About BIG STIR RECORDS
BIG STIR RECORDS has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2017 as a home imprint for the bands of the Los Angeles pop rock scene. The Burbank-based label, founded by Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome of THE ARMOIRES, now lays claim to a roster of over 30 artists from as far afield as the UK, Sweden, Finland, Germany and coast to coast within the US, and a partnership with the acclaimed SpyderPop Records of Texas. BSR has issued more than 70 albums on vinyl and CD, all available on record store shelves in the US, Canada, UK and EU and streaming worldwide with distribution courtesy of The Orchard. With their focus on broadening the artistic parameters of the pop rock sound while retaining all the melodic hooks of the classic template, Big Stir has been hailed as “the best thing to happen to the pop rock scene in ages, and long overdue” by Don Valentine of I DON'T HEAR A SINGLE in the UK, and recognized as Label of The Year by DJs from Sacramento to France.
The community ethos established by Bulbenko and Broome knits together the leading lights of today's global guitar pop universe – MAPLE MARS, CHRIS CHURCH, THE CORNER LAUGHERS, NICK FRATER, SPYGENIUS, PLASTICSOUL and more – with emerging artists like LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS, DOLPH CHANEY, THE BROTHERS STEVE, KAI DANZBERG, WALKER BRIGADE and AMOEBA TEEN. BSR is also now home to titans of the genre including SORROWS, TONY VALENTINO of The Standells, STEVE STOECKEL of The Spongetones, LANNIE FLOWERS of The Pengwins, legendary psych-rock troubadour ANTON BARBEAU, and THE FLASHCUBES. It's an extended family embracing veterans from the psychedelic '60s, the punk-rock/new wave heyday of the '70s and college rock '80s, the power pop revival of the '90s, and the artists of today building on – and reinventing – the blueprints of every decade at once.
Since its inception, Big Stir has been playful, experimental and responsive, and the fans have loved it. There's been the live concert series which spawned the label, the much-loved and unique Big Stir Magazine, a weekly Singles Series highlighting artists beyond the label's roster. There have been benefit compilations and initiatives including to current fundraiser for Ukraine, a cause dear to the heart of Bulbenko, BSR's first-generation Ukrainian-American co-founder and CEO. But the key to the label's growing audience is something much simpler, readily identified by critic Bill Kopp (Musoscribe): “The Big Stir label has established itself as a tastemaker in recent years, releasing a dizzyingly varied swath of music from bands in (and well beyond) the power pop idiom... staggeringly consistent in their quality.”
Christina and Rex see Big Stir as a creative playground for their artists to flourish in pushing the possibilities of everything melodic rock and roll has been over the course of its rich history. The consistent critical accolades for their releases and the label's mantra “Pop Outside The Box” bear that out as a winning non-formula. The only thing you can expect from a Big Stir Records release is the unexpected, drawing from the full spectrum of the pop rock paradigm, but moving it ever forward.
For more about BIG STIR RECORDS:
Contact us at:
bigstirrecords@gmail.com and rexbroome@gmail.com
