When Sean Peoples started giving out CD-Rs of the musical experiments his friends performed on a Mt. Pleasant low-powered radio station in the early part of this century, he wasn't deliberately trying to fill the gap left by the general waning of the 90s DC music establishment--but he knew there was a gap.

"Right at the time I got started it seemed like there suddenly wasn't anything going on--bands like Black Eyes and Q and Not U had broken up...venues and labels had stopped existing...for a brief time it was a wasteland"

Sean started calling his project Sockets Records, chasing down his favorite musicians in the city from across the spectrum of underground music and helping them put out their records, but he wasn't trying to start a new Dischord, or even a new Teenbeat. Even after the scene picked up and bands and spaces started to emerge and Downtown started to feel vibrant, he never once considered his efforts to be building a brand, or a dynasty. He kept it small, manufacturing most of the products on his own, but while he may never have deliberately chosen a genre as his purview, his own taste for stuff music critics might call "angular" or "experimental" ran through his choices. In a time when indie music seemed mostly about crafting the perfect pop song to listen to in a VW Rabbit, this wasn't  exactly the path of least resistance.

"It was hard, really hard. Actually a couple of years ago I had basically given up. But then I realized, after a break, I've made all these connections, and I've learned my lesson. I could give it one more shot."

In 2009 Sean and his friends at Sockets put everything they had into the label, and it payed off. Bands like Imperial China started making waves on blogs and in more official media outlets, the Fly Girlz project (featuring Brooklyn middle school kids rapping over moody soundscape beats crafted by remixer dudes) got massive buzz from hip hop fans and community organizers alike, and groups like Buildings and rap-rock revivalists Cornel West Theory became big local phenomenons live, with the latter totally blowing away Chuck D the last time he was in town, not to mention the OMG moment of performing with their namesake in December. All that in one mindblowing year of sleepless nights, and all without the handholding infrastructure for building a music venture that exists in other towns: no government assistance like in Sweden, no low cost of material and space like in Baltimore or Seattle, no national majors around, none of that--just a commitment to supply an outlet for musician that explore that territory Freud calls Das Unheimliche, the Uncanny, or the Uneasy.

"Everyone seemed focused on pretty, shiny music, but it's never really been that important to me. There may not be a specific theme to our releases, but the stuff that interests me always has this element of pushing boundaries, of experimenting in some weird way," Sean says, and his releases bear this out... [Check out the listening party below!]. Each record, in it's own fashion, takes you to its own strange and insular universe, from Hume's classical-prog psych dungeon to Imperial China's post-punk spy cafe. Socket bands come from the nooks and crannies of DC (and some other towns but mostly here) where strange has always lived behind the curtain of the political monoculture. It's long past time to see them come to light.

The next 12 months for the label are going to busier than ever, as Socket puts out releases they've been planning for a while, including the electro-pranksters Gold Belt's 12", and Sean knows this is only the beginning. "After a year like last year we want to make sure we're taking our time, not trying to do to much." This is what he says, but I doubt he could contain himself if the opportunity pops up to do more for the community he's been championing the past seven years. Socket's enthusiasm for music is infectious, and if before too long the musical establishment  starts mentioning a DC sound in the same breath as many of the bands they've put out or helped establish it will be in large part due to Sean People's mania for finding the next small weird thing.

Sean asked several of the bands playing at the big celebration at the Black Cat this FRIDAY to do a listening party for us. Get ready to feel odd!

Cornel West Theory

“Gentrifried Chicken”
This piece is about the systematic gentrification of Washington, DC. Although dressed up as a sort of revitalization project, its essential purpose seems to be the removal of the lower class, and lower middle class population - making room for only the rich to exist within the city. Tim Hicks named it because of the feeling the harmonica sounds gave him, harkening the image of a blues artist telling the hard, harsh truth of his environment. We asked Dr. Cornel West to pretend he was an auctioneer as he delivered his totally ad libbed verse. He did it in one take. There was a silence in the recording studio after he finished and everyone knew he had touched on the true essence of the issue.

“Patriotic ME”
Given the current situation of constant warfare on foreign soil involving the United States, and the many post 9/11 events, many in this country have taken a stance of blind patriotism with no regard for the welfare of their fellow citizens - based on fear, and the constant push of western media to promote such a feeling and atmosphere. In this song, Yvonne Gilmore and Katrina Lorraine Starr offer their views of what patriotism means to them, while Rashad Dobbins and Tim Hicks examine how patriotism is often misused. When we were creating this song, we were questioning these three things about patriotism: What it means to the country, what it means to the individual and what could it mean. John Wesley Moon brought in the fire works at the very end of the recording process for this song and they added this undeniable richness considering the topic. We're releasing a video for this song soon.

Imperial China:

“Bananamite”
This song was written in typical fashion for us...start with a loop and see if we can write a song around it.  In this case, we had this high-pitched sample that, to us, sounded like some 50's sci-fi movie (flying saucer coming down from the sky and everything).  Then we added the drums and bass and it unintentionally ended up having sort of a faster dancehall reggae vibe to it.  The lyrics are some real teen-angsty shiz.

"Go Where Airplanes Go”
This was our attempt at writing something pretty.  It is probably the most atypical song we've ever written in that most of the song was written before drums were even added.  It was also the first song in which I actually tried to "sing."

Buildings:

“Be Here”
This was the first finished song that we wrote as a band and it's based on jams with previous incarnations. When me and David (drums) were just a couple guys jamming and making nonsense for awhile, it wasn’t until we started jamming this that we found "our sound". It was written in a very cut and paste manner from various parts and 4 track recordings took forever to finally finish. This song is what got me into wanting do to projections for the band because it has this cinematic heavy feel to it. The really chill guitar part when it first gets quiet is a part I wrote a long, long time ago and never found a band that it would work with. I’m really glad it got its place in Buildings it's still one my favorite songs to play ever.

“Tomorrow”
A favorite for sure. After about 3 and a half minutes it stops and gets into a different part. That was completely improvised in the studio.  At first it seemed half assed to us just throwing it on there, but after more listening it's really grown on us and it's become everyone's favorite part. It’s very, very hard to recreate on stage. all the time, we're faced with recording improvised practices that are near impossible to do again with the same energy and charisma. We’re fortunate to this one the on the record.

Hume:

“Grip”
This songs title developed from western mass slang that slowly trickled down the coast to Washington, DC. The music evolved as a theme and variation on two chords approached after a song writing partnership ended about a year and half ago and has mutated a number of times since. It's the oldest song still in the Hume set but it still unearths a surprising amount of energy. The monotony of lyrics are influenced by a technique that Lennon lifted off of Buddhist chants where the vocalist repeats the same phrase over and over with rising intensity in order to manifest a certain reality. Maybe we can make this happen.

Big Gold Belt:

"Wait"
is a fluffy universal track about dance floor seduction.  'Where you going, don't you want to dance with me?' The lyrics are gloriously general and multi-purpose, Joseph Campbell-like.  The leotard hero with a thousand faces.

"Eyepatch and a Boombox."
opens with a litany of street details and moves into sunset transcendence.  She's going to get on the subway past all the grit and rats and friendly eyepatched distractions, men wielding boomboxes that waft tinny tinsel tunes through the grey dripping transit haze, to a place where poignant guitar is not looked down upon. A DJ on the beach. A guy next him on the boardwalk emits spare gestures from a little blown amp. Her high heels get caught between the boards of the boardwalk as she eats white pizza.

Want more:
Get some records and info here and Check out SOCKETS 5 Year Anniversary show this Friday @ The Black Cat