✨ IC Community Weekly #48
ft. an open role at Secretly Group, new music from Mary Timony, Yirinda, Frances Chang and S. Raekwon, incoming Babehoven and Dent May records, IC product updates, and more!
Hey and welcome to the latest edition of the IC Community Weekly!
In a week where indie services company Believe went out on a limb defending TikTok, the IC community released the usual plethora of great music and announced new signings, tours, and more.
Keep scrolling for that, but first, the news from IC HQ…
It’s looking like we’ll be heading to Music Biz in Nashville this May! Anyone else going? Hit reply and let us know, maybe we’ll plan something…
IC updates this week include a faster way to filter release and track transactions, better cleanup for Secretly Chargebacks, and new/updated Merlin and Morr Music importers/docs!
Final reminder for the Feb edition of the Q1 Special! Sign up before the end of the month to get 40% off your first three bills. If you want to see what all the fuss is about first, sign up for an upcoming IC Live Class.
…and the community:
Our good friends at Independent Label Market announced their next event will take place on May 11th at Coal Drops Yard in London!
The aforementioned Music Biz has updated the agenda for their 2024 edition.
A2IM announced that they’ve partnered with AIM, CIMA and Reeperbahn Festival for an international matchmaking session at SXSW this year on March 14th from 2:30-4:30pm, providing industry professionals the opportunity to engage in carefully curated 1-on-1 meetings. Sign up here.
UK Music, the collective voice of the British music industry, are seeking respondents for their Workplace Diversity survey, which gives the music industry, Government, and other stakeholders a critical insight into where improvements are needed regarding diversity and inclusion – and highlights where positive change is already under way. Their aim is to have a minimum response rate of 80% of AIM members - help them get there by filling out the survey here by February 29th. It takes around 10-15 minutes to complete.
👋 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!
JOBS IN THE COMMUNITY
🧑💻 Secretly Group are looking for a full-time International Marketing Assistant for their London office. The new hire will work alongside their European Marketing team and provide support to the international Label Management team across various aspects of all Secretly Group releases.
No music or marketing experience is necessary for the role but it will suit someone who is interested in a career in the music industry, is extremely organized, has a keen eye for detail and thrives in a fast-paced environment.
NEW IC CATALOGS
A very warm 🤝 to…
Sweat Entertainment, an indie label and creative stable based in London. It was founded by Peter Jarrett who has spent 15 years working as a producer and A&R for major record labels, working with artists like Dream Wife and AlunaGeorge.
NEW RELEASES
ALBUMS
🎧 Merge released Untame the Tiger, the new record by singer-songwriter and guitar hero Mary Timony (of Helium, Ex Hex, and Autoclave). Described by Carrie Brownstein as “Mary Shelley with a guitar” and dubbed “a trailblazer and an innovator” by former guitar student Lindsey Jordan a.k.a. Snail Mail, this is her first new solo work in 15 years.
The album sees her explore feelings of loneliness and grief and was recorded at a time when Timony was serving as primary caregiver to both her parents. In a statement she said this about that period: “This was the hardest thing I’ve been through. Every week I had to manage a new crisis. I started realizing that I gotta control the things that I can because I was making impossible decisions on behalf of my parents, creative choices now seemed more manageable. Since I had to confront the reality of loss, I realized what was important to me about being alive, and I became less scared. The record became my anchor in a time when I was losing so much around me. It felt like all I had—a guide that helped me through, and gave me hope.”
🎧 Chapter Music released the self-titled new record by Brisbane, Australia duo Yirinda (Yirinda means 'Now' in Butchulla language). The pair - Fred Leone and Samuel Pankhurst - combine ancient Aboriginal language with sublime modern production to invoke thousands of generations of story and culture, while emerging as something entirely new.
🎧 Ramp Local released the new Frances Chang record Psychedelic Anxiety, the second full-length from the Brooklyn-based artist. The album features some revered NYC DIY players, including Andrea Schiavelli (Eyes of Love) and Liza Winter (Birthing Hips), and is “…charged by all things occultish, infusing artifacts of the mundane with otherworldliness”, embodying what Chang refers to as slacker prog “…offbeat, but brimming with spiritual and emotional resonance, relishing the electricity of improvisation and balancing bleakness with humor”.
SINGLES
🎧 Father/Daughter released Steven’s Smile, the new single by S. Raekwon, the stage name of Steven Raekwon Reynolds, a New York based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
🎧 H1 Massive released the latest single by Phoenix, AZ band Vinyl Station. It’s called End of the World and is on Spotify now.
🎧 Kill Rock Stars released the new Brennan Wedl single Kudzu, a song about religion and toxic relationships, named after the invasive kudzu vine that has blanketed large swaths of the American Deep South and choked out native plants. Check out the video for it, directed by Wedl and Jeff Juliano, here.
🎧 Kill Rock Stars also released the video for the new Glitterfox single Highway Forever, “…a nostalgic anthem of the traveling musician’s life, a life that is measured in miles of highway and built in following an irresistible dream.”
RE-ISSUES
🎧 Merge are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Wye Oak record Shriek with a special expanded 2-LP reissue called Shriek: Variations, featuring five cuts from the album reimagined by GRAMMY-nominated composer Willliam Brittelle. The record comes out March 22nd but you can listen to one of the new tracks from it now - Logic of Color (Variation).
🎧 Father/Daughter are releasing a fifth anniversary repress of Crush On Me by Sir Babygirl. Pre-order here to receive your copy in mid-May.
PRE-ORDERS
🎧 Get Better announced a charity album called LAND TRUST: Benefit for NEFOC by Erica Dawn Lyle and Vice Cooler and featuring some big names including Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Mike Watt, The Raincoats and Brontez Purnell. It comes out March 22nd and all proceeds go to Northeast Farmers Of Color Landtrust (NEFOC), an Indigenous and POC-led grassroots organization that seeks to connect POC farmers to land to grow healthy foods and medicines for communities.
🎧 Carpark announced that What's For Breakfast?, the sixth studio album Dent May, will come out on March 29th and is available for pre-order. They also shared a video for new single Coasting On Fumes ft. Jordana.
🎧 Double Double Whammy announced that Hudson-based duo Babehoven are releasing a new album, Water's Here In You, on April 26th which, “…journeys through the indie folk landscape they had previously etched out, now adorned with touches of eerie, atmospheric, and occasionally dissociative tones.”
NEW SIGNINGS
✍️ Free Dirt signed acclaimed roots musician Kaia Kater and announced that her new album Strange Medicine, featuring appearances by Allison Russell, Aoife O’Donovan, and Taj Mahal, will be out May 17th.
✍️ Carpark announced that Rui Gabriel (co-founder of the band Lawn) has joined their roster and shared his first single for the label entitled Target, along with a new music video.
VIDEOS
🖥️ Subsonic Eye (Topshelf) stopped by the Audiotree studio to record a session that showcases their evolution from wide-eyed dream pop into a more raw, earthier sound:
INTERVIEWS
🎙️ Mat Davidson from Twain (Keeled Scales) talked to Guitar World Magazine about how music saved him from a lonely existence, his “graceful and engaging” guitar style and his choice of touring guitar.
FROM THE ARCHIVE
🖥️ Where I choose a video I love from YouTube’s treasure trove of music videos, live performances and curiosities.
This week (and probably inspired by the relentless rain here in London): a stunningly raw and palpably heartbreaking Perfume Genius (Matador) performance from 2010 of his dark piano ballad Mr. Peterson.
SHOWS, TOURS + EVENTS
🚌 Palehound (Polyvinyl) just started their US/Canada tour, with dates supporting Jason Isbell (Southeastern) and Sleater Kinney (Loma Vista), as well as a couple headline shows | TICKETS
🚌 Leisure Hour (Refresh Records) start their US mini tour today | TICKETS
🎻 Non Classical announced that the 2024 Festival of Contemporary Music for All (CoMA) will play host to four premieres from Nonclassical Artists in Residence | TICKETS
🚌 Yirinda (Chapter Music) are touring their new album in Australia, starting next month | TICKETS
📆 UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS
+ check out the 🎟 Events Directory for more conferences, festivals, record fairs, webinars, etc!
Feb 28th - Mar 1st ‣ Country Radio Seminar (Nashville)
Mar 2nd ‣ The Brit Awards 2024 (London, UK)
Mar 3rd ‣ Guild of Music Supervisors Awards (LA, CA, US + Online)
Mar 6th - 10th ‣ Pitchfork Music Festival (Mexico City, Mexico)
Mar 8th - 16th ‣ SXSW (Austin, TX, US)
Mar 15th - 17th ‣ Lollapalooza Chile (Santiago, Chile)
Mar 15th - 17th ‣ Rolling Loud California (LA, CA, US)
Mar 17th - 20th ‣ MUSEXPO Creative Summit (Burbank, CA, US)
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