Indie Music

Fed up with money-grubbing studios that care more about profits than the music? Not to worry. Silver Chips is here to provide the inside scoop on five of the most innovative independent talents who manage to comfortably operate without the backing of a major label.

Midnight Oil – Capricornia

Long before Jet rolled into town, the boys from Midnight Oil were the original pop-rockers from down under. Midnight Oil has performed R.E.M-esque tunes for the last 20 years, and their last album is the culmination of all their musical genius.

Lead guitarist Martin Rotsy switches easily between acoustic and electric, setting the pace for lead singer Peter Garrett with strong power chords and restrained plucking. All 12 songs are easily worth your time and captivated attention, but "Golden Age" and "Been Away Too Long" are particularly sublime, mixing retro guitar riffs with lyrics that are intelligent without being pretentious. Rob Hirst's drumming is first rate, even if it is shoved into the background.

Capricornia is really an attempt by an older band to adapt to the times. It showcases 60's and 80's style rock that has been updated - faster, louder and more punky/soulful a la pop groups from the late 90's - to better serve a modern audience.

The only real problem is brevity. Perhaps to attract a younger audience with shorter attention spans than most of their older, more devoted listeners, Midnight Oil is unusually restrained in the length of the tracks on this album. Some songs are just too short to deliver a jump in the listener's heart rate. But don't let this stop you from giving the Aussie rockers from Midnight Oil a try.

The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow

Imagine Weezer's weird stepsister on a psychedelic trip and you've got The Shins.

Don't let their song titles turn you off (the first track is "Kissing The Lipless"), these guys are great. They're strange, offbeat, quirky and more attractive as a result. They aren't afraid to be themselves, even if their oddness turns off some listeners.

The kinetic energy of the guitar in "Fighting In A Sack" makes for a fun and lively track. The next song, "Pink Bullets," slows down the pace without jarring the listener. It would be nicer if some of the earlier and later songs transitioned as smoothly.

The Shins are a new band to watch out for, because if they continue to perform like this, they won't qualify as obscure for too much longer.

Hindsight 20/20 – Over It

It's hard to believe that the four guys from Hindsight 20/20 can cram what seems to be a month's worth of music and energy into a svelte running time of 18 minutes.

The pounding rhythms, lightning-quick drum solos and wailing cries of lead singer Peter Munters (also the group's chief song writer) are only slighted muted in the soft-sweet ballad "B-54," which might be the best song on the disk. Beginning with its folksy guitar solo, "B-54" is a good change of pace from the rest of the CD, and shows that Hindsight 20/20 has some range. Otherwise, the album is pure pop sprinkled with just a bit of punk.

If Over It is trying to make a point, it's lost in the cryptic lyrics; the band seems to have used some words simply because they rhyme.

Still, these five songs are worth the mere eight bucks they cost. They're guaranteed to keep your head reeling long after the 18 minutes are up.

Liam Lynch – Fake Songs

Liam Lynch is weird, but he may just be a musical genius.

Lynch plays all the instruments on this 20-song album. Ringo Starr of Beatles fame guest stars as a drummer on two tracks and Jack Black sings on one song, but otherwise, Lynch never relinquishes his control-freak-death-grip on his music.

Like most of the other songs, the stand-out track "United States Of Whatever" - a jarring ballad alternating between power chords on the guitar and stints of spoken prose with no instrumental accompaniment - was made up on the fly. Despite the irregularity of Lynch's creative process, the lyrics are surprisingly focused, concise, and easily understood.

There's no coherent style to the album, which oscillates wildly between fight-the-system-while-screaming-your-head-off punk rock to Enya-like instrumental pieces. Lynch is like a freakish musical specimen that scientists gave up trying to classify long ago.

The lyrics are odd. For example: Well I'm just a bag of guts and stuff/And I'm all bloody inside/A thin layer of skin is all that holds it in. If you can keep an open mind about some of the tracks, Lynch should offer up more than a few treats. Heck, if Ringo and Jack "School Of Rock" Black like Lynch, how is it possible to go wrong with Fake Songs?

Nil Lara – Nil Lara

Nil Lara is one of the few people beside Los Lobos who can attract English and Spanish speakers and satisfy both groups. On this self-titled album, Lara mixes old-fashioned Havana salsa music with some very American pop-rock guitar work.

Transitioning smoothly between English - "How Was I To Know" - and Spanish - "Barò" or using them both in the same song - "Crawl" - Lara never loses hold of his audience, even if they can't understand a word he's saying. The songs are generally slow, but the pacing is very good. At just under an hour, the album is a lot longer than it feels, and it benefits from repeat listening.

Every track is superb, with "Fighting For My Love" and "Vida Màs Simple" just a cut above the rest. The latter of these two songs find Lara gently whispering lyrics over the quiet ministrations of an electric guitar. "Fighting For My Love" is nice and quick; a kinetic love song on par with Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On."

Even stingy listeners unaccustomed to hearing songs written in a different language will find themselves enjoying Lara's disk.