In “The Nonsound Of IAMSOUND,” LA Weekly scribe Laura Ferreiro documents the rise of an excellent homegrown record label. Over the last three years, the Fairfax District-based IAMSOUND has been responsible for a stream of impressive releases from artists hailing from the U.K. (Little Boots), the East Coast (Telepathe) and, most recently, Los Angeles — with the debut full-length of rising Eritrean/Hebrew pop outfit Fool's Gold.

Well, a week from today, IAMSOUND, takes a huge step to strengthening its relationship with its city, releasing the first installment of “The L.A. Collection,” a split 7-inch vinyl project that will borrow talent from nearly every stylistic corner currently popping off in Los Angeles. The first release, due February 16, is actually not a split: “Clay Stones” from Manimal Vinyl act We Are The World.

In the current LA Weekly article, label manager Paul Tao tells Ferreiro: “As an L.A. label, we wanted to be able to bring together all kinds of music so people would see what L.A. has to offer… The bands [we reached out to] were excited about what we were trying to do, so they started referring their friends and it just grew.”

The final list is an incredible cross-section of Angeleno talent: Alpha Pup beat artist Nosaj Thing, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Frenchkiss band Local Natives, Tee Pee psych-bluesist Imaad Wasif, Ryan Gosling's Dead Man's Bones, Not Not Fun outfit Pocahaunted, and several others: Rainbow Arabia, IO Echo, Signals, Actually, Moonrats and, of course, Fool's Gold.

IMASOUND plans to release a piece of wax per month unto August. Needless to say, our vinl column, INCHES, will be covering each as it arrives.

“Clay Stones” art, and label statement, after the jump.

claystones

From IAMSOUND:

“The LA Collection is a series of limited edition split 7-inches released on IAMSOUND Records in 2010, one a month going from March till August, in partnership with one of our favorite UK record stores, Pure Groove Records. All artists are LA acts hand-picked by IAMSOUND that represent the true talent and diversity that we believe LA has to offer. LA is one of the world's largest and most vibrant cities and yet our music scene is wholly underrated whenever compared to other artistic hotbeds such as NYC and London.

“We wanted this series of releases to help bring together an LA scene and showcase the depth of talent that exists in this city. All of the artwork is done by local artists Ingrid Allen and Elisa Saether, creating fantastical scenes of Los Angeles with oil on canvas on the front, and on the back, the typesetting would be done by famed artist and graphic designer Aaron Rose.”

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