Pitchfork

How's this for the next Will Ferrell movie? A professional hockey player grows tired of the usual Nickelback and Bon Jovi pre-game pump up jams and begins surreptitious nightly excursions into the underground psych and noise scenes. While playing for the Red Wings, he attends a Dead Meadow gig in Detroit and there meets an ex-member of the Dirtbombs who used to put out Pavement and Don Caballero records and now works for Warner Bros. The two become friends, gush about Boris and Sunn O))) together, and decide to start a limited-run label specializing in psych/noise releases. Then they live happily ever after.

Also, there's a romantic interest played by Audrey Tautou and a scene where Ferrell accidentally eats a hockey puck while dining at a Tim Hortons. Genius!

Best of all, this one would be Based on a True Story, as the above synopsis more or less tells the tale of upstart Macomb, Michigan imprint Elevation Recordings. The hockey player, Boyd Devereaux, now plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Warner guy, Joe Greenwald, used to run the label Third Gear. And they really did meet at a Dead Meadow show.

Elevation likes releasing things in the EP format and likes to keep those EPs limited to 5,000 copies or less. Thus far they've put out two records: doom-gazers Nadja's Guilted by the Sun EP and psych-rockers Residual Echoes' Firsts EP. Coming soon are EPs from Black Mountain offshoot Blood Meridian, Easy Action (led by Negative Approach frontman/meanest looking dude alive John Brannon), and Wellwater Conspiracy (which includes Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron).

While details are still falling into place on the latter two releases, the Blood Meridian EP is tentatively titled Liquidate Paris. It will feature nine songs and will be Elevation's first vinyl release, limited to a mere 500 copies. Label and band hope to have it ready in time for the upcoming Black Mountain tour.