Tag: indie labels

Feature: 12 L.A. Indie Labels You Should Know — from Sargent House to Anticon to Southern Lord to Dangerbird to IAMSOUND and more …

Dean Spunt on the skins, No Age drummer and PPM Records owner

It’s awesome time in L.A., people. Either get on the Good News train or get left behind. Music, frankly, is great — always has been, but when so much great music exists in one’s own backyard, when the people responsible for tending the flame all seem to gather within the same ten-mile stretch, when there’s no shortage of good ideas or good tunes, well, a person is likely to get real happy and start writing silly things like this.

Far less silly, and actually quite informative, is “Twelve Indie Labels You Should Know, a Primer” (I say “prymer,” please don’t say “primmer”) which is on the L.A. Times blog, Pop & Hiss, right now, as I type. This piece is the culmination of a three-parter. Read the Sunday print feature, “L.A.’s Indie Labels Succeed with a Jack-of-All-Trades Approach,” if you please. And find a supplemental piece (with a choice MP3) over yonder.

Feature: Los Angeles’ String of Indie Labels Thrives in the New Music Business

Amanda and Britt Brown of Eagle Rock indie label Not Not Fun pose for Los Angeles Times (photo by Jay L. Clendenin)

Well, it has been a long, long time coming, but I’m pleased to share my debut pair of links over to the Los Angeles Times. The main feature, which runs in print in Sunday’s Calendar section, profiles the ways in which independent labels in L.A. are adapting to the changing landscape of the music biz. Read about it here:

L.A.’s string of indie labels succeeds with a jack-of-all-trades approach

With noted input from the Dangerbird, Stones Throw, Alpha Pup and Not Not Fun imprints, plus tons of help from folks at Sargent House, Hydra Head, Southern Lord, Anticon, Manimal Vinyl, and Post Present Medium.

Also, there’s a supplemental blog piece to read, featuring a free download of Aloe Blacc’s stunning “I Need a Dollar” here:

Indies in L.A.: Alpha Pup and Not Not Fun talk the thriving L.A. scene

INCHES revs Sunn O))), Flying Lotus + House Shoes, Russian Circles, Langley Sisters [MP3s]

A brand new installment of L.A.’s taste-making vinyl column, INCHES, has officially dropped. New and recent, some deluxe, wax releases from doom kings Sunn O))), Low End Theory figurehead Flying Lotus, Detroit producer House Shoes, Chicago post-metalleers Russian Circles, and Britain’s old fashioned Langley Sisters. MP3s, photography, reviews.

Behold, the first release to earn a space-swallowing vertical shot:

Sunn O))), "Monoliths & Dimensions"

INCHES reviews ‘Woodstock’, Charizma & PB Wolf, We Break Cameras, Lilofee (MP3s)

Good people, a brand new installment of L.A.’s favorite (only) weekly vinyl column, INCHES, has arrived. Fresh photos, MP3s and reviews of Southern Cali wax. Not to be slept on — this is your guide to this city’s up-and-coming, not to mention a great source for gift ideas, if you’re into that sort of thing. Check it. My pick of the week? We Break Cameras.

We Break Cameras, 'Jock Jams Vol. 2'

INCHES010: Pelican, James Pants, Foot Village, 60 Watt Kid, Meanest Man Contest (+ video!)

INCHES010 really is the best INCHES yet. Not a bum photo, with clean text on four (count ’em) super solid releases from L.A. -area artists and/or labels, AND a music video debut from Foot Village. Each piece of wax covered this week is short-form — one 12-inch, three sevens — so this week’s MP3s come from other sources. Still, it’s free music, and we all like that. Congrats to Fool’s Gold, who comes in at number two on Origami Vinyl’s sales chart.

Like Beyoncé said: “If you like it, then you better put a tweet on it.”

James Pants Thin Moon

James Pants' "Thin Moon"

INCHES009: Manimal Special ft. Hecuba, Chapin Sisters, Rainbow Arabia, Warpaint (Q&A, MP3s)

INCHES009 is the first installment of the column to focus entirely on one label. In this case, it’s local indie Manimal Vinyl, who are throwing a bacchanal in the desert this weekend at the always awesome Pappy And Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace. Inside this edition you’ll find an interview with Manimal founder Paul Beahan, and choice wax from Warpaint (featuring Shannyn Sossamon), Hecuba, Rainbow Arabia, and The Chapin Sister/Winter Flowers.

See you in the desert. Just be sure to leave the vinyl at home.

Warpaints Exquisite Corpse EP

Warpaint's "Exquisite Corpse" EP

INCHES005: New Wax from The Mars Volta, Glasser, Wet Hair, Kissing Cousins (+ MP3s, video, chart)

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Man alive, it’s number five! The West Coast Sound vinyl column rings in a brand new prime number with INCHES005, featuring some truly glorious wax courtesy of The Mars Volta (Rodriguez-Lopez Productions), Glasser (True Panther Sounds), Kissing Cousins (Velvet Blue Music), and Wet Hair (Not Not Fun).

Wet Hair, Glass Fountain

Wet Hair, "Glass Fountain"

Also inside: trippy video of the Glasser 12-inch package being assembled, free music to download, and a fresh top-ten from Vacation Vinyl.

INCHES003: New wax from Flying Lotus, Dublab, Triorganico and Adam Payne (+ MP3s, chart)

Ladies and gentlemen: INCHES003. By journalistic law, this column now qualifies as a trend. Installment number three is actually the first “regular” edition, an unthemed collection of just-released L.A.-relevant vinyl reviewed (with original photos and free MP3s, of course), accompanied by a top ten vinyl sales chart from one of our local record shops. This week, you’ll find a new Flying Lotus EP, some incredible throwback bossa nova by Triorganico, seven inches of Adam Payne jamitude, and a killer Dublab release compiling work from the best of this city’s beat music scene. Plus, see what Vacation Vinyl’s been selling (hint: rhymes with “meth kettle”).

Flying Lotus, L.A. 3 X 3 EP

Flying Lotus, "L.A. 3 X 3 EP"

Stay tuned for much, much more, and if you’ve got ideas, reach out.