Surely there needs to be an Indie Teenpop Award

[koganbot]

Surely there needs to be an Indie Teenpop Award. Eligible for the award will be: (1) performers who are going for a teenpop sound but are on indies or who are strictly MySpace or CDbaby, (2) performers who are somewhat or formerly teenpop but are also going for a somewhat indie sound, whether they're on indies or not, (3) performers who are not

Comments

[poptasticuk]

This is all a bit American! I'll have to think up some UK/Euro acts for you. All I can think of so far is Lambretta (brilliant) and Tokio Hotel (awful), who are both teen-rock bands with teenage singers.

[koganbot]

Both Lambretta (which broke up) and Tokio Hotel are on major labels. Is there anything indie about either of them, other than Tokio Hotel's black nails (which I'd assume would be glam, not indie)?

I've heard one song by Tokio Hotel, "Durch den Monsun," which I think is a very pretty guitar ballad, the sound feels singer-songwriter romantic, would be one of the best songs on Radio Disney should it ever get there. But I'm prejudiced in its favor because the version I've heard/seen has Gang Oscypa lipsynching to it, and Gang Oscypa are wonderful. This is the first I've heard of Lambretta.

[poptasticuk]

They are more alternative than indie, I suppose - an alternative to traditional pure pop teenpop. I know Lambretta broke up but Linda, the singer, will continue with a solo career, apparently in the style of Gwen Stefani although I'm sure she'll bring an ace Swedish twist to it.

[poptasticuk]

Oops, that was me.

[koganbot]

OK, following your links, I perceive that Lambretta has goth-metal tendencies and Tokio Hotel rock tendencies, but I still don't see that these allow us to call them indie teenpop.

[poptasticuk]

I'll have to try harder then.

Lil Chris?

[koganbot]

Is this guy on an indie label? He seems plenty eligible for the Indie Teenpop award.

Re: Lil Chris?

[poptasticuk]

He's on RCA so not indie, but I guess his sound is sort of. I don't like him though, the song's rubbish.

Re: Lil Chris?

[skyecaptain]

Hm, I would still count this under guideline 2, even though I might never vote for it. I'd heard of him (I think?) but had absolutely no idea it sounded like this! Crazy vibrato, reminds me of Jim Carrey doing Grace Slick in The Cable Guy. Brie Larson just pointed to a kid group doing a cover of "Seven Nation Army." They're called Grak but I haven't found anything else about them. I'm pretty sure they say "hounds of heck."

Re: Lil Chris?

[koganbot]

Well, I find the Lil Chris track irresistable (way more so than Jonas Bros or Busted), but I'll probably declare him ineligible anyway, as I'm eliminating most 2's and 3's (w/exception of Brie, who's a certified commercial flop at this point).

This is sort of where I am at the moment:

Top Candidates???
DaHv
Fefe Dobson
Fan_3
Kristy Frank
Girl Authority
Brie Larson
Meg & Dia
Katie Neil
Marion Raven
Katy Rose
Sammy & Sasha
Alexandra Slate
Shut Up Stella
Smoosh
Colette Trudeau

Probably not good enough (not that I've heard most of these; I'm going by Dave's evaluation)
Leslie Carter
Lil' Josh
Lil' J Xavier
2Krayze
3D
Go Betty Go
Courtney Jaye
Hope 7
Bec Hollcraft

Probably Ineligible
Damone (major label? not teenpop enough?)
Rose Falcon (major label? not teenpop enough?)
Paramore (shemo)
Lucy Woodward (older stuff major label; new stuff not teenpop (and not as good as her old stuff))

Eligibility Contingent Upon Releasing New Material
Hope Partlow

Ineligible (for being too not teenpop or for being too major label) (unless we decide

Re: Lil Chris?

[skyecaptain]

Just posted about this, I should update a bit. I think I excluded Rose Falcon (actually I may have just listed everybody, but I don't think she makes the cut). Of your ineligibles, I would argue for reinstating Lillix. (1) They sound like the Killers now (major label indie) and (2) they've been at least as big a flop as Brie. I reluctantly accept that Skye probably doesn't count in 2006 (she'd be a shoe-in for the 2004 awards, or even 2005 with a year lag, when production could have qualified her despite being distributed on a major). If one-year lag counts, which I think is reasonable on a case by case basis, I would tentatively include Hope Partlow on the Brie Flop Clause, but tough call.

Of the probably not good enoughs, I only really like Go Betty Go. They're on Side One Dummy, same label that put out Gogol Bordello's last record, and their new album comes out tomorrow. But they have a new lead singer now and everything I know by them is older material, 04/05 (might want to check em out here).

Re: Lil Chris?

[skyecaptain]

Er, shoo-in.

Re: Lil Chris?

[koganbot]

Did we ever do this poll?

The Grak link is long obsolete, but here's the vid: