Young God Records is an

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

formed by

Michael Gira Michael Rolfe Gira (; born February 19, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, author and artist. He is the main force behind the New York City musical group Swans and fronted Angels of Light. He is also the founder of ...

in 1990 that specializes in

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

and often non genre-specific releases. The label was named after an EP released by Gira's band

Swans Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

called '' Young God''. The label's original intent was to facilitate the release of Swans' music, but while the band was disbanded Young God grew to host the

Angels of Light Angels of Light were an American folk band that was formed circa 1998 by singer-songwriter and musician Michael Gira after he disbanded Swans, the group he had founded in 1982. The band has marked a distinctly different style for Gira since he ...

as well as a number of other unique bands and artists, including:

Akron/Family Akron/Family were an American folk-influenced experimental rock band active from 2002 to 2013. Former members have lived in Portland, Oregon; Los Angeles, California; and Joshua Tree, California. Music and history Though each member of the band� ...

, Devendra Banhart,

Lisa Germano Lisa Ruth Germano (born June 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Indiana. Her album '' Geek the Girl'' (1994) was chosen as a top album of the 1990s by ''Spin'' magazine. She began her career as a violinist ...

Ulan Bator Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north cen ...

, and Mi and L'au. Swans was re-formed in 2010, and began again releasing music under the Young God label. In 2012, Gira told Pitchfork that Young God would not be putting out any new albums by other bands, citing the decline in revenue.

List of artists

* The Angels of Light * Devendra Banhart *

James Blackshaw James Blackshaw (born 1981) is an English, Hastings-based folk fingerstyle guitarist and pianist. Blackshaw primarily plays an acoustic 12 string guitar and has been compared to Bert Jansch, Robbie Basho, John Fahey, Jack Rose, and Leo Kottke. ...

The Body Lovers / The Body Haters The Body Lovers and The Body Haters were experimental music projects led by composer Michael Gira between 1998 and 1999 following the breakup of Swans in 1997. Both projects served as an outlet for Gira's loop experimentation within the drone a ...

Calla ''Calla'' (bog arum, marsh calla, wild calla, squaw claw, and water-arumDickinson, T.; Metsger, D.; Bull, J.; & Dickinson, R. (2004) ROM Field Guide to Wildflowers of Ontario. Toronto:Royal Ontario Museum, p. 62.) is a genus of flowering plant i ...

* David Coulter * Fire on Fire * Flux Information Sciences *

Larkin Grimm Larkin Grimm (born September 18, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician based in New York City. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Early life and career At age 20 Grimm dropped out of Yale University and moved to Alaska, where sh ...

* Mi and L'au * Larsen *

Charlemagne Palestine Chaim Moshe Tzadik Palestine (born 1947), known professionally as Charlemagne Palestine, is an American visual artist and musician. He has been described as being one of the founders of New York school of minimalist music, first initiated by La ...

/ David Coulter / Jean Marie Mathoul *

Windsor for the Derby Windsor for the Derby are an American post-rock band formed in Tampa, Florida, in 1995 and currently based in Austin, Texas. Since their formation, the group has released many albums through labels such as Trance Syndicate, Young God Records, an ...

Wooden Wand Wooden Wand is the stage name of singer-songwriter James Jackson Toth, who has recorded under his given name as well as the name WAND. The style of music recorded by Toth and his many incarnations has drawn on a variety of both conventional and ex ...

References

External links

Official site

Naturalismo Interview with Akron/Family

Naturalismo Interview with Mi & L'au

Naturalismo Interview with Fire on FireNaturalismo Interview with Larkin Grimm, November 2008
American independent record labels Record labels established in 1990 Vanity record labels Alternative rock record labels Experimental music record labels Swans (band) {{US-independent-record-label-stub

List of artists

See also

References

External links