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1990-2009 alternative/indie/punk/etc thats worthwhile?

Massive Attack...or is that more electronica? And couldn't electronica be considered in this thread anyway?
 
LPMike said:
Seriously... unless you're a 13-14 year old girl these two bands are rather forgettable. (One of my daughter's teachers is the mom of one of the guys in Sparks. Total teenybopper cookie-cutter genre pop) It seems to me these days to be considered "groundbreaking" or "indie" you just need to adopt an abstract band name that has little logic to it, then copy the style of music that was popular 3 years prior... So a band called, lets say, "Purple Ear Shoe Hat" is the latest craze with 8th grade girls. (as the parent of one, Ive watched this trend come, go, develop and move on over the last 2 years.) Thank God she grew out of that My Chemical Romance emo/screamo crap though. (Took about 1 year to enter and exit) But the new stuff her and her friends like is really the same crap relabelled and remarketed with a different angle. Sparks is still small-time, but I remember when Jimmy Eat World was at that level... Look where they went.

(no offense, but thats just my take)

Where are the Nirvana's, the Pearl Jams, the Material Issues, the Suzanne Vega's the Clashes and Police(s) of today? As far as I can see they dont exist. Just a bunch of low-talent bands with randomly generated (Noun-adjective-Verb) band names.

(off soap box... again, hope no offense is taken)
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I agree with this statement.

I doesn't seem like there's many great alt bands coming out nowadays.
there are a few good bands out there, but they're not huge successes by comparison to the Pearl jams and Clashes of their day.

but I think its generational as well. to them these bands are great....perhaps a few are, and will have the staying power such as the bands we grew up with that are still around.
we will only see that 10-15 years from now, when the next big punk, hair metal, grunge, emo fad comes and goes.

and yeah, emo has been renamed to "scene" I think...I guess some of them didn't like the wrist cutting stereotype attached to emo....

I think when emo was in its infancy 4-5 years ago, there was also a parallel indie scene, but now the lines have blurred and its just "scene" now.


to add to my list:
NIN
pelican
pixies
placebo
queens of the stoneage
radiohead
shiny toy guns
styrofoam
tapes n tapes
tokyo police club
tool
tv on the radio
65 days of static
 
This may be very 90's heavy but that is when I was buying the most music. I could keep going all night but this is a good start.

The Shins
Spoon
Sonic Youth
M83
Air
Yo La Tengo
Built to Spill
Breeders
Calexico
Elliot Smith (RIP)
Bright Eyes
Dandy Warhols
Pavement
Superchunk
Stereolab
Helium (very underrated)
Radiohead
Mogwai
God speed You Black Emperor
Tortoise
Wilco
Shellac
Blur
Weezer (Pinkerton only)
PJ Harvey
White Stripes
 
LOVE Portishead!

They just released a CD about 2 or 3 months ago. It's pretty good, but I don't like it nearly as much as "Dummy". Maybe it just hasn't grown on me yet.

Is "Dummy" available on LP? I've never seen it if it is.
 
DJTommyK said:
LOVE Portishead!

They just released a CD about 2 or 3 months ago. It's pretty good, but I don't like it nearly as much as "Dummy". Maybe it just hasn't grown on me yet.

Is "Dummy" available on LP? I've never seen it if it is.
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I assume the new release you're referring to is "portishead 3".
I have Vinyl boxed set for that one. it kame with a "P" shaped USB drive with all the songs in high quality WAV format.

I have seen Dummy on LP, a buddy of mine has it, so it is available.
 
The Pixies have now been mentioned. I think they epitomize the absolute Standard of inventing a new genre. Although they went to a big-ish label pretty quickly, what they were doing was (as far as I can recall) 100% uncharted at the time.

Their quick ascent to underground cult status was indicitave of just how great and DIFFERENT they were. Although Frank Black alone, and the Breeders had limited success after the disbanding of the Pixies, the music of The Pixies today is permanently affixed to the era. And doesnt seem to be losing fans at any rate.

I began listening to them around 1992, (a bit late by Pixies standards) but remember a few total freaks asking "do you have any pixies stuff" at Trax in Wax in Phoenix around 1989/90. These fans were scary heavy goth-type fem-men, and at that time I was still listening to Cream and Tull (and I was probably scrounging through the Buffalo Springfield or Bob Dylan sections trying to source some first pressing this or that)...... The owner (I think on this day it was Dennis) gave 'em a strange look and said... "umm, no, sorry")

That was the last I heard of the Pixies (I think those guys were also looking for the 'Sugar Cubes' too, they're another one!) for several years.

Little did I realize how great they were!

+1 to The Pixies!
 
LPMike said:
The Pixies have now been mentioned. I think they epitomize the absolute Standard of inventing a new genre. Although they went to a big-ish label pretty quickly, what they were doing was (as far as I can recall) 100% uncharted at the time.

Their quick ascent to underground cult status was indicitave of just how great and DIFFERENT they were. Although Frank Black alone, and the Breeders had limited success after the disbanding of the Pixies, the music of The Pixies today is permanently affixed to the era. And doesnt seem to be losing fans at any rate.

I began listening to them around 1992, (a bit late by Pixies standards) but remember a few total freaks asking "do you have any pixies stuff" at Trax in Wax in Phoenix around 1989/90. These fans were scary heavy goth-type fem-men, and at that time I was still listening to Cream and Tull (and I was probably scrounging through the Buffalo Springfield or Bob Dylan sections trying to source some first pressing this or that)...... The owner (I think on this day it was Dennis) gave 'em a strange look and said... "umm, no, sorry")

That was the last I heard of the Pixies (I think those guys were also looking for the 'Sugar Cubes' too, they're another one!) for several years.

Little did I realize how great they were!

+1 to The Pixies!
Click to expand...

'92 was about when I started developing my own taste in music.

Was 14 at the time.

I did have music influence from my sister who was into older alternative from the 80's, and from my dad who always had CHOM fm on, and has a fair sized classic rock collection.

I got into the pixies, pearl jam, Alice in chains, radiohead, blind melon, sonic youth, nirvana, the smashing pumpkins, janes addiction.....etc
I still have an advance copy of Blind melon's '96 release "nico", which has a great interpretation of steppenwolf's "the pusher".


The sugarcubes...hmm, I think I have one album on vinyl.
That's Bjork's first band...
 
I can't believe it took 24 posts before Built To Spill was mentioned.

I don't know if it's hard enough for the OP, but Will Oldham/Bonnie Prince Billy has made some of my favorite albums. Also, Jason Molina/Songs:Ohia's Magnolia Electric Company album is an under-recognized modern classic IMO.
http://www.amazon.com/Magnolia-Electric-Co-Songs-Ohia/dp/B00008AJQ4

Definitely check out Jeffery and Jack Lewis
http://www.amazon.com/City-Eastern-...=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1233508028&sr=1-4

Frank Jordan might be worth checking out.
http://www.amazon.com/Decoy-Frank-J...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1233507922&sr=1-2
 
Alexisonfire
The Besnard Lakes
Chad VanGaalen
City And Colour
Dropkick Murphys
Flogging Molly
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Great Lake Swimmers
Guster
The Helio Sequence
Ingrid Michaelson
Interpol
Ivy
Jim Noir
Lagwagon
Minus The Bear
Moneen
The New Pornographers
Ninety Pound Wuss
Pinback
The Shins
Sigur Ros
Snow Patrol
Stavesacre
Streach Arm Strong
Wintersleep

More to come as they come to mind!
 
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