Dead Oceans


Dead Oceans is an American independent record label based on Bloomington, Indiana with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is a label included in Secretly Group, which also includes Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar. Secretly Group includes the three record labels as well as a music publisher known as , representing artists, writers, filmmakers, producers, and comedians.

History

In 2007, Phil Waldorf left Misra Records after nearly a decade of managing the label to form Dead Oceans with Chris Swanson, Ben Swanson, Darius Van Arman, and Jonathan Cargill of Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar.
Before becoming the head of Dead Oceans, Waldorf was a Virginia native with a teenage love of skateboarding and punk rock seven-inches. He left home to go to college in Athens, Georgia, where he worked at the college radio station, WUOG, as their music director, and in the city's underground music scene. While there, Waldorf came to know future indie bands Neutral Milk Hotel and Olivia Tremor Control in their formative years, going to early house shows before both bands rose to underground fame.
In 1998, Waldorf moved to New York City when he was hired by the iconic record store, Other Music. While working at Other Music, Waldorf also managed an indie label, Misra Records. After some time, Chris Swanson and Waldorf became friends and began talking about the possibility of working together.
After deciding to partner on a new label, Chris Swanson suggested the name Dead Oceans. The name is lifted from the lyrics of Bob Dylan's “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” :
“I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.”
In 2007, Waldorf officially started Dead Oceans with the Swanson brothers, Van Arman, and Cargill. The addition of Dead Oceans to Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar's partnership led to the formation of Secretly Group.
As the label began, some of their earliest releases include titles such as Phosphorescent's Pride, Dirty Projectors’ Rise Above, and Akron/Family's Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free – ranging from folk to art punk to groove-y rock. Since then, Dead Oceans has grown to include Julianna Barwick, Mitski, Phoebe Bridgers, Japanese Breakfast, Ryley Walker, The Tallest Man on Earth, Kevin Morby, Marlon Williams, and many others.
In 2015, Secretly Group began a partnership with The Numero Group as well.
In 2017, the label released Nineties shoegaze band Slowdive’s return to the industry with their first album after a 22 year hiatus.
In 2018, Dead Oceans was listed as #7 on Paste Magazine's top 10 record labels of 2018. Jagjaguwar was listed as #4 and Secretly Canadian was listed as #8.

Artists

GRAMMY AWARDS
A2IM LIBERA AWARDS
AIM INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS
NME AWARDS
GRAMMIS AWARDS
VUT VIA AWARDS