{{Infobox record label <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Music --> | name = Marriage Records | image = MarriageRecordsLogo.jpg | founded = {{start date|2001}} | founder = Curtis Knapp<br />Adrian Orange | distributor = Nail, Southern Records, Chicago Independent, Revolver, The Business | genre = Indie, experimental, electronic, freak folk, alt folk | country = U.S. | location = Portland, Oregon, Los Angeles | website = {{URL|www.marriagerecs.com}} }}
'''Marriage Records''' is a small, independent record label formed in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 2001 by Curtis Knapp and Adrian Orange. The label has released a number of albums by musicians such as Adam Forkner, Dirty Projectors, Little Wings, Lucky Dragons, Tune-Yards, Yacht, and Karl Blau. Artists on the label frequently collaborate and swap members.
Marriage releases vinyl, CDs, CD-Rs, tapes, skateboards, books, posters and apparel. The label has been distributed by Nail Distribution, Southern Records, Chicago Independent, Revolver, and The Business. In 2006 the label began publishing "experimental literature" under the imprint Marriage Publishing House, including ''Veneer Magazine.''
Since 2015, Marriage Records has been based primarily in Los Angeles under the management of Jimmy Leslie of White Fang, a longtime Marriage collaborator.
==Overview== [[File:Thanksgivinglive.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Co-founder Adrian Orange, who has released albums on the label as Thanksgiving, Adrian Orange & Her Band, AOK, and A.O.]]
=== Founding=== Marriage Records was co-founded in Portland, Oregon in 2001 by musical collaborators Adrian Orange and Curtis Knapp,<ref name="olive"/> with Knapp as "Chief" of the label.<ref name="linkedinknapp"/> Musician and producer Eric Erickson joined as counsel.<ref name="dont"/>
Orange (born 1986) had developed a reputation as a songwriter and charismatic performer in the Northwest by his teens, and dropped out of school at age 15 to pursue music full-time.<ref name="krecords"/> A year later he was performing under the alias Thanksgiving<ref name="olive"/> when he met Curtis Knapp at a house show.<ref name="richmond"/>
According to Knapp, "The first time...[Orange and I] met, it was a big deal for us. Cause our friends had been talking about us to each for a long time. For years. I came in<!--not a mistake--> in the middle of the show, I saw like three songs, and we sat outside and smoked cigarettes together. It was really—it was a lot like falling in love."<ref name="richmond"/> He also stated, "We mounted the label as a document officiator of our time and work together, and of our friends. Thus the name Marriage Records."<ref name="olive"/>
===Development=== Initially a CD-R-release-only label for the first year and a half of existence, in 2004 it began releasing elaborate packaging schemas with most records. For example, in 2006 the label released 1 box set, 6 CDs, 4 CD/vinyl combos, 1 skateboard, and 1 book. As of 2012, the label's production and distribution costs for bands ranges from 0 to $10,000, including digital-only releases and formats such as tape, CD, CD-R, vinyl, DVDs, and print products, as well as events, packaging, tour management, promotion, and band vans.<ref name="olive"/>
thumb|left|180px|Co-founder Curtis Knapp, who performs in several of the label's bandsThe label's first release was ''Made in Canada'' by collective group Rob Walmart. The next year Thanksgiving released the EP ''Nothing'' on the label. The Watery Graves of Portland, a band which included both Orange and Knapp, was next with ''The Sea and Skies Above.''<ref name="richmond"/> Within the next few years more bands joined the roster, including Portland musician Jona Bechtolt (of Yacht), Viking Moses, World, and Brad Adkins. Artists signed to the label frequently play together, swap members, and form short or long-term superbands.<ref name="richmond"/>
According to Knapp: "The label learned everything and grew through its artists. It wasn't the other way around. This place–the community of music here; Marriage Records is totally a function of that."<ref name="olive"/> Adrian Orange released an album with K Records in Olympia, Washington in 2007,<ref name="krecords"/> and artists on the two labels have frequently collaborated.<ref name="richmond"/>
In 2006, Brooklyn band Dirty Projectors released their ''New Attitude'' EP on the label.<ref name="live"/> According to bandmember Dave Longstreth, Marriage Records was an important influence on their early sound, saying "I love a lot of the music that my friends have made up in Portland. I feel like it has totally affected who I am and what kind of things I ended up making—people like Adrian Orange, Adam Forkner, and Curtis..."<ref name="mercury"/> In 2007, the ''Seattle Stranger'' interviewed Steven Malkmus of Pavement who stated "There's just crazy stuff [going on in Portland]... Marriage Records, this guy Curtis, has got some good stuff."<ref name="pavement"/>
The label and the associated bands were featured in episode five of the series ''Don't Move Here,'' titled "Marriage Records and Rob Walmart" (2010). It interviewed label owners Knapp and Adam Forkner about the history and family ethics behind the operation, learned about Forkner's solo act White Rainbow, and taped a guerrilla street performance from the collective group Rob Walmart.<ref name="dont"/>
[[File:VE-06-EDITION.jpg|thumb|right|180px|The first five editions of ''Veneer Magazine'' from Marriage Publishing House]]Knapp and Flint Jamison also co-founded the Portland arts space Yale Union (YU), where a number of the label's bands have recorded music.<ref name="lavelle"/> Around 2005 the label released ''Live At The Artistery'', featuring bands that had used the now closed venue space The Artistery, a youth-run arts community.<ref name="traymany"/>
===Marriage Publishing House=== The label created the imprint Marriage Publishing House (MPH) in March 2003,<ref name="linkedinknapp"/> which publishes "experimental literature."<ref name="lavelle"/> Its first project was Tom Blood's poetry book ''The Sky Position,'' which won the 2007 Stafford/Hall award for poetry from Literary Arts Inc.'s Oregon Book Awards.
In 2007 it started publishing ''Veneer Magazine''. ''Veneer'' has included contributions from contemporary artists, writers, inventors, technicians, and musicians such as Adrian Piper, George Kuchar, GoodiePal, Elaine Sturtevant, Kevin Kelly and Ray Kurzweil.<ref name="first">[http://www.veneermagazine.com/01-18/index.html Veneer Magazine websites]</ref>
==Associations== ;Artists {{columns-list|colwidth=20em| * Adam Forkner * Adrian Orange * Brad Adkins (visual artist) * Dirty Projectors * James V * Jordan Dykstra * Karl Blau * Thanksgiving * Tune-Yards * Little Wings * Lucky Dragons * Matthew Stadler (writer) * Moon Grass Mountain * Mount Eerie * Parenthetical Girls * Viking Moses * World * White Rainbow * Yacht * Caspar Sonnet }} ;Entities * Clear Cut Press (Portland) * Department of Safety (Anacortes, WA) * Gnar Tapes (Los Angeles) * K Records (Olympia, WA) * P. W. Elverum & Sun (Anacortes) * States Rights Records (Portland) * ''Veneer Magazine'' (Portland)
== References == <references>
<ref name="pavement">Interview with Steven Malkmus of Pavement, ''Seattle Stranger'' (2007)</ref>
<ref name="dont">{{cite web | url=http://endhits.portlandmercury.com/endhits/archives/2009/09/01/wk-presents-dont-move-here-inside-portlands-music-scene | date=September 1, 2009 | accessdate=2010-01-14 | title=WK Presents: "Don't Move Here: Inside Portland's Music Scene" | author=Ezra Caraeff | publisher=Portland Mercury | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125024224/http://endhits.portlandmercury.com/endhits/archives/2009/09/01/wk-presents-dont-move-here-inside-portlands-music-scene | archive-date=January 25, 2010 | url-status=dead }}</ref>
<ref name="krecords">{{cite news | title = Adrian Orange | url = http://krecs.com/artists/adrian-orange/ | publisher = K Records | date = | accessdate = 2013-03-11 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130308225605/http://krecs.com/artists/adrian-orange/ | archive-date = 2013-03-08 | url-status = dead }}</ref>
<ref name="olive">{{cite news | title = Off the Record: An Interview with Curtis Knapp of Marriage Records | first = Olivia | last = Olive | url = http://hankblog.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/off-the-record-an-interview-with-curtis-knapp-of-marriage-records/ | publisher = Hank Blog | date = August 14, 2012 | accessdate = 2013-03-11 }}</ref>
<ref name="lavelle">{{cite news | title = YU Contemporary, Marriage Records Publishing House and Veneer | first = Nicole | last = Lavelle | url = http://www.bangback.com/print-matters/yu-contemporary-marriage-records-publishing-house-and-veneer/ | newspaper = BangBack | date = December 17, 2010 | accessdate = 2013-03-11 }}</ref>
<ref name="linkedinknapp">{{cite news | title = Curtis Knapp | url = http://www.linkedin.com/pub/curtis-knapp/27/ba9/48b | publisher = LinkedIn | date = | accessdate = 2013-03-11 }}</ref>
<ref name="mercury">{{cite news | title = Interview: Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors | first = Andrew | last = Tonry | url = http://www.portlandmercury.com/endhits/archives/2009/07/06/dirty-projectors-interview | newspaper = The Portland Mercury | date = July 7, 2009 | accessdate = 2013-03-11 }}</ref>
<ref name="live">{{cite news | title = Portland turns haven for recording studios | first = Jake | last = Cohen | url = http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2009/08/portland_turns_haven_for_recor.html | newspaper = Oregon Live | date = September 27, 2009 | accessdate = 2013-03-11 }}</ref>
<ref name="richmond">{{cite news | title = Portrait of the Artist: Adrian Orange's First Time | first = Paige | last = Richmond | url = http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-23054-portrait_of_the_artist_adrian_oranges_first_time.html | newspaper = Willamette Week | date = September 20, 2009 | accessdate = 2013-03-11 }}</ref>
<ref name="traymany">{{cite news |title = The Artistery |first = Anney |last = Traymany |url = http://www.allagesmovementproject.org/artistery_spotlight |publisher = Allages Movement Project |date = December 2008 |accessdate = 2013-03-11 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20101029024228/http://www.allagesmovementproject.org/artistery_spotlight |archivedate = 2010-10-29 }}</ref>
</references>
==External links== {{Commons category|Marriage Records}} * [http://www.marriagerecs.com Marriage Records]
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Category:American independent record labels Category:Record labels established in 2001 Category:Companies based in Portland, Oregon Category:2001 establishments in Oregon Category:Record labels based in Oregon