Dead Oceans, Inc., is an American independent record label founded in 2006 and based in Bloomington, Indiana. It operates as part of the Secretly Group, alongside Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar.
History On June 30, 2006, Phil Waldorf founded Dead Oceans with Chris Swanson. Swanson suggested the name Dead Oceans, which came from the lyrics of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" (1963). Chris' brother Ben Swanson, Darius Van Arman, and Jonathan Cargill of Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar also helped to found the label.Austin Powell, "Dead Oceans Making Waves" Austin Chronicle, October 19, 2007.Dave Maher, "Secretly Canadian/Jagjaguwar Birth Dead Oceans" Pitchfork Media, February 19, 2007. The label was officially launched in 2007, and is part of Secretly Group.
During its early years, Dead Oceans released albums by artists such as Phosphorescent, Dirty Projectors, Akron/Family, Califone and Bowerbirds. Over time, the label's roster expanded to include Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, Destroyer, and Phoebe Bridgers. The label also serves as the parent imprint for Saddest Factory Records, founded by Bridgers in 2020.
In 2012, Dead Oceans released Bill Fay's album Life Is People, his first in over forty years. In 2017, the label released shoegaze band Slowdive's first album in 22 years.
In 2018, Dead Oceans was ranked No. 7 on Paste magazine's top-10 record labels and won the Libera Award for Label of the Year.
In 2020, the label released the Bright Eyes album Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was. The following year, the band transferred its earlier recordings, previously released through Saddle Creek Records, to Dead Oceans.
Artists
A Place to Bury Strangers Akron/Family Alex Lahey Bear in Heaven Better Oblivion Community Center Bill Fay Bishop Allen Bleached Bowerbirds Brazos Bright Eyes Califone Cassandra Jenkins Citay Destroyer Dirty Projectors Dub Thompson Durand Jones & The Indications Evangelicals Fenne Lily Frog Eyes Gauntlet Hair Greg Mendez Japanese Breakfast Jensen McRae John Vanderslice Julianna Barwick Kane Strang Kevin Morby Khruangbin Mark McGuire Marlon Williams Mitski Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band Nurses On Fillmore Phoebe Bridgers Phosphorescent Ryley Walker Scowl Shame Sloppy Jane Slowdive Strand of Oaks Sun Airway Tamino The Donkeys The Explorers Club The Luyas The Tallest Man on Earth These Are Powers Tom Rogerson Toro y Moi Wednesday White Hinterland Victoryland
Notable releases
Califone: All My Friends Are Funeral Singers (2009) Destroyer: Kaputt (2011) Bill Fay: Life Is People (2012) Slowdive: Slowdive (2017) Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps (2017) Mitski: Be the Cowboy (2018) Bright Eyes: Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was (2020) Phoebe Bridgers: Punisher (2020) Khruangbin: Mordechai (2020) Japanese Breakfast: Jubilee (2021) Mitski: Laurel Hell (2022) Slowdive: Everything Is Alive (2023) Wednesday: Bleeds (2025)
Grammy Awards (US/Global)
Mitski ‘Be The Cowboy' - Best Recording Package (2019 nominated) Phoebe Bridgers - Best New Artist (2021 nominated) Phoebe Bridgers ‘Punisher' - Best Alternative Album (2021 nominated) Phoebe Bridgers 'Kyoto' (Phoebe Bridgers, Morgan Nagler & Marshall Vore, Songwriters) - Best Rock Song (2021 nominated) Phoebe Bridgers 'Kyoto' - Best Rock Performance (2021 nominated) Japanese Breakfast - Best New Artist (2022 nominated) Japanese Breakfast ‘Jubilee’ - Best Alternative Album (2022 nominated) Khruangbin - Best New Artist (2025 nominated) Japanese Breakfast - ‘For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)’ nomination best engineered non-classical album (2026 nominated)
See also List of record labels Secretly Canadian Jagjaguwar
References
External links Dead Oceans official website