Pitchfork

Times have been, er, rough for North America-dwelling fans of UK indie powerhouse Rough Trade Records in recent years, with most of the venerable label's newer releases hopping the pond in small numbers at best. Hence, you may have come up woefully short last time you visited your local U.S. record shop to hit on the clerk and buy that new Brakes record-- but not for long!

Rough Trade announced yesterday that they've hooked up with the NYC-based World's Fair Label Group to move units of their sweet product all over North America. According to a press release, the deal is an "agreement" in which World's Fair-- already in league with Definitive Jux, PIAS, Bella Union, Fabric, Echo, and BBE-- will "begin overseeing the marketing, manufacturing and distributing of five marquee releases initially, with more titles soon to be announced."

Those five initial discs are Jarvis Cocker's Jarvis, the Veils' Nux Vomica, the 1990's imminent debut, the forthcoming British Sea Power disc, and yes, Brakes' The Beatific Visions-- however because there's already a U.S.-based Brakes, and neither Brakes UK or the Brighton Brakes sounds remotely cool, the band behind Beatific Visions will henceforth be known as BrakesBrakesBrakes to U.S. audiences. Oh boy.

Said Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis in the press release, "This venture represents an opportunity to show what Rough Trade can do to help foster the growth of Independent artists and talented mavericks determined to improve the quality of all of our lives."

Travis went on to mention his desire "to attract some of the U.S. and Canadian artists that might want to sign up to the Rough Trade way." So if you and your buds are convinced you're the next Strokes, well, be merciful and break up already.

Rough Trade releases were previously distributed Stateside by Sanctuary.

No word yet on release dates for Jarvis and company, nor when or whether the Long Blondes' Someone to Drive You Home (one of Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2006, need we remind you) will land on North American shores.

Finally, if you're not familiar with Rough Trade Records, why not pick up that book we mentioned a few months ago?