• Interview & Label Mixtape: Exploding In Sound Records

    February 7, 2018 - By 

    Formed in 2011, and based in New York City, Exploding In Sound Records is a tapestry of idiosyncrasy. Pile, for example, are regularly cited as the world’s greatest rock band. Big Ups’ Before A Million Universes was very possibly 2016’s finest noise rock record. The bubbling, emotional cacophony of Ovlov’s 2013 Am has developed its own posthumous devoted cult following, leading to the band reuniting for a second album; not to mention the label’s ability to function as an early outlet and jumping point for Speedy Ortiz, Porches, LVL UP and Palehound. It’s a community. Bands share members, shows and tours together, and there’s a very genuine…

  • Label Mixtape: Kranky

    May 1, 2017 - By 

    If you’re aware of the existence of Kranky as a record label, then it’s quite possible that your first introduction to the imprint was through Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The Canadian outfit’s first two albums and 1999’s Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP were pressed on CD and distributed by Kranky up until the release of 2002’s ‘Yanqui U.X.O.’, while their LPs were handled by smaller Canadian label Constellation. This might be the extent of your knowledge of the label and while GY!BE are undoubtedly an incredible band, they only form part of the Kranky story, a tale that began…

  • Label Mixtape: Castle Face Records

    November 1, 2016 - By 

    San Francisco based Castle Face Records is an independent label that was formed ten years ago by Thee Oh See’ John Dwyer along with associates.  Brian Lee Hughes – who worked on a film for Coachwhips (another J.D. fronted band) final performance – fell in love with Dwyer’s work and offered financial assistance to allow him to release his endless stream of musical conceptions.  It came at a time when a major label had duplicitously dropped the ball when it came to releasing Thee Oh Sees’ Sucks Blood (2007).  These serendipitous events proved to be the catalyst needed to form Castle…

  • Label Mixtape: What’s Your Rupture?

    April 14, 2016 - By 

    Running an independent record label can often seem like one of the more concrete definitions of a ‘labour of love’. Brooklyn-based label What’s Your Rupture? (WYR?), founded in 2003 by one Kevin Pedersen, has managed to strike a superb balance in its release strategy – giving a platform to newer bands while simultaneously bringing older artists to new audiences. Oddly enough, the label originally started off the back of the notoriety gained by Pedersen’s stand-up comedy act, but has since gone on to become one of the most venerated underground labels in contemporary music. While fairly discerning in what he…

  • Label Mixtape: Fortuna POP!

    March 24, 2016 - By 

    Created in London in 1995 by Sean Price, or El Presidente as he prefers to be addressed, Fortuna POP! has for over twenty years been a steadfast bastion of everything lo-fi and fuzzy. The last few years have seen the label enter a veritable golden era. They’ve been responsible for Joanna Gruesome’s fuzz-pop debut LP Weird Sister, which won the Welsh Music Prize, the regional pop punk of Martha’s debut album Courting Strong, which was included in NPR Music’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2014, and records by a cornucopia of others ranging from Evans the Death to Pete Astor to…

  • Label Mixtape: Rough Trade

    November 5, 2015 - By 

    Having founded the first Rough Trade shop in London two years earlier, Geoff Travis first launched the independent label of the same name in 1978, at a time when an abundance of new underground acts inspired by the DIY ethic of punk were just dying to be heard. The shop and its distribution network were already providing a valuable retail outlet for these artists to get their records on sale, so starting a label seemed like the logical next step. Despite being at the heart of the post-punk and alternative scenes throughout the 1980s, by the dawn of the 90s…

  • Label Mixtape: Gravity Records

    October 23, 2015 - By 

    Gravity Records started out just like any other cult indie label – see: SST, Dischord – of the ‘80s-early ‘90s, when a pragmatic lead member (drummer Matt Anderson) of the most relevant band (Heroin) in a scene (1991 San Diego) wanted to release just one single. They would, as tradition goes, ultimately earn more notoriety and credibility than money, but it provided a rich catalogue of scattered splits and short long-players over which punk nerds and indie swots of the future can pore over and explore a periodic cul de sac. Fewer labels inbred more effectively and better developed a…

  • Label Mixtape: K Records

    October 22, 2015 - By 

    K Records was founded in 1982 in Olympia, Washington by the beguiling Calvin Johnson, a personal project undertaken with the sole intention of making the music he enjoyed by his friends and peers more widely available. Trading with cassettes only in the 1980s as a viable cheap option for bands who didn’t want to commit to bulk pressings of vinyl or CDs, which in turn spearheaded the 1990’s DIY aesthetic, cementing them at the forefront. The ‘K’ apparently stands for ‘knowledge’ which is fitting considering it’s founder’s keen familiarity with the underground scenes not just in America, but in places as…

  • Label Mixtape: Matador Records

    July 13, 2015 - By 

    Founded in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York apartment, before Gerard Cosloy came on board the following year, it’s remarkable how quickly Matador Records became one of the most influential record labels operating in the indie world. As well as signing US bands, the label also became a reliable source for British bands on small UK labels to expand their international reach. Now part of the Beggars Group, recently operating in London as well as New York, and still going strong with the same two managers at the helm, Matador inspires such devotion that Pavement and Guided By…

  • Label Mixtape: Merge Records

    July 7, 2015 - By 

    Started by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk in 1989 as a vehicle to release their own music Merge has moved from small-town record label to one of the most respected and successful indie labels in the world. Based in Durham, North Carolina, and never feeling the urge move to a more “hip” city, Ballance and McCaughan captured an NC Sound at a time when Grunge was taking off in the North-East of the US. What really makes Merge stand out is their ability to gauge the zeitgeist of what was coming next. Whether it was Arcade Fire’s global…