Record Store Day 2013: Sub-Pop

Sub Pop has announced its releases for Record Store Day 2013. These will include a limited edition, various artists compilation entitled Sub Pop 1000. This release very much takes the label back to it's roots, harkening back to compilations like Sub Pop 100 and 200. Like those now collectable releases, Sub Pop 1000 will be limited to a pressing of 5,000 copies on vinyl.

The label will also release a collaborative 7" single from Shearwater and one of my favorite young artists, Sharon Van Etten. The single will feature a cover of the Stevie Nicks/Tom Petty duet "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" b/w "A Wake for the Minotaur."


Sharon Van Etten and Shearwater cover “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around”

The label will also release a free (!) CD sampler entitled, Terminal Sales, Vol. 6: The Silver Ticket, featuring new and "occasionally rare" tracks from Mudhoney, Low, Shabazz Palaces, Father John Misty, Still Corners, Pissed Jeans, and 13 others. Free is good.

Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

Sharon Van Etten released her third album, Tramp, this week on the Jagjaguwar label. I'm still digging into the album, so this isn't a formal review so much as a heads up that Sharon is an artist I think you should check out. Fans of various dreampop bands like Opal, Mazzy Star, Galaxie 500 and Beach House will no doubt find a lot to like about Sharon's music, as will fans of various "confessional" female singer-songwriters. But I think Sharon's music, though obviously indebted to both these genres, has the ability to speak to those who are not necessarily fans of either type of music.

What sets Sharon apart, to my ears, is her voice. She is able to project a kind of power and authority through her vocals that is rare in either the dreampop or confessional songwriter arena. There is a muscularity and confidence to her singing that not many vocalists are capable of, and is perhaps at odds with the introspective, wounded-by-love nature of her lyrics.

I don't know, but if I had to guess I would say that Sharon has had some formal voice training at some point in her life. She seems at all times to know not only what she wants her voice to do, but more importantly to have an innate sense of what she wants her voice to do to the listener. My suspicion of formal voice training should not lead you to the conclusion that her voice is overly pretty, or her delivery mannered or showy. On the contrary, Van Etten is not afraid to let the rough edges of her voice show, it's just that she seems to have a sense of control over her voice that is all too rare in the indie rock arena.

Tramp is well worth checking out, as are her previous albums Because I Was In Love and especially Epic.  Amazon currently has the MP3 version of Tramp available at a special low price, and the track "Serpents" is available as a free download.