Seattle Subsonic

K and Kill Rock Stars (Plus One Free Sampler)

April 16th, 2010

Somewhat spurred by Quasi‘s voracious new alt-punk record American Gong, AND a recent chance meeting with Calvin Johnson at my sister’s shop/studio in Portland, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the websites of Olympia’s two preeminent labels: K and Kill Rock Stars. Sure I’ve visited before, but sometimes it’s really fun just to surf a (good) label’s website for an hour or two. You can find all sorts of worthy and super stuff. K has a cool little flash player on their main page with a bunch of great music. Favorite Find? Jeremy Jay, a white skinny dude making good use of disco and funk in his slithery and sunny alterna-pop. Least, that’s what he did on Love Everlasting from last year; sounds like he’s a bit of a sound chameleon. You can listen to his new album Splash over on his myspace. I also finally picked up Chain and the Gang‘s political parody album Down With Liberty… Up With Chains!. For beatniks, funksters, and anti-capitalists.

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As for KRS, Sleater-Kinney wailin’ frontwoman Corin Tucker is releasing a solo album this October. Who knew? (Die-hard S-K fans, that’s who.) In this informative interview, she intimates that a) the record is not yet titled, b) it’s more of a “middle-aged mom record” (her words), and c) it might be more acoustic sounding than anything she did with S-K. Plus, KRS is having a sale on a slew of Elliott Smith’s albums, including the reissue of his stellar debut Roman Candle. Who, I ask, doesn’t love Elliott Smith? And the best find of all? This free Best Sampler Ever from the legendary label featuring some of their recent successes: the Thermals, Gossip, Bikini Kill, Quasi, Deerhoof, Elliott Smith, the Decemberists, and many more. 21 tracks total. Download it here.

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Tracklisting for the sampler after the jump/cut/fold/whatever.

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01 ELLIOTT SMITH “Angeles” from Either/Or
02 THE THERMALS “Now We Can See” from Now We Can See
03 GOSSIP “Standing In the Way of Control” from Standing In The Way of Control
04 THAO “When We Swam” from Know Better Learn Faster
05 SLEATER KINNEY “Oh!” from One Beat
06 PANTHER “Love Is Sold” from Entropy
07 UNWOUND “Corpse Pose” from Repetition
08 THE PAPER CHASE “What Should We Do With Your Body? (The Lightning) from Someday This Could All Be Yours (Part 1)
09 XIU XIU “Dear God, I Hate Myself” from Dear God, I Hate Myself
10 DEERHOOF “Believe E.S.P.” from Friend Opportunity
11 QUASI “Repulsion” from American Gong
12 MARNIE STERN “Transformer” from This Is It…
13 STEREO TOTAL “I Love You, Ono” from My Melody
14 LILIPUT “Ain’t You” from Liliput
15 BIKINI KILL “New Radio ” from New Radio
16 BRATMOBILE “Die” from The Real Janelle
17 COMET GAIN “Kids In The Club” from Realistes
18 THE SHAKY HANDS “Allison and the Ancient Eyes” from Let It Die
19 THE DECEMBERISTS “16 Military Wives” from Picaresque
20 HORSE FEATHERS “Curs In The Weeds” from House With No Home
21 JEFF HANSON “Hiding Behind the Moon” from Son