Music
Northwest recordings: Picking the brains of Sub Pop's main man

By Tom Scanlon
Seattle Times staff reporter

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Happy days for Sub Pop. In the last year, the Seattle record label released what would become two of its top five all-time selling albums: "Give Up," from the electro-pop Postal Service (280,000 units sold, behind only Nirvana's "Bleach" on the Sub Pop sales list), and the Shins' "Chutes Too Narrow" (175,000 units, No. 5 at Sub Pop).

So, Jonathan Poneman, should Seattle bands start lining up in front of Sub Pop's Fourth Avenue office for a piece of the action?

"You can tell them to line up on Fourth Avenue," the Sub Pop owner answered. "If they want a latte at Uptown Espresso (next door to Sub Pop)."

Very funny. Seriously, Poneman said he's not in the mood to jump up and down screaming "expansion! More bands! More staff! Let's go major!" just because the label's on a roll.

"I've been there before and made all those mistakes. The idea of being able to be comfortable in our working place, being able to pay our bills — we're a Northwest indie label: That's a fine ambition."

Recent signings have been outside the 206 area code, such as the Helio Sequence, a wonderful, psychedelic-fuzz young duo from outside Portland, and the Album Leaf, a lush, instrumental band from San Diego (Poneman was catching the band's hometown CD-release show the day he called). And he's very excited about a Canadian band — spotted by Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock (see below), who has a part-time gig as a Sub Pop scout — he was on the verge of signing.

Which is not to say he is blind to the Seattle scene. His comments on some of my favorite local bands:

Kuma, the Siouxsie-esque Goth/electro band: "Kuma's cool. I saw them a while ago — didn't go home thinking 'sign this band,' but I like them."

The Graze (see below): he didn't know of this band, but it's fairly new.

The Lights, a much-praised garage-punk band that doesn't get much ink in this paper, as one of its members works for the paper: "I love the Lights. Super great."
 
IQU, the rock-electronic duo: "I love IQU. They've been around a long time, and they're one of the things that makes the Northwest so great."

So why doesn't he loosen up the strings and sign some of the hometowners, in addition to Seattle Sub Pop bands the Catheters and Kinski? "I think we have too many bands on the label," he said. "In an ideal world, we would work with fewer artists. The risk grows greater as the roster expands."

That's what the "financially conservative Jonathan" is saying. Who is in an ongoing battle with "wild music-loving Jonathan":

"It's hard to show restraint, there's so much good music ... There are a lot of great bands in Seattle — the Seattle scene keeps growing."

This month, Sub Pop releases albums from two San Francisco area bands, Rogue Wave and Comets on Fire.

• Poneman really should check out the Graze, if only because Louis O'Callaghan does such interesting take-offs on Kurt Cobain guitar phrases and howls — but mellowed down, like an emo/indie version of Nirvana. Rather than a rip-off, however, O'Callaghan "grazes" Nirvana, as well as chomping on some Beatles (a powerful influence on Cobain), Elliott Smith and Death Cab for Cutie.

Though not entirely groundbreaking (and, really, what is?), the Graze's "Iowa Anvil" is a highly entertaining and consistently strong first full-length, recorded and distributed independently, with a July 12 release date.

The son of a State Department employee, O'Callaghan lived in Ecuador, Chile, Uruguay, Italy and Maryland before settling as a young adult in Seattle (where his father was raised). "Nirvana was definitely a huge influence, and I credit them with both turning me on to pop music and with making me want to become a musician. Until Nirvana I thought pop music was all about spandex and makeup, which seemed really dumb to me as a kid."

On the Graze record, he played guitar, drums, bass and some keyboards. He's still feeling his way through live shows, figuring what to rock out, and what to leave in a more laid-back arrangement. "I'll be playing solo during my tour this summer, and when I get back I'll probably continue doing a few songs by myself at shows before rocking out with the rest of the group." The Graze's next live show is July 16 at Belltown's Rendezvous. For more information: www.j-shirt.com/thegraze.

• It's been nearly seven years since Mount Analog released its debut album. Tucker Martine, known around the Seattle music community as a terrific producer (Laura Veirs, Jesse Sykes, Wayne Horvitz), finally got around to releasing his second Mount Analog album, "New Skin," a bizarre, twisting-like-a-dream, wildly inventive soundscape album. Martine plays drums and harmonica on the album, also doing electronic beats — and getting help from guitarists Bill Frisell and Tim Young, bass player Keith Lowe, viola player Eyvind Kang and others. It's a soundtrack just waiting for a David Lynch movie to happen. Check out MP3s at www.mountanalog.com.

• Modest Mouse's "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" was certified as "gold" (500,000 units sold). A bid to go platinum (1 million sold) might have been derailed by the cancellation of Lollapalooza, but Brock and crew are still getting big exposure, now slated for Conan O'Brien's late-night show on July 21.

• Pedro the Lion's recently released fourth album, "Achilles Heel," came in at No. 24 on the Billboard Independent Label chart, No. 26 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, No. 8 on the CMJ Top 200 chart and No. 1 at Insound.com.

• Smoosh doesn't have a CD out yet, though the sister duo — 12-year-old singer-keyboardist, 10-year-old drummer — is already catching a buzz. "She Like Electric" is scheduled for a September release on Seattle's Pattern 25 Records — and Smoosh has Hopper Public Relations (Joan of Arc, Hella) pumping it to nationwide press. Hopper reports via e-mail that Cat Power is doing a cover of Smoosh's "Rad." How rad is that? Keep an eye on Smoosh at www.smoosh.com and www.pattern25.com.

• Other new recordings of note around Seattle: Fomer Botch/Kill Sadie members Minus the Bear's second album, "They Make Beer Commercials Like This"; the mournful rock band Saeta's "We Are Waiting All For Hope," produced by Steve Albini; indie-songwriter Andrea Maxand's "Where the Words Go"; and Posies co-founder Ken Stringfellow's "Soft Commands."

Tom Scanlon: tscanlon@seattletimes.com