SL Records was a record label based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was founded in 1997 and is known for releasing

anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes spelled antifolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in New York City, founded by the musician, author and comedian Lach, as a reaction to the commercialization of folk music. It is characterized by its DIY ethos, ...

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

, and

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

albums. The label's first release was the compilation album ''It's a Life Sentence'', which was released in May 1997. The album compiled tracks by different artists who had performed live on a radio show co-hosted by Ed Pybus, who later became the label's founder, along with his flatmate Merlin Kemp. Pybus started the label soon after graduating from university; "SL" in the label's name stands for "

student loan A student loan is a type of loan designed to help students pay for post-secondary education and the associated fees, such as tuition, books and supplies, and living expenses. It may differ from other types of loans in the fact that the interest ...

s". The label came to greater attention after its first single, Khaya's "Summer/Winter Song," was played on air by multiple British radio hosts, including

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...

Notable artists

Notable current or former SL Records artists include the following: * Ballboy *

Dawn of the Replicants Dawn of the Replicants are a Scotland, Scottish indie rock quintet from Galashiels. Four of the 1997 line-up (Pringle, Vickers, Simian and Small) had previously worked together on the short-lived Scottish music journalism, music magazine, ''Sun ...

Misty's Big Adventure Misty's Big Adventure were an English indie pop band, formed in 1996 in Birmingham by singer-songwriter Gareth Jones (AKA Grandmaster Gareth). Their music incorporated elements of jazz, lounge, psychedelia, 2 tone, pop and punk. The band was ...

* Saint Jude’s Infirmary *

Withered Hand Dan Willson (born 23 July 1974), also known by his stage name Withered Hand, is an Edinburgh-based indie rock musician. His first studio album, '' Good News'', was released in 2009 in Scotland, and re-released in 2011 on Absolutely Kosher R ...

References

Record labels established in 1997 Scottish record labels 1997 establishments in Scotland Companies based in Edinburgh {{UK-record-label-stub