Modern Radio is one of the finest local record labels the Twin Cities has ever seen. Congrats on 10 years guys, it sounds like a helluva way to celebrate!
Friday, January 22nd at the Turf Club
FT (The Shadow Government)
Daughters of the Sun
The Chambermaids
Double Bird
Sheridan Fox (His Mischief)
21+, doors at 9PM – $7Saturday, January 23rd at the Cedar Cultural Center
The Plastic Constellations
Skoal Kodiak
Vampire Hands
STNNNG
and more!
All Ages, doors at 4:30PM – $10
Tickets onsale this Friday (Nov 20th) @ The Cedar and participating outlets
Read more info about Modern Radio’s 10 years of accomplishments & history:
Modern Radio Record Label was conceived by Tom Loftus in the Spring of 1999. The label was founded to support a growing community of artists in the Twin Cities and to give back to those musicians that he so enjoyed. It all began in the Summer of 1999 with three releases, The Misfires LP/CD, The Hidden Chord 7″ and a split 7″ with Killsadie and Brand New Unit. You may recognize members of Killsadie as they later moved on to form such bands as Minus the Bear and Pretty Girls Make Graves. Brian from The Hidden Chord, who also played in The Misfires with David and Pete, later joined Signal To Trust. Over the years this type of three degrees of separation or list of “former members of” became common in a growing community of artists associated with Modern Radio.
Over the years, Modern Radio has proved to be the perfect place for so many artists to establish themselves. In the year 2000, Modern Radio would bring you the first full-length by a young band of high school friends The Plastic Constellations. In the next decade, the band would become a Twin Cities institution and later sign to French Kiss Records. Later that Summer, Modern Radio would release the first CDEP by Motion City Soundtrack, a band that eventually signed to Epitaph Records and now calls Columbia Records their home. Every band has its inception, its starting point.
Many artists found Modern Radio as a welcome home for a variety of unique projects, In the summer of 2001, Olympia artist Mirah released the Small Sale 7″ on Modern Radio in time for the legendary Yoyo A Go Go music festival which included The Gossip, Sleater-Kinney and Cat Power. Mirah has since released four full-length albums on K Records and has toured the world serveral times, but she never lost touch with Tom and his Twin Cities label. In 2008, the songs from that modest 7″ were reissued on CD along with a collection of rarities, imports and out-of-print material titled The Old Days Feeling.
A growing tradition of unique projects by larger artists outside of the Twin Cities continued in 2004 with the release of the Let’s Be Active: Keep The Fuzz Off My Buzz LP. The LP jackets for the album were handmade by the artists and was released for a Midwest tour. The project was in response to the Iraq war and negative spirit taking over the country. The artists were FT (The Shadow Government), Paradise Island (Jenny from Erase Errata) Jarrett Mitchell and William Elliott Whitmore (Anti Records). A documentary of the tour was later released on DVD and received glowing reviews. Later that year, Modern Radio had yet another opportunity to work with some amazing bands on a special project when they released a split 7″ with Minneapolis band Sicbay and San Francisco’s Deerhoof. Deerhoof has released countless records with the Kill Rock Stars label and have become a household name in the independent music world.
2005 officially marked long time friend, Peter Mielech, joining the label and becoming a full partner. The first record he contributed to was the first full-length release by STNNNG, Dignified Sissy. Later that year STNNNG would stun a First Avenue audience at the MN Music Awards and the band would be voted Best New Band in City Pages’ annual Picked to Click poll.
Now with Tom completing his master’s degree work and a new co-conspirator in Pete, Modern Radio seemed poised to take over 2006. Modern Radio put out a dozen releases culminating with the 4th Annual Lunch Show, featuring the dual release of new records by STNNNG and Signal To Trust. As if there wasn’t enough to mark the occasion, surprise opener Shellac made a special trip to play the show. Local press took note of the label’s banner year when City Pages named Modern Radio Best Record Label of the Twin Cities for 2006.
In an act of nonconformity, Modern Radio pulled out all the stops to celebrate its Nine Year Anniversary. To mark the occasion six shows were planned, including flying in artists Yellow Swans and Mirah and reuniting five Twin Cities bands including Malachi Constant, Grotto and Volante. 2008 also saw a new record by rising stars Vampire Hands with Me & You Cherry Red. The album would later chart in CMJ’s Top 50, and the band would tour with indie buzz-band Wavves.
So what does Modern Radio have in store for the future? Modern Radio will bo re-launching and updating the website and webstore. This will include the infamous message board that has become the place to go for goings on in the Twin Cities, receiving over a million hits per month. Modern Radio is excited to welcome Skoal Kodiak to the label with a new record this Spring, as well as STNNNG’s third full-length in 2010. However, first and foremost the label will be celebrating their 10 Year Anniversary with a weekend of great music. Friday, January 22 at the Turf Club and Saturday, January 23 at the Cedar Cultural Center. Stay tuned for more info as the weeks grow closer. It will be a weekend to remember.
