128-484: The New Transit Direction (TNTD) was an indie rock band from Salt Lake City , Utah , formed in 1999. The group released an EP called New Transit Direction in 2002, which was produced by J. Robbins . Following this the band played Warped Tour 2003 and signed a record deal with Some Records. The frequently played Kilby Court , an all-ages venue in Salt Lake City. Their first album, Wonderful Defense Mechanisms ,
256-439: A Franz Ferdinand concert in 2003, and gave a copy of "She's Hearing Voices" to both lead singer Alex Kapranos and BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq . Lamacq subsequently played the song on his radio show, labelling the track "genius", and invited them to record a live session for the show. The buzz generated off the back of the single led to another release, " Banquet/Staying Fat ", this time through Moshi Moshi Records , and to
384-505: A brass section inspired by Siouxsie and the Banshees . The band's third album Intimacy also features synths, processed drum beats and loops , vocal manipulation , and choral arrangements. Even though the album was influenced by electronic music, the band still had not lost their feel for guitar music. For example, in an interview, Okereke said that the band was starting to miss their more traditional sound, and confirmed that may have been
512-709: A reverb heavy, pop –influenced sound. Marked by the Clean's 1981 debut single "Tally-Ho!" and 1982's Dunedin Double EP featuring the Chills , Sneaky Feelings , the Verlaines and the Stones , its guitars were often jangly and droning and vocals indistinct. The following years, the Dunedin sound spread to other New Zealand cities such as Christchurch or Auckland . The decade then saw
640-595: A 2009 article for the Guardian , journalist Peter Robinson cited the landfill indie movement as dead, blaming the Wombats , Scouting For Girls , and Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong by stating "If landfill indie had been a game of Buckaroo , those three sent the whole donkey's arse of radio-friendly mainstream guitar band monotony flying high into the air, legs flailing." There continued to be commercial successes in
768-561: A Life (2017) winning the Mercury Prize in 2018 and third album Blue Weekend (2021) being nominated. Writer Martin Young stated in a 2021 article for Dork that "It's impossible to truly state just how important Wolf Alice are. They are the catalyst for almost all the amazing bands you've read about in Dork over the last 5 years." Bloc Party Bloc Party are an English rock band that
896-650: A band. Bassist Gordon Moakes joined after answering an advert in NME , and drummer Matt Tong joined after an audition. After going through a variety of names, such as Union, The Angel Range, and Diet, the band settled on Bloc Party in September 2003, a play on block party . The band has said that the name was not intended to be an allusion to the Soviet Bloc or the Canadian political party Bloc Québécois . However, Moakes said on
1024-536: A descriptor in its own right, describing not only the bands on the tape but also bands who it influenced, often used alongside terms like "anorak pop" and "shambling". Some C86 bands found significant commercial success: the Soup Dragons went on to sell out Madison Square Garden ; Primal Scream were critically acclaimed, receiving the first ever Mercury Prize in 1992; the Wedding Present charted eighteen times in
1152-464: A key element of indie is the dichotomy between a "puritan ethos" and a "romantic one", with the former using austere ethics, and the latter being eccentric. This is best seen in the contrast between the indie music of United States and the United Kingdom in the 1990s, with British acts being flamboyant performers, while American acts used their lack of virtuosity as a mark of authenticity. Indie rock
1280-734: A live set by the band from Maida Vale studios on 30 January 2007, featuring a mix of old and new songs. On 1 February 2007, A Weekend in the City was made available to listen to for free through Bloc Party's official MySpace page. The next single, " I Still Remember ", was Bloc Party's highest charting American single, peaking at number 24 on the Modern Rock Chart. The band released their third single, " Hunting for Witches ", with an accompanying video clip in August 2007. The single became their only ARIA Chart entry, peaking at number 20. In October 2007, it
1408-403: A mistake. And I say something to him, and he kind of responds, and I realised at that point that this was as far as our relationship was gonna go. I’ve never interfered with anyone’s performance before, and I thought that if that was the state of our relationship, it felt fitting that this should be our last show together.” Before the article was published Okereke told NME that “I can tell you it
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#17328547824821536-523: A new EP titled The High Life EP , which was released a month later on 21 July. It was preceded by the singles "High Life" and "Keep It Rolling", the latter of which featuring KennyHoopla , which were released on 21 April 2023 and 2 June 2023 respectively. In 2023, Harris was replaced by Harry Deacon. On 22 November 2024, Bloc Party officially released released An Weekend In The City: B-Sides . The demos and b sides had been available online for years previously, sometimes referred to as "Another Weekend in
1664-499: A new album in the foreseeable future; he went on to suggest that the release of a fourth album was on an indefinite timescale. A new single, " One More Chance ", was released in August 2009. The song did not appear on Intimacy and was produced by Jacknife Lee. After this, the group went on a hiatus, with the members unsure as to whether they would carry on. During this period of hiatus Lissack revived his project Pin Me Down and joined
1792-422: A new album. On 22 September 2021, Bloc Party posted to their official Twitter account a sneak peek of the tracklist/recording progress of their soon to be released sixth studio album. On 23 November 2021, Bloc Party released the first single "Traps" off their sixth studio album Alpha Games . The album was released on 22 April 2022. A second single "The Girls Are Fighting" was released on 26 January 2022 and
1920-399: A post-grunge and hardcore on their breakthrough albums Word Gets Around (1997) and Performance and Cocktails (1999), before moving into more melodic territory with Just Enough Education to Perform (2001) and subsequent albums. Feeder , who were initially more influenced by American post-grunge, producing a hard rock sound that led to their breakthrough single " Buck Rogers " and
2048-560: A result, the term "alternative" lost its original counter-cultural meaning and began to refer to the new, commercially lighter form of music that was now achieving mainstream success. New York magazine writer Carl Swanson argued that even the term "sellout" lost its meaning as grunge made it possible for a niche movement, no matter how radical, to be co-opted by the mainstream, cementing the formation of an individualist, fragmented culture. In his book Popular Music: The Key Concepts , media academic Roy Shuker states that "Grunge represented
2176-409: A single with a B-side , titled " Two More Years ", to coincide with the band's October 2005 UK tour. The tour was also accompanied by a re-issue of Silent Alarm , which included "Two More Years" and former single " Little Thoughts " as bonus tracks . A remix of "Banquet" by The Streets , as well as a music video for the song, were included in the "Two More Years" single. Bloc Party also contributed
2304-842: A special appearance at the Splendour in the Grass Festival on 5 August. On 17 September 2007, they recorded a set for the PBS show Austin City Limits a day after playing at the Austin City Limits Music Festival . On 27 October, the band performed a set at London's The Roundhouse with the Exmoor Singers , a London-based choir, as part of the BBC Electric Proms . The set included songs from both Silent Alarm and A Weekend in
2432-513: A style and more a categorization, it describes an early 1990s trend of acts who followed in the traditions of early electronic music (composers of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop ), krautrock and synth-pop . Progenitors of the genre were English bands Disco Inferno , Stereolab , and Space . Most musicians in the genre can be found on independent labels like Warp , Morr Music , Sub Pop or Ghostly International . Space rock took
2560-686: A style indebted to '60s-70s bands like the Velvet Underground and the Ramones , the band's intention musically was to sound like "a band from the past that took a time trip into the future to make their record." The album peaked at number thirty-three in the United States, staying in the charts for two additional years and debuted at number two on the UK albums chart . When the Strokes made their commercial debut,
2688-482: Is noted for having a relatively high proportion of female artists compared with preceding rock genres, a tendency exemplified by the development of the feminist-informed riot grrrl music of acts like Bikini Kill , Bratmobile , 7 Year Bitch , Team Dresch and Huggy Bear . However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels. The BBC documentary Music for Misfits: The Story of Indie pinpoints
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#17328547824822816-546: The Billboard 200 chart, becoming the band's highest-charting album in the United States. In August 2017, AM was certified platinum by the RIAA for combined sales and album-equivalent units over of a million units in the United States. As of the 14th of April 2023 every track from the album was certified silver or higher by the BPI with "Mad Sounds" being the last to be certified. When
2944-705: The Hydro Connect Music Festival in Argyll , Scotland. During the autumn of 2008, the band went on a short tour of North America, which included an appearance at the Virgin Festival in Toronto , as well as the band's first ever American college show at Syracuse University and an appearance at the 2008 edition of MTV Video Music Brazil , their first concert in South America, which was negatively received due to
3072-735: The In New Music We Trust stage at the BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend in Preston . They also performed at the UK leg of Live Earth on 7 July 2007 at Wembley Stadium . Furthermore, the band played sets at T in the Park and Oxegen 07 that same weekend, as well as Glastonbury and the Reading and Leeds Festivals later in 2007. Bloc Party announced a tour of Australia and New Zealand in August 2007, which would include
3200-633: The UK Albums Chart and number twelve in the Billboard 200 . In August 2008, Bloc Party released their third studio record, Intimacy which entered the UK Albums Chart at number eight and number eighteen on the Billboard 200. The band went on a hiatus in October 2009 to focus on side projects . They reunited in September 2011, and shortly thereafter released their fourth album, Four , which entered
3328-452: The psychedelic rock , ambient music influence of Pink Floyd and Hawkwind and incorporated them into an indie rock context. The style began with Spacemen 3 in the 1980s, with later groups including Spiritualized , Flying Saucer Attack , Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Quickspace . As Britpop waned towards the end of the decade, post-Britpop took hold within the UK's indie rock scene. From about 1997, as dissatisfaction grew with
3456-473: The " slacker " stereotype, and as a defining anthem of 90s indie rock. With the rise of Britpop , many of Britain's earlier indie rock bands fell into obscurity. Fronted by Blur , Oasis , Pulp and Suede , the bands in the movement were advertised as being underground artists, as a means to compete commercially with the United States' grunge scene. While Britpop was stylistically indebted to indie rock and began as an offshoot of it, Britpop bands abandoned
3584-572: The 'Music Artist' category for their work on second album A Weekend in the City . Their debut album Silent Alarm was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize and won the NME award for 'Best Album'. It was also nominated as 'Album of the Year' at three different ceremonies: the New Pantheon Music Award ( Shortlist Music Prize ), the 2006 NME Awards, and the 2006 PLUG Awards, where "Helicopter"
3712-412: The 1975 's merger of indie rock and mainstream pop began gaining commercial attraction in the early 2010s, it was controversial; they received the award for "Worst Band" at the 2014 NME Awards , but by 2017 received "Best Live Band" at the same award show. Alternative Press writer Yasmine Summan stated that "If you could summarize 2013 and 2014 in one album for indie and alternative fans, it would be
3840-519: The 1975's self-titled release ". In an article for the Guardian accrediting the 1975 as the band to "usher indie into the mainstream", writer Mark Beaumont compared vocalist Matty Healy's influence on the genre to that of Libertines vocalist Pete Doherty , and Pitchfork listed them as one of the most influential artists in music since 1995. In the 1975's wake, a number of other indie pop artist gained popularity. Some critics termed this phenomenon "Healywave", which notably included: Pale Waves ,
3968-585: The 1980s closed, both Sonic Youth and the Pixies signed to major labels. In the late 1980s, the indie rock subgenre shoegaze emerged, as a continuation of the wall of sound production being used by groups like the Jesus and Mary Chain. The genre merged this with influences from Dinosaur Jr. and the Cocteau Twins , to create a dark and droning style so cacophonous that instruments were often indistinguishable. The genre
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4096-416: The 1999 Reading Festival by Okereke and Lissack, the band went through a variety of names before settling on Bloc Party in 2003. Moakes joined the band after answering an advert in NME magazine, while Tong was picked via an audition. Bloc Party got their break by giving BBC Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq and Franz Ferdinand 's Alex Kapranos a copy of their demo " She's Hearing Voices ". In February 2005,
4224-444: The 2005 NME Awards , and were also up for the 'Best Alternative Act' category at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards . In 2006, Bloc Party were nominated for another NME Award, this time in the 'Best British Band' category. They were also shortlisted for three PLUG Awards : 'New Artist of the Year' in 2005, and 'Artist of the Year' and 'Live Act of the Year' in 2006. At the 19th GLAAD Media Awards in 2008, they were nominated in
4352-554: The 2010s Arcade Fire 's The Suburbs (2010), the Black Keys's Turn Blue (2014), Kings of Leon's Walls (2016), the Killers's Wonderful Wonderful (2017), which reached number one on the Billboard charts in the United States and the official chart in the United Kingdom, with Arcade Fire's album winning a Grammy for Album of The Year in 2011. Other indie rock acts like Florence and
4480-453: The Aces , Joan , Fickle Friends and No Rome . Of this group, Pale Waves were particularly commercially prominent, with their debut album My Mind Makes Noises peaking at number eight on the UK albums chart, Who Am I? (2021) at number three and Unwanted (2022) at number four. At around the same time Wolf Alice became a prominent force in the scene, with their second album Visions of
4608-837: The Apples in Stereo , Beulah , Circulatory System , Elf Power , the Minders , Neutral Milk Hotel , of Montreal and the Olivia Tremor Control – merged indie rock with psychedelic pop . Gimme Indie Rock author Andrew Earles stated that the collective, namely Neutral Milk Hotel on On Avery Island (1996), "helped keep the genre artistically relevant while other bands defected and other underground styles rose to prominence". Indie electronic or indietronica covers rock-based artists who share an affinity for electronic music, using samplers, synthesizers, drum machines, and computer programs. Less
4736-602: The Chemical Brothers , Pixies , Joy Division , Sonic Youth and the Smiths . Both Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack have been influenced by Britpop acts, particularly Blur , though Okereke also cites Suede and particularly their album Dog Man Star as an inspiration. Okereke has also stated that Mogwai's album Mogwai Young Team changed his life by being his musical "year zero". Particular parallels were made between Bloc Party and Gang of Four upon their arrival on
4864-499: The City along with the first British live performance of "Flux". " Mercury " was released as the first single from Bloc Party's third album in August 2008. Again produced by Jacknife Lee and Paul Epworth, Intimacy was rush-released later that month, with the album available to download 3 days after an announcement in August 2008. Later in the month the band played second on the bill at the Reading and Leeds Festivals before headlining
4992-489: The City", but had never seen an official release. The same day, the band removed the album from streaming, stemming from audio quality concerns. Bloc Party's musical style has been described as indie rock , post-punk revival , post-Britpop , alternative rock , art punk , art rock , dance-rock , and alternative dance . Early on, Bloc Party's sound was shaped primarily by American alternative rock bands Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer . Other influences included
5120-639: The Clash , the Kinks , the Smiths and the Jam , the band's style of tinny, high register, sometimes acoustic, guitar parts topped by lyrics of British parochial pleasures in the vocalists' authentic English accents became widely imitated. The Fratellis , the Kooks , and the View were three such acts to gain significant commercial success, although the most prominent post-Libertines band
5248-612: The Cribs , Bloc Party , Kaiser Chiefs and the Others . However, the Libertines , who formed in 1997, stood as the UK's counterpoint to the Strokes, being described by AllMusic as "one of the U.K.'s most influential 21st century acts" and the Independent stating that "the Libertines wanted to be an important band, but they could not have predicted the impact they would have". Influenced by
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5376-568: The DoubleHappys and Straitjacket Fits . Knox later formed another short-lived punk band called Toy Love , and after it broke up, he went on to start the influential band Tall Dwarfs , who were an integral influence on the emergence of home-recorded lo-fi indie . The punk-inspired aspects of the scene were often inspired by opposition to Robert Muldoon and his government, which prompted satire or outright criticism. The scene saw bands take influence from punk rock, but strip away its aggression for
5504-628: The Fall , Buzzcocks , Wire , Television and Joy Division would be influential to the genre. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of "varying musical approaches [not] compatible with mainstream tastes". Linked by an ethos more than a musical approach, the indie rock movement encompassed a wide range of styles, from hard-edged, grunge-influenced bands, through do-it-yourself experimental bands like Pavement , to punk-folk singers such as Ani DiFranco . In his book DIY Style: Fashion, Music and Global Digital Cultures , Brent Luvaas described
5632-481: The Head (2002) went multi-platinum , establishing them as one of the most popular acts in the world by the time of their third album X&Y (2005). Snow Patrol's " Chasing Cars " (from their 2006 album Eyes Open ) is the most widely played song of the 21st century on UK radio. The mainstream attention which indie rock garnered in the 2000s began with the Strokes and their 2001 debut album Is This It . Playing
5760-581: The Hunters Club and Scum Pups . In the early 1990s, the Seattle grunge scene, and its most visible acts, Nirvana , Pearl Jam , Soundgarden and Alice in Chains , broke into the mainstream. The monumental success of these bands, particularly Nirvana, brought increased attention to the indie rock scene, which initiated a shift in which the indie rock descriptor became displaced by the term alternative rock . As
5888-828: The Los Angeles area (19 August 2015 at The Glass House in Pomona and 20 August 2015 at The Roxy in Los Angeles). Following these performances, Bloc Party also subheadlined FYF Fest in Los Angeles on 22 August 2015. At these shows, the band confirmed that they've finished recording their next album. The shows marked the live debut for new bassist Justin Harris of the Portland, Oregon , indie rock outfit Menomena , who had previously opened several Bloc Party U.S. tour dates in April 2009; and Louise Bartle, who
6016-694: The Machine , the Decemberists and LCD Soundsystem gained number one singles in the United States during the decade, with Vampire Weekend , Florence and the Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Bon Iver , the Killers and the Postal Service gaining platinum selling records. Vampire Weekend's third studio album Modern Vampires of the City (2013) received the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 2014, with Consequence writer Tyler Clark stating that in 2019 it
6144-544: The Promise Ring and Cap'n Jazz distanced emo from its hardcore roots and allowed the genre to develop a much more realised scene than its first wave. This style of emo broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s, with the platinum-selling success of Jimmy Eat World 's Bleed American (2001) and Dashboard Confessional 's The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (2001). One particularly notable scene during this wave
6272-427: The Replacements releasing albums on majors in the middle of the decade. While these albums did not see the same success as R.E.M., and major labels soon lost interest in the scene, they did have a large impact on younger bands. In the following years, Sonic Youth , Dinosaur Jr. and Unrest began to release music on independent labels indebted to these bands, and soon too picked up the categorisation of indie rock. As
6400-498: The Smiths and R.E.M. . The genre solidified itself during the mid–1980s with NME ' s C86 cassette in the United Kingdom and the underground success of Sonic Youth , Dinosaur Jr. and Unrest in the United States. During the decade, indie rock bands like Sonic Youth, the Pixies and Radiohead all released albums on major labels and subgenres like slowcore , Midwest emo , slacker rock and space rock began. By this time, "indie" had evolved to refer to bands whose music
6528-473: The Smiths. The Madchester movement burgeoned by 1989, with the success of the Happy Mondays second album Bummed and the Stone Roses ' self-titled debut , which became the most influential work in the scene. In the following years, addition high profile acts included the Charlatans , 808 State and the Inspiral Carpets . The Madchester scene's distinct combination of indie rock and dance music became termed indie dance by critics, or more specifically
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#17328547824826656-462: The Top 40; however many bands in its twenty-two track runtime also fell into obscurity. In the United States, the popularity of R.E.M. allowed those disliking of hardcore punk 's aggression to become a part of the underground music scene. This empowered an array of musicians, particularly those in what would become the post-hardcore scene as led by the Minutemen . Furthermore, major labels began to pursue underground bands, with both Hüsker Dü and
6784-468: The UK Albums Chart and at number 36 on the Billboard 200. The band debuted new material during their 2013 North American tour, including "Children of the Future" at Rams Head Live! , " Ratchet " at The Pageant , "Montreal" at the Ogden Theatre and "X-cutioner's Song" at Mr. Smalls Theater in Pittsburgh. Lissack later confirmed the band's plans to release a new EP in "northern hemisphere summer". He told Marc Zanotti of Australian website MusicFeeds that
6912-401: The UK Albums Chart at number three. In 2013, Bloc Party released their third EP titled The Nextwave Sessions in August; the band then began an indefinite hiatus to continue with their respective side projects. The band's fifth studio album, Hymns , the first to involve Justin Harris (bass) and Louise Bartle (drums), was released on 29 January 2016. Their sixth studio album, Alpha Games ,
7040-429: The UK with their first five albums. As of June 2019, AM has spent 300 weeks in the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart . The album also peaked at number one in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal, and reached top ten positions in several other countries. In the United States, the album sold 42,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number six on
7168-415: The US top 40 and was nominated for a Grammy Award), Bright Eyes (who in 2004 had two singles at the top of the Billboard magazine Hot 100 Single Sales ) and Death Cab for Cutie (whose 2005 album Plans debuted at number four in the US, remaining on the Billboard charts for nearly one year and achieving platinum status and a Grammy nomination). This new commercial breakthrough and the widespread use of
7296-419: The US, and the Smiths , from the UK, who Matthew Bannister states were the earliest indie rock groups. These bands' influence was showcased quickly seen in the formation of Let's Active , the Housemartins and the La's . By this time, the term "indie rock" had begun to be used to describe the bands who produced music on independent record labels, rather than simply the record labels themselves. This made it
7424-436: The United Kingdom, NME released the C86 compilation cassette, which consisted of tracks by groups including Primal Scream , the Pastels and the Wedding Present . Intended to showcase the UK's current independent music scene, the album was made up of groups combining elements of jangle pop, post-punk and Phil Spector indebted Walls of Sound . In 2006, Bob Stanley called it "the beginning of indie music". C86 became
7552-527: The White Stripes , the Vines , and the Hives . These groups were christened by parts of the media as the "The" bands, and dubbed "the saviours of rock 'n' roll", prompting Rolling Stone magazine to declare on its September 2002 cover, "Rock is Back!" The success of the Strokes revitalised the then-dying underground post-Britpop scene in the United Kingdom with groups who took the band's influence and experimented with their sound. This first wave of UK acts included Franz Ferdinand , Kasabian , Maxïmo Park ,
7680-403: The Wonder Stuff and Ned's Atomic Dustbin , "grebo" was broadly defined, and was used more as a name for the Stourbridge scene than as a genre label. However, the bands quickly gained attention: Pop Will Eat Itself's 1989 singles " Wise Up! Sucker " and " Can U Dig It? " both entered the UK Top 40 and Stourbridge briefly became a tourist attraction for young indie rock fans. The seminal albums from
7808-401: The Word magazine. A 2020 Vice article cited Johnny Borrell , vocalist of Razorlight , as the "one man who defined, embodied and lived Landfill Indie" due his forming of a "spectacularly middle-of-the-road" band despite his close proximity to the Libertines' "desperate kinetic energy, mythologised love-hate dynamic and vision of a dilapidated Britain animated by romance and narcotics". In
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#17328547824827936-404: The album Echo Park (2001). After the death of their drummer Jon Lee , they moved to a more reflective and introspective mode on Comfort in Sound (2002), their most commercially successful album to that point, which spawned a series of hit singles. The most commercially successful band in the millennium were Coldplay , whose first two albums Parachutes (2000) and A Rush of Blood to
8064-425: The band choosing to mime their performance. They made their live return to the UK on 30 September 2008 with a special gig in London as part of Q Awards: The Gigs . They also played the Glasgow date of MTV2 's and Topman 's "Gonzo on Tour" on 19 October 2008. A follow-up single, " Talons " was released in October 2008. The song was not part of the pre-order album, but did feature on the full album CD release and
8192-416: The band felt it was too limited. The band received positive reviews from critics in the United States and they toured there heavily in the 18 months that followed the release of Silent Alarm . In early 2006, they finished their tour with sold-out shows in Los Angeles, Miami and Berkeley . The album went on to sell more than 350,000 copies in North America and over a million worldwide. After this success,
8320-421: The band released their debut album Silent Alarm . It was critically acclaimed and was named Indie Album of the Year at the 2006 PLUG Awards and NME Album of the year which both honour indie music . That year, the record was also certified platinum in Britain. The band built on this success in 2007 with the release of their second studio album, A Weekend in the City , which reached a peak of number two in
8448-464: The band. It marks some of the first new material that featured Justin and Louise as co-writers. March 2018 saw the band announce a series of shows touring their 'Silent Alarm' album which would be played in full. Due to the success of this short tour, Bloc Party announced further dates in 2019 again playing tracks from the whole of their debut. On 22 January 2020, Okereke announced on his personal social media accounts that Bloc Party had begun writing
8576-476: The band. Lissack told a Canadian newspaper, the National Post that the band were planning to take an indefinite hiatus following their appearance at the Latitude Festival on 19 July. In October 2013, Kele assembled a DJ Mix for !K7 's Tapes mix series, released under the Bloc Party name. In September 2014, Okereke stated that Bloc Party were working on a fifth album. In March 2015, bassist Gordon Moakes tweeted he had parted ways with Bloc Party. Following
8704-435: The bands they host have attempted to retain their autonomy, leaving them free to explore sounds, emotions and subjects of limited appeal to large, mainstream audiences. The influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk , psychedelia , post-punk and country . The lo-fi , experimental and art rock sound of the Velvet Underground as well as late '70s punk and post-punk bands such as
8832-402: The coining of the term "indie" to the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester punk rock band the Buzzcocks , on their Ind ependent record label New Hormones . This inspired a DIY punk movement where bands like Swell Maps , 'O' Level , Television Personalities and Desperate Bicycles followed suit in pressing and distributing their own records. Distribution
8960-700: The concept of Cool Britannia and Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it. After the decline of Britpop they began to gain more critical and popular attention. The Verve 's album Urban Hymns (1997) was a worldwide hit and their commercial peak before they broke up in 1999, while Radiohead – although having achieved moderate recognition with The Bends in 1995 – achieved near-universal critical acclaim with their experimental third album OK Computer (1997), and its follow-ups Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). Stereophonics , used elements of
9088-426: The covers of magazines like NME and Melody Maker . Grebo bands were distinct from prior indie rock groups not only because of their broad influences, but their subversion of the twee or unhappy moods of most other bands in the genre, and their pursuit of a heavier sound and aesthetic. The scene came to include the stylistically similar bands of nearby Leicester: the Bomb Party , Gaye Bykers on Acid , Crazyhead ,
9216-429: The departure of their former members, Okereke and Lissack started to work on new songs on their own in late 2014. At the time, the departures of Moakes and Tong were shrouded in rumour and innuendo. Okereke alluded to drugs being an issue on multiple occasions, after he had to intervene during a Bloc Party performance. He told The Guardian : "There’s a song where somebody makes a mistake and … well, I guess Gordon makes
9344-515: The development of indie rock's sound. According to Audioculture , one of the earliest Dunedin Sound band was Chris Knox 's band the Enemy , which emerged as a post-punk group, whose members also included Alec Bathgate . Although the group was only around for a short time, their shows impressed the teenage musicians that came to see them, including a young Shayne Carter , who went on to form Bored Games ,
9472-445: The distinctive 'protest' element of British-based independent music" Music journalist John Harris has suggested that Britpop began when Blur's fourth single " Popscene " and Suede's debut " The Drowners " were released around the same time in the spring of 1992. He stated, "[I]f Britpop started anywhere, it was the deluge of acclaim that greeted Suede's first records: all of them audacious, successful and very, very British." Suede were
9600-635: The dominant sound was a style of indie rock that was heavily indebted to punk and Nirvana's album Bleach album, while also occasionally making use of drum machines . Gigwise writer Steven Kline described the style as "filthy guitars, filthier hair and t-shirts only a mother would wash". Prominent fraggle acts included Senseless Things , Mega City Four and Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine . Spin writer Charles Aaron described Pavement and Guided by Voices as "the two bands that came to exemplify indie rock in this period, and still define
9728-642: The established electronic group, The Chemical Brothers , soon collaborated with Okereke for " Believe ", a track on their Push the Button album. An album of remixes of tracks from Silent Alarm had also been released at the end of August 2005 in the UK. This remix album, entitled Silent Alarm Remixed , retained the album's original track list and includes remixes from the likes of Ladytron , M83 , Death from Above 1979 , Four Tet , and Mogwai . During July 2005, Bloc Party recorded two new tracks with Silent Alarm producer Paul Epworth . The songs were released as
9856-464: The eventual signing with independent label Wichita Recordings in April 2004. Bloc Party's debut album, Silent Alarm , was released in February 2005 and was met with universal critical acclaim. It was voted 'Album of the Year' for 2005 by NME , and reached number 3 on the UK Albums Chart before being certified platinum . The first single from the album, "So Here We Are/Positive Tension", made
9984-688: The first UK punk single " New Rose " by the Damned In Australia , the Saints had their first punk release outside the US, " (I'm) Stranded ," on their own "Fatal Records" label. This was followed by the Go-Betweens releasing ' Lee Remick ' a few months later. Dunedin produced the independent record label Flying Nun Records , whose artists defined the Dunedin sound , which would be particularly influential on
10112-446: The first of the new crop of guitar-orientated bands to be embraced by the UK music media as Britain's answer to Seattle's grunge sound. Their debut album Suede for the fastest-selling debut album in the UK. Sunny Day Real Estate 's debut album, Diary (1994), began a new wave of the emo genre, by incorporating elements of it into their indie rock sound. Sunny Day Real Estate and other second wave emo bands, including Piebald ,
10240-487: The following years the Jesus and Mary Chain and Flying Nun Records bands like the Jean-Paul Sartre Experience morphed the genre into a slower, darker and more hypnotic style. The number of college radio stations in the US decreased significantly following NPR 's lobbying against noncommercial station during the 1980s. In turn, the name "college rock" fell into disfavour, soon being replaced by "indie". In
10368-420: The genre and saw record labels use their independent status as a marketing tactic. This led to a split within indie rock: one side conforming to mainstream radio; the other becoming increasingly experimental. By this point, "indie rock" referred to the musical style rather than ties to the independent music scene. In the 2000s, indie rock reentered the mainstream through the garage rock and post-punk revival and
10496-571: The genre as rooted in nostalgia, citing the influence of garage rock and psychedelic rock of the 1960s in progenitors the Stone Roses and the Smiths , in addition to a lyrical preoccupation with literature. In this same vein, Matthew Bannister defined indie rock as "small groups of white men playing guitars, influenced by punks and 1960s white pop/rock, within a broader discourse and practice of (degrees of) independence from mainstream musical values." According to anthropologist Wendy Fonarow ,
10624-497: The genre's earlier anti-establishment politics and instead brought it into the mainstream, with bands like Blur and Pulp even signing to major labels. In her essay Labouring the Point? The Politics of Britain in "New Britain" , politician and academic Rupa Huq states that Britpop "began as an offshoot of the independent British music scene but arguably ended up killing it, as a convergence took place between indie and mainstream, removing
10752-472: The genre, with Bandcamp Daily writer Robert Rubsam, calling them the "fountainhead for all that would come". The first wave of bands in the genre included Red House Painters , Codeine , Bedhead , Ida and Low . The genre originated from around the United States, with no geographic focus, and very little interaction between its artists. A younger subset of grebo bands emerged around 1991, who were in turn labelled "fraggle" bands. During this movement,
10880-504: The group's official Internet forum that it was more a merging of the eastern "Blocs" and the western "parties", in the political sense. He also notes that the name was not explicitly driven by politics, but rather it "looked, sounded, seemed fine so we went with it." In November 2003, Bloc Party had their track "The Marshals Are Dead" featured on a compilation CD called The New Cross released by Angular Recording Corporation . They then released their debut single " She's Hearing Voices " on
11008-420: The growing popularity of college radio stations, primarily in the United States, who would play independent artists of various genres, including alternative rock , new wave , post-hardcore and post-punk . The bands broadcast on these station became dubbed " college rock " by fans, another term which lacked any stylistic implication. The most prominent college rock bands were jangle pop groups R.E.M. , from
11136-580: The influence of the Strokes and the Libertines . This success was exacerbated in the middle of the decade by Bloc Party , the Arctic Monkeys and the Killers and indie rock proliferated into the landfill indie movement. The term indie rock, which comes from "independent", describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released and the do-it-yourself attitude of the bands and artists involved. Although distribution deals are often struck with major corporate companies, these labels and
11264-598: The last 13 years, including a 35-week run peaking at number 49 in 2016–2017. Furthermore, it was the UK's most streamed pre-2010 song, until it was surpassed in late 2018, and continued to be purchased for download hundreds of times a week by 2017. In March 2018, the song reached the milestone of staying in the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart for 200 weeks. The impact of the Strokes, the Libertines and Bloc Party led to significant major label interest in indie rock artists, which
11392-672: The late 1980s. Defined by its merger of C86 indie rock, dance music and Hedonist rave culture, particularly its emphasis on the use of psychedelic drugs, the scene was centred in Manchester . The scene was based around the Haçienda nightclub, which opened in May 1982 as an initiative of Factory Records . For the first few years of its life, the club played predominantly club-oriented pop music and hosted performances by artists including New Order , Cabaret Voltaire , Culture Club , Thompson Twins and
11520-535: The live line-up of Irish rock-band Ash as guitarist and synthesiser player on their touring for the A–Z Series . Moakes formed the group Young Legionnaire with Paul Mullen , vocalist & guitarist of The Automatic , and William Bowerman, drummer for La Roux , releasing a single, "Colossus" in August 2010. Okereke released a solo album, The Boxer , in June 2010. Produced by Hudson Mohawke and XXXChange, its release
11648-495: The mainstreaming of the North American indie rock ethic and style of the 1980s", going on to explain that a band's status as independent became "As much a marketing device as [indie rock and alternative rock were an] identifiable 'sound'". In the wake of this increased attention, indie rock experienced a split: accessible bands who catered to the now-popular alternative rock radio; and bands who continued to experiment, advancing in
11776-446: The most noticeable changes between debut Silent Alarm and A Weekend in the City are that the songs became more layered and less raw due to inclusion of string arrangements . With the release of " Flux ", Bloc Party's style became even more diverse with the inclusion of electronic music. " Mercury " saw Bloc Party distance themselves even further from the traditional guitar band set-up by experimenting with dark electronic sounds and
11904-644: The music scene, yet the band were "mildly infuriated" at such references, claiming they had never "particularly liked" Gang of Four. To achieve their unique style, numerous delay and other effects pedals are implemented. During the recording of second album A Weekend in the City , the band suggested it would contain "some truly R&B styled beats, a song where [Tong] and [Moakes] play drums simultaneously [with] both eggshell-thin fragility and trouser-flapping hugeness", as opposed to their typical sound. The style has been compared to and inspired by such bands as Radiohead , U2 , Depeche Mode , and Björk . Some of
12032-457: The new drummer in The Used. Guitar player and singer Josh Asher, went on to start Epic Electric, an electrical contracting company based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. In 2016, the band reunited to play Crucialfest in 2016. Indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term
12160-446: The new material was "not like a continuation of the record we've just made, it's a completely separate thing [...] the next step; the next progression". "French Exit" was given its debut live performance at Crystal Ballroom on 24 May. Some of the new material would feature on The Nextwave Sessions , an EP announced on 25 June and for release on 12 August via Frenchkiss Records. During the summer tour of 2013, drummer Matt Tong left
12288-530: The number 2 spot on the UK Albums Chart. The album also reached number 2 on the Australian and Belgian charts, and debuted at number 12 in the Billboard 200 , with 48,000 copies sold. The first single, " The Prayer ", was released on 29 January, and became the band's highest charting single in the British Top 40, reaching number 4. In the buildup to the release of the album, BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe aired
12416-463: The only genre at the time which was defined by the methods by which the music was distributed rather than the sound of said music. Journalist Steve Taylor also cited the bands involved in the Paisley Underground scene as early indie groups. However, this jangly style became increasingly mainstream as the decade progressed leading subsequent indie rock bands to abandon this style. Instead, in
12544-524: The public perception of "rock music" was based in post-grunge , nu metal and rap rock , putting their throwback style of garage rock as a stark contrast to the mainstream. The band's immediate influence allowed fellow classic rock influenced New York bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs , Interpol and TV on the Radio to gain mainstream attention. The Strokes were accompanied in this commercial breakthrough by
12672-422: The responding music video was released on 28 January 2022. On 25 February 2022, the third single "Sex Magik" was released. A fourth single "If We Get Caught" was released on 24 March 2022. In October 2022, it was announced Bloc Party would be supporting Paramore during their 2023 UK and Ireland tour, as well as their North American tour as announced the following month. On 21 June 2023, Bloc Party announced
12800-633: The scene were released between 1989 and 1993: the Wonder Stuff's Hup and Never Loved Elvis ; Ned's Atomic Dustbin's God Fodder and Are You Normal? ; and Pop Will Eat Itself's This Is the Day...This Is the Hour...This Is This! and The Looks or the Lifestyle? . In this period, the scene's bands became fixtures, sometimes headliners, at Reading Festival , sold millions of albums and were frequently featured on
12928-466: The subgenre baggy . Madchester and baggy's most infamous moment was the 27 May 1990 Spike Island concert headlined by the Stone Roses. With an attendance of around 28,000 and lasting twelve hours, it was the first event of its size and kind to be hosted by an independent act. In Stourbridge , a scene of indie bands who took influence from electronic , punk, folk and hip-hop music emerged, dubbed grebo by critics. Fronted by Pop Will Eat Itself ,
13056-526: The term in many people's minds". Both bands made use of a Lo-fi production style which romanticised their D.I.Y. ethos. Pavement's 1992 album Slanted and Enchanted , was one of the defining albums of the slacker rock subgenre. Rolling Stone called the album "the quintessential indie rock album", placing it on the magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time . In the North Carolina Research Triangle , an indie rock scene
13184-661: The term indie to other forms of popular culture, led a number of commentators to suggest that indie rock had ceased to be a meaningful term. Additionally, a second wave of bands emerged in the United States that managed to gain international recognition as a result of the movement included the Black Keys , Kings of Leon , the Shins , the Bravery , Spoon , the Hold Steady , and the National . The most commercially successful band of this wave
13312-475: The then fledgling record label Trash Aesthetics . Also in 2003 Bloc Party personally mailed Steve Aoki a 7-inch of the track “She’s Hearing Voices” and signed to Dim Mak shortly thereafter. Dim Mak teamed up with VICE, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records, and entered a major label deal for the first time. Dim Mak and Atlantic later released Bloc Party's critically acclaimed and commercially successful Silent Alarm in 2005. The band got their break after Okereke went to
13440-536: The top 5 on the UK Top 40 chart. Further singles "Banquet" (which reached number 13 in NME ' s 'Top 50 Singles of 2005'), " Helicopter ", and " Pioneers ", whilst failing to repeat this success, still managed to reach the UK top 20. The animated video for "Pioneers," made by the Shoreditch -based Minivegas design agency, was top of the NME video charts for four weeks. NME tagged them as "art-rock" at that time but
13568-599: The track "The Present" to the Help!: A Day in the Life compilation, the profits of which benefited the War Child charity . Bloc Party's second album, A Weekend in the City , was produced by Garret "Jacknife" Lee . It was released in February 2007, although it was leaked in November 2006. It became available for download on the UK iTunes Store before the physical release, and reached
13696-559: The underground. According to AllMusic , it was during this split that "indie rock" solidified itself as a term for the style of music played by these underground artists, while the mainstream indie rock-influenced bands became termed alternative rock. Slowcore developed in the United States as a direct counterpoint to the rapid growth of grunge. Although loosely defined, slowcore generally includes slow tempos, minimalist instrumentals and sad lyrics. Galaxie 500 , particularly their second album On Fire (1989), were heavy influences on
13824-461: The way fourth album was headed. However, Tong contradicted this, stating: "There's every chance we might go back to more orthodox arrangements or things that resemble a traditional band but I don't think we'll ever write songs like we did on Silent Alarm again." Studio albums Bloc Party have had several nominations from a number of different awarding bodies during their recording career. The band themselves were nominated for 'Best New Artist' at
13952-459: Was Las Vegas' the Killers . Formed in 2001, after hearing Is This It , the band scrapped the majority of their prior material to rewrite it under the Strokes' influence. The band's debut single " Mr. Brightside " spent 260 non-consecutive weeks, or five years, on the UK Singles Chart as of April 2021, the most out of any song, and As of 2017 , it had charted on the UK Singles Chart in 11 of
14080-594: Was Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys . One of the earliest groups to owe their initial commercial success to the use of Internet social networking , the Arctic Monkeys had two No. 1 singles, and their album Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not (2006) became the fastest-selling debut album in British chart history. In this success, legacy indie bands soon entered the mainstream, including Modest Mouse (whose 2004 album Good News for People Who Love Bad News reached
14208-546: Was about someone doing cocaine and someone not being into it. That’s all I’m gonna say." Before publication Okereke contacted The Guardian to address his comments to NME saying the 'someone' he referenced was a person around the band, not actually in the band: “This then led to a big argument and that’s the situation,” he says. “I don’t want people to think Matt and Gordon were cokeheads, and that’s why we had to lose them. And I don’t want their families thinking that.” Bloc Party unveiled their new line-up at two intimate gigs in
14336-457: Was accidentally announced a month earlier as Bloc Party's drummer by instrument manufacturer Natal Drums in a since-deleted tweet, leading to fan speculation regarding her membership that was ultimately proved correct. These shows also included the first performances of two new songs called "Eden" and "Exes" according to the setlist. In a performance at Maida Vale , Bloc Party gave "The Good News" its live debut; hours later, "The Love Within"
14464-428: Was announced that Bloc Party would release a new single, " Flux ", on 13 November—ahead of their end of year gigs. The electronic song, also produced by Jacknife Lee, was very different from previous singles released by the band. The band's first gig following the release of A Weekend in the City was on 5 February 2007, in Reading , and was broadcast live on BBC 6 Music . On 20 May 2007, Bloc Party headlined on
14592-446: Was being spearheaded by groups enfranched Merge Records like Superchunk , Archers of Loaf and Polvo . describing a growing scene of indie-rock bands who were influenced by hardcore punk and post-punk. At the time, publications such as Entertainment Weekly took to calling the college town of Chapel Hill the "next Seattle". Superchunk's single " Slack Motherfucker " has also been credited by Columbia magazine with popularizing
14720-520: Was featured as "Hottest Record in the World" by Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 . Okereke revealed the band's upcoming fifth album is set to be titled Hymns . The album's release was later confirmed on social media as 29 January 2016. Later in 2016, the band released the standalone single 'Stunt Queen' to mark their performance at the Hollywood Bowl , which Okereke claimed was a "significant milestone" for
14848-571: Was formed in London in 1999 by co-founders Kele Okereke (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, piano, sampler) and Russell Lissack (lead guitar, synthesizers). Their first four albums all featured Gordon Moakes (bass) and Matt Tong (drums), who have since left the band. Their current lineup also contains Louise Bartle (drums, percussion) and Harry Deacon (bass, synthesizers). Their brand of music, whilst rooted in rock, retains elements of other genres such as electronica and house music . Upon their formation at
14976-457: Was further improved with the establishment of 'The Cartel', an association of companies like Red Rhino and Rough Trade Records who would take the releases from these small labels and get them into record shops nationwide. Independent record labels would also be integral to the early years of punk rock musical distribution, as seen with Beserkley Records in the US, who put out The Modern Lovers debut album, and Stiff Records who released
15104-415: Was made freely available to people who already purchased the download-only album. An album of remixes of all tracks on Intimacy , Intimacy Remixed , was released in May 2009. The band undertook their first UK tour since December 2007 in October 2009, dubbing it "Bloctober". In July 2009, Okereke stated that the band did not have a current recording contract and had no obligation or pressure to release
15232-491: Was originally used to describe rock music released through independent record labels , by the 1990s it became more widely associated with the music such bands produced. The sound of indie rock has its origins in the New Zealand Dunedin sound of the Chills , Sneaky Feelings , Tall Dwarfs , the Clean and the Verlaines , and early 1980s college rock radio stations who would frequently play jangle pop bands like
15360-581: Was pioneered by My Bloody Valentine on their early EPs and debut album Isn't Anything . The band's style influenced a wave of bands in London and the Thames Valley area including Chapterhouse , Moose and Lush . This scene was collectively termed "the Scene That Celebrates Itself" by Melody Maker's Steve Sutherland in 1990. Madchester was another style and scene that originated in
15488-455: Was preceded by the single "Tenderoni". Rumours throughout 2011 suggested Okereke had left the group to focus on solo work, though these were denied by other band members. Bloc Party started writing material for a fourth album in 2011, but decided not to play live. In the meantime Okereke finished an EP titled The Hunter . The group stated they intended to release a new album in 2012. In May 2012, Bloc Party announced Four , which
15616-437: Was produced and mixed by John Congleton and was released in 2004. This album garnered comparisons to Jawbox , Jawbreaker , Quicksand , and The Hives . The band performed as an opening act with The Used , Taking Back Sunday , and The Blood Brothers . After breaking up in 2006, members of the band formed Still Breaking Hearts, which released an EP in 2007. The drummer, Dan Whitesides , has replaced Brandon Steineckert as
15744-579: Was released on 20 August 2012, after being made available to stream in its entirety for over a week preceding release. The album was recorded with Alex Newport, who had previously worked with At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta , in New York City. Bloc Party released " Octopus " that July and later released another single entitled "Day Four". The band released "Kettling" on 12 November 2012, followed by "Truth" on 25 February 2013. Four peaked at number three on
15872-502: Was released on 29 April 2022. On 21 July 2023, they released the High Life EP. Bloc Party have sold over 3 million albums worldwide. Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke first met in 1998 in London. Lissack had attended Bancroft's School , while Okereke attended Ilford County High School , then Trinity Catholic High School, Woodford Green for sixth form . They bumped into each other again in 1999 at Reading Festival and decided to form
16000-501: Was released on independent record labels, in addition to the record labels themselves. As the decade progressed many individual local scenes developed their own distinct takes on the genre: baggy in Manchester ; grebo in Stourbridge and Leicester ; and shoegaze in London and the Thames Valley . During the 1990s, the mainstream success of grunge and Britpop , two movements influenced by indie rock, brought increased attention to
16128-448: Was still "an indie rock standard bearer in the wider world of music". Arctic Monkeys' fifth album AM (2013) was one of the biggest indie rock albums of the decade, charting at number one on the UK Albums Chart , having sold 157,329 copies, thus becoming the second fastest-selling album of the year. With the debut of AM on the chart, Arctic Monkeys also broke a record, becoming the first independent-label band to debut at number one in
16256-507: Was the Midwest emo bands of the latter half of the decade, who incorporated the jangly guitar tones of earlier indie rock and elements of math rock to create the distinctive style of groups like American Football . The popularity of emo, also allowed a number of "not-quite-indie-not-quite-emo" bands like Death Cab For Cutie , Modest Mouse and Karate to gain significant attention. The loosely defined Elephant 6 collective – which included
16384-544: Was then exacerbated by the success of the Arctic Monkeys. In the years following Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not there was a proliferation of bands such as the Rifles , the Pigeon Detectives and Milburn , who created a more formulaic derivative of the earlier acts. By the end of the decade, critics had taken to referring to this wave of acts as "landfill indie", a description coined by Andrew Harrison of
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