Light in the Attic Records

Light in the Attic Records & Distribution is an independent record label, distribution company, and sync licensing house founded in 2001 in Seattle, Washington by Matt Sullivan; Josh Wright joined shortly thereafter. The label is noted for its reissues of albums by artists such as Rodriguez, Betty Davis, Hiroshi Yoshimura, Serge Gainsbourg, Jim Sullivan, Donnie and Joe Emerson, Karen Dalton, Lee Hazlewood, Nancy Sinatra, Sly Stone, and Lou Reed, as well as compilations of archival recordings in genres including Japanese city pop, country funk, and ambient. The label has also released albums by contemporary bands such as The Black Angels and Nicole Willis & The Soul Investigators.

In 2024, the online music database Discogs named Light in the Attic Indie Label of the Year. The label has also received multiple honors from the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) at the Libera Awards, including winning Label of the Year (Medium) in 2021 and 2024, nomination for Marketing Genius in 2021, and winning Best Soul/Funk Record in 2024 for Betty Davis’ Crashin’ from Passion. Several Light in the Attic releases and contributors have received GRAMMY Award nominations, including Native North America (Vol. 1), Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990, There's a Dream I've Been Saving: Lee Hazlewood Industries 1966-1971, and Lou Reed’s Words & Music, May 1965, with individual nominations for Alec Palao (Album Notes, I’m Just Like You: Sly’s Stone Flower 1969–70), Kevin Howes (Album Notes, Creation Never Sleeps, Creation Never DIes: The Willie Dunn Anthology), and Masaki Koike (Packaging, Words & Music, May 1965).

History

Matt Sullivan and Josh Wright met in elementary school in Bellevue, Washington, and later operated their high school’s 10-watt radio station, KASB. In the mid-90s, Sullivan interned at several Seattle-based labels, including Sub Pop and the now-defunct Loosegroove Records. Through Sub Pop’s Susie Tennant, he secured an internship at Madrid-based Munster Records, which specialized in reissues of artists such as The Stooges and Spacemen 3. This experience shaped his vision for creating a reissue-oriented label.

In 2001, Sullivan began co-producing live shows in Seattle under the names Music Makers and later Light in the Attic. These concerts featured performers such as the Walkmen, Saul Williams, Interpol, Clinic, and Kid Koala. Following a layoff from RealNetworks, Sullivan used his severance pay to finance the label’s first project, a joint release with Vampi Soul, a subsidiary of Munster Records, reissuing the Last Poets’ first two albums.

Early in its history, Light in the Attic conducted extensive record store and distribution road trips across North America, delivering large quantities of vinyl and CDs directly to independent retailers. Some of these trips were filmed and later aired by the American online music magazine Pitchfork.

In 2012-13, Light in the Attic received broader international attention following the success of the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, which won the best documentary Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards and brought renewed visibility to the label’s soundtrack release and its earlier reissues of singer-songwriter Rodriguez’s catalog. The film’s popularity introduced a new global audience to both Rodriguez’s music and the label’s archival and reissue work.

Major Releases

Light in the Attic’s catalog includes numerous reissues and compilations spanning soul, funk, folk, rock, country, jazz, ambient, punk, hip-hop, and international genres. Notable projects include:

• 2001 reissues of The Last Poets (1970) and This Is Madness (1971).
• The soundtrack to the 1974 blaxploitation film Lialeh, composed by Bernard Purdie.
• A series of reissues by the vocal group The Free Design.
• Wheedle's Groove (2004), a compilation of soul and funk artists from Seattle, including Patrinell Wright, The Black & White Affair, Cold, Bold & Together (featuring Kenny G), Ron Buford, and Overton Berry.
• Passover (2006),the debut album by the psych-rock group The Black Angels.
• Reissues of Karen Dalton’s It’s So Hard To Tell Who’s Going to Love You the Best (1969; reissued 2009) and In My Own Time (1971; reissued 2006, deluxe reissue in 2022).
• 2007 reissues of Betty Davis' albums Betty Davis (1973) and They Say I'm Different (1974).
• 2008 reissue of Rodriguez’s Cold Fact (1970), which drew international attention.
• 2009 reissue of Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971).
• Please Don't Tell Me How The Story Ends: Publishing Demos 1968 - 1972 (2010), a collection of previously unreleased early recordings by Kris Kristofferson.
• 2011 reissue of U.F.O. (1971) by singer-songwriter Jim Sullivan.
• Native North America, Vol. 1 (2014), a compilation of aboriginal musicians from Canada and the U.S., which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Historical Album.
• A Japan-related series that includes the three-volume ' compilation series and albums by Hiroshi Yoshimura (GREEN), Haruomi Hosono (Philharmony, omni Sight Seeing, Paraiso, Hosono House and Cochin Moon), and Sachiko Kanenobu (Misora). ÂÂ
• A Jamaica-to-Toronto series that includes the compilations Jamaica to Toronto: Soul, Funk & Reggae 1967-1974 and Summer Records Anthology: 1974-1988, and albums by Jackie Mittoo (Wishbone), Noel Ellis (self-titled), and Earth, Roots & Water (Innocent Youths).
• A 2020 collaboration with Nancy Sinatra to reissue albums including Nancy & Lee (1968), Boots (1966), Nancy in London (1966), Sugar (1967), Country, My Way (1967), and compilations titled Start Walkin’ 1965–1976 and Keep Walkin’: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1965-1978.
• A 2022 collaboration with Laurie Anderson and the Lou Reed Archive to reissue Hudson River Wind Meditations (2007) and release compilations such as Why Don’t You Smile Now: Lou Reed at Pickwick Records 1964-65 and the Grammy-nominated Words & Music, May 1965.
• A 2024 collaboration with Ukrainian label Shukai to release Even the Forest Hums: Ukrainian Sonic Archives 1971–1996, a compilation introducing the diverse sonic and cultural heritage of Ukraine.

Cinewax: Launched in 2010, focusing on vintage and contemporary film soundtracks. Releases include the Winter's Bone original soundtrack, the Winter's Bone original score by Dickon Hinchcliffe, the Project Nim original soundtrack and score, Blaze, Shogun Assassin, Low Down, American Dreamer, Chinatown, and Jodorosky's Dune, along with the DVD release of the documentary film Wheedle's Groove. Modern Classic Recordings: Established in 2011 to reissue later-period releases. Its first title was Mercury Rev's Deserter's Songs (1998; reissued 2011), followed by Morphine's Cure For Pain (1993; reissued 2012). Other titles include the Stone Roses’ debut release(1988; reissued 2015), D’Angelo’s Voodoo (2000; reissued 2012), Built to Spill’s Ultimate Alternative Wavers (1993; reissued 2014), the Big Boys’ Lullabies Help the Brain Grow (1983; reissued 2014) and No Matter How Long the Line at the Cafeteria, There’s Always a Seat (1984; reissued 2014), Willie Nelson’s Teatro (1998; reissued 2015), Morphine’s Like Swimming (1997; reissued 2023), and Digable Planets’ Blowout Comb (1994; reissued 2018).

Future Days Recordings: Launched in 2012, focusing on reissues from the 1960s and 1970s. Releases include Pete Jolly’s Seasons (1970; reissued 2024), Annette Peacock’s I’m the One (1972; reissued 2012), Tim Buckley’s Lady, Give Me Your Key: The Unissued 1967 Solo Acoustic Sessions (recorded 1967; released 2016), and James Luther Dickinson’s solo album Dixie Fried (1972; reissued 2016). Future Days has also released works by artists such as the Grateful Dead, Françoise Hardy, Thin Lizzy, Lee Moses, Link Wray, Bobby Whitlock, and Terry Reid.

Light in the Attic has also provided music for film and television projects via an in-house sync licensing department that represents the Light in the Attic catalog as well as a wide variety of both vintage and contemporary record labels, catalogs and independent artists and estates. Recent placements include commercial/brand placements for Apple, Dos Equis, Toyota, BMW, Delta Air Lines, Uniqlo, Nike Inc, Google, Johnnie Walker, Adidas, Old Navy, 7 Up, Hotels.com, MLB, and Calvin Klein; sample licensing (Jim James, DJ Khaled, Bon Iver, et al); and movies/trailers and network/cable TV (HBO, NBC, FOX, ABC, Showtime, CBS, Netflix, Amazon, ESPN), including Wednesday, Eddington, The Righteous Gemstones, Walker, ', Justified, ', Ginny & Georgia, Abbott Elementary, Bad Sisters, Reservation Dogs, Big Little Lies, Mayans M.C., Tulsa King, Zero Day, Brilliant Minds, and Resident Alien.