Agitprop! Records is a 'revolutionary hardcore and hip hop'

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

based in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...

, US, founded by Jacob Tavares. The name comes from the term

Agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...

, a genre of political propaganda from

Soviet-Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. One of the label's notable releases is the compilation ''Stand Up & Fucking Fight For It'', its first full-length CD, released in 2002. The recording features

queercore Queercore (or homocore) is a cultural/social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of the punk subculture and a music genre that comes from punk rock. It is distinguished by its discontent with society in general, and specificall ...

bands such as Fagatron,

Best Revenge Best Revenge was a queercore punk band from Los Angeles. They were active as a studio and live act from the beginning of 1998 until December 2002. History Best Revenge was formed by members Ryan Revenge (vocals/guitar) and KT (bass/vocals) in ...

, The Rotten Fruits,

Kids Like Us Kids Like Us is an American hardcore punk band from north Florida. Formed in 2003, the band drew influences from various subgenres of punk prominent in the scene at the time such as DIY, Garage, and Skate. Known for their over-the-top lyrical vu ...

and others, and is one of a handful of queercore compilations to be released. Tavares said in the

Fanorama ''Fanorama'' (also known as ''Fanorama Society'' and ''Fanorama Cabal'') is a Rhode Island-based zine and zine-distro produced by journalist/activist REB (Richard E. Bump). According to their website it is the "grand-daddy of the queer zine scene". ...

zine, "I was 17 or 18 when I came out, and very much into hardcore and punk. It was weird being involved in these two different 'communities' - one that, at times, could be overrun with

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy ...

and

heterosexism Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of female–male sexuality and relationships. According to Elizabeth Cramer, it can include the belief that all people are or should be heterosexual and that heterosex ...

, and the other which I could find very little in common with other than that we fucked the same." He said that the compilation was inspired largely by the

Outpunk Outpunk enjoys the distinction of being the first record label entirely devoted to queer punk bands. The label was run out of San Francisco and began as an extension of Matt Wobensmith's fanzine, ''Outpunk''. ''Outpunk'' ran for seven issues, fro ...

label and its early-1990s ''Outpunk Dance Party,'' though he added that despite its reputation, Agitprop! is not specifically a "queer" label. Other early releases included albums and vinyl singles by Ninja Death Squad and Fagatron, and Agitprop! also began issuing records by hip hop artists like

Juha Juha is a masculine given name of Finnish origin derived from Johannes (or John in English language contexts). Notable people with the name include: * Juha Alén * Juha Gustafsson * Juha Hakola * Juha Harju * Juha Haukkala * Juha Hautamäki * J ...

and Deep Dickollective. Agitprop! was initially established as a distro, and continued to distribute other labels' recordings after it began releasing its own. The label is referenced in ''Homocore'', a somewhat definitive guidebook to queercore history. Tavares put Agitprop! on hiatus to focus on fiction writing (which has included "Fast Ones" from the

Dennis Cooper Dennis Cooper (born January 10, 1953) is an American novelist, poet, critic, editor and performance artist. He is best known for the ''George Miles Cycle'', a series of five semi-autobiographical novels published between 1989 and 2000 and describe ...

anthology, ''Userlands''). In 2007, Agitprop! returned, first by making much of its back-catalogue available through

CDBaby CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that " ...

. In December 2007, Juha's album ''The Grooms of God'' became the first new Agitprop! release since the label was revived.

Artists on Agitprop! Records

* And I Can't Wait * Best Revenge * Deep Dickollective * Fagatron * Fakefight * Free Verse * Juha * Kids Like Us * Ninja Death Squad * Skinjobs * To See You Broken * Iamloved

References

External links

Agitprop! Records web site

Old Agitprop Records Webpage
by way of the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

Wayback Machine {{Authority control American independent record labels Record labels established in 2002 Record labels established in 2007 Re-established companies Queercore record labels 2002 establishments in Massachusetts

Artists on Agitprop! Records

See also

References

External links