Icons and Upstarts: Indie Labels
Last week Sub Pop, one of the grandaddies of what you might think of as modern indie labels, turned 25. For those of us who are, er, more than 25, this is pretty amazing, seeing as they were right at the epicentre of grunge, and the label that put out Nirvana's 1989 debut, Bleach. (Not to mention debuts by Soundgarden, Chixdiggit, Sunny Day Real Estate, and more.) They are a big enough deal that this drew a lot of notice – and some interesting articles looking back, as well as lists like this one of Sub Pop's most interesting or important releases over the past quarter century.
There is also a very interesting podcast and short followup video discussing the making of Nirvana's In Utero with the man who actually recorded it in honour of the album's 20th anniversary, so if you're a fan (or just curious), take a listen to the video here:
This kind of oral history can be pretty interesting, if you like getting a glimpse behind the scenes and learning the back stories. It's exactly what I enjoyed about Fresh at Twenty, from our summer reading list. It's like being a fly on the wall, hearing the people involved reminiscing about what it was like to start and run Mint Records, which was essentially Canada's answer to Sub Pop at the same time, and that released titles by The New Pornographers, Neko Case, The Smugglers, Cub (~adore~) and more.
As interesting as all this history is, though, it is at least as fascinating to see what's happening on the indie scene right here and now in Toronto, where indie labels are thriving and multiplying. You've probably heard of Paper Bag Records (who just celebrated 10 years themselves last year!) and Arts & Crafts, the label launched by the people behind Broken Social Scene. These are the big names.
But there are more and more coming along (a decent but not complete list can be found here), doing their thing and launching new songwriters, and it's pretty cool to seem getting some love lately. Pleasence, for example, were recently the focus of an interesting little interview you can read here, and here's a little report from Exclaim TV on a recent market, to get you started if you want to know more:
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