The EditoriaList: Top Ten Indie Rock Side Projects
posted in: Features • Rock
Oh, the side project. So often a bad idea, a vanity project, intended to display another side of an artist who really only has one good side. But other times, we get to see the output of great artists and performers who escape the confines of the project for which they are best-known. And if you’re a fan of that primary project, it’s always interesting to see what else the artist is driven or inspired to do, and whether you like the side project more or less. This list focuses on artists that could all be described as indie rock (depending on how strictly you define that term, I guess). The side project may or may not have evolved into a main project, but it has to have been formed secondarily to another band or ‘career’ while that career was still ongoing. This is my decree, let it be so…
10. The Gentlemen
Members of frequent tour-mates The Figgs and The Gravel Pit got together for this riff-heavy and rootsy rock band whose debut album, Ladies And Gentlemen, is a blistering good time.
9. She & Him
M. Ward was primarily a well-respected solo artist before hooking up with actress and singer Zooey Deschanel and launching She & Him, for which they both write the music. It’s simply delightful, classic pop.
8. Golden Smog
A rotating lineup of ’80s-’90s rock luminaries comprise this band, which has released four LPs since 1996. The band has included members of The Jayhawks, Wilco, Big Star, Soul Asylum and The Replacements, among others. Their debut album Weird Tales is a great mix of early Wilco and Jayhawks.
7. Broken Bells
James Mercer took time off from The Shins and partner Danger Mouse took time off from everything else to collaborate on this groovy project that sounds exactly what we imagined a cross between The Shins and Danger Mouse might sound like.
6. The Raconteurs
Jack White can’t sit still. He always seems to be juggling multiple projects, but The Raconteurs, in which he trades singing and songwriting duties with fellow side-projector Brendan Benson, still seems like his most fully realized effort outside of The White Stripes. The first record, in particular, is a lean set of pop-blues hybrids that let loose the talents of both frontmen in the context of a kick-ass band.
5. Little Joy
The Strokes have all made some good music outside of their primary outfit, but drummer Fab Moretti’s Little Joy stands out. With Binki Shapiro and Rodrigo Amarante, himself on hiatus from Los Hermanos, the band creates simple, beautiful and romantic songs that sound timeless.
4. The Amps
When The Breeders stopped being a side project to The Pixies, Kim Deal formed a new side-project and made a single awesome record, Pacer. It is rocking.
3. Sebadoh
In Sebadoh, Lou Barlow found an outlet for what would prove to be an immense creativity that was otherwise marginalized in his band Dinosaur Jr. He would go on to start multiple other side projects, but Sebadoh stands as his musical legacy. That said, Folk Implosion, Sentridoh (kind of half solo, half Sebadoh) and his solo album Emoh are all worthy efforts.
A couple of friends of mine are the demented-looking audience members around 1:10:
2. The Breeders
The Pixies’ Kim Deal and Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly teamed up in The Breeders while on break from their respective bands. They made the fantastic Pod LP and another EP before Donelly split to form Belly. Deal and her sister Kelley, who had already joined the band, continued on and made the breakthrough hit Last Splash.
1. Neutral Milk Hotel
Jeff Magnum was a member of Olivia Tremor Control when he started releasing material under the names Milk and, later, Neutral Milk Hotel. They’ve released two LPs, in 1996 and 1998, respectively. The latter, In The Aeroplane Over The Sea, is a cult favorite and a truly magical record, with dense but accessible lyrics and stunning melodies.
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