The Indie Portal: 2002/2003 – A Playlist

I get these incredible cases of music nostalgia, if it could be called that. I get this incredible longing to go back to certain points in my life where I was introduced to a certain band or a certain genre of music, and I had to discover the ins and outs of that. I constantly think about that point between listening to music…occasionally…?…and listening to it obsessively and analytically. When was that? What started that?

Lately I’ve been super nostalgic about that exact point in my life when i realized there was this entire world based around…Indie Rock…you know? There was more than just Power 107, much music, and the records/cds my parent owned. There was this endless mass of lo-fi, slowcore, folk and experimental I had to find. A mission. A point of no return. I know this point happened after phases of Punk Rock, Riot Girrrl, and then the acoustic surfer music of Ben Harper and Donovan Frankenreiter, it was right after all that, and right before Garden State came out. It was when I first heard Elliott Smith sing the very first line of ‘Say Yes’, that was the very beginning, Elliott Smith was it, he was IT, you know? Say Yes was IT!! From there it went to the scratchy folk-y guitar riff in ‘Pink Bullets’ by The Shins and then..and THEN…Neutral Milk Hotel “King of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1″…that one was almost laughable at first, “this guy has a hurrendous voice! and i LOVE it!”, anyways, the list keeps going, the electronic beats of The Postal Service, Kate Bush, Joseph Arthur, Modest Mouse, The Pixies. They were portals to the endless world of undiscovered myspace bands and self released albums. Wouldn’t it be great if you could go back to that exact time and rediscover it all over again? Nostalgic nostalgic nostalgic.

I’d have to say this point came right in the middle of the transition from Junior High to High School. Perfect timing. Actually it’s super hard to pin point when this point occurred exactly, because, i mean, Metric was a big part of my grade 8/9 life, and also one of the first concerts I had ever truly been to. But I’m pretty positive that THE point, !THE POINT! came hand in hand with “say yes”.

Anyways, here it is, and I know everyones is different, i mean, just think about age difference! I’m 19 (ALMOST 20), maybe your 30? You got into Indie Rock in the 90’s? Well, then it was probably Pavement or Low or Ween or something? Whatever, whatever, whatever, but, for me, here is the discovery of Indie Rock: Circa 2002/2003:

Elliott Smith – Say Yes

The Shins – Pink Bullets

Neutral Milk Hotel – The King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1

Kings Of Leon – Talihina Sky (Alternate Version)

Kate Bush – Hounds of Love

Modest Mouse – Gravity Rides Everything

The Pixies – Where Is My Mind

Broken Social Scene – Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl

The Postal Service – The District Sleeps Alone

Joseph Arthur – In The Sun