What are some good Indie albums that came out this decade?

love is simple- akron/family

you forgot it in people- broken social scene

friend oppurtunity- deerhoof

microcastle- deerhunter

let me introduce my friends- i'm from barcelona

drum's not dead- liars

twin cinema- the new pornographers

hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?- of montreal

brigadoon- p:ano

can't go back- papercuts

come on feel the illinoise- sufjan stevens

shut up i am dreaming- sunset rubdown

beast moans- swan lake

dear science- tv on the radio

gipsy freedom- wooden wand and the vanishing voice

indie means signed to an independent label, it has taken on a very broad meaning when used as a genre title, mainly it is music influenced by 60s folk and pop rock, psychedelic rock, 80s post punk and many other styles, it is a sort of useless word that the media fell in love with and devoured.

Listen to:

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News

The Shins - (EVERYTHING! They're awesome.)

The Fratellis - Here We Stand

The Honorary Title - Scream and Light Up The Sky

Hidden In Plain View - Hidden In Plain View

Say Anything - In Defense Of The Genre

Saves The Day - Through Being Cool, I'm Sorry I'm Leaving

Interpol - PDA, Our Love To Admire

Two Tongues - Two Tongues

Indie from Wikipedia:

In popular music, independent music, often abbreviated as indie, is a term used to describe independence from major commercial record labels and an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording and publishing.

Independent Labels have been known to strive for minimal influence on the artist they represent, avoiding the artist-cultivating behavior of many major labels. Artists represented by Indie labels have been known to be focused more on producing music than becoming wealthy and/or well known.

Personally the genre is too big and all in composing. I don't feel like naming tons of band so your lucky I have my stash list of indie bands for this exact instance.

The Shins

Andrew Bird

Modest Mouse

Guster

Band of Horses

Spoon

Aqua Lung

Badly Drawn Boy

The Coral

Guided By Voices

Beirut

Brett Dennen

Carolina Liar

Cold War Kids (mainly Hospital Beds and Hang Me Up To Dry)

The Decemberists

The Electric Touch

Paper Route

Franz Ferdinand

Gomez

The Hold Steady

The Killers

The Last Shadow Puppets

The Little Ones

My Morning Jacket

A Northern Chorus

Of Montreal

The Poly Phonic Spree

The Postal Service

Rouge Wave

Sleepercar

The Strokes

Travis

Zox

Vampire Weekend

Wheat

Midlake

Wilco

TV On The Radio

The Silver Seas

Airport Girl

Supergrass

Carbon Leaf

Sufjan Stevens

As somebody already stated it means unsigned artists putting out their own stuff or artists signed to backwater "labels" that have zero market penetration. Audioslave's first release was technically an indie effort as they were unsigned and just gave it away to the public at first. Later they moved it too a label and went commercial with it.

Easily my favorite is the self titled release by Brand New Sin

http://www.brandnewsin.com/

Space Opera wise check out Darren Roger's work. He all but invented the genre. His most recent efforts are more commercially viable but still very different from anything you'd find in a store :)

His space opera days

http://rigelorionis.com/free_Music.html

More recent stuff

www.myspace.com/imagineerrecords

There are quite a few other good ones. More often I find that there are one or two songs I really like from this group and that group but in terms of a whole effort not that much.

indie is short for independent, such as indie films. it cannot be a genre as it implies nothing of the music, it merely indicates that a band is independent of major labels, the riaa, such as fugazi was their entire career

if anything it should imply the presence of diy and be more of a lifestyle than a genre

independent albums off the top of my head

...and you will know us by the trail of dead album - century of self

that album really stands out, but there are literally hundreds of independent albums from this decade that should be required listening

The Wombats are Indie I think... Their album 'A Guide To Love Loss And Desperation' is pretty good.

Shocking Pinks by the Shocking Pinks

(released in 2007)

It used to mean independant bands, i.e. unsigned, but it has come to refer to a style of not-quite-rock.

I guess the later couple of placebo and garbage albums were pretty good (if they count?)

placebo:

Black Market Music (2000)

Sleeping with Ghosts (2003)

Meds (2006)

(i haven't heard the latest yet)

garbage:

2001: Beautiful Garbage

2005: Bleed Like Me

bq. Sometimes I don't start a sentence with a capital. What Happened?

real bq. You know; I was coming to your question with hopes to see the usual link you supply, to check that very same question.

All I know is " Independent". But that seems vague.

Stuie said...."The Shins" ..... I like.

Flogging Molly is awesome

The Killers have kinda gone indie

I don't know if ARANDA is indie or not but they rock.