The Indie Rock Movement

Indie rock is a musical genre that is constantly being rediscovered. Some of indie rock bands are easier to label than others as they break up, grow more popular and out of the indie rock genre, or stay where they are, comfortable for the time being. A few of the more popular and well known indie rock bands would be The Shins, Death Cab for Cutie, Beck, and Feist. Some are more recently popular, while others have been developing since the 90's. Some of the one hit wonders, the ones that topped the charts a couple of months ago but have now retreated back into the darkness from hence they came are Yeal Naim, the Ting Tings, and the Postal Service. However, out of these growing and dying artists have been born a series of bands mostly from New York, which are slowly rising in popularity but remain difficult to define. These are the popular indie rock bands that stay where they are. Some of them are the vague, non-descriptive groups that are only known by teenage punk rockers, while others are the ones hundreds of teenage girls would give an arm for just to see. 

Vampire Weekend, which is one of the most popular new indie rock bands, successfully mixes African inspired music with four, white, New York scholars. One of there most popular hits, Oxford Comma, has been topping the charts while hundreds of blogs, reviews, and articles have been praising their catchy tunes and indie sound.

The Strokes, who are another New York based indie rock band came out with their last hit in '06, You Only Live Once. Before that, they had topped the charts with others including Reptilla, Last Nite, and 12:51. They are scheduled to rejoin in 2009 and begin working on another album, though there last attempt was received badly. 

Spoon, which is an indie rock/pop band that originated from Austin Texas has given a couple of hits, but nothing serious. There last album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, delivered one of their most popular tracks yet, The Underdog, which was featured in the movie Cloverfield.

Interpol is yet another New York based indie rock band that seemed to have risen from the grungy cellars of Manhattan itself - but surprisingly well dressed. Their debut album, Turn On the Bright Lights delivered three major hits: NYC, PDA, and Obstacle 1. Their second album, Antics, gained even more respect with catchier tunes like Evil, C'mere, and Slow Hands. Finally, their latest album Our Love To Admire, which released a year ago, came up with another three hits that seem to show a different side of the New York group: Pioneer to Falls, No I in Threesome, and the Heinrich Maneuver. Though I felt I needed to include Interpol in this list of rising Indie rock bands, they are certainly more vague and unknown than Spoon, or the Strokes. 

Here are some links to reviews on the different artists I mentioned:

Interpol: Antics

The Shins: Oh Inverted World

Beck: Modern Guilt