✨ IC Community Weekly #46
ft. the new Ducks Ltd. record, What's in Jeff Rosenstock's Bag, Grammy wins, a Monograms single, a Jason Molina video from the archive, Hunter heading to FFWD London, IC product updates, and more!
Hey and welcome to the latest edition of the IC Community Weekly!
In a week where half of the 2024 Grammy winners were on independent labels, the IC community released tons of great music, announced tours, won some of those Grammy’s, and more!
Keep scrolling for that, but first, the news from IC HQ…
We’ll be at day one of FastForward London next week, one of our very favorite conferences on the calendar. Tickets are still avail, if you’re coming let us know by hitting reply or just find Hunter there to say hello!
Not to brag but product updates this week include automatic currency conversions on manual transactions, new guides for Importer Settings and Payee FAQs, plus new/improved importers for Spotify (Merlin), Harry Fox, Downtown Music Publishing, BMI, and Streamcut!
The Q1 Special is going strong, with folks getting 40% off their first three months. To see the magic in action before risking absolutely nothing (it’s a free trial, people) sign up for an upcoming 🎓 IC Live Class!
…and the community:
Single Lock’s legendary Blind Boys of Alabama won the best Roots Gospel Album award for Echoes of the South. Big congrats to them!
Charlotte Cornfield (Polyvinyl / Double Double Whammy) got a mention from Paul Mescal in a promo interview for All of Us Strangers!
👋 If you’re an IC catalog and you’ve got news, releases, or other fun stuff you want us to include, just reply and let us know - this goes out to 2500+ inboxes every week!
NEW IC CATALOGS
A very warm 🤝 to…
Gymnocal Industries, a label from Bergen, Norway releasing metal, prog, electronica and more.
Time Capsule, a reissue focused record label and publisher born out of a loose musical community based in East London.
Dear Life Records, a Philadelphia, New York, and Maine-based record label, founded in 2019 by Michael Cormier-O'Leary and co-run with Frank Meadows and Jon Samuels.
Tartelet Records, a Copenhagen based record label founded in 2007 and run by Emil Margetli Nyholm & Frederik Bille Brahe
Club Djembe, a Bristol-based party and record label set up by promoter friends that showcases the very best in global club music.
NEW RELEASES
ALBUMS
🎧 Royal Mountain and Carpark released Harm's Way, the “….exciting, bright… frenetic and warm” (Paste) new record by Toronto indie rock duo Ducks Ltd, composed of Australian lead guitarist Evan Lewis and UK-born, US-raised singer, bassist, and rhythm guitarist Tom McGreevy.
The new record contains songs that McGreevy explains are “…about struggling. About watching people I care for suffer, and trying to figure out how to be there for them. And about the strain of living in the world when it feels like it’s ready to collapse.”
The album’s many collaborators include Julia Steiner from Ratboys, Jason Balla from Dehd and Margaret McCarthy from Moontype.
Get a Garden Fountain vinyl if you order via Carpark or a Garden Maze variant if you order via Royal Mountain.
SINGLES
🎧 Captured Tracks released Short and Sweet, the latest Becca Mancari single. It’s a cover of a 2019 track by the lead singer and guitarist for the Alabama Shakes, Brittany Howard, and they are sharing the track in anticipation of their North American run of dates supporting her, which began this week in Chicago. Later this spring, Mancari will tour Canada in support of Tegan and Sara.
🎧 Paper Cup Music released Fair Game, the genre-bending new Monograms single this week. It’s an “epic psych-industrial dance statement” and available exclusively on Bandcamp, with half of proceeds from any sales of the album or merch going to The Sound Mind Project, whose mission is to elevate the stories of artists speaking out about mental health, while raising awareness & funding for critical mental health services.
🎧 Ramp Local released Temple of the Mind, the third single single from the upcoming Tomato Flower LP. It also has an accompanying music video directed by Austyn Wohlers, which you can watch here.
🎧 Merge shared the new Rosali track On Tonight, the latest from her hotly anticipated Merge debut Bite Down, launching March 22nd.
RE-ISSUES
🎧 Kill Rock Stars found a bunch stock from their reissue of post punk legends’ The Raincoats self-titled record to celebrate the label’s 30th anniversary in 2021. Currently only 7 remaining!
PRE-ORDERS
🎧 Merge announced that to coincide with the beloved The Magnetic Fields album 69 Love Songs turning 25 this year, they're giving it the Peak Vinyl treatment! The 25th Anniversary Silver Edition features six 10-inch records, lovingly pressed on silver vinyl, with silver foil accoutrements on the slipcase and gatefold jackets. To sweeten the occasion, the first 500 orders come with a postcard signed by Stephin Merritt! It’s shipping now—order it in the Merge store.
🎧 Captured Tracks announced A Dream Is All We Know, the new album by The Lemon Twigs, will be out May 3rd. The album finds brothers Michael and Brian D’addario exploring upbeat, shimmering arrangements that live in an imaginary space they call Mersey Beach: the sonic bridge between Liverpool and Laurel Canyon. In the meantime you can listen to or watch the video for new single They Don’t Know How To Fall In Place now.
VIDEOS
🖥️ Jeff Rosenstock (Polyvinyl) took part in the the Amoeba Music feature What’s In My Bag recently. Check out his picks:
FROM THE ARCHIVE
🖥️ Where I choose a video I love from YouTube’s treasure trove of music videos, live performances and curiosities.
This week: an achingly beautiful Jason Molina performance of his haunting song Hold On Magnolia from December 2006, recorded at Acme Comics, Columbia, SC to a handful of fans and friends.
+ for an excellent archive of Songs Ohia (Secretly Canadian) performances head over here
SHOWS, TOURS + EVENTS
🚌 Becca Mancari (Captured Tracks) just started a tour in support of Brittany Howard (Island Records) | TICKETS
🚌 The Beths (Carpark) are heading out on a mini US tour in April after an Australia tour in March, as well as performing at Coachella | TICKETS
🚌 Charlotte Cornfield (Polyvinyl / Double Double Whammy) is heading out on tour with Al Menne (Double Double Whammy) | TICKETS
🚌 Big Joanie (Kill Rock Stars) are touring the UK and Europe in support of The Breeders (4AD) in the Summer | TICKETS
📆 UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS
+ check out the 🎟 Events Directory for more conferences, festivals, record fairs, webinars, etc!
Feb 8th - 10th ‣ Durango Songwriters Expo (Ventura, US)
Feb 13th - 14th ‣ FastForward (London, UK)*
Feb 23rd - 25th ‣ Measure of Music (Online)
Feb 28th - Mar 1st ‣ Country Radio Seminar (Nashville)
Mar 2nd ‣ The Brit Awards 2024 (London, UK)
*we’ll be there
That’s all for this one! Stay safe and we’ll catch you again next week for more of the same.
- Adam & the Infinite Catalog crew