Favorite record labels?

[DroppinScience]

Now obviously the music business as of 2005 is a messy thing what with the major labels owning a huge chunk of real estate, but still... you can have your preferences for what labels are putting out your favorite music. But with the majors owning... well, A LOT, I'm gonna divide this thread up into a few categories.

Favorite major label... period:

Warner - Yeah, yeah. They're all evil and stuff. But face it, I'm sure many of your favorite bands have been with major labels. So with that I'm going with Warner Bros. Between Red Hot Chili Peppers and R.E.M. and a pile of others, they sure know how to pick 'em!

Favorite record label who runs their shit fairly autonomously but ultimately their parent company is one of the big monsters

My favorites here will have to be Reprise and Rhino (the latter of which are just GODS for their reissues of important bands). As for Reprise, they've had a great track record -- aside from that whole Wilco debacle.

If I want country music done right, I'll turn to Lost Highway for some quality alt-country. :cool:

Favorite indie labels which are actually more or less indie

Sub Pop - goes without saying
Saddle Creek - Conor Oberst legitimizes Nebraska with that label!
Matador - Interpol, Pavement. Oh yes.
Jade Tree - For some quality emo (Jets to Brazil and such)

That's all I can think of for now.

[ScarySquirrel]

Pretty much anything Mo' Wax puts out seems to be pretty good. Astralwerks has a lot of good material too. I'm big reppin' those suckers.

[DroppinScience]

Oh yeah, I really enjoy the X L label (Electric Six, M.I.A., Dizzee Rascal). They know how to do things right! (y)

[sjp]

Swami records, and for rap i'd say for now maybe def jux or rocafella.

[DroppinScience]

Gah! Dischord Records needs a mention. I also like I.R.S. and SST Records.

Damn. :(

[HellofaSandwich]

Dirtnap Records (Exploding Hearts/Epoxies/Briefs/Marked Men, etc.)
Dischord
Kill Rock Stars
Sub Pop

I don't have a favorite major label... they're all interchangeable to me.

[The Notorious LOL]

Mo Wax
Ninja Tune
Landspeed
Fondle Em

[thegoodmrbrodie!]

domino
warp
fatcat
ninja tune
touch & go
lex
anticon
leaf

[RT400z]

Go kart
Hopeless
all the favorites I can think of for now.

[matt_smith69]

ninja tune
okayplayer
xl - prodigy

[Jadge Fucking 1]

Paper Street (y)

[mr_krinkle]

Prawn Song
Ipecac
Go! Beat (only portishead..)

[HellofaSandwich]

Lookout used to be awesome.

[afronaut]

Mute is a pretty sweet label.

[ToucanSpam]

Universal maybe

[ScarySquirrel]

Yeah, Universal is a good one. Gotta send respect to the people that bought out Motown.

[EN[i]GMA]

Rhymesayer
Solesides
Grand Royal

And for a major, Warner signed Buck 65 so I'll pick them.

[minorthreat]

Kung Fu and Epitaph have the best punk bands on the planet. SST and Dischord are the coolest. Oh, and Grand Royal is great as well...

[muddfoot]

Gotta be Quannum, but when I was younger I was really into Fat Wreck Chords.

[b-grrrlie]

4AD
Beggars Banquet
Matador
Sire had some good ones

and Echo has signed BRMC...

[Freebasser]

Echo has signed BRMC...

Nice (y)

Echo
Hut
Fierce Panda and all its sub labels.

[A. Remin' D.]

Ruthless - Great label, started by Eazy-E.
Death Row (aka Tha Row) - Great label, even though I hate Suge.
Rocafella - Great label as well.
Subpop - Great label as well.
can't forget Grand Royal!

Edit: Can't forget TVT!

[Gareth]

ninja/big dada
warp
fondle em
star trak
metalheadz
soul:r
stones throw
roc-a-fella

[alruggs]

Edit: Can't forget TVT!
I wish I could.

[Matt]

I don't specifically like lables, I like bands. but if a band is on a label with another band that I like, I'll give them a try (Joy Division was on Factory with A Certian Ratio, so I checked out ACR's first album, and I liked it.) most important record labels, in terms of their influence, would be Stax, Factory, and Matador, but that is total opinion.

[Rosie Cotton]

I might have missed it, but I didn't see Motown or 2Tone. Tsk, tsk.

[matt_smith69]

whys everyone saying rocafella? save jay-z and kanye whats it ever done?

wild cherry

[synch]

Blue Note, Warp, Fat Wreck Chords.

[Teh]

Breastfed.

[Parkey]

domino
warp
fatcat
ninja tune
touch & go
lex
anticon
leaf

I fully endorse this selection, but would like to add;

City Centre Offices
Plug Research
Lo
XL
Morr
Kiity-Yo
Melodic
Rephlex
Skam
Stones Throw
Planet Mu
ADADAAT
Alien Transistor

[dave790]

XL

i thought u'd mentioned the prodigy and dizzee too much in the past to discard XL! That's not a diss...i think it's a good label (y)

[sjp]

old school capitol with the rat pack.

[DroppinScience]

For some good jazz, Verve is where it's at! :cool:

[disco.quebrado]

aahhh
nobody mentioned rough trade
adam green
the fiery furnaces
the strokes
belle and sebastian
british sea power
moldy peaches only to name a few