Darla 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 ...

founded by James Agren in October 1993 while he was in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. Darla's first release was a 7-inch by Grifters, an

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...

band from Memphis.

Background

The music of the artists on the label includes

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 s ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

, ambient, and Americana. Darla is a label, distributor, and online retailer. Darla Records is home to over 200 exclusively distributed labels including Ad Noiseam, Audio Dregs Recordings, Ici d'Ailleurs, Elefant, LTM,

Le Grand Magistery Le Grand Magistery is an independent record label operating out of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan since 1996. They have been home to a number of artists including A Cuckoo, A Girl Called Eddy, Always, Baxendale, The Blood Group, Cinéma Vérité, ...

, Matinee, Ohm Resistance, Siesta, and Words On Music. The label created a series, known as Bliss Out in 1996. The series focused on ambient, electronic, and instrumental music. The moniker for the series is a reference to ''Blissed Out: The Rapture of Rock'' — a tome authored by

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on musi ...

, a notable

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...

critic based in Britain. The Little Darla Has A Treat For You semi-quarterly compilation series features artists and labels Darla Records works with closely, and is very popular. This series was named after the Little Debbie snack treats. The label's moniker is not a reference to

Darla Hood Darla Jean Hood (November 8, 1931 – June 13, 1979) was an American child actress, best known as the leading lady in the ''Our Gang'' series from 1935 to 1941. She was born in Leedey, Oklahoma, the only child of music teacher Elizabeth Da ...

, the little girl from the ''

Our Gang ''Our Gang'' (also known as ''The Little Rascals'' or ''Hal Roach's Rascals'') is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the ...

'' comedies (known as ''The Little Rascals'' on television), but comes from a yet-to-be-acknowledged bit of Americana. James noted while record collecting that many regional independent labels in the 1950s had women's names and national hits: Laurie, Paula, Sue, Tamla, etc. In the 1980s and 1990s there were popular indie-pop labels Sarah and Harriet. Since 1993, Darla has been a label and distributor. Darla started selling music online in 1996. In February 2007, American

webzine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a print magazine format to being online only was the computer maga ...

Somewhere Cold Somewherecold Records (formerly Somewhere Cold Records) is an American independent record label established in late 2004 by Jason T. Lamoreaux. The record company was founded in Lexington, Kentucky, but is currently headquartered in Shelbyville ...

'' voted Darla record label of the year on their ''2006 Somewhere Cold Awards Hall of Fame''. in 2009, Darla began offering digital downloads from their own website. James Agren and Chandra Tobey run Darla Records from a barn on their

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...

and

cherimoya The cherimoya (''Annona cherimola''), also spelled chirimoya and called chirimuya by the Inca people, is a species of edible fruit-bearing plant in the genus ''Annona'', from the family Annonaceae, which includes the closely related sweetsop ...

farm in the hills of north San Diego county.

Bliss Out series

In 1996, Darla Records asked for contributions to a double album featuring music on the calmer, "sleepier" side of music, such as

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming vol ...

and ambient music. They would receive a submission from New Jersey band

Flowchart A flowchart is a type of diagram that represents a workflow or process. A flowchart can also be defined as a diagrammatic representation of an algorithm, a step-by-step approach to solving a task. The flowchart shows the steps as boxes of ...

. The label liked the track they sent so much that, instead of creating a double album, they would instead ask contributing bands to create EPs/albums of these tracks. Flowchart sent three more tracks, and the resulting collection of songs would be ''Tenjira'', the first album in the "Bliss Out" series. The series would end in 2004, after 20 releases, with the release of Manual's ''The North Shore''. Every release in this series is meant to invoke peacefulness and "bliss". The releases in this series are: *''Tenjira'' (

) *''

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

'' (

Windy & Carl Windy & Carl is an American ambient duo based in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. Overview Cited as "a leading light of the Michigan space-rock scene" by AllMusic, the minimalist group formed in 1993 around the core husband-and-wife duo of ...

) *''Silver Lining Underwear'' (Orange Cake Mix) *''Perception'' ( Amp) *''Venoy'' (

Füxa Füxa (pronounced like the color fuchsia) is an American rock band. Füxa was formed in Detroit in 1994 by musicians Randall Nieman (formerly of Windy & Carl) and Ryan Anderson (formerly of Asha Vida and later to join Delta Waves). Band membe ...

) *''Stereoscopic Soundwaves'' (Tomorrowland) *''Anadromous'' (Mirza) *''Wading & Waiting'' (Transient Waves) *''Late One Sunday & The Following Morning'' (

American Analog Set The American Analog Set (sometimes referred to as AmAnSet) was an Austin-based indie rock, lo-fi band. They have released six studio albums, on the record labels Emperor Jones and Tiger Style Records, with their latest ('' Set Free'') on Arts & ...

) *''Taking Care of You'' (Junior Varsity KM) *''

Halica ''Halica:'' ''Bliss Out v.11'', often referred to as just ''Halica'' is the debut album from experimental pop group Sweet Trip, and was released by Darla Records in November 1998. It was the eleventh entry in the label's ''Bliss Out'' series of am ...

'' (

Sweet Trip Sweet Trip was an American electronic/ experimental rock act formed in 1993 in the Bay Area of California, United States, by musicians Valerie Cooper and Roberto Burgos. They are known for their dreamy soundscapes and dense production technique ...

) *''Blue Christian'' (

Bright Bright may refer to: Common meanings *Bright, an adjective meaning giving off or reflecting illumination; see Brightness *Bright, an adjective meaning someone with intelligence People * Bright (surname) *Bright (given name) *Bright, the stage nam ...

) *'' A Trick of the Sea'' (

Piano Magic Piano Magic was a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, dark wave, "arty baroque pop" and "E ...

) *''The Long Goodbye'' ( The Cat's Miaow) *''

Zero Population Growth Zero population growth, sometimes abbreviated ZPG, is a condition of demographic balance where the number of people in a specified population neither grows nor declines; that is, the number of births plus in-migrants equals the number of death ...

'' ( Lilys) *''Normal Control Range'' (Technicolor) *''Aida'' (Mus) *''...Or You Could Just Go Through Your Whole Life And Be Happy Anyway.'' (

Aarktica Jon DeRosa (born December 21, 1978) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He has been involved with several critically acclaimed acts, including Dead Leaves Rising, Pale Horse and Rider, and as well as his solo-project known as Aar ...

) *''Belmondo'' (

Japancakes Japancakes is an American indie rock group, based in Athens, Georgia, United States. History Rhythm guitarist Eric Berg formed the band with the idea of putting ten musicians in a band without any rehearsal, and performing a D chord for 45 minut ...

) *''The North Shore'' (

Manual Manual may refer to: Instructions * User guide * Owner's manual An owner's manual (also called an instruction manual or a user guide) is an instructional book or booklet that is supplied with almost all technologically advanced consumer ...

)

Acts on label

Since its inception, Darla has been host to several notable acts. Musical outfits whose recordings have been released by this label include: *

* Alsace Lorraine *

* Amp * Ariel Abshire * Auburn Lull *

Bvdub Bvdub is an American electronic music producer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Since 2007 he has released more than 40 albums and EPs under this name and other pseudonyms including his birth name, Brock Van Wey. Residing in Shaoxing, ...

* California Oranges *

Desario Desario is an American indie rock band based in Sacramento, California. History Desario formed in early 2004 when John Conley, Michael Yoas and Jim Rivas, who had played together previously in various other bands including Holiday Flyer, got to ...

Flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...

* Follow the Train *

Hammock A hammock (from Spanish , borrowed from Taíno and Arawak ) is a sling made of fabric, rope, or netting, suspended between two or more points, used for swinging, sleeping, or resting. It normally consists of one or more cloth panels, or a wo ...

Harold Budd Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimalist and avant-garde scene of Southern California in the ...

* Holiday Flyer *

hollAnd Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former Provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

I Am Robot and Proud Shaw-Han Liem, better known by the alias I Am Robot and Proud, is a Canadian indie electronic musician and video game designer from Toronto, Ontario. He has released albums under the labels Catmobile, Darla and & Records. He co-created the PlayS ...

ISAN Northeast Thailand or Isan ( Isan/ th, อีสาน, ; lo, ອີສານ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pali ''īsānna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 prov ...

* Junior Varsity KM * LD & the New Criticism * Lilys *Lowlights *

Mahogany Mahogany is a straight- grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus '' Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: U ...

*Maquiladora *Mirza *

My Morning Jacket My Morning Jacket is an American rock band formed in Louisville, Kentucky in 1998. The band consists of vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, drummer Patrick Hallahan, guitarist Carl Broemel, and keyboardist Bo Koster. The ...

* New Radiant Storm King * Orange Cake Mix * Pale Horse and Rider * Photon Band *

Rhian Sheehan Rhian Sheehan is a New Zealand composer and producer born in Nelson and now based in Wellington. He is known for his fusing of orchestral chamber music and piano, with ambient electronic and post-rock cinematic atmospheres. He has also written m ...

* Robin Guthrie * Rocketship * Rumskib * Saloon * Sisterhood of Convoluted Thinkers * Sprites *

Superdrag Superdrag is an American alternative rock band from Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. They are best known for their 1996 single, " Sucked Out", off their album ''Regretfully Yours'', for which a video was played on MTV. The original lineup r ...

Stafrænn Hákon Stafrænn Hákon (, ''Digital Hákon'') is the stage name used by Icelandic musician Ólafur Josephsson. Ólafur has been making music at his home studio since 1999. Stafrænn has self released 3 albums in Iceland. Later 2 of the albums were re- ...

* Steven R. Smith *

The Radio Dept. The Radio Dept. is a Swedish dream pop band from Lund. History In 1995, schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson started a band which they named after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" ( Swedish for The Radio D ...

30 Amp Fuse 30 Amp Fuse was a pop-punk band from Knoxville, Tennessee active in the 1990s and 2000s made up of Mike Smithers, Rodney Cash, Mike Knott, and formerly Don Coffey Jr. and John Davis. Smithers attended Farragut High School in nearby Farragut, Ten ...

Tomorrowland Tomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions t ...

Tullycraft Tullycraft is an American indie pop band from Seattle, Washington, that formed in 1995. They have been associated with the genre of twee pop; in fact, they are considered to be one of the true pioneers of the American twee pop movement. They are ...

* Voxtrot *

Geography

Before long, Darla outgrew its one-bedroom apartment and . ground floor office space in San Francisco. James and Chandra relocated Darla to Sacramento, California in October 2000. Darla moved in October 2002 to

Vista, California Vista (; Spanish for "view") is a city in San Diego County, California. Vista is a medium-sized city within the San Diego-Carlsbad, CA Metropolitan Area and has a population of 101,638. Vista's sphere of influence also includes portions of u ...

References

External links