In the 2000s there was a thing called "the indie band." Every band was a collection of 6+ straight white couples who had gone to the same universities together. Many people described the aesthetics of the indie band as "apolitical." They all dressed like this at some point.

Today, a collection of 6+ straight white couples would start a brunch tapas restaurant, not an indie band. But not in the 2000s. Back then they produced psych-folk LPs instead of hollandaise sauce. They screamed and made animal sounds in the woods and were given 10,000 dollars.

The indie band stopped existing in 2009 because of two specific events. One, the film version of Where the Wild Things Are was released. This aleph of nostalgic wish fulfillment essentially made the indie band obsolete, and plus, any millenial who watched it died instantly.

Two, the compilation album Dark Was the Night was released. Having so many indie bands recognize each other's existence simultaneously triggered a bout of mass psychosis among everyone in the compilation. Sufjan Steven's literally devoured the still living body of Colin Meloy.

The material conditions which produced the indie band may no longer exist, but their influence pervades our culture. Whenever you see someone soy-facing: that is an indie band. Whenever there is more than four teens in a TikTok: that is an indie band. The echoes are everywhere.

As a scholar of the mid-2000s indie band, I can honestly say that I have never been more excited for the future of this field of research. For example, did you know that the band Akron/Family were not actually from Akron, Ohio? Or that the band Beirut was not from Beirut?