The Secretly indie record label group — Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian — have announced a new series of EPs, LPs and collaborations titled Friends Of, featuring albums from Ramy Youssef, Julie Byrne and Trayer Tryon, Theophilus London, Junglepussy, Gia Margaret, Bullion, Bongeziwe Mabandla, Routine (Annie Truscott and Jay Som), Triathalon, Kenneth Whalum, Wet and more.
The project also includes producer and DJ Ryan Hemsworth’s newly announced Pout EP, scheduled for release on August 28th via Jagjaguwar. Hemsworth released the EP’s first single, “Keep Touch” featuring Leland Whitty (of the Toronto-based instrumental band BadBadNotGood), on Tuesday.
Friends Of is led by Jon Coombs, Secretly’s vice president of A&R who has worked with artists such as Angel Olsen, Mitski and Whitney. While sharing some characteristics with the Sub Pop Singles Club or Adult Swim Singles, the series “came to fruition as a way to address the rapid, drastic changes in how music is created and shared in the pandemic,” according to a representative from Secretly. It will also provide a platform for featuring artists who are outside of Secretly’s normal roster.
Each of the three labels will be participating in the Friends Of project throughout the next year, sharing releases individually for the remainder of its run.
From Rolling Stone US
