Indie: Mirah and K Records

I can distinctly remember listening to (a)spera by Mirah one day two summers ago while driving back home after dropping my mom off at work. I don't remember exactly why I had done this since she works in the city and I work in the suburbs but it happened.

Driving down Elston during late morning with this album playing was oddly peaceful. I'm sure the fact that Elston has no CTA bus also contributed to the mood.

Anyways, that's what Mirah is, not even just this one album. They are very mellow and soothing, not something I would usually choose to put on a summer playlist. But if your car has A/C, I would recommend listening to them to reach maximum amounts of chill.

Mirah belong to K Records, an independent label hailing form Olympia, Washington. The list of artists who have worked with K Records is expanisve, including such acts like Kimya Dawson of Moldy Peaches fame, Talulah Gosh, Tiger Trap, Bikini Kill and more.

The label is opposed to corporate control over music and so strictly supports independent music and underground DIY culture. This documentary was made with the label as its subject.

While I watch that, you should definitely have a listen to Mirah.

Indie Rock: Camera Obscura

My first impression of Camera Obscura as being a group from the 60s or 70s due to the old-timey vocal styling of Tracyanne Campbell and the music accompaniment was, to my dismay, false. Why do they have to be so reminiscent of Nico but with a twee pop twist?

Upon looking the group up on Wikipedia for the first time, I was finally rightly enlightened that they were in fact formed in 1996! Really, truly.

It is kind of embarrassing how long I've went without knowing this fact but I am now even more impressed knowing that the group is able to produce a classic sound while being a modern band.

Even more shocking to me is the fact they are from Scotland, not California, as I thought them to be, based on their mellow surfer sound a la a more polished Best Coast.

This group is perfect to blast through the speakers of your car while driving around in the summer time with the windows down, sunglasses on and hand waving through the wind. Or at least that's how I maximize my enjoyment of these feel good, poppy indie tunes.

A perfect example that can be used for this is their entire album Let's Get Out of This Country.

But here is one of my favorites of theirs, for purposes of blasting in a car with the windows down or listening to quietly in your bedroom:

[UPDATE: Made on 4/8/14 at 3:30 pm]

Indie Rock: Rilo Kiley

One of my favorite quintessential indie groups would be Rilo Kiley, although you won't hear lead singer Jenny Lewis label it as such.

In 2003, Marli Guzzetta of the Houston Press, described the sound on Rilo Kiley's The Execution of All Things as "the diary of an optimistic '50s pop star whose music has been deflowered by electric guitars and synthesizers, crushed and disenchanted by lost love and broken homes."

If that description doesn't make you want to listen or doesn't already enforce your own views on the band, then you must be listening to Rilo Kiley the wrong way. Please see an indie doctor ASAP.

This song was the first I heard because as with most bands, you are first introduced to their most recent work rather than previous albums. I would relentlessly (and embarrassingly) belt it out alone in my room and dance when I felt sad.

Hopefully it makes you do the same and becomes as inspiring of an anthem to you as it is to me. 

[UPDATE: Made on 4/10/14 at 4 pm]