Dearest Sup Pop Records: Happy 25th Birthday. You throw one hell of a party. On July 13, Sub Pop hosted its own Silver Jubilee in the Georgetown neighborhood. It was an all day party with food, drink and, of course, tons and tons of live music. It was a time for us to celebrate some of the original Sub Pop titans including Mudhoney who also in celebration of the Sub Pop’s 25th birthday did a live broadcast for KEXP on TOP (yes, on TOP) of the Space Needle. It was also a time for us to celebrate some of the more modern stardom coming out of the record label.
One such band is the Toronto trio, METZ. We love METZ. You probably love METZ. The crowd at Jubilee definitely loved METZ. It’s hard not to because the band rocks very, very hard. It’s actually kind of overwhelming (in a good way). BestNewBand.com’s Josh Calixto said it best when he wrote “the trio was poised and confident, foregoing a written set list in favor of a performance that felt both raw and intimate at the same time.” While the venue might have been different here at the festival, the sentiment was certainly the same. The group plays a seriously aggressive live show without being too hard or hostile in the slightest. It might not be the Sub Pop grunge the 1990′s, but it’s certainly paying homage to label’s origin.
Sub Pop has, in fact, come a long way from its purely grungy roots. While it will always stand out in minds as the label that gave us Nirvana and Soundgarden, some of its recent successes have certainly deviated from the initially “Seattle Sound” that founders Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman created. Seattle hip-hop group Shabazz Palaces is only the second hip-hop group the label has signed, but drew one of the largest daytime crowds at Silver Jubilee.
The group had a bit of trouble mid-set with its speakers, but instead of disrupting anything it almost seemed like a testament to Sub Pop’s humble and very poor origins. It felt only too appropriate and besides the minor technical challenges, Shabazz Palaces played epically. The sun was still blazing down and with the stage just outside of one of Georgetown’s many brew-pubs the whole scene oozed of pure summer casualty.
As far as the other bands that played: Father John Misty was, par for the course, wonderful. His endearingly awkward on-stage dance moves were always appreciated. Rose Windows, coming off the high of their debut, drew a great crowd and proved they can thrive just as much in the outdoor festival setting as they can on the intimate, record-store stage.
Then there were the classics. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn even showed up to announce the legendary J Mascis, who has, post- Dinosaur Jr. been releasing solo work on Sub Pop. McGinn announced J Mascis him with a reminder that, in a huge part thanks to Sub Pop, Seattle has always been, and will continue to be, the crowning star of truly alternative music. I tip my hat (my birthday hat) to you, Sub Pop. Here’s to another twenty-five years.
METZ photo by Josh Calixto, Shabazz Palaces photo by Brigit Anderson
