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Kill Rock Stars

Contact Information
Kill Rock Stars
120 NE State Ave., PMB 418
Olympia, WA 98501
WA Tel. 360-357-9732
Fax 360-357-6408

Type: Private
On the web: http://www.killrockstars.com

Punk/alternative record label Kill Rock Stars was founded in 1991 by Matthew "Slim" Moon. The label, which signs mostly bands from the Northwest, initially acted as the unofficial home to the "riot grrrl" scene, a loose collection of feminist-minded punk rock acts in the 1990s, including Bratmobile, Bikini Kill, and England's Huggy Bear. Current artists on the label's roster include Deerhoof, the Decemberists, and The Old Haunts.

Officers:
CIO: Aaron Tuller
President and CEO: Portia Sabin

Competitors:
Matador Records
Revelation Records
Sub Pop

 
 
Album Review: Kill Rock Stars

  • Release Date: 1991
  • Genre: Rock
  • Label: Kill Rock Stars

Review

Kill Rock Stars is an excellent 18-track various-artists collection capturing the essence of early-'90s indie-rock pop underground. It's divided equally between amateurish indie-pop, abrasive punk and riot grrrl, featuring many of the best underground bands of that time, including Bratmobile ("Girl Germs"), Mecca Normal ("Narrow"), Bikini Kill ("Feels Blind"), Heavens to Betsy ("My Red Self"), Unwound ("You Speak Jealousy"), Nation of Ulysses ("N.O.U. Cooking with Gas"), Some Velvet Sidewalk ("Loch Ness"), Nirvana ("Beeswax"), and Lois performing under the name Courtney Love ("Don't Mix the Colors"). ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title iTunes Composers Performers Time
Girl Germs
...
Bratmobile (1:47)
Loch Ness
...
Some Velvet Sidewalk (2:17)
Don't Mix the Colors
...
Courtney Love (1:48)
N.O.U. Coooking With Gas!
...
The Nation of Ulysses (3:58)
You Speak Jealousy
...
Unwound (3:15)
Narrow
...
Mecca Normal (3:10)
Beeswax
...
Kurt Cobain Nirvana (2:48)
My Red Self
...
Heavens to Betsy (3:49)
Strong, Warm, and in Command
...
Steve Fisk (5:02)
Feels Blind
...
Bikini Kill (3:37)
Reaper Song
...
Witchy Poo (1:43)
Ever Since My Accident
...
Buzz Osborne Melvins (:49)
Immediate Impound Zone
...
Infamous Managerie (5:55)
Make You Come
...
Kicking Giant (1:12)
Everybody and Their Dog
...
Fitz of Depression (1:32)
Red Dress
...
Jad Fair (2:54)
8-Ball Deluxe
...
Elizabeth Davis 7 Year Bitch (2:47)
I.O.U.
...
(2:20)
[Untitled Track]
...
(3:29)

Credits

Nirvana (Performer), Nirvana, Steve Fisk (Performer), Steve Fisk, Mecca Normal (Performer), Mecca Normal, Melvins (Performer), Melvins, The Nation of Ulysses (Performer), The Nation of Ulysses, Jad Fair (Performer), Jad Fair, Some Velvet Sidewalk (Performer), Some Velvet Sidewalk, Pansy Division (Performer), 7 Year Bitch (Performer), 7 Year Bitch, Heavens to Betsy (Performer), Heavens to Betsy, Unwound (Performer), Unwound, Bikini Kill (Performer), Bikini Kill, Bratmobile (Performer), Bratmobile, Versus (Performer), John Goodmanson (Technical Assistance), Calvin Johnson (Technical Assistance), John Leach (Photography), Patrick Maley (Technical Assistance), Slant 6 (Performer), Tiger Trap (Performer), Godheadsilo (Performer), Witchy Poo (Performer), Witchy Poo, Tribe 8 (Performer), Courtney Love (Performer), Courtney Love, Calamity Jane (Performer), Fitz of Depression (Performer), Fitz of Depression, Karp (Performer), Kicking Giant (Performer), Kicking Giant, Heroin (Performer), Cheesecake (Performer), Arthur S. Aubry (Photography), Bob Basanich (Technical Assistance), Nikki McClure (Performer), Adickdid (Performer), Tinúviel (Artwork), Tinúviel (Cover Design), Hannah Sternshein (Photography)
 
Wikipedia: Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars
Kill_Rock_Stars_logo.jpg
Founded 1991
Founder Slim Moon
Genre Various
Country of origin United States
Location Olympia, Washington
Official website http://www.killrockstars.com

Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in Olympia, Washington, United States, though it will be moving some of its operations to New York City and Portland, Oregon in 2007. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission. Overall, though, the political sensibilities of the label can be said to be leftist, feminist, and anti-war, and the label has consistently shown a commitment towards underground punk bands and to representing artists in the Olympia, Washington area.

Moon initially started the label with the intention of releasing spoken word 7" single records. KRS-101 (the label's first release) was in fact a split 7" spoken-word record with Kathleen Hanna and Slim Moon; other "Wordcore" releases followed. The first major release was a compilation of Olympia-area bands simply titled Kill Rock Stars (Stars Kill Rock and Rock Stars Kill would follow in the same compilation series) and featured Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Unwound, Nirvana and The Melvins. In fact, Moon has said that the label began releasing music because Bikini Kill, Bratmobile and Unwound were too exciting to remain unsigned.

Although the label's music has never reflected just a single genre or underground music movement, it is arguably most notable for releasing the work of various riot grrrl bands during the mid-'90s, some of which, especially the aforementioned Bikini Kill, generated a good deal of press attention. Other KRS releases in this genre includes albums by Bratmobile, Huggy Bear, Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17. The label continued its tradition of spoken word by releasing their first full-length spoken word LP Big Broad by Juliana Lueking in 1995. This was also the year that Elliott Smith released his self-titled solo LP on the label. Another milestone was the 1997 release of Sleater-Kinney's third LP (and first on KRS) Dig Me Out, which garnered national press attention in Spin and Rolling Stone magazines.

The new KRS logo by Sarah Utter on a KRS sweatshirt.
The new KRS logo by Sarah Utter on a KRS sweatshirt.

In 1997/98, the 5RC label was formed as a sister label to Kill Rock Stars; it released generally harsher-sounding and more challenging indie rock than KRS. The 5RC roster includes Xiu Xiu, Deerhoof, Need New Body, The Mae Shi and Metalux among others. 1998 also marked the first-ever Mailorder Freak Singles Club and featured Quasi, Small Stars and Rock-A-Teens among others. Another popular band on KRS was The Decemberists, who left the label in 2005 after signing to Capitol Records.

Some have argued that the label has shown a marked trend in becoming more commercial[citation needed]. Critics[citation needed] point to L.A.-based major label artist and producer Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes reissuing her solo album on KRS in 2005, a move which called into question the label's past strictly indie ethos and history of skirting outright major recording industry affiliations. Other notable releases by KRS include: albums by bands such as The Paper Chase, Jeff Hanson, Unwound, The Gossip, Mecca Normal, Two Ton Boa and Comet Gain; spoken word albums by Kathy Acker and Miranda July; and reissues of work by earlier punk/post-punk bands such as Kleenex/Liliput, Essential Logic, and Delta 5. Also, KRS has moved distributors from Mordam Records to Alternative Distribution Alliance, beginning with Deerhoof's "Reveille"

In October of 2006 Slim Moon, the owner, announced he would be departing Kill Rock Stars to work as an A&R representative at Nonesuch Records, a Warner Music Group subsidiary. Slim's wife Portia Sabin will be taking over management of Kill Rock Stars from their new home in New York City. 5RC is to be ended.

See also

References

External links


 
 

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Album Review. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kill Rock Stars" Read more

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