Deep Elm Records started in
New York City by John Szuch. Deep Elm's first release was the single "Anthemic Tune" by Curdlefur in 1995. Its first album was by
Camber in March 1997. In 2006 Deep Elm Records signed its first
UK act, Free Diamonds. By 2008, Deep Elm stopped pressing physical
CDs and
vinyl, effectively becoming a
digital only label. The label has refused to be bought out by a larger company, and is currently located in
Maui, Hawaii.
Compilation albums Between 1997 and 2011, the label released a series of twelve
compilation albums titled
The Emo Diaries. The series had an open submissions policy and featured mostly acts that were unsigned at the time of the albums' releases. It also released a compilation series called
This Is Indie Rock. Deep Elm's founder, John Szuch, claims that the original name for the series was intended to be
The Indie Rock Diaries, but this was ruled out when the first volume included Jimmy Eat World and Samiam, who were both signed to
major record labels.
The Emo Diaries was chosen because
The Emotional Diaries was too long for the
album cover. Despite the title, the bands featured in the series have a diversity of sounds that do not all necessarily fit into the
emo style of rock music.
Andy Greenwald, in his book
Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo, claims that the series "stake[s] a claim for emo as more a shared aesthetic than a genre." The label is now famous as a home for alternative
post-rock bands, with acts such as
Lights & Motion,
Moonlit Sailor,
Athletics and Dorena. ==Artists past and present==