The British Indie Scene
 

Is it just me or is there very close to nothing worth listening to at present in British indie music (with the few obvious exceptions)? What are all these RUBBISH bands popping out of absolutely nowhere? Why would anybody feel proud to identify with such a manifestly appalling bunch of insipid, idea-strapped, directionless twits? Who would be content to include the mediocrity of bands like The Holloways and Reverend And The Makers (or worse, the ones who aren't so well known) in their listening regime? I've also noticed that British "indie kids", who identify with being "indie", often know absolutely nothing about the indie music of North America, i.e. where all the independent music worth anything at all is predominantly created.

What's up with all this?

It's been like that ever since The L****tines showed up.

Umm...The Smiths, Joy Division, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Nick Drake, Radiohead, Stereolab, Stone Roses, Echo & The Bunnymen, Super Furry Animals, Slowdive...

Ethan don't fall for it. Rainard is on the wind up again.

Yeah. I'm talking about the present moment in time and new bands. Obviously a huge amount of amazing indie bands have come out of Britain in the past. My question is what is going on today? Useless band after useless band is being churned out like nobobdy's business.

So no, it's not a wind-up this time (to jackhammer) but quite a serious concern. I might say some obviously silly things at times : ) but hell, I be darned if I was gonna start casting aspersions on British music altogether. My point is simple - there is something wrong in the present scene.

And: the vast majority of new, exciting, decent indie acts are coming out of North America.

You're right in a sense although I don't think a lot of the stuff you're referring to should really be classed as British Indie music. It's certainly mainstream enough to receive constant airplay from the bland and insipid morons at 'the nations favourite' Radio 1.

Cack like 'The Wombats' only serves to highlight how every idiot with a MySpaz account thinks they've got a God given right to be the next big thing. Even being 'famous for 15 minutes' is pushing the boat. Remember though, if it wasn't for the sh*t, you wouldn't appreciate the good stuff - and there's plenty of decent British Indie bands if you look hard enough.

Um, are you serious? I often find that atm there is way too much good stuff out there, not too little. You're obviously listening to the wrong stuff :-)

Provided you're talking about new acts, I'm not saying you're wrong, but if so, could you enlighten me? The only imo truly decent debut I came across in 2007 was the Welsh boys (and girls) of Los Campesinos.

Same deal, really. Be great if you could direct me towards where it is. Remember, I'm talking about new acts. That excludes established indie folk like Radiohead, Franz, and so forth. Cheers.

Also, have either of you heard of a now defunct band Les Incompetents, or the band that emerged from the midst of their ruins, Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man? I have heard these kids raving about them, but they seem kinda bad. I've also heard indie boys in Britain praising the sounds of certain bands related to the scene and making out that they are really "cutting edge", while it's actually really derivative garbage with about as much sonic progression as beating a bog roll.

And NME and Q magazine are unquestionably the most biased, absurd publications to exist in the music world. </rant>

Try lightspeed champion.

If there are 'loads of good British indie bands' around nobody is posting about them here , playing their music anywhere or even talking about them anywhere else which leads me to believe there isn't any bar the odd band.

Pssht, Indie Kids dont listen to new Indie music anymore, even though we helped to publicise it, advertise it and mould it into the mainstream giant it is today. I love how fickle we are as a culture.

Exactly my sentiment. They receive virtually no critical attention whether positive OR negative, magazines like NME don't even include them in their top 20 lists as they'd otherwise be expected to do if they thought there was anything worth mentioning... Why should anybody believe that there is anything new aside from the constant barrage of New Wave/Post-Libertines rip-off acts? It is, as you worded it, the odd band here and there.

OK, so I may have been stretching the truth when I said 'plenty of bands'. On reflection, I realise how there are few new British Indie bands that've really excited me in the past year. Pah!

Out of interest, would you consider yourself part of the scene? If so, what do you think the main problems are that have led to this ridiculous decline? And tell me, are people generally really excited about some of these terrible new unsigned bands or do they deep down kinda realize that the scene's got a bit lame?

I'm probably too old to be considered part of the scene but I do have an (un)healthy addiction to new music. I think that one of the main problems that has led to the decline is the upsurge in social networking sites like MySpaz, which tends to spawn a plethora of crap in the hopes of replicating an Arctic Monkeys style world domination scenario.

In the past, finding new music was a real journey - you had to make an effort to go to gigs and find radio or TV shows that might just play a few minutes of something good. Now it's too easy to look on the web, read NME, watch MTV2 or listen to Zane Lowe and just be 'told' what you should be listening to. It's good that there are so many outlets for new music but it's also limiting if your band doesn't quite fit the profile of what the media deems to be 'cool' this week. And yes, I do think they realise that deep down the scene and many of the bands are indeed lame.

Oh, by the way - I agree that Los Campesinos are one of the best new UK Indie bands of 2007 along with Fields and a handful of others!

Ashtray Navigations.

OK thats 3

The Libertines were my favorite band ever when they came out (thats my signature) but i think that there are still a few fair British indie rock bands out there. But Then again, im not sure as to waht we classify indie as? are the Arcitic Monkeys, The Babyshambles, Dirty Pretty Things, Yeti, The Paddingtons etc. indie?

As the definition of indie these days seems to be any white guitar band who don't play metal , I suppose they are.

They're also extremely mediocre bands, the lotovem, except for the Arctics, who I think probably have enough good about them to not be relegated to pure averageness.

As for , then, um, they've been around for like almost 20 years. Nice try.

well done

but

They are STILL around.

I will make a list tomorrow. There are a whole load of good British bands just now, if you can't find them then you're either not looking hard enough, or not looking in the right places. They may not strictly fit your definition of "indie"...but you haven't exactly made your definition perfectly clear.

If you are merely complaining about all the "NME" bands, then what the **** is the point in that? Dedicate your energy to something more constructive, like finding the GOOD music.

Perhaps you didn't get the point. There's no doubt that there are a LOT of good British bands still around. The question is whether there's much NEW of any worth in the indie scene. For instance, one of the only London bands I've heard hyped up in more recent times was one called Les Incompetents. They've split up, and they sounded like your typical trashy post-Libertines garbage rock.

http://i201.photobucket.com/albums/a...s__/217002.jpg

End of.

Yeah, obviously Patrick Wolf. He's been active for like 6 years though, been hearing about him since 2003.

C'mon y'all, English indie kids. Let's have anything worth while to come out of the latest batch of indie brit-poppers, hell, you can go back as far as 2006 debuts if you need to. I'm sure you'll be able to (hopefully) come up with about, say, seven? If not, then we're in trouble.

And no lousy Libertines rip-offs please. And yeah, we all know full well just who and what they are.

If we're including 2006, I nominate Mystery Jets and The Young Knives...

The Young Knives are just Gang of Four rip really, in my opinion.

He's hardly been active for six years, it just turned 2008 he started in 2002 that's five. Which is pretty recent and I don't know where you hang out but Patrick Wolf was virtually a nobody until The Magic Position, back in 2005 when I first got into him (after his second album) the only people that knew who he was were people that were into the london music scene, that's the only reason I'd heard of him in the first place. No one discussed him, so I'm guessing the "I've been hearing about him since 2003 when his first album just dropped which didn't sell very well or get any radio play" really just means "I just don't want to be proven wrong so I'm going to lie."

He's been active since 2003. Regardless of whether or not anyone's heard of him back then, he's not new, which is the topic of discussion here...:\

Plus, even Wind In The Wires got significant critical attention. So he's hardly a newbie by any definition.

Alright cool...I just assumed that if they a band were still around then they would be considered part of "the scene".

Firstly...yeah, I agree with you about all the Libertines ripoffs...there's no originality, nothing interestin about it, and I don't see how so many people can be passionate about it. BUT...I do think the charts in Britain are better now than they were 6-10 years ago. I can tolerate friends listening to this stuff, because I don't think it's BAD music. Just totally uninspiring.

Since you're looking for bands that have recently formed, I can't really think of much. Most of the quality stuff in Britain right now is in the form of Grime and Dubstep music (in my opinion), and it's a bit of a stretch to call that "indie". I like Amusement Parks on Fire a lot, and they formed in 2004...that's the only "indie" band I can think of. Dunno if you'd like them, but they're certainly not a Libertines ripoff. Also, Future of the Left. They're good, but they're no Mclusky.

Five years isn't old and even if it was how does it exclude him from being part of the scene? Plus he's really only broken into mainstream this past year with the magic position.

There's a huge difference between being critically acclaimed and being popular. Even if there wasn't, having a critically acclaimed album doesn't make you a veteran, tons of debuts are critically acclaimed. Your reasoning as usual is shit.

I don't really understand your definition of indie here, if it was alternative music I'd completely disagree but it seems like the only artists you're considering indie are who you see in the NME. There's a bunch of great post-rock coming out of England now like 65daysofstatic and there's been some solid singer/songwriters like Frank Turner and Jonah Matagranta. There's also tons of great bands still going like Radiohead and Super Furry Animals but apparently they don't count anymore. There's also The Boy Least Likely To who are great indie-pop and Four Tet. I don't think you're looking hard enough, I can't sleep, I'm from America and it's 3:00am and I can already think of several.

No, Ethan. Your reasoning, as usual, fails to actually take any notice of what the other person said. Pity, but hey, what can ya do, eh?

The point (which hopefully you'll get this time, I know it's hard), was that Wolf is not new either in the temporal sense (given that the thread is referring to acts that have been emerging from the scene pretty mega-recently), nor is he new to critics. He's also had a fan-following for a fair while. He doesn't have anything to do with what this thread is asking. Stop arguing merely for the sake of it, it doesn't get either you or the discussion anywhere.

Hell, even if Wolf DID qualify as a newcomer, that wouldn't stand as anything against the general point here. We've allowed for the odd decent act here and there. The issue is more along the lines of the general creative bankruptcy of the latest acts. There's always going to be something on the positive side. Hopefully a number of things.

So basically this thread is just you as usual stirring up **** for the sake of it and deciding that indie and new bands all equal NME trash like the Holloways and the Kooks. You could just say that then I wouldn't have bothered trying to contribute anything in the first place.

No, not at all. I'm actually INTERESTED to find out if there is something of any worth coming out of the latest wave of bands. There's been no stirring here at all. See for yourself. It's been a civil discussion. A number of Brits have come in to admit to the current problems in the scene. Even Gravity Slips, who at first seemed determined to prove otherwise, has admitted to the recent slowness. I'm not on the attack. I just want to get further to the bottom of the issue.

As for your contributions, then obviously they're appreciated. I know you listen to a hell of a lot of music, so maybe you've come across some decent bands emerging from the current wave.

Speak for yourself. Some of us were into Paddy way back when Lycanthropy was around. I'm not bragging, just saying that I'm not from London and I had heard of him and liked him.

On another point, are we going to completely disregard the Klaxons now?

Your logic is awful because it isn't consistent. The Holloways got started in 2004 (not very new) Reverend And The Makers (2005) and other bands in this thread I won't bother with have all been around. Most bands don't pull an Arctic Monkeys and blow up soon after forming. All the 'new bands' aren't that 'new' (just going by your logic) so I really have no idea what to think of your argument. Basically you want to bitch about the current state of the radio which I don't understand because you guys don't have it that bad. I'd rather listen to the The Hoosiers and the Kooks than 50 Cent and Britney Spears.



I wasn't saying he was completely unheard of by everyone. When I got into him in 2005 no one knew who he was it wasn't until The Magic Position came up and pitchfork hyped the **** out of it he got any attention. The point I was trying to make was, like most of the bands Rainard is bitching about, he's been around for awhile and just hasn't broken out until this year. But he's invalid apparently for reasons only known to Rainard.

Whether he's new or not it doesn't change the fact that about the last 10 'new' bands i've heard sound identical.

If people want to listen to The Courteeners or The Cribs feel free , just don't expect me to.

I have to agree that the British music scene is currently dire and there is a total lack of inspiration (with very few exceptions). All media outlets are being drowned out with terrible NME bands.

I agree with the person that said Lightspeed Champion was worth listening to, and I'll add a couple of his peers to the list: Emmy The Great and Eugene McGuinness.

I also think if we are going back to 2006 then The Fratellis can be used as a prime example of a great indie band. Another very good Scottish band at the moment is the Attic Lights who are being produced by the drummer from Teenage Fanclub (a fantastic indie band from Scotland from a wee while back).

My final suggestion is a band that I think are from London, called 'Alberta Cross'. They were likened to Kings Of Leon although I can't really see it myself other than the singers looks but a very promising band all the same.

Correct me if I'm wrong but that's how the radio's always been.

Who says I was listening to the radio?

I've not bothered doing that since John Peel died.