Celebrating 30 Years of Sub Pop Records

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SPF30 Live Videos

On August 11, 2018, Seattle's own Sub Pop records held their 30th anniversary celebration at Alki Beach in West Seattle. Dubbed SPF30, the iconic label brought artists from their roster to perform for free on the beach.

KEXP was on the scene documenting the legendary affair and livestreaming performances. In conjunction with Sub Pop, we are now sharing videos from these performances – which you can find below. 

Father John Misty - "Total Entertainment Forever"
Father John Misty - "Date Night"
Shabazz Palaces - "An Echo From The Hosts That Profess Infinitum"
Shabazz Palaces - "Are you... Can you... Were you? (Felt)"
Bully - "Snake"
Bully - "Milkman"
Wolf Parade - "This Hearts On Fire"
Wolf Parade - "You're Dreaming"
Clipping. - "Intro & Inside Out"
Loma - "Shadow Relief"
Loma - "Relay Runner"
LVL UP - "*_*"
LVL UP - "Annie's A Witch"
Moaning - "Artificial"
Moaning - "Somewhere In There"
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Sub Pop 30th Anniversary Catalog Count-Up

From March 12 to August 11, 2018, KEXP aired tracks off of every release in Sub Pop's catalog. With over 1,200 releases, the station honored every single catalog number in chronological order over the history of the Seattle based label, including full albums, singles, EPs, compilations, early Sub Pop fan zines, and even a wedding soundtrack.

“This is going to be a really fun pain in the ass!” said KEXP’s John Richards. (He was right.) “We’ll have DJs playing Sub Pop songs an average of 8.3 times a day, 24-7 for the next 4 and a half months — each and every Sub Pop release in the original format whenever possible. Cassette, LP, 7-inch, you name it. It’s going to be a total hassle, and totally worth it to celebrate our friends at Sub Pop.”

Revisit our countdown (or rather, count-up) via the sidebar menu. KEXP also celebrated the band's 30 year history with album retrospectives, interviews, and more, which you can see below.


AUTHORS:

AK — Anna Kaplan AL — Alan Lawrence DH — Dusty Henry
JH — Janice Headley KF — Kaitlin Frick MD — Martin Douglas
NS — Noel Strange MH — Matthew Howland OM — Owen Murphy
SW — Sinclair Willman ZF — Zach Frimmel GL — Geran Landen
DY — Don Yates

Rewind: Anniversaries of Sub Pop Albums

With Rewind, KEXP digs out beloved albums, giving them another look on the anniversary of its release.

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Articles & Interviews

Interviews Sub Pop 30

"We Accept, We're Pretty Damn Grungy": Mudhoney Reflect on 30 Years Together

Grunge godfathers Mudhoney celebrate three decades of noise in this spirited Turntable Session talk in the KEXP Gathering Space.


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Rewind Sub Pop 30

Double Take: Revisiting Shabazz Palaces' 2017 Quazarz Parallel Albums

On Double Take, KEXP's dynamic duo of Martin Douglas and Dusty Henry explore the great double-albums in history by each focusing on one part's musical, lyrical, and historic themes. First up are the parallel albums released by Shabazz Palaces on the same day in 2017: Quazarz: Born on a Gangster Sta…


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Interviews Sub Pop 30

We F*cking Talked With the F*cking CEO of Sub Pop, Megan F*cking Jasper

We f*cking talked to the f*cking master of swearing, Megan f*cking Jasper, about her journey from stuffing Cat Butt records as intern to running the whole goddamn label.


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