Who is the Chainsaw Records of today?
Just read about Chainsaw Records (site), a zine-turned-indie/queer-label of the early 90s. They may have invented the genre ‘queercore’, but were also the label that released the first two records by Sleater-Kinney, which is badass.
In today’s liberating Internet age, who is comparable to Chainsaw Records in the ethos, focus and execution?
I know of just a handlful (focusing on different genres, ex: Catbird Records), but I can’t help but wonder if the ‘music blogs as zines and labels’ promise has not yet been fully realized. Or perhaps it just won’t and sounded like a catchy phrase at a conference.
Who are they?
(Quick note: when talking about zines->labels, don’t forget the little zine founded back in the 80s called SUBterranean POP that has gone on to release, oh, a record or two…)
Thing is, Anthony, I don’t think your question can be answered with any sort of directly correlated answer (“A is the B of today”) because the world (industry-wise, indie-wise, consumer-wise, technology-wise) is simply too different a place now than it was then.
That being said, I think the most important part of your inquiry is the part about following that old ethos; the old “spirit”— and I think there are of late a number of small labels that seem to have that old spirit and who seem to be achieving a level of “success” with it. Labels like Underwater Peoples, Captured Tracks, True Panther (I could go on….) who seem to have that old “purity of intention” and who have cultivated die-hard audiences based not around blogs(“zines”), but rather around message board communities/scenes and (more importantly) real-world communities/scenes.
I don’t think that anyone should be looking to any blogs, expecting them to become the next Sub Pop or Matador. The fact is, the blogs’ll just be the ones writing about the labels who will become the next Sub Pop or Matador.
