So uh, it’s Thursday.

It is indeed Thursday! We thought we woulda had them up yesterday but there is a tiny bit more tweaking that needs to happen.

I think some explanations are in order. Why, why, why would you involve yourselves in any sort of business with Phil Knight and his cronies? It’s difficult to deny that Nike has a record of horrific human rights violations and environmental practices, which would seem at odds with your aims as an “independent”, “green” record label. Besides the ethical concerns, I imagine a small but substantial backlash from the “indie” community, who seem equally baffled by this decision (see the following articles: here, here, and here). Though I can’t imagine it would matter to any of you much, I feel saddened to see the crass commercialization of of culture slowly infiltrate a scene whose foundations were in ANTI-commercialization. Though some of my favorite music has been released on the Sub Pop label, it will always seem somewhat cheapened and disingenuous, and, no matter how many pairs of sneakers I buy, that can never be remedied.

If you are this outraged by the fact that Sub Pop and Nike SB have collaborated on a project together then I surely want your life. While others of us here in the “indie community” are trying to work to pay our bills and worry about the daily mishaps that life brings us you are apparently above this and can rant on your soapbox thanks to the Internet… Thank you technology. If you want to get down to the bare knuckles of things, if this has left you feeling “cheapened and disingenuous” how about you boycott all those records you have of bands that actually have members that wear or have worn Nikes at one point in time? I know for certain that members of Foals do indeed wear Nikes from time to time, but then again you don’t listen to Foals I suppose as I’m sure you are well aware of this already… Case and point.

Though “cheapened and disingenuous” may be a little overboard, let’s not pretend that “Phil” doesn’t have a point here. I believe it only obvious that there is some sort of indie guilt here, or this piece promising to explain yourselves never would have been posted. I still love Sub Pop and all that it has done for me and will do for me in the future. I mean really, is there such a thing as selling out anymore?