Over the course of its first decade, self-described “pop alternative source” Cherrytree Records has traded in everything from garage rock revivalism to wholly above-ground radio assaults.
Though still housing a diverse roster, Cherrytree has come into its own by solidifying a niche as a key importer of highbrow pop from abroad. During the last several years, the label has handled the US releases of some of the most forward-thinking European albums to still fall somewhere under the umbrella of popular music; for evidence of their discography’s progressiveness, consider the feverish creativity of Robyn’s Body Talk series versus the predictability of artists who are more content to play fair with Top 40 norms, or look to the power of Jessie Ware’s Devotion relative to Adele’s decidedly safer retro-future soul.
This list, which features Cherrytree’s very first record and winds its way right up to the present, is an attempt to catalog the releases that best provide a subversive counterpoint to mainstream conservativeness.