Indie Dispatches: Will the Grammys see an indie upset repeat? + more…
Bon Iver gets multiple Grammy nominations including Best New Artist
Indie Dispatches: Arcade Fire Goes Deluxe; No Signing Blues for Sub Pop
Fleet Foxes release highly anticipated sophomore effort via Sub Pop
Oh dear. Just when you thought it was safe to venture back into indie-land, the idyllic utopian kingdom where labels such as Merge still offer 50-50 split profit arrangements with bands, 360 deals are an anathema, and folk like the Arcade Fire make a claim for the moral high ground, opting for ‘no film & tv licensing’ (except for charity), and playing benefits concerts and small club shows for fans. Then comes the recent news that the Montreal outfit are set to release a ‘deluxe’ version of their chart topping album, The Suburbs. The new edition is set to include 2 unreleased tracks, the Spike Jonze directed short film, and more. Which, if you look at it, penalizes those dedicated fans who rushed out to buy the album from the get go (and helped it hit that #1 spot!). They’re suddenly stuck with a version of the album that is inferior. At least, yes, in the digital world of 2011, fans can nab those new tracks from the iTunes store for minimal cost, instead of having to buy the whole album over a second time. But are those some dark clouds appearing on the horizon?
Regular readers here may have noticed a subtle ribbing of Sub Pop and the rapidly expanding size of their waistline (we mean their roster), as they seemingly announce a new signing every other day. But prompted by a slew of press releases in the past week about further additions to the label – Shearwater and Beach Fossils being the latest – it seems as though we’re not alone in making that assessment. And a general rumbling of “they signed more bands, how is that possible?” has been spreading around the music community. Of course the issue is not so much who and when they sign an act, but if the Seattle imprint has the resources to effectively manage and market a roster that is now rather gargantuan. Traditionally the appeal of the independent label is that they have the time to market the each band and every release – the old school concept of artist development – instead of operating as a conveyor belt. Rather than having 300 other projects vying for time and resources, such as at a major label, the indie can give each release the attention it deserves. But if the release schedule is suddenly overflowing, and a label such as Sub Pop is issuing 3 to 4 albums per month (or more!), do they have time to do the job properly? Of course, pity other artists on the label this month, as they released the much anticipated new album from hometown heroes Fleet Foxes, which looks to swamp everything else in its path. And while it is not going to follow the Arcade Fire to the top of the charts, the record, Helplessness Blues, is looking at a bumper debut week. Whether it is worthy of the the hype and acclaim, for a band that treads the Crosby Stills & Nash path a little too closely, remains to be seen, and there is no doubt that a claim by one of their hometown papers that the Seattle act “makes some of the most CRITICALLY IMPORTANT MUSIC (sorry for yelling) of this generation” (sic) seems just a tad excessive. And only time can tell whether Fleet Foxes will, like their peers in Band of Horses, The Shins and Iron & Wine, depart for the magical Majorlabel Kingdom, since their contractual commitment to Sub Pop has now (with the album released) reportedly been fulfilled.
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: All The News That’s Fit to…
UK's Yuck, among bright spots of 2011 so far
Surprise!! After been closeted away down the rabbit hole, toiling away turning the wheels of industry, figures it was time to pop up again into the world and find out just what we have missed. And what better day to choose, than April 1st? So just what has been going on these past few months?
* Domino blasted out of the annual SXSW fiesta on a definite high with everyone raving about their new signing, Austra. The band’s debut album Feel it Break drops May 17. The label also has a schedule of highly rated new releases from Cass McCombs, Anna Calvi and of course the long awaited re-issue of the Queens of the Stone Age classic debut album. Oh yeah, there’s also a new album, Blood Pressure, from our favorite rock duo, The Kills about to drop any day. Bets on ‘best of 2011 list’ anyone?
* A band www.arcadefire.com on an indie won a Grammy for best album or something. More exciting was that their label, Merge Records, released the stunning new album, Civilian from Baltimore’s Wye Oak.
* A new UK combo with inauspicous beginnings (formed from the ashes of Cajun Dance Party) and a terrible name – Yuck – put on some shows and released an album that was far from terrible or inauspicious. Combining a dose of classic 90’s Sonic Youth & Dinosaur Jr the UK group stands as a definite bright spark in early 2011.
* After 20 years in business, our favorite Bay Area operation, Slumberland Records, suddenly became a ‘label to watch’ with new records from Pains of Being Pure at Heart and new noise group, Weekend.
* Sub Pop signed a new band. Or two. Or ten it seems. But seriously though, can they have any more? Still Corners, Memory House, Niki & the Dove… the list of newbies goes on. How many is too many? When you factor in their sub-label Hardly Art, the Seattle indie seems to have an active roster the size of a major label.
* Sharon Van Etten toured. And made even more fans. Swooooooooon.
* Radiohead suddenly dropped a new record on the world to much fanfare. An album which even their fans weren’t sure they really liked.
* The 2 piece is still in vogue despite the demise of the White Stripes in the guise of Hanni El Khatib.
* It became clearly evident that just because the bloggers love you and the press file is big and thick, it doesn’t mean you sell a massive number of records in 2011. Looking at you Dum Dum Girls. And Deerhoof.
* Bright Eyes released an excellent new album, ‘The People’s Key’, which may have been the most lavishly packaged release to hit the top echelons of the charts.
* Sebadoh toured to support the release of a t-shirt because the US label organizing the reissue of their classic Bakesale, release didn’t come close to getting the album out on time.
* The Radio Dept finally toured North America and released a double CD of singles and oddities. Peter Bjorn and John released a new record. Yay Sweden!
* Portishead sent a welcome message that they are happy to buck the system. And you know they will still have fans. And will still sell records.
* Sasquatch Festival once again looked like more fun than spending 3 days in the desert…
* Wilco became an indie band. Rah!
* The neo-soul movement became even stronger, with the continuing charge of Fitz and the Tantrums, as they took over SXSW, and seemingly now, the world. Then there is that old dude (62!) Charles Bradley showing a) its never too late to start your recording career (ageism be damned!) and b) THIS is how you make a great soul record. He may not be Otis Redding but he is a fine substitute!
My, this has been fun. But wait – there’s more we’re sure! Maybe we’ll just have to be back next week too fill in some holes that have undoubtedly been missed…
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: Chart Bumps, Tour Slumps & Band Overload – Final Missive for 2010
The xx were one of 2010's biggest stories
Whoa, 2010! What a year! Great music, bad music, hypes, bombs, and a whole lotta changes. It seems like everything this year moved at Warp Factor 10 and there were more than a few surprises. Launching the time machine back to January 1st, it would have been hard to predict some of the significant moments of the year ahead.
Arcade Fire top the charts! No, not the indie ghetto, or Heatseekers – the real ones! In fact it wasn’t just the Arcade Fire & their label, Merge Records, making waves in ‘the big boys club’ - Spoon, The National, Sufjan Stevens and a host of other acts signed to independent labels had sales that led to them crashing into the upper echelons of the charts. Heavens, even Best Coast made an appearance! And not to be forgotten is Vampire Weekend, who also hit the coveted #1 position early in the year on the indie XL Recordings. Maybe it can attributed to slumping major label sales leaving the door open for their independent brethren, or it could be the focus on the music community and a dedication to the fans from the indies that the consumers repaid by actually buying the records. Maybe it is just that many indies put out great music that people cared about. Whatever is behind it, it is a reason to celebrate, and set 2010 as a landmark twelve months – to paraphrase Sonic Youth… the year that indie broke.
Is it the 90’s? The host of bands from Gen X/Y that reformed, toured and released records was long and full. Sonic Youth, Superchunk, Soundgarden, Pavement, Vaselines, Teenage Fanclub, Versus, Faith No More, Belle & Sebastian, Guided By Voices, JSBX and Dean Wareham playing Galaxie 500… Even Jeff Mangum from the much revered (and long lost) Neutral Milk Hotel popped up at year-end for his first live show in many, many years. And significantly, this wasnt some tired re-tread as the bands (for the most part) held their own against younger contenders. The Sonic Youth ‘early years’ set at the Hollywood Bowl this year was blistering and Superchunk came back to release one of the albums of the year, and put on a series of shows that were 100% fun and over-the-top great (meanwhile finding the time to run the label releasing that #1 album…)
First #1 in 2010
Speaking of which – who would dispute Merge Records as the best label of the year? The Arcade Fire hit the chart peak, after the label came close earlier in 2010 with both Spoon and She and Him. But there was still a dedication to quality releases – large or small. A conversation with label head Mac McCaughan will see him raving about the marvels of Wye Oak, as much as some of the label’s more storied roster. The Love Language, Caribou, Tracy Thorn, Telekinesis… quite a schedule of releases, and one that should be the envy of other labels, both big and small.
Duke Spirit, Delta Spirit, Kid Sister, Twin Sister, Twin Shadow, Le Sands, Leswitch, La Sera, Deerhunter, Deerhoof, Kisses, Suckers, Sweaters, Cults, Guards, Avi Buffalo, White Buffalo, White Arrows, White Sea, Cloud Cult, Cloud Control, Cloud Nothings, Wild Nothing, WILD FLAG, Mountain Man, MEN, Girls, Women, Felice Brothers, Pernice Brothers, Punch Brothers, Punches, Dead Confederate, Dead Country, Dead Weather, Beach House, Beach Fossils, Crystal Castles, Crystals Antlers, Crystal Stilts, Surf City, Surfer Blood, Pearl Harbor, Pearly Gate Music, Frightened Rabbit, Pepper Rabbit, Magic Kids, Magic Bullets, Here We Go Magic, Gold Panda, Panda Bear, Bear Hands, Bear Hug, Bear in Heaven, Black Angels, Black Mountain, Black Keys… phew! So many bands, so little time! And many with names that seem to just run into each other. So confusing! Who can keep up? (even Pitchfork claimed that maybe it was in overload). You know it is a saturation point when bands that have one 7″ release to their name seem to suddenly spawn a side-project.
Recession? What Re… Oh, yeah – that one. While some shows and tours did well, the story of the year was one of half empty rooms and promoters getting burned. Was 2010 the year that the ‘punters’ rebelled against high ticket prices or was it just over-saturation and the economic malaise? It was grim, as some of the larger venues in Los Angeles (Music Box, Nokia, El Rey) hosted shows that were far from full - RaRa Riot, Brendan Benson/Posies and Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan to name but a few, along with the papering of more than one high profile Hollywood Bowl line-up during the summer season. It wasn’t just LA either, as stories came in from around the country of poor attendance and shows cancelled due to lacklustre presales (with even some Pitchfork-endorsed acts clocking up advance numbers in single digits).
Chillwave! Ugh. Let’s reconvene and debate at the end of 2011 and see if anyone really who cares, shall we?
Hype, what hype? All to often there seemed to be bands appearing in the media after playing one show (or in some cases NONE!), as some of the reputable outlets clamored to be ‘first on the block’ talking about the new flavor of the month. Labels signed up bands for single releases, sight unseen, and without the acts ever having played a show. More than once a slew of A&R folk were out in droves for an act’s first live outing. And as fast as they are latched on to a particular band, everyone was dashing on to the ‘next’ next big thing. The Guardian in the UK seems to be on a mission to tip a new band every day. Are there really 365 quality new artists out there waiting to be discovered? So we have press and radio and blogs all abuzz touting something new and then jumping on the latest bandwagon daily – with the attention span of a gnat. And six months later (or less) it seems the same media outlets have moved on. Career? Seems like it might be a matter on months now…
Though one band that do have a career is British act The xx, who went from strength to strength as each month went by. A 2009 CMJ buzz, great word of mouth, a landmark SXSW, an album that seemingly sold with no mainstream media or radio exposure at all, topped off by a series of jaw dropping live shows populated by fanatical fans. Oh and a little matter of that Mercury Music Prize in the UK. While many major labels acts took the path as the hare, the British trio were the tortoise that quietly became unstoppable. And hence 2010 became twelve months in which The xx took over the world.
So the year comes to a close. But look! On the horizon, it’s 2011! With tales already afoot, like will Warner Bros. actually be releasing the new Iron & Wine record next month? And of course there are new bands to be excited about and that slew of forthcoming albums to watch out for early in the new year – The Get Up Kids, Bright Eyes, Panda Bear, Wye Oak, Duke Spirit, WILD FLAG, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Mogwai, The Head and the Heart, Middle Brother…
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: New Superchunk, A Toast to Best Coast & Fitz on Fire
Lost in the warm fuzzy glow over the Arcade Fire topping the charts last week, one rather important item was neglected, which is that amidst all of their efforts to create the landmark 2010 Merge is having, the label owners Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance also found time to record a new album. Yes ladies and gentlemen, reason to rejoice, as there is a new Superchunk album on the way! It’s entitled Majesty Shredding and is due for release on September 14 – on Merge Records of course! A number one record and a new Superchunk album – now that really IS a banner year.
Speaking of landmark years, the same can be said for Best Coast who surprised more than a few people with their #36 debut (with one industry rag leaving them out of their charts altogether!) for the album Crazy for You. But kudos to the Mexican Summer label for a superb job of artist development, and it just goes to show that in amongst all the clutter of the ‘long tail’ music biz in 2010, the same formula of great songs, a good build up and a masterful job of marketing can achieve results! Alas, not so fortunate were WAVVES, whose latest album King of the Beach only trickled to a #168 chart position first week, despite some great reviews and a ubiquitous presence amongst the blogs.
Also benefitting from a nice job of development and marketing is Los Angeles act, Fitz and the Tantrums, who are riding a great word-of-mouth wave leading to the August 24 release of their album Pickin’ Up the Pieces on Dangerbird Records. After a glowing review in the LA Times, a “you had to be there” jam-packed performance at the Hammer Museum, an exclusive streaming preview of the album on KCRW, and an instore performance at Amoeba Records in LA scheduled for release day, the buzz is becoming rather deafening. Which makes it hard to believe it was barely a year ago that the retro-soul combo was playing to a small scattering of early adopters at the 3 of Clubs…
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: Merge’s Milestone
Back in May of 1990, a spunky four piece group from NC released a 7″ single, entitled “Slack Motherfucker”, on their own record label. Who would have thought just over 20 years on from MRG 007 that very same label – the mighty Merge Records – would not only be still in existence, but helping a combo from Montreal hit the #1 slot in the charts? And still doing it with what may be the best set of ethics in the business! This is a home where 360 deals are not part of the vocabulary, and the relationship the label has with their artists is a true partnership. This is not a world of miniscule royalty rates, as with some other noted independent labels, or of suspect accounting. 50-50 split profit deals and artistic control are set in stone. Maybe it’s due to the label owners’ tenure in a rock band themselves, the venerable Superchunk, or just that they felt this was the right way to do business. Whatever the reason, it’s a label where decisions are made on artistic merits, not dollars and cents, and it has led to Merge amassing a catalog of almost 400 releases, which range from the critically acclaimed Neutral Milk Hotel, to more underground, but no less worthy, acts such as Wye Oak and many others in between that no self-respecting record collection should be without. And in 2010, Merge has had not two, but three albums that have reached the upper echelons of the charts, culminating in the Arcade Fire’s top billing this week. Following the sales success of She & Him’s Volume Two and Spoon’s Transference, the chart topping Suburbs from Arcade Fire puts the label in rarified company – a room in which none of their fellow indies such as 4AD or XL or Sub Pop have stood, and has until recently only been the domain of the major labels. It even had the scrappy upstart label with a market share for the week larger than Warner Brothers, Columbia and Epic Records. So Merge, we salute you! Slack Motherfuckers? We think not…
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: Arcade Fire Sets-Off New Album Buzz with a Spark & More…
The indie world’s favorite Canucks, Arcade Fire, caused quite the frenzy last week when two new songs by the band spread across the internet. Information about the new tracks – which were reportedly found as a 12″ in a record store in Glasgow – seemed to spread like wildfire via Twitter, Facebook and various blogs. And then it was official – the release of a new single – “The Suburbs” with “Month of May”. Of course the hubbub continued a day later as concrete details (cover art! a title! a release date!) were made available regarding the band’s eagerly awaited third album - The Suburbs is due out on August 3rd via Merge Records. As to whether the sudden discovery was real, a plant by the band’s UK record label, or a concocted story, there is no disputing the whole tale was a piece of marketing genius that probably magnified the anticipation for the record in both the media and public at large.
Another blog community favorite, L.A.’s Best Coast, announced details of their debut album Crazy for You this past week. After a series of limited and hard-to-find 7″ singles, the band will release their full-length on New York indie-label Mexican Summer Records on July 27th. Thankfully the album will be slightly more available (and cheaper!) than Best Coast’s latest single, “Far Away,” which can only be found free (?!) with the purchase of a pair of Eskuche headphones.
Meanwhile, Brooklyn’s School of Seven Bells played to a packed house at The Echo in L.A. this week, previewing songs from their new record Disconnect From Desire that is due July 13th through Ghostly International/Vagrant Records. The dream pop trio repeat the exercise over two sold-out shows next week at the Mercury Lounge in NYC.
Finally, after taking time off for various appearances under his Yim Yames persona and the Monsters of Folk project with Conor Oberst and M.Ward, Jim James is back in the fray with My Morning Jacket, who announced their touring plans for the summer this week. The Louisville combo have a slew of dates booked, starting out with West Coast shows in San Diego, L.A. (at the Greek Theatre August 12th) and S.F.’s Outside Lands Festival before heading across the country. The tour also includes support slots in Massachusetts and New Jersey opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. No news yet from MMJ label ATO Records of a follow up to the band’s ‘08 album Evil Urges.
- Cool Hand Luke
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Indie Dispatches: Straight From the Chart
Sharon Jones' New Album Enters Top 200 Its First Week
Last week saw another independent label release break into the ‘big boy charts’ with the Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings album I Learned the Hard Way scoring a #15 spot in the Billboard Top 200 with over 20k in sales in its first week. The interesting twist to the story is that the album is on Daptone Records, a label that could be seen more as a cottage operation rather than one of the more storied independent labels. The big winner for the year so far in the indie-label chart story however, has been Merge Records, which has had not one, but two new releases hit the top five in 2010. First with the Spoon Transference album back in January and most recently She and Him’s Volume Two. And that list doesn’t include the highly anticipated third album from the Arcade Fire that is reportedly due out this year. Could that end up being the North Carolina label’s first ever number one album?
Less than a decade ago the thought of an indie release cracking the charts in general, let alone the Top 10, was a pipe dream. Even pre-eminent artists on labels like Sub Pop or Matador in the 90’s barely scraped into the Top 100 – a reason for great celebration at the time. It seems like up until recently the only ranking an independent release could have was in Heatseekers or the tinpot Billboard Indie Chart, but all that has seemingly changed when even the Local Natives album on tiny Frenchkiss Records can hit the Top 200. While it is true independent label sales have seen a slump, and it is as hard as ever for the indies (like majors) to sell records, the drop has in some ways not been as cataclysmic as that of the Big Four. Maybe it can be attributed to the indies’ dedication to their community of buyers, where the fans seem more invested in the artists, or maybe it has just been a policy of good releases and reasonable prices. But most likely it is the fact that many independent labels have simply continued to consistently put out great music. Whatever the reason, it seems like in 2010 the kids are alright…
- Cool Hand Luke
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