Underwater Peoples Winter Review
86/100
You know the saying that a cool car makes a guy that much cooler? I think it is bullshit, but I do subscribe to a theory that rests rather closely with this old adage. My version of this cool by association slogan involves bands being on certain labels. I know many music fans don’t know (or care) about one record label or another, but I have found that as someone slides deeper into musical fandom, one of the moments where you cross a certain threshold is recognizing which labels you like more than others. There are the bigs ones, the Matador’s, the Sub Pop’s, the SST’s. The fun part is finding the smaller, more regional based labels that seem to have a knack for finding bands that aren’t on enough peoples radars and giving them a venue to promote their music. Here in Minneapolis we are especially lucky to have a handful of great labels that keep our amazing music scene moving, everyone from scene stalwarts Modern Radio Records to Guilt Ridden Pop to indie hip hop kingpins Rhymesayers. Out East, as you would suspect, there are quite a few boutique labels that fly slightly under the radar but are putting out great music. In addition to Woodsist, one of my favorites right now is the Underwater People’s Record Label.
The label put out an amazing summer mix last year, and have followed up with equally great Winter 2010 mix. The collection, featuring most of the artists that make UP so great, is an excellent introduction for new fans and a cool collection for previous fans. There is garage-esqe rock from Frat Dad, Alex Bleeker and Andrew Cedermark with some of the labels more well known dream pop from standard bearers Family Portrait, Julian Lynch, Ducktails and Real Estate. Rounding out the disc is the more homespun folk of Liam the Younger and the all girl group Mountain Men. Put together, it is 15 songs that stretch the boundaries of pop music and are a great collection of music that highlight the exciting and genre bending artists that make Underwater Peoples so great.
The disc can be purchased for a paltry $5 HERE.
-Josh Keller
Writer / co-founder
