News+Notes
THAT'S HOW I FEEL: Indie Artists Celebrate 10 years of Stereorrific Recordings
Monday, Nov. 17, 2008
Stereorrific, the little label I help run, is celebrating it's 10th anniversary this year. To celebrate, we've just released an album of indie artists from all over covering songs by Stereorrific artists. For my contribution, I chose Rectangle's "Space Perspective" from their swansong album Una Nunca Sabe. I'm honored to have had a few of my own songs covered as well; my pals in Slide regrouped for a cover of "(You've Got The) Weight of the World (On Your Shoulders)," Brazillian power-popsters Superdrive amped up "You, Sweet You," and Death By Chocolate made a sweet confection of "Last Straw."
I hope you'll give it all a listen.
Thanks,
Jeff
Here's the official press-release hype: Ten years ago, garage-popsters
The Oscillators self-released their self-recorded debut,
Let's Rock Instead!,
taking advantage of the emerging distribution and promotion
opportunities of "the Internet." The album became a minor college radio
hit, and sales started coming in online from all over, including Europe
and Japan. Oscillators' leader
Joel Mellin and his brother the artist/musician
Jeff Mellin
decided to harness that momentum to help out friends and other like
minded artists, and so, with the additional help of their pal
producer/musician
Pete Weiss, Stereorrific Recordings was born.
"We
never saw the label so much as a company, but as a collaborative of
artists with a shared sensibility," says co-founder and artist Jeff
Mellin. "The idea was to pool resources, and to associate friends and
fans of each group with the other groups. We wanted to connect the
dots, and hopefully come up with something more than the sum of it's
parts."
Since then, Stereorrific has released and co-released a
decade's worth of albums, 45s and even books by artists ranging from
the instrumental heroics of
the Weisstronauts to the twee-garage of
Miss Mary to the mangled and angular guitars of
Rectangle to the art-pop of
Orange Nichole. And they continue to expanded their Stereorrific ideas into other projects, including partnerships with UK label
Where It's At Is Where You Are and Oakland-based
Kolourmeim Press, an experimental imprint called
Musique Impossible, an online music licensing site called
FlickTracks, and helping to start
Waxfruit Arts Media, a 5013(c) non-profit connecting the public to the creative community.
The influence of Stereorrific has been felt far and wide. Now, for it's 10th Anniversary, indie artists from the
UK,
Netherlands,
Brazil and the
USA have come together to celebrate some of their favorite Stereorrific songs.
"Side One"
1 MJ Hibbett (UK) - Saddle Up (originally by the Weisstronauts)2
The Waistcoats (ND) - Joan's GoGo Club (originally by
The Oscillators)
3 Slide (USA) - (You've Got The) Weight of the World (On Your Shoulders) (originally by Jeff Mellin)4
Astropop3 (USA) - The One (originally by
Miss Mary)
5
Joel Mellin (USA) - Waiver from Procyon (originally by
Rectangle)
6
The Cut-outs (UK) - Can't Stop (originally by
Miss Mary)
7
Eddie Japan (USA) - Rubber Skeleton Part One (
Orange Nichole)
8
Lunettes (Brazil) - Gimme Gimme (originally by
the Oscillators)
9
Death by Chocolate (UK) - Last Straw (originally by
Jeff Mellin)
"Side Two"
10
Santa Marias (USA) - The Rain (originally by
Miss Mary)
11
Mercy James Gang (USA) - Sool on 45 (originally by
Sool)
12
Superdrive (Brazil) - You Sweet You (originally by
Jeff Mellin)
13
Weisstronauts (USA) - That's How I Feel (originally by
Miss Mary)
14
Lovewhip (USA) - We'll Go Driving (orginally by the
Oscillators)
15
Sool (USA) - Beer (originally by
Rectangle)
16
Ray Mason (USA) - David White (originally by
Orange Nichole)<
17 Jeff Mellin (USA) - Space Perspective (originally by Rectangle)
