The Llano Idea

I remember when I was first getting into indie music back in high school people would name bands that I had to listen to if I was serious about learning and appreciating this new genre of music.  Some of those bands were Neutral Milk Hotel, Pavement, the Pixies, Belle & Sebastian, Wilco, Weezer, the Flaming Lips and Yo La Tengo. What do all these bands have in common? They all got big, or “hit their stride” as Whitey Corngood would put it, either in the late 80’s or the 90’s.

So now I bring you this question: What do you think are going to be those highly iconic bands that will represent this current decade? I was discussing this question with Whitey Corngood and El Primo, and this is the list we came up with together in no particular order.

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Column Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Belle & Sebastian, Bright Eyes, daft punk, Death Cab for Cutie, Dirty Proyectors, Fiery Furnaces, Flaming Lips, Grizzly Bear, Hot Chip, Kanye West, Kings of Leon, KTXT, KTXT-FM, LCD Sound System, llano idea, Lubbock, M.I.A., M83, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, of Montreal, Pavement, Pixies, Ryan Adams, Sigur Ros, Spoon, Strokes, Sufjan Stevens, tech, Ted Leo and the Pharmacist, Texas, The Decemberist, The new Pornagraphers, The Rapture, The Shins, Tv On The Radio, Weezer, White Stripes, Wilco, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yo La tengo

Cymbals Eat Guitars take the post-punk genre to another level, incorporating fuzzy guitars, ever-changing vocal inflections matching mood, and soaring, unpredictable melodies washed in a background of spastic rhythmic changing.

They started out in high school sounding very different, however.  The band tried their luck as a Weezer cover band before making the switch to writing original tunes that identify with their truer sound, a mixture of early Modest Mouse, Fugazi, and At the Drive In.  Unlike any of those comparisons, however, Cymbals Eat Guitars have a distinct sense of beautiful melody; vocalist Joseph D’Agostino screams in anger in front of an ear-shattering instrumental break, then jumps into a croon alongside a beautiful soundscape of sweet indie-pop, reminiscent of 90’s legends Neutral Milk Hotel. Read more…

Column, Music At the Drive In, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Fugazi, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel, Weezer