The Indie & Alternative Album Club
 

Welcome to the Indie and Alternative album club... If you wish to participate then please read the following rules/procedures:

1. Post all nominations in this particular thread.
2. The voting of the nominations takes place in this thread. We vote each week on Saturday and Sunday.
3. Please do not vote for your own nomination.
4. If a nomination wins by majority vote, then the participants will be given a week to listen to the it. This begins every Wednesday.
5. After the week has passed, the winning album nomination will have a thread created for the discussion of it.

Current nominations to be voted on:
► Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney
► Taste by The Telescopes
►The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History by The Vaselines
►Phonography by R. Stevie Moore
►Forever Breathes The Lonely Word by Felt
►Sweet Heart Fever by Scout Niblett

Discussions on past album nominations:
► Love Tara by Eric's Trip (Suggested by Stu)
► Songs of Shame by Woods (Suggested by Stu)
► Through the Ides of March by A Whisper in the Noise (Suggested by Jack Pat)
► Has a Good Home by Owen Pallet (Suggested by Ian E Coleman)
► Eyelid Movies by Phantogram (Suggest by Nosferatu Man)
► You're Living All Over Me by Dinosaur Jr. (Suggested by BTown)
►Waited Up Til It Was Light by Johnny Foreigner (Suggested by Charlemagne)
►They Spent Their Wild Youthful Days in the Glittering World of the Salons by Swirlies (Suggested by Zero1986)
►Fate by Dr. Dog (Suggested by Pedestrian)
►Wait Long By the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By by The Drones (Suggested by fazstp)
►Public Strain by Women (Suggested by JackPat)

I'll go ahead and start us off.

My nomination is Public Strain (2010) by Women.

http://s.dsimg.com/image/R-150-2438121-1285369163.jpeg

It's an indie rock album that incorporates elements of noise and punk into it (and a little bit of drone which is shown in the song "Bells"). I found the album itself very enjoyable, and it doesn't include too much experimentation into the general sound but it does have a bit to keep the listener interested. I also found the vocals to have a kind of dream pop feel to them (somewhat like Galaxie 500) which, in my opinion, is just great. There's more to include, but I would rather not discuss the entire album if it ends up being voted on.

I'm very interested to see what some of you nominate!

My nomination is Saturdays = Youth (2008) by M83.

It's main genre is indie electronic but there's also parts of dream pop and some shoegaze. If you want a sample you can check out ''Graveyard Girl'' or ''Kim & Jessie''.

I chose this album because I really like it and in my opinion it hasn't got enough recognition. I'm interested to see what you think about it if it gets discussed.

Nice idea, it would be great if this thread took off.

My nomination is Autolux - Future Perfect (2004)

http://i43.tower.com/images/mm105864...-cover-art.jpg

For me this is one of the standout indie/alternative albums of the 00's. It incorporates a lot of influences ranging from space-rock, shoegaze, post-punk, Swirlies, etc. and is such an enjoyable album to listen to from start to finish without skipping a track. This album is a great discovery for anyone.

I will nominate...
Waited Up Til It Was Light By Johnny Foreigner
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_p4ezu5pagU...+Was+Light.jpg

It's a really high energy album in the vein of Los Campesinos! It does the female-male interchange vocals really well and their songs are really fun to sing along too.

http://assets2.subpop.com/assets/images/main/349.gif

Eric's Trip - Love Tara

This album is just a classic of the lo-fi Indie genre. Fifteen songs as emotionally and musically raw as you could possibly fathom. It's moody and confrontational, with acidic distortion ripping through melancholic melodies and at times overbearing feedback warping surprisingly tight musicianship. This album was recorded in the midst of the breakdown of a relationship between two of the band members, and you can tell, the tension kicks out at the listener throughout the album's duration. How Fleetwood Mac of them eh.

Yes, pretty great. I've been listening to them a lot myself recently.

Might as well throw in a new nomination.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_nVrf9YP2-s...Out%5B1%5D.jpg

Sleater-Kinney - Dig Me Out (1997)

This is the third album by this all-girl trio. With this album the band found their sound, honed their song-writing skills and proved that they were more than just a 'riot-grrrl' act. The lyrics deal with same-sex relationships and the pain and emotion of break-ups, giving this album a very confessional and intimate feel. The band had truly arrived and they sound unstoppable on this album.

I'll throw in a new one too.

http://www.cokemachineglow.com/images/8894.jpg

Woods have been described as Freak Folk, Lo-Fi Folk Rock, Indie, Alternative Country etc etc. Whatever label you want to place on them, there's no shying away from the fact that Jeremy Earl and co are capable of some deeply atmospheric, dark compositions - as well as a cheeky hook here and there. Songs of Shame is testament to this. The songs creak and groan through the dank underbelly of swampy, smouldering Indie-Folk with extended, borderline-psychedelic jams intersecting songs replete with weary melodies and brooding instrumentation. It's an album I would love to listen to around a campfire in a deep forest... my bedroom will do for now.

Just to add to the numbers, I'll suggest Through the Ides of March (2002) by A Whisper in the Noise.

http://ts4.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...nload-346.jpeg

A Whisper in the Noise's discography has never had a complete definition in terms of genre. Most go with modern progressive rock, post-rock, indie rock, shoegaze, alternative rock, art rock, and sometimes experimental rock (although to a lesser degree). But regardless of the genre's label, their music is great, and I attempted to promote them a bit when I first joined this site. Their debut in particular has always been my favorite, and it has a more interesting sound than their more "popular" album, Dry Land (2007) which is still great all in its own. Through the Ides of March utilizes many classical instruments such as the cello, french horn, and violin which allows West Thordson, the frontman, to have more freedom when composing the music.

The overall sound of the album is very dark and can range anything from mellow to spastic and loud (which is best exemplified by "Seeing You" - the fourth track in the album). The lyrics are also very interesting because he manages to create a lot of meaning with such a minimalistic way of writing them (kind of similar to what Emily ****inson did). Anyways... that's it.