H.B. S.P. « the finest kiss

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H.B. S.P.

July 11, 2008 at 9:57 pm | In Music, Seattle, Sub Pop, indie 7", mp3 | Leave a Comment
Tags: Piper Cub, SP20, Tindersticks, Tsunami, Velocity Girl

Photo from Laura Mussleman’s flickr.

If you live in Seattle, and even if you don’t, this week has been Sub Pop overload. It seems like everywhere you turn there’s something being written about the label in the newspaper, magazine, blogs, or something on the radio, or TV. Hell, they’ve even taken over the Space Needle with a Sub Pop flag and had it painted like a record. Will they not stop? Probably they will, but it won’t be at least until this weekend is over. The grand finale to Sub Pop’s 20th birthday party is a two day music fest extravaganza over in Redmond at Marymoor Park. If you haven’t heard, (you haven’t heard?!?) it’s two days of music with a lineup that includes the reunited Vaselines, Beachwood Sparks, Green River Les Thugs and Eric’s Trip as well as current label powerhouses Fleet Foxes, Foals, Wolf Parade and No Age.

I was not one that really started off loving a lot of the music Sub Pop put out, but I always had respect for the label. They put out records of bands they liked, and as the label grew, the diversity of it’s roster also grew. Both Jonathan Poneman and Bruce Pavitt were rabid music fans and it definitely shows through in their label’s catalog with everything from Combustible Edison to the Fastbacks to Mudhoney to Iron and Wine to Foals. It seems like I was more of a fan of their more left field releases, at least early on. Some of my favorites include:
Pernice Brothers – Overcome by Happiness
Eric Mathews – It’s Heavy in Here
The Spinanes – Manos
Velocity Girl – Simpatico
Zumpano – Look What the Rookie Did
Fastbacks – Zucker

One of the coolest things the label ever did was start a singles club where you paid up front and got records mailed to you each month. They just recently announced they were starting up the club again. Records start shipping in August, you can sign up here, but better do it quickly, each release is limited to 1500. To tempt you into signing up and to celebrate the label’s 20 years, here are few singles from the Sub Pop catalog that are now out of print. Happy birthday, and see ya at SP20!

sp295
mp3: Tindersticks – Here (Pavement cover)