A Big Kiss to Book About K Records

With the holiday shopping season approaching, I wanted to recommend a new book I'm just finishing up. Mark Baumgarten's 'Love Rock Revolution: K Records and the Rise of Independent Music' is a fantastic look at how Calvin Johnson and his band of misfits made the Pacific Northwest's scene matter. If you're of a certain age, you'll appreciate remembering a time when finding great music was a challenge. We're talking pre-Internet. You were really lucky if you had access to a local college radio station. If not, you depended on fanzines or a trustworthy employee at your mom-and-pop record shop. Back then it was all about knocking down doors and getting your cassettes and 7" records heard. Baumgarten takes you back to that time, and he did his homework. The author interviewed all of the major players, and he knows when to get out of the way to let them tell their tales. I'm walking away from this one in awe of the D.I.Y. aesthetic and inspired with the knowledge there are still a few in the music business kicking it old school.

If you're new to K Records and want more info before buying the book, give Heather Rose Dominic's 'The Shield Around the K: The Story of K Records' a look. This documentary from 2000 is far from an award winner, but it's an O-"K" intro.