23 Jul 2010 — Henning Lahmann
In La Puente, a rather small community somewhere in LA county, Kevin Greenspon spends his days with something that's becoming more and more rare in our all-digital internet age: Running the one-man miracle Bridgetown Records, he has devoted himself to packing and sending strictly limited CDr and cassette tape releases by hand picked artists, most probably without ever even getting close to be in the black. Of course, those small imprints have always existed, but it probably needed that nostalgia-infused cassette revival to put them back on the radar of everyone who considers themselves rad and up to date concerning the music scene. And indeed, 2010 appears to be a good year for Bridgetown and the likes, as they are finally getting the attention those enthusiastic folks deserve for their relentless passion for undiscovered beautiful music.
An established way of distributing rather nameless "indie" bands is to wrap up several current releases into neat season batches, and Kevin Greenspon has more or less brought this concept to perfection. Bridgetown's latest Summer Batch (see the picture below) comprises the latest records by blogosphere darlings such as Weed Diamond, Vehicle Blues or Junior Low, making it pretty easy even for people that are interested in music on a more average level to be actually interested in spending money for music once in a while. And without any doubt, the experience to receive one of those packages stuffed with handmade CDr discs and tapes is something completely incomparable to today's usual listening experience, even before hearing the first single note.
Though NFOP is not really about doing interviews, after becoming aware of Bridgetown (due to Kevin's kindest intervention), I was too curious not to send him some questions, and the answers I received showed a degree of passion and idealism for releasing interesting music, in such a thoughtful and contemplative manner, that I couldn't help but posting the whole conversation in its entirety.
The Bridgetown Records Summer Sampler, a ten track collection of recent releases, is available for free here.
When did you start Bridgetown and why?
I started Bridgetown in January of 2008 to have a name behind a few releases I made for my friends. I just wanted to make a couple things that no one else would have made or put out if I didn't. The name wasn't really intended to be cool or meaningful or anything. The town I'm from, La Puente, is called and roughly means Bridgetown and no one seems to know about it or where it is (I don't blame them!). Ever since growing up and going to school two towns over and even to this day- going to shows in Los Angeles and meeting new people, everyone's like "umm... where's that?" I've always had a weird connection to this place and I used the name because of that.
Why cassettes - what do you like about this format (you're just a little too young to have real childhood memories regarding tapes, right)?
I'm turning 23 in a few days, so I'm not going to front like I was obsessed with tapes when I was three years old or anything, but I do have a lot of distinct memories of them, especially VHS tapes. I was actually pretty opposed to when DVDs were first introduced and their inevitable take over because of how accustomed I was to the ritual of VHS tapes, but I learned that it's important to appreciate the unique qualities of each format and not shun their differences, and this carries over to the label.
I remember being really young and sometimes getting audiocassettes with Happy Meals, like McDonalds Halloween noises, or Burger King Christmas Carols and I l
oved those. I still have a bunch of random tapes from when I was young that I'll include with orders once in a while. I've used a couple of those in live performances too.
A dozen of my own releases as Kevin Greenspon have been released on cassette but when it comes down to it, I wouldn't really think of Bridgetown as a tape label since less than one third of the releases have been on cassette. There's a number of reasons I align with tapes though, and a major one is how putting together or coming across a solid tape depends on different factors than for records or CDs. It's definitely a format for strong albums rather than weak ones with a great single. You can't really skip to or pull "the good song" from a tape like this new generation of downloading iTunes singles is. You've got to make it through the whole album in sequence, and when the two equal sides complement each other and flow naturally, it's worth some serious appreciation- this doesn't happen by accident.
There's a nice variety of styles on your roster, fuzzy lo-fi garage, some rather shoegazey things and more ambient/drone/experimental stuff, but everything considered - what's your overall artistic ambition with Bridgetown?
The main points of the label are diversity, quality, affordability and personality. I want to surprise people with quality releases in all genres. There's nothing like checking out an interesting label and then not getting something because it seems "risky," which is why I offer diverse batches every season at discounted rates so people can get lots of new music from artists they might not have heard about without questioning "hmm.. should I?" I also let people pick out their own batches of what they want for discounts and give them a break on shipping. Albums come out to around $3 or $4 that way, even for international orders. Basically, I want to handle Bridgetown the way I'd like a lot more people to handle their own labels. I try to do everything in a manner that would make myself want to support the label if I was an outsider.
How do you discover/get in touch with new artists? What's your personal connection to artists that your label features?
Bridgetown is a very personal label all across the board. There's no mysterious entity behind the scenes and it's not a business. Anyone who's ordered from me or written me knows this very well - I personally write everyone when I get their order, and they get a letter in their package, sometimes a fortune cookie, one of my DVDs/CDs, some kind of trinket. Instead of myspace or facebook links, releases have email addresses listed because I want people to get in touch with the artists directly if they want to say "Hey, I liked your album! What's up?" Some albums and all packages I send out have my address, send me a letter or whatever- it won't get ignored.
I attend and used to set up a lot of shows, so I don't really need to go seek out new bands because I'm surrounded by music constantly. Sometimes I'll contact someone whose music I like and if I feel like we're aligned, we'll talk about working together.
I usually get really close to everyone I release, and a lot of them already were or have become my best friends, though the path to that is always different depending on who it was. There are only three artists on the label that I haven't met in person, and that'll be down to two or less by the end of the year.
Do you or one of your artists have plans to come to Europe in the near future?
Baby Birds Don't Drink Milk are touring in Europe from November through December. They're extremely ambitious guys and if anyone on Bridgetown ever makes it to Europe, they should be the first. Though they live 2,000 miles from me, I can't even count the number of times we've hung out in the past two and a half years because they work and tour way harder than almost anyone else performing right now. I highly encourage anyone who books in Europe to get in touch with them!
Tell me something about upcoming releases!
The release I'm very excited about is an album by Terrors. Terrors is my friend Elijah who moved away from here to Baltimore last Summer. He writes inc
redible folk songs blended with elements and passages of ambient and harsh noise techniques that never overpower the songwriting, but instead make it much more dramatic and captivating. His Inequipoise cassette on Monorail Trespassing was my absolute favorite of 2009 and I'll be stocking a few distro copies of the re-issue to get people excited for his Bridgetown release, so keep an eye out for that!
I've got two substantial releases of my own coming out this Summer for my tour with Vehicle Blues as well. The first is a 12 inch vinyl LP called Common Objects coming out on Family Time. It's an album of seven ambient/drone/noise pieces performed with pop song sensibility: concise and to the point with lots of melodic and textural movement. We're pulling out all the stops for it: 500 copies, full-color jackets, download cards. The second release is a split album with Cloud Nothings: cassette on Cass/Flick (UK) and CD on Bridgetown. I've been doing bedroomy pop punk type stuff under my own name for a while, but this will be the first release of mine with live drums, courtesy of Travis from Ancient Crux.
Some recent Bridgetown releases:
Kevin Greenspon - In Serial (Bridgetown #23, February 2010)
Label founder/operator/CEO Kevin Greenspon isn't the kind of guy who needs mysterious monikers to make blissed-out ambient/drone experimentalism. Other than his name picking, Kevin's tunes are anything but straightforward, meandering beautifully through time and space. In Serial is a much needed collection of four of his out of print cassette tapes, put together this spring.
Kevin Greenspon - Eyes Forward Still (taken off Corridor, sold out as CDr on Bridgetown but still available on cassette via Leftist Nautical Antiques)
Cloud Nothings - Turning On (Bridgetown #16, December 2009)
Cleveland's Dylan Baldi's project Cloud Nothings has received a lot of well deserved blog love since the second half of 2009, as Turning On is a wonderful gathering of fuzzy lo-fi garage gems, absolutely captivating and with just enough pop sensibility to make you dance around the fire all night.
Cloud Nothings - Hey Cool Kid
Weed Diamond - Carry On + Sweater Kids (Bridgetown #30, July 2010)
Though one of the most recent Bridgetown offerings, I've already written a while back that Weed Diamond were one of the more serious blog buzz phenomena of 2k10 - the quintet's upbeat guitar pop tunes are drenched in reverb without ever cheaply playing with that effect, all lo-fi approach is clearly there to actually put the sound where they want it to be, and the harmonies will always be the element that carries Weed Diamond's songs to triumph. This is simply amazing pop music and without doubt one of NFOP's favourites this year.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13025867&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1
Weed Diamond - Mint In My Mouth
Junior Low - Heavy (Bridgetown #26, June 2010)
Junior Low is Weed Diamond's Justin Thomas Schweitzer, and where the fuzziness of his band stops, his solo project is just at the beginning. His EP is indeed reverb-heavy guitar-laden dream pop, an encounter of a very shoegazey kind, Schweitzer's voice is almost constantly drowned in a wall of sound that would not be out of place on a My Bloody Valentine LP.
Junior Low - Kimberly
Vehicle Blues - Changer (Bridgetown #25, May 2010)
Another Bridgetown artist heading into a shoegaze direction, we've already had the wonderful opportunity to introduce Chicago's Gabe Holcombe aka Vehicle Blues two weeks ago.
Vehicle Blues - Changer
Kindest Lines - Kindest Lines (Bridgetown #31, June 2010)
Bridgetown's latest output, Kindest Lines are probably the label's most hi-fi release ever, at least in Kevin's words. And indeed, the New Orleans, Louisiana trio is not at all fuzzed out or anything lo-fi, their post punk electro rather reminisces early 80s formalistic new wave, with hard and precise drumming and a lot of analog synth accompaniment. The video below proves that they are also quite an amazing live band.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=13212595&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=ff9933&fullscreen=1
Kindest Lines - Hazy Haze
Ancient Crux - Stage Fright + Live in LA combo CDr (Bridgetown #29, July 2010)
Ancient Crux from Murrieta, California is mostly Travis von Sydow, supported live and for recording by Brent Wyman, Tyler Haran, and Andy Compton, and his project is some kind of happiness-friendly punk pop, sometimes a little rough but always embracing lush and dreamy melodies, if necessary even by the means of whistling along. Does it ever rain in Southern California?
Ancient Crux - My Pillars of Shame
B.Y.O.Death - Snowy Eyes C-10 (Bridgetown #24, February 2010)
Speaking of Southern California: Long Beach's B.Y.O.Death might be the outfit on the Bridgetown roster producing the harshest noises, but still, even they aren't here to hurt anyone. Rather, the band's raging fuzzed-out tunes that rarely exceed the tw
o minute mark evoke warm memories of hazy days skating through the city in summertime, and isn't that all we need after all?
B.Y.O.Death - Half Shaved Head Half Long Hair
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