..What I really mean is, are we seeing the death of indie guitar music? which is what I think of when I think indie (more The Pixies or The Smiths than The XX or MGMT, basically)

It seems like there's 100 new electro bands or songs every week lately, & even bands like the Yeah Yeah Yeah's & Editors have taken that route more with their last albums...

Yet 4 piece bands: A lead singer, a guitarist, bass player & dummer - & 'that' sound seems much rarer than it used to - Even much less indie landfill these days compared to that electro stuff.

Possibly seeing bands like The Rakes, The Rifles & even The Cribs not make any major jump has lead to more people going down the route taken by acts like Pheonix or Hot Chip? I don't know...

It does worry me though, I like a lot of dancier indie, but I live on guitar bands.

2010 needs to see a few more pop up...

I think it runs in cycles. Every generation discovers the basic 4-piece band set-up sooner or later. They'll be back, and probably in such droves that we'll be longing for the days of electro and sampling (though maybe not autotune) again.

In my opinion it's the death of a lot of decent music. Record companies are not Record companies anymore. They have become marketing companies that market music (is it all music?) to a particular market. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I'm not one of those.

I hope you are wrong

I'm waiting for a Nirvana MkII. I remember seeing The Screaming Trees in concert. That band kicked ass !

Another thing is the ease of using a computer to create your own electronica. You don't need expensive equipment anymore. The "garage band" isn't the default starting point anymore necessarily.

Great point.

To me, indie music is where it's at right now. The bands I like who are making music today are all on indie labels (Chuck Prophet, Tim Easton, Lloyd Cole). I'm still listening to some major acts, like Wilco, but even they are sort of walking the line between an indie and a big-time approach to music.

I'm also not a member of the desired demographic. That said, it should be noted that during the music industry's heyday, record companies were run by the likes of Ahmet Ertegun, the Chess Brothers, Sam Phillips, Berry Gordy, etc. - people who were visionaries and music lovers, and were knowledgable about how to make a song sound as good as possible. While it's true that these people were not perfect - some of them were guilty of exploiting and cheating their artists - their shortcomings paled in comparison to what followed them. They were replaced by bean counters and bottom-line advocates - people who worship money and superstardom more than they care about either the quality of music, or about nurturing artists and developing artists' careers.

Musical artists also no longer have a support system (record companies and radio stations working in tandem to bring artists to the attention of the public, as well as to promote their records). This is gone forever, and it's never coming back, and I'm NOT among those who is rejoicing at this. Yes, I know that there are new business models, and that the internet (and YouTube in particular) have become useful promotional tools, but the fact remains that music consumers must already be aware of artists in order to explore them at these sources. What has been lost is that the listening public will no longer spontaneously discover a song or an artist that they enjoy (but were previously unaware of).

Sorry to be a downer, but this is how I feel about things. For what it's worth, I sincerely hope that future events prove me wrong, and that something previously unforeseen occurs which ignites another musical and artistic upturn.