24-448: Mozart Estate , formerly known as Go-Kart Mozart , are an English indie pop band founded by Lawrence , previously of the bands Felt and Denim . Lawrence formed the group as a reaction to his previous bands' lack of commercial success. He has called it "the world's first B-side band," which he explains "simply meant that you would take away the pressure of I've got to write a hit single, I've got to write an album that's going to get in
48-466: A Melody Maker journalist in the late 1980s and founding member of pop band Saint Etienne , acknowledges that participants at the time reacted against lazy labelling, but insists they shared an approach: "Of course the 'scene', like any scene, barely existed. Like squabbling Marxist factions, groups who had much in common built up petty rivalries. The June Brides and the Jasmine Minks were
72-609: A brand new lineup, featuring Xav Clarke on keyboards, Charle Hannah on guitar, Tom Pitts on drums and with only bassist Rusty Stone retained from Go-Kart Mozart. Hannah and Clarke are both members of Margate-based band Itchy Teeth. Pop-Up! Ker-ching! and the Possibilities of Modern Shopping was released on 27 January 2023. as Go-Kart Mozart : as Mozart Estate : as Go-Kart Mozart : as Mozart Estate : [[[Category:Indie rock groups from London]] Indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop )
96-580: A cover of the Roger Whittaker song, was a standalone single and was also featured in the film Lawrence of Belgravia . This was followed by the album On the Hot Dog Streets , which was released in June 2012. The album contained songs from the unreleased Denim album, 'Denim Take Over', as well as several new compositions. A recording called Mozart's Mini-Mart was intended to follow On
120-635: A mirror-image of it, a pop world where they were the stars... and a little bit of a raspberry blown at the larger musical world, which (sensibly) went right on preferring something more interesting than average white kids playing simple pop songs. Despite their relatively minor commercial success (their third album was sardonically titled They Could Have Been Bigger than the Beatles ), the Television Personalities are highly regarded by critics and have been widely influential, especially on
144-640: Is a Japanese style from the 1990s that was embraced by indie pop enthusiasts, partly because many of its bands were distributed in the United States through major indie labels like Matador and Grand Royal . Out of all the Japanese groups from the scene, Pizzicato Five was the closest to achieving mainstream success in the US. Chamber pop is a subgenre of indie pop that features lush orchestrations. Heavily influenced by Brian Wilson and Burt Bacharach ,
168-413: Is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music . It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and subsequently generated a thriving fanzine , label , and club and gig circuit. Compared to its counterpart, indie rock , the genre is more melodic, less abrasive, and relatively angst-free. In later years,
192-650: The C86 generation. Reynolds has said that "what we now know as indie music was invented in Scotland," with reference to the emergence of Postcard Records in 1979. However, some have posited that the concept of indie music did not crystallise until the late 1980s and early 1990s. Brisbane band the Go-Betweens were an early influential indie pop band, releasing their first single " Lee Remick " in 1978. American indie pop band Beat Happening 's 1985 eponymous debut album
216-567: The 1980s. However, the deal with McGee fell through when Creation disbanded, and it was issued on West Midlands Records, a subsidiary of Cherry Red created for Lawrence's post-Felt releases. A second Go-Kart Mozart album, Tearing Up the Album Chart , followed in 2005 and was again released on West Midlands. Released specially on Record Store Day in April 2012, " New World in the Morning ",
240-447: The Hot Dog Streets , initially as an accompanying mini-album . At the end of 2013, Cherry Red announced intentions for this to appear as a 2014 album. In November 2017, Cherry Red announced a new release date of 23 February 2018, alongside a new music video for "When You're Depressed". In February 2018, Lawrence stated that Go-Kart Mozart would change their name to Mozart Estate, beginning with an album entitled Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! and
264-442: The Possibilities of Modern Shopping . He explained that the name Go-Kart Mozart "doesn't ring true anymore. It doesn't sit right in these times." Lawrence also confirmed plans to release a re-recorded version of Tearing Up the Album Chart , entitled Renovating the Album Chart . The name change came into effect with the release of the video-only single "Record Store Day" in 2021. In 2022, Lawrence began performing as Mozart Estate with
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#1732790481736288-543: The angst and abrasiveness of its indie rock counterpart, the majority of indie pop borrows not only the stripped-down quality of punk, but also "the sweetness and catchiness of mainstream pop". Music critic Simon Reynolds says that indie pop defines itself against "charting pop". Abebe explains: One of those things was the idea that rock music was supposed to be cool – "cool" meaning sexy, tough, arty, fiery, or fantastical... The charts had "cool" covered – these kids, in their basements and bedrooms, were trying to hand-craft
312-455: The artwork, gluing the sleeves together, releasing them and sending them out, writing fanzines because the music press lost interest really quickly." Many of the actual C86 bands distanced themselves from the scene cultivated around them by the UK music press - in its time, C86 became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" (a John Peel -coined description celebrating
336-480: The biggest names at Alan McGee 's Living Room Club and couldn't stand the sight of each other. Only when the Jesus and Mary Chain exploded and stole their two-headed crown did they realise they were basically soulmates". Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire remembers that it was the bands' very independence that gave the scene coherence: "People were doing everything themselves - making their own records, doing
360-764: The definition of indie pop has bifurcated to also mean bands from unrelated DIY scenes/movements with pop leanings. Subgenres include chamber pop and twee pop . Indie pop is not just "indie" that is "pop." Not too many people realize this, or really care either way. But you can be sure indie pop's fans know it. They have their own names for themselves ... the music they listen to ... their own canon of legendary bands ... and legendary labels ... their own pop stars ... their own zines ... websites ... mailing lists ... aesthetics ... festivals ... iconography ... fashion accessories ... and in-jokes ... in short, their own culture. —Nitsuh Abebe, Pitchfork Within indie genres, issues of authenticity are especially prominent: indie
384-546: The early psychedelic sounds of 1960s garage rock . Names that indie pop fans use for themselves are popkids and popgeeks , and for the music they listen to, p!o!p , twee , anorak and C86 . Abebe says that the Scottish group the Pastels typified the "hip end of 'anorak': Their lazy melodies, lackadaisical strum, and naive attitude transformed the idea of the rock band into something casual, intimate, and free from
408-418: The genre's spread across the country. Everett True , a writer for NME in the 1980s, believes that C86 was not the main factor behind indie pop, arguing that Sarah Records was more responsible for sticking to a particular sound, and that: "C86 didn't actually exist as a sound, or style. ... I find it weird, bordering on surreal, that people are starting to use it as a description again". Bob Stanley ,
432-508: The majority of indie as "all about that 60s-styled guitar jangle ". The Monochrome Set's early singles were so heavily influential to indie pop band the Smiths that Johnny Marr stated without them, the Smiths would not have existed. Indie pop was an unprecedented contrast from the gritty and serious tones of previous underground rock styles, as well as being a departure from the glamour of contemporary pop music . Distinguished from
456-552: The pretense of cool". Following on from the aforementioned Postcard Records, in the UK, Bristol-based Sarah Records became the archetypal indie pop record label. They began releasing 7" singles in 1987 by bands with overt feminist and left wing principles that made "sweet pop". In the US, Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson founded K Records in Olympia, Washington , and later labels like Slumberland and Harriet encouraged
480-520: The self-conscious primitive approach of some of the music) and underachievement . Twee pop is a subgenre of indie pop that originates from C86 . Characterised by its simplicity and perceived innocence, some of its defining features are boy-girl harmonies, catchy melodies, and lyrics about love. For many years, most bands were distributed by Sarah Records (in the UK) and K Records (in the US). Shibuya-kei
504-482: The then-novel premise that one could record and release their own music instead of having to procure a record contract from a major label. According to Emily Dolan, indie is predicated on the distorted music of the Velvet Underground , the "rebellious screaming" of early punk, and "some of rock's more quirky and eccentric figures", such as Jonathan Richman . Pitchfork ' s Nitsuh Abebe identifies
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#1732790481736528-500: The top ten." The band's original name is derived from a line in the song " Blinded by the Light " by Bruce Springsteen . In 1999, the first Go-Kart Mozart album, Instant Wigwam and Igloo Mixture , was released. Lawrence had intended the album to be a side project whilst his previous group Denim was on hiatus and he was making negotiations for a deal with Alan McGee , who had previously signed Felt to his Creation Records label back in
552-504: Was also influential in the development of the indie pop sound, particularly in North America. In the early 1990s, English indie pop influenced and branched off to a variety of styles. The US, which did not have as much of a scene in the 1980s, had many indie pop enthusiasts by the mid 1990s. Most of the modern notion of indie music stems from NME ' s 1986 compilation C86 , which collects many guitar bands who were inspired by
576-420: Was born in a Utopian attempt to stop the inevitable cycle of bands being co-opted - and, it is assumed, corrupted - by the mainstream. —Emily I. Dolan, Popular Music Both indie and indie pop had originally referred to the same thing during the late 1970s, originally abbreviations for independent and popular . Inspired more by punk rock 's DIY ethos than its style, guitar bands were formed on
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