Here is our music video.

Here is the outside panel of my digipak album cover.

Here is the inside panel of my digipak album cover.

Here is the inside panel of my digipak album cover.

Here is a link to my artist's website. Please click on the image below to enter the website.

Monday 16 October 2017

R+P Post 3: Music genres that interest me

Although I enjoy music from a broad range of genres, my favourite genre must be indie rock.

INDIE ROCK

The word 'indie' comes from the word independent. Therefore, indie rock describes a genre of rock where the performers are under small and relatively low budget labels that are outside of studio control. It also connotes the handcrafted approach the artist tends to take towards their music making. I admire this approach; in contrast to pop songs that are created with a primary focus of being 'sellable', in my opinion independent songs feel more honest, as they do not feel pressured to be marketable and 'liked' by the majority of the audience.

The sound of indie rock tends to be alternative to the sound of popular rock, resulting in music typically not 'compatible' with mainstream methods of listening to the genre, such as on the radio or music channels. Therefore, most indie rock is exhibited online, on sites such as Bandcamp or YouTube.



THE SOUND
Instruments are typically centre-staged in the music of indie rock. Unlike most popular rock bands where one figurehead (usually the singer) is foregrounded as the pusher for the band's image, in indie rock all members are treated on the same level.

Uncle Tupelo - Effigy

For example, song 'Effigy' by the indie rock group Uncle Tupelo features an extensive guitar solo. This set it apart from many pop rock songs where the lead's vocals often take the spotlight, whilst the loud guitar and drums accompany. 

The vocals have a real quality due to the singer's voice not being 'glossed over' with auto tune to make it sound nicer. The result is a raw, sometimes flawed singing voice with minor errors left in to provide a grounded quality to the vocals. I believe this adds to the honest image of independent groups as they rely on their talent rather than on technology to make them sound good.


White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

For example, in the song 'Seven Nation Army' by the White Stripes, Jack White's voice is deliberately left with a 'live' quality to it, lending to the visceral, raw image they are trying to spread with their revolution anthem. This song also features one of the most recognisable guitar lines in music history, again signifying the importance of instruments to the indie rock genre. 

THE LOOK


A common image for bands in the indie rock genre is a grunge, live aesthetic. This often utilises a lot of black and white photography, the lack of colour stripping any layers of false pretence from the band's image and leaving them looking like talented, honest musicians.

A simple Google image search for 'indie rock bands' proves how common this aesthetic is
The bands often choose to showcase their instrument playing visually, meaning most of their marketing, including advertising for tours and music videos include images of live performance with instruments.

Arctic Monkeys Tour Poster


Oasis - Wonderwall

WHY WOULD THIS GENRE BE APPROPRIATE FOR THIS TASK?
  • The indie genre is where the majority of up and coming music artists start out. For example, The Smith's were one of the most important rock bands to arise out of the indie scene in 1980's Britain. In our task, we have to promote an up and coming artist, and I think that this will be more accessible when pitching to the indie market. 
The Smiths
  • Indie's low budget roots means that we don't require our music video to contain any expensive effects to make it appealing to our audience, as most indie music videos (as can be evidenced in the Oasis video above) have fairly low-tech concepts. This plays into our strengths as we have finite time and resources, and will have to instead use our creativity to make our artist's music video stand out, much like Florence and the Machine's song 'Dog Days Are Over', which uses outlandish makeup and costume design as their music video's gimmick. 
Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over

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