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| Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Founder | Mike Turner |
| Genre | |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Athens, Georgia |
| Official website | http://hhbtm.com |
Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records is an American independent record label based in Athens, Georgia. Its catalogue features indie rock, indie pop and hip-hop music, with several of its artists associated with or influenced by The Elephant 6 Recording Company.
The label began as a compilation album, Happy Happy Birthday to Me Volume 1, before it expanded into a 7-inch singles club, which released records by Of Montreal, Marshmallow Coast, the Essex Green, Great Lakes, and Masters of the Hemisphere, while also releasing several tape and CD compilations. The singles club was noted for its individuality, with each individual record by an artist often being different. For example, each copy of The Essex Green's single came with a different original photograph on the sleeve, while Marshmallow Coast's were hand-drawn by school children. The label then began to release full-length CDs for the first time, the first of these being Birddog's A Sweet and Bitter Fancy. The label also continued to release 7-inch singles, compilations and T-shirts, as well as a video compilation DVD, and a further singles club featuring Bunnygrunt, Casper and the Cookies, and Andy from Denver. There are currently over nearly 200 releases on the label, and an even larger catalog of distributed titles. Today, its catalog has expanded to span several genres.
Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records founder Mike Turner also founded the annual Athens Popfest, which routinely featured many of the bands on the label's roster, as well as many Elephant 6 artists, other Athens luminaries, and national artists. 2005's Popfest was headlined by bands including Pylon, Circulatory System and Of Montreal. The 2006 Popfest featured headliners Deerhoof, the Apples in Stereo, the Mountain Goats and Circulatory System. The 2007 Popfest lineup included Daniel Johnston (backed by Athens band Casper and the Cookies) and Ted Leo. Athens Popfest 2007 is most remembered as the breakout performance for Jacksonville band Black Kids, [1] resulting in a storm of blogs, interviews, and international magazine write-ups. Popfest 2008 was headlined by Roky Erickson, Elf Power and, in a rare and much-anticipated performance, the Music Tapes. 2010 included Mission of Burma, the Wedding Present, and the Apples in Stereo. 2011 featured Throwing Muses, Bob Mould, Oh-OK, the Olivia Tremor Control, Man or Astro-man?, and the the Dead Milkmen. The festival's return in 2016 featured Deerhoof, Love Tractor, Ought, Shopping, and Elf Power. Popfest 2017 was headlined by the Apples in Stereo, ESG, Lætitia Sadier, and Superchunk. The 2018 event was headlined by the Mummies, Man or Astro-man?, Ex Hex, Dean Wareham, His Name Is Alive, and Guided by Voices. [2]
The Elephant 6 Recording Company is a loosely defined musical collective from the United States. Notable bands associated with the collective include The Apples in Stereo, Beulah, Circulatory System, Elf Power, The Minders, Neutral Milk Hotel, of Montreal, and The Olivia Tremor Control. Although bands in Elephant 6 explore many different genres, they have a shared interest in psychedelic pop of the 1960s, with particular influence from bands such as the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and the Zombies. Their music sometimes features intentionally low fidelity production and experimental recording techniques.
The Apples in Stereo are an American indie rock band associated with Elephant 6 Collective, a group of bands also including Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, Elf Power, of Montreal, and Circulatory System. The band is largely a product of lead vocalist/guitarist/producer Robert Schneider, who writes the majority of the band's music and lyrics. Currently, The Apples in Stereo also includes longstanding members John Hill and Eric Allen (bass), as well as more recent members John Dufilho (drums), John Ferguson (keyboards), and Ben Phelan (keyboards/guitar/trumpet).
Deerhoof is an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. They consist of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noise punk band, Deerhoof became widely renowned and influential in the 2000s through their self-produced albums.
Love Tractor is a band from Athens, Georgia, founded in spring 1980 by guitarists Mark Cline and Mike Richmond, and bassist Armistead Wellford, students at the University of Georgia. Like The B-52's, Pylon and R.E.M., Love Tractor has been lauded by critics and music historians as one of the founders of the Athens, Georgia, alternative rock scene. Love Tractor toured extensively and recorded six critically acclaimed albums, consistently topping the college and alternative charts. Love Tractor was particularly known for their instrumental rock.
William Cullen Hart is an American pop musician. He was a co-founder of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, as well as the rock band The Olivia Tremor Control. Following that band's breakup, Hart and several other former members regrouped to create Circulatory System.
Circulatory System is a psychedelic rock musical ensemble formed by musician/painter Will Cullen Hart, and featuring Derek Almstead, Suzanne Allison, Peter Erchick, John Fernandes, Charlie Johnston, and Heather McIntosh.
The Gerbils were an American indie rock band that formed in Athens, Georgia, United States, in 1998. Part of the Elephant Six Collective, the band released two albums and toured nationwide during their tenure.
Great Lakes is an American rock and roll band formed in Athens, Georgia, United States, in 1996. The band was formed by Ben Crum, James Huggins, & Dan Donahue. Great Lakes were among the second wave of bands included in The Elephant Six Collective.
Baby Calendar is an American three-piece indie pop band from Miami, Florida who were signed to Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records in 2006.
Bunnygrunt are an American indie pop band from St. Louis, Missouri composed of guitarist and vocalist Matt Harnish and drummer Karen Ried.
Marshmallow Coast is an indie pop band associated with the Elephant Six Collective.
New Magnetic Wonder is the sixth studio album from the Apples in Stereo. The album was produced by Robert Schneider with additional production and mixing by Bryce Goggin and was recorded in four separate states. The album was released on February 6, 2007 via a co-venture between the actor Elijah Wood's Simian Records, Yep Roc Records and Elephant 6.
Keith John Adams is a British singer-songwriter. He makes garage pop music on his own and with a number of revolving collaborators, some from the UK and some from the US. His band since 2015 is Keith John Adams and the Wildlife, a trio with Matt Armstrong on double-bass and Mark Braby on stand-up drums.
Supercluster is a recording project that formed during 2007 in Athens, Georgia. It includes musicians from the Athens, Georgia bands New Sound Of Numbers, Bob Hay & the Jolly Beggars, Casper & the Cookies, Of Montreal, Circulatory System and Pylon, along with Elephant 6 recording artist John Fernandes. Members presently include Hannah M. Jones, Bob Hay, Bill David, Kay Stanton, Bryan Poole, Vanessa Briscoe Hay, Jason NeSmith and John Fernandes. Alumni include Randy Bewley (deceased), Heather McIntosh, Will Cullen Hart and Peter Erchick. Supercluster play what they term "Appalachian Wave." For a brief period they were known as FFFM.
Casper & the Cookies is an American rock and pop band from Athens, Georgia, United States.
James Husband is the recording project of James Huggins III, Montreal's multi-instrumentalist.
The Besties were an American indie pop band from Brooklyn, New York. Their sound can best be described indie pop or "twee", although at shows they were known to introduce themselves as a punk band. TimeOut Chicago describes the band as sounding like "the Go-Go's on Epitaph Records", and Allmusic compares them to Cub and the All Girl Summer Fun Band.
The Superions is the first EP by comedy synthpop band the Superions, a side project of Fred Schneider of the B-52s. The EP was released on January 19, 2010, as a digital download in the United States. On February 23, 2010, the EP was released on CD and limited edition 12-inch single in the US by Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records.
The Superions are an American comedy synthpop band formed in Orlando, Florida in 2006 as a side project of the B-52s frontman Fred Schneider with Noah Brodie and Dan Marshall.
Rat Fancy are an American musical duo who formed in late 2016 following the dissolution of Barraza’s previous band Sweater Girls. The duo released their debut EP Suck a Lemon on Happy Happy Birthday to Me Records in 2017. The band has played festivals including SXSW, Athens Popfest, San Francisco Popfest and Oakland Popfest.
