The Apartments - The Evening Visits... (1985)

Great jangle pop album out of Brisbane. Most of the songs are very catchy and upbeat, but also really melancholy at the same time. The singing comes off as kind of nasally and melodramatic at first, but it gains sincerity with repeated listens, this is an album that really grew on me after a while. Definitely worth a listen.

The girls walk Lazarus all around the room
As he changes color from red to blue
Here's your drama. Here's your fuel
I'm just sitting here cause there's nothing else to do

The Pennikurvers - The Pennikurvers (1995)

Fantastic 90's lofi emo. And when I say lofi I mean REALLY lofi. Whether or not you're a fan of emo you should definitely check this, it very well could change your mind about the genre altogether. The whole single has a very indie rock tint to it as well, but its still primarily an emo record. Superbly fuzzy and comfy, its a real shame these guys never released anything else. Either way this is and incredibly enjoyable single and definitely worth a listen in my opinion.

Link

Smog - Tired Tape Machine (1990)

Real great lo-fi, indie, tape-fuckery masterpiece right here. Not really going to be the clean indie rock one would come to expect from him later in his career, nor is it the almost country-like sound that came even later. It's a real demented, strange, and at times even eerie album, way more enthralling than his other stuff. I'd even go as far as to say that it's definitely his best album in my opinion, it's severely underrated.

Loving the fables of the times
Learning the fables of the times
Teaching me the fables of the times
I don't think I miss much

Chris Knox - Seizure (1989)

Seizure is only what I can describe as an odd mix of Punk Rock, Indie Rock, and Post-Punk that somehow manages to work perfectly. Another one of the many great releases from the Flying Nun label. The seasoned New Zealand musician Chris Knox makes this interesting combination of styles flow perfectly into an album that's surreal, dreamy, and snide all at the same time. The whole album feels diverse and it doesn't fall into the pointless samey-ness that Indie Rock albums are generally susceptible to. I think it's mostly because Knox incorporates a lot of other genres into his music, some of the songs are more Punk influenced, while some even seem like a nod to Rock 'n' Roll, it's enough to keep the album constantly changing and make it insanely captivating. All in all it's just a really fun and energetic album that's really worth a listen.

But you know you wanna see
All this pain an misery

Ghosts of Television - Forsaken Empire (2009)

Ghosts of Television are a group from Sydney, Australia who produce some music quite contradictory to a lot of unremarkable music it seems Australia has been giving us lately, they offer us a tossup of several great genres and work to provide an amazing listening atmosphere. Unfortunately since releasing this album the band has broken up and very little information can be found on them.

Sparklehorse + Fennesz- In the Fishtank 15 (2009)

Indie rock namesake Sparklehorse, led by the late Mark Linkous, and glitch artist Christian Fennesz combined their disparate sounds to an amazing effect for this installment in Konkurrent’s Fishtank series. 

advantage Lucy - Have a Good Journey (1996-2000) (2000)

advantage Lucy (Originally Lucy Van Pelt) is a Japanese Indie Pop band that gathers influences from pretty much every feel-good genre there is, from lounge to jangle pop to alternative rock. In 2001 they released the compilation album "Have a Good Journey (1996-2000)" reuniting tracks from all of their albums and EPs released up to the year 2000 including their Lucy Van Pelt stage.

What separates this compilation from most Indie Pop compilations or from all Indie albums in general for that matter is that advantage Lucy has effortlessly pulled off what most Indie Pop bands don't achieve in their entire career; the natural ability to write compelling and short pop songs that don't feel manipulated or forced in any manner. advantage Lucy achieved fullness in a very pure yet varied form, not a single moment on this compilation is wasted, there is always a new musical idea waiting to put a smile on our faces. Whether it's the sharp and simple guitar leads from "Sora Wa Ugokazuni" or the electronic stunts of "Sunny", the semi-heavy guitar rhythms of "Citrus" or even the bitter-sweet whisperish vocals of "Nico" we are never deceived with even a single moment of empty space or "filler" in any of the songs' structures. The vocalist's work was especially refined and soothing, a definite highlight of this compilation, it's amazing how she can quickly change and change back from singing lyrics to wordless vocals like on the track "Citrus", there is an obvious vocalist-band chemistry that I personally can't get enough of. The last three tracks of this compilation are specially stellar, my personal favourite was "Frizz Pop", this track just sums up the whole album for me, it starts with an angry distorted guitar and quickly moves in into these gorgeous sugary vocals very á la Stereolab, then a flute comes in to complement this song, giving it a really funky-feel and putting an ironic point at the end of every verse the vocalists sings, and then the song finishes in a very humorous manner.

advantage Lucy is an example to follow for all Indie Bands and not only J-pop bands, an enormously entertaining compilation that deserves to be replicated.


"It's so funny, it's so sunny, it's so lovely, it's so funky"

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 - Lovelyville (1991)

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 was a band which emerged from California in 1985. They could best be described as "Experimental Indie Rock" or perhaps Noise Rock, personally I like the term "Indie Rock on cocaine." Their album Lovelyville was released at the band's peak in 1991. Combining elements of Indie Rock and Noise Rock, even with some strange sound collages thrown in. The album even perhaps includes aspects reminiscent of 70's Psychedelic rock and Post-Rock, a few songs, like "Nail in the Head," have segments that, if they had been played by a band like Do Make Say Think, I wouldn't raise an eyebrow. Most of the songs on the album start as standard Indie Rock songs and proceed to degrade (or perhaps upgrade) to a hectic clamor of instruments. Some turn into a more repetitive and slower Post-Rock-esque ambient tracks. A lot of  the tracks on Lovelyville has a very powerful feel to them, they sound massive, but for as many massive songs there are equally melancholy and depressed songs, like "Nothing Solid" which, despite the screaming vocals, still sounds very mellow, and frankly, sad. And on the other spectrum Maverick and the next two tracks following it are just playful clips of the band messing around. Really the whole later parts of the album after what was probably my favorite track, "Nothing Solid," takes a large turn for the weird. "The Meat Display" especially is interesting, but the track that follows, "Strife is Good," is a plain eerie song which turns into distorted and painful sounding cry of "ow!" The whole ending tracks of the album are quite a trip, and the album ends on a rather ambient, melancholy, droney note.
All in all the album is magnificent, quite astray from most Indie Rock being released at the time, in a very good way. For those who didn't like Caroliner because the band just seemed too bizarre, but at the same time were interested by some of the aspects in their music, this band is certainly something you might want to look into. Even then regardless of what you like you should certainly give this hidden gem a shot.

See that guy, he's a lot like me, he's a lot like me, he's dumb as hell 
See that guy, he's a friend of mine, he's a friend of mine, he's dumb as hell