NYC Indie Labels: True Panther Sounds
FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN: Like so many indie labels before it, True Panther Sounds began on a whim. Founder Dean Bein and his bandmates in a short-lived San Francisco punk band wanted to go on tour, so they pressed 500 copies of a 7”, booked a DIY tour and promptly sold out of the single.
Dean Bein with rapper Bun B
Instead of pocketing the money, they reinvested it in a second release by their friends in the Brooklyn band Standing Nudes. And the label was born.
But True Panther only really took off once Bein moved to Brooklyn where he saw an opportunity to introduce Bay Area artists to the NYC indie music industry. Two years later, he was signing a deal with Matador, who acquired True Panther as an imprint in 2009.
Last year, True Panther released critically acclaimed albums and EPs by Delorean, Girls, Magic Kids, Glasser, Tanlines and Teengirl Fantasy. Growing with a diverse and uninhibited roster, True Panther is also becoming that elusive label-as-curator, a source of music discovery for fans.
If you want to know what it takes to build a successful indie label, read on, but know up front that it takes a whole lotta heart. Bein is ambitious in the same way he describes the music he loves: that is, brave and adventurous, bright-eyed, exuberant. In many ways, he seems the embodiment of the label, or more to the point, of his audience — hard-core music fans looking for new, awesome sounds.
So True Panther started with releases by San Francisco artists. Tell us about the inspiration to do that once you’d relocated to NYC.
When I moved out here in ’07, I saw how quickly things happened in NYC with a new band. There is all this infrastructure here: it’s almost like if a band practices, they have a manager and a booking agent by the next day. In San Francisco, things don’t work that way. There’s really no industry. And people still hold onto the idea of legitimacy and cred and earning respect over time.
But I was really homesick for San Francisco and I thought it would be cool if someone here in NYC could champion the music I found exciting from the Bay Area. So I put out a single by Girls and then an album by Lemonade. And they both just took off to a level that I really didn’t expect at all.
Do you think that having that angle, or point of view, had anything to do with the label’s success?
I think there might be a certain small pond benefit. I think that can be an element in what can make someone succeed: being the defining voice of a community and either serving or representing that community to the outside world. Whether that be a set of people, or a place, or a type of production, a certain beat of dance music, etc. there’s so much music; people want help processing it.
And [at the same time] I feel like True Panther doesn’t have that angle anymore. At this point, the music comes from all over, and from every genre. Sometimes I wish it was a bit more focused. But there are common threads between what the bands are doing, even though maybe it’s not so explicit.
How did you open up to other acts, after those initial releases? Was there an idea, guiding principles of what you wanted to build True Panther into?
Well that’s the question I’m very much trying to answer in this new year. In the beginning it was very regional and based on personal relationships. And then last year we had this flood of releases — all of this exciting music. I felt really confident that these records were good and that people would like them, and to a certain extent it was about what I wanted to listen to.
But I can see the label growing now, and with that, I feel a much bigger responsibility to try to carry on this thread without any sort of markers. Somehow these disparate points on a map have to connect and you have to create new points and it has to make sense in this language that doesn’t even really exist.
Do you feel like you have a conscious idea of what you look for in an artist?
Yes, though it’s also somewhat vague, but I look for artists who are ambitious, and who are at least playing with, or challenging convention. And by ambitious, I mean brave and adventurous, playing with these formulas to try and make something that is, if not new, unique to the people making it.
I grew up listening to punk and hard-core and the reason I was drawn to that music was really much more about ambience, and the feeling it created. A hardcore record creates an environment. It wasn’t about hooks, or melodies that stick with you; it’s more about a feeling. And so honestly, I don’t think I have a very refined ear for songs necessarily. When I hear new things, I’m always drawn to that feeling it creates, the atmosphere, the story.
But this doesn’t preclude you discovering and being drawn to poppy music, like Magic Kids, that record is pretty classic pop.
Yeah, and actually Magic Kids is a good example: I remember going to see them two years ago and it was a real A&R fest and they finished playing and I talked to someone else who ran a label and I was like ‘god, that was great! I love these guys!’ and he was like ‘yeah, it’s pretty cool, but they don’t have any songs.’ And I really didn’t understand what that meant. I wasn’t really listening for the songs.
Well but other A&R or record labels may focus too much on the song, and miss out on an act that creates that amazing transporting effect that music can have. And I guess that’s one of the threads through your roster, is that they all evoke something.
Yeah. I hope so.
How involved are you with development of the artists you work with?
Very. I place a lot of importance on artist development. Things like the Glasser record and the Girls record – they are very opinionated, strong-willed artists. Magic Kids, too. There were lots of notes back and forth during mixing.
I think sometimes when people are recording, they get so deep into it, they can’t really hear it anymore. It’s helpful to get notes from someone who’s a fan, but who also spends 12-14 hours a day listening to music, and who hasn’t heard the material before. And it definitely varies the extent to which people are trying to take the notes.
There have been a few extended arguments over sequencing and stuff, but that’s the process: if on one hand I’m going to say these are releases that I personally really like, and that’s a thread tying True Panther together, then in turn I have a personal responsibility to the artist and the audience to voice my opinions. To an extent. Ultimately it’s the artists’ call. But it is a conversation and a process, and it’s a process that I enjoy.
Outside of the bands and you, and Matador, are there producers you consider part of the extended True Panther family?
Absolutely. Especially when you’re starting out, you rely heavily on favors. Chris Coady recorded and engineered the first Lemonade album for practically nothing. And actually the guys from Tanlines produced the Lemonade EP. There is a True Panther community and I feel like it’s expanding every day. Shane Stoneback (who engineered Magic Kids) was an incredible person to meet. He’s so talented and hard working. I feel really close to the people who are responsible for capturing those sounds.
And Chris Coady mixed the Delorean record, Subiza, which is awesome. I love that record.
Yeah, glad you like it! I met Delorean two summers ago when Girls and Lemonade played Primavera. We stayed at Ekhi [Lopetegi, of Delorean]’s house. We became friends and he started sending me tracks for this album. It was totally informal, completely friendly, just two music fans, and me giving my notes on it. And at one point, we realized they had an album. And it was really good! I asked if he wanted True Panther to put it out, and he said yes.
And I feel like I was allowed to participate in the creation of the record more so than if I’d actually been involved as the label, as “the man.” It was a nice process. Chris Coady and I would talk a lot, as they were mixing it over Skype. It really makes me feel like the label is accomplishing something worthwhile when you can draw a thread through these people and different musicians can find one another, forge friendships and collaborations, etc.
Like, Tanlines has a song with Glasser; Magic Kids and Delorean met and became friends and now they exchange home recording tips. And Chris very much feels like a part of that, and Jesse and Eric from Tanlines, and Shane Stoneback.
What other skills do you think you have that enable you to do this successfully, besides having that point of view of music fan?
You really do have to love the music, and you really have to trust yourself and be honest with yourself about the music. There has to be an ability to step outside of yourself and to know people, and be able to step away from something and see it for what it is, and what could possibly appeal or not appeal to people about it.
And just like any other field, a knowledge of the history, and the trends that come and go, helps a lot, because you start to see pretty significant patterns in the way that people embrace certain kinds of music. I spend a lot of time listening to older music, just filling up my memory banks with information.
On the business side, the most important thing — and this is something that applies to any small business — is scale and patience. I always thought if I scaled things properly, I could take a small amount of money and keep reinvesting it and with a little bit of luck, just keep it growing at a steady pace, but only if you approach each release with humility and patience. Allow people to come to the music. And try to be realistic about the number of people it can reach.
How do you make sure you’re out ahead of what’s going on just enough that you’re not following a trend, but contributing something new? What do you do to immerse yourself in the music being made right now and stay on top of all that?
Well I still listen to every single demo that I get, and I get recommendations. And I try to be pretty deliberate about it, starting with something that is really immediate and visceral: I like this. And if you have that response, then you have to step back and listen to it in a different context; listen to it on different headphones, listen to it in the car, in the subway, and then see it live.
See the audience: what does the audience look like? What context do you see them listening to it in? And what other artists is this like? If there are no other similar artists, what could it become? And what is happening in music? What are some new things that have happened recently, does this music reflect a movement in that direction?
What has been the record that has sold the most and what did that tell you?
It’s Girls. And actually what I took away from that experience was to really think about what gives music value. What makes people actually want to own music enough to pay for it? I have some criteria, four questions that I think address what value music can have for people:
1) Does it make you feel smart? Not is it smarter than you, but does it enrich you? Does it make you feel like you’re taking part in something that’s enlightened or intelligent?
2) Does it make you feel like you’re stepping into another world where maybe you haven’t been before? In Girls’ case, it’s San Francisco, which I’ve found is kind of a blank canvas for a lot of people. Do you feel like you’re stepping into this world?
3) Does it make you feel young? Does it make you feel nostalgic in its exuberance, (but not in its essence or aesthetic)? Is it ambitious and bright-eyed without being retro?
4) Do you feel an emotional connection?
Yeah, and #2 and #3 can often get you to #4. The feeling of being transported by music can be emotional. Thanks for sharing all that! SO what’s up next? Can you fill us in on any upcoming True Panther releases?
There’s this band from Portland called Unknown Mortal Orchestra. And it’s funny, the cycle couldn’t have been any shorter with him. He literally recorded a song in like 6 hours, put it on Bandcamp and 24 hours later it was on some blogs, and then 3 days later I emailed him.
So the song must have really done it for you…
But again, it wasn’t the song; it was the feeling! He’s writing these 60s style Northern soul and R&B but garagey songs with really intricate, awesome guitar lines, but he put it all over these really funky classic hip-hop breaks. I just liked the sound so much – I thought it was really cool that something could sound so old and yet completely new. He kept sending songs, and it turned from a 7” to a 12” (a 9-song EP). That will come out in March.
And you typically put out a smaller-run of vinyl first?
Yeah, I mean it’s not the law, but that’s the idea with the smaller releases – that it starts with something that feels precious and personal. It’s just 12” that feel good, that you can put up on your shelf and listen to.
There’s also going to be an EP by Zoo Kid, a 16-year-old kid from London who sounds like Billy Bragg. And we’re putting out a Fucked Up 12” that Shane Stoneback engineered. That’s part of their Zodiac series of EPs. There will also be a new Girls album in the Fall — they’re recording it now.
What else do you see going on out there that’s exciting right now?
This dude Robin Carolan does a label called Tri Angle. It’s often described as witch-house music — I see it more as bedroom producers playing with pop music, and hip-hop and rap in really subversive and experimental ways. He’s curated this selection of artists that do that in this post-Salem world. Check out Balam Acab.
Thanks Dean!
For more on True Panthers, and to check out some music, visit http://www.truepanther.com.