surface indie 

Refers to indie bands or artists that are only obscure in that they have no Top 40 plays or chart hits, but are otherwise at least moderately well-known among music fans. The name comes from the fact that these bands are among the first that people discover when they are getting into indie music, as they are just scratching the surface. Surface indie bands often penetrate the mainstream consciousness from time to time, usually by appearing on TV show or movie soundtracks, or by signing to a major label. Examples include Sufjan Stevens, Belle and Sebastian, and The Decemberists. Smug hipsters will often deride surface indie bands by saying the quality of the music suffers as a result of their increasing popularity (and are especially prone to claiming those bands have sold out), but this is just pointless douchebaggery.

Don't listen to that hipster douchebag who says it gets so much better than Of Montreal. If you enjoy surface indie, then listen to it.

surface indie by roundthewheel October 24, 2007

surface indie 

Refers to the surface level of indie music, it is for people that have just left the loop of mainstream top 40 music because of tiktok. Surface indie music fans think high of themselves as they think their music is uNdErGrOuNd or deserves more attention. They mostly prefer listening to individual songs on their chill out/aesthetic/pov playlists over albums. When you ask them to name their favourite artists, they can throw out a bunch of names. But in reality, they only know a few songs from each of the artists.

Typical examples include:
Clairo, Wallows, The Neighbourhood, Arctic Monkeys, Mother Mother, Mitski, Cavetown, Gorillaz, chloe moriondo, Mac DeMarco, girl in red, Nirvana, Beach Bunny, Chase Alantic, Cage the Elephant, Conan Gray, IDKHBTFM, Cigarettes After Sex, Sasha Alex Sloan, Lovejoy, Joji, Cuco, Glass Animals, Wilbur Soot, The 1975, Jeremy Zucker

A conversation over a social media platform...
user 1: OMG bestie! your music taste is exactly the same as mine MARRY ME
user 2: mitski lmao depressed sis

user 3: beach bunny is so underrated, glad someone finally appreciate their music
(woke) user 4: This is surface indie, stop acting surprised that someone is listening to these artists.

surface indie by Your damn hand March 6, 2022