Times is tough for indie labels, and we’ve lost more than a few over the past few years. Today, we learned of another casualty: Absolutely Kosher, the California-based indie responsible for releasing landmark albums like the Wrens’ Meadowlands and Life Without Buidings’ Any Other City. In a statement on the label’s website, owner Cory Brown writes, “We’ve been struggling for years and the only thing on my plate right now is to eliminate our debts and rejuvenate my spirits.”
The label will release one more album, Himalaya Bear’s Hard Times, on 10/11 before ceasing to release new records “for the foreseeable future.” It’ll continue to distribute its back catalog, though. To remember, here’s a full list of the label’s artists:
60 Watt Kid
The Affair
Azeda Booth
Bottom of the Hudson
Franklin Bruno
Chet
The Court and Spark
Rob Crow
The Dead Science
The Dudley Corporation
Eltro
Ex-Boyfriends
The Extra Glenns
Foot Village
Frog Eyes
The Gang
Chris Garneau
Get Him Eat Him
Goblin Cock
Jack Hayter
Hello Blue Roses
The Hidden Cameras
Himalayan Bear
The Jim Yoshii Pile-Up
Jukeboxer
Laarks
Life Without Buildings
Little Teeth
Moggs
The Mountain Goats
Okay
Optiganally Yours
P.E.E.
Pidgeon
Pinback
The Places
+/- {Plus Minus}
The Rollercoaster Project
Sparrow
Summer at Shatter Creek
Sunset Rubdown
The Swords Project
Sybris
Telegraph Melts
Thingy
Two Guys
Virginia Dare
Wax Fang
Withered Hand
The Wrens
Xiu Xiu
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Man I hope +/- {Plus Minus} pull through.
Sad news. I remember ordering all my Xiu Xiu stuff directly through them (including what I thought was a hilariously designed “Xiu Xiu 4 Life” shirt featuring a slit wrist.)
And my hopes for a new Okay record drift off into the sunset…
Why? Marty writes lots of songs, and there are lots of other record labels. I think whether or not he releases new music is largely dependent upon his health.
This is true, but I always felt the promise of releasing material through Kosher was one less thing Marty had to worry about, where as signing with a new label might be a lot of work. Although, I’ve been hoping for a long time someone would re-release High Road/Low Road and Huggable Dust on vinyl.
Miss you Marty!
What a shame, I’ll miss their ‘deluxe’ demo submission, which you had to pay for. They found my band on last.fm and pm’d be saying “Hey, fan of [my band]! You make like [one of A.K.'s bands]“. This lead me to their website with the promise of a deluxe demo submission. It was weird.
That Withered Hand record they released earlier this year is one of the best albums of the year, check it out if you haven’t. It sorely got overlooked in my opinion.
It was partially because it was a re-release of a record that had already been out for a year in the UK. But you’re right, it’s fucking awesome.
That last Okay album was incredible, but Absolutely Kosher released another album in 2008 that was slightly better and received almost no press, Little Teeth’s Child Bearing Man. I believe it is the only folk-tinged indie rock album since Aeroplane that approaches that album’s level of greatness.