The Best Indie Rock Albums Of All Time Ranked
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock or “guitar pop rock”. In the 1980s, the use of the term “indie” (or “indie pop”) started to shift from its reference to recording companies to describe the style of music produced on punk and post-punk labels. During the 1990s, grunge and punk revival bands in the US and Britpop bands in the UK broke into the mainstream, and the term “alternative” lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term “indie rock” became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. By the end of the 1990s, indie rock developed several subgenres and related styles, including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock, and math rock.
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15. Funeral – Arcade Fire
“Arcade Fire’s high-energy first release almost set the bar too high. Many of the tracks we associate with the genre, like “Wake Up” and “Neighborhood #2 (Laika),” are on this delicious 2004 album. It demonstrates the band’s uncanny ability to weave sheer might with grace and finesse.”
14. Turn Out The Lights – Julien Baker
“Julien Baker’s debut album, 2015’s Sprained Ankle, was a bolt of lightning from out of nowhere, zapped down from heaven directly into a bottle bobbing in a vast and lonely ocean. Turn Out the Lights snuck up on no one. That’s a tricky place to be, but the Memphis singer-songwriter handled it with grace, never overreaching. Intimacy wasn’t sacrificed to make way for chilly distance or flamboyance. Instead, it was replaced by a brighter, more muscular beauty.”
13. Teen Dream – Beach House
“A record so catchy and distinctive it practically spawned its own sub-genre, Teen Dream is always worth a listen. Released in 2010, it cemented the Baltimore duo as the leading purveyors of bubbling, fluid, melodic, guitar-driven shoegaze that coats the listener from head to toe.”
12. Are We There – Sharon Van Etten
“Though most of Are We There steers through the tumult of a relationship that has since ended (the song titles tell the story: “Your Love Is Killing Me,” “I Love You But I’m Lost,” “Nothing Will Change,” “Break Me”), Van Etten never wallows, nor turns vengeful or bitter. Rather, these songs are her attempt to make sense of it all, and she sifts through the promise, the heartache and the loneliness with dignity, even elegance. That’s not to suggest she hides her anguish. Van Etten lets loose on “Your Love Is Killing Me,” her voice throbbing as she fights, essentially, for the space to catch her breath”
11. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot – Wilco
“Jeff Tweedy and indie go hand in glove. The Wilco frontman delivered a masterpiece with this record, which wrapped in 2001 but was refused by the band’s original label. So, Wilco and Warner Brothers parted ways and the album flourished. It doesn’t get much more indie than that.”
10. Everybody Works – Jay Som
“Melina Duterte begins her sophomore album with a hushed, distorted couplet: “I like the way your lipstick stains / the corner of my smile.” It’s memorable, sweet and original bedroom pop, intimate but carefully orchestrated. The guitar tones play with pitch even more than current lo-fi kings Mac DeMarco or Kurt Vile, or much like Duterte’s first instrument, the trumpet, whose imprecise notes can make a piece of music feel more human in our digital world. The vocals are buried and dreamy, surrounded at times by discordant guitars, especially on songs like “1 Billion Dogs.”
9. You Forgot It in People – Broken Social Scene
“The product of a Canadian supergroup, this album is layered and full of surprises. Not many bands can move as swiftly from smooth jams to more obscure alt-rock. It’s packed to the gills with smart arrangements, unexpected structures, and soaring riffs — the work of a large, very dialed-in band.”
8. Chutes Too Narrow – The Shins
“Immortalized by Natalie Portman and Garden State in 2004, The Shins was well on its way to indie stardom already. A year prior, the New Mexico act released this album, which is decidedly bigger and bolder than prior releases. Not many in the indie game can make you feel all the feels quite like James Mercer and crew.”
7. Trouble Will Find Me – The National
“Trouble Will Find Me may be The National’s funniest album to date. Not that it has a whole lot of competition. The bookish Brooklynites don’t typically drop punchlines, although Matt Berninger has snuck a few sharp absurdities into his lyrics. On the band’s sixth album, however, he actually foregrounds the humor, which was a welcome change for the band so deep into its career. Berninger’s self-deprecating humor nicely complements the album’s pealed-back sound.”
6. Puberty 2 – Mitski
“Mitksi is a bonafide rock star, as proven on her 2016 standout album, Puberty 2. Her fourth studio album is an exceptional exploration of universal truths for a certain sect—unrequited love, financial instability and hungry ambition. Despite these coming of age tales, Puberty 2 is anything but ordinary. Mitski’s telling offers a refreshing and emotionally raw account of life in a way that avoids being precious. Each track offers a unique approach in terms of sound but is woven together and amplified through brilliant songwriting.”
5. Dear Science – TV on the Radio
“Releasing something on par with Return to Cookie Mountain is a tough task but iconic New York City act TV on the Radio surpassed it with this 2008 classic. Dear Science flexes the percussive, groove-kissed side of indie-rock, with an intoxicating effect that’s downright irresistible.”
4. Antisocialites – Alvvays
“On Antisocialites, Alvvays haven’t lost their knack for writing concise indie pop songs that rival the best of Camera Obscura or Belle & Sebastian. By adding a warm synth sheen for their sophomore release, the Toronto-based quintet managed to make their jangly guitars seem even lusher. They’ve achieved what every band strives for on a sophomore album but most fail to do—namely, strike the middle ground between making the same record twice, and wanting to evolve and change their sound”
3. My Woman – Angel Olsen
“After 2014’s stunning Burn Your Fire for No Witness dramatically raised her profile, Olsen perhaps felt pressure to make a big statement the next time out. My Woman finds her up to the challenge, maintaining a harrowing intensity in full-band rockers and solitary confessionals. Olsen is a brilliant songwriter and an even better vocalist, who can go from stern to tender to deranged, and back again, in a single verse. In the beginning of My Woman, Olsen mostly pursues love with wild-eyed fervor, whereas the closing songs disconsolately consider its ruins.”
2. Every Day and Every Night – Bright Eyes
“Many touted Bright Eyes’ frontman Conor Oberst as the Dylan of the indie generation and for good reason. The musician is a lyrical genius, backed by a gifted, folk-tinged band. The act’s first EP released in 1999 is a mere five songs but teased the potential of this brainy indie-rock band, which blends emo and rock masterfully.”
1. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit – Courtney Barnett
“Following up the double EP that garnered her acclaim far beyond her Australian home, Courtney Barnett recorded 11 tracks matching her ear for melody to an eye for detail. She’s a coffeehouse storyteller with an impish streak of dark wit fronting an honest-to-God rock ‘n’ roll band, begging you to both dig into her lyrics and get up and dance.”