2006 10 FAVOURITE LABELS

As I commenced preparing this year's 'Favourite Labels' installment, it quickly dawned on me that a goodly share of the labels that appeared last year could just as easily re-appear in the 2006 list. Consequently, I decided upon a slightly different strategy this time around and, in a manner of speaking, chose to share the wealth by featuring 10 entirely different yet equally deserving labels and by following that with updates from last year's selections. (Note: music by artists associated with Ad Noiseam, Consumers Research & Development, foundsound, Hefty, n5MD, and Temporary Residence are included in this month's Downloads selection.)

Ad Noiseam • Consumers Research & Development • foundsound • Inner Current • Hefty • Kompakt • n5MD • Rune Grammofon • Temporary Residence • Warp • 2005 update

AD NOISEAM

Year founded and location: 2001; Berlin, Germany

Styles: A bit of everything; often electronic.

Roster: AZ-Rotator, Keef Baker, Bong-Ra, Cdatakill, Crno Klank, Curtis Chip, Dälek, Detritus, Enduser, Exillon, DJ Hidden, Horchata, Andrey Kiritchenko, Cordell Klier, Knifehandchop, Jvox, Lapsed, Larvae, Mad EP, Mago, Magwheels, Mothboy, Panacea, Wilt.

Managed by: Nicolas Chevreux

Why established: First as an off-shoot of the now defunct Recycle Your Ears webzine.

Differentiating characteristics: Ad Noiseam is a label whose main characteristic might be to put the artists and the music first. There is no constant "corporate image" in the cover artwork, the music styles and format (CD / vinyl) are varied, and the artists are international. The music comes first. The label is here to spread it, not to be in the foreground.

Label philosophy: Pretty much what's written above: Good music, well-produced, and well-presented.

Proudest accomplishment: Being still here, however down music sales have gone.

Currently promoting: Larvae's Dead Weight

Upcoming: new Cdatakill, Enduser, Wilt, and Mothboy albums.

Favourite label(s): Hard to say. At the moment, I listen to a lot of releases from Ipecac, Mush and Anticon, but I would have said Big Dada, Lex and Def Jux if you have asked me two months ago.

Non-Inner Current artist who perfectly embodies the label's esthetic: Mike Patton.

Album we wished we'd issued: Beastie Boys's Check Your Head

Amusing anecdote: Every review mention samples of the Star Wars soundtrack on Larvae's Empire and the cello on Detritus's Origin. For some reason, everybody has failed to recognize the Cradle Of Filth riffs in the first and the Prince samples in the second.

Website: Ad Noiseam

CONSUMERS RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT

Year founded and location: 2001 Chicago, Illinois

Managed by: Business Affairs: Jodi Williams (L.A. Office);  Whatever: Geoffrey Wilson (Chicago Office)

Identity: The idea has always been to start something where no one else has. We've always considered ourselves 'outsiders' when it comes to this business.  We look up to others who do things outside of what is considered the staus quo.

Distinguishing characteristics: Art and music can make a difference in people's lives. We feel that those 2 things go together and we try to outdo ourselves with every release.

Proudest accomplishment: There's nothing like opening up the box that just came from the pressing plant and looking at in idea that went from an artist, designer and our heads, to a computer, tho actually holding the shit in our hands, to listening to it. There's no feeling in the world like that.

Currently promoting: E.Moss's Beatboxes At Dawn EP

Future: More releases from folks on the label. Setting up tours. DJing gigs. Setting up art shows.

Favourite label(s): Labels of the past: Factory, ZTT, Mo' Wax, Impulse!, Verve, Stax, Musik Aus Strom, Focus/DeFocus, Frank Wobbly & Sons, JMJ, Grand Royal, Gordy, Motown, King, Creed Taylor Inc., and Output.

Website: Consumers Research & Development

foundsound

year founded and location: founded in 2004 in philadelphia, usa; since december 2005, foundsound has a second office in marseille, france.

managed by: sylvain takerkart (aka fusiphorm), sean o'neal (aka someone else), and kate iwanowicz (aka miskate)

identity: foundsound records is a label that showcases quirky, dancefloor-friendly tracks constructed mainly from fragmented samples, organic minimalism, and random field recordings.

distinguishing characteristics: in parallel of our traditional label foundsound records, we run a free netlabel—unfoundsound records—which helps promote new talent from all over the planet, and reaches a broader audience than merely the vinyl-addicts. after releasing on un foundsound, an artist can—in some cases—be invited to release on foundsound. new unfoundsound releases are made available on the 15th of each month.

proudest accomplishment: simply the fact that we have been able to make ourselves known among such a heavy hodgepodge of new minimal techno labels. people now see us with a distinct sound and as a distinct component to the minimal scene. we couldn't really ask for more than that.

currently promoting: at the moment, we are promoting miskate's new release pharm wacker ep (found sound-10), featuring two tracks both for the big, big dancefloors as well as the dingy afterhours. coming in january is the dumbest ep ever ( found sound-11) by ben parris, along with a remix by butane. this release features four tracks that are deep, funky, metilculous, bugged-out, and slapstickingly goofy. since his first relase on foundsound, ben has come along way with developing his sound. this release is an excellent sample of his own strong evolution. in february, fusiphorm will release his long awaited new 12-inch ( found sound-12).

future: the first half of 2007 will see found sound release its first full-length artist album, the debut album of someone else, that will be available both on cd and 2 x 12-inch.

favourite label(s): microcosm, musik krause/freude am tanzen, contexterrior, goosehound, igloo, karat, soundslike, perlon, thrill jockey, chain reaction, basic channel, circus company, mille plateaux, playhouse, fuzzy box, and the list goes on...

website: foundsound

HEFTY RECORDS

Year founded and location:  December 1995, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Managed by: John Hughes (aka Slicker and 1/2 of Some Water And Sun) and staff

Identity: A recent label profile/interview in Stop Smiling Magazine nicely summed up the label's sound as ‘an immaculately constructed hybrid of the synthetic and the organic.'  A genre-free approach to releasing music is our M.O. here. Our music has taken more of an electronic slant over the last several years and we see Hefty as simply releasing good music that defies any sort of generic genre tagging.

Proudest accomplishment: Battle wounds aside, just making it 10 years. We are proud of the notoriety and sales we achieved with Telefon Tel Aviv and Savath + Savalas, but each album we release is special to us.

Currently promoting: We are currently promoting Eliot Lipp's Steele Street Scraps EP, as well as the following debuts: Solo Andata's Fyris Swan and Plus Device's Puncture, all of which are available now at our website.

Future: 2007 will bring wonderful debut albums by new Hefty signings: radicalfashion's Odori (January release), Victor Bermon's Arriving At Night (February). Also, the Spring season will see exciting forthcoming albums by Hefty veterans: Telefon Tel Aviv's Remixes Compiled and a Retina.IT full-length compiling much of their past work (title tba).

Favourite label(s): Some favorites include legendary labels like Chess, Motown, Hi Records, Def Jam, DJ International and Tribe. In addition, we would also need to give nods to contemporary labels like Touch & Go, Warp and Thrill Jockey.  

Website: Hefty Records

INNER CURRENT

KOMPAKT

Year founded and location: We opened the small record store Delirium in early 1993 as a franchise shop of the original Frankfurt Delirium shop. But from the beginning, we have been very individual in our own musical style as well as in the way we rule our shop. That's why we decided in late 1995 to leave the franchise deal and rename it Kompakt.

Managed by: Michael Mayer, Wolfgang Voigt, Jürgen Paape, Reinhard Voigt

Distinguishing characteristics: The philosophy is very simple: be youself; remain yourself. Don't let anybody influence your music. Stay incalculable. Follow your heart. Music comes first; money comes second.

Proudest accomplishment: The biggest international success—music styled by Kompakt—was, apart from the legendary Cologne Minimal Techno school in the mid-'90s: Schaffeltechno.

Currently promoting: Albums: Andrew Thomas's Gaps in the Sun (first release on mp3 label Komp3), Michael Mayer's Immer 2, Pop Ambient 2007, Hug's (John Dahlbäck) Heroes; Singles: SCSI-9 (K2), Gui Boratto (K2), Speicher 41 (Axel Bartsch), Speicher 42 (Dmitiri Gren), Rex the Dog, Thomas Fehlmann

Future: Our future is bright. We'll stay independent. Long live Vinyl.
"Es wird immer weitergeh'n- Musik als Träger von Ideen, “ Kraftwerk.

Favourite label(s): Kompakt, K2, Speicher, Komp3, SSM, Kompakt Pop

Website: Kompakt, Kompakt MP3

n5MD
 
Year founded and location: November 2000; Oakland, California
 
Managed by:  Mike Cadoo
 
Identity:  Emotional experiments in music.
 
Distinguishing characteristics:  Well, I think when we began it was that our releases were all in Minidisc format. Now I think it is the emotional thread that runs through all the n5MD releases. We've really tried to prove there can be a deep humanistic connection to electronic music.
 
Proudest accomplishment:  Bending and weaving to keep the label viable and relevant.
 
Currently promoting: Last Days' Sea and Another Electronic Musician's Patience
 
Future: Tobias Lilja's Time is on my side, SubtractiveLAD's No Man's Land, Arc Lab's No Spectre, a re-issue of the debut from Run_Return called Sum of an Abstract, a yet-to-be titled Proem full-length, the next Near The Parenthesis disc, plus Funckarma's Refurbished 2, and a very special comp for n5MD catalog #150. All of those will materialize in 2007, mostly in the spring.
 
Favourite label(s): Past, I'd have to say Creation or even 4ad. I love their aesthetics (4ad) and rosters (Creation). Creation was all run on leverage. I think back then McGee was a genius at the indie record label level. Present, I'd have to say Temporary Residence; from a release stand point, I find their output to be refreshing and un-confining.
 
Website:  n5MD

RUNE GRAMMOFON

Year founded and founders: 1997 by Rune Kristoffersen; first release appeared in January 1998.

Location: Oslo, Norway.

Styles: Electronica, jazz, improv, contemporary, preferably all of this melded into one undefinable category.

Roster: Alog, Deathprod, Food, Arve Henriksen, In The Country, Arne Nordheim, Nils Økland, Phonophani, Scorch Trio, Shining, Skyphone, Spunk, Supersilent, Susanna and the Magical Orchestra, Maja Ratkje, Humcrush, MoHa and more.  

Managed by: Rune Kristoffersen.

Why established: To provide an outlet for the explosion of Norwegian talent within the genres described above.

Label Philosophy: Art before commerce.

Proudest accomplishment: Many, but the Supersilent DVD and Money Will Ruin Everything book/2-CD are two special projects we are very happy about.

Currently promoting: Huntsville's For the Middle Class and In The Country's Losing Stones, Collecting Bones

Upcoming: New albums by Shining, Arve Henriksen, Alog, Supersilent, and more

Favourite label(s): Impulse, Factory, 4AD, Rough Trade, Tzadik, Häpna.

Non-Rune Grammofon artist who perfectly embodies the Rune Grammofon esthetic: Nobody does this better than Supersilent, but maybe Tortoise or Jaga Jazzist.

Album(s) we wished we'd issued: Captain Beefheart: Trout Mask Replica, King Crimson: Red, This Heat: This Heat, Joy Division: Closer, David Sylvian: Secrets of The Beehive, Black Dog: Bytes, Radiohead: Kid A (the list could go on forever and is of course totally unrealistic....).

Website: Rune Grammofon

TEMPORARY RESIDENCE

Year founded and location: Founded in Baltimore, MD at the crack of 1996; relocated to Portland, OR in 2002; relocated again to New York City in 2004.

Managed by: Jeremy deVine

Identity: Hopeful, emotionally arresting music that occasionally blows speakers and minds.

Distinguishing characteristics: The owner does not own an iPod and, in fact, still uses a cassette Walkman on a daily basis.

Proudest accomplishment: Lasting long enough to celebrate our existence (which, incidentally, we now do on a daily basis).

Currently promoting: Sybarite's Cut Out Shape, the Thankful compilation, and the brand new stuff coming very soon: Rob Crow, Eluvium, and Explosions In The Sky (all released in Jan. and Feb. 2007).

Future: The first new Fridge album in almost six years (!), plus new albums by Cex, Grails, Maserati, Tarentel, Lazarus, and more.

Favourite labels: Touch and Go, Hausmuzik/Payola/Kollaps, Drag City, Hydra Head, DFA, Table of the Elements, Hometapes

Website: Temporary Residence

WARP

Year founded and location: 1990 in Sheffield England; moved to London in 199; opened New York office in 2000.

Managed by: Simon Halliday, Priya Dewan, and Stephen Christian

Identity: Quite diverse nowadays. Warp was perceived as an electronic dance mainstay in its first decade but we've diversified the roster quite a lot with acts such as Broadcast, Prefuse 73, Battles, !!!, Maximo Park, and Grizzly Bear. We've still got some wicked electronic shit, too—Aphex, Boards of Canada, LFO, Clark, and Squarepusher—but I don't like differentiating between the two because it's just good music.

Distinguishing characteristics: Hopefully, there is a certain quality and originality which comes with a Warp album, something incredible in its genre.

Proudest accomplishment: Being a valid label for so long and yet still being very ambitious about the future. I would like to think our proudest moment is still to come.

Currently promoting: Grizzly Bear, Clark , Jamie Lidell

Future: !!!, Battles, Maximo Park

Favourite label(s): Motown and Philadelphia International: putting out those songs, wow, can you imagine it? Altantic is pretty good too. Nowadays, XL rides that fine line between good underground music and getting the word out, Soul Jazz compilations are always worth buying, and Rephlex puts out solidly good tunes too.

Website: Warp

2005 10 FAVOURITE LABELS: AN UPDATE

Ai Records • Background Records • City Centre Offices • Ghostly International • Highpoint Lowlife • kranky • Merck • Microcosm • Orac • Type (each label's spokesperson is shown in brackets)

AI RECORDS (Jason Smith)

A 2006 highlight: Many worth mentioning: 2006 saw two of Ai's founders leave so Ai is now run by me, Sinner DC's amazing debut album on Ai (been a long time planning that one), getting a split from two artists that I have had the pleasure of introducing to Ai (Mariel Ito and Convextion (ERP)). I'm looking forward to working on new projects with new Ai artists. I have hooked up with some amazing artists this year who have contributed to some of Ai's split series sleeves—an area I will be pursuing next year: actual art as record sleeves, something I really love and want to develop further in 2007 as part of the continuing split series. Plus planning my own ideas and concepts for future Ai projects, and doing exactly what I like with the label. Ai has had a good year, despite the situation with the electronic music scene and with so many labels collapsing.

On the 2007 horizon: I have two very tasty projects lined up for spring 2007 and many others in the pipeline. Here are two:

Project 1: R.U.R.: I'm asking some of my Ai artists and some of my fave artists ever if they want to take part to make this really special set of releases. I'm going to do a project—not an offshoot of Ai—but a series of 'ultra-sick rare' releases called R.U.R. The name comes from R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots), a science fiction play by Karel Capek that premiered in 1921 and is famous for having introduced and popularized the term robot. It also means: random. unreleased. records. It will be 100 vinyl-only released copies with two tracks, one on each side with a screenprinted sleeve (same image for each one but different colour) and only available to people who subscribe to the Ai database (area.info@virgin.net). The tracks will be fat, loud dancefloor or experimental tracks (think Andromedia Strain sound track meets AI). I think I will do five in total next year.

Project 2: REMIX WHISPERS: We start with a track by someone who has released material on Ai in the past. I then get all the relevant parts for some one to be able to remix it. Then I give an artist on Ai all the parts. They then have to remix it without actually knowing what the track sounds like in full. Then this person gives me the final audio track to release and then gives me all the remix parts they¹ve used; I then pass these on to the next person in the chain and they then remix that track without hearing the full audio of the previous track. And this process repeats for about 6-7 times to form the release. So what happens is this: the first track has a lot of the original elements in it. Then in the next track, things change / disappear or are added, and the whole track morpths into something new. Thus we have a 12-inch cumulatively formed from the different approaches used by the artists involved.

BACKGROUND RECORDS (Andy Vaz)

A 2006 highlight: A label highlight was the Background 050th release anniversary compilation, featuring simply stunning material from the Background all stars. I have to admit there was a little pride involved in having made it up to all these releases over the years. Also, having recovered Geoff White's Nevertheless from "nowhere land" after Integrale Distribution went out of business (and the album got stuck prior to its release on Cytrax), and putting this excellent album out has been special as well. It would had been such a waste if this great album had never seen the light of day.

On the 2007 horizon: For next year, I am still extremely excited about the Further Details debut full-length album on A Touch of Class. It has taken longer than expected (it was originally planned for this year), but it will come out and will be something special. I am also playing with the idea of starting another label, something to focus on the more old-school side of things, stuff that's rooted in Chicago House and music which is more DJ-friendly than Background has been in the past two years. I've already talked to quite a few old producers friends in the US about this and the feedback has been enormous. Still, a few things need to be sorted out and thought about before I decide whether I will do this, but the idea keeps growing and that's going to be dangerous. Once it's too far developed in my head, I simply won't be able to not do it. So, keep your eyes and ears open.

CITY CENTRE OFFICES (Thaddi Hermann)

A 2006 highlight: A lot of things really: hearing CCO music on television ads, starting our new sublabel B üro, seeing Porn Sword Tobacco play in China and, the most current one, having the opportunity to re-release one of our all-time favorite albums: Move D's Kunststoff.

On the 2007 horizon: We have some great things in the pipeline: artists from the first wave of CCO will release new albums starting with Denzel+Huhn's Paraport at the end of January; it felt great getting back to work with them. We're extremely excited about building up our sublabel Büro in 2007 for which we have some great releases lined up, like the solo album from Takeshi Nishimoto, who is one-half of I'm Not A Gun.

GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL (Thomas Meluch)

A 2006 highlight: For the label, the Idol Tryouts Two compilation and Dabrye's Two/Three were major achievements that finally came to fruition, and Matthew Dear's Audion project hit two nails on the head with a standout Fabric mix and the Mouth to Mouth single, his biggest yet.

On the 2007 horizon: Anticipated follow-ups from Skeletons & The Kings of All Cities, Matthew Dear (under his birth name) and KILN, for starters... More from the world of BoyCatBird and plenty of other bits to hold your attention for a minute or two.

HIGHPOINT LOWLIFE (Thorsten Sideb0ard)

A 2006 highlight: There have been a lot of highlights this year, from our vinyl 10-inch releases to the debuts from Izu and Mandelbrot Set, but i have to admit the project that I've been most excited about is this limited run of 100 DVD-Rs for the Analog For Architecture compilation which we're just making. Rather than just going through the normal motions for pressing—designing a cover, sending it off to the pressing plant—these DVD-Rs are much more hands-on and DIY; for the art, our designer Mat/Fisk Industries went with the idea of using a design based on architect's paper, and we've printed the covers on thick tracing paper. We've gone for three different colours for the cases—red, blue, and green—and with the tracing paper slotted into the cover, each of the three has a different look. For the actual discs, we've ordered a handstamp with the title and catalog number, and we'll also be hand-numbering each of the covers. The actual music which comprises the compilation has blown me away with the quality of the tracks submitted by everyone. It just feels like everyone involved has been really into the idea of the limited run. Contained on the DVD are lots of extras—videos/visuals from randomNumber and the Marcia Blaine School For Girls, plus teaser tracks from releases planned for next year, and exclusive remixes and mp3s from friends. There's been a lot more work and organisation involved than in a normal release, but the end product is really rewarding.

On the 2007 horizon: We're actually trying to plan less far ahead, so we can move much quicker in the future when we want to release something. This time last year we had almost 10 releases planned for the future, so if someone got in touch with a demo we liked, or something good came up, the best we could say was that "Yeah, we could do it.. in over a year's time." At the moment, there are two albums planned for next year, both of which are complete doozies! The first one out will be The Marcia Blaine School For Girls' full-length debut titled Halfway Into The Woods, and the other is Tigrics' Synki. Both of them are stunning albums, and have been ready for a few months, so I'm really excited to get them both released and out there to the masses. Expect big things from both artists!

KRANKY (Brian Foote)

A 2006 highlight: Happy to have witnessed a bunch of excellent debuts and solid returns from roster alumni. As far as the public eye is concerned, it was nice to see Charalambides and Tim Hecker get some kind words heaped on them.

On the 2007 horizon: The return of Stars of the Lid (2xcd,3xlp!) and a handful of new signings that blow us away: Deerhunter, Valet, White Rainbow, to name a few.

MERCK (Gabe Koch)

A 2006 highlight: The highlight of the year will be December when we put out our final CD and vinyl releases, and then look back on the catalog of music we've put out over the years.

On the 2007 horizon: For 2007, we're looking forward to selling off a lot of our back stock of titles, as well as getting on to new projects and adventures.

MICROCOSM (Ezekiel Honig)

A 2006 highlight: It's difficult to pinpoint one event or release that has been the highlight in 2006. To me, having the label continue to grow and spread itself out over the last year has been the highlight. I love that more and more people are becoming interested in the music we're releasing and the people behind it. I guess as far as singular events, this past November we did a label showcase in New York at The Bunker, which is the Friday night minimal type night, and it was so fun and so crowded with people who were genuinely excited to be listening to all these Microcosm artists in one place (Morgan Packard, Nicholas Sauser, Ben Parris, and me) and there was an amazing energy in the air, really positive; it was just excellent to get people together and have some visual feedback on the label in its hometown. I guess another high point in the year was getting to go and play with Nicholas Sauser at DEMF and meeting some amazing musicians and getting to play on such a serious sound system in a city like Detroit.

On the 2007 horizon: We're looking forward to a slew of new EPs, beginning with a Miskate record, then a Scattered Practices remix 12-inch, a Nicholas Sauser EP, and the label's first proper various artists compilation. I'm also really looking forward to my new label, Anticipate, which is launching in February. It's going to be different than Microcosm but will share some similar ideals and will stretch out in different directions.

ORAC (Randy Jones)

A 2006 highlight: One of the best things that happened in 2006 was when I met Jon McMillion in the Wall of Sound record store in Seattle.  He was talking to the owner, Michael, about the new electronic music he was working on and I liked what he was saying.  So I sort of butted in on the conversation and introduced myself. In a few days, I had a demo in my mailbox of some soulful and freaky left-field techno. Another few months later we put out Jon's first record Inner Floor, and did a release party in Seattle where Jon played a live set that had a great dancefloor going and a few really jaded techno heads' mouths hanging open.

On the 2007 horizon: We try to keep it fresh by not planning too far in advance.  So all I know about 2007 releases is that we've got three great records coming out in the spring:  Unclassified Computer Funk 2 by Paradroid and [a]pendics.shuffle, Jon McMillion's Back on That Road, and a forthcoming Dapayk solo joint with a guest vocalist. Of course, we're going to keep pushing the experimental, and the party, and the experimental party, put out a bunch of records, and enjoy taking part in the global dance music conversation which we think is pretty exciting right now!

TYPE (John Twells)

A 2006 highlight: I think the most interesting thing has been doing the 7-inch series which has been lots of fun. We've got a whole load of artists involved who don't usually work with Type and it's just been great getting these quick fun items out on the street. Also doing limited 7"s like my Halloween one is really exciting.

On the 2007 horizon: 2007 holds a great deal of mystery for me, but I'm really looking forward to releasing an album from Skallander, which is a Signer-related project. Amazing music, very poppy but with leanings towards all sorts of other things.

December 2006