Best indie music city. (largest, Atlanta, people, Chicago)

[GettaJetta]

Top 5 best cities for indie music. I'm not talking about in past or how many MTV artists come from the area. I mean local music fests, local bands, shows, local scene, etc. For example: Seattle has contributed a lot to grunge and indie but most of the action has moved down to Portland.

My list would be:

1. NYC/Brooklyn
2.L.A.
3. Chicago
4. Portland
5. Austin

[Atticman]

If Canadian cities are included then Toronto and Montreal deserve a nod for sure.

[NorCal Dude]

Look for the cities with the most hipsters and you will find the largest indie scenes

[415_s2k]

Originally Posted by NorCal Dude

Look for the cities with the most hipsters and you will find the largest indie scenes

I dunno about that... SF has a lot of hipsters, and the music scene here is balls.

SF and Seattle probably have the most droll, derivative music scenes considering what they have contributed to music and pop/indie culture in the past, and what people expect to find there.

I'd say, in no particular order:

LA
NYC
Austin
Portland
5... not sure. Someone else can figure that one out.

[migol84]

I've heard of Atlanta, Georgia having a decent indie rock scene. Deerhunter, Black Lips, etc ring a bell to anyone?

[PDX_LAX]

Seattle and Portland come to mind, but indie isn't really my scene.

[slo1318]

Originally Posted by migol84

I've heard of Atlanta, Georgia having a decent indie rock scene. Deerhunter, Black Lips, etc ring a bell to anyone?

Yeah, Georgia has a history there; REM, B52's came out of Athens.

Overall though, London and Manchester UK.

[NatashaH]

Originally Posted by slo1318

Yeah, Georgia has a history there; REM, B52's came out of Athens.

Overall though, London and Manchester UK.

and one of my favourite bands, Of Montreal


In the US, overall I have to go with Brooklyn (NYC), the scene is just crazy there.

[BlackOut]

Minneapolis has a sizable indie scene with Rhymesayers acts like Atmosphere, POS, Brother Ali, etc... Then there are bands like Tapes 'n Tapes, Cloud Cult, Peter Wolf Crier, Mason Jennings, etc...

[dweebo2220]

Yeah, minneapolis is pretty classic "indie" as in the music style (not just the designation "independent").
But indie music is pretty over unless you're trying to get on a car commercial.

I would say there's pretty much NYC/LA and then everywhere else for cutting-edge independent music.