“Without Deer Tick,
Partisan wouldn’t exist,”
says Putnam. After being
wowed by a gig at New
York’s Knitting Factory,
where Putnam was night
manager, he licensed a
2008 rerelease of the
band’s acclaimed 2007 de-
but, War Elephant, which
sold over 53,000 copies,
according to Nielsen Mu-
sic. The band’s signing to
Partisan ended up provid-
ing crucial capital that kept
the label afloat during the
Great Recession. “[New]
labels have to have rela-
tive success fairly early to
sustain the business,” says
Putnam. “I made sure we
had a structure that wasn’t
going to fall down later.”
BACKSTORY
Indie pop duo Sylvan
Esso’s self-titled 2014
debut album sold over
116,000 copies, and its hit
single “Coffee” became
Partisan’s biggest Spotify
track to date with over
80 million streams. Mean-
while, Texas-bred rockers
Cigarettes After Sex,
which the label signed in
2016, is its most promis-
ing international act. “In
Mumbai [India], they did
two nights at the Royal
Opera House,” says
White. “It only seats
575, so the promoter
made people join a
list to buy tick-
ets — 20,000
people signed
up.”
KEY STATS
When it comes to A&R,
Putnam prioritizes acts who
are “looking at politics, the
environment and global so-
cioeconomics — and who
are going to change the
culture.” This ideology led
him to U.K. punks IDLES,
whose lyrics confront toxic
masculinity, nationalism and
class inequality. The band’s
second album, 2018’s Joy
As an Act of Resistance.,
was up for a BRIT Award
and the United Kingdom’s
Mercury Prize, part of a
recent Partisan hot streak
during which Irish rockers
Fontaines D.C. also were
up for the Mercury Prize
and Seun Kuti and Bombino
were Grammy-nominated
for best world music album.
THE ARTISTS
Cigarettes After Sex’s sec-
ond album, Cry (arriving
Oct. 25), is Partisan’s most
anticipated fall release. As
for 2020, IDLES, Fontaines
D.C. and Bombino are all
scheduled to release proj-
ects, and new signees like
folk-crooner Westerman
and experimental rock
outfit Ultraísta, which has
worked with Radiohead
producer Nigel Godrich,
will make their Partisan
debuts. “I wanted to
build a label that could
challenge how people
perceive what popular
music can be,” says
Putnam,
“rather than
simply fol-
low trends.”
WHAT’S NEXT
When Tim Putnam founded Partisan Records alongside Ian Wheeler in
2007, his motivation was twofold: create a label home for his own inde-
pendent rock band and blaze a trail for other progressive-minded artists.
While his group, The Standard, issued only one album on Partisan, the
Brooklyn-bred imprint grew into an indie powerhouse; in the past 12
months, the label notched its most Grammy and Mercury Prize nomina-
tions to date, and won three Libera Awards from the American Association of Independent Music
including label of the year (medium size). With 19 employees, including managing director Zena
White, spread across offices in New York, Los Angeles, London and Mexico City, the label is nearing
100 releases, including recent projects from Americana crowd-pleasers Deer Tick, dream-pop act
(and unlikely streaming sensation) Cigarettes After Sex and the catalog of late Afrobeat legend Fela
Kuti. “I’m always keeping an eye on what the name Partisan stands for,” says Putnam. “[We’re] a
label that can enhance the human condition rather than exploit it.” —CHRIS PAYNE
PARTISAN:^ KEVINCONDON.^ C
IGARETTES:TIMMOSENFELDER/GETTYIMAGES.^ S
LOAN:^ HARMONY^ GERBER/GETTY^IMAGES.Sasha Sloan
LOCATION Los Angeles/Nashville
AGE 24
LABEL RCA
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD
Born to Ukrainian parents in Boston,
Sloan grew up taking piano lessons —
and after she watched The Wizard of Oz
for the first time, she started singing,
too. “I was always that kid in math class
writing down lyrics instead of paying
attention,” says Sloan, who after high
school attended the Berklee College of
Music for one year.
TRENDING While Sloan was away
at Berklee, her parents painted the
outside of their home — and had the
word “Dork,” with an arrow pointing
to Sloan’s bedroom window, scrawled
across their house as a gag. Amused,
Sloan posted a photo of it to Reddit. “I
blew up,” she says. “It became No. 1 on
the homepage.” Capitalizing on her viral
moment, she shared a SoundCloud link
to her music and shortly after was dis-
covered by Warner Chappell, with which
she signed a publishing deal at 19. Six
months later, she moved to Los Angeles.
SOLO ENDEAVOR Once in L.A., Sloan
started co-writing for artists like Camila
Cabello, Charli XCX and John Legend.
During that time, she self-released her
first song, “Ready Yet,” and debuted
the EP Sad Girl. “I started releasing my
own music independently because I
wanted a blueprint of who I am in the
world,” she says. When she realized she
couldn’t sustain her career alone, she
started her label search, signing to RCA
in April 2018.
QUARTER-LIFE CRISIS RCA Records
president of A&R Keith Naftaly says he
saw breakthrough potential in Sloan
because of her “heartbreakingly vulner-
able” vocals and “self-deprecating
sense of humor.” Both are on display on
Sloan’s third EP, Self-Portrait, which is
all about self-acceptance. “This EP is
more about being OK with the fact that
I have a lot of anxiety, and that I don’t
want to go to parties,” she says. “I don’t
want to be the person I always thought I
had to be.” —ILANA KAPLAN
LABEL
LOOK
PARTISAN
Greg Gonzalez of
Cigarettes After Sex
White (left)
and Putnam
ONE TO WATCH
34 BILLBOARD • OCTOBER 19, 2019