indie music and the way forward

i came across some great little clips the other day directed by vincent moon and posted on http://www.blogotheque.net . there’s some really cool shit on here and some really interestingly directed clips. if you’re into music you’re more than likely to find one of your favourite bands on this site. when i was checking some of these clips out it reminded me of a quote i heard from jay z. quote below:

"[Grizzly Bear is] an incredible band. The thing I want to say to everyone-- I hope this happens because it will push rap, it will push hip-hop to go even further-- what the indie rock movement is doing right now is very inspiring. It felt like us in the beginning. These concerts, they're not on the radio, no one hears about them, and there's 12,000 people in attendance. And the music that they're making and the connection they're making to people is really inspiring. So I hope that they have a run where they push hip-hop back a little bit, so it will force hip-hop to fight to make better music. Because it can happen. Because that's what rap did to rock.

"When rock was the dominant force in music, rap came and said, 'Y'all got to sit down for a second, this is our time.' And we've had a stranglehold on music since then. So I hope indie rock pushes rap back a bit because it will force people to make great music for the sake of making great music."

there is definitely a new breath of life being filled into the lungs of modern indie music. it seems the DIY mentality is now easier than ever with quality digital recording equipment being readily available at an affordable price, cool cameras that record moving motion, and a artistic consciousness in the young generation that seems wider spread than ever before. these things, coupled with sites such as myspace, soundcloud, and blogspot, allow anyone to share their work instantly. i think its fucking cool, and i’m seeing gen Y’ers adapting to this technology like ducks to water

like jay z, i hope it pushes other genres of music to keep up, as it already looks to be evident in some forms of pop music. i’m finding it inspirational to see kids spending time working on creative projects and being able to share them. i’m loving the fact that my favourite band at the moment (grizzly bear) can do something fun, creative, and relatively cheap, for my entertainment, and it can be done with a super fast turn around and without any interference by greedy corporates. this to me, is taking music and art backs to its root, to stoke out your friends, to share and to entertain, and i’m think its a fucking cool thing to see

album covers that perfectly compliment the album

i've been listening to bitches brew this week and i have to say i'm absolutely in love with the album cover. i've been in love with it for as long as i can remember. the art work is done by Mati Klarwein and i can't think of a painting, photograph, or piece of art that could possibly match this album any better than what mati has accomplished

this has got me thinking about pieces of music that have matched screenplays perfectly, clothing that looks so incredibly good on a model, or a film clip that exactly conveys the idea the song it was designed for. these two pieces or sometimes more that fit so well together that you couldn't imagine one without the other. i couldn't imagine bitches brew with another album cover. in my mind there are some absolute classic album covers that just match the music almost to perfection

check out dark side of the moon, electric ladyland and daydream nation to see what i'm talking about