The WIDR Guide to... Indie Sleaze

2 hours ago

3 min read

So last week I did an Indie Sleaze set at this silent disco event, and the overwhelming majority of kids there were not properly informed on the lovely era of music their ears were being BLESSED with. So if you're wondering what is this meaning of this so called "indie sleaze" I'll be your music prof for a moment and take you to school baby.

I didn't really know this was a specific era or genre of music either until I started reading the literature. It actually started with the book Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain. It's basically like the entire history of punk starting from Andy Warhols factory, and The Velvet Underground, all the way to the Sex Pistols and Ramones. The book is made up of interviews, so it's really easy to read and gives you an inside look into the real gritty gross side of punk rock. Well, I loved this book so much and I was like I NEED MORE. So my cousin recommended me this book Meet Me In The Bathroom by Lizzy Goodman. The title named after the Strokes song off of Room On Fire. I saw the back of the book cover filled with band names that I adore, the Strokes, LCD Soundsystem, Interpol, the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. That book is like the exact same format, filled with interviews, but this time telling the history of the indie rock scene from 2001-2011.

So what is indie sleaze? It was a new era after what seemed like a hiatus of new bands in New York City, a ton of D.I.Y. sounds were popping up all over. The scene exploded with groups like the Strokes and the Yeah Yeah Yeah's. The sound was reminiscent of post-punk, while the styles artists were wearing were like messier version of what folks wore in the 60's. When I hear indie sleaze, I think of skinny jeaned punk hipsters, on sticky dance floors, and glitter everywhere. It's drunken swagger, raving as a sport, and dirty filthy beats that make you want to dance. One of my favorite stories from the book was about James Murphy aka LCD Soundsystem. He was apart of DFA records, which really only had The Rapture working with them. Well, the group ended up leaving DFA and left James Murphy with himself. He was known for being "older" in the scene. He was in a few lesser known punk bands, but never felt like he had his break out moment. He started making music as LCD Soundsystem, and wrote the song Losing My Edge. He felt as if he was losing his coolness, with all these young kids in band popping up everywhere in NYC. The entire song is basically 7 minutes of the most pretentious ramblings of a guy who has known everything cool wayyyy before you did. He was there. This ended up blowing up and sparked the rest of what we know today of LCD Soundsystem. This story has always just been an inspiration to me and reminds me it's never to late to start doing what you've always wanted to do.

Here are some songs I believe defined this era. Here's a few highlights with my Spotify playlist linked.

New York City Cops - The Strokes