Indie Fantasy

With Fantasy Football a long ways away, and with Fantasy everything else sucking, we have created the obvious next step in “fantasy gaming”…. Fantasy Indie Rock.

Is there any better way to monitor the commodity that has become “indie” than by drafting artists as properties and tallying points?  I don’t think so.  It’s a simple formula:  Their name gets mentioned on Pitchfork or Stereogum news, you get a point. Simple as that.

So me, Curran, Kenny, Matt and Rob sat down and did our inaugural “Indie Rock Draft” this week, and began tallying points.  The scoreboard is on a Google cloud spreadsheet so everyone can make changes and update their rosters as need be.

I’ll keep you updated on it’s progress, but for your enjoyment (and so I can tag the shit out of this post), here’s how the draft went (please note, Matt came late):

Round 1

1. Curran    Kanye West
2. Kenny    Wilco
3. Rob    Animal Collective
4. Brian    Colin Meloy

Round 2

1. Brian    M.I.A.
2. Rob    Lily Allen
3. Kenny    Radiohead
4. Curran    The Decemberists

Round 3

1. Curran    Neko Case
2. Kenny    U2
3. Kroll    Conor Oberst
4. Rob    Girltalk
5. Brian    Death Cab For Cutie

Round 4

1. Brian    Peter, Bjorn & John
2. Rob    Sigur Ros
3. Kroll    Ladyhawke
4. Kenny    Andrew Bird
5. Curran    Grizzly Bear

Round 5

1. Curran    Jane’s Addiction
2. Kenny    Bruce Springsteen
3. Matt   Jesus Lizard
4. Rob    Dangermouse
5. Brian    No Age

Supplemental Draft

1. Matt    Crystal Stilts
2. Matt    Pains of Being Pure At Heart

The strategies were interesting… do you draft small-time bands with their SXSW stock rising, do you try to take a big guess on who’s going to be announced at Lollapalooza (or the billion of other festivals doing press releases),  do you risk taking the frontman of a band in the hopes you can double-up on points for their solo AND group material, or pick-up a producer who has his hands in a LOT of recordings but sometimes isn’t mentioned in shorter news articles.  Ohhhh, strategery.

If you’re curious, here are the top-5 scorers as of yesterday, 3/25:

1. Animal Collective - 6
2. Dinosaur Jr - 5
3. Death Cab For Cutie (tie) – 4
3. Passion Pit (tie) – 4
5. *13 bands tied with 3 points each*… Beach House, Billy Corrigan, Black Lips, Conor Oberst, Department of Eagles, Dirty Projectors, Grizzly Bear, Jimmy Chamberlin, Kanye West, No Age, Soundgarden, Vivian Girls, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

BPRB Updates – The Fork, The Whistler, and The Nineties

New stuff added to the “Bored People Are Boring” things to-do list…

Photo from Flickr by Steph Wesolowski

Wow, it’s been a while since I updated.  First July show is up, Pitchfork has announced some of their lineup, and people, namely TimeOut Chicago and Chicagoist, have already begun tittering about Lollapalooza.

I’ll talk about a few of the new exciting ones coming up later (HELLO Yo La Tengo all-request show?!?!), the ongoing free shows at Logan Square’s The Whistler and the continuing resurgence of Early 90′s Alterno-rock… two more of which are from Chicago.  Hi Smoking Popes!  Jesus Lizard! Also, hi Toadies! Make up your mind… MAKE UP YOUR MIND AND I PROMISE YOU!

All dates added on 3/16:

March:

• Cut Copy (DJ Set)
• Knightlife
• Daisy O’Dell
• Jordan Z
• Mr. Russia
• Amrita
• Raise High The Roof Beam
• Surrender Dorothy
• D. Rider
• Bobby Conn
• Monica Bou Bou
• Blue Ribbon Glee Club

April:

• Barcelona
• Northpilot
• Tight Phantomz

May:

• Ponytail
• Leonard Cohen
• Crystal Antlers
• Vivian Girls
• Manchester Orchestra
• Audrye Sessions
• Winston Audio
• Loney, Dear
• Chin Up Chin Up
• Yea Big
• Kid Static
• The Hood Internet
• Mad Happy
• Melvins (performing Houdini in its entirety)
• Toadies

June:

• Smoking Popes
• Built To Spill (Pitchfork Music Festival)
• The Jesus Lizard (Pitchfork Music Festival)
• Yo La Tengo (Pitchfork Music Festival)
• Tortoise (Pitchfork Music Festival)
• The National (Pitchfork Music Festival)
• Pharaoh Monch (Pitchfork Music Festival)
• The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Pitchfork Music Festival)

July:

• Explosions in the Sky