Label of the week – Dischord Records

Label of the Week
Dischord Records

http://www.dischord.com

SO what can you say about Dischordrecords? A label that has sold over 5 million items. A label that has influenced so many musicians and bands. A labelthat has brought out consistently good releases since the Teen Idles Minor Disturbance 7″.

As one of the founders of the label, Ian McKaye states

“After nearly a year of playing together, the Teen Idles decided to break up. It was late summer 1980 and the only thing left to sort out was what to do with the money in the band fund. All of the money we had earned from our 35 concerts went into a cigar box in my room, and we had managed to save over $600. Instead of splitting it up, the band decided to release a record.

It was clear from the beginning that no label would be interested in putting out a Teen Idles record, particularly since we were no longer a band, so we decided to do it ourselves. We turned to our friend Skip Groff, who ran a record shop called Yesterday and Today. He had put out a number of small releases on his own label, Limp Records, and was able to explain the basic mechanics of putting out a record. We came up with a name for our label, started designing the cover, and sent off the tapes to a pressing plant. Finally, in December 1980, the Teen Idles’ “Minor Disturbance” E.P. (an eight-song 7″) was released. This was Dischord Records #1.”

It all sounds so simple, start a band, release a record, play a gig -do it yourself. And you know what? It is.

 

My introduction to the label was the flex your head compilation, which documented the DC hardcore scene at the time. Through this I got to listen to and read about bands like SOA, Untouchables, Youth Brigade and Deadline. The power and the spirit from that record still influences me today.

The label is still releasing records and it’s not just represses and hidden gems like Youth Brigades first demo.

It has put out Soccer Team’s second lp and is involved in Red Hares new record Lexicon Mist which includes a Lungfish cover.

I could write forever about the label but this is here to remind you of its existence.

niallhope

Dischord Latest News

Dischord Records Newsletter: August 2015
OUT NOW
· Lungfish “Pass and Stow”
Pass and Stow is the third full-length from Baltimore, Maryland’s Lungfish. First released in 1994, the record was last pressed to vinyl in 2010. This latest version has been remastered and recut from the source files by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service.
NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER
· Jawbox S/T
This fall Dischord and DeSoto will reissue Jawbox’s long out-of-print self-titled record on CD and LP. Recorded and mixed with John Agnello and released on TAG Recordings in 1996, this was the band’s fourth and final full-length. For this reissue the vinyl has been remastered by Dan Coutant at Sunroom Audio. Both CD and LP versions will include updated cover art courtesy of Jason Farrell.
Jawbox’s S/T is out September 22 and is available for pre-order now.
· Bikini Kill “Revolution Girl Style Now”
Recorded by Pat Maley in Olympia, WA and self-released by the band in 1991, Revolution Girl Style Now was Bikini Kill’s original demo tape. This fall, Bikini Kill records will reissue the cassette on CD and LP. This version has been remixed by Guy Picciotto and mastered by John Golden and will include three unreleased tracks — “Ocean Song,” “Just Once,” and “Playground.”
The band has made a trailer for the record featuring footage from its first show in Olympia, WA, which was shot by Brian Ruff and edited by Kathleen Hanna & Kathi Wilcox. Watch the video here.
Revolution Girl Style now will be out September 22 and is available for pre-order now.

RECENT DISCHORD AND DISTRIBUTED RELEASES
· Zomes “Near Unison”
Near Unison is the new album from Zomes, a Baltimore and Stockholm-based duo that features Asa Osborne (Lungfish) and Hanna Olivegren. These songs come from a year long musical sketch-sharing practice that led the band towards simple compositions inspired by the melodies and intimate storytelling of Swedish and American folk music.
Recorded by the band and Craig Bowen in Baltimore during the fall of 2014, the LP is out via Zomes’ own label (also called Near Unison) and is available digitally via the duo’s Bandcamp page as well as the Dischord website.
Watch a video for the song “Beckoning Breeze” here.
· “Banned in DC” Back in Print
After nearly 10 years out of production, Banned In DC is back in print. Assembled by Cynthia Connolly, Leslie Clague, and Sharon Cheslow and originally released in December of 1988, the book collects hundreds of photos, flyers, and stories documenting the DC punk scene of the mid-’80s.
The intention of the book – one of the first to be published on punk in the US – was to capture the feeling and energy of the movement, using stories from the people who were involved. Images of many of the bands of that time can be found in this book: Minor Threat, Faith, Marginal Man, Scream, Red C, Bad Brains, Rites of Spring, Nuclear Crayons, Insurrection, Hate from Ignorance, G.I., Void, Second Wind, and more.
· Bikini Kill “The First Two Records”
The First Two Records compiles Bikini Kill’s S/T and Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah vinyl reissues onto a single CD.
Originally released in 1992, the self-titled EP is comprised of four songs recorded by Ian MacKaye at Inner Ear Studios; one song from the band’s 1991 demo cassette; and one song recorded during Bikini Kill’s live performance April 4th, 1992 at Washington, DC’s Sanctuary Theater. Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah was originally released in 1993 as the BK side of a split with the UK’s Huggy Bear. On this version, Huggy Bear’s b-side tracks have been replaced with seven previously unreleased songs that were either recorded live at shows or at Bikini Kill practices during that era.