Various Artists

The last five years have seen an extraordinary rise in popularity for the “indie” scene. There are a few reasons for this, the primary one being that independent artists—while not necessarily sporting reasonably pricey budgets—are often forced to give away their products for next to nothing, and music fans (I love you all!) can be awfully thrifty. Another is that because of the lack of accountability to a corporate entity, artists can try almost anything with little potential for backlash from an overbearing series of screens attempting to produce material that’s more “mainstream.”

Of course there are downsides to this scenario. In an attempt to capitalize on the current fad, labels and distributors have begun to hide their affiliation with artists who are in fact not as “indie” or “artsy” as they might appear to be. Dressing up these products in pretentious-looking artwork and giving average music the appearance of being born “outside the box,” buyers end up deceived and disappointed. Moreover, some independent artists obviously aren’t as talented as others, regardless of their contract status. Bottom line, the market has become overcrowded to the point where it’s frustrating to search for artists with real vision—“the goods,” as it were. That’s where compilations like these potentially come in handy; chances are that a listener is bound to find something appealing over the course of the album.

According to the title, these songs/artists are the top 20 in their field. This, however, seems hard to believe. “Indie” is a wide designation. It doesn’t indicate genre; however, there are patterns in sound that we’ve come to expect from the independent scene, if only because these artists have little to no budget with which to deviate. Unfortunately Top 20 Indie 08does little to give us a sample of the best. Rather, these selections seem like low budget versions of mainstream Christian radio fodder. In other words, most of this material is pop—sans, of course, the special FX or vocal editing. That isn’t to say there aren’t bright moments. That is to say that those bits are few and far between.

Standouts for this particular compilation include Britpop opener “Passengers,” courtesy of Michael Blakemore, which borrows heavily from Keane and Snow Patrol while still coming off fresh through sheer force of a strong hook. It could be argued that the lo-fi production values help the song’s poignancy out a bit, too. Blakemore’s voice is rough around the edges yet somehow soothing. The album opener, it’s also the strongest track on the entire project.

Worship seekers will be pleased to meet Go Deep (and no, they sound nothing like Janet Jackson), an admittedly derivative praise band that has already managed to amass a large fan base via the wonders of the Internet. Their anthem “My Offering” is nothing special when compared to the piles of other sacred music in the industry, but their sound is tight enough to predict that they will probably manage a notable career in popular Christian art. These guys are a poor man’s Delirious? (who in turn are a Christian alternative to U2), so they’re not exactly going to change the world unless they shake up their approach. Nevertheless, on a compilation loaded with lo-fi sound-a-likes and base poppy compositions, they benefit from the comparison.

Other than the above-mentioned highlights (which themselves are no revelation), the album seems pretty consistent with mainstream Christian music, not the industry-defiant sounds of many indie artists. This reviewer recommends finding the true diamonds among the unsigned rough via social networking sites and music blogs. Believe me, this isn’t it.

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