I Ate Your Microphone

Rhapsody.com classifies The Shins under the Indie Rock/ Baroque Pop category. But what does that even mean? Does it properly sum up their sound? No. The Shins have influences drawing from different corners. Yes, they are a rock band with some country influences. Yes, the have a pop sound in there as well. And then, there’s that unmistakable Beach Boys flavor that seeps through.

This Portland Oregon based group draws from all of these things, and comes up with something that is like them in some respects, but vastly different in others. The band is made up of several multitalented musicians. James Mercer, Martin Crandall, Eric Johnson, Dave Hernandez, and Jesse Sandoval each bring their own flair and style to the band.

The Shins have released four albums - When You Land Here It’s Time to Return in 1997, Oh, Inverted World in 2001, Chutes Too Narrow in 2003, and four years later in 2007 they finally released their forth, Wincing the Night Away. Fans and critics have determined that it was worth the wait. They’ve also been featured on several compilation albums such as the soundtracks for Garden State and Wicker Park. They also have an exclusive itunes live release of their newest album.

Tags: independent music, indie, indie music, the shins, music

Canadian born Tegan and Sara identical twins with distinctly different styles. On the surface, it may be hard to identify the difference between them because their voices actually sound similar. But if you listen closely, you realize that they both bring something different to the music. One delivers the lyrics harder and sharper.

The other has a soft voice that balances the music out quite nicely. They are certainly an updated, edgier version of groups like the Indigo girls and artists like Ani DiFranco.

They had their beginnings when someone submitted their music to the George Warz music competition, which they won. They’ve released six albums since 1999 and several demos before that. Their latest, titled The Con, was released in July 2007 and debuted as number 34 on the Billboard charts.

Most of their songs feature one of the twins in the lead role - usually the one who wrote the lyrics has the lead. The other provides the harmony and support. This works well for their songs because the similar tone yet original delivery of each is very complimentary.

Besides creating albums, they’ve also made several television and movie appearances. These include Late Night wiith Conan O’Brien, The Late Show with David Letterman, Grey’s Anatomy, Veronica Mars, and Monster In-Law.

Tags: independent music, indie music, tegan and sara, indie, music

Introduction:

Independent music or famously known as ‘Indie’ music, is used as the term to describe the independence of music from major commercial record labels. These groups are mostly autonomous, self made and more precisely are pioneers. The people from this "Indie" class do everything on their own in recording, publishing and performances. Indie groups are usually not interested in taking help of any big names from Music Industry.

Birth of an Indie Music Band:

The history of Indie Music dates long back in 1960’s. The format of the music then was pop, rock and roll and a slight dash of R&B. The lyrics of the songs was inspired by peace, love and anti-war thoughts. There immerged some bands like "Velvet Underground". This was the band which could be considered as a real "Indie" band. They did everything regarding their album all on their own and created a difference in traditional music. They created songs comprising of almost everything belonging to that time. They tried the new style which was not tried by any other group. Unfortunately, the "Velvet Underground" band sold very few records of them. Even though the musicians are generating various kinds of music today, they are still amazed with the creation of "Velvet Underground".

In the era of 1970 more experimented music originated. There were numerous groups which tried diversity in music and immerged as music bands. One more new form of music aroused during this period named as "Progressive Rock". The music was distinct from hard rock of Beatles and soft music in 1960’s. This was the base of electronic instrumental era that took place in 1990. Music bands like Sire Records and Stiff Records were the most popular that time, which invented "New Wave" form of music.

Indie music took a stiff growth in 1980s. In this period a new form of music immerged known as "alternative music", which was a group formed out of distortion of garage bands. In 1990 the Indie music changed its face. The music was more promising and a missing link between modern music. The commercialization of these pioneers was on a high and they seem to be tied up with major labels than their own Indie labels. The Indie fans got upset with this. Soon the picture changed at the end of 1990s and Indie music got its original identity once again.