Not Quite Punk – “Anything is Possible, and Nothing is Predictable: A Story of Flexidiscs, MP3s, and a Fiercely Independent Pop Label Called YAY!”

A monthly Web in Front column by Squaregirl Marion Hodges, Not Quite Punk is her investigation/exploration of (not to mention celebration for) the world of twee and indie pop.

By Marion Hodges

Clare Wadd once wrote of her fierce desire to raise the money to send off a brilliant, but likely forgettable, pop song to be pressed onto a flexi disc. “Not a ‘proper’ record,” she was careful to point out, “a flexi.” This musing appeared in the first issue of her Sarah Records-based fanzine which happened to be accompanied by “Anorak City,” a fully realized flexi disc single from Another Sunny Day. Matt Haynes, the other half of Sarah, explained the choice of format in this way: “[‘Anorak City’] is just 5 and 3/4 inches across and the thinnest plastic ever because it’s only pop music: flimsy, throwaway stuff…”

Listen to “Anorak City” by Another Sunny Day

On the surface, it might seem that the MP3 is the polar opposite of the flexi disc. Whereas flexis are designed to self-destruct after a limited number of plays, the MP3 is designed to last forever—there is essentially nothing that you can do to scratch or warp your digital files. If your computer crashes, you can easily replace most of the MP3s that you might have lost. Of course, if you were to lose everything, how many of those MP3s would you really care to replace? With all of the great advances that digital technology has given us, it has also given everyone the ability to make a song available to the entire world within an instant. A staggeringly high number of these songs can be brilliant, but are more than likely disposable. They are generally replaced by equally brilliant, but equally disposable, songs within a few months, and so on, and so forth. In spite of it’s ability to last forever, perhaps even because of it, the MP3 has become essentially as “throwaway” as the flexi disc.

It should come as no surprise then, that most of your MP3s will end up in your computer’s trash bin. But how on earth do some flexi discs manage to sell for up to hundreds of dollars?

The website for the Oxnard, California-based YAY! Records asks you to remember when pop was fun, by promising to put the fun back into pop. Given that all of their releases are on vinyl, and do not include digital download cards, they are also asking you to remember when listening to music was a much more personal experience. These days the words “punk,” and “indie” have become little more than generic genre descriptions. Either term can be used to describe anyone from some kid who made a tape in his parent’s basement to an overly produced major label band with ‘edgy’ haircuts; further, a band can be described as “indie pop” if they sound cute, and just slightly out of the mainstream. Once upon a time though, these terms did mean something that was very personal. Punk was the music that fueled bored kids everywhere into believing that they could change everything. Indie pop was the music for the kids with that same excitement and belief, but they weren’t nearly as angry, and they likely had a lot more fun. Case in point: before the existence of Sarah Records, Matt Haynes published a fanzine called Are You Scared to Get Happy? The title implied fun; something about the slight amount of confrontation in the title also implied that it would be personal and rather exciting. It seems that a similar confrontation is in place with the YAY! label asking you to remember when pop was fun. They are also challenging you to remember when music in general was much more exciting.

It’s a risky move to be sure, as you don’t find a lot of labels these days that challenge you, especially in their approach to releasing songs. It’s hard to blame them for that, either: while certain flexis may fetch hundreds of dollars, think about all of the others that you see priced at fifty cents at your local record store, next to all the un-sleeved 7″s that you see fetching fifty cents as well. Exciting though the music may be, very specific ideals have to be in place for a label like YAY! to even stand a chance in the modern world. Fortunately, Eric Bello has those ideals.

Bello’s band, Maria, began as a noise band. A lot of this was due to the fact that they were still learning how to play their instruments. As time progressed the guitar drones that they were working with began to be shaped by melody. Since Bello had discovered during this time that he was, in fact, a “popkid” this progression continued until Maria became the indie pop band that they are today. The first recordings that contained this new pop sound were made during the winter of 2005, after which the band promptly fell apart, giving Bello the time alone to figure out what his next move would be. Since he had wanted to start a label for some time, he went back to those winter 2005 recordings alone, and in the spring of 2006 YAY! released it’s first single. The idea was to establish a sense of quality, so that if you liked the sound of the first YAY! single that you bought it would be safe to assume that you would like all of the other singles, whether you had previously heard the band or not. Extras in the form of posters, and the hand-drawn notes that announce the label’s website, further add to the appeal—thoughtful packaging can somehow make you instinctively take better care of a record.

Listen to “I Must Not Think Bad Thoughts” by Maria

Creating a sense of community was also an important goal of the label. When YAY! began releasing singles there weren’t really any pop bands of note in Ventura County. Eric Bello set out to create something that kids would want to take an active part in: have them starting bands, get them out to shows, introduce them to the joys of browsing record stores for hours at a time, etc. Not too long after YAY!’s inception, an old friend from Maria’s noise days by the name of Nick Hessler became part of the equation. He was starting to develop a pop sound of his own with the band Catwalk. Catwalk’s “Shiny Girl” was YAY!’s second single. Also from the noise days of Maria came Adrian and Pat to join the new line-up of the band, and to add their project called Sea Lions to the label’s roster. Pam & Teri released their debut single for YAY! near the end of last year, after developing a friendship with the YAY! family over the course of attending several Maria shows.

Listen to “Comely” by Catwalk

Interesting, too, that when you create something positive which differs from the norm in your own corner of the world it rarely takes long for the rest of the world to notice. Well, parts of the world anyway. The YAY! label has received nice reviews from some notable indie pop blogs such as Skatterbrain and Indie MP3. The label also has it’s own page on Tweenet in the company of such role models as K, Postcard, and (naturally) Sarah. The Part Time Punks club night in Los Angeles frequently books YAY! bands when they host indiepop nights. It was also at one of these indie pop nights where Eric Bello met his label’s first non- Ventura County based band, the Tartans. With a very strong new single from Catwalk now available, singles from the Tartans, Sea Lions, and Santa Barbara’s Watercolor Paintings, and the label’s second fanzine on the way it seems very likely that this attention from other parts of the world will only grow.

Listen to “1939″ by The Tartans

Whether or not all pop music will eventually reveal itself as “flimsy throwaway stuff,” still remains to be seen. Somehow, though, I don’t think it will. Yes, it’s true that attention spans will likely become even shorter than they are today. However, as modern technology becomes less fallible, and therefore less personal, isn’t it likely that certain people will become more inclined seek out things that require more attention and more care? And if you are someone who can make anyone from this current generation sit in front of a turntable for even the brief amount of time it takes to engage in a pop single… well, you’ve already proven the fact that anything is possible, and nothing is predictable.

Listen to “Lucy” by Pam &Teri

Part Time Punks will host a YAY! Label showcase night this Sunday June 22, at the Echo. Doors will be at 10PM. Catwalk and the Tartans will perform. Both bands should be selling copies of their brand new 7″ singles.

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June 19, 2008 | Filed Under Exclusive Features, Not Quite Punk 

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