2000s Indie Sleaze Compendium
time is a spiral wishing well
I finally saw Will Lovelace’s and Dylan Southern’s Meet Me In The Bathroom (2022) which follows the early aughts indie rock scene in NYC as told by Lizzy Goodman in her book by the same name. While The Strokes absorb most of the screen time (as you might infer from the title), the documentary also follows the ascent of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol, The Moldy Peaches, and DFA Records (and the subsequent rift between James Murphy and The Rapture which partially led to the birth of LCD Soundsystem). Liars and TV on the Radio are briefly mentioned as well.
This Is Hanging Rocks Comics’ Taylor-Ruth accounting for every band James Murphy mentions in Losing My Edge (2005)
I am among the millennial suckers nostalgic for this period of time and have paid close attention to the so-called ‘Indie Sleaze Revival’ (though I am dubious of how far-reaching this resurgence is beyond terminally online, city-slicking, thirty-somethings with considerable online followings).
A few sources keeping tabs on the Indie Sleaze Era and Revival include the Instagram accounts @indiesleaze, @romanticlowlifefantasies, and @chillwavekittens. I find most articles on the matter irritating, however I enjoyed Nicholas Russell’s piece for Gawker, Capturing the Vibe. The Vibe Shift and the Indie Sleaze Revival go hand in hand, and your go-to for vibe shift analysis is Sean Monahan’s 8Ball.
Without further ado, here is my break-down of the Indie Sleaze Era as it unfolded from 2000-2012.
Music
DOMINANT GENRE:
indie rock (AKA post-punk revival AKA indie hipster music)
sub-genres: experimental, shoegaze, psych rock, folk, dreampop, garage rock
OTHER GENRES:
electronic
sub-genres: witch house, electro-house
rap
sub-genres: progressive
hip-hop
sub-genres: underground
punk rock
sub-genres: dance punk, emo
new wave
sub-genres: synth-pop
MUSICAL INFLUENCES: (Borrowed nostalgia from the unremembered 80s, if you will.)
Beach Boys, Biggie Smalls, Chemical Brothers, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, Dr. Dre, Joy Division, Kraftwerk, Lou Reed, Neutral Milk Hotel, New Order, Morrissey, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Talking Heads, Tupac
MUSICIANS:
Alabama Shakes, alt-J, Alvvays, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Arctic Monkeys, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Atlas Genius, Atlas Sound, Atmosphere, A$AP Rocky, Band Of Horses, Beach House, Bear in Heaven, Beirut, Belle and Sebastian, Best Coast, Black Kids, Blitzen Trapper, Bloc Party, Bombay Bicycle Club, Bon Iver, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Bright Eyes, Broadcast, Broken Bells, Broken Social Scene, Built to Spill, Camera Obscura, Caribou, Cat Power, Chairlift, Childish Gambino, Chromatics, Cloud Cult, Cocorosie, Cocteau Twins, Cold Cave, Cold War Kids, Craft Spells, Crystal Castles, Crystal Fighters, CSS, Cults, Cut Copy, Daft Punk, Danny Brown, Das Racist, Death Cab for Cutie, Death Grips, Deerhunter, Destroyer, DIIV, Dirty Projectors, DJ Shadow, Dr. Dog, Earl Sweatshirt, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Empire of the Sun, Explosions in the Sky, Father John Misty, Fiona Apple, Fleet Foxes, Flight of the Conchords, Florence + the Machine, Flume, Foster the People, Four Tet, Foxygen, Frank Ocean, Franz Ferdinand, Friendly Fires, Future Islands, Glass Candy, Gorillaz, Gossip, Grimes, Grizzly Bear, Grouplove, HEALTH, Hot Chip, The Horrors, Interpol, Iron & Wine, Jai Paul, Japandroids, John Maus, Justice, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, The Kills, King Krule, Kishi Bashi, The Klaxons, Lana Del Rey, Late of the Pier, LCD Soundsystem, Liars, Little Dragon, Local Natives, Los Campesinos!, Lyyke Li, M83, Mac DeMarco, Matt and Kim, Micachu and the Shapes, Metric, Metronomy, MGMT, MF DOOM, M.I.A, Miike Snow, Modest Mouse, Moderat, The Moldy Peaches, Mr. Oizo, Mumford & Sons, My Morning Jacket, Neko Case, Neon Indian, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Noah and the Whale, Mr. Twin Shadow, ODESZA, Of Montreal, Of Monsters and Men, Okkervil River, Panda Bear, Passion Pit, Peaches, Peter Bjorn and John, Phantogram, Phoenix, Phosphorescent, Poolside, Purity Ring, Ra Ra Riot, Radiohead, Real Estate, Röyksopp, Santigold, SBTRKT, Sigur Rós, Sleigh Bells, Spoon, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, STRFKR, Sufjan Stevens, Sun Kil Moon, Sunn 0))), Tame Impala, The Antlers, The Avalanches, The Black Keys, The Decemberists, The Drums, The Head and the Heart, The Horrors, The Knife, The Kooks, The Mountain Goats, The Naked and Famous, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Postal Service, The Shins, The Strokes, The Raveonettes, The White Stripes, The xx, Tobacco, Tokyo Police Club, Toro y Moi, Tune-Yards, TV On The Radio, Twin Shadow, Two Door Cinema Club, Tyler, the Creator (all of Odd Future, really), Ty Segall, Uffie, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Vampire Weekend, Vashti Bunyan, Waka Flocka Flame, WALK THE MOON, Warpaint, Washed Out, White Lies, WHY?, Wilco, Wild Nothing, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yeasayer, Yo La Tengo, Young the Giant, Youth Lagoon
Brands
American Apparel, American Spirits, Anthropologie, Converse, Keds, Levi’s, PBR, Pendleton, Toms, Urban Outfitters, Warby Parker
Cultural Influencers
Barack Obama, The Cobra Snake, Eric Wareheim, Hedi Slimane, Miranda July, Molly Soda, Pitchfork, Sofia Coppola, Terry Richardson
Fashion
deep v-necks, ultra skinny jeans, large scarves, fedoras, brimmed boaters, vests, skinny ties, slouch beanies, handlebar moustaches, white-washed Native American patterns, rustic colors
Phenomena
main character syndrome, manic pixie dream girl, ironic hipster racism, Holga photography
TV and Film
500 Days of Summer, Across the Universe, Amélie, Arrested Development, Blue Valentine, Capote, Daria, Donnie Darko, Drive, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Freaks and Geeks, Flight of the Conchords, Garden State, Ghost World, Girls, Into the Wild, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Juno, Little Miss Sunshine, Lost in Translation, Midnight in Paris, Napoleon Dynamite, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Portlandia, Requiem for a Dream, The Royal Tenenbaums, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Skins (UK), Slumdog Millionaire, The Social Network, The Squid and the Whale, Twin Peaks, Where the Wild Things Are, Workaholics
Websites
Flickr, Myspace, The Toast, Turntable.fm, Tumblr
Until next time.
CBR