#diy-recording

#diy-recording

Rut took piano lessons in grade school, but they didn't stick. He asked his parents for a guitar because he wanted to be Ace Frehley of KISS. When his guitar teacher told him the members of KISS "weren't real musicians," he stopped playing-until high school. "I found a friend who knew all the classic rock riffs. That's when I started hearing songs in my head," he said.

Indie pop used to be so much scrappier: full of guitar fuzz, played by musicians whose passion generally superseded their skill. It was punk for people who couldn't wear studs, down to the amateurish art, deeply direct lyrics, and underground cassette trading networks-a scene where the north stars were early Rough Trade 7"s and the Television Personalities instead of, say, Fleetwood Mac.