Darla Records

Darla Records is an independent record label founded by James Agren (in October 1993) while he was in New York. Darla Record's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters, an indie rock/lo-fi band from Memphis.

Background

The music of the artists on the label includes electronica, indie pop and rock, and Americana. Darla is currently focused on ambient. Darla is a label, distributor and online retailer. Darla Records is home to over 200 exclusively distributed labels including Ad Noiseam, Audio Dregs Recordings, Ici d'Aileurs, Elefant, LTM, Le Grand Magistery, Matinee, Ohm Resistance, Siesta and Words On Music.

The label created a series, known as Bliss Out. The series' moniker is a reference to Blissed Out: The Rapture of Rock — a tome authored by Simon Reynolds, a notable rock music critic based in Britain. The Little Darla Has A Treat For You semi-quarterly compilation series features artists and labels Darla Records works with closely and is very popular. This series was named after the Little Debbie snack treats.

The label's moniker is not a reference to Darla Hood, the little girl from the Our Gang comedies (known as The Little Rascals on television), but comes from a yet-to-be-acknowledged bit of Americana. James noted while record collecting that many regional independent labels in the '50s had women's names and national hits: Laurie, Paula, Sue, Tamla, etc. In the '80s and '90s there were popular indie-pop labels Sarah and Harriet.

Since 1993 Darla has been a label and distributor. Darla became an online retailer in 1996. in 2009 Darla began offering digital downloads from their own website. James Agren and Chandra Tobey run Darla Records from a 1,250 sq ft (116 m²) barn on their avocado and cherimoya farm in the hills of north San Diego county.

Acts on label

Since its inception, Darla has been host to several notable acts. Musical outfits whose recordings have been released by this label include:

Aarktica Alsace Lorraine American Analog Set Amp Auburn Lull Bright California Oranges Desario Flare Flowchart (band) Follow The Train Füxa Hammock Harold Budd Holiday Flyer hollAnd I Am Robot And Proud ISAN Japancakes Junior Varsity KM LD & the New Criticism Lowlights Mahogany Manual

Maquiladora Mirza My Morning Jacket New Radiant Storm King Pale Horse and Rider Photon Band (band) Piano Magic Robin Guthrie Rumskib Saloon Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers Sprites Superdrag Steven R. Smith Sweet Trip Tomorrowland Tullycraft Voxtrot Windy & Carl

DARLA

From San Francisco to Sacramento and finally rural San Diego

Before long, Darla outgrew its one-bedroom apartment and 350 sq ft (33 m²). ground floor office space. James and Chandra relocated Darla to Sacramento, California in October 2000. Darla moved in October 2002 to rural north county San Diego. Darla Records is now in the least populated part of coastal southern California; known for its quality surf, palm and fruit tree nurseries and the best avocados in the world -- Vista, California.

See also

• List of record labels

External links

• Official site