L.A.'s Active Child among Vagrant Records latest signings

Somewhere along the line in the last month or two, news of a few indie signings seemed to somehow slip through the cracks. Most particularly Vagrant Records, who has been busy adding much buzzed about LA combo Active Child to their ever expanding and diversifying roster, along with inking one bona fide legend, Polly Jean Harvey, for her new album – quite a coup. The LA label has done an excellent job of branching out beyond the emo niche it was once known for, and have developed an ‘A Class’ stable of indie rock acts that includes Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, The Hold Steady, STARS, School of Seven Bells, and of course Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. PJ Harvey’s new album Let England Shake hits stores February 15, while Active Child’s debut should look for a release in the spring.

Meanwhile, what seems like ages ago (and probably was!), blog favorites DOM from Massachusetts signed on with EMI-offshoot, Astralwerks, with a re-issue of the band’s Sun Bronzed Greek Gods EP slated as their first release in early 2011. And now split from EMI and back in the ranks of indie, Mute Records announced that the first artists to sign to the new version of the label include Yeasayer, Londoners S.C.U.M., and Texan singer songwriter Josh T Pearson. Meanwhile in the past week, Sub Pop announced what seems be the 50th new signing for the year, indie-rock supergroup (with members of Man Man, Modest Mouse & Islands/Unicorns) Mister Heavenly…  And what of the free agents out there? Rumors are looming of an announcement about The Head and the Heart signing to a certain Northwest indie (which seems public knowledge but still hasn’t officially been announced)… Will Odd Future sign with XL Recordings, who appear to have been laying out the red carpet for the controversial LA hip hop collective (including reportedly flying their entire posse to the UK)…  What will become of Bright Eyes? This past week details of their forthcoming album The People’s Key (due February 15) were announced. Following the record, which is their last for Saddle Creek, will the project be done, or will Conor Oberst follow the path of his solo projects by bringing Bright Eyes to Merge? Or will it be another indie (such as was the case with Monsters of Folk)? And slowly emerging (and pricking up people’s ears) is the fact that critically acclaimed Seattle singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes (and the Sweet Hereafter) is in the market for a new label home, after a number of much beloved releases on Seattle’s Barsuk. Sykes supposedly has avid fans at both small and large labels, indie and major, and a with a new record in the can, chances are she won’t remain unsigned for long.

Of course, since we are now in the waning days of 2010, most of the news in the music media concerns the ubiquitous year-end lists – one of the first being NME’s top 75 albums. There is no disputing the UK rag’s choice for their album of the year – These New Puritans Hidden – was baffling, and has had more than one pundit scratching their heads (possibly even the band’s label), but hats off to Domino Records for nabbing that top spot… Subsequent lists from Spin and Rolling Stone (and surely many others) have been released, and as to this column’s picks for the year’s favorites? Well, that will just have to wait until next time…

- Cool Hand Luke

Where to Fill Up During CMJ

Late October and once again the music fan and industry veteran think about NYC and the annual barnstorming tour of the city’s clubs for the annual CMJ New Music Festival. New bands? Old? Signed? Unsigned? Young? Old? There’s no discrimination around here, except between good and bad. General consensus seems to be that this year’s edition is light of the ground when it comes to talent, but here are fifteen picks that may make the week a fun one…

Yo La Tengo – Tues. @ 8:00pm (Brooklyn Bowl) – They may be your parent’s generation, but they still make better music and rock more than people half their ages.

Dale Earnhardt J.r Jr. – Wed. @ 7:30pm (Bruar Falls) – Yes, we’re wondering if they’re about to get sued for the name too…

Bad Books – Wed @ 8:30pm (Bowery Ballroom) – You cant go wrong with a pairing of Kevin Devine and members of Manchester Orchestra can you?

Phoenix – Wed. (Madison Square Garden) – Admit it, you know it is going to be 3000 times better than any other show that is going on this week…

Neutral Uke Hotel - Thurs. @ 9:00pm (Cameo) – Neutral Milk Hotel played on ukeleles? How could that be ba… hang on, maybe we’ll reconsider that!

OFF! – Thurs. @ 11:00pm (Europa) – Punk rock. Or should we say PUNK ROCK!!!! Old skool!

Fences – Thurs. @ 10:30pm (Littlefield) – Great songwriting in the finest Northwest tradition. Think Elliott Smith, Pedro the Lion.

Frankie and the Heartstrings – Thurs. @ 11:45pm (The Delancy) – With a name like that you know what you are in for…

Gold Panda – Fri. @ 7:00pm (Webster Hall) – The heir apparent to the laptop electronica throne currently held by Four Tet.

Dylan LeBlanc – Fri. @ 7:15pm (Hiro Ballroom) – LeBlanc’s album ‘Pauper’s Field is one of the year’s best. Say no more.

Slow Animal - Fri. @ 8:00pm Trash Bar – Like WAVVES? This may be your cup of tea.

Dean Wareham (plays Galaxie 500) – Fri. @ 12:00am (Bowery Ballroom) – You read the Pitchfork article, now hear the songs played live…

Superhumanoids – Fri. @ 11:00pm (Bowery Electric) – LA based. UK touring partners for Local Natives. That sounds promising.

DOM – Sat. @ 11:00pm (Bowery Ballroom) – More of that lo-fi post-Jesus & Mary Chain fuzz pop that seems to be all the rage.

Oberhofer – Any one of the 300 shows they seem are playing – see if this is the over-exposed, over-hyped band for CMJ 2010…

But then it can’t all be about music. What’s a trip to NY without pizza? In a great quirk of fate, the Village Voice just happened to list the best in town…  Or head to the Doughnut Plant for the best damn donuts in town… Actually probably the best ones on the entire east coast…  A trip to the MoMA is always a treat, and it is an opportunity to check out the trippy installation art by Jim Lambie – who is also notable for once playing with Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake in Scottish group The Boy Hairdressers…   Of course Other Music is the place to go for all your music purchasing needs… And how about a visit to the East Village and HiFi Bar where you can relive the 90’s in the bar-formely-known-as Brownies, which used to be THE hang out for CMJ (and the place all the cool up-and-comers played). That is, before everything migrated to Brooklyn…

- Cool Hand Luke

Weezer Going To An Indie For Next Release?

Who’s signing where, and what does it mean?  Indie acts going to majors, major label artists aligning with indies, and both systems vying to nab the same unsigned bands… Looking back at recent months there is a veritable mixed bag. There are artists with a history of at least a few successful indie releases under their belts, like Band of Horses and Iron & Wine, who have recently made the jump to major labels, Columbia and Warner Bros. respectively, while other acts like Spoon and Arcade Fire seem to continually be content on indies… Elsewhere new act Surfer Blood appears to have already made the move to a major; just 6-months following the Kanine Records release of the band’s debut album, the group had racked up enough sales and touring numbers to garner serious interest from multiple labels…  This while unsigned acts with no real sales or tour history like GroupLove and DOM, are currently being courted by both major labels and indies, seemingly so as to not miss out on what could be… What about the reverse trend? Not counting heritage acts, or the exhaustingly-debated pay-what-you-want path taken by Radiohead and NIN among others, one could point to recent examples in Interpol and Wilco as once major label artists now leaving for an indie (their own new label in the case of Wilco). But will there be more to come (or go, as it is)? Word on the street is that longtime Universal artist, Weezer, who released all seven of their previous studio albums on DGC and Geffen, are making a move to a big indie label for their next album. Hmmm… And finally where do the two now meet? A new project to watch unfold will be The Secret Sisters, who recently finished recording their debut with producers Dave Cobb and T-Bone Burnett.  A large buzz  is building with the news that the first single from the duo will be released via the Jack White helmed Third Man Records, with the full-length already slated to come out on Universal Republic this fall… Stay Tuned.