Indie Dispatches: As The White Stripes Stand Down, Third Man Records Flourishes
Jack White Rolls On
Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi! The White Stripes may have announced they are closing up shop (who knows, maybe until the inevitable Coachella reunion show in 5 or so years time) prompting groans of despair, but there is an obvious upside, as this frees up the duo’s leader, Jack White, to concentrate on his Third Man Records label. The imprint has existed in some form of another since launching in 2001 in Detroit, inititally as an outlet for releases by some of the Stripes singer’s friends (such as Whirlwind Heat), and of course as a label for the White Stripes releases through V2, XL and Warner Brothers, along with White’s other projects Dead Weather and The Raconteurs. But it has really been since opening up shop in 2009 in Nashville that the label has developed into a more fully fledged operation.
Like many of the great record companies, especially those that are artist-run, Third Man is nothing but esoteric, reflecting the Stripes singer’s wide and varied taste. There are spoken word releases from the likes of Carl Sagan and Jerry King (The Auctioneer), resurrected old rockers such as Wanda Jackson and Jerry Lee Lewis, and of more of White’s friends (Greenhornes, Dan Sartain, and of course his wife Karen Elson). Oh yeah, and vinyl. Lots of vinyl. Limited, colored, glow-in-the-dark, pressed with flowers enclosed – you name it. While there is no disputing that some of the releases border on the bizarre, scattered amidst the catalog are some cool items, such as Swedish folkies First Aid Kit, and UK songstress Laura Marling, who used her 45 to cover Jackson C Frank’s critical lost classic “Blues Run the Game”. And, well, who can say no to a 7″ by Conan O’Brien? Some of them are on hyper limited vinyl, part of the series available to members of The Vault (ironic as White was in Detroit rockers The Go for their first album on Sub Pop – a label obviously reknowned for its Singles Club subscription series – and for whom the White Stripes released a much sought after 45, but for the most part the 7″’s are widely distributed. And so Third Man has developed into quite the cottage industry, centered out of its Nashville HQ, with a record shop, recording studio – and don’t forget that mobile record store unveiled at SXSW this year – all the while becoming a gold standard of the new paradigm for music biz 2011 – Artist as label. So whether The White Stripes do return from their self-imposed extinction, or if there are more releases by the Dead Weather, at least Jack White is (still) doing his part to make the world a better place for music fans (and vinyl collectors!)…
- Cool Hand Luke
09.2.10Out & About: The Secret Sisters @ The Music Box
The Secret Sisters
Those in attendance last night at The Music Box in Hollywood caught a special performance from new Beladroit/Universal Republic artist The Secret Sisters. The performance was filmed in HD for an upcoming PBS special, T Bone Burnett presents The Secret Sisters. The story of Laura and Lydia Rogers, who hail from Muscle Shoals Alabama and whose music is heavily influenced by American folk, country and roots music, is one that has grown rapidly in the last year. Two influential fans of the duo, T Bone Burnett and Jack White, have gotten heavily involved in the project, with the latter releasing their debut single just last month on his Third Man Records label, while in addition to acting as executive producer on the upcoming full-length, Burnett will release the album via his Universal imprint Beladroit… There were a number of familiar faces out to witness the event, which also featured special guest performances from Jakob Dylan and Elvis Costello. Making our way through the lobby we remarked to producer Josh Abraham and songstress Bonnie McKee, what an eery resemblance the remodeled Music Box had to The Haunted Mansion, before heading to the balcony where we joined Prospect Park’s Laurel Stearns and Scott Austin of Authentik Artists among others. Also on hand last night was Universal Music Publishing’s Tom Sturgis, Warner Brother Record’s Perry Watts-Russell and the sister’s own “Colonel” Tom Parker, manager Andrew Brightman, who has shepherded the project from humble beginnings to an impressive launch. One thing’s for sure, this duo won’t remain a secret much longer…
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Place Your Bets: The Shuffling Artist Deck at Majors and Indies
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.
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