✨ IC Community Weekly #50: SXSW Edition
ft. your SXSW meet ups and showcases, new Tomato Flower and Jad Fair records, June Jones and Camera Obscura singles, a job at Mexican Summer, new signings, IC product updates, and more!
Hey and welcome to the 50th edition of the IC Community Weekly!
The newsletter, and my Photoshop skills, have come a long way since our launch issue in Dec ‘22, back when it was called Community Updates. Since then we’ve added new sections for job openings and interviews, and folded in the original IC Digest concept so company updates and industry events both live here too.
And, in the spirit of constantly evolving and being the most useful resource we can be to you, our beloved community, please do reply to this email (or any of them) if you have suggestions or ideas for improvements!
Right, back to our regularly scheduled content, including new music from the IC community, everyone’s SXSW showcases all in one place, and more, starting as usual with the news from IC HQ…
🆕 This Week in IC includes an updated guide to starting balances, a new LabelWorx importer and answers the question What happens if I add/remove/change a Transaction or Contract?
Hunter voiced his thoughts on the Universal Music-TikTok standoff and didn’t hold back - “just two giants of the late capitalist hellscape playing a game of chicken for billions while artists get fucked over” [ed note: fight me!]
It’s March, the final month of the Q1 Special! That’s still plenty of time to sign up during the month to get 30% off your first three bills; there’s also new dates for this month’s IC Live Classes if you need some extra convincing ;)
…and the wider community:
AIM announced a new webinar for its members with music and live events insurance providers Tysers Live, It takes place Wednesday 20th March and will teach attendees the basics of insurance and how to protect your gear, secure royalty income against copyright claims and reduce your business liability risk.
Music Biz announced Music Biz Passport, a new event series allowing U.S. executives to connect with international trendsetters and learn what does and doesn’t work in their local music economies. Info and registration.
👋 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
🧑💻 Mexican Summer are seeking a freelance Social Media Manager to develop artist and label digital audiences across all social properties. This position reports directly to the label’s Digital Marketing Manager and works collaboratively across artist and label teams to create and deliver effective social media content. More info here.
NEW IC CATALOGS
A very warm 🤝 to…
Three Lobed Recordings, a Jamestown, NC-based boutique record label that started in 2000 and specializes in “all flavors of psychedelia”. They’ve released music from a stack of esteemed artists, including Steve Gunn, Bardo Pond, Mary Lattimore, and Meg Baird.
SunGrass Records, a Nashville, TN based record label and “a home for artists who dare to dream and music that resonates across generations”.
Paul Chin, a music producer and DJ from West Chinatown in Toronto, who spends his days producing “meditations on joy, sorrow, and humanity to be experienced at the altars of the club”.
NEW RELEASES
ALBUMS
🎧 Ramp Local released No, the debut full length by Baltimore-based experimental pop outfit Tomato Flower. Check out a review for it in The Quietus here.
🎧 Kill Rock Stars released two new albums by founding member of Half Japanese (and hugely prolific songwriter) Jad Fair, called 100 Songs and Film Music.
SINGLES
🎧 Merge released Pull The Rope, the new single by electronic afro-funk band Ibibio Sound Machine, as well a music video for it, featuring a cosmic game of tug of war.
🎧 Merge also released We’re Going to Make It in a Man’s World, the latest single from the upcoming Camera Obscura album Look to the East, Look to the West, which is out May 3rd.
🎧 Chapter Music released the new track by Sydney based singer, songwriter, producer and “face of new Australian alt pop” June Jones. It’s called Sxc When I’m Crying and is taken from upcoming six track EP Proximity, out June 7th.
PRE-ORDERS
🎧 Beanie Tapes announced False Comforts, the début album from Oxford’s Max Blansjaar, produced by Katie Von Schleicher and Nate Mendelsohn, will be out June 21st. The first single, Anna Madonna, is streaming now.
🎧 Keeled Scales announced a new Good Lucks album called Lived Here For A While, which comes out June 7th. They also put out a new single from the Bloomington, IN band this week called, If It’s Gone.
🎧 Father/Daughter announced nothing or something to die for, the second full-length album by Hong Kong British artist mui zyu, which finds her “wandering between nothing and everything in her pursuit of peace.” Watch the entrancing music video for lead single the mould ahead of the album’s release on May 24th.
🎧 Don Giovanni Records announced that Minneapolis band Bad Bad Hats will release a new self-titled album on April 12th, which “packs the band’s ebullient sweet-and-sour indie pop chops, playful lyricism and signature sense of humor into every bite”. They also released lead single TPA this week, alongside an official video.
🎧 Joyful Noise announced the new LP by Chicago duo Finom (fka Ohmme), Not God, which was produced by Jeff Tweedy in the Wilco Loft. Check out lead single Haircut ahead of the record’s release on May 24th.
NEW SIGNINGS
✍️ Keeled Scales signed Asheville, North Carolina-based project Sinai Vessel and shared their new single called How.
✍️ Dots Per Inch signed fantasy of a broken heart and shared their first single on the label, a track called AFV.
✍️ Mexican Summer added New York singer-songwriter Zsela to their family and released new single Fire Escape, alongside a video by Rob Kulisek.
✍️ Fire Talk welcomed Wild Pink, the New York band fronted by singer/guitarist John Ross, to their roster, and released their new single, Air Drumming Fix You.
VIDEOS
🖥️ Squirrel Flower (Polyvinyl) stopped by the NPR Tiny Desk and performed a stunning four song set:
INTERVIEWS
🎙️ Tracyanne Campbell spoke to Stereogum about the return of Camera Obscura (Merge) and how a twee indie rock cruise around the Mediterranean, hosted by fellow Glaswegians Belle & Sebastian, was what brought them back together. (!)
FROM THE ARCHIVE
🖥️ Where I choose a video I love from YouTube’s treasure trove of music videos, live performances and curiosities.
This week: A lovely Audiotree Live session performance of Your Dog, a reflective and melancholy break-up song from Advance Base, the lo-fi electronic solo project of “master of tones and textures” Owen Ashworth (formerly Casiotone For The Painfully Alone). Check out the rest of the record, put out by Run For Cover in 2018, here.
🌵 SXSW
Sadly we won't be there IRL this year but for the folks that are, here’s a lil graphic we made of some of the meet ups panels, showcases (official and unofficial) and hangs you’re putting on + a few extras.
SHOWS, TOURS + EVENTS
🍻 jump.global, a music industry community org, are hosting a party in NYC on March 26th “where your first and last name matter more than your job title” | Register
📆 UPCOMING INDUSTRY EVENTS
+ check out the 🎟 Events Directory for more conferences, festivals, record fairs, webinars, etc!
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)
Mar 20th - 24th ‣ Treefort Music Festival (Boise, ID, US)
Mar 22nd - 24th ‣ Lollapalooza Brazil (Sao Paulo, BR)
Mar 22nd - 24th ‣ Ultra Music Festival (Miami, FL, US)
Mar 24th ‣ 53rd Annual JUNO Awards (Halifax, Canada)
Mar 28th - Apr 13th ‣ Savannah Music Festival (Savannah, GA, USA)
Apr 1st ‣ iHeartRadio Music Awards (LA, CA, US)
Apr 2nd - 6th ‣ Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival (Nashville, TN, US)
That’s all for this one! Stay safe, enjoy SXSW if you’re there and we’ll catch you again next week for more of the same.
- Adam & the Infinite Catalog crew