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You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago, and the Reinvention of Indie Music by Bruce Adams

March 23, 2023 by A.S. Van Dorston

Not yer average label history: A succinct account of the Chicago music scene and how its bands and labels impacted indie music in the 90s.

Considering the number of people willing to geek out with me about histories of record labels (zero), I’m surprised there’s a market for so many of these books. I’m all in, even when they take a DIY approach like Roger Shepherd, who wrote In Love With These Times: My Life With Flying Nun Records (2016) without the help of a professional writer and most recently, kranky records co-found Bruce Adams. While the books are a bit dry in comparison to say, the more colorful writing by music journalist Simon Goddard on Simply Thrilled: The Preposterous Story of Postcard Records (2014), to music fans who’s lives were touched by these labels and the music they put out, they’re pretty fascinating. Adams had plenty of jack-of-all-trades experience with writing descriptive blurbs and press releases, and is certainly a capable writer.

To his credit, You’re With Stupid: kranky, Chicago and the Reinvention of Indie Music is as advertised, and not just about Adams. Much of the book is spent talking about the history of Chicago’s diverse music scene, and it’s rich legacy of record labels going all the way back to Chess Records, founded in 1950, Vee-Jay (1953), Delmark (1958) and Alligator (1971). The indie rock scene was built initially on the capable foundations of Wax Trax! (1980) and Touch and Go (1981). Adams sets the background in the mid to late 80s, when there was a diaspora of people coming into the city for cheap rent, good music and jobs at one of the dozens of record stores, the two record labels, and most importantly for Bruce and his partner Joel Leoschke, the Chicago-based distribution office of Cargo Records, founded in Montreal in 1987. Dan Koretzky & Dan Osborn started Drag City in 1989, Mark Fischer’s Skin Graft in 1991, Bettina Richards’ Thrill Jockey in 1992, Jim Powers and Anthony Musiala started Minty Fresh and Bruce and Joel started kranky in 1993, and the scene was off and running. kranky’s first release was Prazision LP by Labradford from Richmond, VA.

I myself had moved to Chicago from the Twin Cities in 1992, and got to experience first hand the special moment in history when the city was overflowing with record stores, music venues, cafes, and even several recording studios. It seemed like new stores, labels and studios were opening up every few months. When I had just moved there and didn’t know many people, I’d hang out with Lisa Bralts-Kelly while she worked at Blackout! Records on Southport. In college in St. Paul, she wrote several band interviews when I was arts editor at the school paper, and she ended up working with Adams at Cargo. She unsurprisingly earned huge respect from him, as he quoted her nearly a dozen times, more than even his partner Joel, throughout the book.

I was already a big fan of The Jesus Lizard, who I’d seen play several times in the Twin Cities, and Seam, who had relocated from Chapel Hill and the evolving lineup at times included John McEntire (Bastro, Tortoise, The Sea And Cake) and Bundy K. Brown (Tortoise). Some of the first local bands I saw at Lounge Ax and other venues were The Mercury Players and Shorty, with members of both eventually forming the acclaimed U.S. Maple, Gastr del Sol (I was a fan of David Grubbs of Squirrel Bait, Slint and Bastro), Red Red Meat and Shrimp Boat. Brian Deck and Brad Wood from those last two bands partnered up and opened Idful Studios in 1988, playing key roles in Liz Phair’s first two albums. Seeing Shellac’s first public performance at Lounge Ax was another early highlight.

Adams’ book gives a fairly thorough account of nearly all of these players, emphasizing how kranky did not just pop out of a vaccuum, but was closely woven within the fabric of the city’s music culture. That’s not to say there wasn’t a downside. While there was certainly a spirit of collaboration between musicians of various bands, there was also plenty of gatekeeping and infighting, and not just related to the variety of opinions about the three big mainstream breakout stars at the time, Smashing Pumpkins, Urge Overkill and Phair. Adams pointedly mentioned that he actively avoided the hipster hellhole, Rainbo Club on Damen. Me too, Bruce, me too! *high five* Perhaps if it had changed it’s name to Nelson Allgren’s superior name “Tug & Maul” it would had been more fun, along the lines of the more down to earth, punk rock Club Foot.

I bought the first Labradford album soon after it was released, based I think (it’s been 30 years) a nice write-up in Alternative Press magazine. It was all for it’s departure from indie guitar rock, with it’s mix of ambient Eno, psych and kosmische via F/i and Cluster, and the gentle guitar strumming of Durutti Column and Felt’s early instrumental tracks. I had the feeling the band would be influential, and they were. I would attribute it partly to a couple of articles that Simon Reynolds wrote for The Wire and Melody Maker, where he introduced his term “post-rock.” About Labradford, he wrote, “Krautrock, without the ‘rock’, dissolved into a delicate, drum-less chamber music, all serene expanses and distant drones.”

But oh the hand-wringing and pearl clutching! Not another genre tag, say it ain’t so!  Like every music descriptor ever, from folk to classical to soul and even rock & roll, there’s always nuances and interpretations, disagreements, misunderstandings and a whole lot of butt hurt musicians whingeing about being put into the wrong bucket, a genre that insufficiently encompasses their brilliance and uniqueness. But unless you’re Radiohead, Pink Floyd or the fucking Beatles, transcending labels and becoming your own Godzilla type brand, then genres and labels are quite useful.

Here’s the thing. Once music is released into the wild and people own their own copies, they’re gonna call it whatever the hell they want. Whether it’s organizing a collection of 100 or 50,000 albums, genres are useful. Bands and labels can complain all they want about it, but it’s all a fairly organic process, and whether it’s a music critic or someone’s mother who comes up with a name, if it sticks, it sticks. That’s what makes the Rate Your Music site such a glorious, interesting place, to see what flourishes and what terms don’t stick.

Despite seeming like a pretty reserved fellow, the best part of the book is the relative giddiness Adams exudes when Labradford is a critical hit of sorts, and the label has a pretty consistently great run of releases for the next several years, arguably peaking, at least in terms of critical attention and sales, with the Low albums and Godspeed You Black Emperor! In between, I was pretty loyal to Jessamine, Bowery Electric, Magnog, Stars of the Lid, Dissolve, Windy & Carl, Jessica Bailiff, and of course everything from OGs Labradford. They established ties to New Zealand by reissuing a Dadamah album. This could have become a much more fruitful trend to diversify their roster by becoming the U.S. label for a number of interesting artists not only in New Zealand but also the UK.

Over the years, the number of albums from Roy Montgomery, Loscil, Pan•American and others that stick relentlessly to very austere, somber sounding ambient, drone and electronic sounds started to get a little boring. They were in dire need of some fun, such as some good old British post-psychedelic whimsey. Adams wrote, “If the English band Stereolab didn’t exist, it might be necessary to invent them to advance the narrative of this book.” But he didn’t have to invent them. They were right there under their nose, spending long residencies in Chicago while they stayed with the Tortoise folks and recorded with John McEntire. Instead, Drag City got the honor of releasing a couple of their records. They were on Elektra/WB anyway, but there were some other former Too Pure labelmates who I always thought would have been perfect for kranky. And kranky would have likely helped connect these bands to their audience, their people of the kranky variety in the U.S., which they never really did — Pram, Laika and Quickspace in particular. More recently, I could see them being the U.S. label for Moon Wiring Club.

Adams left the label in 2006, and even without my sage advice, kranky is still doing well, releasing well regarded albums by Tim Hecker, Grouper, MJ Guider and A Winged Victory for the Sullen. If it weren’t for streaming, I probably would be out hundreds of dollars catching up on some of the albums I missed. A quick look at my database shows I’ve rated 113 kranky albums. Here’s my top 30:

  1. Godspeed You Black Emperor! – Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (kranky, 2000)  | Bandcamp
  2. Labradford – Labradford (kranky, 1996)  | Bandcamp
  3. Godspeed You Black Emperor! – f#a# (kranky, 1998)  | Bandcamp
  4. Labradford – A Stable Reference (kranky, 1995)  | Bandcamp
  5. Jessamine – Don’t Stay Too Long (kranky, 1998)  | Bandcamp
  6. Bowery Electric – Beat (kranky, 1996)  | Bandcamp
  7. Labradford – Mi Media Naranja (kranky, 1997)  | Bandcamp
  8. Jessamine – The Long Arm Of Coincidence (kranky, 1996)  | Bandcamp
  9. Labradford – E Luxo So (kranky, 1999)  | Bandcamp
  10. Bowery Electric – Bowery Electric (kranky, 1995)  | Bandcamp
  11. Jessamine – Jessamine (kranky, 1994)  | Bandcamp
  12. Low – Things We Lost In The Fire (kranky, 2001)  | Bandcamp
  13. Godspeed You Black Emperor! – Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP (kranky, 1999)  | Bandcamp
  14. Windy & Carl – Depths (kranky, 1998)  | Bandcamp
  15. Stars of the Lid – The Tired Sounds Of (kranky, 2001)  | Bandcamp
  16. Low – Trust (kranky, 2002)  | Bandcamp
  17. Labradford – Prazision LP (kranky, 1993)  | Bandcamp
  18. Windy & Carl – Consiousness (kranky, 2001)  | Bandcamp
  19. Low – Secret Name (kranky, 1999)  | Bandcamp
  20. Windy & Carl – The Dream House / Dedications to Flea (kranky, 2005)  | Bandcamp
  21. Jessica Bailiff – Even in Silence (kranky, 1998)  | Bandcamp
  22. Stars of the Lid – And Their Refinement of the Decline (kranky, 2007)  | Bandcamp
  23. Jessica Bailiff – Hour of the Trace (kranky, 1999)  | Bandcamp
  24. Roy Montgomery – Temple IV (kranky, 1996)  | Bandcamp
  25. Pan•American – Quiet City (kranky, 2004)  | Bandcamp
  26. Magnog – Magnog (kranky, 1996)  | Bandcamp
  27. Stars of the Lid – The Ballasted Orchestra (kranky, 1997)  | Bandcamp
  28. A Winged Victory For The Sullen – A Winged Victory For The Sullen (kranky, 2011)  | Bandcamp
  29. Jessica Bailiff – Jessica Bailiff (kranky, 2002)  | Bandcamp
  30. Pan•American – Pan•American (kranky, 1998)  | Bandcamp
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