The members of the Knoxville-based weirdo-pop group COOLRUNNINGS aren't waiting around for permission to do what they want. Not only have they put out three releases without label support, they've also found a way to help other like-minded groups do the same.

COOLRUNNINGS released two EPs in 2010, Babes Forever and Buffalo, before putting out a full-length album last year. In this case, "released" means that they made everything on their bandcamp page available as a pay-what-you-want download. The experiment paid off in publicity: The songs garnered praise from avant-garde critics that loved their dissonant sound, and pop music blogs praised the group's melodies and riffs. Many of the tracks sound like what the early Flaming Lips songs might have achieved if they'd had the production skill the Lips have mastered now.

Not content to just promote themselves, in 2010 Brandon Biondo and Adam Cottle of COOLRUNNINGS launched Dracula Horse, a group of artists who collaborate and promote each other's work. It's not a label in the traditional sense of the word--they've given most every release away for free--but it might just be the perfect example of what it means to be a small label in 2012. And in cases where their albums do see a physical release (COOLRUNNINGS' 2011 album Dracula Is Only the Beginning was just released on vinyl), Dracula Horse offers a stream of the entire record and a link to where you can purchase it from the label releasing the physical copy.

In the very recent months the Character Approved COOLRUNNINGS has continued at a pace that's both prolific and laid back. Shortly after releasing a clear-vinyl 7" of two new songs on a British label, the group tossed up two more new songs for free download on their web site.

[Image: You Ain't No Picasso]