I Ate Your Microphone

There are several Indie artists that are striving to make a name and continue to move forward.  Other Indie bands are there to make an impact, move certain styles and sounds forward, and leave their name as a tribute. 

Stereo Apollo is of the second type.  This Indie band comes from Holland.  There still, while reflecting classic rock, also progresses the sounds of rock forward into a progressive sound and feel of the genre.  It is stated that this band was equated with underground bands that have shaken the sound of rock and punk.  There CD, called a Deja Vu Just Passed Me By backs up their progressive sound.

The band is no longer playing together because one of the members received cancer.  However, the music that they did produce is known to be a value to Indie artists everywhere.  A tribute to their band can be found on www.myspace.com/stereoapollo. 

The Pixies are back. That’s right, the indie band that can be credited with influencing some of the greatest bands to come out of the early 1990s (including Nirvana, Radiohead, and Weezer) and with being personal faves of legends like U2 and David Bowie, got back together in 2004 after a long break involving some serious fighting.

The Pixies are actually in the process of recording a new album, to add to their studio albums produced so far (Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa, Doolittle, Bossanova ,and Trompe Le Monde). Their latestrelease Wave of Mutilation demonstrated that the band had lost little in its eleven year break, with the single “Broken Face” carrying Frank Black’s quirky vocals and angsty lyrics over a mixture of punk/party music instrumentals.

Whether or not the Pixies can overcome the troubles that haunted them in the past remains to be seen. Certainly, the band members are much more mature in appearance than eleven years ago (weight gain and hair loss has given them a distinctly un-indie look). The pressures that led to the implosion of the band might be behind them, though, as bassist Kim Deal has proven through other projects (The Breeders) that she is as capable a vocalist and writer as Black.

Pixies on MySpace 

Tags: pixies, music, independent music, indie, indie music

What do you get when you throw a circus, some emo music, heavy electronica, punk, and laternative together? You might get one of the most successful indie bands ever, and certainly the most successful of 2005.

Panic! At the Disco has built on an unlikely yet incredible mixture of eclectic tastes and exploded onto the rock scene. The band’s debut album A Fever You Cant Sweat Out sold more than one million copies in the first year of its release.

Perhaps the very mix of styles is responsible for the Las Vegas’ band’s huge success. Certainly, there is something here for everyone. The punk is to the forefront in “The Only Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage”, although the introduction and the verses have definite Spanish dance vibes to them as well as an incredibly brave synth solo. “But It’s Better If You Do” is definite funk mixed with some circus tent solos, while “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” is an emotional trip from creepy anger to blazing anger, Brendon Urie’s vocals fearlessly followed by both his and Ryan Ross’ guitars.

If you can’t guess from the song titles, the band really tends to focus on early adulthood issues like split romances and triangle tragedies, all tinged with a growing awareness of the sad state of the human condition. Not many bands can really claim to have broke out of every mould and fashioned a sound all their own, destined to be emulated, but Panic!  might have opened the door to what might be the new millenium’s first definitive genre.