Labeled
Sacred Bones Records
The Brooklyn-based label hosts a growing catalogue of strange introverts and garage rock heroes brooding in their bedroom.
» At first I thought it might be unfair to compare the artists on Sacred Bones Records to the assorted cast of freaks in the dream sequence of a David Lynch film, but then as I started to stare at the assortment of outsiders the label has collected, the juxtaposition seemed sort of dead on.
The man curating the label, Caleb Braaten, has stitched together a series of releases that have defied any real definition. These lo-fi gems are sort of like the field recordings of cold, gloomy USA. As he tells me:
The label "outsider," in any sort of art (music, painting, film, etc.) is a very complex concept. Generally, my favorite art has that label applied to it. It's hard to say what type of music on which the label focuses. The most important thing about the label is for the music to have a genuine quality.
So, without further adieu, we bring to you some of that genuine quality:
Nice Face
Disturbo-rock from a loner who might or might not be living in a cave where he scratches these foreboding ditties onto the rock walls before transcribing them for his fuzzy synth rock band. (One recent release title: Can I Fuck It?) Let's also try: lo-fi power pop recorded during a cross country killing spree, or maybe: the earliest recordings of Devo when they were young and angry and getting beaten up by guys who worked at the local tire plant? Something un-fun happened to these people, regardless.
Dead Luke
Dead Luke is from Wisconsin. The same glorious wonderland that brought us Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein has now given us the answer to the question "what if John Carpenter had Throbbing Gristle help him compose the soundtracks to his films?"
The Pink Noise
I was always under the assumption that our neighbors to the north were a more well-adjusted version of the US of A. After listening to the bedroom recordings of Toronto's The Pink Noise, you might consider moving south of the border before they unleash this stuff on the children of America. That said, here is a guy who's shared the stage with Crystal Castles and Jay Reatard, whose creepily janky casiotone saunter in "The Put Out" is effortlessly catchier than most real garage bands' three chord anthems could ever be.
Zola Jesus
What? This is like Coco Rosie swirling around in the first circle of hell. Or maybe Diamanda Galas bedroom recordings? Very rough, raw, but earnestly sing-songy. Best taken late at night in large doses.
Posted on November 13, 2008
More on: caleb braaten, dead luke, labeled, nice face, sacred bones records, the pink noise, zola jesus
This article is terrible. These bands are terrible. Caleb's quote you selected was terrible. I'm putting the blame on you... not the label.
— You don't know me on December 13, 2008
Great article. It's a shame to hear that Raccoo-oo-oon are soon to be defunct... but I believe that Night People are going to release a cassette soon and there's going to be a 2xLP on Not Not Fun (which I assume is their last). I'll be honest, the Cave of Spirits Forever cs totally blew me away and I think was ultimately responsible for my own little "shoe-box label", THEY LIVE WE SLEEP, which I will plug in the following sentence. They Live We Sleep cassettes: http://www.myspace.com/theylivewesleepcassettes
— Rob Feulner on October 17, 2008
I am so glad I drunkenly stumbled into that loft in Iowa City on my cross country voyage. This article is extra dope burger with cheese and pickles!
— Blake on October 02, 2008
this is what i would have wanted/envisioned doing as far has having a fun "company" run out of a "cheap house" but it'd have to be in some (more) remote area for this to make sense..
— goobertop on October 02, 2008
great article jeremy, it's back to the burbs is it. i like your writing
— Jason Yergeau on June 02, 2008