EveryDayNormalGuy

Id say Indies a sound. You can can definitely say, "Oh that band sounds indie" or whatever. It just a different, more basic (like Albert said) form of a type of music, folk, pop whatever.

And I really don't here this. If this is true how would you explain experimental or prograssive so called indie bands? Like The Dear Hunter, Deerhunter, Xiu Xiu? Maybe some indie assosciated bands are basic but doesn't every genre or movement have basic or generic bands in the far corners?