Avoiding Lady Gaga: 5 Indie Rock Divas

By Sherrie Gulmahamad on May 19th, 2009

• Share
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 4 Comments

Yes, I am that friend of yours. The one you take to the mall, for innocent conspicuous consumption. We get there, inside the too-bright interior of the popular budget fashion store, somewhere near the ludicrous polka dotted halter tops and high-waisted sailor pants, and I start to lose it. That SONG, that repetitive, annoying song. We might hear it again in the food court, and then, in the parking lot line to get out of the mall, blaring from the car next to us. The girls inside the purple Civic bop their heads and shout:

Just dance. Gunna be okay! Da-doo-doo-doot
Just dance. Spin that record babe! Da-doo-doo-doot

That’s right! I’m that friend of yours that hates, nay, LOATHES your favorite pop music! Your entire iPod, a wasteland of synths and autotune! But, more specifically nowadays – I loathe me some Lady Gaga. I hate that “da doo doo doot” is suddenly considered a brilliant lyric, worthy of accosting me while dallying in public spaces. I also detest that even the most cursory of internet searches for her mostly turns up paparazzi photos of her being chased down the street holding a tea cup, dressed like Bjork’s long lost half-cousin from Yonkers in a long beige unitard with severe camel toe, and a triangular hat.

Lady Gaga, for me, represents a few depressing factors smooshing into one very blonde human being:

1. The idea is being sold to millions of young impressionable fashionistas that the best place you can find yourself is so utterly drunk and dizzy at a club you’ve forgotten the name of said club.

I love this record baby, but I can’t see straight anymore.
Keep it cool what’s the name of this club?
I can’t remember but it’s alright, alright.

A precursor to date rape most of the time! Or at least, puking out your nose in the parking lot in front of everyone. Either are not good. (Also could occur: puking into one’s purse.)

2. This is clearly a return to a DISCO/dance-based mega pop hit. And who wants disco to come back? We had to have bands like the Clash save us from disco. Who will save us now, the Jonas Brothers? Oh that’s just great.Corollary to 2: A few weeks back, Sasha Frere Jones of the New Yorker defends Gaga as possibly “weirder and cooler” than her contemporaries that will continue to have a career (namely Brit Brit) while she fizzles out. (What? Really? In the New Yorker? Lemme re-read this. Maybe I missed something.)

3. And this is clearly an inevitable signs of my aging. I find myself asking – didn’t Madonna do this first? And Kylie? What about the aforementioned swan-laden Bjork? Is it that I’m simply old now, and will never understand the glories of Gaga? NO. FORGET IT. You can’t make me swallow this trend, Internet! I can be the last hold out against this behemoth of bedazzled nothingness, of signs with no signifiers. I’ve got 5 cures for Gaganesis Repetitus (yes, a scientific term) here in these indie rock divas you may not have heard of quite yet. Sacrifice your pop CDs, burn them! The smoke will rise up to the rock heavens and save us from uncertain disco doom. Do you even have CDs still? Wow, you are old.

ST. VINCENT

“You can’t apologize your way into people’s hearts. You have to go full force.” — Annie Clark

If you want to find the direct opposite of Lady Gaga’s bejewelled persona, you need look no farther than Annie Clark/St. Vincent. Just look at those album covers, with Clark’s wide open eyes paired with a vaguely happy expression. Who is this woman? Is she a vamp, a tramp, an innocent? I like that she keeps that information hidden from us. In the vocal department, Clark sounds like an even quirkier Feist while her music manages to be layered, beautiful, and romantic as well as occasionally anxious and doom-filled in that Portishead tradition. On her records you will find accomplished woodwind players, Moogs, vibes, organs, interesting beats. Did I mention she used to sing in the Polyphonic Spree, and toured with Sufjan Stevens? And she can indeed play many of the instruments on her albums, from lead guitar to bass, keyboards and the drums? And she’s only 27? Time to go out and learn a musical instrument today, ladies.

BAT FOR LASHES

“PJ Harvey was amazing in some of her get-ups, like that pink catsuit at Glastonbury. It was fairly disconcerting, because it was sexy in a weird way. That’s a lot more interesting to me than the Britney Spears school of boobs and short skirts. I feel like women can be sexy in a powerful and unusual way, it doesn’t have to be obvious.” — Natasha Khan

At first glance, you might be tempted to lump Natasha Khan into the same bin as Lady Gaga. Like LG, Khan has a rock persona, but hers is that of the the smoky rock goddess, a miasma of peacock feathers and eye liner. But look closer – behind the harpsichord and shimmering imagery is a serious songwriter whose lyrics feel like they are equal parts intensely personal and intensely poetic, transporting you to a specific time and stolen moment in a girl’s life that may or may not have happened. It might be too early to say so, but Khan is on her way to earning a position up there next to the likes of Kate Bush, PJ Harvey or Tori Amos. Important fact! She can also play the glockenspiel.

MIKA MIKO

“Everyone is just having a lot of fun right now playing music. Not taking ourselves too seriously because those kind of bands usually never do well in LA.” — Mika Miko

For months fellow music overlords told me to get thee to the Smell, a very small, very smelly all-ages venue near the arts district in downtown LA. The Smell has been the launching pad for LA’s indie weirdo music scene, catapulting No Age and Abe Vigoda onto the national indie rock circuit. Mika Miko doesn’t generate the same kind of indie buzz as those two bands do, but if we’re lucky, they will. Not for the faint of heart, these four girls (plus one guy) play in an unabashedly punk rock style, with lots of high energy and that essential of punk, lots of shouting. Mika Miko shows get rowdy and out of control, with fans taking to the stage to dance and perform emergency stage dives. Be careful, you could get kicked in the head at a Mika Miko show and really, really love it.

NEKO CASE

“And if Celine Dion is supposedly the great singer that she says she is why is there auto tune on every fucking word in her songs? Can’t you just hit it, Celine?” — Neko Case

I have a problem writing about Neko Case. All my sentences come out as hyperbole and superlatives. Neko Case is our generation’s Patsy Cline! Neko Case has one of the best, purest vocals working in any genre of music – rock, country, or R&B – always free that giant cheat code of pop music, Autotune! Neko Case writes love songs for the rest of us, sometimes sinister, full of hurt – sometimes downright sad, and always truthful! Just look at these lyrics: “The next time you say forever, I’ll punch you in your face. Just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t mean I didn’t mean it. You never know when I’ll show you the never.” Absolutely amazing. Neko Case might become your drinking music. Drink in moderation, but overindulge in Neko Case.

VIVIAN GIRLS

“We may not fit into a typical image of “good girls” but we are not wild or self destructive by any means. So we certainly wouldn’t be BAD role models per se. We’re just nerds with bad tattoos who make bad jokes.” — Ali Koehler

The 60s girl group sound has blown back but it bumped into a lot of fuzzy garage rock influences, and now, we have the Vivian Girls! If Phil Spector knew what was good for him, he’d cut back on the gun play and hair spray and make music like this now, but he doesn’t – his loss. The songs of the Vivian Girls are full of that trademark girl group angsty longing (with lots of reverb) but have a darker backbone, like the Velvet Underground if Nico was allowed to do a little more besides be blonde and Germanic. Added bonus? Bandmembers Cassie Ramone, Kickball Katy and Ali Koehler frequently engage in 3 part harmonies on stage. What? You’re not impressed? Barely anyone harmonizes anymore! You people are hard to please. (More reverb maybe?)You and your musical listening device are now armed to handle going out into public without gouging your ears out and/or being brainwashed by pointless repetitive choruses. Enjoy!