You’re likely to have seen that the Sony DADC warehouse in Enfield was burnt down, with great losses to the independent labels that use Sony’s distribution channels.
There is already a LabelLove campaign (including Twitter hashtag) that allows fans to donate money, which I personally find quite tasteless with over 12m affected by droughts and potentially facing starvation in East Africa right now. But hey, maybe I should lighten up?
Anyway, given it was a huge loss of vinyl from some good labels. And as an inherently tedious beard-stroking muso, I thought a quick run through of the labels whose output will be a great loss was appropriate. Feel free to suggest others in the comments.
Domino
They’re pretty big boys now in the independent scene, but I remember distinctly getting a DJ’s only copy of Terror Twilight with Domino plastered all over it.
They now also house Sebadoh (+ Lou Barlow’s output), The Kills, Pavement (plus Spiral Stairs and Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks, Royal Trux, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Animal Collective, Sons and Daughters, The Fall, Quasi, Real Estate, FourTet, Owen Pallett, The Pastels, Elliot Smith and Tricky.
So in tribute to the home of Pavement, here’s a distinctly comic video from Terror Twilight (the only official video I could find on YouTube!).
If you haven’t heard any Pavement before, for gods sake go listen now!
Drag City
Another label I’m pretty fond of is the epic Drag City. These guys have a killer roster, I’ll have to slip into list mode just to get them out there:
- Jim O’Rourke
- Bonnie Prince Billy (Will Oldham, The Anomoanon, The Continental Op
- Sun City Girls (Sir Richard Bishop)
- Shellac
- Pavement (Silver Jews)
- Bill Callahan (Smog)
- Gastr Del Sol
- Half Japanese
- Neil Hagerty (The Howling Hex)
- Songs: Ohia
- Ghost
- Sic Alps
- Faun Fables
- David Pajo (PAJO, Papa M, Aerial M, M)
- Derek Bailey
- John Fahey
- Fennesz
- Broadcast
- Magik Markers
- The Red Krayola
- Loose Fur
- Flying Saucer Attack
- The Fucking Champs
- Scout Niblett
- J Spaceman
- Mats Gustafsson
- Merzbow
Gonna roll with a Jim O’Rourke in tribute to these guys.
Ninja Tune
Major bummer to lose anything from these guys. Hardly worth even listing artists as you might as well listen to everything they do (certainly for the first 10 years). To tick the tribute box to them, an absolute classic Coldcut track:
Damn, that’s from 1997!
Big Dada
Pretty much just get a mention owing to their links to the supremely awesome Ninja Tunes. Well, of course there is also Roots Manuva, Antipop Consortium, cLOUDDEAD and Diplo all of whom have some spectacular records out there. Lets go with Antipop Consortium for a vid:
Thrill Jockey
What can you say about Thrill Jockey? Amazing label. Some extraordinary bands including:
- Boredoms
- Brokeback
- Califone
- Extra Golden
- The Fiery Furnaces (Matthew Friedberger)
- Giant Sand (Howe Gelb)
- Glenn Jones
- Mi Ami
- Mouse on Mars
- Oval
- Pullman
- Jack Rose
- The Sea and Cake
- Nobukazu Takemura
- Tortoise
- Trans Am
- Tom Verlaine (ex-Television)
- Tunng
- Wooden Shjips
I would have gone for an Extra Golden track as they’re just blowing my mind at the moment, could just as easily pull out an amazing Boredoms performance, but yet another genius perverse pop song from Fiery Furnaces seems most appropriate:
Secretly Canadian / Jagjaguwar
Not sure why, but I’ve always has a little crush on Secretly Canadian records. They boast output from BLK JKS, Jens Lekman, Jason Molina (Magnolia Electric Co, Songs: Ohia, Molina and Johnson) and Yeasayer, and previously Windsor For The Derby & Scout Niblett. Jagjaguwar also host the bizarre Oneida who you should give some time to.
By way of tribute, a taste of Jens Lekman (and yes, that’s Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson weighing in on the chorus):
Touch and Go / Quarterstick
Lots of quality oldies on Touch and Go. Real talent here, in fact looks like another list:
- Don Caballero
- Dirty Three
- Slint
- TV On The Radio
- Shellac (Big Black,Volcano Suns)
- Polvo
- Rodan
- Calexico
- Crystal Antlers
- Shipping News
- Red Stars Theory
- The Black Heart Procession
- Seam
- Man Or Astro-Man?
- The Ex
- Quasi
- June of 44
- Henry Rollins Band
- Girls Against Boys
Shellac narrowly fought off Don Caballero for the honour on this one. Mostly because Don Cab have been previously given air time on this ‘ear blog. Plus I was in this crowd, so happy memories from ATP:
Warp Records
Putting out quality strange records for a heck of a long time now, Warp consistently bag interesting artists. They seem to have cooled off a little recently, but they still list the following artists as constituents of the label:
- Battles (Tyondai Braxton)
- Plaid
- Prefuse 73
- Squarepusher
- Aphex Twin
- Vincent Gallo
- Brian Eno
- Autechre
- Grizzly Bear
- Flying Lotus
- Nightmares on Wax
Easy winner there for me, as Battles are part of my life. (Try whistling this when you’re drunk, because you’ll never be able to do it sober)
Rough Trade Records
It’s hard to forget the bohemoth that is Rough Trade in any form. Their roster currently features Adam Green, Arcade Fire, Destroyer, British Sea Power, Jeffrey Lewis, Belle & Sebastian, Sufjan Stevens and The Moldy Peaches. Big fricking artists basically!
Gotta roll with a classic Adam Green for this:
FatCat
These guys put out Black Dice, Animal Collective, Hauschka, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Maps & Atlases, Mice Parade, Múm, Sigur Rós, Set Fire To Flames and The Dylan Group.
Splash of Maps & Atlases?
Chemikal Underground
Not a huge fan, but props for the output of Roky Erickson (formerly of 13th Floor Elevators), The Radar Brothers and Arab Strap. Possibly tenuously, lets have a bit of the 13th Floor Elevators yeh?
Wall Of Sound
Wow, really thought Wall Of Sound had some better acts than they do. As far as I can tell it’s basically just Mogwai and Grace Jones holding it together, but maybe I’ve missed the full list on their site?
Drowned in Sound
I know these guys have some good bands on their books, but just can’t find that info anywhere on t’web. I do know they release Redjetson and Blood Red Shoes however which makes them alright in my book.
