Saddle Creek Records | |
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Founded | 1993 |
Founder | Mike Mogis Justin Oberst |
Distributor(s) | Redeye Distribution (US) |
Genre | Rock |
Country of origin | U.S. |
Location | Omaha, Nebraska |
Official website | saddle-creek |
Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his role in the company to Robb Nansel. The label is named after Saddle Creek Road, a major street which cuts through midtown Omaha and also the beginnings of a scene whose members included Justin's brother Conor Oberst (at the time a solo artist and now from Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Desaparecidos, and Monsters of Folk), Tim Kasher (then of Slowdown Virginia, currently of Cursive and The Good Life), and others. Collectively, they were known unofficially as the "Creekers". Saddle Creek first appeared in print on a show flyer, offering to "Spend an evening with Saddle Creek" (later to be the title of the label's DVD). [1] Saddle Creek became an incorporated entity as a result of a class project on entrepreneurship. Distribution is handled by Redeye Distribution. [2]
SCR continues to be the flagship label of a style of music called "The Omaha Sound", characterized by a slight country twang. Justin Oberst was 13 years old at the time of the first Lumberjack release, Conor Oberst's "Water". A "sister label" of sorts, to Saddle Creek is Team Love, which was begun by Conor Oberst in 2004.
The label opened its arms to the first bands on its roster not based in Omaha in 2001 with releases by Now It's Overhead and Sorry About Dresden. Other artists not from Nebraska followed including Los Angeles' Rilo Kiley, Eric Bachmann (formerly the leader of Archers of Loaf from Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Crooked Fingers from North Carolina), Georgie James (Washington D.C.), Two Gallants (San Francisco), and most recently Tokyo Police Club (Toronto). [3]
In 2005, Spend an Evening with Saddle Creek , a documentary detailing the first ten years of the record label's history, was released. The DVD features extensive interviews with the Saddle Creek bands, archival footage, and rare live performances. On June 8, 2007, the label opened their own music venue named Slowdown [4] (after the group Slowdown Virginia) which is located in downtown Omaha.
The label's name was inspired partially by the A-side single of Polecat's 1994 -ismist Recordings release 2500 Ft of Our Love, "Saddle Creek." [5]
All releases marked either LBJ (Lumberjack) or SCE (Saddle Creek Europe) [7]
Year | No. | Artist | Title | Format |
---|---|---|---|---|
1993 | LBJ-01 [8] | Conor Oberst | Water | CS |
1993 | LBJ-02 [9] | Polecat | Dilly Dally | CS |
1994 | LBJ-03 [10] | Slowdown Virginia | Dead Space | CD |
1995 | LBJ-04 [11] | Smashmouth | Some of You Will Be Hermits | CS |
1995 | LBJ-05 [12] | Polecat/Sunbrain | Happy Valentine's Day/Makeout Party | Split 7-inch |
1995 | LBJ-06 [13] | Commander Venus | Do You Feel at Home? | CD |
1995 | LBJ-07 [14] | We'd Rather Be Flying | The Solution for Your Thinning Hair | CD |
1995 | LBJ-08 [15] | Norman Bailer | Sine Sierra | CS |
1996 | LBJ-09 [16] | Various | Music Me All Over | 7-inch |
1996 | LBJ-10 [17] | Cursive | The Disruption | CDr, 7-inch |
1996 | LBJ-11 [18] | Lullaby for the Working Class | Consolation | 7-inch |
1996 | LBJ-12 [19] | Lullaby for the Working Class | Blanket Warm | LP |
1996 | LBJ-13 [20] | Drip/Commander Venus | Last Go/Bow to the Prom King | Split 7-inch |
1997 | LBJ-14 [21] | The Wrens/Park Ave. | Split Single | Split 7-inch |
1997 | LBJ-15 | Lullaby for the Working Class | ...In Honor of My Stumbling | 7-inch |
1997 | LBJ-16 | comm.venus* | The Uneventful Vacation | LP |
1997 | LBJ-17 | Lullaby for the Working Class | I Never Even Asked for Light | LP |
1997 | LBJ-18 | Cursive | The Icebreaker | 7-inch EP |
1998 | LBJ-19 | Bright Eyes | A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995–1997 | LP |
1997 | LBJ-20 | Various | A Sampler CD | CD |
1998 | LBJ-21 | The Faint | Media | CD |
1998 | LBJ-22 | Cursive | The Storms of Early Summer: Semantics of Song | CD |
1998 | LBJ-23 | Bright Eyes | Letting Off the Happiness | CD/LP |
1999 | LBJ-24 | Lullaby for the Working Class | The Ebb & Flow, the Come Go, the To & Fro | 7-inch |
1999 | LBJ-25 | The Faint/Ex-Action Figures | split | Split 7-inch |
1999 | LBJ-26 | Gabardine | Gabardine | CD |
1999 | LBJ-27 | Lullaby for the Working Class | Song | LP |
1999 | LBJ-28 | The Faint | Blank-Wave Arcade | LP |
1999 | LBJ-29 | Spoon | The Agony of Laffitte | CD Single |
1999 | LBJ-30 | Bright Eyes | Every Day and Every Night | EP CD/12" |
2000 | LBJ-31 | Cursive | Domestica | CD/LP |
2000 | LBJ-32 | Bright Eyes | Fevers and Mirrors | CD/LP |
2000 | LBJ-33 | The Faint | Blank-Wave Arcade Remixes | 12-inch |