“I make indie music, therefore I must be original.”

So is that a true statement or not?

“I am indie. Therefore I am original.”

Hmm…

It seems to me this has gotten out of hand. Seeing as all you have to do in order to get a record deal these days is have a certain indie sound. (Not a big record deal, but still.) I spent this morning listening to the beautifully haunting minimalist sensibilities of Spokane’s Little Hours, and then moved right along to the bleaker-still tones of Blindside’s The Great Depression. One of these albums might possibly get coverage and even acclaim at a site devoted to indie music like ours, and the other wouldn’t – it would get written off as hardcore/emo crap, just because of the vocals.

I don’t want to seem elitist here in calling out elitism, but you are not cool or brilliant just because you sound understated and poetic, just like Sea Bear (nothing against them, I like the band).  Good music is not limited to quiet reflection or clean guitar tones or even huge ambiance. Good music is not limited to the Jagjaguwar label or Language of Stone or even the Militia Group or whatever indie label you might prefer. Sometimes good music exists on Capital Records. Sometimes it comes in a shiny package. Sometimes not. Many times not.

But, the fact is, good music cannot be simply defined (or is it simply cannot?). I don’t think anyone would argue this, but I think it’s a thought that goes through our heads every now and then. Even now I’m sitting here defining what cannot be defined for the purpose of stopping the endless defining, when in the next review I write I will give you my opinion of how music should sound. And that’s okay. What I’m trying to communicate here is that while our focus is on “INDIE,” things don’t necessarily end and begin there. It’s a lable we’ve come up with along the way, perhaps even a lable that has been hi-jacked by the mainstream – an inevitability. But the problem is that if you limit yourself to this lable because of some elitist ideology you are going to miss out on so much.

Make no mistake. I love indie rock, pop, what have you. I think it’s the best thing going right now. But fitting a sound is not what matters; good art is… and sometimes good art comes through mediums not quite known for it.

*Things I did not say:

1. indie music is bad 2. liking indie music nearly exclusively is bad 3. indie record labels are bad. 4. major labels are good 5. major labels make good music 6. hardcore is just as artsy as indie