Suburban Sprawl Music

Javelins

I first moved back to Detroit in 1999, after living out of state for about five years during my late teens and early 20s. This meant that I basically had to discover everything that was happening in Detroit music fresh, since before I left I wasn't even of legal drinking age. I met a lot of bands then and a few labels, almost none of which still exist - that is except for Suburban Sprawl, the Little Label that Could. In the tradition of the great, classic indies like Sub Pop and Dischord they do what independents do best by focusing on and nurturing their local music communities without defining themselves as an exclusively regional label. In the beginning their flagship group was Red Shirt Brigade and then when Red Shirt broke up it was Thunderbirds Are Now!, who formed from the splinters. Thunderbirds moved on to French Kiss and Suburban Sprawl changed ownership - before recently merging with Ann Arbor's Quack Media - but the label's focus only strengthened through the changes and now it seems that most of the stuff coming out in Detroit that I want to hear is a Sub Sprawl release.

To wit, four exemplary songs off recent Suburban Sprawl releases:

Javelins - "Out On The Sand" [Heavy Meadows]
Javelins - "El Dorado" [Heavy Meadows]

The Pop Project "Hearts and Flowers" [Stars of the Stage and Screen]
The Pop Project "Coerce" [Stars of the Stage and Screen]