K Records
K Records is an independent record label in Olympia, Washington founded in 1982. Artists on the label included early releases by Beck, Modest Mouse and Built to Spill. The record label has been called "key to the development of independent music" since the 1980s.[1]
K Records
1982
The Business
U.S.
The label was founded by Beat Happening frontman Calvin Johnson and managed for many years by Candice Pedersen. Many early releases were on the cassette tape format, making the label one of the longest lasting reflections of the cassette culture of the 1970s and early 1980s. Although itself releasing primarily offbeat pop music and indie rock, the DIY label is regarded as one of the pioneers of riot grrrl movement and the second wave of American punk in the 1990s.
Influence[edit]
Philosophy[edit]
Though the label was part of the punk and underground scenes of the 1980s, the term has reflected the label's philosophy more than the sound of its roster.[11]
Al Larsen of the band Some Velvet Sidewalk was part of the K Roster. In 1989, he wrote an article for the Snipehunt zine which reflected and distinguished K's approach to "punk" music with an ethos he called "Love Rock," in which he wrote: "It's a scary world, but we don't need to be scared anymore. We need active visionary protest, we need to grab hold and make the transformation, from complaining that there is NO FUTURE to insisting there be a future."[11] This manifesto, which focused on a DIY ethic, became an unofficial label philosophy.[11]
This philosophy viewed lo-fi, homemade projects as a preferred alternative to corporate culture,[12] which maintained a philosophical link to punk. The first K Records newsletter includes the K shield as a knight, described as battling "the many-armed corporate ogre."[10]
Some critics have considered this philosophy to be a liability in regards to mainstream success. Author Mark Baumgarten has observed that Pitchfork Media's "Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s" included six bands with direct relationships to the label (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Fugazi, Built to Spill, Beck, and Nirvana) but only one proper K Records release.
Twee punk[edit]
Early K releases included childlike, hand-drawn album art. Combined with the stripped-down toy-instrument aesthetic of Beat Happening and distribution of bands such as Heavenly in the US, the label was quickly associated with the twee music scene.[13][14] Johnson has been called "the first star of American twee."[15]
Critics have suggested that the "twee" label for K Records acts reflects its rejection of the hardcore punk ethos popular in the 1980s, and that K Records acts were subverting "punk" through confronting and threatening masculine sensibilities within the punk scene.[15][16]
Riot Grrl movement[edit]
The Love Rock philosophy also made room for a feminist approach to punk, which had existed in Olympia, WA just as K Records became an established presence in the town.[11] The region's early punk acts, such as The Accident and Neo Boys, included women. Women artists such as Lois Maffeo and Stella Marrs were early champions of K Records and appeared on its roster.[17]
Rock critic Michael Azerrad writes that K was "a major force in widening the idea of a punk rocker from a mohawked guy in a motorcycle jacket to a nerdy girl in a cardigan".[10] That the label was co-owned by a woman reflected an openness to women's participation. Pedersen is quoted in Tobi Vail's Riot Grrrl zine, Jigsaw, saying "I think it's really important that people know there are women ... girls who ... do more than package up things. ... It's really important that people to know that there are girls out there making decisions and doing stuff."[18]
While Pederson was behind the scenes, acts like Mecca Normal, and Heather Lewis' presence in K's flagship band, Beat Happening, have been mentioned as an inspiration for many female-fronted bands at the time.[19][20]
The label also highlighted women in its International Pop Underground Convention's opening night at the Capitol theater, "Love Rock Revolution Girl Style Now", or "Girls Rock Night", dedicated to 15 female-led acts such as Bratmobile,[3] Olympia's first exclusively-female group, and featuring bands with future members of Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill.[21]
Many riot grrrl acts would release through another Olympia label, Kill Rock Stars, which launched with a compilation record at the International Pop Underground Convention. Though Kill Rock Stars would have financial conflicts with K Records over the compilation, Bikini Kill and others moved to Kill Rock Stars out of an aesthetic preference for the "grungier" sound of its releases, and there is no evidence of ill-will. Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney has said "It's not that we didn't love Calvin and love K; it's just that this new thing that was starting was going to be so exciting."[3]