Broken Social Scene were the band to be a decade ago. They had two critically acclaimed albums under their belt: 2002’s You Forgot It In People and 2005’s Broken Social Scene. They had a devoted enough following to sell out three nights in a row at the same venue. And perhaps most importantly, they became […]
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There’s a general consensus in music that you need multiple musicians to form a band, while an individual is considered solo artist or a singer-songwriter. If only it were that simple. Multiple indie acts over the years have muddied these definitions, making it difficult to tell where the line is drawn. Bright Eyes revolved
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When Phoenix hit it big in 2009 with their hits “Lizstomania” and “1901” off the album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, there were a couple surprises in store for their newly-acquired legion of listeners. First, that the band had been around for quite a while – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was actually their fourth album (they released
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It’s easy enough to describe the New Pornographers’ music. Over the course of six studio albums released in just under a decade and a half, the band has created an incredibly distinctive style of upbeat indie rock filled with pop hooks and singalong choruses. Pinning them down is something else entirely. The New Pornographers are
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Reading the titles of Canadian indie rock duo Japandroids’ albums gives you a fairly good sense of what they’re all about. Their 2009 debut Post-Nothing suggests a band lacking a grand vision of what they’re supposed to be, bucking subgenre designations like “post-punk” and “post-rock” in the process. More descriptive is the band’s 2012 sophomore
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Bands all deal with fame in different ways. Some embrace it, and actively cultivate their following, while others shun the limelight. For Irish rock group Two Door Cinema Club, it turned out to be too much of a good thing. Their 2010 debut album Tourist History propelled the band to fame with a dance-rock
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Getting too attached to one of Montreal’s albums is generally a bad idea. During their 19 years on the scene, the band – or rather, sole consistent member and frontman Kevin Barnes – has released a total of 14 studio albums, constantly changing their style throughout. Starting with simple acoustic guitar ditties, Barnes then
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As various indie rock trends have come and gone over the years, Band of Horses have remained remarkably consistent. Since the release of their debut Everything All The Time a decade ago, the band has put out three studio albums that all have the same distinct sound – a very American style of indie rock
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Nick Thorburn can’t seem to catch a break. Although he gained a great deal of popularity with indie pop group the Unicorns, they released all of one studio album (Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?) in 2003 before splitting. Despite a litany of musical projects since this time, including five releases as
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Parquet Courts have been nothing if not prolific these past few years. After releasing their debut American Specialties in 2011, they released the acclaimed Light Up Gold in 2012 and the EP Tally All The Things You Broke in 2013. In 2014 they again earned critical acclaim with Sunbathing Animal, only for the band’s guitarists
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For the uninitiated, the Last Shadow Puppets are a side project of Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner and former Rascals frontman Miles Kane. If you haven’t heard their name recently or even at all, that’s understandable given their last release The Age of the Understatement came out eight years ago. This album was also
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As indie rock has grown to incorporate elements of electronica and pop, it seems like it has done so at the expense of gimmick-free guitar-based rock groups. A band that only has bass, drums and guitar that does not try to incorporate any particular genre or subgenre into its sound really has to make
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