Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel. The label is named after Saddle Creek Road, a street that cuts through the east side of midtown Omaha, and the beginnings of a scene whose members included Conor Oberst (then a solo artist, currently of Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, and Monsters of Folk), Tim Kasher (then of Slowdown Virginia, currently of Cursive and The Good Life), and others. Collectively, they were known unofficially as the "Creekers". Saddle Creek first appeared in print on a show flyer, offering to "Spend an evening with Saddle Creek" (later to be the title of the label's DVD.) Saddle Creek became an incorporated entity as a result of a class project on entrepreneurship. Distribution is handled by the Alternative Distribution Alliance, which is under the Warner Music Group umbrella.
Saddle Creek Records continues to be the flagship label of a style of music called "The Omaha Sound", characterized by a slight country twang. This is increasingly inaccurate, though, with the rise of more electronic sounds such as those favored by The Faint and Broken Spindles(Source?). The eclectic sounds of Saddle Creek's disparate member bands is somewhat explained by their history; a number of the original members of the label attended grade school together. A "brother label", of sorts, to Saddle Creek is Team Love, started by Conor Oberst in 2004.
The label opened arms to their first bands not based in Omaha in 2001 with releases by Now It's Overhead and Sorry About Dresden. Other non-Nebraskan artists followed, including Los Angeles's Rilo Kiley, Eric Bachmann (formerly leader of Archers of Loaf and Crooked Fingers from North Carolina), Georgie James (Washington D.C.), Two Gallants (San Francisco), and most recently Tokyo Police Club (Toronto).
In 2005, ''Spend An Evening with Saddle Creek'', a documentary detailing the first ten years of the record label's history, was released. The DVD features extensive interviews with the Saddle Creek bands, archival footage, and rare live performances.
On 8 June 2007, the label opened their own music venue named Slowdown (after the group Slowdown Virginia), located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska.
Category:Record labels established in 1993 Category:American independent record labels Category:Companies based in Omaha, Nebraska Category:Music of Omaha, Nebraska Category:Indie music record labels
cs:Saddle Creek Records de:Saddle Creek Records fr:Saddle Creek Records he:סאדל קריק nl:Saddle Creek Records no:Saddle Creek Records pt:Saddle Creek Records ru:Saddle Creek RecordsThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Conor Oberst |
---|---|
landscape | Yes |
background | solo_singer |
birth name | Conor Mullen Oberst |
born | February 15, 1980Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
occupation | Singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist |
genre | Indie folk, indie rock, folk rock, alternative country |
instruments | Guitar, piano, drums, vocals |
years active | 1992–present |
label | Saddle Creek Records, Merge Records, Wichita Recordings, Team Love Records |
associated acts | Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Desaparecidos, Commander Venus, Park Ave., The Faint, The Magnetas, Monsters of Folk |
website | Conor OberstBright EyesMonsters of Folk |
notable instruments | }} |
In mid-1993, Oberst self-released his debut album ''Water'' on cassette tape. The release of the album was financed by his brother Justin on what they called Lumberjack Records, the indie label that would become Saddle Creek Records, making them founders and present day executives of the label.
Shortly after his two solo recordings, Oberst began playing with four friends; they formed Commander Venus in mid-1995.
''Here's to Special Treatment'' was followed by 1996's ''The Soundtrack to My Movie'', a cassette only released on Sing Eunuchs!. ''Kill the Monster Before It Eats Baby'', a split 7" vinyl with Bill Hoover, was also released around this time.
Oberst originally founded Bright Eyes as a solo project in 1995, and after the disbanding of Commander Venus, released ''A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997'' in January 1998. This was followed quickly by ''Letting Off the Happiness'', released in November of the same year. It featured members of numerous bands and was recorded in the Oberst family basement. One year later, Bright Eyes released its first EP, ''Every Day and Every Night''. Bright Eyes' third album, ''Fevers and Mirrors'' was released in May 2000; it was ranked 170 on Pitchfork Media's list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s.
With the release of 2002's ''Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground'', Bright Eyes received national attention and Oberst was proclaimed a breakthrough artist by several notable magazines. On January 25, 2005 Bright Eyes simultaneously released two new albums: the folk ''I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'' and more electronic-pop ''Digital Ash in a Digital Urn''. ''Time'' listed ''I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'' as one of the top ten albums of 2005.
The ''Four Winds'' EP was released in March 2007, followed by their seventh album, ''Cassadaga'' in April. The song ''Four Winds'' was named a top 100 song of 2007 by ''Rolling Stone''. Oberst spent the next two years focusing on other music projects, and in June 2009 told ''Rolling Stone'' he wanted to make one final album with Bright Eyes before retiring the group. The band subsequently released ''The People's Key'' on Conor's 31st birthday, February 15, 2011.
On March 31, 2008, it was announced that Conor Oberst would play at the 2008 Reading and Leeds Festivals. In addition, he also performed at the Electric Picnic, in County Laois, Ireland on August 31, 2008, the Cains Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Austin City Limits in late September 2008, shows across Australia in early October 2008, and the Warfield Theater in San Francisco October 24. Conor also headlined the Friday night slot of The End of the Road Festival at the Larmer Tree Gardens in Wiltshire, held over the weekend of 12–14 September 2008.
Conor Oberst released the self-titled album ''Conor Oberst'', which was recorded in Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico with Taylor Hollingsworth on guitar and Macey Taylor on bass, on August 5, '08 on Merge Records.
In about mid October, the band sold a new EP, ''Gentleman's Pact''. It was limited to 1000 copies and was only available on tour. The band placed limitations on how many were sold at shows. It has four unreleased tracks. Three of them are pre-album songs while "Corina, Corina" is a cover of a traditional folk song.
Conor and the band released their second album, ''Outer South'', on May 5, 2009 on Merge Records. They have also released a documentary, ''One of My Kind''.
Oberst co-founded the Team Love record label (along with Nate Krenkel long time manager of Bright Eyes) to "do different things, or smaller things, that we couldn't get everyone to be into at the same time" at Saddle Creek. such as Tilly and the Wall, Willy Mason, The Felice Brothers, David Dondero, Taylor Hollingsworth and Jenny Lewis' solo album with The Watson Twins.
Some of his biggest influences and favorite songwriters are local musicians David Dondero and Simon Joyner. Joyner wrote the song "Burn Rubber", which Bright Eyes covered on the "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" single. The two used to do mini-tours together, usually on weekends due to Joyner having a family.
Oberst has also been heavily influenced by the 1960s folk revival, mentioning Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and country singers Emmylou Harris, John Prine and Townes Van Zandt. He covered Neil Young's "Out on the Weekend", collaborating with Mike Mogis, Jim James and M. Ward in concert. He performed the Townes Van Zandt song "Rex's Blues" live with fellow musician Steve Earle. He has also performed two of John Prine's songs live, "Crazy as a Loon" and "Wedding Day in Funerville". Harris sang on a few tracks on Bright Eyes' ''I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning''.
Oberst was also greatly influenced by Daniel Johnston. A cover of "Devil Town" is featured on ''Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005)''.
Oberst was also profoundly influenced by the work of Elliott Smith, saying in an October 22, 2003 ''All Things Considered'' interview that "sometimes when you're not feeling good, you have to listen to really sad music like Elliott Smith's" and that [Smith] "wrote the sweetest, saddest, most gentle songs". Oberst also said he liked to "listen to Elliott Smith's songs when he [couldn't] find anyone to talk to on the phone" and thought that it was sad that, "through his music, [Smith] had the ability to answer feelings in others that he was unable to answer in himself". A live cover of Smith's "The Biggest Lie" is featured on ''Motion Sickness''.
Category:1980 births Category:American agnostics Category:American folk singers Category:American male singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American indie rock musicians Category:American people of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Nebraska Category:Pescetarians Category:People from Omaha, Nebraska Category:Saddle Creek Records artists Category:Team Love Records artists Category:Musicians from Omaha, Nebraska
de:Conor Oberst es:Conor Oberst fr:Conor Oberst it:Conor Oberst he:קונור אוברסט nl:Conor Oberst no:Conor Oberst pl:Conor Oberst pt:Conor Oberst ru:Оберст, Конор sl:Conor Oberst sv:Conor OberstThis text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Saddle Creek Records released his most recent solo album, ''To the Races,'' August 22, 2006. The album, which was written while living out of his van outside Seattle the previous year , features contributions from Miranda Brown (backing vocals) and DeVotchKa violinist Tom Hagerman.
"Tragic Animal Stories" as Barry Black on Alias Records, 1997.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
name | Slowdown Virginia |
---|---|
background | group_or_band |
origin | Omaha, Nebraska, USA |
genre | Indie Rock |
years active | 1993 - 19952010 |
label | Lumberjack Records |
associated acts | CursiveBright EyesThe Good LifeCriteria |
past members | Tim KasherMatt MaginnSteve PedersenCasey Caniglia }} |
Slowdown Virginia (1993–1995) was an indie rock band from Omaha, Nebraska, on Lumberjack Records, the predecessor to today's Saddle Creek records.
The band existed from 1993 to 1995, spending most of the time writing, recording and playing shows locally. In 1995, Slowdown Virginia disbanded and, along with members of the then-defunct local Omaha band Smashmouth, formed Cursive. Many of the artists from the original Saddle Creek stable still credit Slowdown Virginia (often referred to simply as "Slowdown") as a major source of inspiration during the early, fledgling years of the label.
Saddle Creek records has recently completed construction of a 500-capacity concert venue in Omaha called ''Slowdown'', in homage to the band.
Tim Kasher's Fender guitar still carries the sticker of Slowdown Virginia
Category:American indie rock groups Category:Musical groups from Nebraska Category:Music of Omaha, Nebraska
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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