New Release From Independent Project Records: The Well

For more than four decades, Independent Project Records has embodied what true independent record labels should stand for. The compilation The Well is its past, present and future rolled into two albums-worth of genre-defying, utterly unfettered music. You’ll find them living together, post-punk and ambient, psychedelia and desert surf rock, dream pop and goth rock, well-traveled singer-songwriters and young college students with a penchant for bedroom pop: it speaks to and of the unique vision and relentless drive of both IPR and its artists that The Well plays not like a mishmash but like a coherent, endlessly fascinating statement. New revelations are to be expected with each listen – this compilation promises to mesmerise, electrify and stupefy lifelong fans and newcomers alike. What all the artists appearing in this decades-spanning, genre-defying compilation seem to have in common is a certain transfixing quality. It may be put in motion by the hypnotic rumble of a post-punk groove or by the celestial peaks of an ambient piece so immersive it seems capable of freezing time. These are musicians with a determination to do things their own way. When he launched Independent Project Records in 1980, Bruce Licher saw the label as an opportunity to get his own music out. Housed in striking, instantly recognisable letterpress-printed sleeves, IPR releases soon started to include works by friends, fellow art students at UCLA and new underground musicians Licher admired. If he wanted to hear a band’s music and couldn’t find it anywhere, he’d release it himself. Through the years, IPR went on to give a platform to voices that didn’t quite fit into the stiff boxes of the music industry. The results may not have involved six-figure returns, but, instead, could count on perceptive intuitions (Camper Van Beethoven, of whom a rare early demo is included here, got their start on IPR), fruitful artistic alliances and lifelong friendships.

The Well speaks to and of Independent Project Records’ past, present and future at once. There’s a rare track by Neef, the first group Bruce Licher ever joined. The bands that made IPR a cult favorite among tasteful record collectors across the globe: Savage Republic, Scenic, Kommunity FK, Deception Bay, Woo, Fourwaycross. Their side adventures, the ones even the most attentive of fans have not heard of, make a most welcome appearance: Spadra Moods witnessed the first steps of future Savage Republic bassist Thom Fuhrmann and future Scenic drummer Brock Wirtz, Snuffy was Fourwaycross bassist Steve Gerdes’ solo project in the late 90s. There are highlights from recent releases, such as East Coast purveyors of dreamy melodies Springhouse wearing their UK folk heart on their sleeve. Previously unreleased recordings from the likes of Scenic and Barry Craig (trance music pioneer A Produce and guitarist from Afterimage) make sure the compilation never runs short of surprises. Mike White, who in the early 80s played guitar with San Francisco punk trailblazers The Sleepers, makes his IPR debut with an instrumental reverie that seems to have originated from space. A self-released, cassette-only gem from The Sunflower Conspiracy, an Indiana group who in the mid 90s were among those drawing a connection between dream pop and shoegaze, awaits much deserved discovery now that the two genres are witnessing a renaissance. There’s the unexpected reunion of Shiva Burlesque: frontman Jeffrey Clark joining forces again with his old accomplice Grant-Lee Phillips to deliver one of the finest songs the two have ever recorded together (with Bauhaus and Love and Rockets founder David J lending contemplative bass). There is no shortage of firsts, either: the label’s first foray into the world of movie soundtracks – represented by an instrumental original piece from the award-winning documentary Louder Than You Think: a Lo-Fi History of Gary Young & Pavement – and its first flirtation with jazz, in the form of a track by Jazz Bedouins, an ensemble encountered in the 90s when IPR had its headquarters in Sedona, Arizona. Recordings from label heads Bruce Licher and Jeffrey Clark remind us that IPR is a place for artists run by artists – priorities have never been up for discussion. There are previews of the releases to come: retrospective reissues of Southern California underground essentials BPeople and Middle Class, David J revisiting favorites from his recent three-album compilation Tracks from the Attic with a full band. There is also IPR’s latest signing: Driveway Ceiling, a band of college students moving back and forth between 60s psych, 90s indie, and modern bedroom pop. As impossible to categorize as the label itself, The Well is a declaration of Independence in multicolored, fantastical musical form. Next time someone asks about Independent Project Records, these songs will do the talking.

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Label: Independent Project Records