re: Music Board's Albums of the Year

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I mean can you get any more pop indy than that list?

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Yes. By actually being majority indie. Look at the labels of the top ten:

1. Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory CARPARK – indie/punk
2. Japandroids - Celebration Rock POLYVINYL – indie/pop
3. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls ATO – major/subsidiary of MCA
4. Passion Pit -- Gossamer COLUMBIA - major
5. Jack White - Blunderbuss COLUMBIA - major
6. Of Monsters and Men- My Head Is An Animal UNIVERSAL - major
7. Deftones - Koi No Yokan REPRISE – major/subsidiary of WARNER BROS
8. The Avett Brothers - The Carpenter UNIVERSAL - major
9. Tame Impala - Lonerism MODULAR – indie/electronica
10. The Lumineers- The Lumineers DUALTONE – indie/folk

Four of the top ten albums on the list are on independent labels. The other six are all on major labels. Now, the Avetts have some claim to being indie, as they recently "graduated" from the indie ranks, but no band with Rick Rubin as a producer can claim to be a small, plucky underdog. Alabama Shakes' DEBUT ALBUM was on a friggin' major label.

Now, I grant you are top two are very indie rock. But they also are a band apart from most modern indie, which steadfastly does not rock. Cloud Nothings have more in common with Fugazi than Grizzly Bear (and they have Steve Albini as a producer, which is instant credibility with us old farts). And Japandroids are a lo-fi two piece. OK, that makes them a lot like the incredibly popular Black Keys, but they stand against most of the trends in indie, which tend towards over-production (SEE Impala, Tame -- who I like, but they are much more like a "typical" indie band right now)

XMU is too tame for my tastes. Mainly because they rarely play punk or lo fi bands like, well, Cloud Nothings. They are too busy trying to convince me Django Django is good.