Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records

by Michael White

Overview

From 1987 to 1995, Bristol, England's Sarah Records was a modest underground success and, for the most part, a critical laughingstock in its native country-sneeringly dismissed as the sad, final repository for a fringe style of music (variously referred to as “indie-pop,” “C86,” “cutie” and “twee”) whose moment had passed. Yet now, more than 20 years after its founders symbolically “destroyed” it, Sarah is among the most passionately fetishized record labels of all time. Its rare releases command hundreds of dollars, devotees around the world hungrily seek out any information they can find about its poorly documented history, and young musicians-some of them not yet born when Sarah shut down-claim its bands (such as Blueboy, the Field Mice, Heavenly, and the Wake) as major influences.

Featuring dozens of exclusive interviews with the music-makers, producers, writers and assorted eyewitnesses who played a part in Sarah's eight-year odyssey, Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records is the first authorised biography of an unlikely cult legend.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781628922189
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/19/2015
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Michael White has been writing about popular and underground music, for publications in his native Canada and internationally, for 20 years.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter One: Songs of Innocence and Inexperience: The Roots of Sarah

Chapter Two: “Let's Just Communicate!”: The 1980s Fanzine Underground

Chapter Three: “How Much Do One Thousand Flexidiscs Weigh?”: When Matt Met Clare

Chapter Four: “Come to My World”: The Sea Urchins and the Beginning of Sarah

Chapter Five: “A Constant Source of Bemusement and Wonder”: The Orchids

Chapter Six: “Another Fucking Harvey Band”: The Ubiquitous Harvey Williams

Chapter Seven: “Sarah Records Unequivocally Supports a Fully Integrated Light-Rail Rapid-Transit System for the Greater Bristol Area”: Expressions of Civic Pride

Chapter Eight: “A Diary of Sorts”: The Field Mice, Northern Picture Library, and the Quicksilver Bobby Wratten

Chapter Nine: “I Sometimes Feel So Lost”: Brighter

Chapter Ten: Safe Harbour: The Wake and The Hit Parade
Chapter Eleven: “I Am Telling You Because You Are Far Away”: Internationalism and Sarah's Written Communiqués

Chapter Twelve: “Atta Girl”: Heavenly, Riot Grrrl and Feminism

Chapter Thirteen: Sadness is Unisex”: Blueboy and “the Best Album” Sarah Released

Chapter Fourteen: An Economy of Ambition: Sarah's Short-Term Visitors

Chapter Fifteen: “We Had an Outsider's Perspective”: Sarah's Foreign Visitors

Chapter Sixteen: “A Day for Destroying Things…”: The End of Sarah

Chapter Seventeen: The Afterlife of Sarah

The Sarah Discography

Index

Editorial Reviews

It's hard to think of another record company that provoked such strong emotions as Sarah: the label, and the music it released, inspired either undying devotion or implacable loathing. Michael White's book shines a brilliant light on a strange and unique moment in indie history, illuminating a fascinating, lost world of pop, politics, passion and postal orders.” —Alexis Petridis, Head Rock and Pop Critic, The Guardian, UK

“Combining a zine-like zeal for its subjects with a thorough examination of the cultural context that made them special, the interconnected narratives of Popkiss form an IRL internet for people who believe a record is something to hold, cherish and scratch rather than click into the cloud. This is an essential archive of a pivotal moment in UK pop history that was in danger of fading from our collective pre-web memory.” —Stuart Berman, Pitchfork Contributor and author of This Book Is Broken: A Broken Social Scene Story and Too Much Trouble: A Very Oral History of Danko Jones

“More than the labels that inspired its existence, Sarah Records came to define the indie-pop aesthetic. A great record label needs a great biography, and it's hard to think of anyone who could tell the Sarah story as empathetically as Michael White. Popkiss is a triumph.” —Pete Paphides

“[A] detailed history of the cult Bristol-based indie ... [White] puts forward a strong case for its worth. A fascinating and singular story.” –Mike Barnes, MOJO

“White's history is a much-needed document, fleshing out details and explanation for a label and ‘scene’ that has meant so much to so many yet not received the literary attention it deserves … Popkiss is immensely readable and incredibly successful in uncovering the secrets of a record label that was timeless in its output, limited in its lifespan, and for the most part known to only a select few record-philes during its duration. If you were in the know, Popkiss will help you discover Sarah anew. If you weren't, you will find endless rabbit holes down which to venture. Either way, you'll come away pleased.” –Frank Valish, Under the Radar

From the Publisher

More than the labels that inspired its existence, Sarah Records came to define the indie-pop aesthetic. A great record label needs a great biography, and it's hard to think of anyone who could tell the Sarah story as empathetically as Michael White. Popkiss is a triumph.

Pete Paphides

Combining a zine-like zeal for its subjects with a thorough examination of the cultural context that made them special, the interconnected narratives of Popkiss form an IRL internet for people who believe a record is something to hold, cherish and scratch rather than click into the cloud. This is an essential archive of a pivotal moment in UK pop history that was in danger of fading from our collective pre-web memory.

Pitchfork Contributor and author of This Book Is B Stuart Berman

It's hard to think of another record company that provoked such strong emotions as Sarah: the label, and the music it released, inspired either undying devotion or implacable loathing. Michael White's book shines a brilliant light on a strange and unique moment in indie history, illuminating a fascinating, lost world of pop, politics, passion and postal orders.

Alexis Petridis