Cher Doll Records

• Name — Cher Doll Records • Founded — 1993 • Founder — Nancy Ostrander • Genre — Pop, rock • Country — United States • Location — Seattle, Washington

Founder Nancy Ostrander was inspired to start Cher Doll by the fanzine and record label Four Letter Words, one of the earliest of the American indiepop labels started up in response to the C86 and twee movements in the UK. Cher Doll started out as a seven-inch singles-only label associated with Ostrander's Hip Clown Rag fanzine. In 1992 Cher Doll released Crayon's "The Dream is Gone" and Veronica Lake's "Sleepyhouse" on a split 7-inch record, as well as Crayon's 1994 Phantom Third Channel split 7-inch EP. The label also recorded for Blanket, a Seattle band inspired by Spacemen 3 and the Velvet Underground whose members went on to play in Sno*Boy and Tullycraft. In 1993, at that time living in Seattle, Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel sent a tape of material recorded on a four-track to Ostrander, who found the music and Mangum intriguing: "It was fuzzy and happy and catchier than heck. I like music that is actual songs—the shorter the better—and he got bonus points for Snow Song sounding like the Jesus and Mary Chain." She selected two songs and released the group's first single "Everything Is"/"Snow Song Pt. 1". Mangum said, "The single was a Godsend because [sic] I was pretty much at the end of my rope with just about everything in my life at that point. I'd moved away from my home and all my friends for the first time and I was very much alone and sad... she saved me merely by saying she wanted to do a single." In 1994, Cher Doll also released Neutral Milk Hotel's "Up and Over" on the compilation 7-inch EP The Amazing Phantom Third Channel; Mangum wrote it to resolve his fear and confusion. The band's "Invent Yourself a Shortcake", released by Cher Doll on the compilation EP, Champagne Dancing Party, in 1995, included Will Cullen and Bill Doss. The band released several more seven-inch singles with Cher Doll while Mangum lived in Seattle. Mangum said he was not pleased with a 7-inch record, "Bucket", on Cher Doll, because the recording made in a studio "doesn't sound like me." Cher Doll Records cooperated on projects with "like-minded" Darla Records, founded in 1994 and producing "bright, sugary pop albums". Cher Doll issued two full-length albums, distributed by Darla Records. Alistair Fitchett, reviewed the Something Cool compilation released by Cher Doll in 1997 as "a winner for sure", having heard from "indeipopsters that matter in the USA, it's a hit hit HIT". He said: Cher Doll has for the past four years or so been one of the coolest small record labels in the US, nay the world. With a sweet chic approach to packaging that's devoutly rooted in the recycling of 1950s and 60s imagery, Cher Doll has always shown that it's more than possible to put together artefacts that are fun, classy, and independent. These are important factors. In 1998, Cher Doll Records released Tullycraft's second full-length album, City of Subarus, recorded by Chris Munford, who had joined the group from Incredible Force of Junior.