Chicago's rock 'n' roll shape-shifters Wilco have formed their own label,  dBpm Records, whose releases will be distributed and marketed by eclectic Silver Lake independent Anti- Records. A full announcement is expected soon.

"This is an idea we've discussed for years,” Wilco's Jeff Tweedy said via his publicist. “We really like doing things ourselves, so having our own label feels pretty natural to me. And, to be working with Anti- -- a label that was started by a punk rock guy to sell his own records -- seems like a perfect fit for us.” 

Wilco became free agents after its 2009 Nonesuch release, "Wilco (The Album)," and the move marks not only a shift to the independent world for the band, but also quite possibly Anti-'s biggest coup since inking Tom Waits, whose 1999 album,  "Mule Variations," was the label's first release. Anti- is an offshoot of Epitaph Records, the punk label founded by Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz. 

A timetable has not yet been given for a new album. An Anti- spokeswoman could not be reached for comment early Wednesday afternoon. Wilco spokeswoman Deb Bernardini said the band is currently recording its follow-up to "Wilco (The Album)" in Chicago.

The Wilco camp already has a connection with Anti-. Wilco architect Tweedy produced the most recent album from Chicago soul legend Mavis Staples, "You Are Not Alone," which was released last year on the label. At the time, Pop & Hiss spoke with Tweedy and asked the singer about the possibility of signing with Anti-, an adventurous imprint that's home to rock legends (Roky Erickson), rock weirdos (Waits), rock elegance (Neko Case) and rock mercenaries (Grinderman). 

"I think they’re pretty smart," Tweedy said at the time. "I think they’re music lovers. I really respond to it. It’s very similar to the way I am. It’s a lot more like the way the world exists now than when I was growing up. There are less lines drawn in the sand between genres. Punk rock was a line in the sand for a lot of kids when I was growing up." 

Tweedy had hinted that the band would soon be going the indie route. In the summer of 2010, Tweedy told Billboard that it "seems unlikely that we will be under the umbrella of a major label." Indeed, Wilco is already one of the more self-sufficient working rock bands. The band staged its first-ever festival, Solid Sound, in North Adams, Mass., last year, and will be bringing Solid Sound back to the area for Round 2 in June.

"As we reached the end of our last deal, it felt like it was time for a change, and the one thing we were certain we did NOT want to do was to sign another traditional recording agreement," said manager Tony Margherita via a written statement. "Our discussions with Anti-, coming on the back of a great experience working with them on the Mavis Staples record, led us to thinking we might be able to come up with something quite different from the norm that could potentially be better for us and, frankly, a lot more interesting."

Margherita will oversee the label, based in Easthampton, Mass. The label will release "all future Wilco recordings and more," according to the statement. As for what the "more" entails, details have not yet been unveiled. 

The moment Brooklyn indie rockers the National caught their first big break could be a matter of debate. Perhaps it was earning a top-10 debut with last year's “High Violet,” or maybe it was further back in the mid-2000s when Beggars Banquet opted to sign the terse adult rockers. Regardless, Reuben Cox is indebted, as his Silver Lake guitar shop is one, in some ways, built by the National.

A freelance photographer and lifelong student up until about one year ago, Cox built guitars in his spare time. More hobbyist than guitarist, Cox's approach was not too unlike that of the train enthusiast who studied the inner workings of locomotives outside of his day job. An advantage Cox had over the average part-time craftsman, though, was direct access to rock 'n' rollers, as his wife is a high-ranking employee in the Beggars family of labels, which includes such indie stalwarts as Matador, Rough Trade and 4AD.

So when Cox delivered his handmade guitars to the National free of charge, the band members were at the very least obligated to be polite.

“I just told them I had been working on all these guitars and asked if they wanted to borrow them,” Cox said. “I'd drop off a few. They would keep one, and say, ‘We're not so interested in this one.' Then I'd show up with two more a few months later. There's probably five or six guitars of mine in their rotation now, and they made it on ‘High Violet.' They're very serious when they're recording, and that gave me an ego boost to go public.”

Late in 2009 Cox's wife, Miwa Okumura, began plotting a move west to Los Angeles to open up an Echo Park outpost for the label group. Cox's part-time gig in the photo department of Cooper Union's art school was easily jettisoned, and the relocation to Los Angeles made opening a guitar shop a reality, as rent for his homey, porch-adorned wood space at 510 N. Hoover St. is a cool $650 per month.

“The only way to open a shop in Manhattan or Brooklyn is to go in with guns blazing and major capital,” Cox said. “This is so grass roots. My daughter had just been born, and I was driving around looking for strips like this. I would just stroller her around and knock on doors.” 

There is a point during most Garfunkel & Oates performances in which Kate Micucci will declare she was a late bloomer. The candid look into her personal life usually comes sometime after the folksy comedy duo has led the crowd through a kazoo breakdown, taken a knock at pregnant women and discussed where ducks rank on the bestiality scale, all of it delivered with buoyant ukulele-led pop.  

As for Micucci's confession, it greets one of the newer additions to the Garfunkel & Oates oeuvre, a peppy keyboard rap entitled "I Don't Understand Job." In the song, Micucci and bandmate Riki Lindhome profess their confusion toward an act of intimacy, but rather than find comedy in lewdness, the pair focus on their own nerdy naivete.

The fact-checking process for this article did not include an investigation into Micucci's past romantic dalliances, and thus the 30-year-old ukulelist will be taken at her word. Yet there's evidence that the graduate of Loyola Marymount University isn't exaggerating. In fact, a certain four-letter word that appears regularly in the Garfunkel & Oates catalog is one Micucci promises she did not say until two years ago.

"I got yelled at when I was a little kid for accidentally saying it," Micucci said. "We were playing Duck, Duck Goose, and my babysitter said, 'Say a word that rhymes with duck' ... And then he yelled at me like you wouldn’t believe. I was so scarred from this babysitter, so I didn't say it again until two years ago."

If so, then the last 24 months of exercising repressed demons have been rather productive. With a mix of innocence and vulgarity, the act's monthly appearances at the Upright Citizens Brigade improv theater are guaranteed sell-outs, and a bigger stage awaits Feb. 10 when the pair headline Largo at the Coronet. What's more, a self-released CD is imminent, and a production deal inked earlier this month with HBO will potentially position the duo as the West Coast female response to "Flight of the Conchords," the network's popular Brooklyn-centered musical series that ran for two seasons.

"I think it will be a little edgier, maybe a little more frankly sexual," Lindhome said of a possible series. "We swear a lot, and [the songs] are really sexual and personal. And they always portray us in a bad light."

The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend's most recommended shows continues. This week it's four nights and four gigs.Will there be more picks next week? Maybe. See you next Thursday. 

Thursday

Sean Wheeler & Zander Schloss @ the Bootleg Theater. More often than not, it's a treat when old punks get all reminiscent. Battle scars are readily apparent, usually in the form of fading tattoos, and voices stained with nicotine and whiskey are usually surefire signs of a decent storyteller. Schloss has played with just about a who's who of punk rock, most notably with the Circle Jerks and Joe Strummer. But if we forgive him for whatever role he had in Strummer's "Earthquake Weather," his pairing with Throw Rag's Sean Wheeler should be worth the price of a pint. The two drop much of the rock 'n' roll scruff in favor of country-influenced barroom comfort. The Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd. Tickets are $5.

Touted as a potential savior to the U.S. music business, the much-beloved European streaming service Spotify today took one step closer to launching in America. How big of a step, however, is not yet known. Already boasting more than 10 million users in seven European territories, Spotify's American invasion has been little more than hype dating back to late 2009.

Yet perhaps there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

The service has signed a distribution agreement with Sony Music Entertainment, according to those familiar with negotiations between Spotfy and the major labels. Yet there was no indication that that the Sony deal would lead to a flurry of additional announcements, and it was unknown whether talks with other labels were near an agreement.

It is still believed that Warner Music Group will continue to take a wait-and-see approach, as it has taken a very public stance against companies that offer free music streaming.

A spokesman for Sony said the company had no comment, and refused to confirm or deny that the deal was done. Spotify representatives could not be reached for comment.

Now that everyone's eyes have been rolled at the abundance of Top-10 lists, and the rush of 2011 albums hasn't fully begun, it's time to catch up with some of the overlooked and under-appreciated of 2010. Start with New Jersey's the Screaming Females.

The band's latest single, "Wild," is something like catnip to those who appreciate the mixing of punk rock and guitar splendor. Admittedly, it could be a mix best left for small doses, but the Screaming Females can pack a lot in a small space. Singer/shredder Marissa Paternoster is a one-man show all herself, and her vocals hit nearly as many tones and shadings as her musical weapon of choice through this song's three and a half minutes. 

Her bandmates are no slouches, of course, but the rhythm section of Jarrett Dougherty and King Mike are wise enough to realize that the tension should shadow Paternoster rather than keep pace with her. Once one gets past the overlapping plates of chords that Paternoster whips out -- if one can get past them -- it becomes clear the Screaming Females are also a band of nuance. "Wild," for instance, is a torturous little rock number, in which a past flame is introduced via an Edgar Allan Poe-like tale.

The Screaming Females play Monday night at the Echoplex, and a batch of songs such as the above seem like a fine way to end a three-day weekend. Emotionally, there will be enough to capture the drag of having to go back to work. Musically, the adrenaline will make Tuesday a little less painful -- or at least the idea of it on Monday evening.  

-- Todd Martens

Screaming Females at the Echoplex, 1154 Glendale Blvd. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 day of show.

For his first-ever film score, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame was eager to have a bevy of new toys at his disposal. Perhaps a string section? Perhaps a full orchestral suite? Yet "The Social Network" director David Fincher put an instant end to such film music tropes.

"We got the idea from David that he wanted something that was not orchestral and not traditional," Reznor said recently. "He referenced 'Blade Runner' and Tangerine Dream. He mentioned sounds that were a synthetic landscape of sorts. Then we just spent a couple weeks with no picture and no input and were thinking of how we could create a world of sound."

Reznor, working with frequent collaborator Atticus Ross, will vie with film composer heavyweights such as Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman and A.R. Rahman, among others, for best original score at this Sunday's Golden Globes. It's illustrious company for Reznor's first film (Ross last worked on the film "The Book of Eli"), and the music of "The Social Network" couldn't be more atypical than the kind of orchestrations awards voters typically fawn over.

It's taut, largely digital, and minimalistic in its mournfulness, decorated occasionally with a piano. Whereas electronic maestros Daft Punk brought enough orchestral grandiosity to their "Tron: Legacy" score to stage a Fourth of July fireworks celebration, Reznor and Ross went the opposite route. Instead of adding to their synth-driven repertoire, the pair were taking away.

"We spent time in advance setting up rules," Reznor said. "If we were working orchestrally, we’d have these sounds and this kind of voicing to us. We adapted that to a world of modular synthesizers and an acoustic piano, and a general aesthetic of X,Y and Z."

The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend's top concerts, once again arriving significantly later than it should have been posted. Sorry -- the main writer's cat needed to visit the vet today. Pop & Hiss apologizes for the delay. 

Thursday

Gary Lucas' Captain Beefheart Symposium @ the Echoplex. The late Don Van Vliet, best known in rock circles as Captain Beefheart, would have turned 70 on Saturday. To celebrate the legendary iconoclastic artist's art and influence, former Magic Band guitarist Gary Lucas will offer something that serves as a tribute as well as an educational event. Lucas will play unreleased Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band tracks, show slides of Van Vliet's art, screen unseen footage of the band at work, and demonstrate some of the odd techniques that the notoriously demanding band leader developed to convey ideas to his musicians. The Echoplex, 1822 Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $15 in advance; $17 at the door. Read the Pop & Hiss interview with Gary Lucas. 

Champagne Champagne @ the Silverlake Lounge. Seattle's experimental hip-hop trio seem to have been on the verge of something for the last two years. If a bit too weird for wide acceptance, Champagne Champagne's punk-influenced rap psychedelics surely have a place in this Kid Cudi and Drake world that's the bigger than the cozy Silver Lake Lounge.  Just sample the mischievously tripper "Molly Ringwald." The Silverlake Lounge, 2906 Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $8.

The year-end sales numbers released this week by Nielsen SoundScan contained the usual grim news for the music biz. Album sales once again declined in double-digit fashion, but that was fully expected. Perhaps more surprising and cringe-inducing was the drastic slowdown in growth in the digital sector, as sales of individual songs grew just 1% in 2010, compared to a 28% splurge just two years ago. 

But with the bigger industry picture having been covered earlier this week on these digital, tree-friendly pages, Pop & Hiss can further explore the seven-page bonanza of year-end SoundScan stats. So relax, stream your favorite album you downloaded (at no cost) in 2010, and read on. 

The headline: Vinyl Sales Hit a New High With 2.8 Million Sold
The context:  Sales of LP albums have been a niche bright spot for the industry, but let's put the emphasis on the word niche. In 10 weeks, Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" outsold the entire vinyl industry, moving 2.9 million copies since its release. That's not to write off the success of the format. Vinyl sales were indeed up 14% in 2010 compared to 2009 and managed to account for 1% of all album sales. The real story isn't that vinyl is up in a down market, but rather that vinyl is providing an edge to mom-and-pop independent retailers. SounndScan notes that overall album sales at indie stores grew two percentage points to 8% in 2010, and the artists dotting the top of the vinyl sales chart are the ones that shops like Amoeba Music hit out of the park. The Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" sold 19,000 vinyl LPs, the Black Keys' "Brothers" was close behind with just more than 18,000 LPs, and other artists in the top 10 included Vampire Weekend, the National, Beach House and the xx.

The weekly Pop & Hiss rundown of the weekend's top concerts has resumed with the conclusion of the holiday season, albeit significantly later than it should have been posted.Pop & Hiss apologizes for the delay. Don't hate.

Thursday

Peter & the Wolf @ the Smell. The bill says Peter & the Wolf, but the low-fi folk-pop project of Red Hunter will likely be on hiatus tonight. Instead, expect Hunter's latest project, Traffique, a sort of dream-within-a-dream "Inception"-like art-music-experimentation. The songs follow a gay man who cross-dresses in his sleep, which appears to awaken the closeted lesbian inside him. Fine, but songs like "Nora" and "Get Weird" are electro-pop with a dash of funkiness, re-imagining Prince as an art-house bohemian who composes music on a laptop. The Smell, 247 S. Main St. Admission is $5. 

 
Digital music sales, which over the years have provided optimism for the music industry in the face of crumbling CD sales, are starting to flatline as consumers turn to a growing number of free and legal ways of listening to hit songs whenever they want.

Sales of individual digital songs grew just 1% in 2010, down from 8% in 2009 and 27% in 2008, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm Nielsen SoundScan.

The slowing digital numbers are a sign that the market for digital music is maturing, said Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, a digital music consulting firm. Garland believes the numbers point to another change in the market -- the emergence of free and legal alternative sources to music online, such as YouTube, Vevo and Pandora.

“What's changed is that people are listening to vastly more free music without breaking the rules,” Garland said. “That can have a cannibalization effect.”

The decline in the growth rate of digital song sales occurred as record labels pushed for iTunes to raise the price of top-selling songs 30%, to $1.29 from 99 cents, on the company's iTunes store, which accounts for the majority of digital music sales. That's preventing a corresponding slowdown in revenue growth.

“The vast majority of the top 200 digital tracks are now $1.29,” said David Bakula, a Nielsen music analyst. “So while sales of singles are flat, their revenue is absolutely going up.” Nielsen does not report dollar sales.

The increase in the price of singles has made the cost of $9.99 albums look more attractive, boosting digital album sales 13% last year compared with 16% in 2009 and 32% in 2008.

Apple continues to account for most music sales online, commanding a more than 60% market share, according to industry research firm NPD Group. Amazon.com, which generated numerous headlines in 2010 for deep-discounting albums by the likes of Taylor Swift, Kanye West and the Arcade Fire to $3.99, is a distant second. Fire-sale pricing aside, albums are still about one-third of overall digital music sales.

A new year in pop music begins, and out of the gate it looks awfully similar to the way the most recent one started 12 months ago. Country starlet Taylor Swift heads into 2011 with the No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart, according to Nielsen SoundScan, as her "Speak Now" has sold a total of 2.9 million copies in just 10 weeks. 

Post-Christmas, sales are typically depressed, and Swift tops the U.S. pop chart, which is maintained by industry trade Billboard, with just 77,000 copies sold. The artist, who had the bestselling album of 2009 when her "Fearless" sold 3.2 million copies, will be a major presence on year-end charts released by SoundScan, which are expected to be distributed to media outlets this afternoon (Pop & Hiss will follow with a new post once they arrive).

With Christmas out of the way, America's interest in U.K. vocalist Susan Boyle will now begin its gradual wane into near nothingness, at least outside of celebrity mag and blog circles. Her album "The Gift," which was No. 2 last week, falls to No. 32. Nevertheless, Boyle's sophomore effort managed to rack up 1.8 million in sales in just eight weeks.