Indie Rock is a genre of the alternative rock music.
The Killers is one of the most popular indie rock bands in the USA.
The other famous indie rock bands are The White Stripes (USA), The Strokes (USA), Yeah Yeah Yeahs (USA), and Franz Ferdinand (UK).
The indie rock bands round the world are The Cardigans (Sweden), Cutout Collective (South Africa), Beat Crusaders (Japan), and Molotov (Mexico).
As a genre of the alternative rock, indie rock is characterised by the usage of guitar, bass, percussion, keyboards, and drums as the main instruments. However, this genre is extremely diverse in its nature because of being influenced by the other genres of the alternative rock, pop rock, and rock-n-roll and because of producing many other forms (Britpop, Indie Pop). The music of indie-rock bands is characterised by rather positive and light or melancholic melodies performed by the ensemble of instruments which is traditionally used in rock music.
Indie rock music is positioned as the non-commercial music that is why bands often make emphasis on the usage of unordinary approaches to melodies and vocal. Focusing on the acoustic performance, indie rock bands can also concentrate on the elements of electronic music. There is the significant variety in approaches to performing indie rock songs.
The Killers is one of the most popular bands performing the indie rock music. For instance, The Killers’ song “Mr. Brightside” can be characterised by the rapid tempo, high vocal, strict rhythm, and rather ironical text. This song determines the basic features of the band’s music. The style of The Killers’ music can be compared with the music of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Franz Ferdinand in relation to the features of performance and vocal. These bands’ songs are rather gentle, but rhythmic.
The songs by The White Stripes are more depressive and melancholic in their melodies, and they can be discussed as rather slow and slack. Although the music of The Killers and The Strokes is similar regarding the instruments used, The Strokes’ songs are characterised by a slightly hysterical vocal and accents on guitar solos.
Nevertheless, the songs which are performed by the above-mentioned groups reflect the main common features of the indie rock music. The situation is different in relation to the international variant of this music style.
It is important to pay attention to the bands from Europe, South America, Africa, and Asia. There are few similarities in the music of The Killers, Cutout Collective, Beat Crusaders, and Molotov because of the impact of the national music’s peculiarities on the bands’ songs.
Thus, Cutout Collective focuses on the electronic music, Beat Crusaders significantly refer to the Japanese rock, and Molotov combines the elements of rap, rock, and alternative rock in the band’s songs. Thus, in spite of the popularity gained as the indie rock bands, the mentioned bands cannot be discussed as typical representatives of this particular genre of the alternative rock.
Nevertheless, the Swedish band The Cardigans can be considered as the typical representative of this music genre. The melodies and texts of The Killers and The Cardigans’ songs can be compared in relation to their emotionality and a kind of harshness. However, the songs of The Cardigans and The Killers can be also characterised as melodious and breathy, with strong accents on the usage of guitar music.