Well, well, wellington. Here’s where we revive our extremely popular past series called People Who Work Here, which is a privacy invading series of questions that gets to the proverbial “heart of the matter.” The matter this time around just happens to be webguru (remember that term? HAHAHA, the worst!) Garrett Kelly, who also happens to be the co-founder of Hollow Earth Radio (soon to be KHUH, read more here!), a cool dad, an adventurous dresser, and all around essential asset to the local music scene. See for yourself:

Hey Garrett, whatcha wearing?

Is that a trick question? I wear the required uniform Derek. You will never see me in the office without at least my backwards LOSER trucker hat, Sub Pop slip-on shoes, a Hardly Art hoodie and/or my ‘S>U>P B<R<O’ t-shirt. That is not to say that I don’t also find time to curate my own personal fashion. I once ran a successful fashion blog called ”Sequins In Seattle“ and I even did my own runway show once. I like to say that “I can fashion men’s style from the maternity aisle.” The premise of the blog was on my unique ‘faux-pas forward’ fashion tips; I focused on advice like how, say, you should never pre-wash clothes from the thrift store (“it removes the ‘essence’ of former owners and robs the garment of its natural ‘patina’). I embrace stains and traditionally “inappropriate” rips and holes.   

This image above is when I went to this software developer conference a couple years ago and this famous Apple blogger walked up to me at a bar unprovoked and decided to tell me that I looked “fucking ridiculous” in front of a bunch of people. It was pretty humiliating even though I am well aware that uh…yeah, of course I look fucking ridiculous! I still can’t believe he thought it was okay to just say that to a stranger though. Dick. 

I’ve been consciously wearing controversial clothing since high school and hardly think twice about it now.  When chain wallets used to be big in the late 90’s, I made one out of a curly telephone cord; it reached down to my ankle and would always get caught on door handles and stuff.  I think I did shit like that mostly as a litmus test to weed out assholes. I remember one time I was wearing this long flowy skirt thing in Arcata and some prescription pink rhinestone glasses and some jerk drove by and yelled out “GET SOME LEVI’S.” But I just laughed when that happened.

Tell me a little about your childhood.

I grew up in California. Up until about third grade I lived in Lafayette in the Bay Area. We lived by this creek across the street from a junior high and I remember when I was a kid I was scared of punk rockers because they would always tromp through our yard and drink beer behind our fence and throw bottles into our pool late at night. I remember once my mom and my sister spent a day making booby traps. We dug this hole on the other side of the fence that the punk rockers would jump over and we filled it with blackberry brambles and dog shit. My mom was in on all of this. I guess she was fed up with them so she put us to work making dog shit traps.

Then in third grade my parents decided to move to a town called Knightsen, which proudly boasts that it has “‘more horses than people.” This place was truly in the middle of nowhere, just orchards and farms and nothing much to do. There weren’t like… sidewalks. During these years I got real into country music, line-dancing, shredded beef jerky that came in cans like chewing tobacco, and my local 4-H chapter. My sister and I worked with pygmy goats because I was too sensitive to raise a cow or pig and saw what happened at the end of the year when crying kids had to sell their animals at auction at the county fair. So we raised these miniature show goats and our family bottle fed one that lived in the house for a couple of months. It wore diapers, slept on the couch and watched Rush Limbaugh on TV. His name was Norman. My family is, and continues to be, real weird.

My favorite middle school experience was one time I got to be team captain in P.E. so I got to pick my team for kickball. I used the opportunity to pick those with the most underdeveloped athletic ability first (I was also of this persuasion). It was the most satisfying fucking experience of my entire life. I remember the look on people’s faces when I made that first pick. “WAIT, YOU PICKED HORACE?????” Oh man, it was so glorious, and I’m pretty sure Horace felt so awesome getting picked first. It soon became pretty obvious what I was doing as I continued to pick my team of losers, of which I was captain, and we were all stoked to be on that team anyway. We tried really hard… and of course we lost in epically pathetic ways. Bad News Bears style. But it was excellent, like some shit out of a movie.

For a visual, here is a funny video of me in 6th grade hamming it up, lip syncing to Garth Brooks at Epcot Center:

High school was a much more interesting experience. By that point I was starting to dig really deep into ‘weird’ music (you know, like GREEN DAY). I eventually found myself gravitating towards all the freaks and weirdos and I will now proceed to go on and on about how important that time in my life was for me. I think most people tend to feel they had really shitty high school experiences, but for me I definitely want to go back in time and relive it over and over again. It really started to take off in sophomore year, my friends and I decided that we needed to be in a school club in order to have some extracurricular activities for our college applications. We decided to form our own, which we called the Facial Hair / Rock N’ Roll Appreciation club. 

We really didn’t have any official business, but we did end up putting together a music festival on campus during lunch called Facial Hair Week. We even made a documentary about it. You can see me jumping around like an idiot while this guy Josh rubs expired jellies and jams all over his nipples.

High school was an opportunity to hang out with my friends and push limits. Here’s another great video of my friend Jake walking around campus skronking on a clarinet and annoying the lunch cooks. 

I am also featured in the main band in that video (the Perpetual Elvis Machine) playing my preferred musical instrument at the time: the Tupperware. You may also notice me at the end of that video, acting like a turd, talking to the Vice Principal about how he’s violating my constitutional rights to play a terrible rendition of “Silent Night” while people try to enjoy their lunch. I guess why I loved that time so much is that we were kids who were really in the middle of nowhere, there was absolutely NOTHING going on in our town, but we decided to just do our own thing to entertain each other. My parents had this unfinished addition to our house where my band the Amish Playboys would play, and every couple of months we would have shows there with all four or five local bands and the occasional performance art troupe. I remember this parent chaperon got really weirded out one time when he came in there and one of my friends had stripped down to tightie whities & wrapped himself in cellophane, rolling around in Twinkies performing a song called “Necrophiliac Blues.”

OK, here’s another thing that happened senior year. So, when homecoming came around I decided for some reason that I was going to campaign to get on the Top Ten Court. I thought it would just be really funny if I made it to the homecoming court because clearly I was not Top Ten material. I figured if I could get all the stoner kids, and all the band dorks and all the math club kids (who ate lunch on the far side of campus so no one would try to put them in a garbage can) to vote for me, I might have chance. I didn’t REALLY think it would work but IT TOTALLY DID.  It was a little awkward because when they called my name to go down to the football field at the rally in front of the entire school it was the 19 most popular people at school and then, me.

Anyway, when the actual homecoming election happened, I think there was this sort of rallying cry among certain sections of the school to elect me Homecoming King just because it was such a stupid idea. I was that guy who wore that bright orange polyester jacket with an obnoxious amount of over-sized buttons/pins on it and the phone cord chain wallet that always got caught on door hinges. And so it actually worked. They crowned me king. Overall, it was a glorious moment I think, not just for me, but just for all the weirdos at my school in general. I wore the rented tuxedo all weekend and walked around Berkeley in it with my homecoming crown. Definitely a major moment in my life.

Speaking of childhoods, you’re in the middle of molding a child right now! What is the best part of having a baby?

Actually our co-worker Gabe said something to me about having a kid that has stuck with me. He said, with kids, you get to live your life all over again but this time from the perspective of the adult. I guess I never knew I would care this much about the tiniest things - like seeing his teeth pop out, or like when he figured out how to turn on the mobile and the music in his crib by himself and it was this little moment of like - oh, he’s just now figured out that he wants that. Like he’s just become autonomous and figured out that he wants to listen to some jams now and just chill out. You know? That’s pretty cool. He told his first joke this week. After an especially large lunch I patted his belly and said how big it was and he said: “Ho Ho Ho”.

Here’s a knock knock joke he’s still work-shopping:

We have a band together too, that’s pretty cool. We played a show the other day. In the video below, the first song is an untitled drone piece. 

The second one is an ecstatic song about Uki’s blankets Blue and NoneNone.

How old is your new human? What is his name?

Our new human is two years old now. His name is Ukiah. Ukiah Cricket Song Kelly. He is going to either totally hate that name, or embrace it big time. I can really see him at the Evergreen State College just full embodying his name.

What does your baby like to eat most?

He’s really into blueberries. Some other things on his top ten are: broccoli, sweet potatoes, raspberries, corn, and peaches. Judging from today he’s also into eating dust bunnies and licking this weird hole that is in our hardwood floor.

You’re part of the excellent Hollow Earth Radio station here in Seattle. Did you start that radio station?

Yes, my wife Amber and I started the radio station in 2006. I was living in this punk house called the 414 House right next to I5 and we had all these bands come to our house to play for 30 or 40 people and I thought it would be cool to maybe figure out a way to record and/or broadcast them over the internet. Also, truth be told, I was just getting into that online world SECOND LIFE and I thought it would be funny to build a virtual version of my falling apart house, and stream what was going on there.  

Around this same time, my wife Amber was working on a project which she called Sound Friend. She had messaged a stranger on MySpace to be her Sound Friend with rules that they would never actually meet, but would exchange phone numbers. They would just call each other when a particularly interesting or strange sound was occurring and play it for the other person and then just hang up. We were trying to think of a way to turn that into a website but we decided to just start this radio station incorporating these sentiments instead. From the very beginning the radio has always been about playing sounds that are sorta unfamiliar and unknown, making amateur field recordings, and sharing underrepresented bits of audio. To this day there is a phone line that people can call: 206-588-KHER and leave a voicemail that we will download and put on air. And our overall focus is just on trying to create radio that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else, featuring regular people that don’t typically get access to the airwaves.

What has been the most rewarding thing about Hollow Earth Radio?

There’s a couple of things. It’s pretty awesome that it has grown up and out of my house. It was bonkers having it in our basement and then our attic for so long, with DJs coming over at all hours, waking me up at 10am with funk bands or tromping through my house while I was eating a bowl of cereal in my boxers. Now we’ve got a public space in the Central District on 20th & Union and people can just walk in off the street. And so many folks are involved now and taking over leadership positions that it has finally become less of Amber and Garrett’s thing and more of a public/community hangout space. I walk in sometimes now and brand new volunteers accidentally meet and greet me like I am a stranger. I think that’s a good thing. There are so many people involved with their own interests and tastes and wild ideas, it’s really cool to see what people are making happen on their own. Also, this year the station was granted a LPFM (Low-Power FM) frequency, so we’re about to broadcast on the airwaves as 100.3 KHUH. It’s kind of mind boggling that something that just started in our basement will now be out there competing and carving out a niche as a real radio station. We’re also right in the middle of trying to raise funds to get up and broadcasting on the Seattle FM airwaves. People can pledge to help us acquire a transmitter and an antenna and we’ve got a bunch of rad perks including rare Jesse LeDoux prints, a Somali music mixtape called Au Revoir, Mogadishu, some Jan Terri autographed head shots, and even an all-expense paid Sasquatch hunt Adventure!

Magma Festival is also a pretty amazing thing that emerged out of the radio project as well; originally it was just a series of benefit shows we held the second year we were around in order to raise some money to pay for the station costs and we put on weekend shows throughout the month in all-ages and alternative venues around town. After the first year though, it quickly took on another role as an excuse for figuring out a way to curate dream shows that I never thought would happen in a million years. For instance, one year we convinced the Thrown Ups to reunite. This was Mark Arm & Steve Turner’s 1980’s drunk punk band with Ed Fotheringham & Seighton Beezer where they just get hammered and improvise disgusting rock songs. At that same show, we got Al Larsen (Some Velvet Sidewalk) to come out from Buffalo, NY and play some songs too. Now, this is pretty embarrassing to bring up, but I’ve probably watched that movie Hype! like a jazillion times. When I used to play those shows in my garage in High School my band used to do this cover of that Some Velvet Sidewalk song “Mousetrap” and I would jump in the air and land on my knees and totally imitate that scene from the movie. 

So it was a big deal to me to have Al come out and I got to play drums on some songs with him. Tom Price’s band played that show, and the Human Skab (formerly this eight year old from Elma, WA who put out a tape in 1986), and Rich Jensen & Alex Kostelnik gave some irreverent grunge lectures. The Thrown Ups did their thing, Ed taped a bunch of Ziploc bags full of shaving cream all over his body, then popped the bags like zits and sprayed them on the audience. It was pure improv grunge mess.

After that I didn’t think we would be able to do anything bigger or better than that, but then the next year we did this really special show on the train called Light Rail / Dark Rail. We curated this whole free show on the train where different musicians would get on at each stop, and something like 400 people showed up. It was just totally packed. It was this really amazing experience, there was all this energy around it… like that it was possible to just take existing spaces and make something HAPPEN in them like they belong to everyone, you know? 

Have you ever seen a ghost?

Yes, kinda. I had this experience once where I was cooking at the stove and I felt like out of the corner of my eye there was someone staring at me. I turned really quick to look and had this flash of seeing someone there. The crazy thing though, is that what was looking at me was ME. It looked like me. This really happened!  It was so quick and it was just a flash but it really freaked me out. I’m writing a zine about it right now because I have a theory that it was me as a time traveler breaking into my past. I can go on and on about this subject - aliens, mothman, timehunters. Try me.

Ghost hunters came over to the Hollow Earth Radio house to look for ghosts once. They brought this thing called a Speakjet - it basically has a Speak n’ Spell chip in it and also picks up fluctuations in EMF. Apparently the Speak n’ Spell chip has all the human allophones in it and the idea is that if a ghost can somehow manipulate the electromagnetic field, perhaps over time it can figure out how to talk using the SpeakJet. It sounds really cool. 

What is your favorite movie?

My favorite movie is called I Don’t Hate Las Vegas Anymore and it’s by the director Caveh Zahedi. I randomly picked it up at the video store because the box said that it was “Directed By God.” How could I pass that up? I was a Religious Studies major in college and at the time I was really freaking out about stuff like the fact that we are REALLY, RIGHT NOW, ON A PLANET FLOATING IN SPACE. Just totally obsessed that ‘we are on a planet’ and that’s REALLY REAL. So I picked up this movie and I took it home and it plunged me even deeper into my navel gazing early-twenties existential crisis.

So the premise of this movie is that it’s a documentary by Caveh about taking his dad to Vegas to confront him about some issues he had with his childhood. He had written a script with dialog and even got a grant to make a specific kind of film, but while they are driving to Vegas he decides to completely throw the script out the window and instead let God direct the film. So he goes there blindly, with his dad and his little brother, with no script, and decides that the fate of the movie and what actually happens in it is totally in the hands of God/Fate/Reality whatever. No script, just film what happens as it happens and have faith that it will turn out. Caveh wrestles with how he is constantly trying to take on the director role himself instead of just surrendering to what happens in real life. Meanwhile, the movie is just totally flopping because there is like absolutely no plot. Right? And so Caveh decides to try to spice it up, so a good portion of the movie becomes Caveh trying to convince his family to take ecstasy with him. Anyway, I absolutely love it.

Caveh is definitely my favorite director. He’s also made movies where he takes an assload of mushrooms (I Was Possessed By God). In the Bathtub of the World is basically a documentary where he just films something in his life every day for a year. He managed to make something funny & profound using all these little life moments - great scenes of annoying his girlfriend while she’s upset with him and crying in the bathroom or a pigeon getting into his apartment and shitting all over the carpet, etc. etc. I can go on and on about his films, someone just put out a boxset of all his feature films and shorts and it’s excellent. He’s also doing this new online television show called The Show About The Show, where each episode is about the making of the previous episode.

You and I share a love for outsider performers. Can you tell me about one that you particularly like?

Jan Terri is one of my favorite artists. I don’t really like labeling it as outsider - but yes, I have always been drawn to people who are just doing their own thing and I suppose don’t fit within the mainstream. Folks that get picked last for the kickball team, so to speak. 

What I mean is that I found Jan when I was searching YouTube for “Worst Music Video Ever.” At first I was so perplexed by what I was watching, but I dug deeper and found all her music videos. I thought they were really funny.  I mean, they are supposed to make you laugh and feel good. She just wants to have fun! She does not give a shit what you think and she’s just going to do her thing and rock out. She’s hella DIY without the DIY uniform. I admire her. But the more I listened to the songs, the more I realized just how much I love each of them. If I was stranded on a desert island, these are the songs I would want to keep.

She’s another one of those people I was just dying to see perform and a couple of years ago I managed to track her down. She hadn’t played live in a really long time, (she had a brief stint opening for Marilyn Manson actually). She was happy to come out and and play and I asked a primo Seattle group (Heatwarmer) to be her backing band and learn all her songs. People went absolutely bananas - crowd surfing and catching Milky Ways that she was throwing out during Journey to Mars. She really is the best.

Jan’s music videos:

And here’s video of Jan playing with the local Seattle group Heatwarmer:

What music are you listening to lately?

Right now I’m digging hard on Lonnie Holley.  Have you heard this guy? 

It’s experimental R&B and he also makes all this beautiful art literally out of garbage. A true artist, constantly making things.

I first heard this set on WFMU and it was just so strange and beautiful!

I also still listen to Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die like once a week. It’s my go to album. I’m into this Forgotify thing:  It finds you songs on Spotify that no one has ever listened to. I love a million local bands: dreamdecay, HEALTH PROBLEMS, Chaostic Magic, The Color Out Of Space, DoNormaal, The Webs, some surprises, Tyler Potts, Briana Marela, My Parade, Sue Ann Harkey, SIC ILL, #tits, FANTASY A, Domesticates, Your Heart Breaks, Lori Goldston. It hurts, I probably could spend all afternoon typing out all the local bands I love.

I put together this Spotify playlist to go along with this blog post. It’s eight hours of music I’ve collected on Spotify (a lot of it using Forgotify). It’s meant to be enjoyed over the course of an entire 8 hour work day.

You didn’t ask this, but I am going to volunteer that I am currently in a band with Smitty from Mr. Epp & the Calculations and Eric from Noggin and Brittnie Fuller (she plays a saxophone, but never blows through it, just makes it feedback through distortion pedals and controls it through the keys. She kinda plays it like the bass. She’s great!) 

We are called Clearinghouse.

I play drums, timpani, and my iPhone. I was formerly in The Pica Beats, Beast Please Be Still, WaMu, Sexually Transmitted Rainbow, My Printer Broke, Kilboy Fuckbot, and many many other whatever bands. Here’s me playing in a band called Contact Mike in the parking lot of a local, highly respected Seattle burger joint. I am the one in a sequin gown dunking my head in a bucket of ice water with a under-water microphone in my mouth. Yes, someone is mic’ing a cheese grater attached to their face and grating some cheddar. This was for an amazing local guerrilla festival called Pizza Crawl where folks walk around eating slices in Capitol Hill and listen to experimental music in alleyways and street medians. A new favorite Seattle institution.

What is there to say about Bekah Zietz that hasn’t already been said? Well, for one thing, she’s one half of Sub Pop’s publicity powerhouse. And you know what they say, if you don’t have magicians in your publicity department, you’re essentially just running a Fashion Bug in Duluth, MN. Not that there’s anything wrong with Duluth or Fashion Bug, or Bekah for that matter!

Hiya, Bekah! Please describe your exact surroundings right now.

I am writing you from a secure location somewhere in Seattle, WA.

Are you listening to music? If so, what?

Of course, doyyyyyyyy. Here are some things I have been listening to lately: Versions by Zola Jesus , Dream River by Bill Callahan, WITCH, Nepenthe by Julianna Barwick, The Evil One by Roky Erickson, MCII by Mikal Cronin and Run The Jewels .

Where were you born?

Close to West Philadelphia, born not raised.

Where were you raised?

I grew up in Plymouth Meeting, PA which is about 20 minutes outside Center City Philadelphia.

Tell me about your parents.

My mom’s a film scholar my dad was a math professor, both with PHDs yet somehow I work at Sub Pop, I guess the brains skipped a generation.

Do you have siblings? If so, tell me about them.

Yes, a younger sister. She is one of the coolest people I know. Smart (getting a Master’s in Public Health), a total babe and a seasoned traveler (she has lived in India and Africa.) She is also the smartest narc I know. (Footnote: Thanks for outing that I smoke weed to Mom, Sukie.)

Have you ever been arrested? If so, for what?

No, but I’m working on a music related Pyramid scheme which should land me in jail in the next 3-5 years.

Please submit a drawing of Lou Pearlman

Have you even been in a fist fight?

Sort of. When I was 15, I broke up a fight between this girl who just got out of Juvie and my friend. I got punched in the eye and was wearing a Tie-Dye shirt. That shirt was a low point for me.

Have you ever been mugged?

Knock on wood, only an attempted mugging. When I was 18 I went to Mexico City on a study abroad program and for some reason I thought it was a good idea to put my wallet in my back pocket, traveling through a very crowded metro station. While stepping onto the train I felt someone take my wallet from my pocket and was able to quickly turn around and punch him in the stomach. Looking back at it now, I have no idea why I punched him in the stomach but thanks to my cat-like reflexes I was able to retrieve my wallet.

What is your favorite place in the entire world?

My happy place is anywhere by a body of water. Beaches, lakes, canals, swamps…

Do you sleep on your stomach, side, or back? What is your preferred pillow type?

On my side with some 2 pillow action.

Do you have vivid dreams? If so, can you recall a recent one?

Only when I go to sleep stoned, so often. I dreamt the other night I was The Wolverine and stole a rental car. Weed does weird things in REM but at least it’s legal in Washington state.

What kind of car do you drive?

Honda Civic, the Mercedes Benz of the middle class.

Can you drive stick shift?

No, but it’s been a goal of mine for years to learn. You never know when an Apocalyptic Zombie invasion will happen and you will find yourself in Europe without being able to drive a car.

Are you good at any sports? If so, which ones?

Mini golf and keg stands.

Have you ever met a celebrity (or semi-celeb) who was unfriendly? If so, who, when, and what happened?

I once met Aubry Fisher from Rock of Love who then became the receptionist on LA INK. She was pretty friendly but stuck her grimy paws in my bag of Swedish Fish without asking, RUDE.

Tell me about John Mayer.

What do you want to know?

Where did you meet John Mayer?

In 2003 I was interviewing John Mayer for the weekly in Burlington, Vermont called Seven Days. I went went on John Mayer’s bus and played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater with him. We got really stoned.

Was it just you and John Mayer?

It was just me and John Mayer.

What was his bus like?

It was the first time that I was on a tour bus. It was really fancy, I felt like I was in Almost Famous.

You were literally almost famous.

I guess.

Was there a moment that seemed like it was going to get intimate?

No, but there was a moment when he said goodbye and then went to kiss me on the cheek, but I didn’t know what was happening so I turned my head at the last second and he kissed me on the lips.

How long was the kiss?

I mean, I was stoned so it was probably only a few seconds, but it seemed like minutes.

Would you say that he has “the goods”?

Yeah, of course, it’s John Mayer dude.

What celebs had he kissed before you?

I don’t know exactly…

Sasha Morgan: Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Oh, right.

Is it interesting to you that all of the people who he has dated since then have gotten your sloppy seconds?

Yeah. I think that Katy Perry…

You had already explored that terrain; you had already planted the flag of Bekah on John Mayer.

Yes.

Do you believe in ghosts? Have you ever seen one?

I think so, but I’m a ‘fraidy cat about the paranormal so thinking about it sort of freaks me out.

Do you think that the USA should invade Syria?

I think we should paradrop Derek Erdman into Syria to assist with the humanitarian relief.

Do you think that the USA should invade Canada?

I think Canada should invade the US. We need more well-mannered, happy people in the US who mispronounce “ehhhhhhhhh.”

What’s the worst part about the USA?

Freedom.

What the best part about the USA?

Freedom.

Estimate how many cigarettes you’ve smoked in your whole life.

This question makes me wanna puke just thinking about a number.

What is your favorite food?

Goldfish crackers.

Which flavor?

I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Goldfish, and go original.

Do you like eggs? If so, what is your favorite style?

Yes, but only if they are golden and hand plucked from a farm in Vermont.

Do you prefer showers or baths?

Showers, I don’t like the idea of sitting in your own filth.

Do you jaywalk?

Of course, I’m from the east coast.

Have you ever broken a bone? If so, which one? What happened?

Nope, but I once broke my best friend’s arm skiing.

Have you ever fainted? Been in a coma?

Never fainted but I have been in a food-induced coma.

What’s your favorite kind of cake?

Birthday cake.

Have you ever vomited in public?

Yes, I was 15 and got very drunk on wine coolers (pretty hip, right?) that my friends and I snuck into a Dave Matthews concert. I not only puked in public but I puked on a person. I would like to take this time to apologize to that guy I puked on. Karma is a bitch, and I am waiting for the world’s revenge to attack me.

Who is your favorite co-worker? Least favorite?

Yogi Bear Claw and Randy Sexhouser, you can pick the order.

What’s the drunkest you’ve ever seen a Sub Pop employee? What happened?

One time Poneman came into my cube and started robotripping right in front of me. That was weird.

Are you a good cook? What is your signature dish?

My George Foreman Grill is, he makes me tasty treats like grilled chicken with rosemary, yum.

What is your ALL TIME top #1 favorite Sub Pop release?

Courtney Love and Calvin Johnson’s Singles Club single of “Islands in the Stream”.

Who’s the best looking person in the Sub Pop artist roster?

(no answer given)

Any final thoughts?

Did Neil Armstrong really walk on the moon?

Thanks a lot, Bekah!

While 2007 was inarguably a great vintage for websites, SubPop.com was getting a little, [ahem], dated (our search function never actually “searched” our website as much as it made it “crash”). So a while back, we set a date of January 3rd, 2013 to launch a brand new, redesigned SubPop.com. And only just one full calendar year after our self-imposed deadline, we are extraordinarily proud to give you www.SubPop.com! Please think of this iteration of our online home as your hub for news and information regarding Sub Pop artists as well as the Sub Pop Mega Mart as the place to go for the records, t-shirts, and other highly valuable stuff that we are forever (and ever) trying to sell you. Thanks so much for visiting our new place online, you’re welcome back anytime.

Alright everybody, get back to work—we’re especially looking at you, us. After what feels like a very long holiday, we here at Sub Pop Records are getting back into doing what we do—putting out new records by some of our favorite bands in the world. It’s going to be another year of us attempting to fill the your record collections with our records (and your closets with our t-shirts), and we’re starting it off strong with new full-lengths from The Ruby Suns, Pissed Jeans, Low, and Mudhoney with many more to come after that, so check your email frequently, I’m we’ll certainly be bugging you a lot this year.

Pre-order Ruby Suns’ Christopher

Pre-order Pissed Jeans’ Honeys

It’s top 10 list time and I’ve spent all day wrangling Sub Pop employees for their lists, but boy did they deliver (some folks turned in TWO lists!). I’m still bummed though, that Sam Sawyer didn’t turn in a list of “Top 10 Best Waves I Caught in 2012” or that Garrett Kelly didn’t turn in a list of “Top 10 Things I Learned from Stuart Fletcher,” but here’s what people did turn in. Happy reading.

P.S. / DISCLAIMER : Bekah Zietz, who graciously helped me compile these, thinks I should tell you the lists aren’t 100% music lists and also, duhhh, we asked some of our bands! Scroll to the bottom if you don’t care what the employees listened to and really only care what Kyle from King Tuff was jammin’.

STAFF LISTS

Nick Turner
Top-ten (non-Sub Pop) things of 2012, in no particular order:

True Radical Miracle – Termites LP (Iron Lung) and live
Ed Schrader’s Music Beat – Jazz Mind LP (Load)
Cut Hands, Andy Stott live at Decibel Fest’s Modern Love showcase, and Demdike Stare’s live score to Jean Rollin’s La Vampire Nue
Zyanose – Insane Noise Raid LP (Whisper in Darkness)
Merchandise – Children of Desire (Katorga Works) and live with Shoxx at 538 Johnson
Swans – The Seer (Young God) and live at Neumos
Forward – Devil’s Cradle 7” (540)
Boston Strangler – Primitive LP (Fun With Smack)
Dream Decay’s various live shows
Daughn Gibson – All Hell (White Denim)

Hardly Art’s Ruben Mendez tries to remember 12 favorite LP/tape purchases of 2012

1. Protomartyr – No Passion/All Technique (Urinal Cake)
2. Tyvek – On Triple Beams (In the Red)
3. Lost Animal – Ex Tropical (Sensory)
4. La Luz – Damp Face EP (self released tape)
5. King Tuff – King Tuff (Sub Pop)
6. Tronics – Love Backed By Force reissue (WYR?)
7. Window Twins- Wish (Volar)
8. Subsonics- In the Black Spot (Slovenly)
9. Evening Meetings – Evening Meetings (Sweet Rot)
10. Cop City/Chill Pillars- Hosed (Florida’s Dying)
11. Liars WIXIW (Mute)
12. Shoppers- Silver Year (Feeble Minds)

Footnotes
-(If I could, I’d say everything and everyone on Hardly Art this year and last year. All are favorites!)
-(Bolded means: I didn’t pay for. Could change out with Thee Oh Sees Putrifiers II (In the Red) and the Public Nuisance LP reissue on Third Man)

Sarah Moody
Various things I became generally obsessed with in the time that was 2012:

20. Amen Dunes – “Bedroom Drum”
19. Swans – The Seer & live at Neumos
18. Metric – Synthetica
17. Cold Showers – Love & Regret
16. Mount Eerie – Clear Moon / Ocean Roar
15. Thee Oh Sees / Total Control – split 12"
14. Royal Headache – s/t
13. Grimes – Visions
12. The Fresh & Onlys – Long Slow Dance
11. Trust – TRST
10. The Babies – Our House on the Hill
09. Bat for Lashes – The Haunted Man
08. Light Asylum – In Tension EP (2011) & live at Neumos
07. Cat Power – Sun
06. Terry Malts – Killing Time
05. Grass Widow – Internal Logic
04. The Men – “Open Your Heart”
03. White Lung – Sorry
02. Perfume Genius – Put Your Back N 2 It & live at the Frye
01. Andy Stott – Luxury Problems & live at Decibel Fest

Cassidy Gonzales

Music:
- Holy Other – Held
- A Place to Bury Strangers – Worship
- Moonface w/Siinai – Heartbreaking Bravery
- Purity Ring – Shrines
- Black Marble – A Different Arrangement
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
- Tim Hecker / Daniel Lopatin – Instrumental Tourist
- Symmetry – Themes For an Imaginary Film (the film score that should have accompanied the movie Drive this year from Johnny Jewel of Chromatics/Glass Candy)
- Death Waltz Records – UK label doing a bunch of horror & sci-fi reissues with original artwork and packaging.
-Mount Analog Records – Crazy awesome record store that opened up this last year in LA that specializes in being rad.

Rest of Life:
- Obama’s re-election and the approval of marriage equality in Washington State and the party in the streets that immediately followed the results.
- Finally breaking down the powers that be and becoming a full-time employee at Sub Pop!
- Releasing Nightmare Fortress’ first EP and then a week later getting to share stages with both Austra and Trust down the coast for some of the best shows I’ve ever been a part of my whole life.
- 4th of July weekend spent hiking and exploring different areas of Snoqualmie-Mt. Baker National forest including Lake-22, Goat Lake and the ice caves.
- Cutting off 14 inches of hair and not ever once regretting the decision in the weeks and months that followed. Phew!

Richard Dick Laing

Daughn Gibson – All Hell
Matthew E White – Big Inner
Swans – The Seer
Goat – World Music
Merchandise – Children of Desire
Godspeed You Black Emporer ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
John Talabot Fin
Chromatics Kill for Love
DIIV _ Oshin_
White Manna White Manna

LACEY’S TOP 10 OFF THE TOP OF HER HEAD AT 5 O’CLOCK ON A FRIDAY

MAGIC TRICK Invisible at Midnight (Come on, dumdums—don’t you trust me?)
SHABAZZ PALACES Black Up (Still. I was just listening to this really loud at my desk.)
UV RACE The new one that I haven’t heard, but I know it’s Great (I’m sure it has a real name. See Ruben’s list, probably.)
GIRLS on HBO (Lena Dunham can do no wrong, but I stand by my decision to not follow her on Instagram anymore.)
INSTAGRAM (What would I have to look at on the crapper if not this?)
RUSSEL BRAND’s new talk show on FX (I know, I know, but it’s GOOD, I swear!)
SLEEPWALK WITH ME (I think this film is perfect. People disagree, but fuck ‘em.)
LOUIS CK (I get to see him perform soon and I’m going to scream like he’s The Beatles the ENTIRE time. Sorry, Seattle.)
ZACH GALIFIANAKIS (In general, if not in practice…this year at least.)
GOLD VAN RECORDS (Me ‘n Ruben’s new mobile record shoppe, run out of our new, shitty van!)

Bekah Zietz

Killer Mike R.A.P. Music
Angel Olsen Half Way Home
Daughn Gibson All Hell
Sharon Van Etten Tramp
Lower Dens Nootropics
Matthew E White Big Inner
Deep Time s/t
Devine Fits A Thing Called Divine Fits
Frank Ocean Channel ORANGE
Nu Sensae Sundowning
Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe” (Best song of 2012)

Sasha Morgan

Top 10 Music Things:
1. Daughn Gibson – All Hell
This is probably my most favorite album of the year. Also, it has the best jogging jams, except you have to go jogging somewhere slightly creepy for the musical magic to happen.
2. Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness
I rediscovered this album this year out of nostalgia for my childhood. Smashing Pumpkins blasted very loudly in my car = happiness.
3. Mirel Wagner – Mirel Wagner
4. Chelsea Wolfe – Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs
5. Karl Blau – Songles
6. La Luz – Damp Face EP
7. Cate Le Bon – Cyrk
8. Hungry Cloud Darkening – Dark Cloud At Water
9. Cat Power – Sun
10. Unknown Music Festival in Anacortes, WA – Lori Goldston’s set, Karl Blau’s set, Mt. Eerie’s set, Shipwreck Day, “Veggie Starts” at Adrift, Causland Park
11. Rose Windows unreleased jams

Top 10 Other Things:
1. Marrying Alex Kostelnik
2. Garrett Kelly’s new fashion blog Sequins in Seattle
3. Caroline Shadood’s fashion blog Broadist
4. Tavi / Rookie Mag
5. Lena Dunham / Girls TV show
6. Flower head bands
7. Estate sales
8. Etsy – did you know that Bradley Fry of Pissed Jeans even has an Etsy store!? Check it out.
9. Reading an advance copy of Steve Arntson’s new book The Wrap-Up List
10. Chichi Coconut

Stuart Fletcher
Top ten music I liked in 2012:

1. Survival Knife
2. Alex Minoff
3. Chris Brokaw
4.
5.
6.
7.
…

Andrew Sullivan
20 things that didn’t suck in 2012, as seen by my camera:

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Angelina Saez
Not in any specific order:

1. 2012 is over!
2. Obama still in office (THANK GOD)
3. WA state Legalized Mary Jane
4. Office water wars
5. Breaking 100 bowling!!! (that’s right people)
6. LOL on Bravo
7. Knocking myself out needing stitches and having to wear a neck brace
8. Bacon wrapped jalapeños
9. Switching to beer!

Scott Perlewitz

10) Of Monsters And Men My Head Is An Animal: some folks may say it’s Arcade Fire lite, but I love this album and the band is just as engaging live.

9) Japandroids Celebration Rock: a thankful respite from all the earnest singer songwriters.

8) Beach House Bloom: dreamy in all the ways I love dreamy.

6) How To Destroy Angels An Omen: just an EP, but wonderfully dark and beautiful.

6) The XX Coexist: not as song-oriented as the last one, but still a great album.

5) Tame Impala Lonerism: sonically psychedelic pop music just the way I like my psychedelics.

4) Macklemore & Ryan Lewis The Heist: Seattle repping the white-boy rap world with funny and smart lyrics and undeniable beats. Vaguely reminiscent of one Slim Shady.

3) Massive Attack Blue Lines (remastered): I was hoping for a little more in the release of this album, but it’s one of my favorite albums of all time, so it’s an excuse to re-listen.

2) Father John Misty Fear Fun: one of the broadest, smartest and funny records in years.

1) Approval of R74. Screw ‘liberal’ California, we got legal weed AND gay marriage.

Dusty Summers

Cloud Nothings Attack on Memory
JBM Stray Ashes
Killer Mike R.A.P. Music
Woods Bend Beyond
Kendrick Lamar Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
Daughn Gibson All Hell
Ty Segall Slaughterhouse
Felice Brothers Godbless You Amigo
Meek Mill Dreams & Nightmares

Sasha Barr
Top Tenish music things from 2012, new and old. Just some things I listened to more than often in 2012.

Alt-J- An Awesome Wave
The Sword- Apocryphon
Divine Fits- A Thing Called The Divine Fits
Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit- Here We Rest
The Chameleons- Script of The Bridge
Dawnbringer- Into The Lair of The Sun God
David GIlmour- S/T
Maserati- VII
Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats- Blood Lust
Talk Talk- It’s My Life
The Cult- Dreamtime
Shearwater Animal Joy

Jonathan Poneman
Some memorable 2012 listens (in no particular order) that weren’t on Sub Pop or Hardly Art.

1. Marzette Watts and Company (reissue)
2. Redd Kross—- Researching the Blues
3. Swans—- The Seer
4. Kendrick Lamar—- good kid, m A.A.d city
5. Daughn Gibson—- _All Hell
6. Mark Stewart—- Exorcism of Envy
7. Tame Impala—- Lonerism
8. Angel Olsen—- Half Way Home
9. Frank Ocean—- Channel Orange
10. Scott Walker—- Bish Bosch

Frank Nieto

Cloud Nothings — Attack On Memory (Carpark)
Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city (Interscope)
Nu Sensae — Sundowning (Suicide Squeeze)
Le1f — Dark York (Greedhead / Camp & Streak)
of Montreal — Paralytic Stalks (Polyvinyl)
Japandroids — Celebration Rock (Polyvinyl)
Chromatics — Kill For Love (Italians Do It Better)
Merchandise — Children of Desire (Katorga Works)
Lower Dens — Nootropics (Ribbon Music)
Angel Olsen — Halfway Home (Bathetic)

Garrett Kelly

Top Ten Best Musical Experiences of 2012
1. Flying ‘outsider’ pop artist Jan Terri to Seattle to play a show. Watch here (Start at 10:30 to see her youtube hit, “Losin’ You”)
2. Shaking Lana Del Rey’s hand backstage at Easy Street Records. Never washing my hand.
3. Seeing newish feral heartthrob band Health Problems perform at the Black Lodge: Watch here
4. Lori Goldston & Karl Blau soothing souls at my wedding.
5. Doing that dance where you plug your nose and jump into a pool while listening to Shana Cleveland’s new surf band La Luz at Cafe Racer.
6. Playing the best gig of my life in a ‘Blacklight Bar’ in Salem, Oregon with my band WaMu to 4 people (two friends, and two guys later introduced as Death Metal Dave and his buddy David).
7. Watching Kenneth Piekarski of Slashed Tires play experimental lounge pop / ‘smooth grunge’ at the upscale Triple Door Musiquarium bar on Halloween night.
8. Father & son Eric Ostrowski / Ian Ostrowski putting out equally good & vastly different solo albums on the same day.
Ian’s band
Eric’s band
9. Krudas Cubensi (Cuban queer feminist hip-hop) turning Hollow Earth Radio into a huge dance party.
10. Setting up one of the raddest punk shows ever in the banquet room of the Moon Temple Chinese Food restaurant in Wallingford.

Favorite Local Cassette Releases
1. The Webs / Creakies
“Stay Holy” Split Cassette, self-released – “doom pop cool surf donut garage duh webs seattle the webs Seattle”
2. King Tears Bat Trip – S/T – Hanged Man Recordings – 4 drummers, tenor sax, guitar. “The folksy melodies seem as much like Haitian Vodou music as they do an Albert Ayler spirit song.”

3. La Luz – Damp Face EP, self-released – new “surf pop” band led by Shana Cleveland of the Curious Mystery.

4. Iboga S/T – Hanged Man Recordings – Kinda like Earth on the wrong speed.

5. Stefan Tcherepnin & Christopher DeLaurenti , Bleed the Capacitors: Heavy Analog Electronics Vols. 2 and 3 – Refined noise.

6. Ragana – All’s Lost – Olympia Black Metal

7. Nod & the Hob Goblins – S/T / Lost Sound Tapes – Goblin Doo Wop

8. Rat Riot! – Barbie Apocalypse – MASA Records – Bellingham teen punk.

9. Tiny Knives – Static / Stankhouse Records – Portland post-punk / riot grrrl

10. Black Hat – spectral disorder EP / self-released – Industrial improvised drone dance.

BAND LISTS

Top Ten Albums Of The Year As Selected By Josh Tillman of Father John Misty

10. Prez P. A. U. L. A. C. R. O. N. Y. M. S. 2055
9. Blood Diamond Vague Geometric Shapes
8. Assorted Bears Debts
7. Skyler No and Terror Maze Electric’s Grid
6. Holy Matrimony Retrograde Flux
5. Lil’ Cleopatra $$$ Intro-deucing: Return of The 2nd Queen: Reloaded (Pink Edition)
4. NOVUS ^{^}
3. Girl Camp Beach Cat
2. Tierro and Dempsey CEEEiling FrEEEquencies
1. Groupthink S/T

Guy Maddison’s (of Mudhoney) top ten list

1. Coco Marie Maddison’s first words and steps.
2. Barack Obama’s re-election.
3. Sydney Swans win the Premiership.
4. Mudhoney complete their new album.
5. Aung San Suu Kyi elected to parliament in Myanmar.
6. Bradley Wiggins becomes the first Englishman to win the Tour de France, and perhaps the first Mod to win any sporting event, ever.
7. Convinced 3 other people to join me in eating fermented, icelandic shark.
8. Mudhoney finally played Mogwai’s ATP curatorship.
9. Stoofvlees or Carbonade Flamande recipe perfected.
10. Seattle Cyclocross season 2012, by the way can Seven Cycles give me a “Mudhoney” frame for next season?

Kyle Thomas of King Tuff

1. Audacity- Mellow Cruisers
2. Gap Dream- s/t
3. Chris Weisman- Beatleboro
4. White Fang- High Expectations
5. Natural Child- For The Love Of The Game
6. The Memories- s/t
7. Tame Impala- Lonerism
8. Hector’s Pets
9. Fletcher C. Johnson- Salutations
10. The Babies- Our House On The Hill

Sera Cahoone
1. Breaking Bad season 5
2. Denver Broncos
3. Thee Satisfaction- Awe Natural
4. Kathleen Edwards- Voyageur
5. Toy poodles
6. Music for Marriage Equality
7. Bulliet Rye
8. Father John Misty- Fear Fun
9. Shovels and Ropes- Oh Be Joyful
10. Raquetball resurgence

Benjamin Weikel of The Helio Sequence
1. DIIV – Oshin
2. Menomena – Moms
3. Here We Go Magic – A Different Ship
4. Beach House – Bloom
5. Tame Impala – Lonerism
6. Ultraísta – Ultraísta
7. Lackthereof – Building Personal Strength
8. Pure Bathing Culture – S/T EP
9. Chairlift – Something
10. Opossom – Electric Hawaii

Here are my top 10 songs of 2012:

1. Menomena – “One Horse”
2. DIIV – “How Long Have You Known”
3. Beach House – “New Year”
4. Here We Go Magic – “Alone But Moving”
5. Tame Impala – “Apocalypse Dreams”
6. Mirroring – “Drowning the Call”
7. Ultraísta – “Bad Insect”
8. Lower Dens – “Propagation”
9. ERAAS – “Fang”
10. Lotus Plaza – “Jet Out of the Tundra”

Brandon Summers of The Helio Sequence

Ombre- Believe You Me
Menomena- Moms
Beach House- Bloom
Dirty Projectors- Swing Lo Magellan
Here We Go Magic- A Different Ship
Tame Impala- Lonerism
Tu Fawning- A Monument
Toy- Self Titled
DIIV- Oshin
The XX- Coexist

2012 Top Twelve in Chronological Order from Mark Arm of Mudhoney

Playing with OFF! and Grinderman in Australia (yes, that was last December, but I’m including this because top 10 lists screw December).

El Rancho, an uncrowded long left 20 minutes north of Perfect Rivermouth #27 (featured in the film Siestas & Olas)

Packing my house with so many good friends on my 50th.

feedtime. I never thought I’d get to see them, much less share a bill with them.

Washington & Oregon Coast (There’s no chronology here, because it can be great throughout the year.)

Watching Haramafuji win two consecutive tournaments without a single loss and his subsequent promotion to Yokozuna.

1994 Weingut Günther Steinmetz Brauneberger Juffer Riesling Auslese

Swans – The Seer (holy shit!)

The results of the Washington State and National elections, highlighted by watching Karl Rove deny reality when Ohio was called for Obama. Suck it Karl!

Covering Minor Threat’s “Filler” with Bitch Magnet.

Johnny Sangster’s recording & mixing and Bob Weston’s mastering

The night of Poggio Di Sotto Brunello di Montalcino 97, 98, 99, 01, plus a couple of others whose names were lost in the fog of wine.

Ryan of Ruby Suns
ten tubular tunes of 2012:

todd terje – inspector norse
bear in heaven – the reflection of you
el perro del mar – walk on by
ice choir – teletrips
when saints go machine – church and law
opossom – blue meanies
lawrence arabia – early kneecappings
boycrush – everybody all the time
bjork – mutual core
hot chip – don’t deny your heart

Chris Slorach of METZ
In no particular order:

Thee oh Sees – Putrifers II
Moon Duo – Circles
Mrs. Magician – Strange Heaven
Redd Kross – Researching the Blues
Swans – The Seer
Liars – WIXIW
Soupcans – Good Feelings
Teenanger – Frights
- The new song Patrick Flegel sent me he described as “very Butthole surfers”
- Finally putting out our record

Presenting: The Sub Pop Gift Guide; Or perhaps more accurately, The Things We Try and Sell You All Year Seasonally Repackaged in This Effective(?) Marketing Device

It’s the holiday season once again, and that means shopping for your loved ones, other ones, and yourselves.