[Image from ‘Disruptor,’ Lucas Reif’s Zine]

After reading through hundreds of wonderfully thoughtful and inspirational applications, we here at Sub Pop Records have chosen three extraordinarily qualified students for our Sub Pop Loser scholarship.

Our $7000 winner this year is Lucas Reif of Redmond, Washington. Lucas won us over big-time with his explosive poster art for various local all-ages punk shows. His visual art skills were on display through photography, zine creation, web design, screen printing, and a variety of other formats. In the local community, Lucas volunteered at Ground Zero, worked with the EMP Youth Advisory Board, plays in a band called Kids Menu, and supports bands like GAG in our local all-ages spaces. We feel strongly that Lucas has a bright future ahead of him, and although he may think there is a tangible disconnect between him and the cool kids, he is probably one of the coolest and most talented kids to ever apply for our Loser Scholarship. 

Rosabelle Heine will be taking home $5000 this year as a Sub Pop Loser Scholarship winner. From Ashland, Oregon, Rosabelle is one of the most talented and multi-faceted artists we’ve seen in our nine years of looking at Loser Scholarship applications. Her photography, especially the set design, lighting, and thoroughly thought-out concepts really stunned us; her photos are beautifully executed. She is a multi-instrumentalist playing violin, mandolin, busking on the drums, and occasionally making killer beats to rap over. Her community contributions include organizing public youth symphony performances, mural painting, film festival volunteering, building archways in local parks, and fundraising for art lessons for low income students. We love her creative spirit and think that whichever school is lucky enough to have her will be much better off with Rosabelle. Here is Rosabelle’s blog: http://sublimeclementine.com/

Chan Ha Kim will be getting $3000 as a Sub Pop Loser Scholarship winner. Animation and drawing seem to come easy to Chan and they have been her passion since a young age. After immigrating to the Everett area from South Korea, Chan really blossomed as a visual artist and started to win many awards for her very compelling drawings and animations. Not content to just be a stunning visual artist, Chan has helped other Koreans seeking artistic support to find resources in the United States while also hosting volunteer art workshops for children at her home. Wow, her altruistic support of the arts really touched our hearts. But altruism isn’t her only strength, she works on animations and drawings for at least two hours every day and is very dedicated to her craft, volunteering and interning to gain more knowledge at various local organizations. We know there are big things in the future for Chan and her beautiful animations. Here is Chan’s Tumblr: http://verrou.tumblr.com/

This year may have been the strongest field of applicants for the Loser Scholarship so far! For those losers who didn’t win this year, thanks for playing, we loved your applications too, and know many of you will go on to inspire us in the future.

Maybe you woke up

today and thought: “At last, it’s

World Poetry Day.”

A special day that

I didn’t know existed

until recently.

Now it’s spring-time at

the airport, with many new

great albums for sale.

A perfect time to

express ourselves and stir you

to buy some stuff here.

To commemorate

this occasion, I asked the

store to write haiku

inspired by the

Danny Bland book of haiku.

So, please enjoy this

jaunt into haiku.

But don’t worry. We plan on

keeping our day jobs.

___________________________________________________________

Shearwater’s protest

flies towards the horizon; lush

powerful, and grand.

He was good as gone

Subconscious day dreamer

Pay him no bother

Mass Gothic’s New York

City nights shine bright, a life

of vast excitement

You nearly killed me

With a tomato plant now

Let’s toast to spring break

Red pill or blue pill?

So Pitted’s Neo sees both

palms melt to acid

Talking to myself

Some things are better off not said

Hungry for a bed

What emanates from

those Gazebos? Whoas or woes?

A dizzy allure

Fuck you Spring. Fuck you

wet dream and fuck you rainbow

over my dead bod.

West coast psych spells spout

from Heron Oblivion’s

tall molten spires

Come to here; products

various music, shirt, disc

option. Next time, yes?

A new career here

Dark pop’s frontier future. Now,

that is Omori

What’s in a haiku?

Feelings wrought in syllables

and lessons to learn.

This Friday, March 18th, the highly-trained music industry professionals from Sub Pop Records will host “Back by Zero Demand,” our 2016 SXSW showcase at The Blackheart in Austin. Featuring performances from Mass Gothic, Cullen Omori, So Pitted, Arbor Labor Union, Porter Ray, and Strange Wilds. This showcase is 21+/doors at 7:30pm.

On Friday, March 18th the highly-trained music industry professionals from Sub Pop Records will host “Back by Zero Demand,” our 2016 SXSW showcase. The event, held at The Blackheart in Austin, will feature performances from Mass Gothic, Cullen Omori, So Pitted, Arbor Labor Union, Porter Ray, and Strange Wilds. The showcase is 21 and over, and doors are at 7:30pm.

BACK BY ZERO DEMAND:
Sub Pop’s SXSW 2016 Showcase
At The Blackheart/Austin

Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1756142247943004/

1:00 AM Mass Gothic
12:00 AM Cullen Omori
11:00 PM So Pitted
10:00 PM Arbor Labor Union
9:00 PM Porter Ray
8:00 PM Strange Wilds

Address: 86 Rainey St, Austin, TX 78701
Doors 7:30pm / 21+

From the altogether official press release, courtesy of our new friends at Alaska Airlines…

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Twitter exchange sparks new in-flight partnership with Sub Pop Records

BY KEEGAN PROSSER for Alaska Airlines

Looking for something fresh and exciting to do during your next flight? Then Alaska has some good news for you. Beginning this month, the airline is partnering with Seattle’s Sub Pop Records to bring some of the label’s best music onboard – for free. 

Launched with Beach House’s latest album Thank Your Lucky Stars on February 1, the new program offers fliers the chance to listen to one complimentary featured Sub Pop title per month on Alaska Beyond Entertainment, Alaska’s direct-to-your-device inflight entertainment service, and two albums per quarter on the rentable tablets. 

“We didn’t have inflight entertainment on most of our flights until about a year and a half ago,” says David Scotland, manager of inflight entertainment and connectivity for the airline, adding that one of Alaska’s priorities is to ensure that customers aren’t receiving “plain vanilla anything” aboard its flights. “We have our own unique way of designing every experience of travel – from locally sourced food to space-enhancing seats and now music,” he continues, noting that the record label takes a similar approach in curating its artists. “And Sub Pop is a way for us to do that in the music and entertainment space.”

The partnership itself came about when a former Sub Pop employee was on an Alaska flight and tweeted to ask why the two companies weren’t working together. Soon after, the Twitter conversation turned into a real plan of action.

“There’s definitely a big appeal for doing something specifically with Alaska,” notes Chris Jacobs, General Manager of Sub Pop Records. “Because Sub Pop is so overtly and proudly associated with the region, and so is Alaska, it makes sense.” According to Jacobs, albums selected for the streaming and tablet platforms are based on timeliness and appeal to a variety of listeners, with March’s featured album set to be Shearwater’s latest release Jet Plane and Oxbow. “The music we put out can range pretty widely, from relatively accessible to relatively not,” Jacobs says of the label. “So we are trying to focus on bands at the more accessible end.”

In that spirit, Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiberg sees the inflight entertainment platform as a great way to gain new fans. “My hope is that the record feels accessible and friendly on first listen but has enough depth and detail that you’ll want to play it again,” he explains of the project, which pairs dreamy indie rock with punchy ‘80s synths. “We spent many weeks laboring over the texture and colors of the sounds.” He also sees it as a great alternative for his music to be consumed. “I’m just glad for the chance to reach people who might never hear our music otherwise.”

And fellow Sub Pop artist Cullen Omori, whose solo debut New Misery will be featured on Alaska flights in April, shares the sentiment. “There’s no better audience,” says the former Smith Westerns vocalist, whose collection of genre-bending pop rock cuts hits stores March 18. “You have a captive audience that’s stuck on a plane for X amount of hours. And so, there’s no better time to pitch them some music to listen to.”

As Scotland points out, teaming up with local brands such as Sub Pop, the Seattle International Film Festival, fashion designer Luly Yang and Tom Douglas restaurants enables Alaska to deepen the relationship it’s built with core customers and provide them with a piece of home. “One of the things that our customers from the Seattle area tell us very often is that they feel like they’re already home when they get on the plane, and there’s a comfort there.” But it also leaves a lasting impression with customers who may be flying in the region for the first time. “There is something cool and unique about the PNW,” he continues. “We do march to the beat of our own drum. We’re not like the rest of the country. And being an airline, we get to introduce a lot of people to some of the best parts of the Pacific Northwest.”

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Guest Writer Keegan Prosser is a full-time pop culture junkie and part-time freelance music journalist who is based in Seattle and has contributed to Seattle Weekly and RollingStone.com. When she’s not writing about Justin Bieber for radio prep service ReelWorld.com, Keegan flies Alaska to cities with good food, great people and exceptional live music.

[Originally published February 26th on alaskaair.com]