Research Of The Indie Rock Genre

Indie Rock first came around in the 1980's in the UK and America. 'Indie Rock' is used to describe many different types of music genres, when the band/artist has a 'do it yourself attitude. 'Indie' = 'Independent'. It has ranged from Primal Scream in the 1980's to Fall Out Boy in modern times.
The typical instruments involved are guitar, bass, drums, keyboard and vocals.

Indie Rock from the 21st century

Noah And The Whale L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.ON video analysis

 

L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N is a song by the Indie-folk band, Noah And The Whale, and is the lead single from their third album 'Last Night On Earth'. It was released on the 21st January 2011 and reached number 14 in the UK top charts. The front man to Noah And The Whale, Charlie Finks, also directed the video. 

The chorus is;

From the hard time living to the sleepless nights
And the black and blue body from the weekend fights
He'd say. "L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.
You've got more than money and sense, my friend
You've got heart and you're going your own way"

The basic meaning of this song, in my opinion, is that no matter how tough peoples lives get, life goes on, they have to get over it. 

 

The music video at first seems as though it is disjuncture. However, looking closer into the lyrics and the video, I think it is illustration because it focus' on 'Lisa' working in a nightclub. Which is what is sung at the beginning of the song. It is a mix of performance and narrative as it shows 'Lisa' working /dancing and then the band singing and at one point performing in the nightclub.  I think that the whole song is showing the night club that Lisa is working in and 'Noah And The Whale' band members, are at this nightclub. However, I feel that 'Lisa's' job is very boring and hence 'Life Goes On'.

 

I think the target audience for this video is the younger generation, those aged between 15-25. This is a mass market area so it is harder to appeal to everybody in those age groups, however, I feel that 'L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.ON' does a very good job. It does this by having costumes of the band and actors in the video in fashionable clothing. Also, the only woman in the video is wearing a red dress. Clothes with a red colour usually have a connotation of a sex appeal. This links with the 'Male Gaze Theory'. I also think that it appeals well because those aged 15-25 are just trying to get their foot in the door of employment, therefore they may not be in a job that they enjoy, like the female character in the video, but 'Life Goes On'.

 

There is some technical lighting involved in the video, when two of the band members are sitting in front of the female character. The lighting involved is that when the audience needs to look at the female character, for example, the lighting is on her and the band members are in dark. However, the 'bar' and 'music' signs are always lit up. This could be because of the songs mix of narrative and performance. 

There is a mid shot of Charlie Finks just with his acoustic guitar. This is to amplify that they are a folk band and what genre the song is.

At the start of the song, the audience sees the woman behind the glass, to suggest she is trapped in her job, she cannot escape. However, we see her in front of the glass, to show the true meaning that 'Life Goes On', that even though she felt trapped, she got out. 

 

 

 

 

 

Arctic Monkeys R U Mine video analysis

  

R U MINE is song released by the Indie-rock band Arctic Monkeys on the 27th February 2012 and was on their 5th album AM. It reached number 22 on the UK top charts and 2nd on the UK Indie Chart.

I’m a puppet on a string
Tracy island, time-traveling diamond
Could a shaped heartaches
Come to find ya fall in some velvet morning
Years too late
She’s a silver lining lone ranger riding
Through an open space
In my mind when she’s not right there beside me

This song is basically about a girl that the singer is crazy about, and the love he feels pains him. He can't stop thinking about her.

This video is disjuncture; the video has nothing to do with what the lyrics are saying. This could be because it is a typical thing to sing about, love, so they didn't want to make a typical video. They wanted to make a video that people would remember. Also, they are referring back to their ‘indie’ roots as they give off a ‘do it yourself’ attitude, and ‘indie’ stands for ‘independent’.

I think the target audience for this video is the same for all the videos I will be analysing, 15-25. I think this because young people like that they are different from the ‘mainstream’ bands that are at the top of the charts.‘Arctic Monkeys’ target their young audience by what Alex Turner and the other people in the video are wearing. They look cool and therefore people will be interested as they would respect them. Also, it seems as though the people in the car drove to a gathering/party, therefore they seem as though they are having a good time, which is what the audience likes to see.

The Kooks She Moves In Her Own Way video analysis

 

She Moves In Her Own Way is a song by The Kooks. It was released on June the 26th 2007 and was featured on their debut album Inside In/Inside Out. The music video was filmed in Tijuana, Mexico and features the whole band.

The video doesn't contain any type of story, I see it as a tour video, where it is showing the fun they have 'on the road'. Therefore, it is a disjuncture video. I believe the target audience for this video, is those again of the ages of 15-25, typically because those are the ages that the Indie genre typically appeals to. This video achieves appealing to the younger generation by making it seem like it is a home video. Therefore viewers would feel that they could too be in a band like 'The Kooks'.

So at my show on Monday
I was told that someday
You'd be on your way to better things
It's not about your make-up
Or how you try to shape up
To these tiresome paper dreams
Paper dreams honey

In this verse, it is basically saying that he doesn't like the women who plaster on make-up or are fake to live up to the women in the magazines. In the chorus however, he is saying that he likes this girl because she does things her own way and doesn't follow the crowd.

The editing used in this video is fast paced, although there is no visual effects in it. Fast pacing is used to match the upbeat song. Also, the editing would be fast because not a lot of action is happening in the actual video, therefore the editing would have to be fast. The video is also very light throughout. This is all because the song is happy.

There is a lot of performance included throughout the video, using different techniques with guitars and singing etc. Although, performance isn't used all the time, as that can be quite boring for a whole song.

 Techniques I liked in the videos

• I like the story behind L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N video
• I like the simplicity in the Arctic Monkeys video
• Disjuncture in The Kooks