This week on the Colton Vibe, we’re talking about indie music.

What is indie music, you ask? It’s all about DIY (“Do It Yourself,” for the uninitiated).

It’s also about artists who don’t make music for a major record label, like EMI, Sony Music, or Universal Music Group. Usually indie artists record for regional labels that don’t have major distribution. However, with the rise of streaming, it has become much easier to get indie music out to audiences. 

This has led to describing indie in another way: music mostly focused on the lyrics and the meaning behind the lyrics, which can end up being poetic sometimes.

Let’s take a look at some awesome examples past and present.

“The Deal” – Mitski

Her new album “The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We” is amazing. I don’t think there was one song I didn’t like, but there is one song I want to talk about because it’s my favorite of the whole album. It’s called “The Deal.” Mitski’s voice is beautiful, and sometimes it feels like you feel the weight of her voice, but my favorite part are the instruments that come around the 3-minute mark. They slowly become lower and lower, slowly becoming louder than her, so she sounds like she’s getting further and farther away. 

“Evil” – Interpol

Interpol was part of a huge wave of indie rock bands in the early 2000s. They came to prominence on the strength of their first album “Turn on the Bright Lights.” And while their star has faded a bit in the years since, they have a song called “Evil” on their album “Antics” that always gets me. The vocals are very nice. Some people say lead singer Paul Banks kind of sounds like a ghost, but what people love about the song is the story it tells. The original story is about Fred and Rosemary West, a couple who murdered 10 people, and the song is basically a conversation of sorts. Like Fred telling Rosemary redemption in heaven for what they did on earth. But the interesting part is that the singer for Interpol lived less than 150 miles away from them. Then, after going to America, he wrote the song “Evil.”

“Dionysus” – Buttertones

The L.A. based garage rock band released their self-titled first album came in 2014 and the whole album is pretty good. Their 2020 album “Jazzhound” had a lot to talk about, but I want to talk specifically about the song “Dionysus.” Named after the Greek god of wine. Singer Richard Araiza talks about this girl that’s been on his mind all year, and despite being drunk, he knows that she’s his type, and he wants her to stay with him. And he wants her to stay with him, so he says, “Bring me some rum with your sweet talk’. Overall, the song’s very nice. The voice is nice, and I love the use of the drums. They’re not heavy or that loud, but they bring a lot together.

“Telescope” – Cage the Elephant

Cage the Elephant has been a popular band in the indie world since their debut album in 2008. In 2013, however, they reached their high water mark with the release of their third album, “Melophobia,” which is about the fear of music, which I thought was cool. “Melophobia” is one of their most popular albums, having songs like “Come a Little Closer,” “Cigarette Daydreams,”, and “Halo,” but the song I want talk about is “Telescope,” which is sometimes my favorite song on the album. I love how weird they sound and how amazing they are. The songs are about the singer Matt Shultz watching his life play out; that’s why the first lyrics are “In a far and distant galaxy/ Inside my telescope I see/ A pair of eyes look back at me/ He walks, talks, and looks like me/ He sits around inside his house/ From room to room, he moves about/ Fills his life with pointless things/ And wonders how it all turns out.” I really like these lyrics because I can relate to them, and I feel like any other people can also relate to some of the lyrics if you’re not sure of much and kind of lost.

“Sweet Dreams, TN” – The Last Shadow Puppets

The Last Shadow Puppets is a band not many people talk about, which surprises me because they are the side project from Arctic Monkeys lead singer Alex Turner. They have released 3 albums, the last one coming out in 2016 called “Everything You’ve Come to Expect.” My favorite song is “Sweet Dreams, TN.” It’s a love song talking about how nothing is perfect without this girl. I would show you the evidence, but you can clearly tell by the start of the song it goes, “I just sort of always feel sick without you, baby,” and Turner sounds amazing; he sings it more slowly with pretty good vocals, like on Arctic Monkeys most recent album “The Car,” as opposed to his drunken growl on “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I Am Not.”

“Timothy” – Jet

Jet is a band from the 2000s. The first album coming out in 2003 was called “Get Born,” and the album is amazing. You probably know their big hit “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” Out of the whole album, my favorite has to be “Timothy.” It’s a nice soft song with an acoustic guitar playing. The focus is about a boy named Timothy. He’s asking where he is and how he didn’t use his head. But the guitarist, Cameron Munchy, talks about his older brother, who died before he was born, and he’s always felt like the replacement child. That’s why the beginning of the song starts with “Timothy, I took your place.” It’s a very sad story. The part that gets me is “she cried in the kitchen to let you go” and “missed your photo, missed your birthday too.” This is a good album that I think many should listen to.