Indie Rock: For Sale

So, in advance of my trip overseas for New Years, I figured I should clean house on my CD collection and sell some on eBay.  With the advice from TeeCycle Tim, I bundled them in groups of 5 to 10 based on categories.  Some of the categories are a bit of a stretch, but I think I did a good job.  If you’re curious…

• 6 Rap / Hip Hop CD Bundle here*
• 6 CD Bundle: Folk and Indie Singer/Songwriters here
• 9 CD Bundle: Emo Punk Rock here
• 6 CD Bundle: Brit Pop and Brit Rock here
• 9 CD Bundle: Alternative Grunge 90s Rock here
• 6 CD Bundle: Female Singer/Songwriters here
• 7 CD Bundle: GREATEST Rock Artists of All Time here
• 8 CD-DVD Bundle: Rock and Pop here **
• 5 CD Bundle: Punk Indie here
• 6 CD Bundle: Punk Indie Emo here
• 7 CD Bundle: Indie / Pop here
• 8 CD Bundle: Indie/Electro here
• 6 CD Bundle: Indie Rock here

*(yes, I purchased a Limp Bizkit album.  I was young).

**(Hilarious.  Though, I will defend to death why I bought each of these albums)

Who’s NOT Playing Pitchfork This Year

Thanks to the idiotic “Radius Clause” inflicted on Chicago every summer, while we eagerly anticipate which bands are announced to play its  two major music festivals every year, we know immediately who WILL NOT be playing.

"Sad hipster" courtesy of Aubs on Flickr

Time Out Chicago explained it well last year:

For 60 days before and 30 days after their Lollapalooza appearance, Lolla performers are prohibited from booking a show within 250 miles of Chicago (which includes Madison, Milwaukee, Champaign, Indianapolis, Ann Arbor and Iowa City)

Because of these bullshit protectionist agreements we know that any band that plays P-fork (July 17th to 19th) cannot play Lolla (Aug 7th to 9th). Boo, fucking, hoo. But it gets more interesting than that.

Provided that Pitchfork also follows these festival rules we know that any band playing between ~May 18th and ~August 16th will not be sweating it up on stage in Union Park.

This includes TONS of bands, most of which are inconsequential. But there are a few groups that are well-regarded by the haute-indie online tastemakers that now cannot play. (Pitchfork ratings in parenthesis):

• Smoking Popes (n/a)
• Japanther (7.2)
• A Camp (w/ Nina Persson of Cardigans) (Cardigans: 6.5, 7.5)
• Deathvessel (7.2, 7.4) is RIGHT on the cusp, and would be able to play Sunday.
• Doves (7.8, 6.0, 8.0, 6.8)
• Jonathan Richman of The Modern Lovers (6.7, 8.1, 8.0)
• Passion Pit (7.9)
• Sir Richard Bishop (8.2, 7.5, 7.9)
• Black Moth Super Rainbow (5.2, 7.8)
• St. Vincent (8.0)
• Art Brut (7.4, 8.9)
• School of Seven Bells (8.0)

I’m especially suprised to see SXSW * bloggy sweethearts School of Seven Bells and Passion Pit on this list. St. Vincent, though only registering one album on p4k, has been a favorite over the years.  As has Art Brut who will be doing a 5-day residency at Schubas over the summer.

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

Church Rock Epiphany

 Well, it’s not necessarily a NEW idea, but it’s still a pretty novel concept.  I recall early tweer-than-fuck Belle & Sebastian holding concerts in churches, and I think Arcade Fire decided to do some of their Neon Bible shows in church too (obvious much?). 

As of recently though, many bands have made the move to use churches as recording spaces rather than venues.  The aforementioned Neon Bible, and B&S’s Lazy Line Painter Jane EP were both recorded exclusively in churches — both to great effect.  Off the top of my head, I The Decemberists also recording Picaresque in a church as well.

 

 (L) Low plays cathedral, (R) Belle & Sebastian flier

Anyway, this is a LONG way to get around mentioning that I just saw Cleveland’s The Muttering Retreats play at South Union Artsyesterday (interview with T.M.A.’s Tim Thornton to be posted soon). Aside from S.U.A. being the first German-language school ever built in Chicago, it also operated as the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church before South Union Arts took over the space… the highlight of the cathedral is a GIANT NEON CRUCIFIX… more creepy than the one from Se7en.  Jealous much, Arcade Fire?  You shoulda played here.

 

(L) South Union Arts in Chicago, (R) Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible cover art

So yeah, Indie Rock in a church is an interesting experience.  Which is now why I have to mention that both Jenny Lewis and “slowcore” legends Low, will be playing what Oh My Rockness is referring to as “Epiphany” in September.  Epiphany is, indeed, Epiphany Episcopal Church on 201 South Ashland.

 

(L) Epiphany, (R) Jenny Lewis

• Arcade Fire mp3: “Rebellion (Lies)” (via Different is Dangerous)
• Belle & Sebastian mp3: “I Know Where Summer Goes” (via Letters Have No Arms!)
• The Muttering Retreats mp3: “Pastiche” (via I Rock Cleveland)
• Jenny Lewis mp3: “The Big Guns” (via Cannibal Cheerleader)
• Low mp3: “Over the Ocean” (via Large-hearted Boy)