Sub Pop was always one of those ‘gateway’ American record labels, forever offering a tantalising glimpse of some fairly scruffy and unpredictable but no less thrilling US music. Peoples of deprived African regions or those overcoming natural disasters might find an adequate parallel in UN sponsored airdrops. There was something of a humanitarian feel about it all, like we would otherwise starve without it. Today it may have lost some of its mystique but little of its impact. Fleet Foxes, The Postal Service, Flight of the Conchords, Low and The Shins – they’re all on their roster, but at one time it hothoused a rare and enviable crop of blooming greatness; Nirvana, Soundgarden, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, The White Stripes, Mudhoney and little known alt-country band called, Scud Mountain Boys comprising Joe Pernice, Stephen Desaulniers, Bruce Tull and Tom Shea. The band eventually morphed into the Pernice Brothers. Like many of those taking their first wary steps in the industry the band eventually signed to another label, and some twelve years and some five albums later we find them licensed to another ye olde cult favourite, One Little Indian for new album, ‘Goodbye Killer’.
And what’s changed? Well not much. ‘Bechamel’ still offers the breezy, hippy dream-pop popularised by the likes of ‘Teenage Fanclub’ in the UK and ‘The Shins’ in the US but with one or two impractical cooking metaphors and some artificial sweeteners and ‘Not The Loving Kind’ continues to strip away the usual platitudes of rock with a few home truths and a Danger UXB approach to bullshit. ‘Fucking & Flowers’ performs a similar service: some hazardous riffs and some frank exchange devices handled without care.
If Lou Barlow and Sebadoh’s revival is anything to go by, not all the lights in Massachusetts are likely to be going out just yet.
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