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by Stephanie Benson

For those who may question indie music's badassery, let us now list a few of the genre's smartest, boldest, most positively resolute don't-f*ckin'-mess-with-them-or-their-craft artists. Without futher adieu:

1. Nick Cave
The Numero Uno badass in our book, this gothic eccentric from Down Under has successfully tantalized both ears and minds for over three decades now with some of the creepiest, eeriest, sleeziest, bawdiest, most cerebral and complex music around via The Birthday Party, Grinderman and his work with The Bad Seeds. (See their new one, Push the Sky Away.) Plus, he pens award-winning novels, writes screenplays, scores movies, acts in movies, and doesn't seem to be slowing down one bit.
Badass Quote: To the question "What's the deal with re-forming Grinderman for Coachella?", posted by a fan on Twitter: "Every other sh*tty band is doing it, why not someone who's actually good."

2. Karen O
Let's just list this out: She appeared on a track with a deceased Ol' Dirty Bastard ("Strange Enough". She covered Led Zeppelin alongside Trent Reznor ("Immigrant Song") and made it even more salacious. She collaborated with dirty girl Peaches and Jackass Johnny Knoxville. She yaps and babbles like a kid on the soundtrack she created for Where the Wild Things Are. And oh yeah, she fronts one of the most successful and critically hailed badass rock bands of the '00s. Hell yeah yeah yeah.
Badass Quote: Regarding the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' upcoming fourth record: "The title track, 'Mosquito,' is literally about mosquitoes. I'm surprised that there aren't more songs about them out there. I have a pretty passionate hatred of them." [Via Pitchfork]

3. Ian MacKaye
Oh, ya know, he just fronted a couple of the most influential hardcore punk bands of all time (that'd be Minor Threat and Fugazi, for the uninitiated). He cofounded one of the most influential DIY independent labels of all time (D.C.-based Dischord Records). And he's still admonishing authority and injustice via indie rock duo The Evens. And he don't smoke and he don't drink.
Badass Quote: "The thing you have to understand about me is I care, but I don't give a f*ck." [Via Exclaim]

4. PJ Harvey
When a woman moans a line like "I'll make you lick my injuries / I'm gonna twist your head off, see," do you really even have to question her badassery? And that was 20 years ago. Since, she's released a half-dozen or so albums that have earned her numerous nominations and accolades. Her last, Let England Shake, was one of the best of 2011, and offered more biting lines, like "What if I take my problem to the United Nations?" Bonus points: She dated fellow badass Nick Cave. And broke his heart.
Badass Quote: "For me, music is something that is very sexual. It's a turn-on. It's not something to do with your head, it's to do with your body, which is a very sexual instrument." [Via Q Magazine]

5. Bradford Cox
The self-proclaimed "little, tiny punk person" is the brain behind psychedelic noise-rockers Deerhunter and the ambient dream-pop project Atlas Sound, both critically acclaimed, both outrageous live. He writes in stream-of-consciousness style, which also seems to guide his performances, like in 2012 when he covered "My Sharona" for an hour after a request from an audience member. Below is his badass response to that, um, performance.
Badass Quote: "No one else f*cking allows themselves to become unhinged. If it's frightening to people, then those people seriously need to look at the mediocrity they subscribe to." [Via Pitchfork]

6. St. Vincent
Look at that sweet, Snow White face and you'd never guess that this woman can shred like nobody's business (just check out this Big Black cover for evidence). Sure, being associated with The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens may not immediately elicit badass status, but she's proven it since with a stellar solo career (plus a duet album with alt hero David Byrne). She may have a sugar-lined singing voice, but you'll be sufficiently unnerved when she slyly purrs visceral lines like "Come cut me open."
Badass quote: About the inspiration for her stage name, the hospital where Dylan Thomas died: "It's the place where poetry comes to die. That's me." [Via The New York Times]

7. Ariel Pink
One of the most prolific indie oddballs of the '00s, Ariel Pink has transformed from cult star to indie darling, and has helped bring avant-garde lo-fi rock back into the indie topography, influencing a slew of artists over the last decade. On his most commercially successful album to date, 2012's Mature Themes, he sings about "testicle bombs" and "blowjobs of death," then does an awesome cover of Donnie and Joe Emerson's "Baby." That juxtaposition alone is something only a badass could get away with.
Badass quote: "I just don't like the institutions. I have a chip on my shoulder about lots of things. Authority and stuff like that. It sucks. It's bullsh*t. Everything … the world is evil." [Via The Fader]

8. Cat Power
The rough times of Ms. Chan Marshall are well documented, and even just recently she had to cancel a tour because of health and financial problems. But this badass still presses on, even after public breakdowns and breakups, and she's got nine albums under her belt, the last, 2012's Sun, one of her best and most experimental.
Badass quote: "I don't want anyone ever producing me unless I'm giving my soul to them. Like unless they're writing the songs and I love them so much and I want them to f*cking tell me what to do. But I'll never do that." [Via Pitchfork]

Push the Sky Away

Nick Cave

After a visceral detour into feral horndog garage ribaldry via his Grinderman project, gothic rock's wiliest bard is back for his 15th (!) record with The Bad Seeds, and it's a softer, gentler, even more intimidating affair. Unsettling anti-ballads like "We Real Cool" (dark bass pulse, gorgeous strings) dominate here, amid tons of R-rated mermaid imagery ("Their legs wide to the world like bibles open") and oddball digressions like the Miley Cyrus-referencing "Higgs Boson Blues." Thesis: "It's the will of love/ It's the thrill of love/ Ah, but the chill of love is comin' on." Bundle up.

Fever To Tell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

There's an untouchable coolness that radiates from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 2003 debut. It's sexy and in-your-face, but underneath that Brooklyn bravado is a keen ear for melody and a keen heart for grit, glam and garage-punk. Of course we can't go any further without mentioning Karen O. Every shriek, squeal and moan she emits seems choreographed for maximum rock-chick sex appeal, but there's always an underlying softness that lures you in even more. The more subdued latter half, including hit "Maps," reveals that more tender side, but don't miss the feisty fun of "Rich," "Tick" and "Black Tongue."

Repeater + 3 Songs

Fugazi

After devoting three EPs to the chiseling of their sound (which most certainly is sculptural and full of dizzying angles), Fugazi unveiled Repeater in 1990. In no time it became one of the most beloved albums in the American underground. A foundation of the post-hardcore movement, it was an exercise in democratic principles on both the lyrical and aesthetic level (i.e. the grafting of hardcore's for the kids philosophy with post-punk's avant-garde deconstruction of both funk and prog-rock). Needless to say, the anthems come fast and hard, including "Repeater," "Blueprint" and "Merchandise."

Let England Shake

P.J. Harvey

There's something magnetically haunting in PJ Harvey's music; it's intangible but always there, like a heart beating under the floorboards. Her eighth album pumps restlessly with this eerie substance. "England you leave a taste, a bitter one," Harvey croaks with a girly innocence -- but she's not ungrateful, just observant in her poetic tales of wars and woes. Some of the most visceral moments are strikingly upbeat: the pint-clanking bounce of "The Words That Maketh Murder" or the reggae nod on "Written on the Forehead," where Harvey, both ominously and jubilantly, declares "let it burn."

Parallax

Atlas Sound

Bradford Cox's third release as Atlas Sound luxuriates in velvety dream-pop. His compositions are complex -- layers of acoustic and electric guitars are rendered weightless in a sea of woozy electronics -- yet it all comes off so simple and serene. No song travels in a straight path: A perky piano opens "Te Amo," then morphs into undulating synths, while "Terra Incognita" starts like light '70s rock, then dissolves in a whirling helicopter of noise. Cox is poignant as always ("I know a place called love/ No one bothered me there/ No, I was all alone"), but he makes it feel like paradise.

Strange Mercy

St. Vincent

On her third LP, Annie Clark has the affectation of a deranged nurse whose calming coos effectively hide a sinister intent. "If I ever meet the dirty policeman who roughed you up," she sweetly threatens on the balladic title cut; "Come cut me open," she coolly commands on "Surgeon," which sounds like Snow White dropping acid at a Pink Floyd show. Then there's "Champagne Year," an angelic come-down from said acid, and "Cheerleader," a sort of Tori Amos therapy session. Buzzing guitars, gurgling synths and rich strings sparkle throughout as she waltzes down the line between genius and insanity.

Mature Themes

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

Anyone familiar with Ariel Pink's repertoire should take Mature Themes' title with a gigantic grain of salt. "Kinski Assassin" references "testicle bombs" and "blowjobs of death"; Schnitzel Boogie" sounds like a Beach Boys track flipped inside-out in a post-Oktoberfest haze. "Step into my time warp," he offers on "Is This the Best Spot?" It's the album's most accurate statement: Pink's gift for retro jamming is still stunning, as on The Byrds-esque "Only in My Dreams" and the hypnotizing groove of "Driftwood"; the Donnie and Joe Emerson cover "Baby" has every bit as much soul as the original.

Sun

Cat Power

A spacey trip of layered electronic fuzz and icy synths, Sun makes a sharp left turn from the elegant trajectory of Cat Power's catalog. But despite the fact that tunes like "Ruin" (an electro-infused Montuno number) and the title track (which opens with laser-lit mega-club synths) are odd ducks alongside the earthy tunes of her past, Marshall's dusky voice -- passionate, alert, sometimes utterly joyful -- is as emotionally powerful as ever. A Radiohead futurism makes "Manhattan" a highlight, but the 10-minute "Nothin But Time" -- dressed in square-wave synths and sitar -- is an epic triumph.

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Indie's Biggest Badasses