CONVENTIONS OF THE INDIE GENRE

Today we were put in groups in which we will be making our own digipack for an artist or band and we had to pick a genre out of a hat. Our groups chosen genre was Indie.

The Foals - Antidotes

Initially indie music was any music that was produced by unknown label artists, or unsigned bands however today when we think of indie music we refer to a music genre which is influenced heavily by folk, rock and electronic music. The genre originated in the US and UK in the 1980's as an alternative rock sound. It's very diverse, as it has many sub genres such as grunge and indie pop. During the 90's indie became the sound label for the bands and artists that were different, the ones that didn't fit the grunge, punk or britpop genre criteria. Then as a result of many alterations within the music industry, the 2000s saw a rise in indie rock acts enjoying commercial success which could also be seen as a result of the ever expanding Internet and it's importance.

The Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

The typical sound of this genre is melodic, with simple but well textured instruments. Usually includes an original yet simple guitar riff, with another guitar riff layered to complement them both with a bass doing the same. The drum beat is usually simple but fits the song well, then there is either a keyboard, violin or another instrument to highlight and bring out the underlying melody. The vocals are soft and well harmonized with powerfully emotional lyrics that spark emotion without being too depressing or whiny.

Vampire Weekend - Contra

Some examples of Indie artists and bands today are, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Iver, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bright Eyes, Florence and the Machine, The Fratellis, Ellie Goulding, The Pigeon Detectives, Noah and the Whale, Kate Nash, Mumford & Sons, MGMT, The Maccabees, Lykke Li, The Kooks, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Zutons, Damien Rice, The Script, The Smiths, Snow Patrol, The Temper Trap, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Vampire Weekend and The Wombats.

James Blake

I have put photos of some examples of digipacks from indie artists in this post. Common factors of these are that they are artistic. They have muted colour schemes, and use edited photos, pieces of art or a mixture of the two and even a computerised art work. They're all interesting and don't tend to show the artists or band or any instruments unlike other genre conventions. They have quite arty fonts that are clear and really get your attention. They also remind me of vinyl artworks.

Lykke Li - I'm Good I'm Gone

The music videos of this genre has a huge variety of conventions. The videos are split between being performanced based and solely narrative and sometimes the artists don't even feature in the video itself although some of them do include performances either from the main vocalists or the entire band. In this genre narrative music videos are typically symbolic and quite arty, and make the audience guess as they usually don't spell out exactly what they lyrics mean.

These are all common conventions and characteristics of the indie genre.