Pictured: Joshua Radin

Q Prime, one of the premier artist management firms, announces the launch of Mom&Pop Music Company.

Based at Q Prime’s New York offices, the new record label will be helmed by Michael Goldstone and distributed via RED.

“In continuing Q Prime’s legacy of building careers, we’ve decided to make the long term commitment to add recorded music and publishing to our family, hence mom&pop,” says Q Prime’s Cliff Burnstein. “Our ambition is not to be ‘indie’ or ‘major.” Instead, we are striving toward what would now be considered a boutique label, taking our inspiration from great historical music companies like A&M, Chrysalis, Sire, and Island – labels that maintained the best balance of cultural importance and commercial appeal.”

Joshua Radin’s ‘Simple Times’, mom&pop’s first release, reached No. 1 on both iTunes’ Album and Alternative charts a mere 48 hours after its digital release last Tuesday. Scheduled for physical release on September 30th, 2008, ‘Simple Times’ was produced by Rob Schnapf (Beck, Elliott Smith) and features guest appearances by Patty Griffin and Meiko. The album is the follow-up to Radin’s 2006 release ‘We Were Here’.

Australian indie duo An Horse, comprised of Kate Cooper and Damon Cox, have signed to mom&pop via Sara Quin, who met the pair during one of Tegan and Sara’s Australian tours. “Kate’s lyrics about love, relationships and the tendency to fixate on disabling neurosis in oneself have become my mission statement,” said Quin, who will A&R their full-length debut, scheduled for January 2009 release. “I get goose bumps, electrical currents running up my arms listening to them – I love this band.”

An Horse just wrapped up a series of Australian dates with Death Cab for Cutie and will play October 22, 2008 at 205 in NY, NY as part of the 2008 CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival.

The duo will launch a U.S. tour on October 20 in Arlington, VA.

“The freedom you have as an independently owned music company is empowering. With that comes the responsibility of building successful careers with your artists while maintaining their trust and integrity.” says Goldstone, who exited his position as President of Sire Records in May 2008 to join Q Prime.

While at Sire, where he re-launched the classic brand alongside Sire Records Chairman Seymour Stein, Goldstone signed Regina Spektor, HIM, Tegan and Sara and Against Me in addition to developing acts such as Spill Canvas, the Veronicas and Meaghan Smith. His career has included posts at DreamWorks and Epic and a remarkable series of signings that includes Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam, All American Rejects and Buckcherry.

Q Prime

An Horse MySpace

Joshua Radin MySpace
Joshua Radin Official Website

The times in which we live are confusing, chaotic and complex, but the things that have always been important in life are still important, and those are the subjects Joshua Radin addresses on his second album, ‘Simple Times’.

These songs, he says, are about “falling in and out of love. Making friendships, having friendships fall apart. Experiencing different parts of the world, seeing other cultures and getting a better perspective on how we live in our country. Everything that people generally go through.”

The means he employs to deliver those ideas to the world is also pretty simple: He picks up a guitar and sings his heart out.

“It’s a personal account of my life through music,” says Cleveland-born Radin. “They’re all true and honest songs. When I meet people after shows, sometimes they think they know me because of a certain song—and in a sense they do, because I write about what’s going on in my life. It is scary making yourself vulnerable like that to a bunch of people you don’t know, but it’s also very therapeutic.”

“I was always trying to find some medium to express myself,” says Radin, who had previously studied art and spent six years writing screenplays. “When I started writing songs, I thought, ‘This is as honest as I can be: getting onstage with my guitar and my voice and singing for people.’”

Download “I’d Rather Be With You” MP3

Radin proved an extraordinarily quick study. A friend gave a demo featuring his very first composition, “Winter,” to a TV producer—who promptly used it to score a scene of the sitcom Scrubs in early 2004. Other Hollywood types found his music just as evocative, and soon various Radin songs were being heard in other TV shows (Grey’s Anatomy, Brothers and Sisters, American Idol, One Tree Hill, So You Think You Can Dance, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Eli Stone), as well as movies (The Nanny Diaries, The Last Kiss, Catch and Release) and ads.

Having captured the public’s attention, Radin set about keeping it with the release of his debut album in 2006. ‘We Were Here’ drew critical acclaim and passionate listener response, establishing him as an artist in the tradition of greats like Nick Drake and Elliott Smith—confessional folk-pop craftsmen who could say more with a whisper than most can with a scream.

Still, ‘We Were Here’ presented the first batch of songs Radin ever wrote. ‘Simple Times’ is drawn from a much deeper well. “These last two years I spent writing and writing and writing,” he says. “I did feel this pressure on myself to top the first record.”

To help him do that, Radin enlisted highly regarded producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, Beck). “I still wanted to keep an intimate sound, but I also knew I had to grow as an artist,” Radin says. “So I opened myself up to Rob’s production, and he had a lot of great ideas. We both had a really clear vision of what we wanted.”

Radin spent seven weeks at L.A.’s legendary Sunset Sound studio working with a cast of musicians including Patty Griffin, who dropped in to sing the exquisite harmony on “You Got Growin’ Up to Do.”

The completed ‘Simple Times’ offers the next step in the evolution of an artist whose talent is flourishing, whose skills have grown and whose vision is broader than ever before.

“I feel like right about now I’m starting to hit my stride, which is cool,” he says. “With this record I feel like I can come out and say, ‘OK, I’m a fully formed artist now.” I just hope that other people like it as much as I like it.”

Track Listing – Digital Release 9.9.08; In Stores 9.30.08

1) One of Those Days
2) I’d Rather Be With You
3) Sky
4) Friend Like You
5) Brand New Day
6) They Bring Me To You
7) Vegetable Car
(8) Free Of Me
9) You Got Growin Up To Do
10) We Are Okay
11) No Envy No Fear

MySpace

Joshua Radin Official Website