In a nod to the original ‘Aliens’ film, Deadly emerges right from the stomach of a surprised astronaut and leaves the rest of the company with their mouths slightly agape. I am ready to bet they are even afraid of to think what will happen next.

If you are a huge Deadly fan, follow its story on Facebook and Twitter. Also there is a juicy chance to enter a competition to win an all expenses paid 10k holiday to LA. Don’t miss!

Indie music stands for INDEPENDENT music and here the notion independent means independence from most and main commercial record labels. Those who create “Indie” music prefer doing everything on their own: recording, promotion and performances. Fame and money are not the options such bands are looking for.

Everything has started in 1960’s and this music was a mix of most genres: pop, rock and roll and R&B. Main lyrics’ themes were peace, love and and humanity. One of the first “Indie” groups was “Velvet Underground”. Their music was different, unique and their performance was one-of-a-kind: warm, fresh and really entertaining.

Since the ‘60s experimenting in music became something common and more and more groups were immerging.

In the era of 1970 appeared “Progressive Rock”, a kind of music that combined hard rock and soft music. In 20 years this rock turned to be the base of electronic instrumental music.

Since 1980s a new form of music immerged, we currently name it “alternative music”.

Unfortunately now more and more pioneer “Indie” bands become commercialized and this circumstance makes fans feels really terrible.

I DO hope this short pause from indie music reviews will be useful!

They gained some attention after their song Uaaa…a! appeared in 2008 Russian movie hit Rozidgysh (Prank) and now Cheese People are smashing clubs all over the country. Their debut work Psycho Squirrel is varying from electronic pieces similar to The Prodigy to post-punk songs like Catch U. It’s a structural madness that needs a few spins before you get into it. A self-titled rerelease was also released in 2008, so basically if you are looking for some fresh and good Russian bands don’t miss this crazy team.

A good post-rock album is like a journey. It can vary from philosophy to feelings, from frozen mountains to sunny fields, from highway to a small path in the forest… from love to hate. From deep space to deep oceans and still it must carry something tiny that only your heart can see. This is the impossible combination of perfect post-rock made possible by the Australian band Laura in their Radio Swan Is Down album.

One of THE releases in this awesome genre.

My Own Private Alaska’s debut album of the same name is experimental screamo. These French guys replaced guitars and bass with a piano. So it is basically a combination of mathematical drums, harsh screamo vocals and beautiful piano melodies. It is really awesome. It gives you a real autumn mood like beautiful depression or a sad holiday. The music is very hard to describe, long six to eight minute songs are like beautifull pictures of snowy landscapes.

The band was formed in Palm Desert as a project of Jesse “The Devil” Hughes and Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age, KYUSS). Josh, who by the way is one of the key figures in Palm Desert scene and one of the main people in stoner rock revival, always said that everything in the band is made with the immense talent of Jesse, and he is only playing drums and producing the records.

They have two albums so far “Peace, Love And Death Metal” and “Death By Sexy”. The death metal actually comes from a situation when a drunk guy somewhere told Jesse that Rolling Stones are real death metal. Kind of really wasted sense of music. Their music is a mix of simple garage rock clichés and the attitude of we-will-never-play stadiums-but-still-thank-you-Donnington bands. Both of the albums have got some air play and lot of attention from advertising, ‘cause Jesse is a real genius of catchy lo-fi vintage rock-n-roll tunes.

Plus-Tech Squeeze Box is technically one of the j-pop types called picopop, practically it is a crazy mix of electronic, more traditional j-pop, jazz, lounge and even some indie rock. And it is hell of a positive band. My favorite album Fakebox is the mood of Tokio, Japanese school girls, crazy arcades and sushi dinners. It is a ride from busy business mornings to space exploration and retro games.

First time when I heard them it seemed to me so fast that I wasn’t able even to get the idea of this music. It is this like incredibly fast japan that is written to a CD. It’s not a music it is a neon poster of a happy life. Some people prefer alcohol, some prefer energy drinks, my recipe is at least 3 songs of Plus-Tech Squeeze Box and you will have good mood for hours!

The Advantage was formed in 1998 under the name Generic. The band consists of Robby Moncrieff (guitar), Ben Milner (guitar), Carson McWhirter (bass) and Spencer Seim (drums) of experimental rock band Hella. These dudes are playing something like progressive rock with complex instrument parts based on… melodies from old NES video games.

Both of their albums present old NES soundtracks from games like Mario, Contra, Castlevania and so on. Played with live instruments they sound spectacular and still remind of the original 8-bit sounds. With these two works “The Advantage” (2004) and “Elf Titled” (2006) they presented a new standard for the video games music subculture. Of course there are mre bands that play these old tunes like The Minibosses or The OneUps.

But The Advantage most definitely has the advantage!

Most of the people on this planet consider cabaret to be forgotten and possibly too retro to be interesting. But not this duo from the US.

Amanda Palmer (piano/vocals) and Brian Viglione(guitar/drums/bass/vocals) are the Dresden Dolls or one of the unique band that are still keeping up the flag of the cabarets. Their music is like Vertinsky meeting The White Stripes, music of the 20^th and 30^th clashing into modern indie. The result is awesome! Amandas voice and piano provide the old and gloomy part, while Brian is making the rest of the music with his very interesting drumming and arrangements.

Combine that with almost theatrical performance on the live shows and you’ll get a really unique band. Their two albums “The Dresden Dolls” (2003) and “Yes, Virginia” (2006) can be surely considered gems of modern music.

You definitely want to ask: “And that’s it?” Yeah! Cause I just don’t now words that are beautiful enough to describe this music. But I’ll try.

So two guitars/mandolins, keyboards, bass, viola and drums, not standard set, but noting extraordinary. In their 2006 release “Remmings” these dudes are mixing together post-rock, ambient and neo classical music. As a result, gentle melodies combined with completely different understanding of music. Yeah Anoice haven’t invented anything new, sometimes it reminds of Arvo Parts “Alina”, sometimes of The Ascent of Everest, sometimes of Ben Frost. But no direct quotes everything is mixed with gentle Japanese flavor and a bit of Japanese folk.

Well actually I think I failed trying to describe their music. But it’s always hard to describe such masterpieces.