after a long debate with myself I would say:
(random order)

Elliott Smith
Flaming Lips
Wilco
Sufjan Stevens
Bonnie Prince Billy
Plunkett
José González
Sigur Ros
Iron & Wine
Yo La Tengo
Broken Social Scene

I'm sure there's someone missing...

No love for Arcade Fire, Pavement, Neutral Milk Hotel or Animal Collective?

No. No one here likes those bands.

I happen to like Neutral Milk Hotel and Animal Collective.

Here are some others I like:

Of Montreal
Wolf Parade
Tapes 'N Tapes
The Apples In Stereo
The Archers Of Loaf
Ugly Cassanova
People In Planes
Her Space Holiday
A Million Billion
Andrew Bird
Wilco
The Microphones
Portugal The Man
Deerhoof
Crystal Castles
Iron And Wine
Sujan Stevens
Ambulance Ltd
Angus And Julia Stone
Plus So many more...

Here are some of my favorites:

The Killers
Of Montreal
The Strokes
The Shins
The Decemberists
Modest Mouse
Wilco
Snow Patrol
Spoon
!!!
The New Pornographers
Fratellis
Editors
Bloc Party
Babyshambles
Arctic Monkeys

What do you think of my list? I'm missing a lot of them.

hmmmm....

Andrew Bird
Beirut
Belle and Sebastian
Beulah
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah!
Frog Eyes
John Gold
Kasabian
Neutral Mild Hotel
Of Montreal
Pavement
The Ponys
Rogue Wave
The Sea and Cake
Snowden
Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin
Sound Team
Sunset Rubdwon
Tapes 'N Tapes
Ted Leo and the Pharm.
The Teeth
Two Gallants
Voxtrot
Wilco
Wolf Parade

They are the best I know of at least. I would love to find some more great bands.

its iron and wine not iron and whine

Definitely the Hold Steady and any band with Spencer Krug.

i just think the best bands of indie rock or also considered garage rock are:

-artic monkeys
-last shadow puppets (well the singer is the same from artic monkeys Alex Turner)
-The Strokes
-Babyshambles
-The libertines
-Dirty pretty things
-The Cribs
Yeah yeah yeahs
-The kills (well is more considered Lo-fi)
-The Maccabees

and lots of more but these are the best i think cause in this genre "indie" there is also: indie pop, indie rock, and just indie and in my opinion there is a lot of different between all of them despite of the fact that they are all indie.
Cause nowadays indie is called for most of the music as snow patrol and stuff and it is obvioulsy not , well at least that is my opinion.
from an sapnish girl

Thats a pretty narrow list of best indie rock bands Sonicly at least.

Try...

Wilco
The National
Arcade Fire
Sunset Rubdown
Yo La Tengo
Sonic Youth
The Pixies
Wolf Parade
TV on the Radio
Neutral Milk Hotel
The Microphones
Broken Social Scene
The Hold Steady
The Flaming Lips
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Although I suppose its debeatable how many of these bands are indie rock, but given the forums here most of these bands topics would be here, so w/e.

as you said its debeatable how many of these bands are indie rock, but i think there are not in the genre of INdie rock. but for example neutral milk hotel is a very good band from the 90´s and is considered indie but nowadays indie is totally different, but that is my opinion.

wat you think about babysambles ,artic monkeys, dirty pretty things and stuff?i think they are fantastic

[JGlass quote]
Indie Rock is a sound man, it's not about your label.

And why does it matter that much? Honestly, to each his own. Words DO bend and shift, they aren't concrete, they're very maleable. That's why they're words... they change based on times, they change based on situations, they changed based on feeling, etc.

[ireee quote] ...but for example neutral milk hotel is a very good band from the 90´s and is considered indie but nowadays indie is totally different, but that is my opinion.

-----------------------------------------------
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!awesome. you guys are fun-ny.

A few of my favorites are...

The Decemberists
Animal Collective
Cold War Kids
The Fratellis
British Sea Power
Babyshambles
Tokyo Police Club
Low vs. Diamond
The Magnetic Fields (not sure if it's indie, but either way, they are really good)
MGMT
The New Pornographers
Of Montreal
Peter Bjorn and John
Snow Patrol
Spoon
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
VHS or Beta
Wolf Parade

Anyone a fan of these bands? As in not just the Strokes and the Killers?

-IceBlink

quote:

Originally posted by IceBlink:
Anyone a fan of these bands? As in not just the Strokes and the Killers?

-IceBlink

There are a few lists on this page right above yours. I looked through them. I saw the Strokes mentioned maybe once, and the Killers mentioned maybe once, but mostly they were very similar to your own. Most people around here are very open in their musical interests.

Thanks for sharing your favorites. I encourage you to check out other peoples lists as well though, because I think there is a lot of stuff in them that you would find interesting, considering the bands you mentioned.

quote:

Originally posted by IceBlink:
A few of my favorites are...

The Decemberists
Animal Collective
Cold War Kids
The Fratellis
British Sea Power
Babyshambles
Tokyo Police Club
Low vs. Diamond
The Magnetic Fields (not sure if it's indie, but either way, they are really good)
MGMT
The New Pornographers
Of Montreal
Peter Bjorn and John
Snow Patrol
Spoon
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
VHS or Beta
Wolf Parade

Anyone a fan of these bands? As in not just the Strokes and the Killers?

-IceBlink

Hahaha, I honestly think this is one the funniest "elitest" attitude towards the most generic bands in the Indie canon I've encountered here on these forums.

quote:

Originally posted by brighteyes215:

quote:

Originally posted by IceBlink:
A few of my favorites are...

The Decemberists
Animal Collective
Cold War Kids
The Fratellis
British Sea Power
Babyshambles
Tokyo Police Club
Low vs. Diamond
The Magnetic Fields (not sure if it's indie, but either way, they are really good)
MGMT
The New Pornographers
Of Montreal
Peter Bjorn and John
Snow Patrol
Spoon
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
VHS or Beta
Wolf Parade

Anyone a fan of these bands? As in not just the Strokes and the Killers?

-IceBlink

Hahaha, I honestly think this is one the funniest "elitest" attitude towards the most generic bands in the Indie canon I've encountered here on these forums.

Yeah, but your name is still BrightEyes215, and there are few bands on IceBlinks list that I have never actually heard of, so maybe none of us should be pointing fingers.

Really though IceBlink, your post sounded very condescending, and kindof made you look like a jerk.

There ya happy now?! Seriously, though the name change was way overdue.

quote:

Originally posted by Debaser20:
There ya happy now?! Seriously, though the name change was way overdue.

Nice. I like it. It's off topic, but have you heard Rogue Wave's cover of "Debaser"? It's great.

I looked it up. They definitely make it their own, but I like the original more. It's really interesting how they transform it into a more poignant song though with those minor keys.

Animal Collective
Beirut
Blonde Redhead
Cat Power
Sondre Lerche
Sneaker Pimps
Los Campensinos!
Sufjan Stevens