Sophomore Lounge occupies an interesting, indefinable place as a label, slung teetering between two opposing impulses of traditional songwriting and full-on amorphous abstraction. According to label head Ryan Davis, this freeform approach was a product of his days interning at Drag City, a label with an eclectic catalog that secures a consistent following because...
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XVIII Records (Paris, France) XVIII Records’ Sébastien Denis preaches “being active rather than contemplative,” a respectable directive for his young label. So far the emphasis has been on rock forms that are buried in fuzz, scuzz, and psychedelic haze, with the records themselves enshrined in distinctive collage work. Over the course of just two...
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Atelier Ciseaux (Romans, France) Rémi Laffitte squandered his free time for years with various sonic exploits – promoting, organizing shows, etc. – before finally relenting and starting up his own label, Atelier Ciseaux. It’s hard not to notice that the label’s headquarters are located in France, but according to him that’s not really all...
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Trensmat Records (Trim, Ireland) Irish power-label Trensmat has been coughing up limited-edition vinyl artifacts since 2005 but recently came off a couple-year hiatus. Stephen Gethings, one of two folks running the label, explains why a breather was needed: “We expanded pretty rapidly in 2008, 2009 … and this involved working with some large distribution...
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In the third edition of Teenage Rage I peer in at the work of two inspiring labels – intergalactic tape and vinyl magnate Burger Records, and small but frantic Bloomington local Eradicator Records.
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Koppklys (Oslo, Norway) I always seem to write out Koppklys with two Ks instead of Ps, which is probably fair as I don’t speak a word of Norwegian. Undaunted, I asked Oslo’s Fredrik Rangnes, who runs the label, what the name means and was surprised to learn that I’m the first person to inquire....
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Teenage Rage! covers garage rock, punk, and other exciting matters, as a more melodic counterpart to my other column, Unheard. Issue #2 soaks in the goods from a triad of labels that release vinyl of different quantities and qualities.
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Perusing the Billboard archives from the past sixty or so years, as I am wont to do, I am fascinated by the many configurations of popular music that have graced the public consciousness over the 20th and 21st centuries. The farthest reaches of hook, of schlock, of schmaltz – Robbie Nevil belting “that’s just...
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Teenage Rage! covers garage rock, punk, and other exciting matters, as a more melodic counterpart to my other column, Unheard. Today I want to hone in on a couple of small labels putting out thrilling miniature editions, namely Denver’s Snappy Little Numbers and St. John’s, Newfoundland’s Anteduvia Records.
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Goldtimers Tapes and Dirty Knobby Records are two very different entities – one puts out tapes exclusively, the other vinyl; one works in noise and drone, the other puts out just about everything you can imagine (including noise and drone, mind you). But here they are, together, because I admire them both. Goldtimers Tapes...
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For today’s installment of Unheard, I wanted to showcase two labels putting out different kinds of extreme music. Iron Lung dishes out noisy rock records with an early nineties aesthetic that drives me wild with delight. Their roster takes chaos and contorts it into carefully orchestrated jolts of guitar/bass/drums/vocals. It is swell. Meanwhile, Sweden’s...
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It’s been awhile since I chimed in on ‘unconventional’ music, so I thought I’d share some thoughts on some of the weird scene’s recent happenings. A lot seems to have changed in a pretty short time, so I thought I’d check in on one of the more prominent sound purveyors out there, Not Not...
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Every January, Billboard magazine compiles a list of the past year’s 100 most popular singles, based on sales, radio airplay and, increasingly, digital exposure. Recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to the songs on these lists. There is something fascinating about the way certain songs hit it big, and others don’t. A...
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