I love indie music. The whole thought of a being with a band from the start is awesome to me. Even if the band doesn't get big, it's always cool to sometimes interact with the band directly (e.g. commenting on a Facebook post on the band's page, they reply to your comment). So my question here is, what are some bands that are small enough to be able to interact with?
The vast majority of bands out there are small enough to interact with. I book shows in a small city, DJ on a college radio station, do some recording, and manage a label and the only bands that are too big are the ones you hear on top-40 or the Indie bands that explode. I could give you a list of hundreds of smaller bands, but I think it's more productive to give you outlets of where they can easily be discovered. Bandcamp is a good place, but really, college radio is even better. Almost all of they music play is stuff that has the potential to get more popular. Most of the bands you hear on rotation are smaller, and easy to interact with. Here are some of my favorites throughout the United States. KVRX - 91.7 FM Austin, TX WITR - 89.7 FM Rochester, NY Radio UTD - Dallas, TX KZSC - 88.1 FM Santa Cruz, CA WERS - 88.9 FM Boston, MA WICB - 91.7 FM Ithaca, NY KEXP - 90.3 FM Seattle, WA To expand on this and cover all bases...there's a lot of other sources for new, up and coming bands. You probably already know Pitchfork, but there's also the likes of: Stereogum Consequence of Sound Tiny Mix Tapes Drowned in Sound Pigeons & Planes Hype Machine Gorilla vs. Bear You can also check out some sites where you can easily compile playlists of this sort of stuff, such as Birp!. Okay, I think that's about everything off the top of my head.So my question here is, what are some bands that are small enough to be able to interact with?
Two Door Cinema Club has a video that was posted a month ago and already has 250k views. Here you are. Alt-J is played on the radio all the time in my town.
Bandcamp is a great place to start I think. It's a website setup primarily as a distribution center for music. Artist's create a page and post what ever they see fit. Music is reasonably priced and sometimes free. And since it's the kind of place where you have to actively seek out the music you like, and choose to download directly from, the bands probably have a greater appreciation for your support. You can search with a tag of the city where you live and find local bands that I'm sure would love to hear from you.
Oh my god, it's like this thread was made for me. Give me a half hour until I get home and can really comment properly (tl;dr I have a HEAP of suggestions but it really depends on what sort of music you're into). In the meantime, I'd agree - bandcamp is great, and most of the time from there you can find the band or artist's Facebook/Twitter etc. I got into it all just by going to local gigs, which is absolutely pricelessly worthwhile (actual price usually about $5).
Alright, cool, let's do this. I'm all about interacting with bands. I volunteer at a local radio station, I write album reviews and the occasional article for (wow, what I just realised is a) national magazine. I love music and am really into the local scene here. But those connections aren't necessary at all - spending a whole heap of time on twitter etc (well, probably not even that much time, but I do it anyway because it's fun and whatever) helps. But anyway, recommendations time. Aside from bandcamp and your local tags and stuff in your area (which is always the best way to go), here are some bands I follow quite closely: Dyaltov - indie folk (well, what once was folk and is now being heavily influenced by electronica, post-rock, and jazz). Good friend of mine, been writing under that name for a good three years now (I actually produced his first EP, which he then recalled). Relatively active on twitter but not as much as he should be. Farah Loux - more indie folk, but very different. Really cool stuff, really nice people, also somewhat active on the webs. Mali Mali - again, indie folk (yeah, there's a trend there. big local scene) but a bit more singer-songwriter-y, with some cool electronic influences on some tracks. The dudes at Dadstache are nice, their site is regularly updated and they're pretty active on twitter. Manage some really great acts, too, like Skirts (sweet indie surf rock stuff). The Basement Tapes is an electronic producer that I love, released his first EP this year and has released some great remixes and tracks since. Pretty active on twitter, and a really nice guy. Tom Dickins, from Australia, does some cool piano-based stuff (was/is in the Jane Austen Argument, if you've heard of them). That's just a few, there are a heap more I follow and obviously even more out there. I'm currently trying to find more local-but-not-*my*-local bands for a radio show I have starting next month, so I'm on the hunt too. Bandcamp and social media is the way for that, and getting out there and going to gigs is the way for finding local bands.
Hey! Thanks for the Dadstache Shoutout, I wasn't going to mention it unless somebody asked. On a side note, we're putting out a psychedelic influenced folk album this month (think Ty Segalls latest album Sleeper). If you're interested I could get you a digital of it once we release it.
Haha, no worries, I noticed you didn't mention it. And yes, definitely, that would be fantastic!
I'm going to try to stick to the bands I know that are really small. Sir Sly instantly comes to mind. Prides is another (really small) good one Elektrik People are kind of small but have been growing rapidly.
Some of my favourites: Wildlife Control Bronze Radio Return Robert Pollard (Not really new, but indie nonetheless) Caravan Palace The Relay Company CHVRCHES (Although I'd say you missed this one, they're kinda in the middle of blowing up at the moment) Midnight Juggernauts Francis White Bloc Party That's a pretty eclectic mix, So I'm sure there'll be something interesting to you in there. A good blog I might recommend would be indierockcafe.com
A band I recently saw that blew me away was JaccoGardner. One really friendly guy from Amsterdam writes some amazing music, sings, and plays the synth while 3 other Dutch dudes jam along. Very original sound and completely open to everyone interested in chatting.