Toni Elton
Audio By Carbonatix
Unlike many other places, Colorado has attracted and incubated a seemingly abnormal number of cool bands, underground music communities, and weirdo internet labels with collections that listeners just can’t stop sinking their teeth into. So it’s no surprise that Denver has more than a few record labels to boast about, and several labels in other cities have even cultivated international followings with their discographies.
Record labels are more than just platforms for releasing albums. They also play an important role in documenting music communities, whether locally, nationally or globally, by keeping a physical track record (pun intended) of music releases. These efforts create special journalistic collections of vinyl and other physical releases, often grouping artists within similar genres, or simply those well-liked enough to be backed and published by the label owners.
Below you’ll find ten great Colorado-based record labels that are worth writing home about.
Courtesy Derik Hendrickson
Braeburn Records
Fort Collins
Founder Derik Hendrickson initially founded the record label known as Braeburn Records in Salt Lake City in 1998, though the label fizzled out around 2003. After relocating to Fort Collins, however, Hendrickson breathed new life into the record label last year, rebooting it with the release of the debut EP from his son’s post-hardcore project, Mood Swing Misery. Since then, the label has remained busy releasing music across genres such as post-hardcore, hardcore, metal, emo, and alternative rock. Notably, the label’s release schedule has recently included those from Colorado acts such as Irah Nox, Suicide Cages, Talking Point and Wolfblitzer, as well as reissues of two initially released Pictures Can Tell albums.
Courtesy Adam Croft
Convulse Records
Denver
Arguably one of the most prolific and exciting independent record labels today is the Denver-based Convulse Records. Since it was founded by Adam Croft in 2019, the label has quickly risen to the forefront of the modern punk and hardcore scenes. While the label has in no small part been responsible for putting recent Denver releases on the map nationally, it’s grown well beyond the scope of Colorado music, boasting weirdo hardcore and punk albums from all over. Still, the label has remained rooted in a do-it-yourself/do-it-together attitude, with notable releases from Croft’s own band, Destiny Bond, fellow Denver acts FAIM, Goon, Candy Apple and Public Opinion, and other household punk names beyond Colorado like Fentanyl, Militarie Gun, GUMM, MSPAINT and more.
Dark Descent Records
Colorado Springs
Founded in 2010 and based in Colorado Springs is the metal label Dark Descent Records, representing yet another example of Colorado’s place as a unique hub for niche, albeit highly popular, underground internet genres. The label puts out vinyl and other physical releases for a range of black-metal, doom-metal and death-metal bands, including notable past albums from some of Denver’s best metal acts like Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice, as well as those from several other bands around the world.
Courtesy of Mean World Records
Mean World Records
Denver
Mean World Records was founded by Hunter Bates, Jason Kaplan and Jake DeMarco in 2023, joining a few others on this list as a relatively young record label. The DIY label releases vinyl and other physical releases for many of Denver’s up-and-coming indie rock bands, and we named them the best new label in our Best of Denver index last year. The band’s roster includes alt-rock bands like Tiny Tomboy, which earned our pick for the best indie rock album this year with its album Psychic Scar, along with Shady Oaks, the Losers Club, In Plain Air, Deth Rali, Tarantula Bill and others.
Needlejuice Records
Longmont
Tucked into Boulder County is the independent record label Needlejuice Records, which specializes in vinyl, cassettes and other physical albums for “strange alternative music” from around the world. Founded by Austin Ash Lemon in 2017 with the release of King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard’s Polygondwanaland through the band’s official bootlegger program, the label has since grown a following for heralding “weird internet music” from artists around the world. Among them are also a solo release from Stephen Jay, known for his career as the bassist for Weird Al, and Backstage, the debut album released earlier this year by Lemon’s own band, The Odd Ditties.
No Coincidence Records
Denver
The independent, Denver-based record label No Coincidence Records was founded in 2021, offering global vinyl distribution through the Secretly network. The label is considered another small operation among many, though home to a roster of rising singer-songwriters and bands across folk and rock music. Amongst the label’s releases in the few years of its existence are those from Colorado singer-songwriters Nathaniel Riley, Dafna, as well as those from outside the state with great or increasing notoriety like Goose, Futurebirds and The Oh Hellos.
Zachary Visconti
Power Goth Recordings
Denver
The DIY label operation known as Power Goth Recordings was started in 2022 by Broken Record vocalist Lauren Beecher, her husband Corey Fruin, who also plays in Broken Record and fronts Replica City (rated one of Denver’s best punk bands), and their friend Jay Papandreas. The record label’s founding story also includes a notable push from Chuck Coffey of Snappy Little Numbers, who told the crew that they had everything they needed to run their own record label. The label has since taken off running with the spirit of DIY, hosting LPs from Beecher and Fruin’s own bands, including a Broken Record split with Denver emo band A Place for Owls, and releases from Colorado alt-rockers Flesh Tape, for which Beecher now drums.
Snappy Little Numbers
Denver
Snappy Little Numbers has become a certified staple amongst Denver’s record labels, putting out countless releases for bands around Colorado and beyond over the last several years. The label was founded by Chuck Coffey in 2011, after he had run the previous label Not Bad Records since 1997 and played in punk bands throughout the 90s. Today, the Snappy Little Numbers roster includes tons of Denver punk and rock classics, including the upcoming album from riot grrrl punks Cheap Perfume, Don’t Care. Didn’t Ask, due out in October.
Sailor Records
Denver
Record label Sailor Records was founded by Oscar Ross in 2011, and the label has been going strong ever since. The label holds the mission statement of releasing “music [it] believes in and live by,” and as a testament to that, it earned our award for Denver’s best hard rock label in 2024. The label was founded with the specific intent of supporting local bands, and while it averages just a few releases each year (unlike some of these maniacs, like those at Convulse), the label has been home to some key Colorado releases over the years, including one of our favorite local rock bands, Ipecac.
Unit E Records
Denver
Something must have been in the water in Denver around 2011, given that Unit E Records is the third group on this list that was founded that same year. Regardless, the label known today as Unit E Records started as an art space and DIY venue in the Santa Fe Art District in 2011, all geared toward supporting local art and music communities. We named it the best DIY label in Denver in our 2024 rankings, and the label’s roster includes a number of Denver artists such as Brothers of Brass, RAREBYRD$, and Chicano funk act Los Mocochetes, who have been a longtime Westword favorite and an important voice for activism in the city.