Enchanting Indie Beat: What Is Indie Music and How to Listen to It

Coming to any store, playing in a live dealer online casino, looking into our favorite coffee shop, we always hear the same pleasant motives. Light melancholy with electronic elements, original and not at all pop, clings and sits in the head. Let’s take a look at what indie is and how to learn to listen to it.

The History of Indie

Making music, releasing an album, promoting it is far from being the work of one person. In 1970-1980, new artists did not appear anywhere, they were created by corporations. Labels literally dictated their terms and did not allow them to create. Therefore, the music was pop and similar to each other.

Then independent studios appeared. They were independent and their artists created music that was unique and non-conformist. Originality, creative originality – these are the main features of indie artists.

Indie music was recorded on the knee, in the garage, or in your own room. Free, light, and at the same time with notes of the underground – this is how we know the modern indie culture. Creators did not create their music to become famous, to receive a Grammy or a star on the Walk of Fame. They did it for themselves because they felt that way. The approval of friends and family was enough for them, and the performance at the city festival in the park was the top of what they wanted.

Indie artists became successful due to the fact that they do their job the way they feel, not obeying the voice from above and not following the lead of the big boss.

Indie Sub-styles

Defining an indie style is easy enough. Most of it is soft rock, flavored with electronics and folk motives. There are several styles of music in this direction, the difference between them is not global, but a specialist will be able to distinguish one from the other.

Indie Rock

The sound of this sub-style is the most popular among the indie genre. Soft notes of garage rock pour through the prism of Brit-pop and shoegaze. When you buy a record, you cannot predict how it will sound. It’s a mix of post-punk, blues, retro, and lo-fi.

Indie Pop

Pop music with new wave elements. Performers of this style often use punk in their compositions. The musicians added orchestral pop to Britpop for an original sound. Indie electronics Techno, synth-pop, any machine music woven into a rock composition creates this style. Hard and even sometimes aggressive sound with acoustic notes is the hallmark of indie electronics.

Indie Folk

Folk motives and easy catchy rock melodies are what make us happy with this style. A sophisticated listener will be able to distinguish any style from the first notes. But each of them is beautiful and pleasant in its own way, even for a beginner.

Music of Dreamers

All the bands playing indie music are as alike as one. But, at the same time, you recognize and distinguish each of them from the first chords. Indie music is something “beyond”. The main highlight of the style is its autonomy. It cannot be made to change, depending on the needs of the audience, it cannot be compared to any other genre. If it can be difficult to distinguish, for example, hip-hop and r-n-b, hardcore and screamo, then indie cannot be confused with anything. In a broad sense, indie is everything, but not everything is indie.

Indie music is something that is too unusual and extraordinary, bizarre and dreamy, perhaps incomprehensible and of poor quality, but it’s always cool. Indy is hypnotizing and mesmerizing. Without knowing the lyrics, you can guess what the song is about and draw it in your imagination. This is not one time. You want to listen to it all the time.