Pour Le Corps Records is the ever-fascinating Dallas-based label that I made sure to mention in an egocentric post from last December entitled “Christopher Mosley Picks the Bands that 2012 Made Him Care About.” Buried in a description of the label’s flagship act—Eyes, Wings, and Many Other Things—I said the following:
The group’s esoteric, yet high-quality label, Pour Le Corps, has selflessly propelled other local acts to places they otherwise might not ever reach.
Little did I know at the time that the statement already rang truer than intended. Somehow overlooked by myself and just about everyone else in the local music media, Pour le Corps was chosen as one of “The Best Labels of 2012” by Impose Magazine. Perhaps this was all foreshadowed by the fact that the New York-based site gave Eyes, Wings, and Many Other Things a thoughtful review in March of last year. That I did notice. This places Pour Le Corps in the same company as Burger, Woodsist, and Ghostly International, who all made the list. It’s a surprisingly relevant crowd for a Dallas label to keep company.
Label co-founder Marjorie Owens was not shy about her happiness over the designation. “I’m not going to lie, I was smiling all day after hearing we were listed,” she tells me by Facebook message. However, she had missed the whole thing as well. “Somehow, in the midst of the holiday season, we missed it altogether, despite regularly reading the site. It wasn’t until they contacted us about sharing some of our releases in their giveaway that I even realized the list existed,” Owens said.
That contest she mentions is a giveaway that Impose hosted on its site, in which you could enter to win approximately 100 acclaimed records from last year. Every recording Pour le Corps has released is part of the deal, including those that have sold out. The full list of artists is a powerful roster including Killer Mike, Ty Segall, LOL Boys, and acts as an accurate who’s who of hyper-recent musical activity. To see these acts listed next to the likes of locals such as Water Falls and Spacebeach is almost surreal.
Last year’s ranking has Owens looking forward to 2013, when she says Pour le Corps will release music by Diamond Age, CHVDS, a band from Austin called Single Lash, and a Los Angeles act called Son Fish. She also added that a familiar name would be added to the heavy release schedule, Ashley Cromeens, in her post-Record Hop synth-pop project, Def Rain. Cromeens has been a beloved figure in North Texas music for the past ten years, so her involvement might get Pour le Corps as much attention in Dallas as it does in New York.
As for that aforementioned contest, you had better hurry if you’re interested in entering. It ends at 11:59 tonight, Eastern Standard Time.
Update: Contest has ended.
Image: Def Rain, from their band page.
