The state of indie

Indie music is probably the most complicated and frustrating genre of this group. You never know what you’re going to get. Does indie allude to the size of the record label or the actual style of the music? Seriously, what the hell is indie?

First, it is diverse. No other genre can encompass Yeasayer at one end of the spectrum and Fleet Foxes at the other. Yeasayer’s “Odd Blood” crafts a set of songs full of synthesizers that are indebted to the synth-pop of the ’80s. Fleet Foxes make reverb-filled folk rock songs. Even though these two bands sound like they come from different galaxies, they fall under indie’s long arms.

Even unclassifiable bands find safe harbor in indie. Neutral Milk Hotel’s “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea” veers from solo acoustic to prog rock outbursts, yet still fits safely into the indie genre.

Even, dare I say, non-indie bands might fit within the genre. Sonic Youth, the innovators of no-wave and prophets of alternative, were on indie labels until they released their masterpiece, “Daydream Nation.” But even with the bigger label, the band never caved in to popular pressures, and now they have returned to an indie label.

The one factor all of these bands share is a desire to make something new and original. Sure, Fleet Foxes are heavily influenced by Brian Wilson and countless folk records, but they try to extend those influences into something that hasn’t existed before.

And the time is certainly ripe for this kind of independent experimentation. In an age of computers and the internet, people can make new music and distribute it to millions cheaply. Individually, indie artists might not move the broadest fan base, but that’s alleviated by the fact that all bands can connect with almost anyone on the planet.

Trying to predict what indie music will sound like in upcoming years is a pointless exercise. Considering it has no set sound, it doesn’t make sense to guess what its next sound will be. However, indie music will certainly continue to favor the innovative and the new over the old and stale.

Ultimately, indie’s strength is that it never chooses any single sound. With a name that means nothing, indie music is able to be anything and everything for everyone.