Tag: Indie Pop

2001, Music

It’s a Wonderful Life (2001) by Sparklehorse

Mark Linkous was one of the more reliable lo fi singer-songwriters of the 1990s, both for quality of songs – and relative paucity of song fragments – and for relative stylistic diversity with those songs. I’ve only heard the first two records before this one but I appreciated his diversity paired with song quality and …

2001, Music

Things We Lost in the Fire (2001) by Low

Low are, to the best of my knowledge, one of those bands that just go out and do their thing over and over and over again. There’s nothing wrong with that necessarily, but it makes dipping in and out of their catalogue a little difficult, because you don’t know which of their albums are really …

2000, Music

Suburban Light (2000) by The Clientele

I often wonder about the historical perspectives (or lack therefore) of ’90s and ’00s music critics, particularly the young people. Because I often encounter highly acclaimed albums from these decades which sound to me as extremely derivative of other times and places. Sometimes it sounds like nostalgia, sometimes almost outright plagiarism but, regardless, I’m always …

2002, Music

Mass Romantic (2000) by The New Pornographers

Will never understand the big deal with power pop. I’ve listened to many power pop albums over the years and I just don’t get why people like it so much. I can only conclude that the people who love power pop – and get way too excited by records like this – like different things …

1995, Music

Ben Folds Five (1995)

At some point during the last 30 or so years before this album’s release, the piano stopped being a rock instrument. That’s particularly weird given its primary in the creation of rock and roll, as it was piano and saxophone, before electric guitar, that helped create what became rock and roll (in part because they …

1995, Music

Fun Trick Noisemaker (1995) by The Apples in Stereo

My understanding is that this is the first Elephant 6 album. So, for people who care about such things, that’s a really big deal. For the rest of us, it’s certainly much less of a big deal. Moreover, the degree to which The Apples in Stereo truly represent that beloved “lo fi indie pop” aesthetic …

2000, Music

Figure 8 (2000) by Elliott Smith

I think Elliott Smith is a good songwriter. As I have said when reviewing his other albums, I really don’t get the idea that he is one of the great songwriters of his generation, but he’s certainly very good. His songs are a little too poppy for my tastes, but I can at least appreciate …

2000, Music

The Discovery of a World Inside the Moone (2000) by The Apples in Stereo

I read that this was an attempt by Apples in Stereo to sound more like they do on stage, so it’s rawer than normal. I’ve heard one of their earlier albums – Tone Soul Evolution – but I don’t remember it. But reading my review that sounds like it might be true. But it’s kind …

2000, Music

And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000) by Yo La Tengo

I love I Can Hear the Heart Beating As One. I didn’t initially but, over the years, I’ve come to really, really enjoy it and also come to regard it as one of the great indie rock albums of the era. One of the things I love about it is its relative diversity something that …

1985, Music

Meat is Murder (1985) by The Smiths

One of two things is happening: either I am slowly – slowly – getting so inured to The Smiths that I no longer hate their guts – or I have listened to enough of the British music of the 1980s to finally understand why people thought they were such a big deal. I still don’t …

1990, Music

Flood (1990) by They Might Be Giants

I was pretty overwhelmed by Lincoln and not necessarily in a good way. I had heard so much about the band but didn’t really know anything. On Lincoln they came across to me as a sort of poor mans’ Camper Van Beethoven, which probably not fair for many reasons. But I feel very differently about …

1990, Music

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (1990) by The Sundays

Why do I know The Sundays’ biggest hit? I was 8 when it came out and absolutely not listening to contemporary radio. My only guess is that the video got played a lot on Canada’s music video channel when I was older. Because I’ve definitely heard this song, and I can’t come up with any …

1994, Music

Mars Audiac Quintet (1994) by Stereolab

I don’t love Stereolab’s shtick though I get why lots of people do. So my mileage with them varies in so much as I can convince myself that the album is either important (because they probably pioneered their particular fusion) or how ti compares to the other albums of theirs I’ve managed to get around …

1984, Music

The Smiths (1984)

The British music critic establishment and whomever else greeted this band as saviours must have been so desperate for guitars to greet this band – this jangle pop music – as the thing to deliver them from synthesizers, instead of something louder or more interesting (or both). The Smiths are one of those mystifying bands …

1998, Music

The Boy With the Arab Strap (1998) by Belle and Sebastian

I have heard a lot about Belle & Sebastian over the years but I guess I never read anything that made me think that I needed to listen to them. Any time I read the word “twee” I certainly get the idea that I won’t like the music being described, whether or not that’s actually …

1998, Music

Electro-Shock Blues (1998) by Eels

I had long heard of Eels but was actually completely unaware I had heard him, as I had never made the connection between “Last Stop: This Town,” which I vaguely remember from High School, and Eels the band name. So all this time I thought Eels was something else but I had actually heard what …

1998, Music

Something About Airplanes (1998) by Death Cab for Cutie

Much of what the world knows as “alternative” is actually post grunge, a subgenre of alternative if we’ve being generous, that has a little in common with alternative and a lot more in common with mainstream rock music. Much of what people now seem to dislike about alternative rock music and its brief dominance of …

1998, Music

Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998) by Liz Phair

Phair is a strong songwriter, she writes catchy songs with lyrics that are above average. (I often liken her to PJ Harvey at times, given both have a penchant for writing lyrics from the perspective of other people. Sure, many lyricists do that but they are explicit about it.)

1993, Music

Transient Random-Noise Bursts With Announcements (1993) by Stereolab

I am familiar with what one might call “peak” Stereolab, the sound of the band in the mid 19990s. They are not a band I particularly enjoy but they are a band I respect, given their pretty much utterly unique fusion of styles. (They basically have their own genre, in many ways. And I wouldn’t …