Various Artists / Burn to Shine Seattle - 4000098-9

“Eddie Vedder sits on a box in a the living room of an otherwise empty Seattle house and plays a ukulele …”

It sounds like the lamest set-up to the worst grunge-joke in history, but it’s not. It’s a scene from the latest Burn to Shine DVD. The fifth disc in the series (though number four’s yet to be completed, for mysterious reasons) settles down in a home in Seattle, and true to the video series’ manifesto, brings in a bunch of Queen City locals and gives them two stabs at recording a single song in the living room. The best take makes it to the DVD, no overdubs allowed. Oh yeah, and after the day’s filming the doomed house meets its end. Well, this time around, the demolition crews stay away, and instead of tearing the home down, it’s packed on the back of a truck and hauled to a new lot.

Although the relocation instead of outright destruction of Burn to Shine‘s setting leads to a less spectacular ending than the homes featured in its three predecessors — and saps a lot of the poignancy out of the moment — that doesn’t mean the bands let their end of the deal slip. Curated by Death Cab for Cutie front man Benjamin Gibbard (and including a performance by Ben), Burn to Shine 5 rounds up a great line-up of Seattle bands: Kinski, The Long Winters, Minus the Bear, Harvey Danger, Eddie Vedder, The Can’t See, Jesse Sykes, Spook the Horse, Blue Scholars, David Bazan, Trumph of Lethargy Skinned Alive to Death, The Cave Singers, and Tiny Vipers.

If you’ve seen any of the previous installments in the Trixie DVD series, you know what to expect: No-frills honesty and down-to-earth performances. Directors Christoph Green and Brendan Canty have taken the franchise out so there’s no real surprises left, though that hardly means Burn to Shine has reached the end of its lifespan, Seattle is just an extension of that life.

Released: February 20, 2008

Various Artists / Burn To Shine 3 - Portland - RS-TRX003

The city of Portland, Oregon sets the stage for the third installment of Burn to Shine. This DVD brings together 12 of Portland’s favorite bands including the shins, sleater-kinney, the thermals, and more to perform in a house that is about to be burned to the ground. A cross section of Portland’s vital music scene is captured in a single day celebrating a moment in time and place.

Performers include:

The Thermals
Quasi
The Planet The
Wet Confetti
Lifesavas
Tom Heinl
Mirah
The Decemberists
The Shins
The Gossip
The Ready
Sleater-Kinney

Released: January 24, 2007

Various Artists / Tinkle - sp-0688

Various Artists / New DVD Comp - sp-0632

Various Artists / Acquired Taste DVD - sp-0714

Though no one would likely ever guess it from watching what we’ll broadly refer to as “Music Television,” we at Sub Pop have, over the past several years, made quite a few music videos. Some of them are even pretty good! Not at all coincidentally, those are the videos we’ve opted to include here. There are 25 of them in all, ranging from the first video Sub Pop made for The Shins’ “New Slang” back in 2001 (featuring, in the recreation of (part of) the cover of Sonic Youth’s Sister, a near-glimpse of Marty’s bush) through Mudhoney’s video for “It Is Us” (which, is so new as to not even be finished as I type this). Also found here are such gems as the best, yet least-seen Hot Hot Heat video (“No Not Now”), that Constantines video with the raccoons and the peanut butter (“Nighttime/Anytime”), the original versions Chad VanGaalen did (he’s an animator too!) both for his own “Clinically Dead,” and for Love as Laughter’s “Dirty Lives.” And, to take the mystery out of the usually purposefully vague category of SO MUCH MORE: Wolf Parade, Ugly Casanova, Rogue Wave, The Thermals, The Album Leaf, The Helio Sequence, Fruit Bats, Rosie Thomas, Low, Jennifer Gentle, Kinski, The Elected, and 2 each from Sleater-Kinney, Iron & Wine, The Shins, and The Postal Service.

Track Listing:

1. The Shins – New Slang
2. Ugly Casanova – Things I Don’t Remember
3. Iron and Wine – Southern Anthem
4. The Postal Service – Such Great Heights
5. Hot Hot Heat – No Not Now
6. Constantines – Nighttime/Anytime
7. Iron and Wine – Naked as We Came
8. The Thermals – How We Know
9. The Album Leaf – On Your Way
10. The Postal Service – We Will Become Silhouettes
11. The Shins – Pink Bullets
12. Low – Death of a Salesman
13. Jennifer Gentle – I Do Dream You
14. The Helio Sequence – Don’t Look Away
15. Kinski – Wives of Artie Shaw
16. Sleater-Kinney – Entertain
17. Sleater-Kinney – Jumpers
18. Rosie Thomas – Pretty Dress
19. Chad VanGaalen – Clinically Dead
20. Love as Laughter – Dirty Lives
21. Fruit Bats – Lives of Crime
22. Wolf Parade – Shine A Light
23. The Elected – Not Going Home
24. Rogue Wave – Publish My Love
25. Mudhoney – It Is Us

Released: May 9, 2006

Various Artists / Sub Pop Video Network Volume 1 - SP627

A DVD reissue of Sub Pop's first video compilation, circa 1991. Included here are videos from Mudhoney, the Afghan Whigs, the Dwarves, Nirvana, Tad, and others

Video Listing:
1. Nirvana- In Bloom
2. Mudhoney- This Gift
3. Mudhoney- Here Comes The Sickness
4. Tad- Wood Goblins
5. Tad- Stumblin’ Man
6. Mark Lanegan- Ugly Sunday
7. The Dwarves- Drugstore
8. Thee Headcoats- Girl Of Matches
9. Beat Happening- Hot Chocolate Boy
10. The Fluid- Black Glove
11. Seaweed- One Out Of Four
12. Afghan Whigs- Sister Brother
13. The Walkabouts- Ahead Of The Storm
Plus: bonus footage included on the original VHS release: The Dwarves movie trailer, and At Home With Sub Pop.

Released: November 4, 2003