SALES (stylized in all caps) is an American guitar-based
indie pop
Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...
band from
Orlando, Florida
Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...
. The band's members are musicians Lauren Morgan and Jordan Shih.
They are joined on tour by Malcolm Martin, who serves as the live drummer and percussionist.
In July 2014, the band was named "Ones to Watch" for the second half of 2014 by
The Hype Machine
Hype Machine is a music blog aggregator created by Anthony Volodkin.
History
Hype Machine was originally a music database created in 2005 by Anthony Volodkin, then a sophomore computer science major at Hunter College.Heilemann, JohCapturing the ...
as it being one of the most blogged artists yet to release a long play album.
The band is independent and self-released their first
7" single
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separate ...
''Renee/Tonka Time'' on December 1, 2013, through the music platform
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
. Their first
EP was released in September 2014, and their first
album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
in April 2016.
Artwork for all of the band's releases is done by collage artist and designer Alana Questell.
History
Morgan (guitar, vocals) and Shih (guitar, programming) formed the band in Orlando, Florida after the longtime friends had been recording music together on and off for several years. Their latest musical project, SALES, is based on vocal and instrumental improvisation as well as
sampling.
On January 31, 2014, the first day of the
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is the festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar and solar Chinese calendar. In Sinophone, Chinese and other East Asian cultures, the festival is commonly r ...
, the band released their second single titled "Chinese New Year". The band subsequently received positive acclaim from music
blogs
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
, including ''
CMJ
CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events and online media company, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music Monthly'' and ''CMJ New Music Report''. Th ...
'', ''
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
'', and ''
Pigeons and Planes
Complex Networks is an American media and entertainment company for youth culture, based in New York City. It was founded as a bi-monthly magazine, ''Complex'', by fashion designer Marc Ecko, Marc (Ecko) Milecofsky. Complex Networks reports on ...
''.
CMJ described the track as a "...sandy, sashaying tune with singer Lauren Morgan's slightly cooing vocals skipping over upbeat guitars and a little synthy buzz. At least the Year of the Horse is sounding pretty good so far."
On September 16, the band announced the release of their debut
EP, along with a remix by fellow Orlando musician
XXYYXX
Marcel Everett (born October 31, 1995), better known as XXYYXX, is an electronic musician and record producer from Orlando, Florida, formerly signed to the label Relief in Abstract.
His style is likened to Clams Casino, Zomby, Burial, James Bl ...
. They released their EP, along with a track titled "Getting It On" on September 22, 2014.
On April 12, 2016, the band hosted a live
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle con ...
stream and listening party where they played tracks from their upcoming self-titled debut and revealed the artwork by Alana Questell. The album, titled ''Sales LP'', was released on April 20, 2016. In one review by ''
DIY
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
'' the band's self-titled album was rated at 4/5 stars and described as having "a gift for appearing both shy and direct".
On August 18, 2016, the band announced via their Facebook page that an additional member, drummer Joy Cyr, would be joining for their 2016 touring season.
By April 2017, Cyr had been replaced by Malcolm Martin, who has continued as its touring drummer, and is frequently tagged and featured in photos on their social media. However, Martin is not listed as an official band member on its Facebook or Bandcamp.
The band still brands itself as a "duo" on its Twitter.
In September 2017, the band released the single, "Talk a Lot". They followed this up with the single "Off and On" in February 2018, and "White Jeans" in May 2018. In July 2018, Sales released its second album, ''Forever & Ever''. The cover photo was taken by Malcolm Martin, a contrast to their previous releases, in which all artwork had been done by Alana Questell. The three single covers also featured photographs, though it is unclear who took the photos from their website.
In one review by ''
Pitchfork
A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...
'', ''Forever & Ever'' was rated at 7.0/10 and described as "a world of cozy, minimalist pop."
As of April 26, 2020, Sales had 3,647,906 monthly listeners on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
. Between March 28 and May 5, 2019 they toured across the southern portion of the United States. In 2020, two of the band's songs, "Renee" and "Chinese New Year" went viral on
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
. In December 2021, the band's song "Pope Is a Rockstar" went viral on
TikTok
TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes.
TikTok is an international version ...
.
Discography
Albums
* ''Sales LP'' (2016, self-released)
* ''Forever & Ever'' (2018, self-released)
Compilations
*''Majestic Casual II'' (2014, Majestic)
*''Those Who Were Once Friends Are Now Fam'' (2014,
Odd Castles)
EP
* ''Sales EP'' (2014)
Singles
* "Renee/Tonka Time" 7" (2013, self-released)
* "Renee" (2013, self-released)
* "Chinese New Year" (2014, self-released)
* "Vow" (2014, self-released)
* "Toto" (2014, self-released)
* "Jamz" (2016, self-released)
* "Ivy" (2016, self-released)
* "Pope is a Rockstar" (2016, self-released)
* "For You" (2016, self-released)
* "Talk a Lot" (2017, self-released)
* "Off and On"
(2018, self-released)
* "White Jeans" (2018, self-released)
* "Can't Be Yours Forever" (2021)
* "Moving by Backwards" (2022)
* "July" (2022)
References
External links
* {{URL, wearenotsales.com, the band's official website
Indie rock musical groups from Florida
Musical groups established in 2013
Musical groups from Orlando, Florida
Feminist musicians
2013 establishments in Florida