MetaFilter posts tagged with indie

Makeup and mutinies

divabat — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:55:23 -0800

The Mineral Makeup Mutiny was founded to encourage consumers to buy indie self-made mineral cosmetics, instead of overpriced makeup that were repackaging wholesale micas from companies such as TKB Trading, or publishing contradicting ingredients lists and sending Cease-and-Desist Letters to unfavourable reviews. Miss K of Aromaleigh, founder of the Mutiny (and former seller of repackaged wholesale hues, which she's discontinuing in favour of original colours), demonstrates how mineral eyeshadows are made. Bonus link: How to make vegan lipsticks.

What if copyright law is more complicated then a damn flower?

Askiba — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:00:31 -0800

Take my movie—please. Nasty Old People is a Swedish movie about just that. However, it's been released freely on the web by its creator, Hanna Sköld, under a Creative Commons License, being the first Swedish film to do so. The CC License it is under allows the movie to be redistributed, screened, remixed- anything you want, as long as Hanna and the rest of the team behind the movie is credited. Going on a "pay as much as you feel like model", the creator has so far gotten back about 2,000 euros from the internet community- a little more then 20% of the bank loan the creator took out to make the film. Not to mention popularity: the film has been downloaded 30,000 times in over 100 countries. It's a kick in the face to the MPAA, whose cries that sites like The Pirate Bay are "killing entertainment" have been largely disregarded in the success stories of these indie efforts.

The Fox Rox San Diego Archive

milquetoast — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:53:33 -0800

Fox Rox was a local music show that ran from 2001 - 2007 in San Diego. Here's the YouTube archive of more than 230 good-quality studio performances from bands as disparate as Electric Six, Blackalicious, Drive-By Truckers, Buzzcocks, Peaches, High on Fire, and many more. [post-mortem || myspace]

Step 1. Make an utterly fantastic game. Step 3. Profit!

straight — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:24:08 -0800

2D BOY made around $100,000 in a week. That’s $50,000 each for writing a blog post about a game they finished a year ago. By letting people pay whatever they wanted. 2D Boy stirred up a lot of discussion (previously) about game piracy when they used online scoreboard data to estimate an 82% piracy rate for their fantastic indie game World of Goo (previously). For World of Goo's first birthday, they decided to try the Radiohead model and let people buy the game for any price they choose. Now they've released extensive data about the results. Short version? "A huge success," even though the most commonly chosen price was only a penny. Don't miss the excellent analysis in the Rock Paper Shotgun article (that first link), including the comments where one reader has created a chart showing that the bottom 40% of the downloads account for 1.5% of the profit and the top 30% of the downloads account for 83% of the profit.

Artificial Intelligence?

flatluigi — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:24:47 -0800

Hell is Other People "Fight the ghosts of those that have come before by moving in two dimensions and shooting missiles. The fiercer you fight, the harder it shall be for those that come after. How much past can you cope with before you are overwhelmed?"

Sesame Street - 35 years + DIY = Sunshine Again

not_on_display — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:02:19 -0800

Sunshine Again is a lo-fi/DIY public Access re-imagination of oldschool 1970's children's television, produced by Heather Ferreira, an independent producer whose mission is to "ignore what network television is doing and start a New York-based cable net of my own, specializing in shows that look and feel a lot like shows on Nick@Nite and TV Land used to – except these will be all brand-new shows." [ more info | appreciation and funky video | Youtube Search for more Sunshine Again ]

Where's that wheelchair?

Potomac Avenue — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:32:25 -0800

Lou Barlow has a new solo record, and is promoting it by releasing some videos and a making-of documentary every week this month on Lootube. Lou, of Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, and the under-rated Folk Implosion has had a sedate and sometimes rocky solo career since the 90s (and has always been famously prickly in interviews) but since reforming Djr with J Mascis and touring with Sebadoh, the godfather of lowfi bedroom recording is setting out to prove he can still Indie™ Rockout as well as bring the melodrama (with a smirk). In other news, his band with Ben Lee, Noise Addict, just released their snarky new album, "it was never about the audience" for free. (Via)

Sci Fi Songs

gemmy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:47:37 -0800

John Anealio records songs inspired by science fiction and fantasy. Sing along about Cylons, Summer Glau (Firefly/Serenity), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, and about how "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch" (previously).

This is a journey into Twee

mippy — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:32:24 -0800

Kitten Painting's site has wonderfully evocative descriptions of the front line of the 1980s indie/anorak/C86 scene. (Not sure what 'twee' is? Try here, have a listen to C86, or download from here. )

Mass webcam choreography

Dr-Baa — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:23:28 -0800

Hibi no Neiro by Sour "The cast were selected from the actual Sour fan base, from many countries around the world. Each person and scene was filmed purely via webcam."

flixel

archagon — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:01:04 -0800

flixel is an ActionScript 3 framework abstracted from Adam Atomic's raster-based games, including FATHOM (previously) and Gravity Hook. Because raster-based games are precise to the pixel level, they feel very different from most Flash games, which are usually vector based, run at a low framerate, and use Flash's imprecise libraries and tools. This is a pure ActionScript framework, so it can be compiled using free tools.

Jeff Mangum: Starlight Crypt

msalt — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:23:31 -0800

In 1997, reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel mastermind Jeff Mangum performed a now-legendary set at Athens, Ga. coffee shop Jittery Joe's. One week only on Pitchfork.tv Previously 1 2 3 In the Aeroplane Over The Sea: Pitchfork review (10.0) Youtube: - 14 song playlist - Holland, 1945, live 10-14-97 - Song against Sex, live 4-12-98

"Monsters Inc. meets The Nightmare Before Christmas inside a retro Japanese video game"

Rhaomi — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:15:12 -0800

"Once upon a time there was a game that nobody ever played, sitting on the floor in the back room of an empty arcade. The game was full of life and strife, mega-monsters and robot fights. We Are The Strange was the title. Now meet the players who live inside, idle." The story of filmmaker M dot Strange and his solo indie masterpiece, We Are The Strange. When the trailer hit the web in October of 2006, it was an instant sensation. The video depicted a surreal digital dystopia full of bizarre characters and an absurdist plot, all set to rockin' chiptune music. Soon the eccentric creator of the film, M dot Strange (a.k.a. Michael Belmont), opened up his production process to the web. Through use of an official blog, making-of videos, and an extensive "film skool" series, Belmont gave viewers insight into the innovative animation process he calls "Str8nime" ("strange plus 8-bit plus anime"). By collating disparate techniques such as CGI, greenscreen, stop-motion, papercraft, and even Mario Paint, he had perfected a striking, overstimulating visual style that was not quite like anything seen before. The premise of the film unfolded, too -- a mute "dollboy" named eMMM and a cursed woman named Blue meet, forlorn, in the Forest of Still Life. Together they sojourn into the sinister Stop-Mo City in search of the perfect ice cream parlor. Meanwhile, the chain-slinging superhero Rain and his psychotic origami sidekick, Ori, do battle with the monsters inhabiting Stop-Mo in pursuit of their ectoplasmic archnemesis, Him (based on videogame baddie Sinistar). But, like the 8-bit games that inspired it, the plot of the film is incoherent and somewhat juvenile -- the focus is on the action and the cinematography. By the end of the year, Belmont completed the film and even snagged a spot at the Sundance Midnight Movie Festival, which led to favorable write-ups in Wired, Variety, and the New York Times. (Not all the buzz was good, however -- several of the Sundance critics reportedly walked out in bewilderment halfway through the film). His work finished, Belmont payed back the community that supported him by releasing the movie for free in HD on the web (eager fans churned out art and translated the movie into 17 languages, including Icelandic, Brazilian Portuguese, and leet). He also put together a 2-disc deluxe edition with scads of bonus features. He still runs a blog where he chats about filmmaking, animation, and upcoming projects.

Hazy petrol nights, crimson sun on traffic lights

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:54:02 -0800

"There's sickly pop, there's cheesy pop and then there's the Lightning Seeds brand of pure shiny pop." The Lightning Seeds mixed slick production with equally compelling melodies and lyrics, and produced a number of critically acclaimed albums in the 1990s. Now there's a new album coming out - their first since 1999's Tilt. Ian Broudie, a producer in addition to being the lead singer and all-round driving force behind the Lightning Seeds, confirms that the new album, Four Winds, is scheduled for release in late May 2009. For a trip down memory lane - or to introduce you to their work - here's a selection from their 1994 album, Jollification. Perfect (Short interview clip preceeds: "Lyrically, it's very Lightning Seeds perfect.") Lucky You Open Goals Change Marvellous My Best Day

"To me, Pylon was the best band to ever come out of Athens. It still is."

joseph conrad is fully awesome — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:41:42 -0800

Pylon guitarist and co-founder Randall Bewley died yesterday of a heart attack at age 53. From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I'm in complete shock," B-52's frontman Fred Schneider told the AJC Wednesday night from Seattle, where his band is touring. "To me, Pylon was the best band to ever come out of Athens. It still is." The Athens-Banner Herald writes: "Pylon's music was distinct - a punk aesthetic that couldn't be categorized. It earned members the respect of their peers and many Athens bands that followed them and, according to the All-Music Guide, repeated plugs from R.E.M. that Pylon was a major influence on its alternative pop music." Via Athens Music Junkie's post, Randy Bewley: "This hurts so much to write. It has been a very hard day for us all in Athens. We have lost one of our dearest friends. A critical part of our community has been taken from us and he will be missed sorely." Crazy, which was covered by R.E.M. on Dead Letter Office From 2007: Danger, Feast on my Heart Pylon footage from the 1987 documentary Athens, Ga.

Black and White Indie Filth

Artw — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:37:05 -0800

“It is going to be rough for us Top 20 publishers. It will be epic for anyone smaller. Lots of folks will vanish due to this, even some bigger guys.” - Hard times ahead for indie comics: Diamond Distribution, which has an effective monopoly on American comics distribution, will be raising it’s wholesale benchmark, meaning many of the comiocs currently available in comics stores will soon be dropped. In a further blow to the adult comics market Diamond will be dropping that section from the print version of Previews, in favour of a PDF only available to retailers. Comics are about to get a whole lot blander.

i bought some crappy lights and started calling people up

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:16:20 -0800

Live from the Pink Couch: Punks, Girls, Boys, Warriors, Witches, Kids, Comptrollers, and your new favorite band Best Friends Forever! (boyzone comment flamewar included) If You Make It also has oodles of live concert footage (like more BFFs!) and a (well intentioned) series of 31 films in 31 days. Similar to Daytrotter's Live Sessions or VPRO 3VOOR12's Elevator Sessions or Blogotheque's Concerts A Emporter but with no corporate sponsorship or fixed agenda, it's just a guy and a "crappy Ikea couch" documenting folks who like to Dream It Yourself.

Damn you, shopkeeper!

sonic meat machine — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:21:00 -0800

Spelunky is a (Windows-only) game that blends roguelike elements with a platform game reminiscent of La Mulana or the original Spelunker. Add this to the pile of fantastic indie platformers, I guess. [via]

Punkcast

Kattullus — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 18:00:52 -0800

Punkcast is a long running series of videos of live underground music in NYC shot by Joly MacFie. Each video is usually one song. The Internet Archive hosts its videos and offers downloads in a variety of formats. MacFie also has a YouTube channel with 480 videos and a video podcast [iTunes link, feedburner link]. Here are a few bands that caught my fancy: The Icicles and The Besties, The Slits (1, 2 ), Andrew W. K., Oneida (1, 2), The Long Blondes, The Gossip, Acid Mothers Temple & Cosmic Inferno, Art Brut, Be Your Own Pet, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Lesbians on Ecstasy, The Fall, Fred Frith, Rose Melberg and Jennifer O'Connor, The Horrors, The Homosexuals, Bat for Lashes, Radio 4 and Teddybears, Kimya Dawson and Tiny Masters of Today, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Nikki Sudden.

Indie game of the week: Alien Deathmatch 2

pancreas — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:30:52 -0800

Alien Breed + arena shooter + online highscores = Alien Deathmatch 2. Windows only.

Yeah and I'm in love too

robotot — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:07:07 -0800

CLLCT - The Collective Family An online community of indipendent musicians who have made their music free to download. No, it's not myspace. (disclaimer: I have a profile there too, but nothing that I haven’t also posted on mefi.music. Apart from that I have nothing else to do with running or maintaining the site.) Originally the 001collective, cllct is a community (or a collective if you will) of musicians dedicated to giving away their music for free on the internet. I randomly found the original 001 site while looking for online communities to post my own home recordings to. Not long after I signed up, the site changed to its current format under the new name cllct. There is some phenomenal music to be found there, from the cuteness overload of Shelby Sifers, to the mature stylings of Generous Alzir, and even the off-kilter experiments of the Secret Owl Society (who is also the man behind the entire site). Some other favourites of mine include: 21 love songs – a tribute to Magnetic Fields Fire in the Mountains – James Eric Pinecones – The Uggamuggas Macondo – Fox Paws I hope you enjoy the music!

The current state of DRM and piracy in casual gaming

tybeet — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 06:50:24 -0800

You may have heard by now about World of Goo, an independent game which can best be described as a "physics/construction puzzle game" that touches on everything from beauty to consumerism to internet privacy. The developer, 2DBoy who had originally released the game under a "no-DRM, don't screw us" policy now estimates a piracy rate of 82%. The authors cite a related figure of 92% found for a game called Ricochet Infinity, which was, in contrast, released with DRM, and whose developer studied the effects of their continued efforts to patch up the keygens and exploits in its DRM along the way. From this article: "As we believe that we are decreasing the number of pirates downloading the game with our DRM fixes, combining the increased sales number together with the decreased downloads, we find 1 additional sale for every 1,000 less pirated downloads. Put another way, for every 1,000 pirated copies we eliminated, we created 1 additional sale."

Class War on the Dancefloor

mippy — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:16:17 -0800

As laddish 'landfill indie' bands take over the British charts and the previous vanguard of art-school bands trouble the mainstream less, the old debate on class in pop music rears its head once again.

TIGsource Demakes competition results

JHarris — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:19:02 -0800

Nearly a month ago jbickers made a post that mentioned the TIGsource Demakes competition. The competition is over, and the winners have been announced. All of these are playable. Most are for Windows, except for those that are Flash or something else:
1. Soundless Mountain II (Atari 2600 Silent Hill) (from previous post)
2. Gang Garrison II (Kyntt Stories-like Team Fortress 2, complete with multiplayer)
3. Aquarium (NES-ish Aquaria)
4. Little Girl in Underland (Soviet McGee's Alice)
5. House Globe (Homeworld)
6. S.T.A.C.K.E.R. (Nuclear Tetris)
7. Squish
(Crush is a PSP game where the player can switch the world between a 2D and 3D representation. Squish is a game in which the player switches between a 2D and a 1D representation. See for yourself.) 8. (tie) Fillauth and Advanced Set The Rope On Fire Cartridge (an Intellivision-like remake of this, previously mentioned)
9. Sexy Seaside Vollyball (NSFW, pixelated breasts) (Sinclair Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Vollyball)
10. Macarena of the Missing (A thematically-appropriate demake of Limbo of the Lost)

Lots more after the jump! Various honorable mentions: Corner's Shiny (Mirror's Edge), Hold Me Closer, Giant Dancer (2D Shadow of the Colossus), Bootleg Bash (NES-like Smash Bros.), Buddy Base 2 (NES-alike Team Fortress 2), Katamaran Vs. Dalmation Giraffe (2D Gameboyish Katamari Damacy), Protobytes (2D Elebits), Smaze (NES-oid Haze), Super 3d Portals 6 (Mentioned in last post, Atari 2600 Portal, made to work on an actual Atari 2600), Thieving Raccoon (Flash, Game & Watch style Sly Cooper), Deity of Hostility (God of War text adventure, with fratboy narration), Healthy Wave (Gameboy AudioSurf), Trouble in Euclidia (Geometry Wars with faked ASCII graphics), Untitled Zelda-like for 1987 PC (CGA graphics, which work surprisingly well), Fake Pigs 2 (2D Virtua Cop), Offslaught '81 (ZX-81 Tower Defense), Heroes in Guitarland (NES-esque Guitar Hero), Super Maria Cosmos (2D Mario Galaxy), VipeUt Vectrex (Wipeout like as for the Vectrex), Fable of Griselda (ASCII Zelda), WolfSD (Wolfenstein 3D like as for the NES), Rocket Belt Rawr (2D grayscale recreation of Jetpack Brontosaurus), Hyper Solar-System Plumber (Another 2D Mario Galaxy), Lady Boy Love Collection (B&W Mega Man, vaguely NSFW), Shadow of the Bossus (2D, 16-bit Shadow of the Collossus), Nobody Shooter (Everyday Shooter, in a Gameboy-ine style), and Dysaster (_♥^♥_♥which is a roguelike^♥_♥^♥).

Indie Game: Muslim Massacre

pancreas — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:02:30 -0800

Muslim Massacre. Satire or just for shock value? You decide. Windows only.