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
- Curran Kanye West
- Kenny Wilco
- Rob Animal Collective
- Brian Colin Meloy
Round 2
- Brian M.I.A.
- Rob Lily Allen
- Kenny Radiohead
- Curran The Decemberists
Round 3
- Curran Neko Case
- Kenny U2
- Kroll Conor Oberst
- Rob Girltalk
- Brian Death Cab For Cutie
Round 4
- Brian Peter, Bjorn & John
- Rob Sigur Ros
- Kroll Ladyhawke
- Kenny Andrew Bird
- Curran Grizzly Bear
Round 5
- Curran Jane’s Addiction
- Kenny Bruce Springsteen
- Matt Jesus Lizard
- Rob Dangermouse
- Brian No Age
Supplemental Draft
- Matt Crystal Stilts
- 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