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Written by: Brandon Schug
Indie music is no longer as independent as it once was. It has lost its hipster charm. And, if you’re like me, this might make many of you descend into increasingly more alternative genres – BUT WAIT! Don’t forget your first love! Here are three bands whose music is most decidedly “mainstream indie” but who have enough raw talent to be heard through the static of everyone else’s failed attempts.
The Republic Tigers – Keep Color
The Republic Tigers is the best indie band you’ve never heard of. This mystical, fuzzed out, acoustic pop outfit sounds as though it was broadcast in the late 80s but decided to joyride through space for a couple decades before falling back to earth. The Republic Tigers borrow elements of Enya, The Flaming Lips, and even acoustic bands like Travis in crafting their only album to date, Keep Color.
Something rarely found in bands of this genre is real mastery of anthemic song progression. Each song starts in a slow haze comprised of lofty electric guitar and entrancing lyrical harmonies. However, the songs don’t remain in first gear.
Each verse carefully builds speed, setting pace with slow drum beats that hint at this speed with their offbeat rhythms. The acoustic background that listeners may have forgotten about by now becomes prominent once again and melts into a multi-layer, psychedelic, soaring melody.
Songs such as Golden Sand and Feelin’ the Future are kind enough to give what amounts to a countdown. Other songs like Buildings and Mountains aren’t so kind. Describing the experience of a Republic Tigers song once it hits its apex is best described by their own lyrics, “Like a hay ride with hover jets on either side…”
Unfortunately, The Republic Tigers suffered from poor live-show reviews and didn’t achieve the mainstream success they had hoped for and certainly deserved. After sacking one of their less-inspired band members, they are currently working on their second album and should be touring in support of that to hopefully much better reviews. Every song off Keep Color is worth listening to. To start, don’t miss Buildings and Mountains, Made Concrete, and Fight Song on myspace.com/therepublictigers.
The Helio Sequence – Keep Your Eyes Ahead
The latest creation by indie rock band The Helio Sequence has a painful story behind it. After a year of touring their previous album, lead singer Brandon Summers was at a crossroads. His doctors told him that he shouldn’t sing for at least three months, as his vocal chords were almost entirely destroyed. In response to this news, The Helio Sequence made a sonic shift in their sound toward the folksier end of the spectrum. Anyone who knows The Helio Sequence knows that their newest album has a different sound than their previous four albums. The change is more than welcome, however.
You might be surprised to hear the sad groaning harmonica chords featured in a song such as You Can Come to Me, which otherwise is composed of retro video game sound effects and soaring electric guitar. Shed Your Love is another example of their new sound. The Helio Sequence tries their hand at full-on folk music with surprisingly good results. While The Helio Sequence doesn’t reach the same level of emotional closeness of the best folk rock bands, this slow-paced acoustic track certainly has heart.
Now, if you believe that The Helio Sequence has entirely moved on to folk, you are incorrect. Many of their new tracks feature their signature upbeat, scientific electro-rock sound. Be sure to check out tracks such as Can’t Say No and Keep Your Eyes Ahead.
Unfortunately, The Helio Sequence seems to be heading in the wrong direction, with each album falling shorter of the previous. If you’d like to hear them in their prime, definitely snag a copy of Don’t Look Away off their album Love and Distance. Hear more at myspace.com/theheliosequence.
Broken Bells – Broken Bells
Legendary electro-hip-hop producer Danger Mouse has teamed up with indie crooner James Mercer of The Shins to deliver a sound that dozens of indie bands have sought for and failed. For both musicians, this is a departure from their familiar genres. Danger Mouse finally gets to try his hand at indie pop with less driving beats and more lofty, electric elements. Mercer also leaves behind his typical Ben Gibbard-esque style, crooning for a more Maroon 5-ish version of rocking out.
The production quality of each track is mind-blowing. Danger Mouse has recognized that less is more, adding only a pinch of flanger, phaser, or reverb-laden electronic sound where appropriate. The result is a chilled-out atmosphere of minimalist folk electronica.
It is unfair to call Broken Bells “the new Postal Service,” but such a description is apt. The band doesn’t stray very far from The Shins, rounding the occasional track with rhythmic acoustic chords. However, to the trained ear, it is evident that they are not trying to create a Shins/Danger Mouse mashup, but a sound all their own. Only in a few tracks do they actually achieve this, in The Ghost Inside, Sailing to Nowhere, The Mall and Misery. If you follow the indie music scene at all, you’ve definitely heard about Broken Bells a million times already, but if not, check them out on brokenbells.com.
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