Getting back to indie rock, it’s found a new place as a much more commercially viable subculture than ever before, thanks in large part to those essential mixes The OC keeps churning out. Indie used to mean “challenging” or “lo-fi” or “doesn’t sell a lot of records.” That’s not true anymore. Indie rock has become a haven for singer-songwriters, wearing hearts on sleeves, searching souls for deeper truths in concert with enablers who may just provide modest guitar/bass/drum accompaniment, or create a full-on orchestral backdrop. The Arcade Fire fit that mold well enough, even if an air of cryptic secrecy still surrounds much of what gets called “indie.” But being a small label doesn’t mean you can’t move units or play big rooms anymore. So, what’s the real difference between a Belle & Sebastian and a Fiona Apple?
Not much beyond the mythical intrigue that comes with being a major-label artist. Apple played that for all it was worth with Extraordinary Machine (Epic), an album that needed to be extraordinary to save her career. And Apple made sure of that by spreading confusing rumors about her label’s intentions until fans petitioned Epic to release it, custom-wrapped in more controversy than our hip-hop hero of the year, Kanye West, generated with his remarks about Bush’s racism. Now he’s got our singer-songwriter of the year, Neil Young, on his side with a Bush-bashing album titled Living with War (Reprise). Hopefully, by this time next year, there will be a lot more of that to go around our poll.
Related:
Gorillaz at the Apollo, Best Music Poll 2006, DARE, More 
- Gorillaz at the Apollo
There were puppets, singing and dancing middle schoolers, a gospel choir, a 14-piece string section from Juilliard, a who’s who of guests, including Neneh Cherry, De La Soul, Ike Turner, and a lollipop-sucking Shaun Ryder. But no Jamie Hewlett animations?!
- Best Music Poll 2006
The results are in for the 18th annual FNX/Phoenix Best Music Poll. Gorillaz, Matisyahu, Dropkick Murphys, Dresden Dolls, and Apollo Sunshine top your charts.
- DARE
Although Gorillaz musical mastermind Damon Albarn is busy recording with the Good, the Bad and the Queen, all’s not quiet on the Gorillaz front, at least not on the commercial front.
- Gorillaz | Plastic Beach
Although this is their first album without an indie-chic producer, the fake band with fake cartoon characters known as Gorillaz stay the course as a very real post-Blur conduit for Damon Albarn's quasi-apocalyptic, '80s-daydreaming, neon-pop habit.
- London falling
Damon Albarn — Blur frontman, Gorillaz supremo, and now millennial minstrel to the drowning city of London — is that eerie modern specimen, the pop star who talks like a critic. The Good, The Bad, and the Queen, "Kingdom of Doom" (streaming video)
- WFNX's top 101 songs of the decade
Video of WFNX's top 101 songs of the decade
- Beck
It’s music for summer nights of muggy confusion and post-sunset soul searching, and when Beck takes the mic, he rocks some straight-up Shiva shit.
- The 40 greatest concerts in Boston history: 25
Beck + the Flaming Lips | Orpheum Theatre | October 28, 2002
- Flashbacks: June 16, 2006
These selections, culled from our back files, were compiled by Hannah Van-Susteren, Doug Fleischer and Sam MacLaughlin.
- Cibo Matto
You really can fit all of the hipster downtown NYC-by-way-of-Japan duo’s essential tracks on one disc without leaving anything out.
- Gorillaz
It’s a butcher’s trashcan of a double-length album.
- Less
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Music Features
, Madonna (Entertainer), Celebrity News, Husker Du, More
, Madonna (Entertainer), Celebrity News, Husker Du, Arcade Fire, Ben Gibbard, Damon Albarn, Shaun Ryder, De La Soul, Fiona Apple, Buena Vista Social Club, Less
