Radiohead on tour in Ame-rica! (it's meant to have a hyphen)

[sxesven]

Well, actually there's a lot of good indie bands, but a lot of what's called indie is just flat-out horrible. However, just check out stuff like:

Neutral Milk Hotel
The Arcade Fire
Architecture In Helsinki
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Wolf Parade
Love Is All
Band Of Horses
Xiu Xiu
My Bloody Valentine (okay, more essential than indie)

And on a less indie-rock level, yet all the more indie:

Iron & Wine
Animal Collective
Vashti Bunyan
Joanna Newsom
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy