Garden Of Leo

The role of the independent record label in the 21st century is to curate and to catalogue music, even through the great multitude of pressures and distractions of society. Their mission is to represent a group of bands that set themselves apart and share an interest in preserving the important aspects of music. In a world where there wasn’t an Internet to preview music, one had to solely rely on the name and product of labels to determine what albums to purchase.

Jagjaguwar, the Indiana-based label, was created just like most – to produce albums for a single band. In this case it was the Curious Digit, a relatively unsuccessful band from Charlottesville, Virginia. But the fear from the Curious Digit remained the same for all bands in this situation, having a record label’s influence and strong presence in the sound.

But Jagjaguwar didn’t just stop at one record label, and in 1999 became partners with the label Secretly Canadian. From that point on, both labels shared office space, staff, and talent. Nowadays, it’s often that labels will work within each other to produce side-projects or even completely different bands. More recently, both Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian added a third label, Dead Oceans, to their offices and staff. These three continue to work together and release quality records.

Jagjaguwar has its diversification very high up on its priorities; many bands are progressive, yet some seem to stand still in time. Sunset Rubdown compared to the Cave Singers shows an aggressive yet quiet mix of upbeat, multi-instrumental music versus a simple riff with standard instruments combined with a raspy folk voice and lyrics of rural open space. Also look at Black Mountain, the distorted psychedelic rock band, versus Women, the ambient pop band. One can clearly see that Jagjaguwar picks bands based off more than just a specific sound. Label founders Chris Swanson and Darius Van Arman have discussed how their process of signing a band to the label not only requires listening to demos, live performances, etc., but it also involves creating a personal connection between the band and the label.

Secretly Canadian also has a notorious list of released music. The War On Drugs makes the list of the label’s newest and best music, and Jens Lekman and Yeasayer has released most of their discographies on Secretly Canadian. Dead Oceans doesn’t have quite as impressive resume, but they do have The Tallest Man on Earth, one of the best contemporary folk musicians in the genre.

Bon Iver definitely is the biggest success story on this progressive label. Justin Vernon released both of his albums under Jagjaguwar because he thought that the label’s ideals matched the closest with his own. The rapid commercial success of Bon Iver spoke to the ability of musicians in this era; Vernon produced all his own music and continues to do so. Considering his handful of Grammy noms he just picked up, it’s safe to say that Bon Iver is a common name among music enthusiasts, and with his collaborations with Kanye West, St. Vincent, and James Blake he’s made a name for himself in the independent community.

This small-town label definitely avoids the pressures of vast media industries. Starting out in a small city made money less of an issue and attention to the music the primary concentration. Although the label’s bands seem random, that is in essence the definition of a record label. After all “Jagjaguwar” comes from a random “Dungeons and Dragons” name generator. The smaller town sound is apparent throughout Jagjaguwar’s picks, since most aren’t typical and all are unique. Jagjaguwar continues to deliver quality records without the influence of a corporation or an urban setting. After all, it’s easy to compete with the others when you’re self-dubbed “the mightiest record label on earth.”

Merge Records – “The indie label that got big and stayed small.” While many indie record labels strive for the “we’re doing our best” mentality (Fat Possum comes to mind), Merge seeks perfection. But does their quest for Billboard ranks and Grammys stray away from the indie sub-culture?

It’s hard to consider a label independent, at least in the sense of obscurity, when it features the Grammy winners Arcade Fire and the Top Ten-charting band, Spoon. But the sound is where it counts, and the direction of this label is unorthodox in terms of other competitors.

The beginnings of Merge matches up with that of many other indie labels: in a bedroom, where a couple of 20-something-year-olds pledged a simple mission statement to make good music. Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan started the label solely to produce music for their band, Superchunk. Early on, Merge served just an easy way to release their and their friends’ music, but has now expanded to multiple genres, bands, and nations.

In 1996, Merge had to borrow money from their first project Superchunk in order to release albums from late 90’s rising indie rock bands like Verbena, Butterglory, and a little project called Neutral Milk Hotel. Still promoting lead singer Mangum’s two albums, Merge continues to relate to the web 1.0 era of face-to-face communication, which is attributed to the success of Neutral Milk Hotel’s first album.

The beginning of this century showed continued promise for this 90’s label. Merge’s first album to reach the USA Billboard 200 was Arcade Fire’s first full-length, “Funeral.” Not only did this album receive marginal attention in Billboard’s arena, but it also achieved commercial success in the independent community. “Funeral” not only put Arcade Fire on the list of bands to watch, but it also placed Merge into the national scene. Recently, the Arcade Fire success story has seemed to overshadow the other bands in Merge. For example, the Canadian indie-pop band, Destroyer, continues to release notable albums in almost every year since 1996, and recently released “Kaputt” that keeps up with Dan Bejar’s unusual light-jazz style.

Currently, Merge’s roster is heavy in the modern folk section, featuring a prominent line-up that includes She & Him, M. Ward, Mountain Goats, and Wye Oak, with each band offering something different. She & Him released both “Volumes” under Merge, with help from various Bright Eyes members (Rachel Blumberg, Mike Mogis) as well as M. Ward himself. M. Ward’s “Post-War” is his latest (and best) album under Merge, featuring his first attempt at a backup multi-instrumental band. Conor Oberst remains an active member of Merge, touring with his Mystic Valley Band. This cooperation shows the ties between record labels – Oberst himself is a founding member of Saddle Creek – as well as displays how labels love to keep the creativity within the company.

Mountain Goats frontman John Darnielle produces a passionate, folk, “bi-fi” mix of traditional lyrics and varied instruments which has morphed from a solo project, to a full band, and back again. He, just like most bands under Merge, has been producing music that spans over two decades. And while many of the band members on Merge are in their early forties, there is also promise for a more youthful sound. Wye Oak represents this category well. Their new twist on folk placed them above many with their 2011 release, Civilian. Telekinesis is another youthful, power-pop band from Seattle that released their first album in 2009 under Merge. Since then they’ve released two albums, both receiving acclaim for their relaxed hooks and energetic sound.

While Merge sometimes claims to be creative while at the same time using a business model to ensure their originality, in no sense does this show the downfall of the label’s conventionally sound driven model. True, the label’s strive for perfection may detach themselves from many new trends – try to find a synth-pop or chillwave band on the label. However, guitars seem to be enough for Merge, and they’ve been searching for and perfecting their model for over twenty years. After all, a record company that’s run by a band seems to be a successful business model to me.