Happy Birthday To Me: Terminal Sales Volume 3 celebrates the 20th anniversary of Seattle-based Sub Pop Records. Founded by Bruce Pavitt in Olympia, WA in 1979 Sub Pop began as fanzine of underground rock and, by 1983, was both a column in Seattle’s The Rocket newspaper and an indie music variety show on KCMU radio. According to the album’s liner notes, Sub Pop’s official transition to a music label happened in April 1988, when Pavitt and partner Jon Poneman quit their jobs and rented a small Seattle office. The rest is history. The label introduced the world to the heavy sounds of Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney and arguably launched the grunge movement of the early 90s. They broke The Postal Service, The Shins, The Thermals, and more recently indie heavyweights Band of Horses and Wolf Parade. Needless to say, there’s good cause for celebration.
Happy Birthday To Me includes a roster of Sub Pop’s newest acts—many of which exist outside of the realm of public awareness. But as the compilation demonstrates, these bands beg to be heard. Blitzen Trapper and Chad VanGaalen present their own unique forms of campfire folk, creating soothing acoustic sounds altered, in the former, with judiciously placed spacey electronics and, in the latter, with accordion. Daniel Moore channels Iron and Wine in a sweet and somber down-tempo acoustic piece and Sera Cahoone contributes a lovely, country-twinged composition of acoustic guitar and banjo.
Death Vessel’s “Bruno’s Torso” is one of the compilation’s highlights. With such a unique voice and old folk/experimental indie blend, it’s a wonder that this guy hasn’t made bigger waves. “White Winter Hymnal” by the quickly rising Fleet Foxes takes the antique sounds of the Band’s Americana and throws in a dash of Beach Boys falsetto, resulting in a great piece that sounds simultaneously familiar and unique. Then, there are the charming, comedic jazzy sounds of “Brett, You Got it Going On” by Flight of the Concords, and the acoustic, vocal harmony-heavy “Miniature Birds” by Grand Archives.
What’s great about Happy Birthday To Me is that it shows just how varied Sub Pop’s roster really is and gives you the urge to go out and listen to the entire catalogue of each band. There are the industrial sounds and chirping guitars of the Foals’ “Balloons” and the satanic organ and crunchy guitar distortion of The Gutter Twins “Idle Hands.” The poppy guitars and horns of Kelley Stoltz. The space rock sounds of The Helio Sequence and Wolf Parade. The lo-fi minimalist punk of No Age. The psychedelic tropicalia of The Ruby Suns. The quirky acoustic grunge of Oxford Collapse. The compilation closes with a look back to the label’s birth year: a rockin’ live version of “In ‘n’ Out of Grace” [Live in Berlin, 10/10/88] by Mudhoney.
Happy Birthday To Me: Terminal Sales Volume 3 is a great introduction to a number of acts on the verge of tearing into the music scene and a variety of others you’ve probably never heard before but certainly deserve recognition. The compilation shows Sub Pop for what it’s always been and continues to be: a label that nurtures innovation and offers quirky, non-mainstream acts a chance to get out there. Happy Birthday, Sub Pop—hopefully, there’ll be many more.
|