3 Chicago labels named in Billboard’s top 50 Independent!

Billboard has named HoZac, Drag City, Kranky, and Jagjaguwar in its top 50 independent US labels list.

Check out a blurb about each, directly below..

HoZac Records (9)
Since 2006, this Chicago vinyl label has focused on endearingly distorted, underground rock'n'roll, reminding us why an ears-to-the-ground approach to music pays off--they released the first LP from recent break-out band Smith Westerns in 2009, as well as the debut EP 7" EP from LA popsmiths Dum Dum Girls, now with Sub Pop, in 2008.

Drag City Records (34)
Not just a gold mine for mind-blowing folk and psychedelic reissues, Drag City's catalog is alive and well with new artists, responsible for the latest from Ty Segall, Joanna Newsom and Scout Niblett.

Kranky (35)
Go-to label for eccentric architects of thundering towers of sound like Tim Hecker and Deerhunter or dissonant punks like Disappears. As explicitly stated on the label's site, their high-brow and selective operation seldom deviates from its "very specific aesthetic," which vacillates between chaos and opioid ambience.