Northern Spy is a Brooklyn-based independent record label formed by former staff of the legendary ESP-Disk’ imprint. As an artist-run label, Northern Spy shines the light on musicians who are tenacious, forward-thinking and making devil-be-damned fine music, while finding substance in the disparate worlds of free improvisation and popular music.


Matt Katz : Record Producer, Songwriter, Arranger: All Them Princes Vol I & Vol II out now. Vol III due out Fall 2020

I run a record label called Datawaslost and make music under the name Coltrane Motion. Some of it gets posted here.

American Composer/Storyteller.  I make music/songs out of anything I find in my head and I use that music to tell strange stories.
I have performed all over the US and Europe.  I live in NYC.

In his review of Craighead’s 2017 album The Tuesday Night Music Club, Stereogum’s Chris Deville wrote, “Craighead has developed a musical language all his own, both in terms of his rich chamber-pop arrangements and a sardonic wit communicated so gently that it sometimes takes a while to realize he’s clowning you.” 

Sam's songs cover autobiographical glimpses and musings on life and masculinity in late capitalist America--the requisite singer-songwriter navel gazing intersecting with stories of hopeful Beanie Baby collectors, eating and dying in fast food restaurants, and the enduring power of '90s popular music. This cheeky obscurity over a soft alt-rock soundtrack has drawn listeners to his work both as a solo artist, and earlier as the primary songwriter of Heavy Mole and Feature Films.

He's refined his balance between satire and sincerity on Self-Portrait w/Fries, a  five track EP produced by David Welsh from The Fray, coming out March 22, 2019. He’s still clowning you, just more empathetically. And he's crying and snacking the whole time.

Dane Terry is following